2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions

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I love Anderson, and would gladly take a chance on him. But knowing what steady Doug Fister went for, wild card Anderson isn't going to fetch you guys a ton, even if he is younger and left-handed.
 
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I'm a bit surprised to see all of these trades before the meetings. The trades have to impact these free agents too. Boras won't have the power he usually has this year. Seems like teams are taking things in their own hands.
 
^ Also out there that Jacoby may sign before the meetings.

The plot thickens :nerd:

NEW YORK -- The Seattle Mariners have emerged as a major player in the sweepstakes for free agent Robinson Cano, according to several sources who spoke to ESPNNewYork.com on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.

With the New York Yankees not wanting to offer Cano more than a seven-year contract or as much as $200 million, an industry source with knowledge of the negotiations put the Yankees chances of retaining their five-time All-Star second baseman at "less than 50-50."

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The Seattle Mariners have emerged as a serious contender for the services of free agent Robinson Cano, sources told ESPNNewYork.com.
"It doesn't look too good right now," said the source.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik refused to confirm a meeting with Cano.

"We've talked to everybody," Mariners GM Jack Zduiencik told ESPNNewYork's Andrew Marchand on Tuesday. "There's not a free agent we haven't talked to. We've cast a wide net.''

Sources familiar with the negotiations between the Yankees and Cano told ESPNNewYork.com that the Yankees believe Seattle might be willing to offer Cano a $200 million deal over eight years.

One of the sources said the Mariners were "desperate for hitting and desperate to put people in the ballpark."

"I wouldn't presume to say that there's no one out there that will meet (Cano's) demands,'' said another, who named Seattle -- along with possibly the Texas Rangers -- as a team that might be willing to outbid the Yankees for Cano's services.

"Now it's a question of, does (Cano) want to be a Yankee, or is he just about the money?," said a baseball insider.

According to sources, the Yankees believe they learned the answer when it was reported in October that Cano's side had demanded a 10-year deal worth $310 million. Cano has since said he never made any such demand.

Cano's agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, did not respond to a request for comment, and a Cano spokesman said the agent was meeting with another team Tuesday afternoon. The spokesman would not specify the team, but said, "It's a big, big meeting.''

The Yankees have had no contact with Cano or his representatives since last Tuesday, when they presented Cano with an offer believed to be for seven years and $160 million. At the same meeting, the Cano side was said to have lowered its demands slightly; it has since been reported Cano is asking for $252 million over nine years with a vesting option for a 10th year at $28 million.

The Yankees are said to be willing to increase their offer, but not substantially; an insider said the club might be willing to go to $175 million over seven years, an average salary of $25 million.

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"(The Yankees) think this offer is incredibly fair,'' the insider said. "It's the highest average annual salary they've paid anyone except for Alex Rodriguez. Not even (Derek) Jeter got that kind of money.''

Jeter's 10-year deal that expired before the 2010 season paid him $189 million. He subsequently signed a three-year deal for $51 million, and this October agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal for 2014.

According to a source who was briefed on the meeting, the Yankees have rejected the idea of any deal longer than seven years for Cano based on their own history of bad deals -- notably, Rodriguez's 10-year, $275 million contract -- and the deals given to Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Ryan Howard, none of which have panned out.

Instead, the Yankees presented an analysis of Cano's value that determined he was worth approximately $25 million per season -- well below Rodriguez's record annual average salary of $27.5 million but equal to what is being paid to Hamilton, Howard and Felix Hernandez -- but for no more than seven years, considering he turned 31 in October.

According to the source, Cano's side presented its client as not only "the best player on the board,'' but also as the best player in baseball and someone who is "indispensable'' to the Yankees.

The Yankees disagreed with that statement and cited diminished attendance and TV ratings in 2013 in the absence of Rodriguez and Jeter, both of whom missed much of the season due to injuries, as evidence that Cano lacks the star power to attract ticket buyers.

"We don't see Robbie Cano as the best player in the game,'' one of participants at the meeting is reported to have said. "We see him as one of the best.''

Cano is a career .309 hitter who has averaged 28 home runs and 103 RBI in each of his last five seasons. In 2013, hitting with little or no protection in the Yankees injury-decimated lineup, Cano batted a team-high .314 with 27 HRs, 107 RBI and an .899 OPS. He has finished in the top-10 in the last four AL MVP ballots, and came in fifth this year.

According to an executive familiar with both the Cano meetings and the struggle to work out a new contract for Jeter in 2010: "These negotiations have been far less contentious.''

"Jeter was very unhappy (with his negotiations),'' the source said, "but in the end, he compromised, because he really wanted to be a Yankee.''

Three years later, the Yankees aren't so sure they can say the same about Cano.
 
I love Anderson, and would gladly take a chance on him. But knowing what steady Doug Fister went for, wild card Anderson isn't going to fetch you guys a ton, even if he is younger and left-handed.

Talks of him being moved today have slowed, we're looking for bullpen depth now apparently.

A local beat reporter wondered if the A's were prepping to move Cespedes.
 
Tigers make a mistake in strategy.

Viewed in a vacuum, the Tigers just misdiagnosed their bullpen problem as an isolated issue with the ninth inning rather than a lack of depth or quality across the board. Signing Joe Nathan to a two-year deal isn't excessive, as he probably has at least that many years of production left in the tank. But Nathan has started to lose velocity and had to shift to heavier usage of his slider as a result, and he's a traditional, one-inning, break-glass-only-in-case-of-save-situation closer, the kind of player usage foisted on us by a stupid stat invented by a Spink Award-winning typist a few decades ago. I hope Nathan sends Jerome Holtzman's heirs a fruit basket.

