The Rockies would like to add another bat to the lineup, preferably in the outfield or on the right side of the infield, manager Bud Black told reporters (including Thomas Harding of MLB.com). That leaves plenty of options for GM Jeff Bridich and the front office, but Harding casts doubt on Colorado playing at the top or even second tier of the free agent market. The Rockies have had discussions this offseason with free agent outfielder Kevin Pillar, who performed reasonably for Colorado last season after being acquired from the Red Sox in a midseason trade. The Rockies got next to nothing from their first and second basemen in 2020. The free agent market is significantly deeper at the latter position.
More out of the National League:
- The Phillies have revamped their front office this winter, bringing in Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations and promoting Sam Fuld to general manager. Dombrowski has final say over personnel decisions. That’s not a responsibility he’s planning to give up any time soon, but Dombrowski acknowledged that part of his job is to prepare Fuld to potentially lead his own front office someday. “I’m not looking to move out because I just started with the Phillies organization, I have a lot of energy and I look to do this for a while,” Dombrowski told reporters (including Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia). “I’m not, though, 44. I’m 64. And if I’m doing my job correctly and we’re doing our job correctly, as Sam progresses, he will be the guy making those types of decisions, the final decisions. That’s where my goal is.” Seidman chronicles Fuld’s quick ascent as an executive in a piece that’s worth reading in full.
- The Phillies were among the teams interested in right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Ureña ultimately wound up signing a one-year deal with the Tigers. The 29-year-old had spent his entire pro career with the Phils’ division rivals in Miami, pitching to a 4.60 ERA/4.74 FIP over parts of six seasons with the Marlins.
- The Cardinals have been exploring “cash-neutral” trades this winter, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as part of a reader mailbag. More specifically, a framework in which St. Louis moves MLB pitching for big league ready offensive help makes some sense, Goold feels. Cardinals hitters ranked just nineteenth leaguewide in park-adjusted hitting last season, with particularly dismal work from the outfielders. The St. Louis organization has generally been expected to have a quiet offseason after chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. claimed the baseball industry “isn’t very profitable” in June. Nevertheless, the front office exploring cash-neutral deals perhaps hints there’s no organizational mandate to further slash costs. St. Louis currently projects for a 2021 payroll around $131MM, per Roster Resource, after opening the 2020 season in the $167MM range (before prorating).
Think maybe the Cardinals should call over to the CWS. Maybe trade some pitching depth in Ponce DeLeon, Gant or Woodford for some extra bats the CWS have that seemed to be blocked on the big league level. Adolfo, Gonzalez, Rutherford in the OF and a Zach Collins if they truly move on from Yadi.
I’d like to see the cardinals and Mets line up a Carlos Martinez for Michael conforto trade. I know it would take more from the cardinals to land conforto but I think Cmart gets the conversation started. Maybe Cmart, Tyler O’Neil, and ponce del Leon for conforto?
Mets are not trading Conforto. Nimmo most likely to go if they sign Springer. Dom Smith could possibly be traded but their asking price for him would be very high.
Cano and Smith for Arenado. Just sayin.
Camo is a cancer to any team. Not worth a fraction of his contract!PEDS made him and now he’s suspended. I’d rather have a minor league player than him
Stop with Cano. He’s untradeable. He may never play again.
Smoke crack much? Cano is finished and Smith is the most overrated (especially by Mets fans) player in baseball.
I bet you would lol! Carlos Martinez both in his professional/personal life is a train wreck & no organization would touch him and rightfully so. Someone has to have the cojones state the obvious and CM is a carcinogen.
Rush
Aye
The holy triumvirate? Hall of Famers!
O’Neil stinks and Martinez has a bad contract but I’m sure the Mets will give you a middle of the lineup bat for that offer
Martinez due 11 million but after that opt outs
i love when fans want to just dump there crap on other teams for a borderline top 30 player in the league, martinez hasn’t been good in years and o’neil hasn’t shown an ounce of anything take a lap man
That’s just not true. Carlos Martinez has been very good in the bullpen, he just hasn’t been a starter in years. Still not a great trade, but to say Martinez has not been good is not accurate.
