If there was any doubt as to the Red Sox’ desire to bring back Nathan Eovaldi after his strong run with the club late in 2018, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski put it to rest in comments today. As Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com was among those to report, Dombrowski confirmed that the organization has been engaged with Eovaldi’s camp this winter — though he also cautioned that “there’s a lot of interest” in the righty leaguewide. How far the Sox will go in the bidding remains to be seen, but Dombrowski said that Eovaldi is “a guy that we love.” With only a few major needs to be accounted for, the defending World Series champs seem a prime potential landing spot — as we predicted at the outset of the offseason.
- The Padres also have interest in Eovaldi, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic (via Twitter). It has long been rumored that the San Diego club would hunt for starting pitching this winter, but the injury-prone, high-octane 28-year-old would make for a particularly interesting target. After all, numerous big spenders (see above) are in the fray. For the budget-conscious Friars, beating the market for Eovaldi would surely mean taking on a rather significant risk. Perhaps that’s part of a more general strategy for a team that has plenty of interesting arms filtering through the system and is looking to move toward contention now while adding players who’ll contribute for some time to come. The San Diego franchise has also kicked around trade concepts with the Mets on Noah Syndergaard and, as Lin notes, already agreed to a hefty two-year pact with Garrett Richards in hopes he’ll recover and turn in a strong 2020 campaign.
- Even as Eovaldi draws plenty of interest it seems the early market will be driven by Patrick Corbin, the excellent lefty who just completed a tour of several big-spending east-coast clubs. The Nationals, Yankees, and Phillies still profile as the likeliest landing spots, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets, though he notes that other teams are still in the mix. A decision, in any event, still seems to come sooner than later. Yankees GM Brian Cashman made clear that his organization is a serious pursuer of a hurler with deep ties to the region in an interview this evening with Jack Curry of the YES Network (write-up via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). “We’re doing everything in our power to put ourselves in position to be a legitimate consideration,” says Cashman, who calls Corbin “a special talent.” This sort of public endorsement obviously won’t decide the matter, but it surely indicates that the Yankees are engaged in a full press.
- The trade side of the starting pitching market remains somewhat more difficult to assess at this stage, but the Indians still seem to be driving the bus (at least unless and until we learn more about the seriousness of the Mets’ intentions regarding Syndergaard). MLB.com’s Jon Morosi suggests on Twitter that the Cleveland org will likely wait until there has been some movement at the upper levels of free agency before moving Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer, though it’s not entirely clear why that’d necessarily be the case. At the moment, Morosi adds in a subsequent tweet, the Braves are not actively engaged on either hurler. Of course, it’d likely be unwise to rule out the Atlanta club at this stage, given its assortment of intriguing young talent and desire to add a frontline rotation piece.
- Veteran reliever Joakim Soria is drawing interest from at least a handful of clubs at this early stage of the free agent market, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez tweets. The Diamondbacks, Angels, Yankees, Braves, and Reds are all involved to some extent, per the report, representing an interesting slate of organizations. While the New York and Atlanta clubs are clearly in position to add veteran talent in a bid to repeat their postseason appearances from 2018, the other teams listed by Chavez are in somewhat less-certain positions in respect to the open market. The Los Angeles and Cincinnati ballclubs are surely interested in spending to contend, but will need to choose their targets wisely. Meanwhile, Arizona is exploring sell-side deals while also trying to achieve value with new investments. That Soria appeals to all of these teams seems to suggest that the league believes the 34-year-old has plenty left in the tank. And for good reason: he just wrapped up a campaign in which he spun 60 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball, with a healthy 11.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 along with a personal-best 14.4% swinging-strike rate.
- Free agent southpaw Derek Holland is drawing multi-year interest, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). It’s all but impossible to gauge his true market at this stage, with some bigger dominoes still to fall, but it stands to reason that he’d make some degree of sense for a fairly broad group of clubs. At the outset of this year’s hot stove market, we guessed Holland could warrant a two-year, $15MM commitment. Though there are obvious limits to his value at 32 years of age, Holland did finally break out of a multi-year malaise with a strong 2018 campaign in which he contributed 171 1/3 frames and worked to a 3.57 ERA — his first full season of sub-4.00 ball since way back in 2013.
