2018-19 Offseason News, Rumors, Trades

DeadlySplitter

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^ 1yr / 2 mil. he took a huge hometown discount.

Josh Donaldson is apparently close to a 1yr deal with the Braves too. Meanwhile, the Twins claimed CJ Cron from the Rays.

EDIT: Donaldson deal is done. 1 year, TWENTY-THREE mil!

 

jon abbey

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Wow, I expected Donaldson to wait out the Machado market and take a multi-year deal, not sure betting on yourself for a rebound season and big deal is the best move with Arenado and Rendon scheduled to hit FA next winter as of now, but happy to have him out of the league.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Ken Rosenthal‏Verified account @Ken_Rosenthal 6m6 minutes ago
McCann turned down more lucrative offers to return to #Braves. Agent B.B. Abbott: ... (more at link)

he probably had 2 year, ~8-10 mil deals out there. I mean, he's a vet, that's very low-end backup catcher money there. Jeff Mathis got more with the Rangers.

meanwhile, the Braves seemed to take the savings and put it all into Donaldson. a huge injury risk especially on an NL team.
 

jon abbey

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Ha, Donaldson and Machado actually have the same agent, such conflicts of interest with agents in the free agent market.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Ken Rosenthal‏Verified account @Ken_Rosenthal 6m6 minutes ago
McCann turned down more lucrative offers to return to #Braves. Agent B.B. Abbott: ... (more at link)

he probably had 2 year, ~8-10 mil deals out there. I mean, he's a vet, that's very low-end backup catcher money there. Jeff Mathis got more with the Rangers.

meanwhile, the Braves seemed to take the savings and put it all into Donaldson. a huge injury risk especially on an NL team.
I think it’s a reach to extrapolate ‘more lucrative’ to high discount and $8-10m, but hey, have at it.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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What’s the downside for the Braves on Donaldson? It’s a one-year deal and they have plenty of depth if he gets hurt. Clearly they’ve got the money.
 

jon abbey

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Machado has to be happy that a backup plan for many teams, Donaldson, is off the market early.
Not coincidentally they have the same agent, such a conflict of interest as it is every winter.
 

jon abbey

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Atlanta was never a realistic landing spot for Machado.
Right, but if Machado signed first, I think Donaldson would have had much more interest. Maybe he wanted to go to ATL anyway, but it is a bad conflict of interest even if it's tough to avoid. Boras has had some of these in the past too.
 

simplicio

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Possibly, but then again, Edwin Encarnacion is probably pretty happy he signed early last year before prices plummeted for the guys who waited.
 

jon abbey

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Possibly, but then again, Edwin Encarnacion is probably pretty happy he signed early last year before prices plummeted for the guys who waited.
That was two years ago, after 2016, and 3/60 is a lot better than 1/23, especially since Donaldson put up 36 bWAR in the 5 seasons before last season. Over 7 bWAR per season for five straight years, ATL got a bargain.
 

simplicio

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My bad, I was swapping my 3/60 deals, I meant Carlos Santana. After last year I can see people feeling skittish, and if lack of competition for blockbuster deals drive Harper and Machado's contracts late and cheaper than expected I'm not sure it benefits others to be operating under that reduced baseline.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Someone's been watching MLB Network. Pretty sure I saw a proposal exactly like that author suggests (Mets getting Cano and Diaz and Mallex Smith for Bruce and prospects) on MLB Now at around 4:30. It was an entirely fictitious scenario created by Dan Dowd for discussion purposes. The only part the SNY author leaves out is the Mets demanding a negotiating window with Cano to redo the last three years of the deal.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Someone's been watching MLB Network. Pretty sure I saw a proposal exactly like that author suggests (Mets getting Cano and Diaz and Mallex Smith for Bruce and prospects) on MLB Now at around 4:30. It was an entirely fictitious scenario created by Dan Dowd for discussion purposes. The only part the SNY author leaves out is the Mets demanding a negotiating window with Cano to redo the last three years of the deal.
I'm a bit confused. Are you suggesting the SNY report is just stealing O'Dowd's fake proposal and reporting it as news? The timestamps don't reflect this possibility.
 

