Some items from around the Senior Circuit…
- The Nationals and Diamondbacks will be among the teams who will have scouts at Corey Kluber’s showcase on January 13, as reported by The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli and Zach Buchanan (both Twitter links). Washington has a clearer need for starting pitching than Arizona, but given the potential upside of adding a former Cy Young Award winner if Kluber can stay healthy, the veteran righty makes sense for practically every team in baseball.
- “The Cardinals have talked about acquiring” David Peralta in the past, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, and Goold feels it would be logical for the Cards to again consider acquiring the Diamondbacks outfielder. Peralta began his pro career with St. Louis back in 2004 before being released in 2009, and he has since gone on to become a solid contributor over seven MLB seasons with the D’Backs. Peralta’s name has been periodically mentioned in trade rumors as the Diamondbacks’ fortunes have gone up and down over the years, but Arizona locked Peralta up on a contract extension last spring. That same deal now could make Peralta an affordable (he is owed $7.5MM in both 2021 and 2022) trade target for a team like the Cardinals, who are both in need of outfield help and are seemingly trying to limit spending. While the D’Backs have dealt several of their higher-paid players in recent years, however, there hasn’t been any indication that Arizona is considering a similar move involving Peralta or any of its pricier veterans this winter. If anything, indications are that the D’Backs are leaning towards bringing much of their roster back, with the sense that 2020 was an aberration of a season.
- With all of the economic uncertainty surrounding baseball, the Giants “will be better positioned than almost any team…to weather whatever 2021 brings,” The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly (subscription required) writes in a breakdown of the team’s overall solid financial outlook. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Giants will heavily spend on new players this winter, but it bodes well for the future — perhaps as soon as next offseason, once almost all of San Francisco’s expensive contracts are off the books.
Giants want to sign Bauer. Casalli and now saying they have financial security. I see a pattern.
You watch guys like Foolish Baseball on YouTube?
Yes! Outstanding baseball tuber. One of the best baseball analytics channels there is.
Whoever is not, needs to be watching. I have not watched FoolishBailey yet. Does he mention this situation?
Yeah, I love his content, why?
Just asking because I love his content too. I was gonna suggest him because I’ve learned a lot about the analytics and other statistics through him. Kind of an odd question with the article not relating to him, but whatever.
I watch a lot of Youtuber baseball creators. Foolishbb, Giraffeneckmarc, Stark Raving Sports, and Momentum. There are more too.
I really liked SRS’ documentary on the Wilpons. I never really knew how bad it was for the Mets until I saw that video.
Oh yeah, and their butterfly effect videos are just… chef’s kiss.. beautiful.
That’s more Sport Storm’s thing, but it is posted on their channel. Still a great series.
I’ve been recently watching Baseball doesn’t exist’s channel. He usually posts compilations, but he recently posted a Trevor Bauer conspiracy video. Either are good quality.
Oh, and Sadman baseball make beautiful content, great quality, but he has only made like 4 vids.
I love Sadman baseball. He probably makes the best, most high quality content out of any of the baseball youtubers. But yea, he only posts like once every six months. His best video, to me, is his Mariners one. It rivals the quality of SB Nation’s documentary on the Mariners.
I hear Robbie Hyde is decent too…
He is the Jontron of baseball lol.
I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but I’ll take it.
Marc is a little too much of a homer for my taste, but I still watch him, Fuzzy and FB when I can.
I think he meant that Sadman was more of the JonTron of baseball content because of the sporatic upload schedule.
Oh good call. I can be a bit sporadic at times.
I try to be as unbiased as possible on my channel for that sole reason lol
Whats ur channel?
Pretty sure it’s Robbie Hyde since his username is RHyde and he was saying watch a guy named Robbie Hyde.
I think Casali is unrelated to Bauer. Giants like their catchers, Casali was the best available at the price. I think the Giants SP add will likely be Sugano.
I agree with the sugano comment, although no mlb experience he proved in wbc against our players. He has a more consistent track record than bauer in terms of numbers, just a year older or so and should come in a bit cheaper.
Sugano would be an excellent—and necessary—add to the Giants rotation.
I’d like to see the Braves give Kluber a strong look for a 1 yr with a vesting clause for a 2nd yr.
Braves already have a full rotation. We’re already taking a risk with smyly, so there’s no need for another.
signing Bauer to the one-year contract he wants makes no sense for the Giants, or any team that will not contend in 2021…
Even if Kluber is never a clear Cy Young candidate again, I feel that he’ll never be awful if he’s healthy. I had him going to the Nats so I’m really hoping that’s where he lands. That would be a deadly rotation, but one that could completley falter because of the lack of durability.
