Of the pricey veterans the Red Sox reportedly considered trading last month, they “pushed” center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. harder than anyone else, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic hears (subscription required). However, the Red Sox couldn’t find a deal to their liking for JBJ, Rosenthal notes. The Diamondbacks were the only team publicly connected to Bradley around that time, though there were conflicting reports about whether they were truly interested in him. As of now, it seems the soon-to-be 29-year-old Bradley will once again man center in Boston in 2019, his second-last second of arbitration eligibility. Bradley will make a projected $7.9MM during the upcoming season.
Here’s more from Rosenthal:
- The report that free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal rejected a four-year, $60MM proposal from the Mets earlier this winter is “essentially accurate,” Rosenthal writes. While the Mets didn’t submit a formal offer to Grandal, the two sides did discuss a deal in the $55MM to $60MM neighborhood, per Rosenthal, who adds the 30-year-old was aiming for a contract worth closer to $65MM. The Mets balked at Grandal’s request, though, and then signed the No. 2 catcher available, Wilson Ramos. There’s now “doubt” Grandal’s next contract will approach what the Mets were willing to give him, Rosenthal relays.
- More from Rosenthal on the Mets, who – in need of starting depth – are considering left-hander Derek Holland and righty Josh Tomlin in free agency. Holland easily had the stronger year of the two in 2018, which figures to make him the more difficult hurler to sign. He should be able to net a major league contract this winter, whereas the Mets are hoping to land someone on a non-guaranteed pact, Rosenthal reports. With that in mind, Tomlin may be a more realistic option, as he endured a miserable 2018 with the Indians. However, the 34-year-old was successful at times from 2014-17 under ex-Tribe pitching coach and current Mets manager Mickey Callaway.
- Before righty Anibal Sanchez signed a two-year, $19MM guarantee with the Nationals last month, the Athletics made him a three-year offer, according to Rosenthal. It’s unclear how much the A’s were willing to pay Sanchez, but Rosenthal points out that the proximity of Washington, D.C., to the the 34-year-old’s South Florida home helped tip the scale in the Nationals’ favor. Further, the Nats train in West Palm Beach, Fla., while the A’s are headquartered in Mesa, Ariz. Based on his bounce-back 2018 in Atlanta, Sanchez would’ve provided a much-needed upgrade in Oakland, which hasn’t improved its rotation this offseason.
- Southpaw Dallas Keuchel stands as the most decorated starter remaining on the open market, but if the Astros had their way, he wouldn’t be available. The Astros offered Keuchel a five-year, $90MM extension early in the 2016 campaign, but he turned it down, according to Rosenthal. At that point, Keuchel was a 28-year-old coming off an AL Cy Young-winning season. Now 31, Keuchel hasn’t been quite as effective since his career-best campaign, though he remains an above-average starter and should rake in a high-paying multiyear deal before the offseason is out. Having made $22.35MM in salaries since he rejected the Astros’ offer, Keuchel will need to sign for $67.65MM as a free agent in order to match what Houston offered him, Rosenthal notes.
Will Grandal fire his agent for his Mets’ blunder?
One has to assume poor advice,
Why reject Four-years 55M-60M..? Lol
Does he share the same agent as Keuchel?
Perhaps, he should fire himself. He is the one who turned it down.
+1
How much is enough?
You hire the agent for advise because an agent knows the business side of baseball better than your average player does. It’s the agent’s responsibility to achieve whatever objective the player wants. If the Grandal camp wanted $65 million but say $58 million was offered, its the agents job to read the market and strongly encourage the player to take the deal if they feel that’s the best they could get.
Never assume anything.
He should fire HIMSELF before he fires his agent. After all it’s HIS CAREER and ULTIMATELY it’s HIS CHOICE/DECISION. His agent is ONLY an ADVISER, not a puppet master.
Players get bad advice all the time. Agents always think there is more to get.
It’s the agent’s fault for reading the market incorrectly and it’s Grandal’s fault for turning it down.
He didn’t turn down an offer….
Simple answer. He didn’t want to play for the Mets. His agent was fishing so he could get yasmani’s price up and when there were no other offers in the range he had to walk away.
