Interesting FAs

[wildcard]

9 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Which reports?

 

Tony/Luke report

The crown jewel of the Machado trade by most accounts, this Cuban outfielder is about potential and tools than pure production at this point. Solid average tools across the board, but no real plus tool right now. Despite being his 3rd full minor league season, still a bit raw in many aspects of the game though his hit tool and ability to take a walk is probably his best overall attributes as a player. 

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Tony/Luke report

The crown jewel of the Machado trade by most accounts, this Cuban outfielder is about potential and tools than pure production at this point. Solid average tools across the board, but no real plus tool right now. Despite being his 3rd full minor league season, still a bit raw in many aspects of the game though his hit tool and ability to take a walk is probably his best overall attributes as a player. 

Cool.

"A bit raw" doesn't bother me and wouldn't slow me down.  Best instructors are at the ML level right?

I'm just glad the "swing away and learn what you can't hit" crew will be purged from the minors.  I don't think it is by coincidence that his K rate went up and his walk rate went down after the trade.

 

That being said I won't be annoyed if he starts the season in the minors, I just don't expect him to spend the entire season there.

[Bmorebirds24]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Cool.

"A bit raw" doesn't bother me and wouldn't slow me down.  Best instructors are at the ML level right?

I'm just glad the "swing away and learn what you can't hit" crew will be purged from the minors.  I don't think it is by coincidence that his K rate went up and his walk rate went down after the trade.

 

That being said I won't be annoyed if he starts the season in the minors, I just don't expect him to spend the entire season there.

This is where I stand With it. I don’t mind him in the minors to start but would like to see him at some point this year. 

I really hope as a whole from the majors down to the minors we learn to have a different approach at the plate. The free swinging would drive me absolutely insane watching games the past few season. I’m sure this new regime is going to be all over that. At least I hope. 

[wildbillhiccup]

Some hard hitting reporting here from Ken Rosenthal. Captain Obvious jumping to conclusions as usual with no inside information at all. The MLB Insiders are worse than meteorologists. Machado will be a Yankee. It's just a question of when. 

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic mentioned on MLB Network that the recent moves by the White Sox could help in their pursuit of Manny Machado.

The White Sox are reportedly signing Jon Jay to a one-year, $4 million deal, and as Rosenthal mentions, the outfielder just so happens to work out in the offseason with Machado and Yonder Alonso, Machado's brother-in-law. Alonso is also a player that was acquired by Chicago earlier this offseason. It's probably not a coincidence. Rosenthal also notes that money is going to be the deciding factor -- because of course it is -- but if things are close, the fact that he can play with Jay and Alonso could be rather enticing.

Related: White Sox

[wildbillhiccup]

In somewhat related news how great would it be if the Los Angeles Angels traded for Will Smith...because you know Bel Air is a suburb or Los Angeles (insert Carlton dance GIF). 

 

Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic writes that the Angels "have been in constant contact" with the Giants about relievers Will Smith and Tony Watson.

Anaheim is badly in need of bullpen additions, and the free agent market is beginning to run dry on impactful options. Smith and Watson would make sense for just about any contending club as established veteran lefty relievers. There was known to be heavy interest from the Cardinals before they signed Andrew Miller. The Angels may be ready to pounce here after just missing out on Zach Britton.

[LookinUp]

55 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Some hard hitting reporting here from Ken Rosenthal. Captain Obvious jumping to conclusions as usual with no inside information at all. The MLB Insiders are worse than meteorologists. Machado will be a Yankee. It's just a question of when. 

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic mentioned on MLB Network that the recent moves by the White Sox could help in their pursuit of Manny Machado.

The White Sox are reportedly signing Jon Jay to a one-year, $4 million deal, and as Rosenthal mentions, the outfielder just so happens to work out in the offseason with Machado and Yonder Alonso, Machado's brother-in-law. Alonso is also a player that was acquired by Chicago earlier this offseason. It's probably not a coincidence. Rosenthal also notes that money is going to be the deciding factor -- because of course it is -- but if things are close, the fact that he can play with Jay and Alonso could be rather enticing.

Related: White Sox

I have no problem with Rosenthal reporting this. If I hadn't been reading the OH, I wouldn't even know Jay signed with the White Sox much less that he has a relationship with Machado. It's not exactly Woodward and Bernstein, but it's a perfectly reasonable thing to put out there.

[Moose Milligan]

7 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I have no problem with Rosenthal reporting this. If I hadn't been reading the OH, I wouldn't even know Jay signed with the White Sox much less that he has a relationship with Machado. It's not exactly Woodward and Bernstein, but it's a perfectly reasonable thing to put out there.

