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offseason news thread

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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#61 » by Kizz Fastfists » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:27 pm

NW7 wrote:LF - Cargo/Upton/Kemp/Crawford



Cargo with three years left would make some sense if they were going to move one of Castro, Baez or Russell. Otherwise you are blocking Russell for two years. Kemp and Crawford are terrible at this point with long-term contracts that the Dodgers couldn't eat enough of to make them acceptable 4th OFs after Bryant would go to LF when Russell comes up. Upton is the only reasonable option. He'd be a one year player so he's not going to block anyone. He would return a draft pick after declining the QO next off-season and signing somewhere else. He is also the only one on the list that you expect 150 quality games out of due to the injury history and performance history of the others.

It really depends on if they are going to move one of Baez, Castro or Russell for pitching or if they see them all three in the infield long-term. Denard Span is anther bat option. Span could play CF and lead off and let them move Alcantara for pitching instead of one of their higher ceiling infielders. If the Nationals decide they are going to move Zimmermann, which has been speculated, a package of Alcantara, C.J. Edwards, McKinney and Vogelbach for Span and Zimmermann could be interesting. The Nationals need a 2B and Alcantara could plug that hole for them. Span takes over CF for the Cubs and Zimmermann as the #2 would take care of the rotation while Washington has a ton of rotational depth.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#62 » by NW7 » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:50 pm

Cargo and Upton make the most sense and would be my targets, I only included Kemp or Crawford with the assumption that LAD would pick up a good chunk of their salary. They certainly aren't terrible (in my opinion) and any acquisition of them would come down to how much money/prospects they'd cost.

Regardless it will be interesting to see how the rest of this off-season plays out. Will Theo and co aim to go a bit more "all in" (I use that term very loosely) and try and find another outfielder and perhaps a pitcher or just continue the course a bit. The good thing is neither option is a bad/wrong choice. Bright times ahead.

PS - Your Zimmerman/Span trade would be about as ideal as it gets, well short of somehow stealing Upton from Atlanta...
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#63 » by Kizz Fastfists » Wed Dec 10, 2014 10:45 pm

Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers. Phillies now officially have an opening at SS. Castro for Hamels sounds real good. Castro, Vogelbach, McKinney, EJax and Welly for Hamels and Papelbon would be nice. Phillies would get a proven solid player, a future replacement for Howard, a solid OF prospect, a catcher that Sandberg supposed likes from when he coached him in the minors, and they dump some salary. Cubs get rid of EJax, although they have to take back Papelbon's overpaid contract. A top of the rotation arm and a high leverage reliever.

A rotation of Hamels, Lester, Arrieta, Hammel and Hendricks with the bullpen they'd have in place could carry the team as the young offense went through some ups and downs. It would probably be one established bat away from being a legitimate contender depending on the development of the kids, but a mid-season trade could fix that if needed.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#64 » by hermes » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:39 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/542763583663132672[/tweet]

thoughts?
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#65 » by Kizz Fastfists » Thu Dec 11, 2014 12:05 am

I'm not a Gomes fan, but you can do worse for a 5th OF. He can play RF and LF and is solid against LHP. Coghlan and Gomes as a platoon in LF isn't bad. It also keeps them from doing anything that would tie up LF long-term so they can move Kris Bryant, McKinney, Alcantara, Almora or Schwarber there in 2016 or 2017 depending on how things play out.

I'm going to hope it is an invite to spring training with a chance to earn a roster spot. However, a one year deal for $2M won't bother me. If they give him $6M I'll spit out some 4 letter words. I understand they want some veterans on the team and I know they don't have any kids that you'd want to throw out there. We know Lake, Sczcur, etc are not going to provide anything. So Gomes is a cheap proven platoon player.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#66 » by SportsWorld » Thu Dec 11, 2014 2:03 am

hermes wrote:[tweet]https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/542763583663132672[/tweet]

thoughts?

Not that good of a player but a good clubhouse guy. If you add him, you probably shop Ruggiano.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#67 » by karch34 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:19 pm

Agree more of a clubhouse guy than anything else. Would that mean Ruggiano's gone for sure though? With Alcantara being able to play IF too puts you at Coglan, Ruggiano, Soler, AA, and Gomes in the OF, which doesn't look crowded unless Bryant's destination isn't 3B. Or am I missing someone.

