MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Are you kidding?

 

Whoa its true... The Boston Red Sox acquired White Sox pitcher Chris Sale for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and two other prospects.

 

Much as I love Kopech, and even with as much as they had invested in Moncada, that deal looks like a steal for Boston.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/m...reportedly-acquire-chris-sale-from-white-sox/

red sox rob them blind!

 

Would've thought Swihart and ERod would've made sense for CHW in this deal.

 

swihart-what's he up to these days? haha

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/a...cada-kopech-and-white-sox-haul-in-sale-trade/

after reading this article on the guys in the Sale trade, this is one of the shadiest deals i've seen. this is like a fantasy baseball trade between 2 colluding buddies. haha. Highway robbery.

 

Catching in winter ball. Most likely starts the year catching every day in AAA if he isn't traded (he has an option left, Vazquez doesn't, and Swihart could use more time to work on his defense behind the plate).

 

that was in jest as u missed my posts on swihart when cole hamels was being traded and boston refused to trade him in ANY deals. Billy Ripken said - they are just prospects and for every Mickey Mantle and Mike Trout, there are a ton of Joe Blows. Not saying Swihart is that, but to own Hamels and have him under control cheaper than David Price for Swihart and another prospect was a tough call by the Boston GM and brass. To me, he's not Johnny Bench and was worth trading. He hasn't done a thing and Hamels was dealt 2 summers ago. And Boston paid a ton for Price.

 

Oh, I thought you were wondering because he missed so much time with the injury this year. I knew where you stood on the rest of it...you and I had a conversation a couple months back about the veracity of the Swihart/Hamels rumors.

 

u dog - every time i see his name, i just chuckle to myself.

 

The suddenly nomadic on and off the diamond Ian Desmond takes 5/70 to play 1B for the Rockies.

 

UD, I gave you that + above for accidentlly leaving a minus in the trivia thread!

Fish, didn't Hamels shit his pants in the playoffs and get bombed in a game?

 

1b? the guy who never played OF till this season? The former SS? Wow didn't see that coming...

 

yeah yeah yeah igloo. thanks. he was great last year in their run to the postseason and was 14-2 till the wheels fell off the hamels wagon in august and sept.

he's still cheaper than price and swihart is still not johnny bench. haha.

 

He may have gotten knocked around in his one start this year, but he was NLCS and WS MVP in '08 and his overall postseason numbers are strong.

 

If you believe in the defensive spectrum, a SS should be able to play just about any other position on the diamond. Assuming his name isn't Hanley Ramirez lol.

I still won't be surprised if they unload one of their OF'ers for some pitching and move Desmond back out there and sign someone else to play 1B (Trumbo? He might hit 70 playing half his games in Coors)

 

that makes more sense. good work u dog! A+

 

Toronto offered $80M/4yrs. Other teams balked at his asking price and the Jays decided to get a few other guys quicker than Edwin's camp anticipated, thus losing any leverage. Now the Jays are still in it but not at that price anymore. Too bad for Edwin because if this is true then the Jays original offer that is off the table is better than offers teams are refusing now.

 

The Cubs will get Wade Davis from the Royals in exchange for Jorge Soler. Deal is official.

 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.?The record for the biggest free-agent contract ever handed out to a reliever was set on the first full day of this year?s Winter Meetings. It lasted all of 48 hours.

On Wednesday night, as MLB?s week-long expo and media gathering wound down, the Yankees sent everyone home with a bombshell contract for closer Aroldis Chapman, the best reliever on the market: five years and $86 million, according to Fox Sports?s Ken Rosenthal. That pact shatters the industry record for a reliever set just two days earlier by new Giants closer Mark Melancon, whose four-year, $62 million deal had itself topped Jonathan Papelbon?s four-year, $50 million contract back in 2011 as the new No. 1. New York?s new deal for Chapman?who was the team?s closer for the first half of 2016 after being acquired last December from Cincinnati?reflects the new, borderline ludicrous value that top-flight relievers now hold. And while Chapman is and should continue to be one of the most dominant relievers in the game, the Yankees are taking a real risk in years and dollars with this deal.

That Chapman was able to score himself this kind of contract isn?t that surprising. In a season split between the Yankees and Cubs, the 28-year-old Cuban lefthander struck out 90 men in 58 innings?the latter figure truncated by a month-long suspension at the start of the season for a domestic violence incident last December?and posted a 1.55 ERA with 36 saves. That marked Chapman?s fourth year out of the last five with an ERA of 2.00 or below, and since becoming a full-time closer in 2012, he has posted a strikeout-per-nine rate of 14.0 or higher every year. Featuring a fastball that routinely breaks 100 mph and a wipeout slider, Chapman is borderline unhittable at times, and after being acquired by Chicago at the trade deadline, he was a key piece of the team?s World Series run, throwing 15 2/3 innings over 13 games, including a bravura eight-out performance in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.

All those stats are well and good, and Chapman will pair with fellow flamethrower Dellin Betances to give the Yankees an enviable 1?2 punch in the later innings that will be hard for any team to counter. But he?ll be doing so for a team that, unless everything breaks right, likely won?t have much need for a shutdown closer.