I don’t think that’s right. Has any FA contract negotiation in the last four years worked out this way? Who was the last FA to play footsie with a major league club, with no intention of signing, but only to drive up the market? Can any one name any one player who did this successfully?
If this was the strategy suggested by Grandal’s agent, he should be barred from the league.
Lol, alot of them
Yu Darvish last year.
Bernie Williams
Who’s on first?
What’s on second!/?
I was always a Josh Tomlin fan, but that Li’l Cowboy’s pitching skill has ridden off into the sunset.
Yeah, same. By all accounts, he’s a great guy and he’s made the most of his skills, but his pitching career is pretty much done. He’ll be a great coach, but it’s probably the end of the line for him on the mound.
The Sox have been trying to deal JBJ. for years.
I’m sure their asking price above what hes worth.
How dare they try and get a good return.
How dare think they can even get anyone better than him.
White Sox have always wanted JBJ…
Now they have engel. A younger, cost controlled all glove centerfielder.
I’ll make that trade. Engel for Bradley Jr.
Where did you get that idea? I don’t overrate his bat, but he’s pretty valuable to the Red Sox in a lot of non-box score ways. And if they traded him, who plays CF?
Yeah, and it was one of the worst moves ever, lol
What is his value in these non box score ways?
Package JBJ with Rusney Castillo.
I wonder what a JBJ contract looks like after arbitration. Terrible hitter but A+ defender
He’s not a terrible hitter! He’s not great but it’s not like he’s billy Hamilton. It wouldn’t be crazy to expect him to hit .250 with a .350 OBP and 15 HR’s/SB’s on a year in, year out basis while providing above average DF in CF. Good player just not an all star like some of my Bostonian brethren have made him out to be
He has hit .250 once in 7 seasons, he has never posted a .350 OBP and he has hit over 15 homers twice. He also has regressed in homers in back to back years. Bradley IS a below average hitter.
So 123 it would be crazy for Joshua to expect the numbers that he detailed. Just goes to show you, huh?
He’s a streaky hitter, you could get months of 280 hitting followed by months of sub 200 hitting. You just don’t know what you’re going to get on offense.
However his defense is phenomenal, and is one of the best defensive CFs in the game.
Months of .280 hitting?
Here’s his BA and OPS month by month:
Jul2017 .231/.596
Aug2017 .254/.770
Sep/Oct2017 .172/.517
Mar/Apr2018 .195/.600
May2018 .203/.599
Jun2018 .202/.653
That’s a full year of stink. He’d be a great addition to a team that needs outfield defense and already has enough offense at other positions. The guy is THE best defensive OF’er in the game. Not just because he can catch anything anywhere, but his arm is one of a kind. Check out the video of him throwing a baseball from home plate into the centerfield bleachers at Fenway, and it was on the fly.
Grandal is gonna end up signing a one year deal
Agree, probably a one year with the Dodgers or the Astros if they want to give up that draft pick.
No chance the Astros give up the pick for only one season of control. I still think he could land in Houston on something like 3/45.
Rosenthal is a complete jerk, and is a brown nosing Evil Empire supporter.
Mad Libs, anyone ?
“______________ is a complete jerk, and is a brown nosing Evil Empire supporter.”
Go !
Jan Levenson
No Gould?
Rosenthal in 2011 wrote an article saying the Yankees should dump Jeter and pick up Elvis Andrus He said Jeter was done Jeter hit 316 the next year and scored 99 runs. That’s your brown nosing Evil Empire supporter
And Rosenthal was technically right. Andrus had nearly double Jeter’s WAR in 2012. BA and runs are two of the more meaningless offensive stats out there. Jeter’s range in 2012 was also significantly diminished negating a large amount of his offensive production. You can make a strong sentimental argument for keeping the captain but based solely on production Andrus was the more productive player at those stages of their respective careers.
The point was that Rosenthaj is not a brown nosing Evil Empire supporter and whether or not Andrus was better itproves my point. Rosenthalwill will say whatever he wants not just suck up to Yankees.
Runs?
I’m now picturing Kenny Rosenthal, in his glass walled MLB Network office, listening to Rage Against the Machine while he checks his text messages.
