DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS thread

There was a rumor that Philly could make a run at BOTH Harper and Machado.

 

Edwin Diaz for Verdugo is my new favorite trade I made up

 

Shouldn't we be able to do better than a reliever for Verdugo?

 

What they get for coming out of nowhere with that silly money for Greinke. Hope everybody tries to take advantage of them in their auction

 

I don't know, but I'd accept a top flight reliever given Jansen's performance. CKWG was saying deals are hard to come by now

 

He’s one of the best relievers in the game and he’s under control for years. The Indians just traded Meija, a better prospect than Verdugo, for Hand and Cimber who combined aren’t worth as much as Diaz.

 

Pure speculation, and has some contingencies, but if Bryce should go to NYY, could the Giancarlo thing be revisited with the Yankees? Maybe get them to eat some more salary on top of the $30M that the Marlins are footing if he doesn't opt-out after 2020.

 

Things appear to be picking up as Rosenthal's morning briefs seem to be getting fuller and fuller with actual interesting tidbits. Also some other things from around the league...

• The Dodgers seem to be focusing in on Yan Gomes and it sounds like they are probably the front runners to land him. Last night I caught the tail end of an MLB radio segment with Bowden and a couple of others. They were saying that what they are hearing is that the Indians and Dodgers are making headway in a deal that would include one of the Tribe's starting pitchers with the likeliest candidate being Corey Kluber. Alex Verdugo is probably a main piece returning according to them. These deals can implode at the finish line when you are talking multiple big leaguers, so still pump the breaks on this one especially when....

• The Nats and Braves solidifying their catching seems to be relieving some of the interest in J.T. Realmuto. Rosenthal says that the Marlins are still entertaining trade offers, but two of the teams with some of the most intriguing prospects are now out of the conversation unless the asking price drops considerably. As noted in our own comments, it is rumored that the Marlins FO is embarrassed at how poorly they did last offseason and are now trying to overcompensate. Thus far by doing this, they have scared away many potential suitors. The Dodgers and Astros are said to be the two teams that are pursuing Realmuto the hardest still and the Dodgers rumored interest in Gomes may cause the Marlins to make a decision. The feeling around baseball is that he will get traded this offseason once their FO gets realistic as it would be incredibly foolish to carry a valuable catcher that wants out into the season.

• Another team that has entered the fray for Realmuto is the Colorado Rockies. Though they are not considered heavy hitters on the surface for his services, their budding farm system could have some interesting options. The club is also said to be picking up the pace in their pursuit of Noah Syndergaard. He is the type of pitcher that the Rockies really like and are said to have a good relationship with the Mets new GM. The Rockies are said to be willing to move anyone in their system not named Brendan Rodgers.

• Rumors were that the Yankees were going after Paul Goldschmidt, but it appears those rumors were false. They are said to want to add power from the left side and would only really be willing to take more RH pop if they were to land Manny Machado.

• Many around baseball are starting to think that the Giants are merely laying the groundwork for a Madison Bumgarner trade closer to the deadline. Feelings are that his value is a little on the lower side and they could choose to take the risk and wait until teams may be a bit more desperate. It also doesn't help that the market is flooded with LH starters right now.

• It sounds like Sonny Gray is still being viewed in high regard around baseball and the Yankees have told teams that they have some solid offers for the RHP.

• Belief is that we could have a slew of signings here soon with the bullpen guys leading the way.

• There is a feeling of a bit of market instability as the Phillies appear to be a ticking time bomb. Their FO has gotten an ultimatum from ownership to win and win now which has teams worried that they could either muddle the trade market ala the Nats a couple seasons ago or cause some stupid contracts to get handed out this free agency. They have their hands in on everyone which is causing some of the slower development to the offseason since folks on the other side think there are good chances to get overpays.

 

I threw this out there a couple of weeks ago as something to watch, but since then the rumors are that the Yankees have shown no inclination to pursue Bryce Harper. The more I have thought about it, the more I think dealing Stanton could be a treacherous route. His full NTC and him saying no to the Giants and Cardinals last year could put the Yankees behind the 8-ball in any deal. Basically the Yanks would already have to have an agreement in place with the Dodgers (who would also be holding ALL of the cards) before even signing Harper. I'd be all for it as the return would probably be somewhat light and he would be at an incredibly reasonable AAV, but I am not sure that the Yankees would ever put themselves in that situation. It would be awesome if they could get Stanton at an AAV for 20M or less. Feel like that would be a bargain at the end of his contract.

 

I don't think they do that. I have a feeling that they are going to want to have some money set aside in a couple of years for when Trout becomes a FA

 

Bingo. A couple months ago it was unbelievable to think Scioscia would be done with the Halos and I fully believe Trout's time is coming to an end there too. And Trout is a big Philly Eagles/Sixers fan so he'd probably love to score a big contract with Philly and head back east. Surely, MLB would love it since they've been complaining about his perceived lack of exposure with the Halos. Phils certainly do mean more to the fabric of MLB and by a significant margin. Moreno really should begin shopping Trout at next season's trade deadline. He won't, but he should

 

Waiting Waiting

 

jason schmidt 2.0

 

The funny thing is that unless you are on the Yankees, media exposure is still pretty bland for baseball players. I mean, I don't think people know who Bryce Harper is outside of baseball fans and he was a star player in a major city. It is MLB's own fault, not the player or the team that these guys are marketed so poorly. Ryan Howard had the biggest media presence of those great Phillies teams and all he had was his Subway commercials.... which is exactly what Mike Trout has already. Oh, and he was also on the Office for an ep.

As for Moreno, he is gonna die on that hill and you can see it coming. Trading a megastar cause you can't afford him when you try to call yourself a major market team is a fucking joke and would be a sizeable smudge when looking back at his ownership tenure. He's gonna let him go to FA and do everything in his power to re-sign him knowing damn well that he is going to lose him, which is just insane. I can only imagine what kind of a return that dude could get too and if he also attached Pujols, could maybe even still get a good return.

 

The Mariners are said to be gaining some momentum in trade talks to move Robinson Cano. After coming back from his suspension, Cano was still that same ol' guy he has always been. He is still a good hitter and even defensively rated above average at 2B. The Dodgers are pegged as a team that could have interest, but it would likely need to be a Kemp for Cano swap with a chunk of cash on top of that. Even then, that seems VERY UNLIKELY as Cano still has 5 years left on his deal and will be 40 for the final season. The Yankees tried to return Jacoby Ellsbury in their talks and it is said the M's balked when it was him plus a ton of money. Some speculation is that the big market teams are kicking the tires to see about getting Diaz as an add on in the deal. IDK, dude is old, expensive and just got popped for roids, but he can still play the game at an elite level and man would I take that guy at 2B over just about anything else we could get right about now.

 

Bumgarner would turn into Yu Darvish if he played for us. Plus he’s an ass.

 

Cano/Diaz would be nice. Diaz especially. I'd eat all the $$ if it lessened the spec return too.