I pray DD works out a deal with Eovaldi, n I hope Eovaldi wants to return because the Redsox nation wants him to stay.
Regardless of what “red sox nation” wants, hard to imagine the Red Sox being the high bidders. They have expensive and more pressing issues to deal with in their bullpen, and they are primed to take a big hurting in arbitration over the next few years. Making a bloated above value commitment to a relatively unproven pitcher with a noteable injury history and an extremely hot market with huge bidders doesn’t seem like the right move. I think they are hoping to get a discount off the nostalgia of the world series, and if they can’t (they won’t) they will move on and try to make a splashy trade for a veteran SP (classic DD) and if that doesn’t work out sign someone lower in the market like Derek Holland or Francisco Liriano.
Buddy, the Red Sox won’t stoop down to the level of Francisco Liriano. You might as well start Brian Johnson if that’s your alternative.
They may very well have Johnson in the rotation. If they do though, they are not going to lose their long arm and Liriano was about as good as Weight and Johnson last year, except he’s a veteran with experience in higher leverage situations. You’re acting like all this money is coming off the books with Eovaldi and it’s just not. They signed him as a lottery ticket, and will have to increase their spending substantially to re-up him. They got their surplus value out of him, the wrong move now would be giving all that surplus value back and then some by oversigning him substantially
Liriano is another lefty who did not perform in his last leveraged situation as I recall. Us fans should take a step back with respect to payroll as there is a plan. If Eovaldi becomes too expensive they will move on. Wright would be the obvious choice but his knee makes him too risky to be anything but a wild card insurance like Eovaldi was with Tampa at the start of the season. Just know one thing. The cost of everything at Fenway from a seat to food to concessions will continue to rise. The only thing free will be TP and we all know the quality of free TP…
TP?
Bathroom …
They have better options than either Liriano, or Holland in Steven Wright, Brian johnson, even Hector Velasquez. Why on earth would they want any of those toasters?
As for Money to afford eovaldi. Think some of it may be coming from the 20m coming off the books next season when Porcello leaves and isn’t coming back. hopefully Eovaldi ends up with no more than 15m AAV and forget Kimbrel. Same with Kelly. Focus on possibly Alex Wilson (if that) and whichever of Andrew Miller, robertson, or Britton who will sign for the lowest.
People making this all into more than it needs to be.
you seem to think the red Sox will be getting discounts left and right on these guys. In reality they need 3-4 significant bullpen pieces. Without Kimbrel and Kelly, they are left with very little. They can’t bank on repeat over performances. The two of you who have responded to my post so far have gotten bogged down in the names I’ve dropped. Yeah, I think sticking with the starters they have and putting all that spending on the bullpen makes more sense than splurging on Eovaldi. BUT if they do that and don’t get someone like Liriano and Holland they have to still find a long arm somewhere because one of those three guys you mentioned goes from the bullpen to the rotation. Let’s be realistic here about what the Red Sox can spend, and be sure to consider the huge arbitration cases they have coming up and not just what may or may not be coming off the books
Liriano being a veteran does nothing for me. You’re lucky to get 4-5 innings out of him at this point in his career. I’d be surprised if he finds a major league contract if he’s dead set on starting. I think grouping Holland who was a capable starter last year w Liriano is just way off at this point. The Red Sox do NOT need a fourth lefty starter at all at this point either. Either one of those names is a terrible fit in Boston.
I wish I hadn’t dropped any names. It gave Red Sox fans a perfect opportunity to avoid confronting my main points about the reality of their roster and budget situations.
I’ll tell you what I do not like the Red Sox bullpen at all if you’re replacing Kimbrel and Kelly with Alex Wilson and David Robertson. You better hope Eovaldi comes back and can bail you out in October again because that’s a horrendous pen.
