There was a comment about Harper’s ego. I think over the last few years he has gone from petulant to passionate. It used to be I couldn’t stand him. Now I’d like for him to be on my team. Manny still rubs me the wrong way.
I’ve noticed a similar development. Nice seeing another Braves fan say this. The Nationals club house is still poisonous after that whole Shawn Kelly incident and how they reacted to him. Sherzer and Dolittle almost got into a physical altercation with Kelly and so did Rizzo..THE GM! When your GM is even a hot head you know you have a mess. But nothing but crickets from Harper all this year. In fact I can’t remember how long it’s been since the last Harper incident.
Quick correction- it was Madson and Scherzer, not Doolittle. And from all articles I’ve quickly read, they didn’t get close to being physical. Just with Rizzo.
“I don’t think they will.” “How much better is Gio than Jason Vargas anyway?” “Little bit”
That answer makes you sound like a Mets’ homer. Vargas is a DFA candidate on most teams, but still on Mets cuz 8M in 2019, plus 2M buyout to buyout 2020.
Player A Turns 36 this month
2018: 5.77 ERA in 20 starts —
Player B (Entering age-33 season)
2018: 4.21 ERA in 32 starts —
Nobody was saying Goodbye isn’t the better choice. The point was more like how much of an upgrade would he be? I looked at the same stats you and when you look at the last 3 or 4 years of production, Gio doesn’t look like a massive upgrade.
“I find the whole idea of betting on this really interesting. What if you’re a reporter and you land the scoop, and it’s the Nats? Is it illegal to put $10K down on that?”
and now we know why the reporters always shout each other out for credit, its boasting about how much they’ve won by betting on the guy signing right before its announced. Must be making a killing! LOL
Before free agency the 1970’s and the player draft was put in 1965, the Yankees gave the biggest signing bonuses to amateur players and they got the best prospects and won all the time. I like competitive balance.
I think teams should be able to trade their draft picks. That would speed up rebuilds and help small market teams get better value for their good players when they get too expensive.
great point; I’ve been in support of this for quite some time now. It doesn’t seem all that complicated to implement and it just fits well as a supplementary measure to keep the game more competitive
Why are they unable to do that now by just listing them as a PTBNL but how would that help them rebuild? A 1st round top 10 pick in baseball doesn’t usually help turn franchises around the same way they do in the other 3 major sports. Even if that player is the next Harper, Trout or Manny it still takes several other pieces to make a 60-75 game winner into a 90+ winner.
And small market teams have the ability to trade their soon to be expense players for prospects now. Some might say that trading for prospects already performing should give you a “safer” bet of success at the mlb level than a player one has to bet on via the draft and ensuing years of development. Look at the 1st round picks in the 2015-2018 drafts. Nearly most of them have debuted in the majors yet and the two or three that have, haven’t contributed much. On the other hand a lot of rebuild trades have harvested quite a few everyday mlb players that have produced immediately at the mlb level (Torres, Wendel, Yarborough just in 2018).
Instead of trading their studs for questionable “talent” last year, the Marlins could have gone for prospects and/or multiple picks for each player. They could have dominated the 2018/2019/2020 drafts.
wow, Tim, I’m quite surprised you chose the Rangers as a team you are most disappointed in for not trying… they could very easily act like 12 other teams in the league and sign no-one, but they’re not; the names are not big and sexy and exciting, but are at least JD is doing SOMETHING. They don’t expect to compete but they are still active in building some kind of roster to push forward from a disappointing 2018. They are signing a load of guys to low-risk contracts that could be flipped for prospect depth with a strong first half, which is what more teams should be doing. A cobbled-together rotation of Lynn, Hammel, Miller is not going to replicate the success of the A’s strategy last year, but the idea is the same. I disagree with you on this one and actually applaud Texas for just being active and making small improvements, which is more than we can say for any team in the embarrassing AL Central.
Not sure if gambling counts as insider trading before the courts, but before one’s journalistic peers, that action would be considered so unethical as to be career-ending.
