The Rays are “likely” to move on from 1B/DH C.J. Cron, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Though Cron, 28, smashed 30 homers en route to a career-best (122 wRC+) output at the plate, he’s averaged just 0.8 fWAR per season since debuting in 2014 for the Angels and and posted a meager .300 OBP against right-handed pitching in ’18, well below the benchmark for a quality regular at the position. The left-hand dominant Rays appear to be in the market for an “impact” right-handed bat, according to Topkin, and have assembled a tantalizing lot of youngsters from which to deal. It makes little sense, then, to keep Cron, whose $5.2MM projected 2019 salary (per MLBTR’s Matt Swartz) in his penultimate arbitration-eligible season would make him the team’s second-highest paid player in the upcoming campaign: in addition to him being relegated to near full-time bench duty in the event of an upgrade, Cron’s figure would almost surely constrict a perennially tight Tampa budget. Offensive-minded first basemen with plate discipline issues (Cron’s strikeout rate rose to a career-high 25.9% in ’18, with his walk rate still hovering below 7%) don’t figure to be in high demand on the trade market, so the Rays may be forced to non-tender him before the November 30th deadline.
In other news from around the division . . .
- Gunslinging Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski, in a chat with the USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, offered some window into his rationale when dealing for left-hander Chris Sale prior to the 2017 season. “Everybody has to decide what they want to do,’’ Dombrowski said, “but for us, when you have a chance to win, you go for it. Sometimes, it’s painful. You can’t do both. You can’t protect all of your prospects and also trade for good guys. You’re not going to get Chris Sale unless it hurts a little bit. Everybody has to make their own decisions, but for us, it made sense, and he’s been just tremendous for us.” In an age of prospect hoarding, where close-fisted, analytically-inclined GMs are loath to part with top minor leaguers, Dombrowski stands as converse: his decades-long strategy of aggression has led to huge turnarounds in both Miami and Detroit, and, more recently, yielded seven division titles in the last eight seasons.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post opines that the Yankees should sign Manny Machado – who’s rumored to have the club at the top of his wish list – to a shorter-term deal with a higher average annual value. Machado, who turned 26 in July, is one of the youngest superstars to hit free agency in the game’s history, and almost certain to command a deal that nears (or, perhaps, surpasses) a decade in length. Sherman, however, thinks the Yanks could sway the SS/3B with a five-year pact that guarantees a record $40MM per season; the club, after all, has been bit by lengthy contracts given to Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and Jacoby Ellsbury in recent seasons, and a short-term deal (perhaps with an opt-out attached) would allow Machado to again hit free agency while he remains in the relative prime of his career. With shortstop Didi Gregorious set to undergo Tommy John Surgery and perhaps miss at least part of the 2019 season, and third baseman Miguel Andujar posting historically low defensive marks at third base (-25 DRS in 132 games), Machado certainly figures to be a prime target for the Bombers this offseason.
I come to this site for the first time today , and have to see a Yankees article with “Joel Sherman of the New York Post opines the Yankees should sign Manny Machado”…give me a break. The last person who has any knowledge of the Yankees needs, or wishing Yankees success is Joel Effin Sherman. “To a shorter term deal” give us all a break Joel, and concentrate on your Mets needs.
Fiber,
I’ve said it before. Even broken clocks are right twice a day. I for one am sorry Gregorius got hurt but otherwise am basking in the glory of still meaningful baseball while the article is on the Yankees’ plans for next year.
“Even broken clocks are right twice a day.”
Irrelevant. Broken clocks’ job isn’t launch hit jobs. Sherman’s Mets and/or Bos fan in sheep’s clothing
Tell me something, dewey. How long have you been reading Sherman’s pieces instead of Boston Globe?
“but otherwise am basking in the glory of still meaningful baseball while the article is on the Yankees’ plans for next year.”
Expect(ed) this from the trolls. See you next year.
It must hurt to have your team eliminated. Sorry.
Not sure what your point is Xabs. Sox fans deserve to celebrate. Can’t tell you the abuse I took in the late 90s. Broken clock mentioning was to show that you talk enough crap and eventually you can still be right. By the way growing up in New England, I lived for the Boston Herald. It had a great sports section in the 70s.
Perfectly Said!!
He is such a BS artist.
Sherman is the Bs artist here..
Eileen-perhaps a better description is that he is a Wilpon mime. His shadow job is running around Chitifield in a Mr. Met uniform and bobbling his head.
Joel “The Clown” Sherman
Man what a dumb idea. Giving Machado a 10-12 year deal is a no-brainer. Oh no, you overpaid for underperformer that led to you getting the reigning MVP. Yankees fans always want the most cake, no sense of reality. Machado is most likely going to be good when he’s 37.
