Baseball Offseason Thread

[glen a richter]

I don't really want to talk about the Mets and their epic screw ups. I wasn't sure if I was watching the 15 Mets or the 62 Mets, at times. But... it's hot stove time.

Mets need a few things: infield defense, probably a replacement for Murphy, definitely a replacement for Cespedes and they need to at least consider the reality that David Wright has long since peaked and will probably be a 120 game player, at best, with his progressive back injury. I'd be dangling Matt Harvey and seeing how much power or batting average I could get back. With Zach Wheeler coming back from TJ, the rotation is good to go, and Syndergaard is the true ace of the staff anyway. I'd be asking about Altuve, Goldschmidt and Kemp. I'd probably be ok with an outfield of Conforto/Lagares/Granderson with Cuddyer as the 4th man since he's under contract for another year. I'd be looking to either re-sign Murphy or sign FA to be Ben Zobrist who will probably go to the Yankees, and definitely looking at a guy like Darren O'Day who I'm almost certain is a FA to start fixing the mess in the pen. Too many idiots on the radio are rabidly anti-trading Harvey but you have to deal from a strength to fix a weak spot. A lot of teams would salivate at the opportunity to get Harvey and would be happy to part with one of their offensive stars to bolster their rotation. Even a rotation of Syndergaard/DeGrom/Matz/Wheeler/Niese is ok by me. Heck, even Logan Verrett could take the #5 slot. He's not talked about too much.

[cardsfan04]

Kimbrel to the Red Sox for a lot more than I would expect for a pitcher that will throw 60 innings per year.

I've heard speculation of Freddie Freeman to the Cardinals. Yes, please.

[glen a richter]

What's the over/under on how many games until Don Mattingly is fired? I'll set it at 184 and take the under. I think he'll make a full season and some small change only because Jeff loria is a Mattingly fan.

[dmiles2186]

Kimbrel to the Red Sox for a lot more than I would expect for a pitcher that will throw 60 innings per year.

I've heard speculation of Freddie Freeman to the Cardinals. Yes, please.

That Kimbrel deal makes me hope Mo is calling people and dangling Trevor Rosenthal for as much as he can get. No, Rosenthal isn't as good as Kimbrel, but he's probably in that 2nd/3rd tier and is due a raise.

Also, Free Freeman right to Busch!

[glen a richter]

Wouldn't you rather have Lucas Duda? Perhaps Piscotty + Matt Carpenter for Duda + Harvey?

[dmiles2186]

Wouldn't you rather have Lucas Duda? Perhaps Piscotty + Matt Carpenter for Duda + Harvey?

I would not rather have Duda over Carp/Piscotty. But getting Harvey back (just here to talk about Qualcomm) would soften that blow.

But Piscotty man, dude can rake. I'm not ready to give up on that..unless it returns someone better than Duda.

[glen a richter]

Wouldn't you rather have Lucas Duda? Perhaps Piscotty + Matt Carpenter for Duda + Harvey?

I would not rather have Duda over Carp/Piscotty. But getting Harvey back (just here to talk about Qualcomm) would soften that blow.

But Piscotty man, dude can rake. I'm not ready to give up on that..unless it returns someone better than Duda.

It does... Harvey. Deal? Wonderful.

[cardsfan04]

This offseason sucks. I think we need 2 major pickups to have a chance at hanging with the Cubs. 2 of these 3:

1. Chris Davis
2. Cespedes/Upton/Gordon
3. Cueto (Yeah, I'm going there).

[glen a richter]

The Cards are taking a beating this offseason. If you guys aren't careful you'll be looking up at the Cubs and the Pirates. Davis would be a good addition to the roster, definitely. They'd be wise to investigate the rumors that Jose Fernandez is on the table.

[cardsfan04]

I could get on board with Jose Fernandez. But, the genesis of the rumors is a report that he is so cocky that his teammates were hoping he'd get roughed up in a start sometime to set him straight (among other things). That's concerning.

I don't think he'll get moved though. Shelby Miller is a pretty good pitcher, at least a fringe 1. But, he's not Fernandez, and he brought back a solid ML ready OF and the DBacks 1st and 3rd prospects. I can't imagine what Fernandez would cost on that scale and don't see any team paying it.

[dmiles2186]

The Cards are taking a beating this offseason. If you guys aren't careful you'll be looking up at the Cubs and the Pirates.