I keep hearing people say the Yanks should be favorites to sign Manny and then totally dismiss the notion of them signing Harper sighting the question “Where would he play”?
Why does Manny at SS or 3B make more sense than Harper considering the mix of IF options we have vs OF options?
IF
1B-Voit or Bird
2B-Torres/Lemahieu/Wade
SS-Torres/Tulo/Didi when healthy
3B-Andujar
Gardner is on decline and while a decent LF capable of a solid 2-2.5 WAR he’s better suited to be an oft used 4th OF, and main back up CF. Considering the recent inability of Ells to stay healthy and Frazier recovering from concussions makes it risky to assume either will be available as everyday guys.
Signing Manny and bringing back Didi means either trading Andujar or moving him to a different position, most likely 1B which then displaces Voit and Bird. Voit deserves to show what he can do. Bird will likely start in AAA.
Signing Harper is simple. You move him to LF which should limit any defensive liabilities. You push Gardner to back up OF and Frazier can start at AAA. You then rotate Harper, Stanton and Judge between the corners and DH. Why doesn’t that make more sense? And then couple with the fact that we need a LF bat (since Gardner and Hicks are the only ones until Didi returns) and he has immense lefty pull power that should play well in YS and his knack for posting a high OBP (lifetime .388) he seems to be a better fit to sandwich in between Judge and Stanton. Manny’s right handed power is redundant in this lineup with Judge, Stanton, Sanchez, Voit, Andujar and Torres.
Why people say our OF is crowded with our current in-house LF options being Gardner, Ells and Frazier is mind-boggling. Yet we have plenty of options in the INF even allowing for the frailty of Tulo.
Put aside “odds” for a second. Yanks have four likely stars, when healthy, in Andujar/Didi/LeMehaiu/Torres to man 3 spots. The Yanks have 3 iffy options for LF thus far in the guys I mentioned previously. I’ve heard it suggested that Harper can play 1B he came to NY. Why wouldn’t he be able to play LF? Worse case scenario, Judge has shown a willingness to play LF if Harper were acquired (stated by him in a recent interview) and Stanton and Harper can share RF/DH duties (and spell Judge in LF for rest or DH duty). Stanton was considered a good/solid defensive RF when he was with Miami. He was placed as a DH because we have Judge. If Harper is amendable to a shorter term deal (6 years perhaps) I think he makes too much sense for the Yanks to attempt to sign.
Also,and this seldom brought up, signing Harper can protect the Yanks should Stanton decide to opt out after 2019. Much easier to let him walk knowing Harper is there to pick up slack. Meaning, we can still be a 200+ home run team if Stanton depart from NY. We would likely be what we were last year, a 250+ team.
Yankee Stadium and a couple other AL east teams have small outfields, you might be able to use Harper in center. He wouldn’t be a gold glover, but he could be passable. You always have LF/RF/DH to rotate the three. You could make it work.
OK, can someone answer me why Rusney Castillo is in the minors? He’s 31 and had back to back excellent AAA seasons. He’s making over 10 mil a year. Trade him for some relief help at least… Giants are looking for outfielders… Indians… someone could use him.
Rusney Castillo is grandfather claused under old CBA
He was the last and wont count against Boston lux tax, if they dont call him up. (will cost more, since they deep in tax with record Bosox payroll) quite frankly, proved they don’t need him, by winning WS lol.
In the new CBA, they prevented this by making them count against the team’s luxury tax, whether or not they’re banished to Triple-AAA.
Hope I was able to help! I don’t know how much he would cost Bosox —in addition to his salary) if they called him up.
A team like the Tigers with plenty of cap space and a need could send Greene and Hardy as bullpen help. Tigers might ask for a prospect too… maybe Casas? Tigers desperately need position player prospects.
Yeah it’s unfortunate situation, cuz by all accounts, he’s mashing AAA. Champion team, prob #1 payroll in 2019, I think he will spend 2019 in Triple A again lol.
Rusney Castillo minor league stats:
2017 (AAA) 369PA .314 BA, 15 HR
2018 (AAA) 511 PA .319 BA, 5 HR
Stole 13+ SB each of past two years
20+ doubles each past 2 yrs (31 in 2018!)
