MLB - NEWS & NOTES

i saw the phils like diaz from seattle but not cano. surprised the mets want a part of cano.

Will and U Dog, I posted last week on the future HOF thread about Chase Utley - check it out.

 

Hey you said you weren't trying to antagonize me by posting that advanced stats suck in that thread, so I ignored it lol.

Honestly, I've already stated my position on Utley (and Rollins) and the HOF in the past, no need to re-hash.

 

fair enough. i think they suck in the Utley HOF case U Dog bc he was second to Pujols in the 2000s decade in WAR or OPS or OB%. im shocked he's getting so much HoF love, but Rollins isn't. haha. To me he just isn't a Hall of Famer. I don't think it's close, but the sabermetrics is proving me wrong again. Even with those stats, I have a hard time with the ballots that he will be on for him to get 75% of the vote one day. I think Rollins, has an uphill road too, but easier than Utley's, as he won more awards and has better stats in his position.

 

Report: Mets-Mariners trade approved pending physicals...



The Mets have all but cemented a blockbuster trade that will send outfielder Jay Bruce, right-handed reliever Anthony Swarzak, and prospects Jarred Kelenic, Justin Dunn, and Gerson Bautista to Seattle in exchange for Mariners second baseman Robinson Canó and closer Edwin Díaz. As things stand on Saturday night, Canó has waived the no-trade clause on his end, and ESPN’s Tenchy Rodriguez reports that he only needs to pass a physical in order for the clubs to solidify the deal. While Díaz passed his physical on Saturday, it might still take another couple of days for the teams to approve medical information on all remaining players in the trade, at which point an official announcement will be made.

According to an earlier report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the deal was also pending approval from the commissioner’s office for the $20 million the Mariners are expected to kick in. The cash will help offset the outstanding $120 million balance on Canó’s contract, though it’s significantly less than the reported $60 million the Mariners were initially thought to be sending along with the veteran slugger. When the dust settles, the Mets will be on the hook for $63 million of Canó’s expected salary through 2023, with the Mariners eating $34 million in the combined salaries for Bruce and Swarzak.

(NBC)

 

crazy trade. tons of money being paid by the other teams etc. winter meetings are around the corner. should be great to see more trades and signings.

 

Segura, 28, has been one of the league’s better shortstops over the last three seasons. In 2018, he hit .304/.341/.415 with 10 home runs, 63 RBI, 91 runs scored, and 20 stolen bases in 632 plate appearances. He is also an above-average defender according to many metrics.

Segura would certainly be an upgrade for the Phillies. This past season, the club got a meager .651 OPS out of its shortstops — mainly Scott Kingery. The only teams that got less offense out of that position were the Marlins (.645) and Brewers (.610).

Segura is under contract through 2022 at $14.25 million per year. His controlling team also has a $17 million club option for the 2023 season with a $1 million buyout. The Phillies, who very loudly have lots of money to spend, would have no problem absorbing that contract. Additionally, adding Segura wouldn’t necessarily preclude the Phillies from also signing free agent 3B/SS Manny Machado.

 

^^heard it late last night. some nut try to tell me JP Crawford is not a bust for the Phillies and needs more time to develop. he's always been a slow starter, did little in AA or AAA or the majors last year. Another Phillies bust like Dom Brown. See ya. Love the move. Need 3-5 more.

 

After a weekend of waiting, the big trade between the Mets and Mariners is a done deal. That deal: Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz and cash to the Mets; Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Jarred Kelenic, Justin Dunn and Gerson Bautista to the Mariners. There will be a press conference tomorrow morning at 11AM.

The amount of money changing hands has not been announced. Cano, of course, is owed $120 million over the next five years, and Seattle will pick up a good chunk of that. Seattle will also take on Bruce and Swarzak’s contracts. Bruce makes $13 million in 2019 and another $13 million in 2020. Swarzak will make $8 million in 2018.

As for the prospects:

• Kelenic was drafted in the first round, sixth overall, by the Mets in the 2018 draft. In 56 games for the Gulf Coast League Mets and Kingsport Mets, he hit .286/.371/.468 with six home runs and 42 RBI. Baseball America rated him the fourth-best prospect in the Mets organization. Some reports are saying he’s a future star, and that may be, but he’s still only 19 and is a long, long ways away from making any sort of major league impact.
• Dunn, 23, was the Mets’ first round pick in 2016 and, according to Baseball America, he’s the fifth-best prospect in the organization. Dunn began the year in High-A St. Lucie and went 2-3 with a 2.36 ERA before a promotion to Double-A where he started 15 games, going 6-5 and posting an ERA of 4.22. He struck out more than ten guys per nine at both stops.
• Bautista actually had a cup of coffee in the bigs this past season, appearing in five games and allowing six runs over four and a third. Originally a product of the Red Sox system, he has a 3.12 ERA over five minor league seasons, primarily as a reliever. He strikes out a lot of guys. He gives up too many hits. Based on his statline, he seems like a project, but all projects are fun on some level.