“no sense of reality” That’s rich coming from an A’s fan. Especially the one who predicted such great things for the Wild Card game…
It’s hard to be selective about our people when there’s so few of us to begin with but this guy really gets me wondering
Wow… Just wow. Stanton had a “off year” but aside from the position value that Manny plays his season wasn’t THAT much better than Stanton. Stanton is only 2years older than Manny.
I get it.. He didn’t hit 59 hrs and he was not “clutch”. But if 34 doubles and 38 hrs is a bad year than I’ll take it. Keep in mind guys like Miggy, Pujols, etc signed crazier deals in their mid 30s. Also, his contract is NOT going to prevent them from going after whomever they want. Yanks knew exactly what their long term financial plan was when they traded for Stanton and stuck to their plan to reset the lux tax situation. Also, Yanks will have Tanaka, Ellsbury and Chapman all off the books by the time their young stars need to be paid real money. That’s about $60 mil off yearly payroll. Stop worrying about what the Yanks can afford. They’re always willing to pay for stars.
Machado will likely not be good when he is 37. He is consistently slow afoot (his range looks awful at short, even at a young age) and has already suffered two knee surgeries. Lots of teams seem dumb enough to offer 10 years, let alone 12.
Saying a 26 year old will most likely still be good when he’s 37 is absolute stupidity. Very few players can still contribute in their late 30s – aging curves are brutal. Its miles away anyway.
Rays should sign Cruz.
As a Rays fan I like this idea, he is a .300 hitter at the Trop, The negative the Rays like players that can play multiple positions and Cruz would be locked in at DH.
Someone else mentioned the versatility from their DH slot, which I didn’t read I guess.
Trade cron for castellanos. Throw in a good prospect or two and the tigers would send some $. It’s a one year rental, but he’ll give you a solid year as DH, rf, back up 3b.
I’m told Cron is a great teamate and will be only 29 nest season. His stats show he has much more to offer the Rays going forward. Cron is not a Logan Morrison or Brad miller
. He’s going to have a great year next year! I hope it’s with the Rays.
They should but we all know that they won’t. They will go bottom feeding when most quality free agents are signed. I’m thinking Cruz will want a 2 or 3 yr at his age. Never going to happen.
So where would Andujar play? First base? He’s not taking the DH spot away from Stanton. IMO Didi a better defensive SS than Manny.
Stanton can move to LF.
Andujar could be involved in a trade for a SP
‘Gunslinger’ Dombrowski?!? More like asset depleting Dombrowski!!! Sure he won some division titles but not rings and he’s left every franchise worse off than before. Who wrote that puff piece, his brother-in-law?
The Tigers lost 119 games in ’03. Dombrowski took over the GM reigns and they were in the WS in ’06 and again in ’12. Yes, they didn’t win a ring and now they are in rebuild. But the had one of the most productive decades in their team history. You never know with prospects. Even highly rated ones often cannot match their production in the big leagues. As a Tigers fan I am grateful for what he accomplished
I attribute the lack of rings to Jim Leyland. I always had to listen to others say that the Tigers had no bullpen. However, from my viewpoint, Leyland flat out couldn’t manage a bullpen.
Manny Machado will NEVER be a Yankee.
Dombrowski actually took over the Tigers in 2003. They lost 119 on his watch. But dude has a keen eye for proven major league talent!
Yep, dombrowski knows major league talent. He saw muggy and said, he’s good. He saw Chris sale and said yep he’s good too. Well, he thought Willis was good.
Yes he’s done that to some detriment. I dunno tho, sale breaks any molds. You’re so ridiculously better positioned every 5th day than your opponent, there’s almost no ‘too much’ price I can think of. The trade they made….every day and twice on Sunday.
If the Red Sox don’t win it all then the rest of 2018 fades, while their depleted farm cries.
So 2018 is already fading for you……lol.
Dombrowski’s strength seems to be trading away prospects for A-List talent, and not much else. Red Sox look great, but their minors no longer look good.
@ Scott ….
Post of the day!
Please.
Most big market clubs don’t rebuild. DD has made a couple of klunker deals but the balance sheet is more weighted in his favor. Getting Cabrera from FL, getting Sale from Chicago spans the decades. His attitude is win now. With all the moves he’s made in Boston, who besides Travis Shaw is doing great? I realize with youngsters, the pendulum can swing back but for now, I for one am happy with the changes since he arrived. Even Teflon Cashman has made his share of bad trades. Sonny Gray anyone?