Just a quick clarification, Arenado fired Scott Boras a few years ago. He is now represented by the Wasserman Sports Group. This is the same group of agents that negotiated Stanton’s record setting contract.
Manny and Harper are unsigned because they are over selling themselves. Teams don’t want to take on that much debt for ONE guy. They are just baseball players. If they would except a three-year contract and let the team make a decision on how good they are. Then the team can extend their contract. Harper did not have a good showing last year. Manny didn’t come through in the World Series. But for some reason they both think that they are the super stars who are going to have superstar potential for the next 10 years. I don’t know if it’s the players or their agents that is greedy. I think at this point I would change my agent. And ask for a three-year contract less money and show this team after three years how good I can be. then maybe they’ll give him an extension
There was a comment about Harper’s ego. I think over the last few years he has gone from petulant to passionate. It used to be I couldn’t stand him. Now I’d like for him to be on my team. Manny still rubs me the wrong way.
I’ve noticed a similar development. Nice seeing another Braves fan say this. The Nationals club house is still poisonous after that whole Shawn Kelly incident and how they reacted to him. Sherzer and Dolittle almost got into a physical altercation with Kelly and so did Rizzo..THE GM! When your GM is even a hot head you know you have a mess. But nothing but crickets from Harper all this year. In fact I can’t remember how long it’s been since the last Harper incident.
Quick correction- it was Madson and Scherzer, not Doolittle. And from all articles I’ve quickly read, they didn’t get close to being physical. Just with Rizzo.
As the founder of MLBTR you know I love ya, but…
“Chances of Gio gonzalez signing with the mets?”
“I don’t think they will.” “How much better is Gio than Jason Vargas anyway?” “Little bit”
That answer makes you sound like a Mets’ homer. Vargas is a DFA candidate on most teams, but still on Mets cuz 8M in 2019, plus 2M buyout to buyout 2020.
Player A Turns 36 this month
2018: 5.77 ERA in 20 starts —
Player B (Entering age-33 season)
2018: 4.21 ERA in 32 starts —
Player A is Jason Vargas.
Player B is Gio Gonzalez
He obviously had a terrible year last year but if you look past it they really don’t look that much different.
vargas. 13 years career war 16. 92-90 4.27era 1.31 whip 93 era + 9.2 h/9 2.7 bb/9 6.2 k/9
gonzalez 11 years 28.5 war. 127/97 3.69 era 1.31 whip 111era+ 8.1 h/9 3.8 bb/9 8.7 k/9
neither have thrown great in the playoffs
all in all i’d probably prefer my team have Gio. wouldn’t want him sniffing the playoff roster though
Nobody was saying Goodbye isn’t the better choice. The point was more like how much of an upgrade would he be? I looked at the same stats you and when you look at the last 3 or 4 years of production, Gio doesn’t look like a massive upgrade.
You’re wasting your time. He won’t respond to your valid points. Founder, ha.
L4 years WAR
vargas
.4
.5
3.8
-.3
gio
.9
6.4
1.5
.7
a founder of mlbrumors???? why are you “just” a poster vs a paid role since you are a founder? dummy
I’m saying him being founder of mlbtr, is why I love the guy and what makes me hesitant to critique any of his answers.
But I disagreed with Tim’s answer and could not distinguish his response from a Mets’ homer.
PS… I’m a student.
PS… nobody cares.
I second this.
The “nobody cares” part
“I find the whole idea of betting on this really interesting. What if you’re a reporter and you land the scoop, and it’s the Nats? Is it illegal to put $10K down on that?”
and now we know why the reporters always shout each other out for credit, its boasting about how much they’ve won by betting on the guy signing right before its announced. Must be making a killing! LOL
Before free agency the 1970’s and the player draft was put in 1965, the Yankees gave the biggest signing bonuses to amateur players and they got the best prospects and won all the time. I like competitive balance.