Wingack

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Someone's been watching MLB Network. Pretty sure I saw a proposal exactly like that author suggests (Mets getting Cano and Diaz and Mallex Smith for Bruce and prospects) on MLB Now at around 4:30. It was an entirely fictitious scenario created by Dan Dowd for discussion purposes. The only part the SNY author leaves out is the Mets demanding a negotiating window with Cano to redo the last three years of the deal.
That’s SNY article is from this morning.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Passan is now reporting Cano & Diaz to Mets is gaining serious momentum.

Jeff Passan‏Verified account @JeffPassan 29m29 minutes ago
There is significant momentum toward a deal that would send Robinson Cano and Edwin Díaz from the Seattle Mariners to the New York Mets, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. While they characterize a deal as not done yet, there is an increasing expectation a trade will get finished.


I don't know what the Mariners are doing, unless internally they think Diaz is not that good.
 

Oppo

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Kelenic and Dunn, Mets 3rd and 4th ranked prospects have been mentioned
 

JohntheBaptist

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The Mets ability to make it seem like they're doing something while locking themselves into longer periods of mediocrity is occasionally impressive.

They're going to give up prospects and payroll space for a closer when there are handfuls available just for money... and the right to throw Cano's corpse out there? Is grabbing an elite closer putting the cart before the horse a bit? Why are they shopping Syndergaard AND doing this?

I was always a Sox fan but the Mets were an early love because we lived way closer to Shea and that's where I saw my first MLB game(s) live. But yeah. Contract the Mets already.
 

ehaz

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Why give up Kelenic if you're already taking on Cano to get Diaz? He was just drafted #6 overall and had a strong showing in rookie ball... Seems like a lot.
 

moondog80

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The Mets ability to make it seem like they're doing something while locking themselves into longer periods of mediocrity is occasionally impressive.

They're going to give up prospects and payroll space for a closer when there are handfuls available just for money... and the right to throw Cano's corpse out there? Is grabbing an elite closer putting the cart before the horse a bit? Why are they shopping Syndergaard AND doing this?

I was always a Sox fan but the Mets were an early love because we lived way closer to Shea and that's where I saw my first MLB game(s) live. But yeah. Contract the Mets already.

It is impossible to evaluate this without knowing the money and/or prospects involved, but Cano's corpse hit 304/374/471 last year for 3.2 WAR in just 80 games. He's not had a WAR lower than 3 since 2008, which was also the last time he played less than 150 games until the suspension last year. He's not worth 120 mil for 5 years, but he's shown no signs of being washed up, and he has plenty of value. If the Mariners take on 10 mil of his deal (as rumored), Cano is worth it all by himself.
 

jon abbey

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The Mets ability to make it seem like they're doing something while locking themselves into longer periods of mediocrity is occasionally impressive.

They're going to give up prospects and payroll space for a closer when there are handfuls available just for money... and the right to throw Cano's corpse out there? Is grabbing an elite closer putting the cart before the horse a bit? Why are they shopping Syndergaard AND doing this?

I was always a Sox fan but the Mets were an early love because we lived way closer to Shea and that's where I saw my first MLB game(s) live. But yeah. Contract the Mets already.
I have zero confidence that they can pull this off, but the general plan kind of makes sense:

1) Trade prospects plus the Jay Bruce contract for Cano and Diaz.

2) Trade Syndergaard for prospects.

3) Sign a FA SP to replace Syndergaard.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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I have zero confidence that they can pull this off, but the general plan kind of makes sense:

1) Trade prospects plus the Jay Bruce contract for Cano and Diaz.

2) Trade Syndergaard for prospects.

3) Sign a FA SP to replace Syndergaard.
I was gonna say "cheap-ish MLB talent," but same idea. BVW seems like he might be a Preller/DiPoto-type GM.
 

