MLB NEWS/RUMORS Thread

Was that the sound of our season exploding?

Or the sonic boom of CK leaving for another team next year.

They sound suspiciously the same.

 

So much for things getting better. Awful news fuck.

 

Just started hearing an old Elton John lyric in my head
"is this nightmare black or are the windows painted "

 

Early signs are that the bicep injury is not nearly as bad as it could have been *Really bad usually leads to rotator cuff issues*. I am gonna wait and see how long it takes him to come back, but my early assumption is that he will still opt out. He is not opting out of 5 years and $200M, he would be opting out of 2 yrs and $70M. That is not chump change, but I could easily see him getting 5 yrs 125M in guarantees with performance bonuses that could get him well into the $30's every year and at least one opt out. Too many teams have put aside massive space to land a star player this offseason for one to fall short on Manny or Bryce and then say "nah" on the upside of Kershaw.

 

And with Jose Fernandez gone, and Matt Harvey completely fallen off, Kershaw will be the only " big gun " out there from a starting pitching standpoint. I see him getting more than Keuchel.

Think at the very least Philly comes away with both Josh Donaldson and Kershaw. They dump Maikel Franco on some team..should be too little, too late for Franco if Philly is truly going all in for 2019

 

So everyone wants MGT to trade for Manny......which would be good, we could use the bat. My question, where does he play when Seager is back next year? Logan's contract is up next year so one of them could slide over to 2b....but who?

Also I am curious, what would it take to get Manny, but the thing that complicates things is that Machado is making $16MM this year. I think MGT has like $6MM wiggle room before they hit their lux cap they want to be under. That being said would a package of Alvarez/Smith/Puig be enough? If MGT waits till the 1/3 mark of the season Machado's salary is close to $11MM and Puig's would be around $6MM. MGT would have to do something like that unless we give up more prospects and the O's take Kemps salary........which I doubt.

 

The word that Heyman said is that he had been told that Turner was sliding to 2B in their last offseason plan. He is the only one that is reporting that we actually made a hard push for Manny, so who knows how real that really was. After seeing what happened to Seager, I wonder if the plan was really for him to be the one to go to 2B or even 1B to protect his arm and maybe pray that PRP saves the day. That could still be sort of the plan going forward to get him on the field sooner next year and just play Bellinger in LF for the next season or two until Turner's contract is up and then reshuffle the deck again. Would guess that this pursuit was also when the club still felt that they could flip Kemp. To be perfectly honest, I really don't want the team to trade for Manny at this point. Would he be an improvement? CERTAINLY, but the pitching right now is a much bigger problem in my eyes. I just think when Turner gets back that will help a bunch on offense as the worst bats in the lineup night in and night out is whoever is at 3B. If they can't get a healthy Kershaw + Hill back and have at least two arms in the pen either step up or added, this team isn't going to be able to get on any sort of roll necessary to get back into things anyway.

I would say that your trade offer for Manny is probably fair or MAYBE a bit on the light side, therefore it is not good enough in the eyes of Angelos. That is the star-level player back that he loves to market around(Puig) with a year of control and likely similar QO return, a high ceiling pitching prospect(Alvarez) and a second tier starting catcher with first tier upside. That doesn't rework your future, but you potentially address two positions in that deal and at worst a decent arm down the road for your pen. I could still see them demanding a Buehler, Verdugo or Ruiz over Alvarez though and the club countering with tossing in a high upside arm that is low in the system for the O's to take on more money. As much fun as it would be to see happen, I have a hard time believing that anyone will match up with Baltimore without wildly overpaying.

 

The Reds are sending Devin Mesoraco to the Mets for Matt Harvey. A couple change of scenery candidates and the Mets get the catcher that they desperately need. Hilarious that he went to Cincy as everyone said he needs a shitty party scene. I asked Hanley what the worst town in baseball was and he blurted out Cincy very quickly.

 

Harvey must be miserable lol

 

He needs a party scene? He needs a scoreless inning for starters.
One step at a time.

 

Everyone says that he needs a town with a poor party scene. He is notorious for going out and drinking until the early hours in the morning even before he is supposed to pitch. The hope is that he will go somewhere, focus on baseball and maybe get back on the right track. I don't think there is a prayer in the world for that to happen, but people can dream.

 

Too bad Votto loves wasting away there

 

Been to Cincinnati and the old riverfront park. It's a sewer with a bunch of inbreeding

 

Went to a wedding in Cincinatti once.
Bride and groom relatives all sat on the same side.
I think Donnie was there.

 

Ja, ja...