The Phillies have reportedly shown interest in third baseman Mike Moustakas, who could be a fallback signing if they don’t win the battle for fellow free agent Manny Machado. But now, unless the Phillies miss out on both Machado and free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper, the chances of Moustakas joining the team appear especially slim. If Philadelphia signs Harper over Machado, “it seems unlikely” the club would also add Moustakas, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. Rather, the Phillies would probably be content with a revamped lineup that would include Harper and other high-profile newcomers in J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura and Andrew McCutchen, Zolecki posits. In that scenario, Maikel Franco – who, at least offensively, was similar to Moustakas in 2018 – and Scott Kingery would be their top options at third base.
Here’s the latest on a pair of Philly’s division rivals:
- The Marlins intend to strengthen their bullpen from outside in the coming days, president of baseball operations Michael Hill told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald and other reporters Saturday. “Hopefully, we’ll get that taken care of before pitchers take the field [on Wednesday],” said Hill, who wants a “veteran bullpen piece to help with” the unit’s younger pitchers. There’s still a good amount of familiar free-agent relievers the low-payroll Marlins should be able to afford as they seek to bolster a relief unit that was among the majors’ worst in 2018.
- Outfielder Michael Brantley accepted Houston’s two-year, $32MM back in December, but the Braves came “very close” to matching the Astros’ offer, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports. A month after losing out on Brantley, the Braves brought back the less exciting Nick Markakis on a one-year, $6MM deal to fill their vacancy in the corner outfield. For the second straight year, Markakis, Ender Inciarte and young superstar Ronald Acuna are in line to accrue the lion’s share of playing time among Braves outfielders.
- As you’d expect, the Marlins are high on catcher Jorge Alfaro, one of the players they acquired from Philadelphia in Thursday’s blockbuster trade centering on Realmuto. Manager Don Mattingly raved about Alfaro’s arm Saturday, saying that “J.T. threw great” but “[Alfaro] throws better,” via Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. Indeed, Realmuto finished second only to Alfaro in arm strength in 2018, according to Statcast, and the latter also beat out the former (and nearly every other catcher in the sport) as an overall defender, per Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric. But whether Alfaro succeeds offensively will help determine how well the Marlins did in this trade, of course, and Spencer points out the 25-year-old is no sure thing at the plate. Alfaro produced respectable bottom-line results from 2017-18, a 491-plate appearance span in which he slashed .275/.332/.432 (103 wRC+). At the same time, though, he struck out in nearly 35 percent percent of trips while walking just 4.3 of the time. Mattingly acknowledged that Alfaro has work to do in that area, but the skipper noted he has an “efficient” swing and improvement’s “just a matter of approach and thinking.”
Is Machado really worth that much more than Moose gives you? Plus Moose super attitude is for a winner. Help raise up Philly prospect right in hustle culture.
Philly add Cutch and Moose, in same off season? Wow, wow! Maybe good enough to counter the terrible Kapler coaching. Help for crack 500!
Since it’s not my money, yes he is worth it. Machado is the far better player.
Is Machado worth 200 million dollars more than Moose? Please don’t forget also Manny hit a ball to the wall in the WS, he pimped the hit, and settle for single in WS. In World frickin Series!
Go Harper and over pay for Dallas on a 3 yr pitching deal. Marchado will be a problem child and handcuff whoever signs him to a long term deal. Dont need the cancerous attitude
I don’t get why everyone is so down on Franco. Offensively, he’s close to or better than Moustakas. He’s also younger and has better numbers than Moose did at that age. Now, Moose is the better fielder for sure, but Franco showed signs of improvement. I am willing to roll with Franco.
I think it’s much more imperative to improve the outfield. Harper is the obvious choice there.
Franco’s defense is…not good. Offensively, sure he’s solid, but he gives most of that value back with his subpar defense.
I thought he improved in the second half before his injury. Thst being said there is still work to do there, but he is young. I just don’t see Moose as a significant upgrade. Machado of course, but not a 30-year-old Moustakas.
Maikel Franco showed off his arm with an incredible jump throw
mlb.com/cut4/maikel-franco-showed-off-his-arm-with…
Sent from my iPhone
mlb.com/cut4/maikel-francos-throw-from-his-back/c-…
With this new lineup Franco will see pitches and won’t have all the pressure. His defense is fine and he’s going to hit .270/25 HR/100 RBI if guys get on base.
I’m with you Von – Manny or Maik.
I have nothing against Moose, but like you I don’t view him as enough of an upgrade over Franco to justify the dollars.
I’d prefer they stick with Maikel and use the Moose money on another late bullpen piece. Madson is still available, and looks like a decent bounce back candidate who can provide some depth and middle innings.
I completely agree. Francos get a hell of a ceiling. Everyone’s blown his defense out of proportion. He had a cannon
Pedro Alvarez also had a cannon, had a similar offensive kit to Maikel Franco, was an all star and part of the HR derby. His defense cost him a promising career. I think Franco could be a good major leaguer, he definitely has better bat-to-ball skills than Alvarez did, just seems like his defense needs to be worked on and quick otherwise his career could go like Alvarez and what’s becoming of Miguel Sano.