Agreed
I think teams should be able to trade their draft picks. That would speed up rebuilds and help small market teams get better value for their good players when they get too expensive.
great point; I’ve been in support of this for quite some time now. It doesn’t seem all that complicated to implement and it just fits well as a supplementary measure to keep the game more competitive
You could trade picks. It would be like trading a low level Minor League prospect. High level Minor League top prospects are the most valued.
Why are they unable to do that now by just listing them as a PTBNL but how would that help them rebuild? A 1st round top 10 pick in baseball doesn’t usually help turn franchises around the same way they do in the other 3 major sports. Even if that player is the next Harper, Trout or Manny it still takes several other pieces to make a 60-75 game winner into a 90+ winner.
And small market teams have the ability to trade their soon to be expense players for prospects now. Some might say that trading for prospects already performing should give you a “safer” bet of success at the mlb level than a player one has to bet on via the draft and ensuing years of development. Look at the 1st round picks in the 2015-2018 drafts. Nearly most of them have debuted in the majors yet and the two or three that have, haven’t contributed much. On the other hand a lot of rebuild trades have harvested quite a few everyday mlb players that have produced immediately at the mlb level (Torres, Wendel, Yarborough just in 2018).
Instead of trading their studs for questionable “talent” last year, the Marlins could have gone for prospects and/or multiple picks for each player. They could have dominated the 2018/2019/2020 drafts.
wow, Tim, I’m quite surprised you chose the Rangers as a team you are most disappointed in for not trying… they could very easily act like 12 other teams in the league and sign no-one, but they’re not; the names are not big and sexy and exciting, but are at least JD is doing SOMETHING. They don’t expect to compete but they are still active in building some kind of roster to push forward from a disappointing 2018. They are signing a load of guys to low-risk contracts that could be flipped for prospect depth with a strong first half, which is what more teams should be doing. A cobbled-together rotation of Lynn, Hammel, Miller is not going to replicate the success of the A’s strategy last year, but the idea is the same. I disagree with you on this one and actually applaud Texas for just being active and making small improvements, which is more than we can say for any team in the embarrassing AL Central.
Not sure if gambling counts as insider trading before the courts, but before one’s journalistic peers, that action would be considered so unethical as to be career-ending.
I keep hearing people say the Yanks should be favorites to sign Manny and then totally dismiss the notion of them signing Harper sighting the question “Where would he play”?
Why does Manny at SS or 3B make more sense than Harper considering the mix of IF options we have vs OF options?
IF
1B-Voit or Bird
2B-Torres/Lemahieu/Wade
SS-Torres/Tulo/Didi when healthy
3B-Andujar
OF/DH
RF/DH-Judge/Stanton
CF-Hicks
LF-Gardner/Frazier/Ellsbury
Gardner is on decline and while a decent LF capable of a solid 2-2.5 WAR he’s better suited to be an oft used 4th OF, and main back up CF. Considering the recent inability of Ells to stay healthy and Frazier recovering from concussions makes it risky to assume either will be available as everyday guys.
Signing Manny and bringing back Didi means either trading Andujar or moving him to a different position, most likely 1B which then displaces Voit and Bird. Voit deserves to show what he can do. Bird will likely start in AAA.
Signing Harper is simple. You move him to LF which should limit any defensive liabilities. You push Gardner to back up OF and Frazier can start at AAA. You then rotate Harper, Stanton and Judge between the corners and DH. Why doesn’t that make more sense? And then couple with the fact that we need a LF bat (since Gardner and Hicks are the only ones until Didi returns) and he has immense lefty pull power that should play well in YS and his knack for posting a high OBP (lifetime .388) he seems to be a better fit to sandwich in between Judge and Stanton. Manny’s right handed power is redundant in this lineup with Judge, Stanton, Sanchez, Voit, Andujar and Torres.
Why people say our OF is crowded with our current in-house LF options being Gardner, Ells and Frazier is mind-boggling. Yet we have plenty of options in the INF even allowing for the frailty of Tulo.
Exactly. When it comes to team “odds” signing Harper…
Yanks’ better odds than most, if he took five-year deal.