I don’t see how you think The Red Sox need a long man if one of Johnson/Velasquez/Wright is their 5th starter. That leaves 2 of them in the pen to fill that role. You don’t need 3 long men in your bullpen
Because one of them is already penciled in as the 5th starter before Eovaldi leaves a vacancy
What? Sale, Porcello, Erod, Price in no particular order. That’s 4 starters. If you move one of Velasquez, Wright, and Johnson in the rotation that leaves you 2 capable long men. I don’t see how that is a need for Boston at all. They need relievers. High leverage ones. And they need a 5th starter because you’re looking at a much improved Yankees rotation. They’re not getting by with a bargain bin back end arm or they could find themselves in a WC game.
I guess I forgot price because his contract wasn’t guaranteed for 2019. But yeah I guess we agree on the final point. The red Sox basically need 70% of a bullpen and can’t be pissing money away on Eovaldi
Depends on ultimate price of course. Kelly and Eovaldi both picked the perfect time to pitch lights out like never before. Kimbrel the opposite. While Cms will remember each’s high spots, their lows (including wildness and HR penchants) will also not be forgotten. No one is giving any of them their present demand. it will be interesting if a bidding war develops for any if them. My guess is without collusion, teams will be pretty close on dollars and the players will more or less choose where they want to play. Does Eovoldi want to return home to Houston for example, move to Philly, did he like living in NY or return to Boston? Caviet being a traditional non-winner like SD which if serious, may have to tack on an additional year to attract talent.
Why? Kelly was lousy last year who almost didn’t make the playoff roster. I loved the way he pitched in the playoffs but his overall career to date has been consistently inconsistent. His charm was his relative inexpensive cost due to that inconsistency. 162 game season is vastly different than how Cora used his bullpen in October.
The problem is if he gets all the same offers at first then he’ll wait for someone to separate themselves from the back with an extra year, more $, etc.
When that happens Boston is in the worst position of any of the teams you mentioned to offer anything. You guys need to accept that DD did a great job putting this team together and winning a WS but it’s gonn ahurt now for a few off seasons.
Lot of Arb players getting payed soon and the farm is barren. Not gonna be easy to compete for choice players, this isn’t the NFL where guys will take less to play in New England.
@beisbolista
What is the Red Sox “budget” situation? Do we even know if they have a budget? Obviously they want to make smarter decisions to control the budget…but what is their ceiling? Is there even a ceiling? We know the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, and Angels all spend money and lots of it!
Don’t get me wrong the Red Sox have a lot of decisions over the next few years…but I don’t think any of us know their “budget” situation because we don’t know how high they are willing to go!
Last year when asked about how far over the luxury tax the Red Sox we’re Dombrowski said that ownership was currently all in, so that statement seems to set the budget “limit” pretty close to last year’s levels.
its not pausing away based on what he did in the post season. without him…what are the results?
I recall when Kelly was a throw in from a trade…guy redeems his value to get dissed. gotta love those that only follow when they want.
Kelly wasn’t all that great during the season. Somehow he pulled it together in the playoffs. If teams figure out what that was, he may well go back to being average again.
Kimbrel has been consistent (and was great the first couple years), but I think he’s at that Jonathan Papelbon point that it’s always holding your breath to see if he gets out of his own self inflicted situation. I think we can at least do as well with current roster guys. Look for Ryan Brasier or Matt Barnes to be used more in those rolls.
You know nothing about the reality of it
Porcello isn’t coming back after 2019, that’s 20 million
Sale might not resign , that’s another 15 Million
Pablo Sandoval will officially be off the Red Sox Books, that’s 18 Mill
They Have Darwin, Lakins, & Durbin Feltman as young bullpen pieces coming up.
Joe Kelly flat out sucks & is riding the WS Wave, had a 4.40 ERA.
& a 3.78 FIP from 2016-2018.
J.K can be replaced.
Every Boston Free Agent is Leaving EXCEPT for Eovaldi.
& if you disagree with, your incorrect & haven’t kept up on D.D’s interviews
Your talking about budgets
Yet the red sox had the highest payroll by over 20 million from
the next team. What
Why don’t you go ahead and factor the arbitration cases and re-signings of their young players before you declare a Monopoly there moneybags
Yeah and indications are they are not going to be increasing their budget further as the luxury tax penalties increase
There is a possibility it may be with a cpl other names from last year gone and towards mid year.. Some kid rookies making their debuts possibly as reinforcements might be the hope as some kind of fall back if relief prices are to high, being Durbin Feltman and Maybe earlier than him? Travis Lakins.
