Rumblings on a pair of American League East clubs…
- It seems the Rays’ main offseason objective is to acquire a right-handed power hitter they can pencil into the middle of their order, suggests the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin, who names Nelson Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, Josh Donaldson and ex-Ray Wilson Ramos as free agents who would qualify. Topkin adds that it continues to appear as if Tampa Bay will move on without righty-swinging first baseman C.J. Cron, who belted 30 home runs in 2018. The Rays could trade Cron prior to the Nov. 30 non-tender deadline, Topkin observes. Even though Cron performed well this past season and will be affordable in 2019 (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $5.2MM salary), the Rays want a more “feared” hitter, according to Topkin.
- More from Topkin, who also lists a righty-hitting catcher, a reliever to replace free agent Sergio Romo and “possibly a starter” on the Rays’ offseason wish list. Topkin wonders if the Rays will pursue free-agent catcher Robinson Chirinos, whom the Rangers surprisingly cut ties with Friday. The 34-year-old already has one stint with the Rays under his belt, as they acquired him from the Cubs in a 2011 blockbuster which saw Matt Garza and Chris Archer, among others, change teams. Chirinos ultimately racked up just 60 PAs with the Rays, who dealt him to Texas in 2013. It was an unheralded move at the time, but Chirinos turned into a quality offensive backstop as a Ranger, posting a .768 OPS in 1,546 PAs with the club.
- Orioles infielder Tim Beckham and catcher Caleb Joseph are “at risk” of being non-tendered before the deadline, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. Swartz projects Beckham to rake in $4.3MM via arbitration, and that would’ve been a reasonable sum had the 28-year-old looked something like his 2017 self this past season. Beckham instead took several steps backward, hitting .230/.287/.374 (79 wRC+) with minus-0.5 fWAR in 402 plate appearances. Joseph, who’s projected to earn $1.7MM, was also ineffective, evidenced by a meager .219/.254/.321 line (54 wRC+) in 280 trips to the plate. Moreover, the 32-year-old was among the majors’ worst defensive catchers in 2018, per Baseball Prospectus.
But but but, according to some Angels fans, Cron is a great hitter and every team wants him. Cron was garbage with the Angels and will continue to be garbage.
Cron was not garbage for the Rays. He still never got the the full time job at first from them either once they brought up Bauers. It’s a case of who knows and I feel a bit for him knowing he may never get that real opportunity. I hope the best of luck to him moving forward in his future.
He was a daily starter from the beginning of the season.
Now the .130/.244/.299/.543 line in June and struggles against Right Handed pitching is the reason that began to change, but even then he played in 140 and got 560 PA (560PA is top 50 in the AL, btw)
He had no issue securing playing time in 2018
CJ Cron finished strong last season and had a teriffic year with no power support behind him and a great teamplayer!..He’ll be only 29 and reasonably priced for 19, Why fix/ change something when it’s not broken? We still have (LH) Ji-Man and Bauers to back him up as well! You want to spend money, Bring Ramos back for 1/3 of Catcher games along with DH duties. That makes much more sense than out of shape H Ramirez, Ancient Nelson Cruz and McCutchen or the expensive (and often injured -not a 1 baseman) Donaldson.
Wrong
1. Nelson Cruz is a way better hitter than Cron – age is absolute irrelevant on a 1 year deal.
2. They don’t have to be a 1B so why is that relevant at all?
3. Cron basicaly offers power and that’s it doesn’t get on base vs righties and he’s bad at 1st base. Average DH’s have limited value.
4. Who the hell mentioned Hanley? Don’t post if you don’t read the article no way he’s even considered stop with the nonsense posts.
It’s not about fixing what’s broken it’s about upgrading why is that so hard to understand? They have 40-45 mill to spend and better players like Goldy, JD, Cruz are available. Is isn’t rocket science.
Read (Mike Tompkin) article in the post will update you on H Rameriz and the players considered within this post. Firstly, Age does matter Just ask Detroit or Angels with their aging stars! Cruz is basically a HR hitter now and his OPS has gone down for 4 years straight. The success of the Rays ( like the Dodgers) believe in having interchangable (RH-LH) hitters/position players whenever possible and move them in and out of lineups.. That will change without 1st base for Cron. The Rays are not going to spend money unless they see the benefits of all sides. My opinion is Cron has more upside! We tried the HR game in 17 and it didn’t work for us. Ramos and Donaldson make more sense (can Donaldson play 1st base?)
1. We don’t need a 1B so what on earth is going on here?
2. On a short term deal age doesn’t matter that’s just common sense.
3. Cron isn’t good.
4. Topkins never mentioned Hanley once try again. Now you’re lying. Not cool why lie?
It’s obvious you haven’t read the article and Cruz is levels ahead of Cron as a hitter the fact you can’t see that is truly mind boggling. Your level of thinking doesn’t win teams titles – go see the dodgers
BA: Cron .253 Nellie .256
HR’s: Cron 30 Nellie 37
Age: Cron 28 Nellie 38
$: Cron 2m Nellie 14m
When you add in That Nellie is only a DH… this move makes no sense
LOL so getting on base doesn’t matter? 7 more Hr’s in a far worse hitting park, being able to hit RHP either doesn’t matter? And for the last darn time who cares about the age of a DH? There’s a reason why nobody but Rays wanted Cron before and his trade market was dead. His really isn’t rocket science. Some people make me want to bang my head against a brick wall.
