There were 3 big moves made on Day 3 of the Winter Meetings. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the announcement that Ian Desmond and the Colorado Rockies agreed on a 5 year/$70 M contract. Now, Desmond had a nice bounceback season last year with the Rangers, but wow! 5 years seems a bit long for the 31 y.o and $70 M a bit long on the total dollar side. The Rockies are about the last team I would have predicted as a destination for Desmond as it is not clear what need they are filling. I have to think there may be a trade or 2 coming down the pike for the Rockies.
*********************************************************************************
Having lost out on the Chris Sale auction, the Nationals turned their attention to another White Sox star, Adam Eaton. They gave up about as much as the reportedly offered for Sale, RHP Lucas Giolito, RHP Reynaldo Lopez and RHP Dane Dunning. That seems like a steep price for an OF who averages about 14 HR and 14 SB per season, but Eaton's high OBP and his plus-plus D gave him fWAR's of 3.1, 3.7 and 6.0 over the past 3 seasons. He is also just 28 yo and has 5 years left of control left on a very team friendly contract. He may well have more future value to the Nats than Sale would have!
Last year, Giolito was considered one of the top 2 pitching prospects in the game, but Tyler Beede outpitched him in the Eastern League and his MLB record was 5-3 with a 4.95 ERA in 44 IP. He's still young at age 22 and has plus stuff, so I'm probably being a bit too hard on him. Lopez is smaller than the 6'6", 255 lb Giolito, but he is another hard thrower with some early MLB experience under his belt. Dunning was a first round draft pick in 2016. I guess those can be traded now? Probably a win-win trade, but the Nationals gave up a lot and I really like how the ChiSox are managing this fire sale!
*********************************************************************************
Lastly, the Big Kahuna! The big city lights were too much of a lure for Aroldis Chapman and he's headed back to the Yankees for 5 years/$86 M. It's a huge price for a closer, but Chapman is a unique player and a major game changer on the field. Gotta tip your hat to the Yanks who didn't give up much of value when they traded for Chapman last offseason, then flipped him for their future SS, Gleyber Torres, then got him back yesterday, so now they have both him and Torres! Nicely done! Of course, you can't make moves like that without the deep pockets backing you up, but it's still a nifty move on Brian Cashman's part.
*********************************************************************************
Kenley Jansen is now on the clock as the top FA left on the market. The Nationals have an awful lot invested in that team to be like the Giants in 2016 and flush it due to a lack of a closer. Gotta think they are going to go large in Jansen. He already reportedly has an $80 M offer on the table from the Marlins where he would be reunited with Manager Don Mattingly. Is it possible the Dodgers may be the ones left standing when the music stops on the Closer game of musical chairs?
*********************************************************************************
The Giants created space on the 40 man roster for Mark Melancon by trading RHP Chris Heston to the Mariners for a PTBNL.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Will the Giants #5 starter come from Cain, Blach, Stratton, Blackburn, or, a long shot, Slania?
ReplyDeleteDid Romero do anything to suggest that he's in the mix?
Are you comfortable with this?
ST will be interesting!
I would say that is the depth chart right there. Yes, I am comfortable with it. If no one steps up, there are always midseason trades.
DeleteDon't count Tyler Beede out of the mix as early as late May or June.
DeleteIt looks like the Giants did not make any selections in either the MLB or minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. They also did not lose any of their own prospects.
ReplyDeleteThe Padres picked 3rd AND traded for the players selected #1 and #2 pick in the draft. Not terribly surprised. I read they had just 33 players on their 40-man roster.
DeleteDon't ALL the players taken in the Rule 5 draft have to be on the 25-man roster for the entire year?
DeleteWhat kind of team can you field with 3 fairly raw rookies taking up roster strength? LOL, what would the Padres be without them!
What a great city to be so eclipsed on the diamond by its division rivals!
I wonder who the Player to be Name Later is... My hope is that it'll be some corner OF type prospect. Looking at their prospects I'm hoping for someone like Haniger or Gamel who are AAA, mid-tier prospects. But the problem with that hope is the Mariners need OF & 1B and Haniger & Gamel are their two closest, healthy prospects.
ReplyDeleteWish list for the Heston trade.
Delete1. Ryan Yarbrough LHP ( Plausible, but unlikely.)
2. Andrew Moore RHP ( Never happen, but one can dream.)
3. Zack Littell RHP ( This would be really awesome.)
4. Darrin Gilles RHP ( Yes please!)
5. Tyler Marlette C ( Need more Catching prospects in the system.)
Hey, so what's the deal with a PTBNL?
DeleteWhen do the two teams negotiate to decide whom that player is going to be? Why isn't it settled at the time of the trade? When is the player named & settled?
I've heard some things over the years, but it doesn't seem to add up in my head..
They usually agree on a short-list of players. This gives the club who traded away the player time to scout and evaluate the players. If they can't agree on a final player, the player traded away (very rarely) comes back to the original team or the team that traded-away the player can receive cash in-lieu of the PTBNL.
DeleteLooks like Dexter Fowler will be a Cardinal. So sayeth ESPN.
ReplyDeleteIs the PTBNL actually decided and only known to the teams, or is it a negotiation, or is it a choice of several?
ReplyDelete@Rainball via Alex Pavlovic-At the risk of wiping out a bunch of future "The Player to be Named Later has not been named" tweets, here's how it works: The Giants gave the Mariners a small list of prospects they'll watch in spring training, and they'll scout them and choose one player as the return for Chris Heston. It will not be a significant prospect.
ReplyDeleteIs the Giants' small list from a larger Mariner list?
DeleteLooking at the Giants' 40-man roster for a player to "give up on," did Heston's age (29 in April) work against him? Everyone on the list that could have been the one to go is younger.
ReplyDeleteIt gives a good indication of what the Giants think of their young pitchers altho I don't see Kyle Crick ever helping them out, but at just barely 25, maybe there is hope for him!