If he turned this down, he’s an idiot. If his agent turned it down, he’s a criminal
Agents can’t turndown offers without the players consent.
They actually can – a player can say ‘don’t come to me unless we get x or more’. In this case, I find that extremely unlikely… but there are definitely cases where agents don’t talk to their clients before turning down an offer. Sometimes – as alluded above – the offer isn’t even really ‘extended’, it’s more like ‘would you be open to a deal in this price range?’
Greedy people will be greedy, whether it’s players or owners or agents
That would the consent to turn it down. So no, an agent will not turn down an offer without the players consent.
Exactly
And the agent did not have the ok to accept. I know that it’s hard for the Cano era Mets fans to accept that some players will not sign with them.
And get this—that was a crazy offer from an inexperienced and desperate Wagon Wheel. He’s been breathing easier knowing that the contract would have hung his head with cheapo Fred.
Some players? I think its most.
Cano was just desperate, and from ny so he ok the deal.
Most other players want nothing to do with playing there.
You get the hassle of NY without the benitits.
Probably why they had to offer that, severe overpay
I love it when players end up turning down what proves to be the better offer because they think they can get more. That strategy has backfired quite often in the last few years. I give credit for those players who get a reasonable number and run with it. Free Agency isn’t what it used to be.
MLBPA needs to convince the Commissioners office to allow players over 30 to take something a bit stronger than coffee to keep it up for 162 games.
Something that works for longer than four hours?
The agent was using the Mets to bid up the market, plain and simple. He had ZERO interest in playing for them. I know it’s a shock to Mets fans.
Interesting to me, seeing that $67.65MM figure.
A 4 year 68 million contract seems (coincidentally) like pretty close to what he’ll end up settling for. That’s my guess anyway, at this stage of the off-season.
It’s not entirely clear the way it was presented but I think it would have to be a 3 year 68 million contract for Keuchel to get what he was offered by the Astros.
You are correct – 3/68 since it would have included 2017 and 2018. I think he’ll get around 4/80 which makes him come out ahead in the long run
Give him 4/69. That should make him feel better.
I don’t see Grandal getting anywhere close to that number of years or dollar total. If he didn’t come with the draft pick compensation possibly but I can see at most 3/45.
This comment is about keuchel not grandal
If that were the contract I don’t think teams would be wringing their hands right now over him.
I’d have to imagine Grandal can’t be happy with turning down that offer. Someone gave him bad advice wether it was the agent or it was Grandal himself turning it down. Really not a good call on their part. I highly doubt he will see another offer like that and might even have to settle for a one year deal. Dodgers are interested in bringing him back on a one year deal if they can’t trade for one.
Pretty sure its rare that the player himself would turn down the offer, his agent is the one you guys need to be pointing fingers at.
The player always has the final say.
Yeah, no. Not letting him off the hook that easily.
” the proximity of Washington, D.C., to the the 34-year-old’s South Florida home helped tip the scale in the Nationals’ favor…” Coral Gables is over 1,000 miles from Washington DC.
Still closer than Oakland…
Maybe he had an aversion to getting raw sewage all over his cleats whenever he took the field ?
Time zone is also a huge factor! North to south is much easier on the mind and the body than east to west (or vice versus of course)
Dumb comment
I’m sorry, I just don’t agree w/ the time zones making a difference. Especially for professional athletes.
I mean they hold ST in Florida, and well let’s be honest here, who thinks majority of mlb players drive home? That flight is basically a 2 hour flight give or take. Now granted college team don’t have the same accommodations, but…..Just going out on a limb bc I am from LA and do visited quite frequently, and that flight is closer to 5+ hours. So geography wise Wash is closer to FL than it is OAK and so on so forth.
1 hour 30 min flight vs a 6 to 6 1/2 hour flight.
“I passed on $60 million because I wanted $65 million so watch me sign for $45 million…”
“So I made $15 or so million less in the contract and went to the post season every year. Money is important to me however I’m also in the game to win. I just didn’t see that at this stage in my career I wanted to play for a losing team like the Mets. I agreed for my agent to fish there to get the price up. Turns out that really good teams would only pay around $45 million. Seems like the difference is like paying for a life sentence.”