I’d rather see them go that way than throwing 20m (or more) at the next Joe Kelly, Addison Reed. Anthony Swarzak, Junichi Tazawa.. Can go on…
Is this John Henry? You have amazing knowledge about the inner workings of the Red Sox baseball operations.
I have no inside information. I’m just very well-read which I’m sure can feel very intimidating and offsetting to an ignoramus like you
I couldn’t agree more…sox are quiet so far this off season. with payroll up I wouldn’t doubt they wait out the market like they did last year.
Thank you Johnny Superscout
Panda, Porcello, JD and Sale will be coming off the books this year. Bogaerts will get Panda’s money. Bradley will get Sale’s. Sign Eovaldi for 4/64, which leaves 4M of Porcello’s money to combine with Kimbrel’s and Kelly’s to help the pen. Trade Porcello for a pen arm. Extend Betts– give him what Harper gets, if he’ll take it.
You’re absolutely dreaming with the 4/64
4/64 isn’t Dreaming.
That’s 16 Per Year
Eovaldi is not getting 17+ Per year
The Guy has had 2 Tommy Johns
& Pitched over 155 Innings, 1 Time in his 7 year Career
You’re so Clueless
You might want to take a look at the teams that are interested and comparable contracts in the last 5 years before you make yourself look like even more of a blubbering fool
What did MLBTR predict for Eovaldi? You might want to look at that before you make yourself look like even more of a blubbering fool.
What perfect timing! Corbin just signed for $10MM more than MLBTR predicted. I wonder if you are actually as dumb as you type
What do you think MLBTR has a crystal ball? They’re going to be off on all these guys by some amount of money. They were off by less than 5% after you factor in the PV of that 140. Eovaldi could top 64 too. He’s not to blow that out of the water either but it can go either way up or down. You guys are arguing over nothing here. 4/64 isn’t a dream for Eovaldi it’s around what he’s going to get.
If he gets more than that I don’t think it will be from Boston.
4 Years 17 Million per year
for Eovaldi. Wow do you look
like a Fool
This rookie over here posting Jon Heyman speculation as gospel. Ok!
Me? Honestly when I said 4/64, I wanted to say 4/68, but figured I’d be laughed off. If it was my checkbook, I’d have given him pretty much whatever he wanted.
Now it’s Official, 4 years 16.8 Million
Per year.
“You’re absolutely dreaming with the 4/64”
Yeah pretty massive overpay. Reminds me of the pavano deal
Don’t let a half season of excellent pitching put your blinders on and forget who exactly Eovaldi is. He is going to get a nice contract and will more than likely spend most of at least one season on the DL. Most Yankee fans wanted Cashman to resign McCarthy a couple of years ago after his amazing half season. Those same disappointed fans are glad he didn’t today. The Red Sox only need a solid #4 pitcher. Sign somebody with a history of eating innings who will keep them in the game and will be a good bet to stay off the DL. Happ or Morton would be perfect and will get similar AAV to Eovaldi with far less years. Taking a shot on someone like Santana makes sense too. He will probably sign for one year for less than half of what Eovaldi gets. Then take the money they were going to spend on Eovaldi and use it to sign Andrew Miller and Familia (who is the only proven closer under 30 on the market) Eovaldi is going to be looking for 4-5 years (and he will get them) which is more than should ever be given to oft injured players. Plus, don’t forget Betts is going to be looking for a Machado/Harper contract in 2 years.
Some nice points but what is becoming more known now seems to be a bit more clarity on arms recovering from TJ surgery. There is no crystal ball but the per year of Eovaldi should not be a killer unless the team is planning on resigning Sale and they both get hurt in the same year. I love Sale but we fans have no knowledge of his medicals and his flags might be a larger concern right now. Miller also bothers me. Will he come back fresh or did Cleveland use his bullets up? He was injury prone in Boston and is now older. Another concern is Erod. Amazing thing is with all of the various concerns in the team’s starters, Porcello’s hidden value shines. Sorry folks but there still is value in a steady innings arm. Again, the team will figure it out. My main concern is everyone ASSUMES Betts will resign and it’s only dollars and years. That may not be the case. A lot can happen in two years.