Martinez is a HEAD CASE
I would do that in a heartbeat. Martinez has shown flashes of a very good pitcher, but recently he’s been injury prone and struggled in the little time he has pitched, I still think he could turn into a good player though, high ceiling.
You boxer, are obviously a W Sox fan. Those players you mention from the Sox, basically are worthless. Collins at best, is an emergency backup. Delusional.
i dont see how there’s that much of a mismatch there, especially if guys like Woodford and Poncedeleon probably are a bit blocked otherwise.
All players mentioned are on the 40 man rosters of both teams. Cardinals need position players and all of the CWS mentioned are under 25 and Adolfo probably has the highest potential and lowest floor. When you have 2 28 year old maybe 5th starters blocked and out of options its time to move on.
Urena probably got tired of getting beat up on by the NL East teams. Over in the the AL with the DH it will probably be more of the same but worse. Probably his last chance at being a starting pitcher.
If Hahn trades Collins for a player of significance he likely did it with a ski mask and a gun.
I think trevor story’s free agency Is being impeded by the rockies financial jam of arenanado’s contract.other teams know story is the only other asset the rockies have so are probably offering pennies on the dollar even though story has the most desirable contract of the free agent as available.
I’ve never understood why a team accepts a no-trade clause after agreeing to give a boat load of money to a player.to me it seems like your bidding against yourself.
because leverage works both ways when pursuing an asset you believe to be rare. You owe me $45,000 for your business school tuition.
Simple
“NTC or I don’t sign”
Mets might do Nimmo straight up for CMart, and then Cards could platoon him w/ O’Neill. Though I suspect Nimmo is going with Rosario for Lindor.
Nimmo has more upside and team control. Cards would need to include more I’d guess
Why would you platoon Nimmo?
Why would the Mets want cmart? And why would they want to give up someone with an on base over 400 to do so
Nimmo is a perfect leadoff man or #2 hitter. Gets on base, has power and can run well. Why would the Mets give that up for an oft injured starting pitcher?
I think you just answered your own question. Both players are equally effective when healthy, but health seems to elude both of them.
Nimmo has played 68.8% of all of the Mets games in the past three seasons. Martinez has pitched more than 50 innings once in the past 3 seasons. Big difference.
Because Carlos Martinez is not a starting pitcher anymore and has turned into an effective closer. Considering him a starter is not what teams would be doing if they trade for him.
I don’t want O’Neil to ever see playing time again, even as a platoon guy. He is just bad
yikes, glad the Tigers enticed Urena a bit more. id like a cheap starter, but not him.
It does kind of show you the Phillies direction this offseason. If we’re very lucky we’ll get Realmuto, but that’s a big if. Other than that, I think the Phillies will be shopping at the bargain basement.
my point though is we have learned throwing absurd money around doesnt nessicarily stand as a great idea. i can imagine you can find a guy each of the past few years making less then half of what Jake Arrieta was making while being paid less. its not about spending, its about spending right.
Absolutely. There are plenty of pieces I want the Phillies to be looking at right now that they can easily afford.
I wonder if Phillies are considering taijuan walker or even a Hamels reunion
I’m still shocked with the last 2 years with the Phillies having Harper/Realmuto in the prime of their careers they didn’t do better.
Lot of factors there. Lack of depth and injuries being 2 huge ones. Phillies just aren’t deep enough.
McGriff. It is a team sport. You need more than 2 players.
Im a Walker guy, but i feel he gets a bit more then the Phillies are willing to shell out. i think Hamels goes to SD but id take a run at him if I were DD.
Wonder if a reunion with Cesar Hernandez is in the cards? Play Cesar at 2B and platoon Kingery and Haseley in CF. Key to the line up, and the success of the pitching staff as well, is re-signing Realmuto.
