That Michael Schwab guy suggested Aaron Hicks. Does he have speed though? What about that Orioles guy. Anthony Santadar. Again, no idea about speed and he's a switch hitter. Not sure if he hits well as a lefty .
I like Varsho. Good defense, good power. Not great obp, But he can also play catcher, which is an added bonus. Never would have to worry about carrying a 3rd. Still under team control for 3 more season so that would be an expensive trade.
I think the Astros have been successful when they play a certain style of baseball. The most effective was a roster full of guys with high obp bc they took alot of pitches and made other teams pitchers completely taxed both with pitch counts and with high leverage pitching counts (3 and 2s or what not) so give me a high contact or high obp guy over good power low obp
Maybe trade for Max Kepler? $10M and Twins are looking to drop salary. Maybe for J.P. France? He is a FA after this season so won't be expensive. I read the Twins are looking for rotation help. Fangraphs has them with a solid 5 of Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, and Varland but with basically no #6 in case of injury.
I feel like the highest salary team should have double the current luxury tax and no picks in the first 3 rounds. 2nd highest should be about 20% less that and picks. 3rd and 4th highest 50% less tax than 1st no picks. Then current system applies for the remainder over the tax.
Latest episode of breathing orange fire is up. Check it out, listen, download, rate, subscribe etc. we talk Colin McHugh, Josh Hader, what the Hader deal means for the Astroa and what’s next. Enjoy
Top of my head: Jose Ramirez Rafael Devers Austin Riley Alex Bregman Matt Chapman Nolan Arenado Josh Jung Manny Machado Gunnar Henserson If salary and trade cost weren't factors, I would take all of them before Hayes. I think he's roughly in the middle of the pack for 3B off last year. Bottom 15 if you consider his 2 prior years. He has definitely underperformed. I would have interest as a guy who's not an unproven rookie and makes reasonable money. He's mediocre, but that is ok for Bregman replacement if needed.
At this exact moment, probably in the 10 -15 range, but I think he's just hitting his offensive stride and will be able to do better or at least reproduce his results from last season, moving him into the top 10. If we're factoring in his age and contract for the next 5 years, probably just outside the top 5 in terms of value he will contribute, maybe higher.
Maybe, but if he's a sub 700 OPS guy again then you're paying premium bench money to a bench player. Not horrible but if you're the Pirates paying an Aledmys Diaz level player that kind of money is a waste. This came up because I threw the name out there as a possible Bregman insurance plan as the Pirates could always use cheap pitching. I believe my suggestion was if Bielak is the 3rd best piece it might be possible. If it was Jacob Melton, JP France, and Bielak; I would consider it if I'm the pirates. Not saying they would do it. Cheap controllable pitching for the back end is worth something. The salary savings would also be factored in.
That’s my take away. He’s neither LHH nor fast- but he hits RHP just fine and he’s old and you can take him out after 6 innings with the lead, pinch run for him, rest him a couple days a week etc. he will make it so the team has literally zero weakness when it comes playoff time and the top 16 or 18 guys are all that really matters.
The best defensive 3rd baseman in the league is not a bench player unless he becomes completely noncompetitive at the plate.. I don't think WAR is the be all end all of stats, but even posting a sub 700 OPS in 22 he posted 3 fWAR (4 bWAR) while missing some time...and that seems to be the likely worst case scenario. Even if you platoon him down to 100 games to avoid some RHP to inflate his OPS he would still more than justify the money he makes. And that is of course completely ignoring the power he finally displayed last season entering his prime years. I would do that trade in a heartbeat before they could even hang up, Pittsburgh would scoff at us. Aledmys Diaz has produced 3 WAR the last 5 years combined.
Everybody is quick to get a hard on for what Soler did last season and in the juiced ball years, but the Soler from 20-22 and prior to the juiced balls isn't more valuable than Jake Meyers defense. He has been an extremely inconsistent offensive producer in his career. Without knowing the going rate for Soler, he's not some guy that is a for sure upgrade for the team. Would I like him sure, would I want to tie up the last of our finances in him or make a significant multi year commitment, no.
We don’t have anything else we need to make a financial commitment on- this is the last piece. If we needed something at the deadline we could always trade Graveman away- that sheds 6M or 8M in salary- if the other team presumably isn’t over the tax line- so no big deal to money coming back their way. We could send the 1.5M still owed and then we get out of like 6M in salary cap.
I follow the Pirates too. Not only is his D tops in the game, he hit very well after returning from his injury.
What kind of prospect package would have to be included to entice a team to trade for Graveman since he will not pitch at all this year. And it would only save 2M-3M if he is traded at the deadline since his salary is only 8M for the year
I think people in general have way too much faith in the predictability of veteran MLB players and are way to scared that unproven players/prospects will bust and cost nothing going forward. If Meyers busts, the team isn't paying him much so they can easily pivot by sliding Chas to CF and trading for a decent corner bat at the deadline. Or maybe they call up Decenzo and have him learn LF. The biggest downside on Meyers busting is that it could affect the relationship between Brown and Crane, IMO. I'd guess Soler will be a better hitter going forward. Not sure what happened in 2021 and 2022, but would put more weight on his 2023 and prior to 2021 seasons. Regarding his defense, he's a DH in the postseason.