I don’t think Boston needs to be looking for a starter to be honest. Go with what is under contract already and if need be make a move mid season to shore it up.
As for getting Miller and Familia, there is no way Boston can afford more than one high end arm like that unless Miller goes for cheap because teams are worried about injuries. (Or DD says screw it and blows the luxury tax away again which mortgages the future big time)
Looks like Corbin sweepstakes is down to 3 teams— Yankees, Nationals, and Phillies. I read reports suggest Phillies in 3rd w/ Yanks & Nats duking it out. Not buying “mystery teams” or think they end up making a diff end, but could be wrong
My question to you…
Read somewhere Corbin is targeting Darvish’s six year 126M contract as benchmark. think he’ll get it? Or anywhere close? Thank you for your time, feel free to downvote
Well some guy predicted the Darvish contract perfect last year, maybe that can predict Corbins…
?
Tried formatting it special and failed. Meant to say, “maybe that guy can…”
I’d really hate the Yanks to go north of 20 million, but they just might to keep the years minimal.
Twenty million?
That’s couch change to the Steinbrenners.
Good question X. I think it’ll be $135M over six. A bit of a gamble, but much less injury history than others on the market. He seems to be on a Sherzer path. I think it’s one of the few free agent – TOR arms I’d like my Brew Crew to be in on, but that simply isn’t a small market club gamble. Gotta be Yanks or Philly. Crew seems more likely to use the trade route…
MLBTR predicted 6/129, so Darvish’s deal is certainly a possibility.
No way the Nats sign him with the Yankees and Phillies in the mix unless they plan to overpay. Going off the big contracts they have signed the last few years there will be a ton of deferred money in the deal. I can’t speak for Corbin but I would think players would prefer not to complicate their contracts with deferred money. Imagine how difficult it would be to trade Scherzer right now. He only has 3 years left on his contract but he is still owed $150m. So unless they are going to give Corbin a major overpay then he will go elsewhere. I am not sure the Yankees are willing to give him the years he wants. So, my guess would be the Phillies or possibly a dark horse that comes out of nowhere like Arizona did for Greinke a few years ago. I could see Milwaukee making a play for him. With their non-tenders they could sign Corbin and a decent middle infielder (Daniel Descalso makes sense) and still have an opening day payroll under $110m.
Problem with Philly is they are shooting for Harper and Machado while Corbin is expected to sign first. Not sure if ANY pitcher gets six years after Darish last season. I’m saying 5 most at $22.5m max per. Then again what do we or in this case I really know?
Xab, I for one expect Corbett to be in pinstripes and his talking to others is more or less to set his price.
Yankees will ink Corbin 6 years 125 million
Corbin will settle 3-4 75mill…one good year doesn’t mean he’s grienke
Holland definitely needs to stay in SF. The ballpark just completely fits his style of pitching. He’s a good no.5 to have while we wait for more pitching to develop.
Definitely agree there. He even suffered from a pretty high BAbip at home this year too if I remember right, so a little better luck and his home splits would be even better.
I think if you asked Corbin (and a lot of other people) entering this offseason, the likeliest destination is New York which still could land him with a competitive offer.
That being said, I feel Philly will make an offer he simply can’t turn down and he’ll end up there.
This seems reasonable. Ever since the Phillies’ owner came out and basically admitted they’ll be spending stupid amounts of money, I’ve expected them to significantly overpay for a few different guys.
I’m leaning Philly too, but only because he’s been an NL pitcher from the start. Who in their right mind after having moderately good success pitching would want to jump into the firestorm known as the AL East? Especially with that extra batter in the lineup. But not saying he couldn’t do it. Maybe someone has the time to dig up his stats from interleague only. Especially the east teams.
Why the Phils over the Nationals?
Since they moved to DC, and before that, I’ve been waiting for this franchise to win it all. Many thought they could do that …. and still do. But last year was just mind boggling. I’m pretty sure they’ll be top of division most of the year. But every year it’s a let down with that team. Lots of excitement and they they fizzle. I just get a feeling the Phillies will surprise us all and have a special team ….. plus they have lots of money.