Also Cron’s Defense at 1B is even worse than cruz’s in RF. and Cron is going to make 5 mill next year and nobody values him.
Cron career WRC+ = 111
Cruz career WRC+ = 132
Projected Hr’s for 2019:
Cron: 21
Cruz: 35
Strikeout %:
Cruz: 20%
Cron: 27%
Walk %
Cron: 6%
Cruz: 9%
wOBA:
Cron: .330
Cruz: .367
This really isn’t that hard. There’s not one starting pitcher on the planet whether it’s MLB or Japanese or Dominican league that would rather face Cruz no matter the age. Still way more bat speed and hits the ball harder more often.
Angelsfan4life is that typical lost Halo fan. Just like the organization, dude has zero direction.
Troll.
he’s many times better than valbuena who could play in multiple positions. not very well, though.
Ur dumb he’s not garbage he hit 30 homers have fun trying to do that ur self
Orioles motto: the roof the roof the roof is on fire!!
We don’t need no water…..
Let the Mo…. Fu…. burn
Three. Three of you. I don’t blame SadOsFan. He just teed it up. But you other two…… you didn’t have to go along with it…. you didn’t have to contribute. You had the power to stop this from happening.
Stop what from happening?m
I still think Castellanos would be a good fit with the Rays. He wouldn’t be all that expensive and the Rays have a very deep prospect list.
Add in McCann (C) and Alex Wilson (RP) and the Tigers should get some decent prospects.
I think Tampa could take a flyer on HanRam. Feared right handed bat could be had on a minor league contract invite. Low risk maybe high upside.
Ramirez is definitely worth a shot as he’ll either retire in spring training if he shows nothing or hit the rock like last April. He has something to prove and if things work out, could be a inexpensive trade chip for a team suddenly in need due to injuries. Not sure he has much left but if his head is still in the game, he is worth a shot for a team on the fringe of contending.
The Rays have a loaded 40 man and you want them to take a handle on that trash? No thanks no chance that happens either
You realize minor league invites necessarily mean they aren’t on the 40man roster
They have Choi already as a DH and Nate Lowe soon to be up why would Hanley want to be in camp with a team he has no chance in getting on the roster? If the Rays wanted too they could just keep Cron but they want to upgrade….
Look at Hanley’s 2016 numbers. He then was hurt in 17. Sox would have given him a chance to rebound after the horrendous May if it weren’t for his option. They saw a way to handle the 2019 payroll and jumped at the chance. By doing it so early they eliminated a grievance. If he’s healthy physically and mentally, what better cheap option is there? Definitely worth a spring training invite for a small budget team with playoff aspirations. What is there to lose? Minor league invite.
They have money to spend. Surely they can come up with a better backstop than McCann.
I was going to say John Hicks, but he’s been a backup to McCann. I looked at McCann’s numbers and he’s been pretty bad. His best year wasn’t much to talk about.
Tigers really don’t have much to offer in trade. I see them picking up a couple rule 5 guys and maybe someone that nobody else wants as a free agent. That’s about it.
Year 2 of a rebuild is going just as expected. The prospects from trades are just getting ready to reach the majors… top draft picks are still climbing the minors… expect another bad year seeing what we have and getting another top pick. Our record was the same as last year… we were worst last year, this year we are in line for the #5 pick. We didn’t get better, 4 teams got worse.
Guys I could see the Tigers trying to sign… Pedro Alvarez, Doug Fister, Nate Karns, Luis Valbuena,
Yes, we are that bad.
Well the tigers have an insane amount of good young pitching talent. I’d be happy about that
TINSTAAPP
Manny screwed Beckham with wanting to be a shortstop
I agree. Definitely didn’t help him
Yes he did. Selfish move to drive up his free agent stock. Would be curious to see how Beckham would do with a bit more positional stability.
If the Ray’s don’t get Cruz, I’d be shocked.
Minnesota should have interest, and Seattle should at least be in play to re-sign him. I wouldn’t be shocked if he ended up somewhwere else. TB might be the early favorite though
I expect Cruz to be too expensive for Tampa snd going back to Seattle after his price is established. Big pay cut but still more than what Tampa will offer.
Apart from the fact the Rays have more flexibility than the mariners and can easily afford and will spend 15 ish mill for a season or 2.
I think Rays are definitely the early favourite for Cruz. A Goldy trade and Donaldson’s market being two keys here. Rays could afford a trade for Goldy easily and may need the space in the 40 man so a trade could be more appealing.
Donaldson would be great on the Rays for around something like 2/32
I think a lot of teams would be in on Donaldson for 2/32
20 mill seems a bit too much for Donaldson if he goes 1 year I expect it to be around 18 mill.
And there would presumably be 8-12 teams interested in Donaldson if that was what Donaldson’s camp was after, if not more teams.
