MLB NEWS/RUMORS Thread

Would rather sign Darvish and roll with the outfielders we have.

 

rumors saying he has multiple offers believed to be in the 4 year range
so we aren't in on him
at least i certainly hope we wouldn't be thinking about giving 4 years to a 31 year old outfielder
makes no sense at all

 

Agreed. And it would make some sense since they already tried to grab Jackie Bradley with Puig offered up to Boston. Looks like they're looking for a true OF/CF captain. Cain a career .295 hitter in the postseason over 30+ games, likely joining Joc who's doing an .880 OPS over almost 30 career post season games. Pretty good big game OF duo. Would only leave one question in regards to the OF, IMO..who's in RF? Puig or Verdugo/Toles? Are they still looking to sell high on Puig after having been rejected by Boston? Wouldn't shock me if something were already lined up and one or both of the A's or Rays were in for Kemp/Puig. May even have to watch for the Brewers on Puig since they've had interest in the past and they're looking to spruce up their OF right now, having talks with Miami on Yelich. Match it up with the reports that Tampa has been consistently talking with teams about Archer this offseason and I guess I could see a big last minute shift towards an LAD end-game of Cain and Archer joining.

Kemp/Puig/Yasmani/2 or 3 non-Buehler/Ruiz/Verdugo specs out
Cain/Archer/W.Ramos/older AAA(A) specs in
4yr deal for Cain, player option after year 2 allowing for LAD to sneak out the back door if/when he opts out..Kendall or Peters moves in at that point, shift as needed
2018, Taylor 2B/Seager SS/Cain CF/Turner 3B/Bellinger 1B/Barnes-Ramos C/Joc LF/Verdugo-Toles RF, Logie and Utley on the bench
Cain in the 3 spot in the order = optimal place for him and the only place he's hit with any consistency in his career, half of his career ABs coming in the 3 spot to a .783 career OPS
Unsurprisingly, JT's done very well in the 4 and 5 spots in the order in his career thus far, so slide he and Bellinger back one and lengthen the lineup, it plays offensively and defensively

 

Every day or so is a widely divergent modus operandi from the previous...I realize it's 100% conjecture at best, but to now extrapolate from rumors that the FO is going a certain way, i.e., essentially a new outfield, represents a polar opposite of sitting back in the 2018 market, and putting all the LAD eggs into next year's FA market, doesn't it?
Just appears to me that no one really has a clue..not even remotely in the vicinity.

 

Like Mongo, we are only pawns in game of life.

 

To date, the Rangers, Blue Jays, Giants and Brewers have been most prominently linked to Cain, while the Cubs have been somewhat loosely connected to him. Much earlier this offseason, the Mets were said to have interest as well.

Cain’s all-around game should appeal to a wide number of teams, so it stands to reason that there could, of course, be dark horse clubs (or, yes, “mystery teams,” if you prefer the term) at play for his services. He’ll cost any team that signs him some value in the 2018 draft (here’s a refresher on which picks each team would lose by signing him), but that won’t be a make-or-break proposition for every club.





Decent market for Cain, but some of those teams are probably in on Yelich, maybe Jackie Bradley Jr. and some other trade candidates
Forgot about the draft comp attached to Cain as well..may see a trade or two before he signs

 

Cain is not going to be signed. MGT has already said they will be staying under the $197MM Lux Tax limit. The only person that fits under that cap is Yelich ray:ray: . No one is taking Kemp, no one is taking Puig. Realistically the roster you see right now is the roster on opening day.....which sucks.....cuz i wanted Stanton. Yeah i know it would have screwed the team dollar wise on so many levels, but man he would have looked good in Dodger blue. Sucks even more that he is in pinstripes and paired with Judege.....UGH!!!!!

 

Actually, this is not all that farfetched. They have been after a long term OF'er for a couple years now, including going hard after Tommy Pham before the deadline last year. After this season Puig is a FA and the club may be looking to part ways with him, not to mention that Logan Forsythe also could be on his way out after 2018. With no replacement in the system behind Forsythe, the club could be considering Taylor to fill the opening. That would mean plenty of OF holes to potentially resolve in the 18-19 offseason if say any of Pederson, Toles or Verdugo crash and burn this year and/or Diaz doesn't build off his strong 2017 campaign. Aside from Bryce Harper, there is nobody that really stands out as a great long term option. Blackmon is a Coors product, Adam Jones hasn't been of much value since 2014, Pollock is probably not the same player he was prior to the injury and McCutchen is probably LF'er by next offsesaon. Cain has remained a pretty steady contributor and many analysts believe he has the skill set to be valuable for a few more seasons. With so many teams pining for Harper, Machado, Kershaw, etc... there are going to be a large group of losers with plenty of money leftover to clean up on the scraps. So you could see some of these guys get paid more than say Cain gets this year, so they could be looking at a deal to jump next years market.

I still don't think he is a Dodger this upcoming season as I believe they are bargain shopping right now, but there is reason to understand why the club is still in pursuit for him. They get him at that bargain deal and suddenly they have a good, cheapish set OF of Cain in CF, Puig in RF and likely Taylor in LF. They could then use a guy like Pederson or Verdugo, to pair with Kemp to get out from maybe $10M+ a year of his contract(yes that is at least what they would get to include those guys, probably more for Verdugo). Still not going to happen as I see a bad team overpaying for his services *cough* *Phillies* *cough*

 

Brilliant!

 

I’ll just say signing Cain adds pretty much nothing to us in terms of wins added

 

I don't know, an outfield of Taylor/Cain/Puig, while very RH, is a lot more solid than a Joc/Toles/Kiké platoon in LF, and the lineup doesn't take a huge hit if Taylor regresses some.

That said, it isn't gonna happen, so it's not worth discussing further.

 

Would rather see Taylor/Yelich/Puig with Joc and Toles as bench OF and Kiki as bench INF (Sending Verdugo and Alvarez out for Yelich)

 

Cain is projected for 3.3-3.9 wins. Taylor is projected for 2.3-3.9. That would go down if moved to left considering he’s a plus center fielder by about half a win. So if we had Cain CF Taylor LF that’s probably 6 wins. Taylor in CF and Joc/Toles/Kiké/Verdugo in LF gives you what, 5.5?

 

The only argument I can see for Cain is he’s Forsythe insurance in case he sucks again and need to move Taylor back to 2B

 

Build a golden calf and pray we win a WS this year?