So there’s my prediction & I’m sure I’ll be wrong.
Corbin’s a Yankee unless somebody offers him 200 mill. He’s not worth more than 120. He is just off 1 1/2 seasons of good work.
If somebody offered Pat Corbin 150MM and the yanks are offering 100-120 I can tell you where Corbin is not going. He wants to be a Yankee but their offer is going to have to be competitive. From Cashman’s comments it appears they’re going to be but I’m sure he has his limits too. Don’t expect a serious hometown discount.
The Yankees have been burned by every pitching contract signed for more than 5 years. I think he goes to the team that gives him the length he wants as opposed to AAV. The teams reportedly that are highest on him all have deep pockets and will offer similar AAV. I think the Yankees hold at 5 years and the Phillies sign him for 6.
I think CC was a good sign. He had those three down years (2013-2015), but with the extension, etc, he’s provided almost 30 WAR, over half of that the first 3 years, but that is to be expected.
I like WAR as a top side analysis tool, and I don’t believe applying $9 mil per WAR is a universal value indicator for all teams, but for a team like the Yanks it is, because they are trying to win in the postseason every year.
Mussina’s seven year deal certainly was a good one too.
I think fans need to look at these deals as underpaying the player the first few years (hopefully) and overpaying at the end. The owners are spreading out the cost of the player over a longer term to save money up front and hopefully get more value than expected at the end of the deal if the player over performs.
ditto
Tanaka has been worth it to this point
Once the Corbin domino falls, the pitching market will fall into place soon. I am certain that the Winter Meetings will be one of the busiest offseason periods ever.
only with trades….teams will run the markets yet again this year. predictions will be lower trust me
Padres would have to give Eovaldi that 5th year or significantly more AAV to get him to turn down another shot at a WS by resigning with the Red Sox. Would 5/$77.5 million be enough to land him?
There’s NO doubt Kluber is the prize this winter. I mean, 13M for a guy who given 200 quality innings for the past FIVE years? Cy Young guy? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????
And he has two affordable team options. ARE YOU FOR REAL???
Otherwise, you wind up committing 120M to Corbin, who alternates between very good and very “meh”. Or you can pay 60M to Eovoldi based on one game
Or something like 3/60 to Kuechel, whose train is very close to leaving the station. Or empty the farm for Thor, and wait for the sure-to-happen six trips to the 10DL. Or worse,
The worst that’s going to happen with Kluber is that the arm starts to tire. So it does. So what. At the end of the year, you bid him a fond adieu; no harm, no foul. (And BTW, given his mechanics, it ain’t likely).
Not to mention the guy’s a throwback bulldog. I’ll take him over Corbin (who may be a NL guy; ya I know, D-back park is tough; rest of division is easy). Or Nate, just for the physical concerns vis a vis the money he wants. And then there’s Dallas…nice guy, throws a baseball as hard as Bill Lee…that’s Bill Lee NOW.
It really is not even close. Give the tribe what they want; go to bed, content in the knowledge you just got a top 5 pitcher…for PEANUTS. There’s about 5 prospects I wouldn’t trade for Corey…that’s guys like Vlad Jr. If I don’t have one of those guys, anybody is fair game.
The rest of your argument is pretty conclusively valid, but because of various escalators in his contract for Cy Young finishes and whatnot, I think he’s actually getting $17-18 million or so next season. It’s a minor correction, and he’s still going to provide plenty of surplus value, but it’s worth mentioning anyway.
But yeah, as an Indians fan I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to expect the moon and then some in exchange for him.
They can expect all they want. I honestly don’t think anyone will be willing to offer enough to make it happen. Not that I disagree with Kluber’s value, just don’t see any team in “win now” mode that is going to offer enough
It depends on the definition of “moon and back” and what the Indians truly looking for? An major league outfielder? Bullpen help? Or prospects?
The Braves have a lot of pieces that could make sense…the Brewers as well..Do either of them really involved? Are the Yankees ok trading Andujar? What else would they be willing to include?
There are fits, but ultimately it depends on what the Indians want in return and are teams willing to approach that?
