Frayed Knot

It's not clear how far along Rollins trade talks were. In the reports I read it sounded more like the Mets were just kicking the tires when Rollins put a premature end to anything by saying he had no intention of waiving his 10/5 rights. He wouldn't have been terrible as a one-year stop-gap (depending on the price of course) but I'm kinda glad this idea got squashed before it ever took off no matter how close it might have been. Going back to the Larkin deal, wasn't there a deal there that was all completed and just needing his approval when he turned it down?

Just a book-keeping detail really, but Mejia has been officially classified as being part of the 'Super-Two' category of players this winter thus making him eligible for salary arbitration.

Looks like Detroit gets things started by re-upping with DH Victor Martinez for four more years. $68 is the reported amount, nothing official, physical still pending, blah, blah.

Clayton Kershaw, to the surprise of no one, is the unanimous NL CY. Johnny Cueto & Adam Wainwright finished 2nd & 3rd Unknown to most at the beginning of the year, Cleveland's Corey Kluber is the AL winner over Felix Hernandez (17 1st place votes to 13) with Chicago's Chris Sale finishing 3rd

Ashie62 wrote: I don't understand your fascination with Syndergaard. He is not the second coming. Neither, most likely, will be the guy he's potentially being traded for.

New Arizona GM Dave Stewart is preemptively on record as saying that the Snakes aren't interested in any of the older NYM pitchers - no Niese, no Gee, and obviously no Colon That leaves someone from the Wheeler, Syndergaard, Montero, deGrom pool, but then that gets a bit more problematic from this end. * my auto spell-check keeps trying to turn deGrom into legroom so I might just have to start calling him that - and with his long legs it kind of fits too.

Not sure that Baez is ultimately going to be a SS - not just on SS-heavy Chicago but anywhere else. He certainly is an interesting prospect though; lotsa powah and still only 21 y/o. But K'd nearly 1/3 of the time in AAA, and his brief ML call-up time was just ridiculous: .169/.227/.324 with nearly half his hits going for XB [6 2Bs + 9 HRs of 36 hits] but [u:3fsinhrf]95 Ks in 213 ABs[/u:3fsinhrf]

He figures that deGrom only pitched as well as he did because he was being managed by Terry.

The REAL challenge trade with the Cubbies would be Syndergaard for Addison Russell -- neither has set foot in MLB yet but both were Top-15 prospects last winter (Russell slightly higher) and likely will be again this year. I suspect Chicago would balk on that deal first: Russell is the guy they just traded for and supposedly the SS they really want. He's also a year and a half younger than Syndy plus there's the general assumption that position players are safer and more projectable. Puma in the Post is talking Seattle again, this year it's Brad Miller and/or Chris Taylor (last year it was Miller and Nick Franklin who has since moved on to TB) Miller - just turned 25 y/o; 673 ML ABs over 2013-14; .241/.302/.389 Taylor - hit 24 in August; 136 ML ABs this year; .287/.347/.346 - good AAA numbers before that Not sure how they compare to each other defensively.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I also am placing a 'lil value on the "intangibles" -- seems like a good guy, takes good pictures, has a hot wife, deaf in one ear, his bromance with David Wright can't be overlooked, has some postseason experience but never a World Series, etc etc. Cuddy in 15. Plus He saves teammates lives!!!

Washington's Matt Williams & Baltimore's Buck Showalter are MOYs for 2014

Not that I'm looking to deal him, but if folks want someone already established player under a known contract like Castro, a promising but still unproven talent like Syndergaard is not overpaying.

As is often the case, draft picks -- even ones in the middle of the 1st round -- miss more than they hit and when they do hit it's not always with the team that drafted them. A quickie look at 20 years of #15 picks (not including the most recent five). 2009 - ALEX WHITE (RHP - CLE )� now 26 y/o; 30 ML starts; played in AAA during 2014 2008 - ETHAN MARTIN (RHP - Phil) � 25 y/o; 17 ML games, 8 starts 2007 - DEVIN MESORACO (C - Reds) � 26 y/o; starting catcher for 2 seasons 2006 - CHRIS MARRERO (OF - Nats) � 26 y/o; 125 ML ABs 2005 - LANCE BROADWAY (RHP - ChiSox) � 27 ML games, 2 starts; out of baseball since 2009 (w/NYM) 2004 - STEPHEN DREW (SS - ARZ) � 9 ML seasons: .256/.322/.425 2003 - BRIAN ANDERSON (OF - ChiSox) � 800 ML ABs from 2005-09 2002 - SCOTT KAZMIR (LHP - Mets) � Not sure whatever happened to him?? 2001 - GABE GROSS (OF - Tor) � 1,500 ML ABs from 2004-10 2000 - CHASE UTLEY (2B - Phils) � Highest career WAR (61.5) of all #15 picks any year (2nd = HoF Jim Rice at 47.4) 1999 - JASON STUMM (RHP - ChiSox) � never reached MLB 1998 - CLINT JOHNSTON (LHP - Pirates) � never reached MLB 1997 - JASON DELLAERO (SS - ChiSox) � 33 ML ABs in 1999 1996 - MATT HALLORAN (SS - Padres) � never reached MLB 1995 - ANDREW YOUNT (OF/P - Red Sox) � never reached MLB 1994 - JAY PETERSON (RHP - Cubs) never reached MLB 1993 - CHRIS CARPENTER (RHP - Jays) � 350 G, 144 Wins over 15 seasons 1992 - SEAN LOWE (RHP - TEX) � 7 ML seasons for 5 teams, mostly as a reliever 1991 - TY HILL (LHP - Milw) � never reached MLB 1990 - ADAM HYZDU (OF - SF) � 350 ABs over 7 seasons FOR 4 clubs Notable others going back to the early days of the draft (>10 career WAR) � Royce Clayton (1988), Scott Garrelts (1979), Leon Durham (1976), Jim Rice (1971) and Richie Hebner (1966)