JohntheBaptist

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I have zero confidence that they can pull this off, but the general plan kind of makes sense:

1) Trade prospects plus the Jay Bruce contract for Cano and Diaz.

2) Trade Syndergaard for prospects.

3) Sign a FA SP to replace Syndergaard.
Yeah, if you squint I can see it. But then this also feels like a lot of wheel-spinning--Cano can still hit a bit but seems very close to needing a 1B mitt with no DH spot for later in the contract, and who knows what age 36+ year old Cano without PEDs even is.

If you can upgrade the prospects coming in via Syndergaard over those going out to get Diaz in the deal I guess it could be worse. But that's also what I mean--the Mets just seem to have this way of kicking the can down the road and only very occasionally sticking their heads above water.

But yeah, I don't think this is happening anyway.
 

moondog80

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Yeah, if you squint I can see it. But then this also feels like a lot of wheel-spinning--Cano can still hit a bit

OPS+ of 136, 114, and 138 the past three years (he's consistently been better outside of Safeco). With a dWAR above zero in each year.

We need to stop pretending that he's Pablo Sandoval.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Yeah, if you squint I can see it. But then this also feels like a lot of wheel-spinning--Cano can still hit a bit but seems very close to needing a 1B mitt with no DH spot for later in the contract, and who knows what age 36+ year old Cano without PEDs even is.

If you can upgrade the prospects coming in via Syndergaard over those going out to get Diaz in the deal I guess it could be worse. But that's also what I mean--the Mets just seem to have this way of kicking the can down the road and only very occasionally sticking their heads above water.

But yeah, I don't think this is happening anyway.
Are they still handcuffed financially by the Madoff thing? I have trouble understanding how they are still so perpetually broke and why MLB hasn’t forced the Wilpon’s to sell.
 

JohntheBaptist

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Are they still handcuffed financially by the Madoff thing? I have trouble understanding how they are still so perpetually broke and why MLB hasn’t forced the Wilpon’s to sell.
This is the great mystery to me too, I'm not sure. But they always seem to be robbing Peter to pay Paul, spending on middling returns when they do and undergoing machinations that seem to leave them where they started albeit with a "name" they can sell tickets to.

A new GM seems like a good time to say "look we're going to tear it down, think Houston here, give us some patience and once these prospects we're going to gather start to hit we'll spend again and really rush through that new window."

Philly and Atlanta are already set up for now to be demonstrably better. It is a solid bet Washington is too, although its an interesting winter for them. Shedding Syndergaard and prospects to pick up a FA SP, Cano, Diaz, and prospects just doesn't seem like anything but arranging deck chairs but I could easily be wrong, so who knows. And that's if it happens, which seems like a real long shot.

edit--I guess the Rosenthal update makes it less of a long shot...
 
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moondog80

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I'm not pretending he's Pablo Sandoval.
That wasn't aimed just at you, and it was purposely hyperbolic, but you did call him a corpse, and then your concession was that he can still hit "a bit". Maybe I'm being pedantic, but he can hit a lot more than a bit. He's still a very good player, and is remarkably durable. I don't want to take on 100% of his deal because, like everyone else, I don't think can sustain it for a long enough period of time, but there is definitely a price point where it makes sense. But people are acting like it's an absurd suggestion without knowing the details.
 

jon abbey

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As presently constituted, it reminds me a bit of the Nets trade with the Celtics, a team mortgaging the future and still only a second round playoff team (the Nets) or maybe a wild card team (the Mets).

McNeil and Cano had almost identical OPSs last year and McNeil is still pre-arb, Dunn is a top 5 prospect for them too and Kelenic was just the #6 overall pick in June and is supposed to be a stud. Getting the dead money of Bruce and Swarzak off the books is nice, though.
 

moondog80

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Bad for whom? starting to like the Mariners' side more and more.
Impossible to say without knowing the financials. If the Mets are dumping Bruce and getting Seattle to take a large portion of Cano, it may be OK. If it's 10 mil of Cano? Not good. 70 mil of Cano? Good.