I can live with a starting four of Nola, Wheeler, Eflin and Howard. Use the rest of whatever money we have left to sign two quality relievers to go along with Neris and Velasquez in the pen. That, and hope Victor Arano is healthy. Might have the best stuff in the bullpen.
CMart has not had a good season in several. Always hurt and can’t throw many innings as a starter. 2 years left on his deal. Maybe straight up for Odor in TX? Both had some great seasons in the past, but need a change of scenery and both have 2 years left. I would never give up Nimmo straight for him.
Martinez has a club option next year. He will be free agent after this coming season..
It seems like Colorado’s albatross is Arenado’s contract. With that in mind, wouldn’t a trade to a team in which Arenado wants to play for who’s (LAD) farm system is insanely good & has the money to pay him and not hamstring the club, well a trade to the Dodgers seems beyond logical & based on LA’s depth, it seems as though they could put together a package that wouldn’t cost them a whole lot by their standards!
I mean (just a rough proposal) DJ Peters, Edwin Rios, Cody Thomas, & say a wildcard like Omar Estevez seems like fair value for Colorado & said prospects aren’t anywhere near LA’s Crown Jewels.
Maybe it’s me but when there’s obvious needs/answers, it’s perplexing when non-complex situations can’t be resolved.
As much as the Dodgers like to spend, they didnt want to give Harper or Stanton long term deals, so I think its not super likely that they give massive deals to Arenado and Betts in short order, plus if they want to extend Bellinger/Seager, etc
i just will never see how the Arenado deal is bad in and of itself. he’s that good – arguably the best defensive and offensive player in baseball. perhaps it looks bad with other bad contracts there, but i dont see how its bad alone.
He will be 30 in April. He is owed 199M over the next 6 yrs. His career OPS away from Coors is .793. He’s a good player, but not worth anywhere near that money.
@bazbal The bunk narrative of Arenado not hitting away from Coors is a total myth, most elite players average are always around .850+ OPS on the road. Here is the annual breakdown just proving how misleading that narrative is:
2013: .619 OPS
2014: .713
2015: .835
2016: .832
2017: .886
2018: .772
2019: .866
2020: .636 (in 20 games, 75 AB/too small a sample)
You are dinging him for him not being elite in his first two years, and last season in a small sample. Additionally he is a 4 WAR player even if his OPS is .700. Just stop propagating this lie that Arenado is historically bad away from Denver, he literally is not.
I never said that he was “historically bad. away from Denver.” I said that he is not worth anywhere near 35M/yr.
Wait what? Best in baseball? He’s not even the best of either of those at third base on the west coast, let alone the best at both in baseball. I’d take Chapman’s D and Rendon’s O over Arenado. And both of those players are better all around players (both are very well rounded). Arenado is a very good player (though it’ll be interesting to see if he’s a Matt Holiday post Coors), but let’s not overrate him here.
While Chapman is a touch better than Arenado defensively, Arenado is a better hitter than Chapman, and Chapman is injury prone. We don’t know Chapman’s offensive ceiling but it looks similar to Arenado. But Chapman makes no money, so yeah, duh, obviously he has more trade value than Areando.
Arenado is MUCH better defensively than Rendon. Rendon is better overall, but he makes more money than him, so no point there.
Arenado is a top 3 3B in MLB, if not the best in the game, its not overrating him, its what it is. Your common, personal bias (shared by many fans), is that you refuse to acknowledge or respect Rockies hitters stats, that is clouding your judgement here. Arenado is one of the best in the game no matter what team he is on, period.
Arenado has never not won a GG in any of his Major League seasons and his hitting numbers for a 3B of his age compare to the best to ever play the position. maybe he’s not undoubtedly the best at both, but i think if you look past the hype of Chapman playing for Oakland and accept that Arenado is better then his road splits alone then i think you could argue he is.
Lol, chip on the shoulder much? I actually like the Rockies. You are absurdly biased for them. Look at the actual values provided by the players, not just your eye test. Arenado is not the best 3rd baseman in the game. And your arguement about who makes more is irrelevant to the comment “arguably the best defensive and offensive player in baseball” Not sure how contract factors into it.