Click here if you wanna hurl:  https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/the-miami-baseball-brotherhood

 

[Il BuonO]

23 hours ago, LookinUp said:

Wouldn't shock me if the O's took a flyer on a well-known guy like Buckholz if they thought they could fix him. Might be the rare FA that is worth a risk to us. Unlikely, but it'll be that or a vet min type of guy.

Fix him? Other than an unsustainable .255 BABIP he looked pretty good last year. A 2.01 ERA with a very respectable 3.47 FIP and produced 1.9 fWAR in only 98 IP. 

If only Bundy could be ‘fixed’ like that.

[LookinUp]

4 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

Fix him? Other than an unsustainable .255 BABIP he looked pretty good last year. A 2.01 ERA with a very respectable 3.47 FIP and produced 1.9 fWAR in only 98 IP. 

If only Bundy could be ‘fixed’ like that.

You're right. I guess I remember him from the previous two years when he was hurt and ineffective. Last year he still only pitched 98 innings, but he was good in those innings.

[wildbillhiccup]

13 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Click here if you wanna hurl:  https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/the-miami-baseball-brotherhood

 

Why oh why did I click the link. 

And the point I was trying to make is that Rosenthal who's a supposed "insider" restated facts that pretty much everyone already knew then cached it with "money is going to be the deciding factor". Maybe he should have shared that the White Sox supposedly aren't willing to offer Harper or Machado more than a seven year deal, which would be a complete deal breaker. Also, they're the White Sox. They have zero chance of signing Manny...no matter how many friends / family members they trade for. 

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Why oh why did I click the link. 

And the point I was trying to make is that Rosenthal who's a supposed "insider" restated facts that pretty much everyone already knew then cached it with "money is going to be the deciding factor". Maybe he should have shared that the White Sox supposedly aren't willing to offer Harper or Machado more than a seven year deal, which would be a complete deal breaker. Also, they're the White Sox. They have zero chance of signing Manny...no matter how many friends / family members they trade for. 

Right, no one wants to play for the Other Sox/Other Chicago Baseball team.   No one wants to play in Philly, either.

Harper and Machado are marquee names, marquee talents and want to be in marquee markets on marquee teams.  If they want to lure one of them away, they'd have to be good and/or give more years/more money (obviously).   I'd be shocked if either wind up in Philly or on the Other Sox.  

I just coined the name Other Sox.  Whenever someone says the Sox, it's always Boston, never Chicago.  The White Sox are hereby deemed "the Other Sox."

[clapdiddy]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I just coined the name Other Sox.  Whenever someone says the Sox, it's always Boston, never Chicago.  The White Sox are hereby deemed "the Other Sox."

So shall it be! 

[wildbillhiccup]

11 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Right, no one wants to play for the Other Sox/Other Chicago Baseball team.   No one wants to play in Philly, either.

Harper and Machado are marquee names, marquee talents and want to be in marquee markets on marquee teams.  If they want to lure one of them away, they'd have to be good and/or give more years/more money (obviously).   I'd be shocked if either wind up in Philly or on the Other Sox.  

I just coined the name Other Sox.  Whenever someone says the Sox, it's always Boston, never Chicago.  The White Sox are hereby deemed "the Other Sox."

Yep that sounds about right. Perpetually bad and destined to suck no matter how hard they try. You know, I actually thought they were starting to turn the corner a bit until I just looked at their depth chart. That is truly an awful team with very little upside, out of Moncada and a few of their SPs. 

[Frobby]

53 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I have no problem with Rosenthal reporting this. If I hadn't been reading the OH, I wouldn't even know Jay signed with the White Sox much less that he has a relationship with Machado. It's not exactly Woodward and Bernstein, but it's a perfectly reasonable thing to put out there.

I agree.    I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that Machado will be a Yankee.    He’ll be a Yankee if they decide they want him badly enough to outbid the other teams.    They can outbid anybody, but that doesn’t mean they’ll choose to do it.    Manny is more of a luxury than a necessity for them.   

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Frobby said:

I agree.    I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that Machado will be a Yankee.    He’ll be a Yankee if they decide they want him badly enough to outbid the other teams.    They can outbid anybody, but that doesn’t mean they’ll choose to do it.    Manny is more of a luxury than a necessity for them.   

I think if it were a foregone conclusion, he'd be a Yankee by now.  

Either the Yankees are playing it cool and are being given first right of refusal to match/beat any offer Manny gets or they're both cooling off on each other.