Hey, at least moose would fortified the bench , forget the 2 crybabies maybe they will dwell on the west coast what a waste. Moose, Dallas and platoon right field. Anyone have Matt’s number.
Significantly better than Moose in basically every phase of the game.
^ Reads like a comment from Boris Badenov.
Yes Machado is an elite defender and far better hitter. You can take Moose and “hustle culture”. The team that ponied up and traded for Machado won the NLCS while he was the diffrence maker. The one that went cheaper for Moose lost
Apples and oranges
Is it though? Machado had a solid NLCS, Mouse had a $#*! one. Series went 7 games. It’s a reasonable arguement that if you took Machado away from LA and added to MIL that there might’ve been a different NL representative in the Series.
Theres nothing to back that up. Lets compare tyler chatwood to Anibal sanchez next.
Theres nothing to back up comparing 2 players who both basically play the same position and have hundreds game sample size?? Moose is slightly above average. Machado is a superstar. Yet we cant compare them lol
If Chicago adds Sanchez, instead of Chatwood, then not only would they have money freed up this year, but Sanchez would’ve given the Cubs the extra boost they needed to have a much more accomplished 2018 season..
Including the money, it just goes to show how each decision is so crucial to a team’s success. One move can be the difference between flaming out in the wild card round, and winning your division. It can be the difference between winning the divisional series, and getting bounced in the 1st round.
If anything, it only stresses the fact that the Phillips need to get the “right” starting third baseman.
Also, people are so quick to nullify the impact defense has on a team’s overall success..Well, look no further than inside the NL East to see how big of a role defense can play in deciding a division race. Because of their lackluster, and sometimes simply atrocious defense, the Phillies ended up losing out on the NL East last season. This was also while it was the Braves fundamentally sound and significantly improved defense that was their driving force behind their emergence and their ultimate division leading record.
The Phillips have done a much better job improving their defense this off-season, but if it comes down to two similarly profiled bats, I’m always going to take the player that is the more fundamentally sound defender. There were seemingly COUNTLESS games where a badly timed error, or poor defensive play, cost the Philles a win last season….On the other hand, there were seemingly countless times, where a timely Inciarte diving catch, Swanson and Albies excellently turned DP, or a Braves player made a ranging play to end up saving them a run or two, and it truly ended up being the difference in a win or a loss..Off the top of my head, I can immediately recall at least 6-7 games where the cause and effect of a quality defensive play directly correlated to a Braves W..Now, think what if the braves hadn’t made those timely plays, and lost those games..It’s very likely those handful of plays won the Braves the division. Now, there’s quite obviously other factors that helped lead the Braves turnaround charge..However, their biggest difference from 2017-2018 was the improvement in their defense..
So, before you consider thinking you’re okay with playing multiple bad defenders, the Phillies already have one in Hoskins, you might want to consider the actual risk of having multiple below average defenders in your everyday starting line-up..Eapecially, when your team is quite easily able to acquire a better option. For me, the ONLY time a players defense isn’t as big of an issue, is in a case similar to Hoskins, where their offense is so superior, that your team can afford to have his bad glove in the field..But yeah, other then that, I’m always taking the better defender, even if his bat is slightly below “option A’s”…
Plus, a loss from defense miscue kills clubhouse moral. How many times does a game costing error make the guys want to point a finger after the game?
Franco is not a terrible fielder. He needs a bit of work, but he already showed vast improvement.
Hoskins is a decent but not great 1st baseman. Last year in left field he was atrocious. He turned routine outs into singles. Singles into doubles. He alone cost the team “bigly”! Who even knows how many games. Just by getting rid of Santana and moving Rhys back to his natural position greatly improves the D.
I know Franco graded out below average at 3rd, but I saw him make a bunch of great plays there in the 2nd half.
I would love Machado there but if it ends up being Harper and not Machsdo, I won’t be upset. I’ll take Maikel Franco over Moose any day.
I’m not sure the Moose provides more than Franco and he is declining while Franco is rising. Moose does provide left handed pop and maturity. I’m not ready to give up on Maikel because from June on he was a top 15 third baseman.
If by “winning culture” you mean that one postseason where every ground ball found a hole then yeah.
Moose thinks he’s better than he really is. Moose’ agent thinks he’s better than he really is. That is why he has costed himself millions of dollars the last year plus.
Machado is the superior player on both sides of the ball when he is playing 3B. The money? Well, that’s where things get dicey. Moose on a short term deal may be a good option over Machado. All about the risk and when you take it.
He thinks he’s better than he really is or he is just trying to maximize his earnings like most people would?
Bartolo Colon —–> Miami Marlins. Would be a perfect fit
Breaking on Harper to the phillies
sports.theonion.com/bryce-harper-asks-if-phillies-…
lol
Afl is beyond underrated
..Marlins got a sweet deal plus prospects. .Finally a mive they did was meaningful
when Sixto is tearing up the Phillies in the future (if they dont break him) their FO wonder why they thought it was worth them trading him.
oh yeah, and there’s the former catching prospect that was once the best in baseball and might be the best in the Majors once he can slow down on the Ks a bit and keep the ball in front of him.