Both teams did something they wanted to do. The Mets got better, adding a still productive Cano and arguably baseball’s best reliever in 2018 in Diaz. The Mariners re-stocked their farm system with three prospects with upside and shed at least some of Cano’s salary.

As I said on Friday, that’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of moving money and because of that it’s almost folly to say, definitively, who “wins” this deal. For what it’s worth, both Mets fans and Mariners fans think their team got the worse end of it, which probably means it was a pretty fair deal all things considered.

 

Jean Segura to Philly is official...

The Mariners and Phillies made it official late yesterday afternoon: Seattle has acquired first baseman Carlos Santana and shortstop J.P. Crawford from the Phillies in exchange for shortstop Jean Segura, righty Juan Nicasio and lefty James Pazos.

Segura, 28, hit .304/.341/.415 with 10 home runs, 63 RBI, 91 runs scored, and 20 stolen bases in 632 plate appearances in 2018. An above-average defender, he’ll constitute a major upgrade for the Phillies at short over a corps of shortstops, led by Scott Kingery, who put up a meager .651 OPS in 2018. Segura is under contract through 2022 at $14.25 million per year with a team option for 2022 at $17 million.

Nicasio, 32, posted a 6.00 ERA in 46 appearances, but he had a much lower FIP, suggesting that his defenders and bad luck did him no favors. As it was, he struck out 53 and walked just five in 42 innings. He’ll make $9.25 million next season. Pazos, 27, had a 2.88 ERA in 60 appearances. He struck out 45 and walked 15 in 50 innings.

In return, Seattle gets a once-promising shortstop prospect in Crawford who will still only turn 24 in January and who could probably benefit from a change of scenery. They also get Santana, who was the Phillies’ big free agent signing last offseason but who hit only .229/.352/.414 with 24 home runs and 86 RBI. Yes, he walked a lot — 110 times — but it was a subpar season for Santana, who will turn 33 in April. He’s entering the second year of a three-year, $60 million deal. Seattle will be picking up all of that deal.

This deal is clearly a win for the Phillies, who upgrade massively at shortstop, get a nice arm in Nicasio and who, thanks to unloading Santana, are not really taking a financial hit. They are also now able to move Rhys Hoskins back to his natural position at first base rather than play him out in left field where he was a massive defensive liability. Even with this move, the Phillies are still reportedly motivated to make a big free agent splash, perhaps with Manny Machado, if he can be persuaded to play third base, possibly Bryce Harper or possibly Patrick Corbin.

For the Mariners: just the latest move in what is turning into a massive offseason fire sale in which they’ve taken on a couple of over-the-hill veterans along with some young lottery tickets, shed multiple key players and have moved, primarily, to shed long term obligations. Which ain’t the most inspiring thing in the world for M’s fans, I reckon. (NBC)

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...s-agree-to-massive-six-year-deal-reports-say/

CORBIN TO THE NATIONALS FOR AN INSANE 6 YEAR DEAL ! He's good, he's not that good ! Wow.

 

WOW!



Cardinals acquire Paul Goldschmidt from Diamondbacks...

The Diamondbacks announced on Wednesday evening that the club traded first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Luke Weaver, catcher Carson Kelly, infielder Andrew Young, and a Competitive Balance Round B 2019 draft pick.

The 31-year-old Goldschmidt has been one of baseball’s best first basemen since he broke into the league in 2011. He has a career .930 OPS. This past season, he hit .290/.389/.533 with 33 home runs and 83 RBI in 690 plate appearances while playing above-average defense.

Goldschmidt has just one year remaining on his contract at $14.5 million, a club option the D-Backs exercised at the end of October. This is strictly a rental for the Cardinals, but the two sides could work out a contract extension before he reaches free agency following the 2019 season.

Goldschmidt will push Matt Carpenter off of first base. The versatile Carpenter could head back to third base, displacing Jedd Gyorko.

Adding Goldschmidt certainly makes the Cardinals a more formidable presence in the competitive NL Central. They won 88 games last year, which was only good for third place. The addition of a five-to-six win player in Goldschmidt helps close the gap between the Brewers and Cubs compared to the Cardinals.

The D-Backs, meanwhile, are starting to disassemble after losing Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock to free agency. Zack Greinke, David Peralta, Steven Souza, and Robbie Ray could all be traded this offseason now that Goldschdmit has been moved.