Because the Giants outlook is so good means they should spend some money this winter. But it doesn’t look like they will. Not saying they should break the bank but it’s time to stop bottom feeding. Sugano would be a great addition.
There’s nothing the Giants should throw money at this offseason. Overpaying for a ? pitcher (based off career inconsistencies) in Bauer seems more like a Yankee/Met move to make, the other top dogs are Ozuna (DH) and Realmuto, a catcher which we definitely don’t need. Sugano is nice but he’s 32, while I think they will sign him, I don’t really see the need for him. If they can sign Story next offseason and trade for starting pitching I’d prefer that.
Agreed, plus next offseason free agent class is much more impressive and the farm will be another year older, Zaidi has them moving in the right direction so far. Wouldn’t mind picking up Sugano though. Could be a solid number 3 or 4 guy for the next 3-4 years
I don’t see signing them signing Sugano. The trend with every signing they’ve made this offseason is it’s a one year deal. That’s not a coincidence. I think Zaidi wants as much payroll flexibility as possible for next winter.
I think this off-season the only thing to throw money at would be pitching with the eye past this next year. Next year’s free agent class is way better in terms of position players. Most of the start SP class is older so if the giants want a 30, 31 year old star starter off the FA market they may have to pay now to get that for the next 4 or 5 seasons. Just my opinion here is all…
Agree w Og poster
Ideally they could strike a deal structured like Kikuchi – High AAV but team options in middle/end
21 he could get his feet wet, 22-24 he could be a value or have possible team outs if it goes sideways-
A clean payroll is nice, but long term assets are the drivers to success – Clean ledgers are built over time not a wild offseason typically . They’ve hit bottom, its time to start the ascend …….We’ll see in 48 hrs
We were the team of the previous decade and we will be the team of this decade. Stay mad, trolls. Woody out.
not off to a great start
If only those pesky dodgers and padres didn’t have enormously more current talent and better farms
Good point, Kirks. Teams are always winning three World Series in five years each decade. It’s obviously nothing special, so why shouldn’t the Giants do it in back-to-back decades?
Kluber would be a perfect risk for the Nats to take on assuming he doesn’t command an exorbitant contract leveraging his past accolades. If Nats can sign him to a 1year, less than $14m contract, I’m all for it – similar contract Anibal had with similar risk but more upside.
I get your point, but 14m seems high, I can’t see Rizzo paying that much for a risk. Don’t forget, when they signed Anibal, he was coming off an excellent year with Atlanta. They had a more recent track record of success to take that risk.
1 year, 6-9 million, loaded with incentives. Agreed- that would be a good add for the Nats.
Angels should sign Bauer and Kluber and Porcello. And sign Arrieta and Felix Hernandez to minor league deals. If they don’t have a Cy Young award, don’t sign ’em.
And Colon. How could you forget abut Colon?
My bad!
Random, but Johan Santana should of won the CY the year Bartolo won.
Yes!! A 6 for 1 combo deal!!
Yankees should sign Kluber and take a chance on him.
If SF can’t sign Sugano (Sugano is considering to continue his probaseball career in Japan), I imagine they will deep dive into the Odorizzi sweepstakes. Still see Angels picking up Bauer.
How refreshing for the Giants to admit that they aren’t rubbing pennies together to make ends meet
Agreed with the exception of a few clubs, in fact the giants Mission Rock(development across McCovey cove in between oracle and the chase center) development is coming together even in the pandemic. So more financial security coming their way!
Naturally David Peralta is a former Cardinal who ended up being a player they have interest in acquiring!!! Why in the heck did Mozeliak dump him in the first place???
Mozeliak has no clue on how to properly evaluate young baseball talent. Why should he?? He never played baseball.
Cards Fans have absolutely NO faith in John Mozeliak in any capacity!!! Come on Cardinal Owners!!! Wake Up!!!!!
Did he have a high stock? As a Nat fan I dont think to bad he traded for Goldy. Also at the time he made good signings in Fowler and Carpenter but those are now bad. Tbh letting Ozuna was bad because they gave up top players in Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara. He has also made the playoffs a couple times and a trip to the nlcs
really?
Yes, Peralta was in the Cardinals system….but he was a pitcher who did not pitch well.