LOL. Rafael Palmerio would like a word with you RE: gold gloves. But sure, use those to rate a player.
Rendon has 35.4 WAR in 968 games.
Chapman 16.7 in 422 games.
Arenado 32.2 in 1070 games.
I know math is hard, but I’ll let you calculate who is the better player.
is using WAR as the end all be all really thar much better then using just GG, especially when they arent really all that far off and WAR has a hard time quantifying the true effect of Coors.
Yes, WAR, is a statistic calculated using real measures of performance. GG are meaningless and voted on by media members.
I gave you a perfect example of why GG are useless.
“Rendon is better overall, but he makes more money than him, so no point there.”
Also LOL because Arenado makes $1M less a year than Rendon!
Arenado and Blackmon to Mets with cano and pick an outfielder and a prospect going back to Rockies
War is a flawed stat but it def helps in comparing relative value… though I’d rather look individually at OPS+ and then defensive stats.. anyway, I think arenado is better from coors than people think as his 4 of past 6 seasons 800+ on road show… but they need out of the contract so badly, they’ll never get fair return.. they’ll be lucky to find a team who’ll take even 80% of the contract and give them one high end ML value piece.., they don’t have much bargaining power here
The Rockies need a new GM. I hate rebuilds, but with how good their division is they would be insane not to go young, bring in a few hard-working veterans to set the tone, and start developing their next contender.
It’s also insane that they didn’t learn anything from the Tulo deal.
It’s really dumb that they think they need to sign more bats before they consider trying out their minor leaguers, especially when they get knocked out of the playoff hunt
The Rockies need a GM who knows how to find the right pitchers who’s stuff works at high altitudes, because so far it’s been strictly luck and nothing else anytime a Rockies pitcher has a great year.
Or the Rockies could adjust their fences to help pitchers more. Agreed with the overall point here: the Rockies are poorly-run. I knew it the second I heard about how important they make Christianity in the clubhouse – like, why? You’re at work, its illegal to have bias employees based on religion in America, so the Rockies pre-screen and make sure they only have Christians playing for them, when they should not be caring at all about mixing religion and sport, and just do that stuff on Sunday like everyone else.
Bridich will sign a minor league free agent and call it good. He needs to be gone 3 years ago.
Oooof, Urena has a live arm and is still learning and figuring stuff out….He would have been useful in Philly.
no, he would have been a classic Phillies move that doesnt work out. VV, Pivetta, Urena…we need guys who get it, not guys who are “still figuring it out.”
I certainly can’t argue with that…deeper look at Urena has him pegged as replacement level. Guess I was crushing too hard on his 17/18 seasons
it just never seemed sustainable to me. even when his ERA eas solid, i dont remember ever being impressed by him. the injuries are also an issue – id favor a new backend guy who’s able to eat more innings.
Urena has long been a smoke n mirrors guy, but with the juiced ball and pro-offense league, smoke n mirrors guys have to have HOF-level baseball IQs to succeed, and Urena is not elite in that regard, so at best he will most likely have something like a 5.25 ERA for the Tigers next season.
The dodgers will NOT trade for arrenado.
Andrew friedman’s first goal every year is to make the playoffs and then more.
Dodgers-rockies play one another 19 times each year.dodgers probably win 13 times each year.no way is friedman giving up 13 wins each year to a divisional rival.
Friedman will will allow colorado to wither for years.
Not 12 or 14 wins but 13? Interesting!
#WillWill
luckily for LA there is no player named arrenado
Dodgers are most likely going to trade for Nolan Arenado though, sorry to break it to you. Rockies will not be competitive for 3-5 years, so trading within a div isn’t meaningful.
Mission accomplished, Urena was kept out of the NL east allowing acuna to miss 2 dl Stints.
Until Colorado makes drafting and developing pitching the focus their minor leagues will never be able to supply them good hard throwing cheap pitching. No pitching = no WS titles. Rebuild again with a new GM outside of the org this time.
