Around the MLB

[Neddy]

Would it be too much to ask that he'd take Colletti with him as an advisor?

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Neddy]

Read on Twitter

good choice by the Phillies.

[Quake Griffin]

Phillies hiring Kepler.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Quake Griffin]

I want nothing to do with Stanton or Gordon nor do I want anything to do with their contracts.

I cant see a role for Prado and I dunno his contract numbers but he’s the type of guy I’d add at the deadline or before the waiver deadline if I needed some RH thump for October. I’d feel awkward adding him in the winter.

Our focus this offseason should be centered around:
- Continuing Development of our young guys including the Bellingers of the world...not just the minors.
- Otani
- What to do with Peyton Kershaw.
- Trading Grandal/ signing a back up for Austin.
- Getting A-Gon off this roster by eating all of his salary.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Neddy]

Our focus this offseason should be centered around:
#1 Continuing Development of our young guys including the Bellingers of the world...not just the minors.
#2 Otani
#3 What to do with Peyton Kershaw.
#4 Trading Grandal/ signing a back up for Austin.
#5 Getting A-Gon off this roster by eating all of his salary.

#1) we should not take away their aggression, as seen with Joc. what we need to focus on those kids is pitch recognition, and pitch selection. they need to see what pitch is going where, and whether or not they should swing at it or not even when you see the ball. Seager has a pretty decent pitch recognition, what he lacks is discipline to hold the bat even when you see it coming, especially the down and in curves and sliders. for Kirk Gibson's sake, learn to take pitches to force the pitcher to throw the ball you know you can crush. Belly has to work on both. but his power ceiling is so much higher, I think K's will always be there but he needs to cut the % down and learn to shorten his swing in situational hitting.

#2) I have no idea how this will play out. just like he demanded to his Japanese parent club when drafted at age 18, he was gonna bolt and come to the Dodgers organization if the Nippon Ham wouldn't let him play both ways. He will favor a team who can guarantee him a spot in rotation as well as on the lineup card. this is much more easily handled for ball clubs that are not contending, and need something flashy for the attendance as well as flexibility in their roster. it makes sense tho, to commit to him by guaranteeing him both spots, which will probably be a platoon RF/LF and pitch every 5th day when he is making chump changes. it does not make any sense if you are gonna commit 200 million dollars. he may not even be able to pitch every 5th day, may need that extra day off like so many Japanese pitchers did.

#3) trade him. unless he dominates in relief tonight. then we keep him and continue to be the best regular season pitcher of all time, and be semi-good in the post seasons. show the rest of us he can do it under the most pressure of game 7. if he fails tho, regular season or not, especially if we get Otani, we trade him. Texas would love to have him.

#4) you don't think Kyle is good enough to be a back up and get 200 at bats a season behind the plate?

#5) I think Jon Daniels will eat money for 1 season of Gonzo if that means getting Kershaw and Grandal. Lucroy was terrible as a backup, and will be expired. Robinsin Chirinos was good, and he is a RHB. they can platoon him and Grandal as Yaz is the superior hitter as a LHB against RHP. Kershaw is from Texas, he will be going home. Gonzo is dump-able. and with the other pieces, we can grab any pieces from their farm plus a position player or set up men we need from their roster. the more top pieces we grab, more likely they will want to dump Choo on us. if we can find a third team ( perhaps back to Reds or Indians?) to facilitate that, it could be a major coup for the Rangers and we dump our unwanted parts.

PS- our FO will never dump Kershaw. I just can't see it. regardless of his post season records, you have to get there first. no better horse than Kershaw among today's active SP to get his team there. we just need to build a great rotation and rest of the pitching staff to ensure we can overcome Clayton being Peyton.

[Ranma]

We all knew that Kapler had a reputation as an out-of-the-box pioneer or some such, but he sounds like a diva who many in the organization are actually worried about getting preferential treatment and having undue influence, especially as someone who is more of a superficial personality than an actual guru or expert. So he's a cross between Vinny Del Negro and Austin Rivers?

Maybe it's a matter of old-school personalities conflicting with new-school thinkers, but the fact that he has apparently rubbed so many people within the organization the wrong way including coaches, veteran players, and rookies is really disconcerting. He sounds like another sheriff who graduated from the Kevin Malone school for executives.

Jon Heyman, FanRagSports.com (11/2/17)

One person who knows him well said he found Kapler to be “more persona than person.” Another, a player, said Kapler was fine for him, and that while he could see him blowing someone away in an interview, he frequently couldn’t provide off-the-cuff answers and often responded by saying “let me get back to you” via text. He was “very scripted” in this player’s estimation.