My thought, and really, that we’re even equivocating Kluber with the FAs and Thor and stuff is MORONIC, is that Cleveland will want to pair (in a DiPoto way) either Kipnis or EE up with Kluber, and seriously dent his payroll. That’s going to limit the return.
But in that division, the Indians can do what they want and they know it. Plus, while their farm isn’t strong, it is pitching-centric.
Again, just discussing Corey Kluber (with apologies to my underestimating his salary) with those other guys is so far out of whack…..I’m a lot more confident that Kluber produces something like 15 wins and a 3.25 ERA (and all the periphs) than I am that either of the Cy Young award winners, any of the FAs, and about 95% of the staring pitchers in MLB. He ain’t Mad Max……….but he ain’t far away. And Max is in the “easy” league.
The Indians are looking for MLB ready help with team control. Corner Outfield and Bullpen are their biggest need. They are not looking for an all prospect trade. Prospects may be part of the trade, but not the whole trade.
I don’t think a Kluber trade happens in a vacuum; i.e. they may piggyback a bad contract with him. If so, they may take just prospects, then look to FA to fill their needs. With Ramirez and Frankie in the middle of the order, you’re looking for spare parts, not impact guys.
And bullpen guys can always be gotten on July 31.
We spent all last year talking about team-friendly Chris Archer’s contract is, and whose Chris Archer?; a #3 who, with some luck (Searage maybe?) is a #2. If Archer’s contract is “friendly”, I have no idea how to describe Kluber’s. Dollars vis a vis performance isn’t even close between Archer and Kluber. And Archer brought back a pretty good haul for Tampa, if you’re into the prospect thing.
I don’t think the braves match up that well with Indians if Austin Riley isn’t included. I can’t imagine Cleveland has serious interest in the braves pitching prospects if they had the choice. You could always flip those prospects later for what you really need but it’s not a great fit. Maybe if they do or plan on doing some more rotation cleaning out the next year or two.
If I’m the Padres I keep going hard for Syndergaard and if that doesn’t work out I would keep checking other options that haven’t been mentioned a lot. Maybe something like bringing Strasburg. I would not roll the dice on Eovaldi, just too big of a risk for a team and a fan base that can ill afford another bad contract.
I just looked into Stephen Strasburg and he is owed 138 million over the next 5 seasons with Washington. If they want more flexibility to spend on either Harper or possibly Corbin, they may want to move Strasburg now.
I wonder what the Padres would have to give up to get him, it might be realistic if the Padres do indeed eat his whole salary.
If you think Eovaldi on a contract that’s probably half the size of Strasburg is too big of a risk I just don’t understand your logic. You can pencil stras in for a nice 2 months on the shelf annually.
Name one pitcher who had sustained success as a starter after two Tommy John surgeries
Eovaldi is plenty risky in his own regard I’m not going to argue that but doubling the financial commitment for an also injury prone pitcher doesn’t mitigate any risk. There’s no logic in that.
Eovaldi is a reliever by the start of 2020. It has been written.
And if Eovaldi is a reliever the contract wouldn’t be half as bad as if you needed to do the same with stras because of the cash difference. A high end reliever could plausibly be worth a 4/64. A high end reliever would never get a 5/138. That does nothing for the logic of his statement. Stras has the same amount if not more risk due to the difference in salary.
Eovaldi might get more than that proposal of 4/64, and the Padres would obviously combat Strasburg’s contract with Myers plus prospects. Myers 70 million left would make an interesting case. He could replace Harper in right and the Nationals can sign Corbin or Eovoldi with the savings.
Myers deal would leave about 65 million left on Strasburg over 5 years which would be a steal. Washington would get a couple nice pieces to boot. Maybe Myers, Lucchesi, Yates for Strasburg.
Nats wouldn’t want Harper. They are already set in the OF with Eaton, Robles and Soto.
And another issue with Strasburg is that he has opt-outs after the next two seasons which means that whoever he is traded do doesn’t have the upside of him producing surplus value on his contract and then them having him signed for below market value. Myers could still theoretically deliver on the hype and be worth $22.5m a year.
Johnny Venters…2018 nl comeback player of the year.
Venters made one start this year. One. You call that “sustained success?”
