NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread (Oct 2016 - Feb 2017)

Bautista contract details:
$18 million 1-year deal for 2017
$17 million mutual option for 2018 with $500k buyout
$20 million vesting option for 2019

LOL what a complicated deal for essentially a 1-year contract.

 

Sounds like they had to massage his ego a bit.....

 

I think relying on Ethier for anything other than spot starter/LH pinch hitter is fool's gold.

 

That's the Puig treatment..I don't think fouling a ball off your leg and breaking it calls for the Puig treatment.
But yeah, again, they'd probably be thrilled if Toles beat Ethier out and took control of the LO role because younger guys are where MLB is heading for the most part.
Well, as much control as you can have while more than likely not playing VS LHP, that is.
Also, seeing as how they haven't added any middle of the order caliber hitters we'd better hope the year off was good to Ethier and that he returns to 2015 form.
Especially if Adrian sees another year like the last one.

 

At 34 it's likely the latter. All the more reason to keep Bellinger at almost all costs.

 

Adrian has always been a consistent player, so "a bad year" doesn't really fit. It's a decline. He's been on a steady decline for several years now.

 

hey he lost it in the lights man...
surprised he didn't grab his hammy and come up limping

 

I'll just say this for Toles, yes he fucked up and dropped a routine flyball in the biggest game of the year. With that said, the Dodgers may never have been in that situation without him. When the rest of the offense fell flat, he was one of the only guys that was doing jack-diddly shit with the bat. He put up a .364/.423/.455 line in the postseason for us with some pretty clutch hits. He didn't give up 10 runs in game 4 or 8 in games 1 and 5. He did get the comeback started in game one and tried to get a second one going later in the game. Saying he's a chump and you don't want him on this team anymore cause he made a mistake or two at other times is inane. He was a rookie, had been out of the game for a year and still has not come close to replicating the OF prowess he showed when he was younger. Give it another year and if he continues to show the improvement he did over last year, we will all be thrilled to have him.

 

He's more talented than Dee Gordon, that's for sure.
Wouldn't really shock me if Toles socked around 10-12 HRs this year, sneaky pop

 

I'm curious to see what an offseason and full spring training of his new mechanics will do for him at the plate. If everyone remembers, when he first came up he had a weird back step at the plate. When he cut that out, he showed much more oomph in his contact. I've seen a lot of comparisons to Carl Crawford, only with a little worse defense, but a much better arm. If he somehow turns into that, I will be fucking thrilled. He will need to be better against LHP though and they need to let him loose on the basepaths.

 

attention shoppers

 

Crawford's obviously dynamite defensively, but he's not been the kind of plus bat that SFG could use in that lineup ( especially w/o LF thump and their best hitters aging rapidly), so while they do have a SS they need more out of him offensively.
Is he worth noting?
Sure, but he's also a part of that SFG group from last season that had 4-hits or less in like 10 straight games, setting some sort of MLB record for futility, IIRC.
That young Trevor Story fella w/the monster wOBA is more bothersome, IMO.
It's probably time they flip Belt into LF and hand 1B to Posey for good.
Figure out catcher, maybe a defensive oriented guy and just save Posey from himself back there.
You look at their positions up the middle and they are absolutely hurting offensively..Crawford/Panik/Pagan all meh ( and worse) offensively and now Posey is showing cracks.
LAD is absolutely working SFG up the middle [no homo] in terms of offensive firepower and that's w/o a 2B..imagine if Dozier were added to that.
And their farm is weak to boot..to be tapped out financially while having a weak farm..are we sure McCourt's not running SFG now? Lol

 

Toles' little back-step at the plate reminded me of another guy that haunts the fuck out us occasionally..Granderson.
Not saying he's about to hit 30 bombs like Grandy, but Grandy's probably been worth 4 wins on average in his career.
Toles has the raw talent and upside to be a 3.5/4 win type of fella, was maybe on his way to doing that in Tampa, could still find it, especially if he's surrounded by the right guys in the lineup.
I like the CC comp, as CC had that sneaky pop as well and could absolutely unload on occasions..Toles had 60-something steals back in 2013, so I'm interested in seeing if that's something he can reignite as well..if LAD allows him from a team approach standpoint, that is.

 

I don't know where you are getting that Crawford is meh, but he is one of the better SS in the game. I don't think he is the 20+ HR hitter he was two years ago, but he is coming off a year where he improved his on base skills and cut his K rate down. He is one of the best defensive SS's in the game while putting up better than league average numbers at the plate. He is not in the upper-echelon of SS thanks to all the guys coming into the league the last year+, but he is still very very good and far from a problem for them, especially for the price. I would agree that Story could be more of a problem going forward, but as of now, if the game were on the line and it was Jansen vs Crawford or Story, I would much rather him face Story. The Giants do have some questions, but I think SS right now is not one of them. They need more production from 2B and 3B going forward and I agree, Belt either needs to move to LF full time or the Giants need to figure something to do with Posey as he is about finished behind the plate. He is still the best catcher in the game, but holy shit does he break down and that correlates pretty well with their struggles. There is a rumor that they may try him at 3B in the future to keep Belt at 1B, but who knows. The Giants have a good bit of problems that could fix themselves, i.e. Panik turning things around, Pence staying healthy, Nunez putting up Twins numbers. It is just a matter of if that can happen or not. I think they had a window this year to build a potential juggernaut by adding Cespedes, but now they go into the season looking very similar to last year, hoping that Posey does not continue to decline and praying that their SP stays healthy.

 

Offensively and for the fit of what the SFG need right now.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.as...6&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

He may not have the power numbers, but he is still one of the better hitting SS's in the game and that is amplified by him arguably being the best defensive SS in the game. I just don't see how he is any sort of a problem for them. It is not his fault that the FO signed a no pop CF'er, has a well below league avg hitting 2B and a questionable platoon in LF with no track record.