One hard-to-believe story about Kapler: In order to talk to a group of minor league kids about analytics, a subject in which he is expert, he requested and received a rental TelePrompTer to use for his speech. That could be an issue since extemporaneous speaking is a prerequisite for a major league manager.

Kapler by one account fired a couple dozen employees as Dodgers farm director, and by another he upset “more than half the people” he came into contact with. It also came out that Nick Francona, one of his higher ranking underlings and the son of legendary manager Terry Francona, filed a complaint, first with the Dodgers and then with MLB. He claimed that Kapler helped push him out after Francona, a military veteran of six years on the front lines, reached out to Home Base program, an agency that aids veterans, and claimed he was identified as “ruined” by Kapler.

Offers to settle up to $150,000 were made to Francona, according to Yahoo Sports, but Francona was more interested in justice and real issues than money, and with MLB apparently deciding not to act, this is the situation: Unless Francona, who is now with the Mets, opts to sue, it appears nothing more negative may come of it beyond a couple mentions in the press.

Phillies bosses, meanwhile, seem thrilled with their dynamic new hire. One more positive interpretation of Dodgers veterans’ preference for Roberts, at least as far as the Phillies are concerned, could be that Dodgers players had worries about whether he might be too close to the bosses in the front office and, in effect, become a managerial “puppet.” But it’s also possible word had gotten out that Kapler could be difficult based on decidedly mixed views from the prospects.

Inside Baseball | Critics Divided on All-or-Nothing Kapler Hire by Phillies

[Neddy]

We all knew that Kapler had a reputation as an out-of-the-box pioneer or some such, but he sounds like a diva who many in the organization are actually worried about getting preferential treatment and having undue influence, especially as someone who is more of a superficial personality than an actual guru or expert. So he's a cross between Vinny Del Negro and Austin Rivers?

Maybe it's a matter of old-school personalities conflicting with new-school thinkers, but the fact that he has apparently rubbed so many people within the organization the wrong way including coaches, veteran players, and rookies is really disconcerting. He sounds like another sheriff who graduated from the Kevin Malone school for executives.

Jon Heyman, FanRagSports.com (11/2/17)

One person who knows him well said he found Kapler to be “more persona than person.” Another, a player, said Kapler was fine for him, and that while he could see him blowing someone away in an interview, he frequently couldn’t provide off-the-cuff answers and often responded by saying “let me get back to you” via text. He was “very scripted” in this player’s estimation.

One hard-to-believe story about Kapler: In order to talk to a group of minor league kids about analytics, a subject in which he is expert, he requested and received a rental TelePrompTer to use for his speech. That could be an issue since extemporaneous speaking is a prerequisite for a major league manager.

Kapler by one account fired a couple dozen employees as Dodgers farm director, and by another he upset “more than half the people” he came into contact with. It also came out that Nick Francona, one of his higher ranking underlings and the son of legendary manager Terry Francona, filed a complaint, first with the Dodgers and then with MLB. He claimed that Kapler helped push him out after Francona, a military veteran of six years on the front lines, reached out to Home Base program, an agency that aids veterans, and claimed he was identified as “ruined” by Kapler.

Offers to settle up to $150,000 were made to Francona, according to Yahoo Sports, but Francona was more interested in justice and real issues than money, and with MLB apparently deciding not to act, this is the situation: Unless Francona, who is now with the Mets, opts to sue, it appears nothing more negative may come of it beyond a couple mentions in the press.

Phillies bosses, meanwhile, seem thrilled with their dynamic new hire. One more positive interpretation of Dodgers veterans’ preference for Roberts, at least as far as the Phillies are concerned, could be that Dodgers players had worries about whether he might be too close to the bosses in the front office and, in effect, become a managerial “puppet.” But it’s also possible word had gotten out that Kapler could be difficult based on decidedly mixed views from the prospects.

Inside Baseball | Critics Divided on All-or-Nothing Kapler Hire by Phillies

could say the same about me. always had a problem with authority. challenged my superiors and the chief while working at a federal facility in an indian reservation and got released the next day 15 years ago.

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Quake Griffin]

Good riddance for Kapler if that is really how he was around our organization.