I think they already are and were by the end of last season, even though they won the division.

[glen a richter]

No Cueto for you... not a whole lot left as far as SP is concerned, unless you explore the trade route. I'm not convinced Davis is signing with St. Louis either. After he turned down that offer by Baltimore it was assumed he did so because he had a bigger offer elsewhere. If that were the case, we'd know about it by now. I think he's spinning his wheels hoping for a bigger offer and ends up back in Baltimore for less than the 150 mil he left on the table.

[dmiles2186]

No Cueto for you... not a whole lot left as far as SP is concerned, unless you explore the trade route. I'm not convinced Davis is signing with St. Louis either. After he turned down that offer by Baltimore it was assumed he did so because he had a bigger offer elsewhere. If that were the case, we'd know about it by now. I think he's spinning his wheels hoping for a bigger offer and ends up back in Baltimore for less than the 150 mil he left on the table.

Once Mo said the Cards weren't looking for a 'dynamic' signing, to me that takes them out of the running of Cueto (obvious now that he's signed), Davis, Cespedes, Gordon, Upton, etc.

I think what they'll do at this point is go after a cheaper SP, Leake or Kazmir (I really want Kazmir). But they also have Tim Cooney, Marco Gonzales, and Tyler Lyons that can compete for the back half of the rotation. You can also take a shot at an old guy like Buerhle or Cliff Lee.

I still don't take them out of the trade market. Mo is going to do something, just what that is, I don't know. He plays his cards close to the vest. But I don't fault his logic going after these high priced guys. The Cards spend wisely and they only wanted to spend on Price and Heyward and whiffed on both. So instead of kneejerking it and throwing a lot of money at a 30+ year old that might not fit, they're evaluating options. It's what makes Mo so good.

[glen a richter]

Ivan Nova of the Yankees may be available cheaply. Coming off Tommy John and doing fair to so-so, but he could bounce back another year removed from the surgery and everyone knows it's easier for pitchers to succeed in the NL than the AL. He's had success in the past and you could probably acquire him for a song.

[cprice12]

I don't want Chris Davis. I mean, if he can hit .260 or .270, I'd be ok with him...but he hit under .200 the year before last. I'd be scared we'd get that kind of performance out of him. So I'll pass on giving big money to him. He's the kind of guy who would get eaten up by top notch starting pitchers in the playoffs, which is usually all you see.

I really want Céspedes.
I think he'd be a much better option than Heyward. And quite frankly, the Cubs badly overpaid for him. Yes, he is a solid player...but he isn't outstanding in any category except his fielding and arm. Heyward had 13 hr's and 60 rbi last year and hit .293...and he got how much from the Cubs? Jesus Christ. No thanks.

I'd rather give more money to Céspedes. He hits for more power, more RBI's and a very similar average. We'd be getting a far better offensive player, which is what we need. Get Céspedes and move Piscotty to first. And use Adams and Moss as your bench bats that get spot starts once a week.

And here's a thought...don't wear out the bullpen this year. It had been tapped and about out of gas by September.

I'm not crazy about Leake...but he'll be our #4 or #5 starter...so that's fine, and with Wainright back in the mix, it's like we added one of the best pitchers in baseball in the offseason when compared to last year's staff.

OF - Holliday, Grichuk, Céspedes
IF - Carpenter, Peralta, Wong, Piscotty, Molina
SP - Wainright, Wacha, Martinez, Garcia, Leake

Assuming we stay relatively healthy, that's an outstanding lineup and could/should still win the division.
I think the Cubs have to prove that some of their guys didn't have flukey good seasons last year. Yes, they had a great year last season, but they need to prove they can do that year in and year out before I instantly assume they'll do it again. You see teams have great years every year, and then slack off the following season when big things are expected of them. Happens all of the time. So we'll see if they can be repeat performers year in and year out.

[glen a richter]

Cespedes, haha, you want that flake patrolling center? You see some of the bonehead shit he did for the Mets? He hot dogs it out there and then acts like it's no big deal when he misses a can of corn and it ricochets off his damn leg, rolls to the fukking fence and whoever hit the ball is flying around the bases. He's good for some offense, but it's no shock that he's been on so many teams so far. Best served in the AL as a DH because he doesn't give shit #1 about playing defense.

