Let’s check in on a few notes from the American League:
- Red Sox ace Chris Sale finished the 2019 season on the injured list with inflammation in his throwing elbow. However, there’s “no doubt” he’ll be ready for spring training, he told reporters (including Adam Fisher of the Fort Myers News-Press). Sale was cleared to begin throwing last week, and he offered a few details on his offseason program yesterday. Currently, Sale is throwing three times a week, he said, and he plans to up his workload soon before moving to long-toss and, eventually, mound work. Sale’s peripherals were dominant again last season, but his 147.1 innings of 4.40 ERA ball no doubt made for some disappointing results. The Sox will be hoping for more typical bottom line numbers from the star southpaw in 2020.
- The Mariners don’t plan on making any noteworthy additions on the position player side in free agency, GM Jerry Dipoto indicated to reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). “We have very likely the position player club you are looking at right now, barring the potential for a trade, which is always possible,” Dipoto said. While Dipoto didn’t mention any specific trade possibilities, Divish notes the organization would like to find a taker for Dee Gordon to open second base up full-time for Shed Long. Doing so, though, would be a difficult task, with Gordon due $13.8MM in 2020 and coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons.
- Nevertheless, the Mariners could be in line for some modest upgrades on the pitching staff, Dipoto suggested to Divish in the same piece. “We do have some ongoing conversations with potential free-agent additions,” Dipoto said, presumably referring to pitching upgrades given his declaration that the position player grouping was largely set. Dipoto added that any acquisitions are likely to be flyers on bounceback players, in a similar vein to the club’s earlier signings of Carl Edwards, Jr. and Kendall Graveman. Speculatively speaking, players like Michael Wacha, Blake Treinen, or Pedro Strop all have strong track records but are coming off disappointing 2019 seasons. All three figure to command a higher guarantee than was necessary to bring in Edwards ($950K) or Graveman ($2MM), though.
Sale aside from ERA was good this year FIP of 3.39 and ERA + of 109
True, but watching him told another story. More often than not he struggled and it was ugly. Doesn’t help that the expectations are so high for him through.
I saw him too
I saw him pitch last fall, and compared to when he was on the White Sox, he looked way off.
Hopefully it was just a combination of an off season at the same time as the league used a “different” ball. Or because of the ball but Others were able to pitch well using it. Every Sox fan’s worry though is his medical history. Even if he starts off as strong as ever, he still has to prove himself from August onward.
Now add to that he hasn’t thtown well to anyone but the departed leon
He always looks off against his old team.
Wouldn’t call that his medical history. Or call said history a concern.. more the tendency to fade in the second half….only time he’s hit the IL/DL was last year and the previous year. The other concern is speculative at best in the belief that his motion will lead to injury.
Pitchers at the MLB level, particularly one of Sale’s caliber, even with his herky jerky motion, rely on precise mechanics and repetition. If he was off, you can bet it was an injury from the get go. It almost always causes a pitcher to compensate in other ways mechanically, throwing off their control, velocity, and effectiveness.
@AtlSoxFan..Ok but Leon wasn’t on the White Sox when sale pitched well. He’ll adjust.
When he is good it is a thing of beauty
He was good enuff when he was needed to be. I can’t wait to see him this yr. But I hope they just put off TJ surgery when they could’ve been into his rehab by now.
Hope they put off?
Hey Pash-$ale wants to be seen too. If not on the mound at Fenway, you will be able to see him at the Citizens’ main bank at Hancock Tower where he will be signing his new book,”$uckering Them to Pay-Either Way”.
Everyone forgets about the month of May. He was dom & set an mlb record on SO.
That’s great however he couldn’t pitch when it mattered in July and August. $ale has always faded in the late summer. Being dominant in May caused $ale to injure his
elboe to the point where he had no control.
HOWEVER Trader Dave went for the bait because of his dominant month and gave him a huge extension.
What a great move. John Henry is now shopping in Filene’s basement and the team must trade (perhaps) the most talented and accomplished young player in its history.
That’s a record too Eightball!