So yeah, we released him, but he was not a hitter at that time, nor was he some two-way phenom we were holding back from hitting. Peralta was the one who put in the hard work and reinvented himself as an exceptional hitter and OF. HE deserves that credit, not some failing of the Cardinals organization.
While i question several moves, and trades, letting Peralta go is not something we can fault them for at all. So if you want to spout off and rage, feel free, but not in regards to the Peralta move.
are you kidding? Peralta sucked in the Cardinals system as a pitcher. they didnt keep him because he wasnt good at the thing they signed him to do.
i’ll ABSOLUTELY take a healthy, even just reasonably healthy Kluber on the the Nats. Scherzer and then Strasburg, Corbin and Kluber messing around for the 2/3/4 spots and then Ross/Voth/Fedde for the 5th/6th/BP LR spot. would be an excellent move by Rizzo. make it happen!
Then go get Puig for the RF spot and maybe Ramos for the platoon C spot and i’m good. bring on 2021
Yessir my guy. Im a huge Nats fan. I say Kluber to a 1/6 mil with big incentives. Hopefully we can get a Left handed arm. Hoping they would claim Hand. Ramos was my fav player before he left not gonna lie. I always wanted Ozuna but Puig would be cost effective if we get an expensive lefty like hand. #InRizzoWeTrust
Yeaaaaahhh, it more like Stras #1 then all the others.
Wish that was the case. Unfortunately, Strasburg’s health unreliability makes it difficult to put him in the Ace spot. For me? It’s Scherzer’s spot until he leaves or retires.
Peralta is a solid look, but it alone won’t fix their offense. But snagging him may help force their hand to thin out the OF mess some. Bader, ONeill, Thomas, Williams….with Fowler and Carlson….AND add in another OF like Peralta? Someone or two has gotta go.
Peralta trade
then a Merrifield trade?
That might work, give them a proven lead off man with all tools and flex, and a lefty who makes good contact and has decent power in Perlata. Moves Carp to bench, and with Carlson rising, and hopefully a bounce back by Edman and one of Bader/Oneill/Fowler should be enough to make them
Merrifield2, Carlson, Peralta, Goldy, DeJong, Yadi (assuming), Fowler/Oneill, Edman3
I think that team can score some runs
and Peralta and Whit’s contracts aren’t killers long term….both will take some healthy prospects though…
you might go with Cesar Hernandez on a short contract instead of a trade for Whit, but he doesn’t have the offensive capabilities that Whit does even if he does get on well.
Its nice to ignore that KC is not trading Whitfield. You could hit them with an offer they cant refuse, but I’m guessing that’s not the plan. Scraps aren’t going to do it.
Whitfield?
Agree 100% Stymee. KC has said time and time again that they have no plans or no interest to trade Merrifield yet so many people propose ridiculous, unbalanced trade offers for him. The only way KC moves him is if they get blown away by an offer that they just can’t refuse (think Castillo from Cin), but they certainly aren’t moving him for leftover STL OFs who can’t even justify a starting role in STL. It’s good to dream though…
Sadly I have to throw a wet blanket on this idea for 2021-
I think Stl is just riding out Fowler/Carp this year
I think “the big” headliner would be nothing bigger than a David Peralta type deal and they bargain bin the rest (** Cesar Hernandez )
On the Flip- 22 looks good on the books and the Div is wide open for 21- I have Stl favs today – Win the Div and anything is possible as Nats and the Red Sox have shown us recently come Oct – I think they will spend some good coin next offseason for what its worth
Even as a Dodger fan you cant help get a little excited to see how Sf will maneuver the next 13 months –
Timing, Market, ledger and position all line up fantastic- I see Lindor a perfect fit for that city in 22
Think Z will concentrate on getting quality inns from the mound as well. Not exactly TOR arms but id bet 22 staffs has 5 arms you would easily consider SP 2-4’s – They could get a good jump on the market with Sugano in the next 48 hrs
Re-builds are tough and its hard to project them for success moving forward but I sense SF is on the right track for the here and now aspect
none of that has happened or is likely to happen. How can you project the Giants higher than 3rd in the NL West for the foreseeable future? Name one player that could start for the Dodgers or Padres?
As an Angels fan, I would love to pick up a healthy Kluber on a one year, low base, incentivised contract.
Sign Sugano and trade for Castillo using Adell as the centerpiece going to the Reds. Adell is going to be good, but you won’t get Castillo without a headliner going back to Cincy.
As good as Bauer is, I’m not a fan of signing players at a premium coming off career years – so I take a pass.
Top rotation options would be; Castillo, Bundy, Sugano, Heaney, Kluber and Canning. Barria and Sandoval would be ready as needed.
Ohtani would be a bonus, but I’m not counting on him due to his injury history and lack of innings pitched the last four years. Because he has only thrown 77 innings the past 4 years, he will be on a pitch count and innings limit.
This is a great Angel plan indeed –
Id even be ok w that sans the Sugano ink –
Adell + for Castillo is worth it for the Angels today
Kluber could be had on a nice 1+1 – Id actually gear for that +1 option at the expense of like a 1.5 mill buyout (which would bump 21’s price as a bonus)
Angels aren’t going to do any of that. We have watched the Angels miss on Dallas Keuchel, Patrick Corbin, Gerrit Cole and others only to walk away with Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill, and Julio Teheran the past two winters. Unlikely the Angels trade from a farm system that is barely getting back to respectability. Expect them to come away with Tommy Milone, Brett Anderson, or another arm that likely won’t stay on the field or will be awful while he’s on it
Gm’s are constantly changing their flight paths – Sure, the past gives us good indicators but I dont think we are at the point to just put Arte in a box and throw away the key yet-
He’s made bold moves in the past and he knows the stakes are elevated- I wouldnt be surprised at anything the Angels do in the next couple years- They get off to a good first half and get a taste of winning I think they will become one of the more active players on the market this year
Rsox, realistically, the Angels will not follow my blueprint. Nonetheless, acquiring Kluber, Sugano and Castillo would be my best case scenario. After recent off seasons, I’d probably be happy with any of the three.
Having said that, I would offer up a couple of counterpoints to your comment. First, the Angels have a new GM. The GM that signed Harvey, Cahill and Terhan is gone – new GM, new ideas. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Second, perhaps its because of Harvey, Cahill and Terhan that the Angels make some bold moves this off season.
And finally, I, too, prefer to hold onto inexpensive, controllable talent. But if you want a high upside, controllable SP like Castillo, you have to send something of value back to Cincy.
Angels & NL West:
I would forget trading for Castillo. Why would they trade him? He’s good and cheap. I can see them dealing him in a year or two if his arb raises get to be too expensive. But otherwise they don’t move him unless they get an overwhelming offer. And I don’t see teams giving up what it would take to motivate the Reds to move him.
Plus there’s competition for pitching out there. Angel fans should be very happy to get Sugano. Or, depending on how Kuber, looks moderately happy to get him. It’s possible they get both, after all look at SD, but I think it’s doubtful.
The “GM” may be different but Arte still controls everything
Rsox, in the words of Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Signing SP like Milone and Anderson, as you suggest above, would signal that Arte is still in control and qualify as insane according to Einstein (and most Angels fans).
Going after SP like Sugano, Kluber and/or Castillo would signal that the Angels learned a painful lesson the past two off seasons (Harvey, Cahill and Tehran) and are intent on stopping the insanity.
With a new GM on board, I trust the Angels will do something different this off season and get a better result.
We’ll see
Cardinals could sign Rosario or Mazara for much less than it would cost to trade for Peralta.
Acquiring Kluber means combining his remaining ability on the mound with the expertise of another pitching coach in your clubhouse. He was incredible in the 2016 WS, knows how to break hitters down, and obviously understands the profession. The guidance he could offer guys like Logan Webb and Tyler Beede on the Giants would be incalculable.
st louis could sign puig for a lot less
For Washington, it’s all down to what kind of budget they’re working with and how much Kluber would cost. Those voids in the bullpen, OF, and 3B are glaring and need to be addressed.. Unless they go with Kieboom again.
For Washington, it’s all down to what kind of budget they’re working with and how much Kluber would cost. Those voids in the bullpen, OF, and 3B are glaring and need to be filled first.. Unless they go with Kieboom again.
Well, when is this GM going to do ANYTHING to improve this team and get them back into contention and the Playoffs ?? We have already missed the playoffs the last 4 yrs and the way they are talking we need to wait another 2 or 3. If you can NOT do your job and place a winning team on the field, then step down and we will find someone who can !! The ONLY thing I have seen (on the Bright side? was getting Dubon, that said they got LUCKY w/ Gausman, but what else has he done ?? Sign Often Hurt or Rehabbing Players and Hope they work out ?? How about signing a few Healthy Players that can help win a Championship. We do NOT need Reclamation Project. For everyone that works out money was waisted on 10 that didn’t. And why is it, you ONLY seem to sign Catchers ?? Catcher is NOT a Weakness on this Club !!