Viewed in the context of Monday's dump trade, where the Tigers sent Doug Fister to Washington for about 30 cents on the dollar, the Nathan signing looks even worse. Detroit may have given Fister away to clear payroll space to sign Nathan, going from about 200 innings to 60 without adding anywhere near enough talent to balance that out. (I don't know the Tigers' actual payroll limitations, so this is speculation on my part.)

I've spoken to numerous team executives who were shocked at the return for Fister and wish they had been given the opportunity to offer more or to try to assemble a multi-team deal that would give the Tigers the specific pieces they wanted. One contending team's GM, known to be looking for another starter, told me he hadn't talked to the Tigers about Fister in weeks. Another exec with a contender indicated something similar.

The demand for starting pitching is so strong and the supply is so weak that giving one as good as Fister away just to clear space for a 60-inning, 39-year-old reliever leaves the Tigers clearly worse off in the end.

A quick look at some other deals:

A's bolster bullpen depth

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The addition of right-hander Jim Johnson gives Oakland one of MLB's top bullpens.
The Orioles seemed likely to nontender Jim Johnson, the kind of reliever who's wildly overpaid by the brain-dead arbitration process, but instead shipped him off to Oakland in exchange for Jemile Weeks, a salary dump by another name.

Oakland has a ton of bullpen depth at this point, so while the A's could just slot Johnson in as the traditional closer and let him go one inning at a time, 65 times a year, I would love to see them stretch him out a little as Baltimore did in 2011, when he was more effective in longer outings (1.65 ERA when he got at least four outs, thanks in part to a low BABIP). Manager Bob Melvin has shown in the past that he can be creative with a bullpen that has lots of different weapons, helping get an Arizona team to the playoffs in 2007 in large part by how he used the club's three main setup men. Add Johnson to a pen with Sean Doolittle, Ryan Cook, Jerry Blevins and perhaps someone squeezed out of the rotation and the A's could have a huge competitive advantage late in games.

For Baltimore, Weeks is a potential answer to its second-base problem but a bit of a long shot. He’s a player who has gone backward in almost every way since he surprised me with his 2011 MLB performance. His plate discipline is still sound, but his overall plan isn't, including a heavy pull orientation that doesn't match up with his low-power, above-average speed skills set. He's more than an adequate return for a player the O's might have simply let go for nothing, with a chance that the change of scenery helps him become an every-day player.

Red Sox overpay for Pierzynski

A.J. Pierzynski is of so low value at this point that he couldn't crack my top 50 free agents, even in a year where almost any catcher capable of converting oxygen into carbon dioxide qualified. His walk rate in 2013 was one of the worst in major league history, and he's a below-average defensive catcher who's a liability on the rare occasions he does reach base. A one-year deal for a million or two would have been fine, but the Red Sox giving him $8 million looks like good money gone bad. They just need someone to pick up about 90 games or so while they give prospect Christian Vazquez, a defensive specialist who showed some improvement at the plate in 2013, most of a year in Triple A, with David Ross probably handling 40 to 50 games as a heavy backup. Signing Pierzynski isn't going to make a significant dent in the Red Sox's playoff chances in 2013 -- they might be a win to a win and a half worse off -- but it's not the kind of move that pushes the team forward in any way.
 
BTW - Rays signed Ryan Hanigan (3 years/$11mm) & (according to himself) Heath Bell.

Marlins put out a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd for Salty.
 
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Susan Slusser
‏@susanslusser
It sounds like if #Athletics make another deal today, it would involve trading a non-everyday position player off the big-league roster.
 
Why trade Choice? He could have contributed next year

I like Choice and wish him the best. I hope this trade doesn't come back to bite us. :lol:

I like Gentry also. He plays good defense, has speed, and isn't a free-agent till 2017 (I think) so I see him taking over for Coco after this year.
 
BTW, every offseason I hope the A's sign AJ Pierzynski. :lol:

We need an everyday catcher and a team leader.

Never happens.... :smh: :lol:
 
Is Choice any good?

Gentry can't play every day, but he's usable... With Martin and Beltre in center, he's expendable for the Rangers.
 
Choice is just weird to me. A guy who you'd think would hit for more power looking like Frank Thomas.

I think the best you'll get is decent defense, average bat with the potential for more power. Not too shabby.
 
He came onto the scene and had a lot of pop but struck out way to much. His strikeout rates have improved I think (not greatly :lol:) but his power has dropped also.

I think the kid has talent but it is hard to tell how good a hitter is in the hitter friendly PCL. :lol: Plus, he is nothing more than an average corner outfielder IMO.

Overall, I think it is a good deal for both teams. Like you said, Gentry was expendable and you got a guy who could hit some homers, especially back home in Arlington.
 
I was so pissed when the Astros took Delino DeSheilds jr over Michael Choice in the draft. 
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and looking back at that draft, Chris Sale went 5 picks after the Astros pick. 
 
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Buster Olney tweeting that it's looking more and more likely that Beltran is gonna return to the Royals on a 3 years/$48 million dollar deal.
 
@astros: #Astros officially acquire OF Dexter Fowler and a PTBNL from the @Rockies in exchange for OF Brandon Barnes and RHP Jordan Lyles.

I am thrilled about this deal.
 
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