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Takes5]

On XM MLB's Loud Outs show this a.m. they said Dodgers are the favorites to land Stanton. Keys the referenced:
1) he has a full NTC and prefers a Cali team.
2) owed 310mm over 12 years and very few teams can absorb that.
3) the trade will be about money not prospects; analyst stated he didn't see any team giving up more than 1 solid-not-great prospect due to the leverage of ridding MIA of that financial burden. Said probably for every 50mm that MIA wants to eat they can get another prospect or young MLB player. Otherwise, no top gems (such as Buehler) would change hands.
4) of the Cali teams, LA's in the best position. LA can handle the money and has best farm/MLB young players under control (such as Joc). Angels probably cannot take in that cash after the Upton deal, SFO has a weak farm so LA could up the ante if needed.

Said the Dodgers would probably offer up something like Joc + Brock Stewart (young MLb ready players under control) and a mid prospect like LHP Caleb Ferguson (in high A ball).

[Neddy]

On XM MLB's Loud Outs show this a.m. they said Dodgers are the favorites to land Stanton. Keys the referenced:
1) he has a full NTC and prefers a Cali team.
2) owed 310mm over 12 years and very few teams can absorb that.
3) the trade will be about money not prospects; analyst stated he didn't see any team giving up more than 1 solid-not-great prospect due to the leverage of ridding MIA of that financial burden. Said probably for every 50mm that MIA wants to eat they can get another prospect or young MLB player. Otherwise, no top gems (such as Buehler) would change hands.
4) of the Cali teams, LA's in the best position. LA can handle the money and has best farm/MLB young players under control (such as Joc). Angels probably cannot take in that cash after the Upton deal, SFO has a weak farm so LA could up the ante if needed.

Said the Dodgers would probably offer up something like Joc + Brock Stewart (young MLb ready players under control) and a mid prospect like LHP Caleb Ferguson (in high A ball).

sounds like a good deal. for Joc + Stweart plus mid level prospect, Stanton's salary burden is worth it. I would assume Miami would want no part of salary eating business and nobody would give as much in return if all the future salary burden is given away. by the end of the deal Stanton's salary won't look as much as it does today due to ever escalating salary inflation. still can sell the guy after a couple of years, or if he has a monster season or two, he may opt out himself for a even bigger deal.

I am on board with this move. Stanton has Manny Ramirez's offensive tools and far better defense in the outfield, even if that is average at best. he will at least come with a good arm for a left fielder.

[CF55]

On XM MLB's Loud Outs show this a.m. they said Dodgers are the favorites to land Stanton. Keys the referenced:
1) he has a full NTC and prefers a Cali team.
2) owed 310mm over 12 years and very few teams can absorb that.
3) the trade will be about money not prospects; analyst stated he didn't see any team giving up more than 1 solid-not-great prospect due to the leverage of ridding MIA of that financial burden. Said probably for every 50mm that MIA wants to eat they can get another prospect or young MLB player. Otherwise, no top gems (such as Buehler) would change hands.
4) of the Cali teams, LA's in the best position. LA can handle the money and has best farm/MLB young players under control (such as Joc). Angels probably cannot take in that cash after the Upton deal, SFO has a weak farm so LA could up the ante if needed.

Said the Dodgers would probably offer up something like Joc + Brock Stewart (young MLb ready players under control) and a mid prospect like LHP Caleb Ferguson (in high A ball).

sounds like a good deal. for Joc + Stweart plus mid level prospect, Stanton's salary burden is worth it. I would assume Miami would want no part of salary eating business and nobody would give as much in return if all the future salary burden is given away. by the end of the deal Stanton's salary won't look as much as it does today due to ever escalating salary inflation. still can sell the guy after a couple of years, or if he has a monster season or two, he may opt out himself for a even bigger deal.

I am on board with this move. Stanton has Manny Ramirez's offensive tools and far better defense in the outfield, even if that is average at best. he will at least come with a good arm for a left fielder.

Stanton is fools gold. He has mad power but that's it. He has played 150 games or more only twice in his career. He is on the worst contract in the MLB. People think the Dodgers can print money but the team wants to be smart with what they spend. Well it would be exciting to have the local kid who hits homers it doesn't make sense baseball wise or financially for the team that wants to get under the lux tax or at least closer to it because of the new rules potentially taking away draft picks. Not to mention Stanton coming here would under more pressure then any where else cause he's from here could cause mental issues if he struggles. It really isn't a good fit.

[Takes5]

He has a player option in 2020. Would he opt out of 193m?
There's a club option the last year w a 10m buyout too... woo hoo.

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

[Quake Griffin]

Let’s just not.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums