In news that will come as no surprise, the Diamondbacks have exercised their club option over first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (via Twitter). He’ll earn $14.5MM in lieu of a $2MM buyout.
Though the Snakes will be more than pleased to control Goldschmidt at this price tag, it’s a bit of a bittersweet moment. 2019 is the final season contemplated under the extension Goldschmidt signed back in March of 2013.
With the deal winding down, many have wondered whether Goldschmidt could be dealt this winter. The D-Backs are facing several roster needs and arguably lack the resources to address them, at least within their typical payroll levels. Cashing in on the final year of the contract might offer the organization an opportunity to recoup significant young talent (or, perhaps, to shed other unwanted salary commitments).
Expectations remain lofty for Goldschmidt as he begins to prepare for his age-31 season. He posted a .290/.389/.533 slash with 33 home runs in 2018. That’s good for a 144 wRC+, which matches his average output over a stellar career.
Among the game’s steadiest bats, Goldschmidt ought to draw quite a bit of interest if he’s dangled. While the market has tended not to reward defensively limited sluggers, Goldschmidt looks like an exception. Not only is he regarded as a high-end defender at first, but he’s an excellent baserunner. And, most importantly, his output at the plate is matched or exceeded by only a few other players in the entirety of the sport.
Will this be an excercise/trade
Sonny Gray, and Clint Frazier for Goldschmidt
Haha.
Niko goodrum and Mike Gerber for Goldschmidt. That’s my entry in the “Rediculous Trade Offer Game” gray and Frazier may have me beat though.
If we’re going all drunken master fantasy land. Let’s make it a 3way with Toronto. We ship out stroman to the yanks and get Torres Ari gets Smoak
Yep the Yankees will trade for Goldy, sign Machado, Harper, Corbin and Kershaw if he opts out…
Yankee fans are delusional
Signing Harper, Machado, and Corbin actually is possible if Hal was willing to spend that much assuming The 400M talk with Harper and Machado is fantasy. Of course it would put them over the luxury tax for a long time but don’t underestimate how much revenue a team like the Yankees hauls in. Unlikely that ownership of a team like the Yankees or Dodgers would be willing to put out that much money but it’s possible. And if they were willing to raid the farm system they do have the talent to pull in a high level player.
“Signing Harper, Machado, and Corbin actually is possible if Hal was willing to spend that much “… you could say that about 29 other teams. Every team could do it if they wanted to.
Delusional?? Yankees have the prospects and mlb young guys right now to trade for anyone and the $$ to sign 3 top F.A players. someone sounds like a yankee hater that is delusional of what the yanks really can do.
Cashman and the Yanks won 100 games last year with their best player injured, I don’t think they need any of these players. The team as constructed would be a contender. Cashman will sign 2 starters, Corbin and either Eovaldi or Happ and one relief pitcher Robertson.. He might make a deal for Goldy but i don’t think they need either Machado or Harper. If anything they need to surround these plalyers with winners like Pearce or Lowrie.. This team will then have the chance to be contenders for a long time.
Yes the Yankees have the prospects to trade for anyone and the cash to buy anyone. However, what prospects would they willing to trade and what would how far will they go with the payroll are the questions. It’ll be interesting to see what Hal authorizes.
Even if they increase payroll $50m up into the $240m ish range so much of that is gonna be pitching that idk if they are ballsy enough to buy at least 2 starters, at least 1 reliever and then BOTH Manny and Harper.
No one wants your scraps.
C;mon dude. I’m a Yanks fan. You’re making us look bad. And that’s not to say that Frazier shouldn’t be viewed as a prospect still but Goldschidt would command more than that. Gray MIGHT be better in AZ but his value is based upon his negative production not his potential bounce back.
Drew Pomeranz and Rusney Castillo.
Beat you
Realise this will get panned but for me, a straight swap for Andujar if anything. Similar offense for a fraction of the cost and long term control. Personally I’d prefer to just keep Andujar but see no reason why this needs a big package.
If I’m Goldy I’d have told them I would sign an extension if and only if they declined that option.
That’s a stupid comment. You Le’Veon Bell’s agent?!?!
What’s so stupid about it? Diamondbacks did him no favors, why would he do them any?
Do you understand what a contract is
they did him a favor giving him guaranteed money before they had to… he took that money knowing it might cause him to be underpaid later.
Lol. The D’Backs did themselves a favor with that contract. No one else. They undepay for all his prime years and now since he’s going to be a 32 y/o free agent you know teams aren’t going to give him the big money.
To the guy who asked “do you know what a contract is,” I would just suggest that contracts are not a promise no matter what, they are a promise that you will keep only if it’s is profitable to both parties inclusive of the cost of breaching.
Goldie signed away the potential to earn top dollar through that period, so that he could obtain salary-certainty and lift up the floor incase of disaster. Both parties agreed, the deal was done. The D’Backs weren’t going to give him more if he was worth more, and Goldie wasn’t going to give money back if he was worth less.
This is why people weigh up risk and reward – is that too complex to figure out?
I realize the Diamondbacks aren’t obligated to do him any favors, but the vice versa is also true so why should Goldy do them any favors by signing yet another below-market value extension? Especially considering their subpar future outlook.
He shouldn’t, and I’ve never said he should.
You said he should tell them to decline the option – nothing about whether or not he should sign a new team-friendly deal.
I don’t think you’re doing a good job of keeping up with what you’re saying.
No, I said he should tell them that if they don’t decline it, he’s gonna go to free agency. And adding on, he should put the entire proceeding on blast so that fans can’t keep pushing the idea of extending him.
But if they declined the option, then he would also be going to free agency, that’s what declining an option means… They would just lose a year of control..
He can still re-sign with them during the exclusive negotiating window or in free agency.
He didn’t have to sign the contract.
Yes and he also doesn’t have to let the Diamondbacks retain him beyond 2019 (which they very clearly wanna do).
PS: How’s the Braves keeping Matt Kemp if they don’t get top prospects for him working out for ya?
Pretty sure the braves would rather have Acuña than Kemp.
You said they would keep Kemp unless someone gave up top prospects for him but instead they traded him in a salary dump.
…and if Goldy had busted out, theyd have been on thr hook through this year.
What? Declining the option would be irrelevant if he were going to sign an extension. The only purpose he would have for wanting the option declined, would be if he DIDN”T sign an extension and pursued free agency instead – defeating the point of the deal in the first place.
Unless you’re advocating that he lies?
Actually the point would be to get more money in 2019 as well as get that big contract that covers his decline years now as opposed to later.
I think Nikola Jokic just did the same with the Nuggets and that worked out well for him
Similar scenario’s. I believe The Nuggets had to decline Jokic’s option year, so that they could give him a proper “max” contract – they weren’t able to “replace” that option with an extension over the top of it, it had to be gone.
Goldie can have his option year re-written/replaced, as MLB does not have the contract restrictions like the NBA does.
Although Jokic did definitely use the “I won’t re-sign with you if you don’t decline it” leverage.
To me, he’s one of those players that I’d love to see stay with one team their entire career, like Yount, Brett, and Gwynn.
Agreed. Although I’m a DBacks fan so I’m clearly biased. I’d much rather see AZ try to trade Greinke and then use the money they save to extend Goldschmidt. Greinke’s production can be matched, Goldschmidt, not so much
Really hope the Yankees can make a move for Goldschmidt. Even though he has one year left, would probably cost a lot.
Maybe if Robbie Ray could be involved, start off with Andujar, Sheffield, Florial and others.
The Yankees don’t seem to have any interest in moving Sheffield though. In my opinion whatever heavy lifting the Yankees may do this offseason is likely going to come from the FA market. Get the feeling that Cashman intends to hang on to his best prospects, maybe a little too much. Yanks refused to involve Sheffield in a deal for Machado and refused to trade Andujar for Cole and also wouldn’t trade both Clint Frazier and Chance Adams for Cole, only one. I highly doubt Sheffield is going anywhere in a package for a player with 1 year or less team control left, gonna have to be a high level player under control on a reasonable contract.
Being that our farm is a little thin now and we have a guy named Voit I think that trade would be a waste of prospects considering we have other glaring needs that might need to be used if the FA market isn’t to our liking.
You mean a guy in Voit who’s actually not a good player. The guy wasn’t good with the cardinals. The Yankees can’t go into next year with Voit as their 1B because they will have yet again another year of no production from 1st. Yeah voit has a good month to 2 months with the Yankees but that is it.
THIS literally frustrates me. Are fans so caught up in prospect hype that they ONLY put faith in what a top 100 high-profile player does?
Please explain what your basing what Voit is and will be on?
The obvious disclaimer is “small sample size”. So if that’s true, why is it used to dismiss his success in NY but NOT his “short-comings” in St. Louis? It seems we use small sample size to mitigate positives and to cement negative narratives.
Look at his numbers objectively.
With Cardinal’s- 137 AB his first call-up= .240/.307/.432
In 553 AB @ AA- .297/.373/.482 w/ 20 hrs , 53 BB vs 83 K
In 610 AB @ AAA- .314/.398/.532 w/ 23 hrs, 63 BB vs 109 K
Aside from not having a top 100 prospect rating. Aside from the fact that he’s not a gold glove at 1b, what about his history proves to ANYONE that he;s not a capable starting 1b? What intellect is that based on? Is there ANY doubt that if he was a 1st round pick vs a 22 nd rnd pick who posted the SAME NUMBERS we would all be gushing about what his 2019 full season might look like.
No one expects him to hit .300 or 50 hrs next year but I don’t think it’s being too optimistic to expect that over the course of 600 AB he can probably be a .270/.350 guy with 25 homers, 60-80 walks and K’s in the 125-150 range and a slightly below average glove at 1b. Who cares what his age is? We should only view him as a cheap place holder for the next couple of years at way below market cost. The ONLY way he should NOT be the starting 1b is if we sign Manny to play 3rd and move Andujar over to 1b or sign Harper to play 1b. And I’m hoping those scenarios don’t come into play. Stick him at 1b and stay way from Goldschmidt as his prospect cost AND what a potential extension should be are way too high. Not too high that we CAN’T do it but too high to commit to that position when we need to address the SP, LF and seek depth at other positions.
It could be me but it seems like he got exposed a little bit in the postseason. What he did was electric. So was Kevin Maas. Which one of those is Voit gonna be.
That said I’m down for a Bird/Voit competition and even platoon if that’s how it ends up.
Again, you can’t judge anyone off a small sample size. It’s 17 AB going up against the A;s and Sox best. To his credit, he didn’t appear to be completely hopeless. He had a combined .734 OPS with 4 walks vs 5 k’s.
He deserves to play full-time, not even a platoon. He hit righties and lefties about the same.
vs LHP-81 PA w/ a 1.028 OPS and 9 hrs
vs RHP-199 PA w/ a .873 OPS and 10 hrs
He also had good road splits too
Home- 11 hrs and .897 OPS
Road- 8 hrs and .947 OPS.
They should have a back up should he falter but 1b should be his at least going into ST.
“Exercise their option over Paul Goldschmidt”
Makes it sound like he’s being forced into something awful, and he probably doesn’t even know it yet…
Yankees get:
Paul Goldschmidt
Zack Greinke
Cash
Dbacks get:
Gary Sanchez
Clint Frazier
Greg Bird
Sonny Gray
Yankees get a solid #2 option and a stud 1B.
Dbacks get a much needed catcher with high ceiling, replacement for Pollock and soon to be Peralta, immediate replacement for Goldy, and a cheaper (20 mil less) starter to replace Greinke.
Call me crazy but Gary Sanchez feels like the odd man out in NY
I wouldn’t want any of those players if I’m the D-Backs… think about starting with one of your top 5 prospects and going from there. Not those bums you listed.
Lol. Yankees wouldn’t do that deal at all. Sanchez is still young and Goldschmidt has one year of control left.
Lmao Gary Sanchez is a bum. You should probably have your comment privileges revoked
OPS of .697 and a WRC+ of 86 in 2018. He’s also a bad defensive catcher… bum. On top of all the other bums you suggested be involved in the trade. And you want cash back too. Priceless. Maybe throw in Ellsbury too. How could they resist!?!? GTFOH
Historically low BABIP pulled his numbers down this year – and he was still nearly league average with the bat overall (89 WRC+, not the 86 you quoted) – which is a tick above average for Catchers. Any regression to the mean, which is to be expected, and he’s above-average once more.
And no, he’s not a bad defensive catcher. Has an issue with balls in the dirt, but grades out average to above-average elsewhere. In fact, 23rd out of 117 catchers in framing numbers alone.
It’s going to take more than a catcher that hits “a tick above average” to land Goldschmidt. Move along… why would the D-Backs trade for 2 guys who hit under .200 in 2018, a guy that couldn’t stay on the field in 2018 and a SP w a FIP above 4 at about $8MM/year?
Lol. Thanks for showing you know NOTHING about baseball. It’s called having a down year, all players do it.
And here we have yet another poster who knows nothing about baseball. Saying Sanchez is “a tick above average” because he had 1 down year. Lol
Also Sanchez missed 2 months and had a down year and still had better offense numbers compared to most catches besides average. He also throws out runners more than most average catchers.
I already replied to you twice but I just have LOL at you again.. The league average for OPS was 728, Sanchez had a 697 in a downyear(but he has a career OPS of 847).
So again THANK YOU for and Yankeepride88 showing all of us you both know nothing about baseball.
Couldn’t we settle for Ellsbury for Greinke instead?
That actually could work out if the Diamondbacks were more interested in getting rid if Greinke, and if Greinke would accept a trade to the Yankees. But he won’t.
I hope the Astros make a move for Goldy. I like his game and the Astros should be able to make a competitive offer that doesn’t include Whitley or Tucker.
Astros have the prospects dor the dbacks. Astros are already top contenders for 2019. Goldschmidt would make them a clear favorite. Dbacks would want to re sign him in 2019 but paul might want to stay in TX at that point. Maybe J Alverez and C Martin gets it done?
Astros have the prospects for the dbacks. Astros are already top contenders for 2019. Goldschmidt would make them a clear favorite. Dbacks would want to re sign him in 2019 but paul might want to stay in TX at that point. Maybe J Alverez and C Martin gets it done?
Was thinking Yordan Alvarez would be the headliner. Also a couple SP prospects and maybe another fringe prospect that’s on the cusp of being a ML player.
More curious as to what they’d do with Greinke.
He’s still darn good but not good enough to eat his contract.
Wonder if an exchange of bad contracts take place. (If they go for a rebuild)
Shin-Soo Choo / Homer Bailey / Tyler Chatwood / Jacoby Ellsbury / Jordan Zimmermann
Taking on a bad contract in exchange for Grienke would negate the whole point of trading him in the first place. Their only real reason for trading him would be to clear some of the money they owe him, so taking back another big contract on someone who hasn’t performed nearly as well would be counterproductive.
MLB is in desperate need of a salary cap to level the playing field. Ofcourse teams with 150mil more payroll to spend are gonna put a better product on the field. Yes there’s the rare occasion when a low budget team can compete but if all things are equal it makes for a much more enjoyable league. JMO
Well send Bird!!
The team with the lowest payroll in baseball won 97 games this year. Salary Caps line the owners’ pockets but don’t make sports more competitive in the least. The NBA has a salary cap, and check out that competitive balance; I mean, could you imagine if the same two teams met in the finals four years in a row or something?
Agreed Starbucks. MLB does not need a salary cap. NBA is very predictable, thus not compelling.
A cap doesn’t help with competitive balance, what MLB needs is a salary floor, or a minimum that each team needs to spend on players. For instance $120 Million, the amount a team is below that threshold is paid into revenue sharing for the following year.
Astros for Kyle Tucker and AJ Reed.
Nope
Tucker should be the starting LF in 2019 for Houston.