Still just excited about Lester!
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#68 » by hermes » Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:53 am

$30 million signing bonus for lester, new record - good for him
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#69 » by bwright213 » Tue Dec 16, 2014 5:24 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MLBBruceLevine/status/544631912355344384[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/544635965927481346[/tweet]

I like the signing, Motte was a very good pitcher before he had Tommy John. He struggled last year after coming back, but I see this as a low risk - high reward deal. Plus I know a few Cardinals fans that are a little bummed about him going to the Cubs, so there's always that. :)
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#70 » by bwright213 » Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:23 pm

Well Ruggiano is gone, moved to the Mariners for Matt Brazis. Not sure how I feel about the move since I don't see Gomes, at this point, as a much better player than Ruggiano. But I guess were talking about a bench player so I won't get to worked up about it plus we picked up a "potential" future bullpen piece (a year or two down the road). I am guessing this trade signals that a signing is close.

Does anybody know the story on Brazis? He was pretty good last year between A+ and AA, although to be fair he was probably a little old for the level.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#71 » by Kizz Fastfists » Thu Dec 18, 2014 10:29 pm

Brazis was a four year college guy. He has moved up fast and could be a solid bullpen arm. It was mostly to clear a spot on the 40 man roster. The front office has also said they have more moves planned for the OF. They might be planning on moving Kris Bryant to LF when he comes up which would explain why they haven't solidified LF yet. They could leave Valbuena at 3B and have Bryant in LF and then when Russell comes up in June/July they only have to slide Castro over to 3B instead of shifting the entire left side of the infield. They could go for a short-term bat in LF, like Alex Godon, depending on the price.

Hoyer made a comment at the end of the winter meetings that they were only in the 5th inning of the off-season. They still have more moves they are working on. They are still chasing David Ross which will allow them to move Castillo for something useful. They still have too many fringe starters like EJax, Wood, Wada, Turner, etc. I could see Wood being moved to a team dumb enough to think he could be a decent starter for them. They could still be looking to add to the rotation with Shields, Zimmerman, Cueto, Eovaldi and others still available for varying costs and offer potential improvement over the current rotation. There is still a lot of off-season left.

It also looks like the Kemp deal is about to fall through which will mess up a lot of the Dodgers' plans. If that happens things could get really crazy over the next few weeks as they scramble to try to plug holes that they thought were filled.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#72 » by karch34 » Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:18 am

Looks like we got Ross, so moving to the bottom of the 5th inning?
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#73 » by Kizz Fastfists » Sat Dec 20, 2014 2:53 am

Ross is a good upgrade at backup catcher. Now we get find out what they get in return for Welly. I'd like to see them add an OF bat. I like Allen Craig of the names that are currently rumored as available. I'm sure Welly would not be enough to get him, but I'm not sure how much more it would take. It is more likely to be someone like Ben Revere who would be a solid 4th OF and would be a backup option in CF if Alcantara struggles and they need to put a more reliable veteran in there for a playoff chase and playoff run.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#74 » by GYBE » Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:26 pm

We traded Valbuena and Straily to the Astros for Dexter Fowler.

This is a clear sign that Bryant will be at 3B when he's called up. Overall, I think it's a solid move. We had a surplus of IF, needed help in OF. Fowler is an OBP guy just like Valbuena was.
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#75 » by hermes » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:33 am

i feel good about this one, fowler seems like a really nice acquisition - cubs are really nailing this offseason

plus now it seems that alcantara is basically everyone's backup now since he can play everywhere
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#76 » by ptpablo » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:40 pm

Alcantara is Jose Reyes + Bip Roberts. I love it!
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#77 » by ptpablo » Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:38 pm

One more top notch pitcher and maybe a bullpen piece and they are ready. Hamel, Zimmerman, Price would be my three top choices
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#78 » by hermes » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:05 am

we already have hammel

edit: oh, cole hamels - nevermind
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#79 » by hermes » Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:07 pm

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/po ... api_public
mad scientist maddon is going to be mixing it up some this year, pitchers batting 8th!
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Re: offseason news thread 

Post#80 » by hermes » Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:10 pm

they are putting in new rules to speed up the pace of the games, i guess the first one is batters having to keep a foot in the box after each pitch
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/po ... api_public

i don't really have a problem with the pace too much, its baseball its almost designed to be slow

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