CARDINALS GET:
Ramon Laureano and Mark Canha
ATHLETICS GET:
Paul DeJong, Matthew Liberatore, Harrison Bader and Tommy Edman
Who sez no?
i dont think the A’s want to get rid of Ramon and i dont think the Cards want to get rid of DeJong
No of course they don’t, but team need >
Cardinals say no.
That’s a lot to give up for those 2 guys.
The Cardinals say no. That leaves them with no SS or 2B except for minors
Marty, you live on the east side of the bay, don’t you?
I don’t really know how to respond to this………. Trade your starting SS, starting 2B, and starting CF, with a top 50 prospect? For Ramon Laureano at best. Canha is useful, but not great and he’s 31 years old. DeJong is making 4 million this year, and is signed through 2025 with options. And it’s an affordable contract. Bader is making 1.4 million and won’t be a FA until 2024, and if he could learn to take a walk and hit LHP, he’s going to be better than Laureano just by defense alone. Edman is making league minimum and is controlled through 2026. Liberatore is the 52nd ranked prospect in baseball last I checked, and from all appearances will be a number 3 starter AT WORST. Canha is making 6.8 million and is a FA in 2022. Laureano is probably going to be a special OF’er making league minimum and is controllable through 2025. But you’re taking on salary, and giving up 21 years of control for 1 year of Canha and 5 years of Laureano. I’m going to laugh the A’s clear off the phone. DeJong according to ZIPS will be around 3.3 WAR. Laureano will be around 3.5. Bader will be worth 2.2 and Edman will be worth 2.1. Canha will be worth roughly 2.1 and he’s 31 and in his final year. This is without adding in Liberatore and his value. There is debate about if he is a 50 or 55 FV prospect. If you split the difference he’s a 27.5 million dollar player who will play at the league minimum before Arb eligibility. No where in the world does this proposal make sense from the Cardinal’s standpoint.
cardinals shouldn’t be trading pitching. those cash neutered contracts belong to carpenter and fowler
Cards giving up way way too much. Liberatore is suppose to be a stud and I wouldn’t give up on Bader so soon. They have changed his batting stance twice. Reminds me of Rick Ankiel. Just let him hit. Not everyone is going to hit .300 with power. Edman is a huge asset defensively, energy, hustle and can hit some.
Kolten Wong is one of the more underrated Free Agents out their. Decent contact hitter would be perfect for Coors I think.
I agree – solid OBP, great D. Very underrated player.
Wong would thrive at Coors. Probably hit 25 HR and steal 30 bases while offering GG defense at 2B. Won’t make the Rox a winner because their pitching, as usual, sucks.
If the Rockies wanted an outfield bat, they should have gone after David Dahl. Oh, wait……..
If I were President of the Cardinals baseball operations for a day; I would have a list of players who are available for an Arenaldo trade. Then I’d have a secondary list. I’d tell Colorado to pick 3 out of the first group of players and 1-2 out of the second group for trade.
If I was the President of the Cardinals….I’d fire myself for signing Fowler and trading Luke Voit and Randy Arozarena.
Atlanta plays in a high altitude stadium and they didn’t go stupid with dimensions as Colorado did. Colorado needs to remake the stadium don’t be afraid of giving up home runs, just make it fair.. Also, who puts a stadium in Denver Colorado without a dome.
Fair in Colorado? Agreed
365 down the lines
420 gaps
480 straightaway CF
Only big boy homers in this park. Outfielders better stretch.
Didn’t the Rockies HAVE an outfielder they let walk away in Dahl?
Fuld will learn how to over pay every aging star and gut a franchise minor league system. Hopefully while winning 1 title and setting a franchise back 10 years.
I doubt very much if the Phillies will do anything dramatic this off-season unless Realmuto is re-signed. And as each days passes, I’m becoming less and less certain that that will happen.
Probably another at-or-near .500 season mixed in with some ill advised early season hopes for a wild-card slot.