Jorge Alfaro is so good at catching pitches, he almost took out an umpire last season when he completely missed a pitch. Never got his glove near the ball.
I’ll throw some cold water on this as someone who has watched both for a good while. Devils advocate, take it as you wish.
All 3 could pan out the way you stated, but with these 3, I think it’s much more likely that only 1, if not all 3 will fail.
Will start with Alfaro. Has a great work ethic, and is trying to get better defensively. He has a long way to go in that dept. His best trait defensively is his pitch framing, but that has lead to a high rate of pass balls. His arm is a cannon, avg 90+mph on throws to 2nd. Realmuto May look faster to Marlins fans because his pop up rate and ball to hand ratio is faster. His game calling will have to evolve, not the strongest, but better than average.
On to his batting. You will be very fustrated at times. His 35% whiff rate is misleading. He misses the most hittable pitches than anyone in the league. There is a stat on him about how he swings and misses at fastballs in the zone. It’s troubling, very troubling. He has to correct it. That’s on FB, forget the secondary pitches. With that said, when he does make contact, he has an insane avg, .401ish. So if his bat makes contact you can get Excited. Trouble is, it’s not anywhere as often as it should be. I think he is the best player the Marlins got, with the best chance to develop.
On to sixto. Plus arm, easy 100mph. He needs to develop secondary pitches, if he does he’ll be at least a #3, with the ceilimgbpushing towards ace level. Still could be that ace, but I think his stock Plummets. Some think the reason he was offered is becuse he was passed over in terms of prospects and is destined for the bullpen. The Marlins won’t put him there at first, but his lack of secondary pitches is holding back his potential. His work ethic is subpar and many in the organization believed his elbow injury resulted from his lack of conditioning. Some whispers were that he was shutdown to protect/hide his status as the top prospect. So don’t be surprised if his stock drops this year, into the #75-85 top 100 range. It sounds pessimistic, but there is truth in it. If sixto develops his secondary pitches, increases his work ethic towards being fit, and isn’t hurt, he has a bright future, but I don’t think it as close to a slam dunk as the Marlins/fans want to believe it is. I think it is more likely he ends the path of previous Phillies top arm prospects – Drabek,Biddle, Carrasco and others.
For Stewart – not much feedback. Not sure why’d they’d pick him over the others offered, unless they wanted a LHP. Very puzzling. As I mentioned before, one team is very wrong on this player. I’m very happy he was picked over others. At best he was ranked around the Phillies 20+ best prospect, behind many pitchers.
Not exact news braves fans want to see but news nonetheless
The fact that Texas has no state income tax could very well had been the biggest difference maker if the report that Atlanta basically matched the Astros offer.
I’m not sure Braves fans would have been happy if they signed Brantley. Not worth the contract he got, same as McCutch w/ Philly.
Yea you’re right. I didn’t want him at all and glad to save the drastic amt of money. If the stars line up just right and the moon shines bright, then maybe Brantley won’t get injured this year. But the risk was much to high for the reward in my opinion
id much rather see if Franco can improve on his 2018 over signing Moose. ive come to appreciate Moose more recently then i did earlier in the offseason, but id still rather keep around Franco, how might be just as good and well cheaper.
If the Marlins can sign Bud Norris he can badger and attack the young pitchers as he has done at some of his other stops.
great veteran presence for those young marlin arms
Has anyone noticed that Markakis has 2,200 hits and 475 doubles? He’s been healthy every season. If he decides to play until 39-40 and stays healthy he could reach 3,000 hits and 600 doubles.
To reach 3,000 hits by 39, he would have to average 181 hits per season for another four seasons straight. He’s had 181 hits in a season twice in the last seven years.
Stretch that out to 40, and he needs to average over 150 per season.
He’d need to have an incredibly unnatural ageing curve to stay productive until 39/40. But hey, he’s got a shot.
If he can remain healthy and productive and actually continue to get opportunities by that age than sure. At this point I can certainly see 600 doubles. 3k hits would be a lot harder to achieve though.
I don’t want Machado at all. I think he isn’t a hustling Philly type. He’ll be over payed. Franco’s defense isn’t a hindrance. Butt play anyone, his arm is there. Segura at short helps tons. Plus Maiks bat is there for what they need. He’ll have so much pressure taken off from him with the additional bat quality. I think that Machado is a waste if money. Screw em. Sign Kimbrell, forget Harper go for the stud in Anaheim later on…TROUT
Padres should for sure be after Moose…don’t know why the Phillies would have much interest in him. All this talk about Not wanting Machado on their team is hilarious. Dude rakes and is one of the best hitters in the game. If your team signs him I guarantee you will be happy
How about an offer to the Yankees, who are highly interested in Manny Machado but are already at $220M for 2019, for Giancarlo Stanton. The Braves would receive Giancarlo Stanton, Clint Frazier, Dellin Betances and $36Million (8,3,5,10,10) from New York/ Miami. The Braves would send Kolby Allard, Luke Jackson, Sam Freeman and Adam Duvall to New York.
Lay off the crack pipe.