The whole staff was off, especially early in the season, after that abominable move Cora made holding back his starters.
….Because the offense wasn’t stealing signs so the staff couldn’t get it’s normal 10 spot? Let’s be real any staff can look dominate when you have confidence the team can score by cheating
ho-hum.. There is something rotten in every bunch.. Is this the Houston topic, or about Chris Sale?
I can certainly understand not holding much value in Wins, but to discount ERA in favor of FIP is silly. The fact that Sale struck out 13.3 per 9IP is meaningless if he’s surrendering a lot of hard hit balls, which he did. If anything his ERA should be even higher because he had arguably the best defensive outfield in the game behind him.
There’s a lot to be said for those who pitch to contact, if Sale did it a little more often then he wouldn’t have to be pulled so early because of high pitch counts many times.
Alex Wood fits the bounce back candidate profile that the Mariners are targeting.
Mariners need long term building blocks for their rotation but they’re not currently in a position to get any cuz it will just waste a year or two of contractual control. Wood makes sense but I’d imagine they would try to trade for a more reliable/steady back of the rotation type with a few years of control instead.
Hey Jimmy—your wish for a Long term building block for the rotation is about to come true! Just in time for the holidays!
Dipoto had dinner last night with Brody Big Smile of the Mets. Jerry was buying because Wilpon cut Brody’s expenses until it’s “Gary Cohen’s Money” so Jerry told him that he owed him a steak for last year’s blockbuster trade.
After a couple of stiff Scotch’s Vrody loosened up and Jerry put on all the charm about knowing how tough it is when all the owner wants is to save money.
So once Brody was thinking the same way, Jerry lower the reel with Dee Gordon on the hook and the next thing that Brody rememberer was how much money he was saving by trading Noah for Gordon even up!
Mikeyank is that you?
The Mariners view Gonzales, Kikuchi, Sheffield, Dunn, and Gilbert as their long term rotation. They don’t want to sign anyone that they would have trouble trading at this year’s trade deadline, or next off-season. With that being said, Alex Wood is young enough and has shown that he has more than enough talent to fit into any team’s long term rotation plan.
Padres and Mariners make a lot of sense in a bad contract swap.
San Diego sends Wil Myers, Matt Strahm and Joey Lucchesi for Dee Gordon and Kikuchi.
Seattle gets a young rotation arm in Lucchesi, and bullpen arm in Strahm for collateral damage by attaching Myers. He plays LF everyday for Seattle.
Padres bounce Gordon around everywhere as a Zobrist type. Kikuchi slots in behind Richards, Paddack, Lamet and Davies.
I think Seattle has more young players they are considering in the OF. Doesn’t Myers have like 3 years left on his deal?
I don’t see Seattle doing that though. The money/year difference between Myers and Gordon is to significant. Even with prospects attached, Seattle lengthens the amount of time they have a bad contract on the books when with Gordon they’d be free of it by the end of the year. I could see them doing a bad contract swap for someone else who only has a year left as well, but most likely my guess is they’d have to just eat most of the remaining salary to trade him for some marginal prospects.
Lucchesi has control, along with Strahm. Myers has 3 years and so does Kikuchi.
Preller has interest in Kikuchi prior to hi choosing Seattle.
Seattle has outfielders coming up. They sure don’t need Myers and they like Kikuchi. I don’t see them making that trade. I know SD wants to rid themselves of Myers but Seattle in this case is a real bad match.
Gordon to the Cubs for Tyler Chatwood I think would make sense for both teams. Cubs gain some infield depth after the cutting Russell and the Mariners get a bounce back pitcher candidate. It’s a high price for both to pay but it opens up Seattle’s spot for their prospect and gives the cubs depth.
Was just thinking about Chatwood/Gordon swap. Would love to add Almora for Mallex Smith….
Sounds like a fair deal. Plus remember kikuchi has 43 mil left on his deal and Gordon has 14 mil on his. So it’s already a pretty close swap of money
Gotta love all these arm chair GM’s…..
Horehey that is basically the point of this app/site. Why do people call into sports talk radio? Why even comment here?
I gave up on sports talk radio years ago when a caller asked, …
“Why don’t the White Sox trade Craig Grebek to the Yankees for Jeter?”
One doesn’t know whether to smile or weep.
That sounds like a lot of the proposed deals on here,
Trading Kikuchi so soon would be a bad look for the Mariners. I don’t think that’s the message they want to send.
Mariners are not going to take Meyers without receiving gore and padres Won’t part with him
I think it was Lookoutlanding who suggested this, but the Mariners could do a swap with the Cubs to exchange the Chatwood and Gordon contracts. Not the worst idea I’ve ever heard
The Cubs will likely need Chatwood either as the 5th starter or swing man. He pitched well as the long man out of the bp last year. Granted that can be filled through free agency.
What about Kyle Seager contract?
“Barring the potential for a trade, which is always possible”. What Dipoto means is, “…which is always probable”.
I don’t see the Red Sox rebuilding. I don’t see the Red Sox trading Sale. Nobody wants Price’s contract.
As a White Sox fan, I want Price’s contract. And I want Benintendi to be used as the way to get rid of Price’s entire contract.
The White Sox have the money to spend, and they threw out significantly worse pitchers last year. Eat that contract for the Red Sox and get a real asset back.
Not going to happen Priggs the Red Sox are not going to trade 10d just to get rid of a contract. The reality is that even though Sox fans are really down on Price the guy has been worth about 2.5 wins per year in that contract and that’s with injuries. The Red Sox will find a different way to get below the 208 million it won’t be by trading 10d to get rid of a contract that while bad is not nearly as bad as people seem to make it out to be. He has been about 15 to 20% better then the average big league pitcher during his contract with Boston certainty not worth the 31 million per year but not the total disaster that most people think.
The Red Sox won’t trade Benentendi to get rid of Prices contract.
Seattle won’t trade kikuchi and don’t Want Myers.
Would the Sox clean house and think about trading Sale? Is his contract vs performance make him at least a tradable asset? Have to think the Dodgers, Padres, Reds, hell even the white sox could be interested
Being “ready for Spring Training” is the most basic of expectations. Contributing 200 innings is the true measure. I’m not optimistic about Sale’s elbow, but I hope I’m wrong.
His latest issue was with the shoulder.
… elbow.
If Sale, Price and Eovaldi bounce back, they will be fine. Might as well keep Betts, he’ll hit .350 in his walk year. He is all about the big bucks. Bloom is not going to get the payroll down in one off season, this is a multi-year project for him. Ownership understands that reality.
As a Yankee fan, I hope the Red Sox trade Betts. Not a better team without him for sure. Pretty amazing they can pay losers like Evoldi and Pearce, but not a homegrown star. Good for Yankees, bad for baseball and the Red Sox, but I hate the Sox!
“barring the potential for a trade, which is always possible”
Understatement of the year. Just like the sun will possibly rise tomorrow, Dipoto will possibly make a trade.
Just my opinion but I think Sale’s elbow inflammation is a “ticking time bomb”. It may not explode in ST or at the beginning of the season but at 31 yrs old and just beginning a 5yr/$145M deal the chances of him not being sidelined at some point and requiring TJS are slim and none in my opinion.
Agreed. Hence why I wasn’t thrilled about signing Sales into his mid 30’s.
I hate when people complain about the Sale signing.
The $145M he got was FAR below market-rate IMO. I mean if Sale was a FA last-offseason, we would be debating whether Cole was going to top Sale’s deal. Zack Wheeler is likely to be in that rough ballpark….how many people are taking Wheeler over Sale? Even with concerns about him.
I agree with the general philosophy about not giving pitchers huge contracts. But if it is $.75 on the $1, it is different.
Mariners can get rid of Dee Gordon if they eat the vast majority of his contract. Say $10MM. Leaving the new team with a $3MM bill.
Dee Gordon for Nathan Eovaldi
I remember how stoked and cocky Mariners fans were when they signed Dee Gordon. What a disappointment for them.