Weaver, 25, was one of baseball’s top pitching prospects going into the 2017 season. Across parts of three seasons in the majors, the right-hander has a 4.79 ERA with 238 strikeouts and 83 walks in 233 innings.

Kelly, 24, got sparse playing time behind the plate with Yadier Molina handling the lion’s share of catching duties in St. Louis. In 63 games across three seasons, Kelly hit .154/.227/.188.

Young, 24, was selected by the Cardinals in the 37th round of the 2016 draft. The 2B/3B spent 2018 between High-A Palm Beach and Double-A Springfield, batting a combined .289/.379/.479 with 21 home runs and 58 RBI in 503 plate appearances.

 

Royals sign Chris Owings to one-year, $3 million deal
The Royals have signed the versatile Chris Owings to a one-year, $3 million contract.

 

Goldy's awesome but that's a pretty strong return for a guy they were going to lose next year for nothing and that the Cards might lose next year for just a comp pick.

 

the goldy trade was a nice move by both teams.

 

MLB passed along tragic news early Friday morning: Luis Valbuena and José Castillo died in a car accident. According to Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times, The crash occurred after a winter league game in Venezuela, the native country of both players. The two were in a car with former major leaguer Carlos Rivero and a chauffeur when the car collided with a rock. Rivero and the chauffeur survived the crash. Valbuena was 33, having just celebrated his birthday on November 30. Castillo was 37.

Valbuena had an 11-year major league career from 2008-18, playing for the Mariners, Indians, Cubs, Astros, and most recently the Angels. His best years came in 2014-16, when he posted an aggregate .776 OPS with 54 home runs and 147 RBI over that three-year span. Valbuena mostly played third base, but was quite versatile, spending a fair amount of time at second base, first base, and shortstop as well.

Valbuena was a bit of a flashy player, occasionally flipping his bat and not always on home runs. He always looked like he was having fun on the field, something to which all players should aspire.

Castillo spent parts of five years in the majors from 2004-08 with the Pirates, Giants, and Astros. He put together a career .675 OPS playing mostly second and third base, and occasionally shortstop. Castillo also spent some time playing baseball in Japan and Mexico as well as the Venezuelan Winter League.

Castillo’s claim to fame was starting a triple play against the Padres on May 30, 2008. Alex Hinshaw allowed a single and a walk to Brian Giles and Adrián González. When Keiichi Yabu relieved Hinshaw, Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a grounder to Castillo at third base, who started a 5-4-3 triple-killing.

We send our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Valbuena and Castillo, as well as the respective organizations for which they played.
_________
____________________

RIP

 

Four arrested in connection with deaths of Luis Valbuena, Jose Castillo...

A horrifying turn in an already horrifying case: four people have been arrested in connection with the deaths of Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo. They died after their car hit a large rock in the road, which caused them to be ejected from the vehicle. Authorities say that the rock was not in the road on accident. From the Los Angeles Times:

Authorities said the players may have been the intended victims of criminals in Venezuela who throw rocks onto roadways to disable cars or cause crashes and then rob the vehicles’ occupants. Four suspects found with Valbuena’s and Castillo’s personal belongings were arrested by police, state governor Julio León Heredia wrote on Twitter.

If this report is true, and the accident was caused by people trying to commit a robbery, this could be charged as felony murder. Or would be in the United States. Whether Venezuela’s legal system would handle it the same is unclear, but most countries do consider deaths caused in furtherance of a felony — especially when the means employed to carry out the felony are likely to cause serious injury or death — to be the most serious of crimes. It could be charged as a capital offense in the United States, subject to the death penalty where applicable. Venezuela does not have the death penalty, but it would nonetheless be among the more serious crimes that could be prosecuted.

Unconscionable. Simply horrible. It’s murder. (NBCSports)

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...-heating-up-yankees-end-bid-for-bryce-harper/

latest from the winter meetings. Thor may be headed to the Yankees. Wow. how the hell do they keep doing this? they don't even have their top prospect to trade anymore as he was trade for paxton 3 weeks ago. wow.

 

The fan backlash for trading Syndergaard to the Yankees would be ugly. But his value with 2 years of team control left is probably never going to be higher. If it got them Realmuto via a 3 way deal with the Marlins, it'd probably be worth it. Yanks have plenty of depth on their ML roster and still have a number of interesting pitching prospects even after moving Sheffield. They can move one of their IF guys to clear a spot for Machado, too.

 

not to be a homer, but for all the sports talk and sports blogs about the phils landing harper and or machado, anything else to me and the phils are dead to me. if machado goes to NY, i may stop watching baseball all together.