Venters is a reliever and this would be TJ #3.
SMH, Where are the angels mentioned, nothing about trying for anyone but woulda, coulda, shoulda coming out of them with more cheap seat talent pick ups. Yo Billy make some trades darn it.
What trades would make you happy for LAA? The only 2 players they can move who eat a significant chunk of payroll without eating significant money is Mike Trout or Andrelton Simmons. All your money is tied up into underwater assets. They’ve got their feet stuck in the mud. Theres really nothing you can do.
I know what the Angels are gonna do. Spend the next two years floundering around .500 and trying to extend Trout. Fail to extend him but never trade him. Then two years from now when he is a free agent, give him a low-ball offer. Then when he signs elsewhere tell the Angels fanbase that they tried but he jumped ship and try to make him out to be the bad guy.
Rooster, you’re cruel.. “Middle of the pack” ….a fate worse than tanking….
Are the Indians giving up on WS aspirations? By all means deal Kluber, but seems like a bad decision.
Cleveland needs corner outfield and bullpen help to best contend. They have no money to add to the payroll so they plan to trade from a strength to improve weaknesses. I expect their payroll to stay the same.
Granted the Indians pitching has failed in the playoffs in recent years, the lineup has been a complete disaster in the postseason. Simply put, they had no chance even if the pitching was on par. Adding a quality young, controllable bat gives them a boost while their rotation will still be strong.
I would go 4/$55 for Eovaldi. Think that’s more than fair for him (May even be considered too high money for him), but he’s a very solid SP who could even be a #2 on some bad teams
I think the Red Sox look to resign Eovaldi and probably one reliever this year. If Eovaldi gets to expensive then they may switch to a couple of relievers. Either way with projected arbitration numbers I think they start the year with a 235 million in payroll. They also have a couple of internal options that will get every chance to make the pen out of spring training. My guess is Durbin Feltman will be in the Red Sox pen and Travis Lakins is also going to be given every chance. DD will see what he has and if it looks like Boston is in contention again at the deadline then he will make a key trade or two. I know they want to get Eovaldi back but if the bidding gets stupid then so be it move on. Anything north of 4/70 and DD moves on is my guess.
It is written frequently that the Mets need to add a centerfielder and an infielder. How about the Braves trading Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte, their two best defensive players to the Mets for Jacob deGrom and Edwin Diaz.
I am not a Mets or Braves fan but I hope you are joking and not being serious.
You can’t be serious.
You must be a Braves fan..
The “early market” may be driven by Corbin, but Eovaldi, with his injury history, can’t possibly think he’s in that dollar range, can he?
“Cleveland org will likely wait until there has been some movement at the upper levels of free agency before moving Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer, though it’s not entirely clear why that’d necessarily be the case.”
My guess is they are actually waiting on guys like Harper and Machado rather than the FA pitchers. If the Dodgers sign Harper it would make someone like Verdugo that much more expendable.
If I’m the Padres, I’m staying the hell away from the pitching market and going after Harper now and Arenado in 2019. Their rotation in 2020 should be solid, and they could always work a trade to acquire another pitcher if need be. They aren’t quite ready for 2019, and pitchers are just too risky.
Why would the Padres want Harper? They have too many OF’s as it is.
If you don’t know the answer to your question, you are on the wrong board. There is no OF on the Padres or in their system that is even in the same category as Harper. Try NFL.com
If the Padres are willing to spend that much on a free agent, it makes more sense to go after Machado. He would actually fill a need on the diamond.
Everybody thinks I’m crazy but If the Dodgers sign Harper I could see them deciding to hang onto Verdugo play him in Centerfield and trade Cody Bellinger even up in a one for one deal for Cory Kluber.
I keep hoping the Nats trade for Corey Kluber too. He would give the Nats a hell of a group of starting pitchers. If the Nats are serious about trying to win a World Series then they should get Kluber as well.
Nats do not have the trade capital to land Kluber they have 2 controllable High End guys that fit what the Indians are looking for to headline a Kluber deal and that is Soto or Robles and both are untouchable other than that the pantry is empty.
Angels have nothing in the pen…Soria is the answer ??? Oh boy