Grandal did the Mets a huge favor lmao
The guy is a little overrated. If he wasn’t on Boston, where they can afford a light slump like him in the lineup, got to think he wouldn’t be on a major league roster
Lol.. he’s one of the best CF in baseball. And was the MVP of AL championship series..is projected at anout $8M arbitration…and you dont think he could crack the Marlins roster as a bench player..
The same way that sports writer who is not going to vote for Mariano Rivera should lose his right to vote on Hall of Fame inductions.. you should lose your right to even post or be allowed to express an opinion on anything having to do with major league baseball.
Easy TedYaz. He made a comment about JBJ and his erratic hitting, and you want him banned from commenting? What’s next, does he get an electric chair for speaking negatively about Trot Nixon? Maybe teasing Jeff Frye is life imprisonment. Either way, your comment was so dumb your punishment should be wearing Yankees gear at Fenway for a week.
Honestly, JBJ could probably replace Inder in CF for Atlanta.
Fun fact: if Keuchel signs a $50M contract, he’ll be playing for lots of money
From a Giants perspective, I’d happily take JBJ, say for Tyler Beede, Jalen Miller?
I’d also take a shot at Keuchel, ground ball machine with a gold glove Infield, most likely going to lose MadBum next year, with Cueto and Shark being unknowns, also not having many SP prospects in the high minors. If we can get him for 4/60ish then I’d probably be all for it
Shocked the Mets apparently were going so high on Grandel. Their switch to a less expensive catcher will be another reminder to free agents not to overplay their hand should Grandel become another Moose. There is a risk…
Particularly the QO free agents. They should be the ones setting the market since they have less leverage due to the pick attached.
Ramos if he can avoid dl will make the nym very happy Grandal turned them down.
There’s a part of me that would love to see the Braves sign Grandal. But then I remember how the Braves let McCann go and didn’t extend him at the same age and that was definitely the right move to make.
I know the two of them are completely different but you should have a certain since of hesitation signing a catcher going into their 30’s.
Interesting that Grandal is sitting around waiting for a better offer than 4/60… Dallas is waiting around for a deal better than the 5/80 offered in 2016 and so on and so on. I truly hope Harper only gets a good offer from the Nats and Machado’s offer is for much less than 10 yrs and below 30. My hope is Super Stars and the teams that drafted and developed them get some benefit to signing LT extensions. Manny should forever be an Oriole. Harper a Nat Judge a NYY and Betts a RedSox but the teams they hold hostage should not be forced to pay 15,20 or even 25% of the 206,000,000 Luxury Tax Cap. Who does it benefit when a team Pays 15% for 1 of the 25 players on their roster. Not the team, Not the Fans, maybe the player but only financially. If the RedSox sign Betts for 10/350 Xsnder 8/200 Sale 5/180 w DP24 at 31 per year JDM 21 Nate 17 Pedey at 22 That is 176,000,000 for 7 of the 25 players leaving 30 million to keep 18 players on the field. My point. You can keep a core group together wo a benefit for reducing tax implications for Home Grown Talent or Trades made w homegrown talent where the player is w a team for 3 or more years b4 a FA contract is due should count less towards a tax than FA signings. So it would benefit Boston in my case to keep Xander Devers Benny JBJ Betrs Vaz Swihart ERod Sale Wright Barnes Kimbrel Pedey long term over JDM Price Nate or Rick. In my World a 10/300 for homegrown talent would count 10/150 or 50% for tax and penalties. Where a 7/223 for Price would count 7/334 or 150% of the FA contract. This would make keeping guys like Betts around to build a WSC contender w him and JBJ XANDER DEVERS BENNY VAZ SWI PEDEY EROD SALE WRIGHT as a core that will count less towards penalties encouraging improvements on drafting player development and teams where players start and end careers so a 250 dollar Jersey doesnt end up as the CF for the NYY. We love our players. We spend a decade w them before they are either resigned or shipped off. I rather win the 2018 WSC w a shot to contend for 4 or 5 more years then watch age impact out team. We can then watch as Casas Fielder Darwinzon and Groome start to become the next generation of Young ReDSox home grown talent w 2027 as their time ro start a World Series match to win in the biggest baseball city in the USA. Baseball and Legends are born in Boston.