[cardsfan04]

I know the Cubs are young and somewhat unproven. But, before last year the talk was of how good their prospects were. Then, they hit the majors and produced. They need to show they can do it again, and sometimes young teams don't instantly play at a high level on a yearly basis. But, I don't have any reason to expect that they won't. They hinted at what their ceiling is last year, and it's really really high.

Because of that, I'm starting to rethink my desire to kneejerk into 2 major signings. We missed on our primary targets. Maybe we should more or less stand pat, reevaluate at the deadline, and avoid a move that we might regret just trying to keep up with the Cubs. We have 2 picks (from the Cubs at that). Maybe we should take a year, restock, and then make a big push again. We'll still be competitive, but maybe we don't need to go "all in" right now.

Davis is a really really great fit here . . . if he can repeat 2013/2015. His other 6 seasons aren't very good. He's also 30 and soon to decline and apparently seeking 8 years. Cespedes is kinda similar to Davis, but with less power and terrible defense. I'd take either for 4-5 years. Won't lose much sleep if we miss though.

I'm meh on the Leake signing. Leake is a good fit in 2016. We need innings to take stress off of our bullpen and young starters. And a league average guy as your 5 is perfectly fine. Not crazy about 5 years though. I would have preferred a 2-3 year stopgap like Kazmir.

[cprice12]

Cespedes, haha, you want that flake patrolling center? You see some of the bonehead shit he did for the Mets? He hot dogs it out there and then acts like it's no big deal when he misses a can of corn and it ricochets off his damn leg, rolls to the fukking fence and whoever hit the ball is flying around the bases. He's good for some offense, but it's no shock that he's been on so many teams so far. Best served in the AL as a DH because he doesn't give shit #1 about playing defense.

I didn't get to watch him play that much. I'm just mainly going by what I read about him and his stats.
People actually rave about his arm and how fantastic it is, and how his defense isn't that bad. According to Fangraphs late last year, he was tied for the lead in defensive runs saved for all left fielders in baseball. Granted, that is left field and is likely mainly due to his great arm...but still. I'd be all about moving Holliday in favor of Cespeds in left...he can't be any worse of a fielder than Holliday in left...he'd be a huge upgrade in LF.

[glen a richter]

Cespedes, haha, you want that flake patrolling center? You see some of the bonehead shit he did for the Mets? He hot dogs it out there and then acts like it's no big deal when he misses a can of corn and it ricochets off his damn leg, rolls to the fukking fence and whoever hit the ball is flying around the bases. He's good for some offense, but it's no shock that he's been on so many teams so far. Best served in the AL as a DH because he doesn't give shit #1 about playing defense.

I didn't get to watch him play that much. I'm just mainly going by what I read about him and his stats.
People actually rave about his arm and how fantastic it is, and how his defense isn't that bad. According to Fangraphs late last year, he was tied for the lead in defensive runs saved for all left fielders in baseball. Granted, that is left field and is likely mainly due to his great arm...but still. I'd be all about moving Holliday in favor of Cespeds in left...he can't be any worse of a fielder than Holliday in left...he'd be a huge upgrade in LF.

I'm not crying about the Mets not trying to re-sign him. I'd much rather have Gordon. A proven winner who can give the team (whichever team he signs with) some valuable championship experience.

[cardsfan04]

Cespedes, haha, you want that flake patrolling center? You see some of the bonehead shit he did for the Mets? He hot dogs it out there and then acts like it's no big deal when he misses a can of corn and it ricochets off his damn leg, rolls to the fukking fence and whoever hit the ball is flying around the bases. He's good for some offense, but it's no shock that he's been on so many teams so far. Best served in the AL as a DH because he doesn't give shit #1 about playing defense.

I didn't get to watch him play that much. I'm just mainly going by what I read about him and his stats.
People actually rave about his arm and how fantastic it is, and how his defense isn't that bad. According to Fangraphs late last year, he was tied for the lead in defensive runs saved for all left fielders in baseball. Granted, that is left field and is likely mainly due to his great arm...but still. I'd be all about moving Holliday in favor of Cespeds in left...he can't be any worse of a fielder than Holliday in left...he'd be a huge upgrade in LF.

I didn't realize his defensive metrics were up so much this past year. His 4 years have gone from really bad to pretty bad to pretty bad to pretty damn good. He has always had a canon, but I thought he was more prone to dopey plays than he apparently is. I still have concerns about his age (by the end of the contract), but that changes my opinion of him a bit.