Sonny Gray is not good.. to be sure.. and not gonna miss him when he is gone. But what the Yankees gave up for him? I’m not sure you can call it a bad trade, as such, after the fact. They gave up Jorge Mateo (.230/.280/.353 in AAA and ..217/.260/.350 in Dominican Winter League), Dustin Fowler (.226/.256/.354 in 69 major league games) and James Kaprellian (who hasn’t pitched since 2016)
That looks like a lose/lose, wash, nobody wins trade to me..
Sorry for the late response. At the time the trade was made, all were I believe recovering from injuries but it was universally thought the Yankees overpaid. These were high valued prospects that were stuck in the Yankees’ deep farm system and could have been used as chips in a better trade.
opt outs are simply a stupid feature given to players
The Tigers lost 119 games in ’03. Dombrowski took over the GM reigns and they were in the WS in ’06 and again in ’12. Yes, they didn’t win a ring and now they are in rebuild. But the had one of the most productive decades in their team history. You never know with prospects. Even highly rated ones often cannot match their production in the big leagues. As a Tigers fan I am grateful for what he accomplished
Rays move on from cron and want an impact righty bat to play 1b/dh for cheap. If that doesn’t scream Jose Martinez I don’t know what does. In the market for a lefty reliever. How about Jose alverado?
….Bubba makes sense when he talks…..might have to have Cards kick in a LITTLE bit more (international $?) cuz Alvarado shows some real closer possibilities….but structurally the deal looks good…..
One of the reasons the article says the Rays want to move on from Cron is to get someone with more positional versatility (which definitely isn’t Martinez), and Alvarado is supposed to be a major part of the Rays bullpen next year, so trading him would be a lateral move at best. Not to mention Jose Martinez only put up a 125 wRC+ compared to Cron’s 122, so they could just keep Cron if Alvarado is the price
Also, I’d be surprised if the Cardinals are taking the Rays calls after the Tommy Pham trade
I wouldn’t chortle quite yet over the Pham deal. Williams is already the 8th best prospect in the Cards’ system, which is a very good one, and Cabrera is ranked #13….that’s actually quite a lot for Pham, who looks good SOMETIMES and awful SOMETIMES…..and there were those reports that the Cards (especially their new manager) were in heat to get rid of him…..
Williams and Cabrera were the #14 and #25 prospects respectively in the Rays system, which should show you the strength of both systems and also that referring to prospects solely by their numerical ranking is useless. Both were expendable to the Rays.
and if the Cardinals were in heat to get rid of a player who starting mashing the ball as soon as he left St. Louis, maybe that says more about the Cardinals than Pham…
Pham is hit and miss, hot and cold, Solid player, but the Cardinals wanted to give opportunities to the younger OFers so it was a deal that worked for both teams. Both organizations operate under similar models of cost-controlled players.
Jose Martinez is the same age as Pham, but even better because 2019 is still pre-ARB for him. I would like to see both orgs come through and make this deal.
As far as the farm systems go, yes the Rays is ranked higher, but both are deep. I mean even with having graduated 8 to 10 guys this past 2018 season to the majors, Memphis still won the PCL and beat Durham (Rays) for the AAA title. That tells you something right there.
Obviously you’re forgetting the Marquez for Dickerson deal, one that’s almost congruent to the Pham one. Sure, Rays fans got some jollies watching Corey hit some home runs (and be HIDEOUS in every other aspect of baseball), then had to watch them give him away (AND pay 6M for the privilege). Meanwhile, with Marquez, they might very well be playing tonight.
So Pham is the 2017 Pham; he gets too expensive to keep. So Pham is more the 2018 Pham; they won’t be able to give him away (a la Dickerson). Meanwhile, EITHER Williams OR Cabrera just have to be MLB average to make it a bad deal, for a team whose window is probably 2 years away.
If either is better than that (possible with Williams, IMHO), or they both become average, it becomes a disaster, again a la Dickerson.
By the time the Rays’ window opens, Pham will either be a fond memory or a not-so-fond one.
The Rays window is open now though. They just won 90 games, have a top 5 farm system, and have only one guaranteed contract (Kiermaier) next season. They’re a talented team with reinforcements on the way and money to spend. Upgrading from Justin Williams to Pham only cost them genesis cabrera, who wasn’t even one of the top 5 pitchers in their farm system and was clogging up the 40 man roster. Hard not to like that trade for them imo
You guys must have missed A) that wonderful Sports Illustrated article showing what Pham thought of St. Louis management and B) the eye issues that he has and will have even worse in the future. I don’t care what your job is, you don’t go out and completely trash your bosses, no matter what you think of them. He was a huge negative for the clubhouse chemistry, which the Cardinals desperately needed to address. His eye condition is also degenerative. It was a fairly obvious move at that point for the Cardinals to part ways with him.
As a Rays fan,Very happy to take Pham off your hands. He’s a great team player and when-If his eyesight goes we have glasses down here. That condition doesn’t hamper seeing for many years.