Probably, all. — If Bryce is willing to take five years.
Like, Sorry, if Cubs chose this offseason to cry poor.^^^
Put aside “odds” for a second. Yanks have four likely stars, when healthy, in Andujar/Didi/LeMehaiu/Torres to man 3 spots. The Yanks have 3 iffy options for LF thus far in the guys I mentioned previously. I’ve heard it suggested that Harper can play 1B he came to NY. Why wouldn’t he be able to play LF? Worse case scenario, Judge has shown a willingness to play LF if Harper were acquired (stated by him in a recent interview) and Stanton and Harper can share RF/DH duties (and spell Judge in LF for rest or DH duty). Stanton was considered a good/solid defensive RF when he was with Miami. He was placed as a DH because we have Judge. If Harper is amendable to a shorter term deal (6 years perhaps) I think he makes too much sense for the Yanks to attempt to sign.
Also,and this seldom brought up, signing Harper can protect the Yanks should Stanton decide to opt out after 2019. Much easier to let him walk knowing Harper is there to pick up slack. Meaning, we can still be a 200+ home run team if Stanton depart from NY. We would likely be what we were last year, a 250+ team.
Yankee Stadium and a couple other AL east teams have small outfields, you might be able to use Harper in center. He wouldn’t be a gold glover, but he could be passable. You always have LF/RF/DH to rotate the three. You could make it work.
Why put him in CF when you have a 5 WAR guy in Hicks? Leftfield is an obvious weakness,
It would be temporary… a way to give guys days off and rotate the outfield. Hicks is a very good CF.
OK, can someone answer me why Rusney Castillo is in the minors? He’s 31 and had back to back excellent AAA seasons. He’s making over 10 mil a year. Trade him for some relief help at least… Giants are looking for outfielders… Indians… someone could use him.
Rusney Castillo is grandfather claused under old CBA
He was the last and wont count against Boston lux tax, if they dont call him up. (will cost more, since they deep in tax with record Bosox payroll) quite frankly, proved they don’t need him, by winning WS lol.
In the new CBA, they prevented this by making them count against the team’s luxury tax, whether or not they’re banished to Triple-AAA.
Hope I was able to help! I don’t know how much he would cost Bosox —in addition to his salary) if they called him up.
A team like the Tigers with plenty of cap space and a need could send Greene and Hardy as bullpen help. Tigers might ask for a prospect too… maybe Casas? Tigers desperately need position player prospects.
Yeah it’s unfortunate situation, cuz by all accounts, he’s mashing AAA. Champion team, prob #1 payroll in 2019, I think he will spend 2019 in Triple A again lol.
Rusney Castillo minor league stats:
2017 (AAA) 369PA .314 BA, 15 HR
2018 (AAA) 511 PA .319 BA, 5 HR
Stole 13+ SB each of past two years
20+ doubles each past 2 yrs (31 in 2018!)
$10 million a year for a guy who is probably a 4th outfielder? Ummm…No.
“$10 million a year for a guy who is probably a 4th outfielder? Ummm…No.”
$10 million for a AAA outfielder? That’s why I say trade him for a couple relievers. Put that money to good use. It’s wasted on a AAA outfielder..
I agree with you.
Just a quick clarification, Arenado fired Scott Boras a few years ago. He is now represented by the Wasserman Sports Group. This is the same group of agents that negotiated Stanton’s record setting contract.
Manny and Harper need to change agents as well. However from my post I pointed out they need to lower their length of the contract.
Manny and Harper are unsigned because they are over selling themselves. Teams don’t want to take on that much debt for ONE guy. They are just baseball players. If they would except a three-year contract and let the team make a decision on how good they are. Then the team can extend their contract. Harper did not have a good showing last year. Manny didn’t come through in the World Series. But for some reason they both think that they are the super stars who are going to have superstar potential for the next 10 years. I don’t know if it’s the players or their agents that is greedy. I think at this point I would change my agent. And ask for a three-year contract less money and show this team after three years how good I can be. then maybe they’ll give him an extension