I'm not saying I like it. It is simply is being realistic. That's the market. At some point you must stop thinking about what you think it fair or "good" or what you would do and realize what MLB actually does. Anthony Rendon:7 yrs $245M at age 30 Kris Bryant:7 yrs $182M at age 30 Nolan Arenado:8 yrs $260M at age 28 Rafael Devers:10 / $313.5M for 2024 age 27 Manny Machado:11 / $330M at age 30 Here are these players career fWAR per 150g played - better or worse nothing excluded. Bregman 31.8 / 875g = 5.45 per 150g Arenado 46.9 / 1452g = 4.85 per 150g Machado 47.3 / 1499g = 4.73 per 150g Devers 19.2 / 755g = 3.81 per 150g Rendon 34.4 / 1111g = 4.64 per 150g Bryant 32.0 / 976g = 4.92 per 150g every 1 of those deals is at least 7 years for $26M AAV. You think Bregman will AND SHOULD sign for less than 6 @ $25M?
Unless a few key teams fall completely apart over the next 3 weeks, I think almost all fans across baseball should brace themselves for a quiet trade deadline. As of now I expect only 7 teams to be sellers (Rockies, Nats, A’s, Royals, Tigers, White Sox, Mariners), with 2 of those (Mariners and White Sox) very likely only selling their pending free agents or overpaid players. That means 23 other teams competing in a market that likely only features the following players: C: Yasmani Grandal, Elias Diaz, Tom Murphy IF: Matt Duffy, Jeimer Candelario, Eugenio Suarez, Ildemaro Vargas, Mike Moustakas, Tony Kemp OF: Ramon Laureano, Teoscar Hernandez, Lane Thomas, Seth Brown, Randal Grichuk, Victor Robles, Corey Dickerson, Jurickson Profar SP: Lucas Giolito, Marco Gonzales, Paul Blackburn, Mike Clevinger, Michael Lorenzen, Matthew Boyd, Chris Flexen, Zack Greinke, Chase Anderson, Brad Keller, Patrick Corbin, Jordan Lyles RP: Aroldis Chapman, Scott Barlow, Paul Sewald, Brad Hand, Daniel Bard, Trevor Gott, Brent Suter, Hunter Harvey, Reynaldo Lopez, Joe Kelly, Jose Cisnero, Carl Edwards Jr., Amir Garrett, Kyle Finnegan, Austin Pruitt, Nick Wittgren By my count that’s ONE hitter available who most teams would be ok with as one of their top 5 hitters (Teoscar Hernandez); otherwise it’s a bunch of bottom of the order regulars or bench players. Similarly, Giolito looks like the only SP likely to be available who most teams would be ok with starting a playoff game; otherwise it’s a bunch of BoR guys you add just to eat innings while keeping you in games. The RP market looks healthy; there’s a few guys who are legit closers and a lot of guys who would be fine in a setup or 7th inning playoff role. Boston, Cleveland, St. Louis, the Mets, the Cubs, Pittsburgh, and San Diego could all fall far enough in the next month to warrant selling, but as of now I wouldn’t put money on any of them moving impact players.
I’d load up on relievers. We don’t need a bat if Dusty will just play Diaz and McCormick over Julks and Maldonado. Dana needs to force it if he continues with his stupid lineups.
I would think a reliever and some kind of 13th position player would be the order. The lineup shenanigans will get fixed if they ever have everybody healthy, since it would almost certainly mean Julks would be sent down (meaning Maldonado would be the only bad hitter on the roster). But trading for a solid bat to replace Julks, Salazar, or Kessinger as the 13th position player would also help prevent bad players from being forced into the lineup; Duffy, Grandal, Diaz, and Brown seem like they’d fit that role if the price is low. If other teams get added to the list of sellers, then that probably boosts the SP market.
Dusty is treating Julks like he's a two time all star out there hoping to get him to turn it around. He's a matt Mieske type. Just good enough to hang on to the edge of the roster. He should have no more than 150 plate appearances for an entire season and he has 200 already nearly. Chas should be your left fielder. Not like he couldnt switch to center and stick Julks in if something happens to Meyers. Chas is so far and away the better hitter and fielder. It just makes zero sense.
This may be controversial to some folks but I'd trade Bregman in the off-season. He hasn't looked the same for years now and no reason to think he'll magically turn it around. I think we can get a nice package for him. No to a long term contract.
Who is Brennan? Seriously though, I can see trading an OF or 2 but who plays 3B if Alex is traded? And who might be available who might be available to replace him? He Is not consistent nor is he an MVP contender, but how many 3B out there are better than him? Who would be an improvement.
Similarly to if they traded Tucker, trading Bregman would likely mean making another move to replace him. An example I threw out was trading Bregman for a big prospect haul, then trading a 3rd tier prospect for someone like Matt Duffy or Jeimer Candelario to replace him. Yes, the net for 2023 would be negative, but it wouldn’t be a total white flag, and the outlook for 2024 forward would likely be much better (assuming they got the kind of prospects that would make a move like that worthwhile).
Would be quite the wwe pivot if the Yankees become sellers. Statistically, they have a much tougher road to the playoffs than the Astros. they’re stuck with Judge, Rodon, Stanton, Cole… and they still have unknowns in Oswald, Volpe. Rest of the roster is probably made available… but not that much upside (but a lot of price tags) for guys like IKF, Donaldson, and the rest of their pitchers.
The Astros are not trading Bregman or Tucker. They are being aggressive trying to add players, but teams are not ready to be active yet. As for why Julks is playing with a 280 OBP? I have no idea. The Astros will likely add a quality bat and reliever …. But more than anything, they need Bregman, Tucker, Abreu, Montero and Stanek to play better
You don't see us trading bregman in the off season? I mean cmon he's not worth a new deal and he's on the wrong side of 30s....
Looking at potential teams that might be interested in a sideways trade where neither team is a clear seller or buyer, came up with something like this: Astros get: RP Tanner Scott 3B Jacob Berry RHP Jacob Miller Marlins get: OF Chas McCormick RP Ryne Stanek RP Matt Gage Astros add an elite RP for this season and next without giving up any prospects and add 2 buy-low high ceiling prospects. They can afford to give up McCormick with the pending return of Brantley (McCormick isn’t even gettin in the lineup everyday as it is). Marlins add a quality everyday OF with 3 years of control to address their primary weakness (outside of C) without giving up any of their top 10 prospects. They also add 2 low leverage big league relievers to mitigate the loss of Scott.
Unlikely. However, I think when it is all said and done he will have an OPS of over 800 and be worth around 4 WAR.
How much better is Tanner Scott than Ryne Stanek? Because what you are doing is giving up McCormick in order to get that improvement plus 2 lottery tickets.
I have not seen anything from our new GM to indicate one way or another what he may or may not do. There have been numerous times that action on his part should have been forthcoming but none have resulted in any purposeful moves. I have much less confidence in him now than when he was hired and am concerned about the upcoming deadline and off season.
Explain - what actions did he fail to take that you think he should have taken. It's not a snarky question.