Like Martinez for the Rays. They have the farm to do it. Maybe they can heist the Cards again like they did with Pham.
Why move on from Cron at 29 for Martinez who’s older, War about the same and at 5 mill Cron’s a bargain, will be better in 19 and wants to come back to Rays? Cron offers more upside and suggesting we trade next years closer in Alvarado for Martinez is absolutely sick! Alvarado, always in the strike zone at 98!!!
Yes Steve-they didn’t win a championship AND when he was shown the door they had an old bloated team with crazy contracts and ZERO talent in the minor leagues. Great ride, huh?
If I was a GM I would give a player an opt out every 2 years of a deal and have a club opt out after every 3 yrs. Gives the player the chance to get hurt but still have a year to reprove themselves and if they don’t they can be let go.
But I don’t really see a problem with any sort of opt out in a contract. It is basically a player having contract years and the motivation to perform for what could be a new contract. Everybody blames the unions in sports but it’s the agents that has the financial elements out of wack. Owners need to get better negotiators on their side.
Let’s be fair; DD has had some generous owners to work for. Not every GM has.
That said, a WS trophy is worth 100 Baseball America awards for Best Farm System….DD’s one of the best around….Ya, I do the Sale deal every day…and the Smoltz-Alexander one too (historically)….gotta try and grab it when it’s there….
feel sorry for cj cron. called up before he was ready and sent down repeatedly.he was even sent down so that the angels could give at-bats to the greatest valbuena who hit .199 and 0.1 war.
i have to question the decision to draft a right-handed first baseman in the first round though the angels were in need of a left-handed hitters.
p.s. angels really need to move their triple a affilate to somewhere close to sea level.
Cron…perfect example of what the Braves will go after. Cheap, crap, and hits “home runs”
The White Sox should have gotten more for Sale.
For the 2018 Angels season I would have preferred Cron over an old AP.. As for Machado’s services Washington, Phillies, both NY teams, both LA teams and Boston (3b) will all be in the hunt. Every line up improves with him in it. IMHO ten year deals are just plain bad management.
Good g-d, people. Settle down. Judge missed a month. Sanchez played less than 90 games and hit about a buck 80 when he did play. Montgomery was done by May 1. Sonny Gray was Sonny Gray. You had a freaking black hole at first until August when the corpse of Shane Spencer was dropped in their laps for Chasen Shreve’s HR show.
On Opening Day you had Boone managing his first real game… ever. You were looking at Brandon Drury and Neil Walker starting at third and second respectively. Andujar and Torres were still a year off. Which is the point. This was supposed to be the second of a couple to three years of rebuilding while the once in a generation farm system grew up. Given ALL of that, the Yankees STILL improved by 9 full games over 2017.
..and people are complaining about how terrible it is. Good lord, get a grip.
The Yankees don’t need Machado. They don’t need Harper. They need a starter. They need a couple of starters. Currently, t’s Sevy, Tanaka, who knows about Montgomery and a pile of dog turds… that’s it.. Sheffield isn’t ready. Adams isn’t ready. Loaisiga isn’t ready. German and Cessa will never be ready. A couple of starters and healthy lineup and it’s going to improve even more.
If the Rays part ways with Cron, they will certainly face the Wrath of Cron!
Trader Dave Dombrowski had not only a very wealthy and generous owner at the end of his life, but he also had Al Avila. Time will prove that Avila has a much better eye for talent than Dombrowski.
The prudent way to win is to develop your own talent and fill in a few holes by way of free agency and trades that aren’t a mortgage on the future.
The fiscally irresponsible way is use prospects as trade pieces to fill most of your needs while signing big name free agents to huge contracts that extend past a player’s prime and reduce your financial capabilities in the future.
And, I’ve witnessed how a depleted farm system leaves nobody nipping at the heels of complacent free agents who underperform. The Tigers were stuck with many players on fat contracts who couldn’t be benched simply because there wasn’t anyone there to take their place. They got lazy.
Enjoy it, Red Sox Nation. Your time as a perennial cellar dweller are not far off.
Lol that is exactly what the Red Sox have done. Most of their team is homegrown especially there position players. The Red Sox will be just fine.
Money will allow the team to keep the players DD inherited and wisely kept. Only Shaw to date is missed for either the current team or a better trade return.
Too bad Wright, ERod and Pomerantz aren’t available or healthy enough to start. Most reliable person to close might be Porcello. With Sale also unable to go deep, the team should consider bullpen games outside of Eovaldi and Price although I’d consider starting Joe Kelly and then bring in Price for game 5 or 6. Sadly I don’t think this is sustainable for two seven game series.