Jose Abreu and Zack Greinke Belt is recovering from knee surgery for a torn meniscus. It could explain his struggles last year. However, 17.2 million per year for 3 years? No thanks. Giants would be dumb to trade Bumgarner with that. They wouldn't get much in return without eating a nice chunk of money. I would rather sign Nelson Cruz or Brantley than touch that Belt contract.
Oh I don't give a ****, I just thought you kids might want something to talk about. Sorry if I'm late to the party.
After reading pretty much all the available interviews with Boras, Harper, and all the owners and GMs, I really don’t think Harper is going to sign with a team that isn’t already a contender unless they majorly outbid everyone. For now I think the Dodgers have to be the favorite, with the Phillies serving as the team bidding them up. Sleepers and also-rans would be the Astros, White Sox, Yankees, Cardinals, Braves, and Cubs. I believe Boras/Harper have the following priorities: 1. Offering $350M+ 2. Offering 10+ years 3. Team is currently contending 4. Team projects to contend over the foreseeable future (i.e. young core and good farm) 5. Recruiting pitch (I.e. owner involved, pitching building Harper’s brand, etc.) 6. Offering opt out The only items in question for Houston are the first 2, which are also the most important. I expect Harper to sign within 20 days.
At the end of the day, I don't think Harper is going to get the deal he's looking for. I would't be surprised if Washington's offer was as good as it gets. As much potential as he has, 3 of his last 5 years had WARs of 1.6 or less. He just hasn't shown the consistency you need to justify that kind of money, IMO. Comparatively, Manny Machado - who's the same age - has never had a WAR under 2.4 in his career and has been above 5 many times (Harper has done it once - though he'd have done in 2017 also if healthy).
We’ll see. You could be right. But I think between an already rejected $300M offer and the payroll capacity a lot of teams have, he will get it.
As an aside re: Machado, has there been any talk of him wanting to play SS again, or has he resigned himself to being at 3B? I remember that being a thing last year. He is a dogsh!t SS, but is solid at 3B. Just curious.
I think he still prefers to play SS but he would be stupid to say that definitively now. I did see an interesting story about Machado's defense. It might have been on MLB network. His defense at SS was greatly improved when he went to the Dodgers and he was actually a plus defender at SS. Apparently he bought into the analytics with the dodgers and did more moving around and also knew the catcher's signs so he could anticipate where the pitch was hit. It sounds like Baltimore was still in the stone age baseball wise. At shortstop Machado was -18 defensive runs saved in Baltimore and plus 5 with the Dodgers. He should still go to 3rd though because he is elite at that position.
I don’t think Machado has said anything publicly about it, but his agent has been quoted as saying Machado is open to playing 3B.
Yep. Dodgers got him in position that he got to a lot of plays. Rather have a guy that makes plays than a guy that makes spectacular, but fewer plays.
Why not both? eta: and I would imagine that there's little chance of that continuing much longer eta2: I'll admit being biased against him because he is a dirty, chippy, ********er
Even though CHC played down any Schwarber move, I still think HOU is a great matchup with them trade-wise. CHC disparately needs young, affordable arms, and Theo's mentioned how they're focused on replenishing their farm and remaining frugal. CIN is another team I think we match up well with. Their interest in Kuechel is surprising, but also a bit telling. Unfortunately, neither team has what we need (or is willing to give it up). Luhnow isn't going to move our surplus of arms just because, but there has to be a buyer somewhere who can give us what we want. Maybe Luhnow swings the rare 3-team trade? And I just don't see any teams where Kemp, Marisnick, or White make a ton of sense. There's a good # of 2Bs available on the FA and trade market. And Jake and White won't garner enough interest to bring back anything significant. Hamilton is a decent comp, and he just got non-tendered and signed for 5m. Olney had a great column today on CLE's interesting offseason. They're trying to remain competitive while still moving one of Kluber/Tyler. It'll be interesting to see what they get for the arm. CLE is banking on a terrible AL Central to extend their window, and that's honestly pretty similar to the situation HOU finds itself in.