They could definitely afford Goldy, but the Dbacks would probably want more than the Rays would be willing to send on a rental. Cruz is probably the best bet for them right now.
It depends Rays can offer a better package than they would get anywhere else in a trade as they have depth and players who honestly need to be traded to get more of a chance. If the D Backs are focused on trading Goldy Rays should be one of the main teams involved as it would likely help with the 40 man roster
Cruz is probably more likely as of now tho I’ll take either.
Orioles infielder Tim Beckham and catcher Caleb Joseph are “at risk” of being non-tendered before the deadline,
Well neither will be missed all that much, but if the O’s non tender Beckham, they don’t have a shortstop
That’s the real issue
Honest question here. Which players, currently on the 40 man, would be missed by the majority of O’s fans?
Apparently no one misses nobody because fan attendance is the lowest it’s been since 1978
Plus, the O’s have Fric and Frac in charge of looking for a new GM
And yet they still doubled the Marlins average home attendance.
Villar can play SS
I’d like to see the Rays spend on the free agent market, Cruz and Ramos would really help, and they could deal Cron and Choi to somebody like Seattle. I’d really like to see them spend on some pitching help too, whether that be a starter-type pitcher or just more bullpen help.
“the Rays want a more “feared” hitter”
Jose Reyes falls under this category in an illegal way.
Hey Rays, wanna make a trade for EE?
Should be easy for the Indians to replace 32 HR’S and 107 rbi.
Oh, I forgot, RBI is a nonsense statistic. Give those AB’S to a platoon of Greg Allen / Tyler Naquin and I’m sure they could knock those runs in.
Seriously, the Indians need to dump EE’s salary, they can’t afford it. Unfortunately, after Lindor and Rameriz they’ve got a bunch of platoon guys. The Indians are about to join the other 4 AL Central clubs in rebuilding.
The salary relief is why I brought it up. When they signed him, I just shook my head. It wasn’t the Tribe way of doing business, and it’s hurting them now. Even the Kipnis contract was dumb.
They made a run for it. Can’t fault them.
No matter what the stat guys say, guys batting ahead of him will see different pitches as the philosophy of the opposing manager, pitching coach, catcher, and pitcher is to keep them off the bases. In particular, don’t get too fancy trying to hit the corners only to miss and put a guy or two on base before him. EE can hit a pitch which can turn the game.
EE got Lindor, Brantley, and Rameriz better pitches to hit. Stat guys can fiddle with spreadsheets; but any manager, player, ex-professional knows the game is all about a batter getting pitches to hit…..or not
Yes, it appears that EE is following Brantley out the door. It remains to be seen if they’ll replace him with a young, cheap bat by trading a starter. There doesn’t seem to be one in the farm system.
Just as Callahan’s exit to the Mets hurt the 2018 bullpen, if EE leaves and is replaced with someone like a Cron, I’d suspect Lindor and Rameriz offense is going to take a step back. By mid-May Tom Hamilton will be talking about it.
I’ll take Edwin. If you’re willing to pay 5 of the 20 mill.
Rays have 4 clear needs: 1. RHB 2. Catcher 3. Starter 4. Closer/late inning reliever
Goldy and the Rays seem like a perfect match depending on what the asking price is.
Cruz, Donaldson and Ramos should be main targets.
McCutchen would be interesting would be a fit if they trade KK. So he could be 3/4OF and DH.
Catcher: Chirinos or Ramos is ideal. Maldonado potentially although think they are looking for more offense. Suzuki makes some sense.
Reliever. Andrew Miller makes so much sense 2 years 18/20 seems reasonable, Adam Ottavino or David Robertson also logical fits Kelvin Herrera would be 4th guy on my list.
Starter: I think a trade for a starter makes the most sense: John Gray, Robbie Ray and Zack Wheeler
Carlos Carrasco would be awesome and seems like an ideal trade target.
Chirinos seems like the only feasible target among that group. Tampa has almost never invested multiple years into their bullpen, and then traded future value for current value is equally rare.
LMAO another person who just doesn’t get it. Read the freaking article before posting.
Team has 45 mill to spend. And will spend it’s not a question it’s a fact.
I assume they didn’t trade for Tommy Pham huh?
What does trading for Pham have to do with anything? Moving goalposts accomplishes nothing.
How compelled are Ottavino/Miller/Herrera going to be to sign in Tampa Bay? I believe in their future, but why wouldn’t they go to NYY/BOS/LAD/CHC/CLE? Has Tampa ever signed a reliever to multiple years?
Yeah 3 times. And that’s not relevant because Rays haven’t had this much space to sign players before
The Rays will one day face the Wrath of Cron.
Not exactly.
It seems that Cron would be a safer, cheaper alternative for the Rox at 1B which although they’ll never receive adequate compensation from the Desmond contract, this would allow to use him (ID) as a super utility player which he does offer defensive versatility & a power/speed threat from a reserve role which at this point, is one of the ever decreasing ways to maximize his value while at the same time, the hitter friendly environment of Coors only plays to Cron’s favor as he moves towards free agency…
I agree. Rockies, Marlins and Yankees seem like good fits for Cron.