Zvon wrote: Look at that autograph. Love it It's too legible. How'd he ever get to be a pro athlete with that?!?!

Edgy MD wrote: WtF is Ken Giles? Is he based on a real player or is he completely computer generated? I know, right? You'd figure that a guy within our own division scoring ROY points and who shut us down four times (4 G vs NYM, 4 IP, 2 hits, 5 K) while having a hand in half of the six Philly wins against us would at least have his name ring a bell, but I guess that underscores the phutility of the Phillies this past year. They didn't even garner enough passion to hate this year, instead they were just ignored. The only thing to admire about the 2014 Phils is that they were able to win their season series vs the Nats (10 wins - 9 losses) while we were going a pitiful 5-14

While salary considerations are always going to be A consideration, I don't think it's the big one right now -- IOW, I don't think Murph's salary is the reason to dump him so much as it's the fish or cut bait decision they'll have to make a year from now about him that is, and if they're not going to give him a long term deal (and at age 31 by OD 2016 with limited walks and power plus a bad glove and kooky base-running skills I don't think they will) then the more logical move would be to move him now. So (as hinted at in the Cuddyer thread) I'm predicting a package trade* involving some combo of Muffy, a starter, a reliever, and Tejada for a ML-ready SS plus one or more young'uns thrown in to make up for the lost draft pick** depending on the size of the package we're giving up. I have no earthly idea WHO this SS will be but I believe someone named not-Tejada/not-Flores will be our primary starting SS in 2015 * of course I predicted a multi-player last winter too but that idea obviously went nowhere so you've got to consider the source here ** although do remember that when the Ike deal finally did go through it brought back a recent draft pick. OK it was the previous year's 51st overall pick rather than the 15th that we're giving up w/the Cuddyer signing, but considering that that player (Blake Taylor) comes without having to pay his signing bonus (probably 1/2 mil $$) and after a good partial season in the low minors, there was already a hint of success in pro ball with him which is more than you can say for the yet to be determined amateur still on the board after 14 picks next June.

Nobody's signing two-year deals for $20+ million to be a utility guy, or even a super-utility guy. He's here to be the everyday (or at least mostly everyday) RF.

As was the case last year, each of the players given a qualifying offer has rejected it in favor of becoming a FA.

BUSH(y hair) WINS!!!! * 26 of 30 1st place votes. Hamilton 2nd, Wong 3rd * a decreasing amount of people here get that joke

Would have been better w/o the draft pick - but definitely like. There's always going to be some risk -- in his case: age, injury, Coors factor -- but he also hits several of the other hot button needs and the contract length is the right one IMO.

Centerfield wrote: I wonder if this will be it in terms of adding a middle-of-the-lineup bat. I hope it isn't. But I suspect it will be. None of the SS trade proposals interest me at all. I'm fine with Reynolds/Flores/Tejada. But if you're OK with what we've got at SS then where is this second big bat you're hoping for going to play seeing as how 1B, 3B, C and all 3 OF positions are essentially spoken for? What that leaves is 2B where a deal for a new 2B isn't going to get us someone who's THAT much better than what we currently have. And it all brings us around to what most of us have been saying all along, that the most interesting move/non-move of the off-season is what happens with Muffy. I'd personally prefer to move one (or more) of Flores, Reynolds, Herrera to 2B (we'd lose BA points but would stand to gain in defense, and maybe power and/or OBA) and deal for a true starting SS. My mind starts wandering and wondering what a Murph + [insert young starter here] package would net us. Or start expanding that to Murph + starter + reliever + Tejada ... (or some combo thereof)

I would have thought the qualifying offer was going to put an end to the pursuit of Cuddyer, but obviously it didn't. I like the two year length of the deal - better than either one or three IMO. Ceetar wrote: I personally doubt the Mets give up their first round pick for just Cuddyer, suspect this means they'll at least be in on other Qualifying offer guys. I don't quite get this statement. They're giving up pick #15 next June because of this signing no matter what else they do. If they also opt to sign some other player who has received the minimum QO then they'll give up their 2nd round pick as well. If that happens, which one will be because of Cuddyer and which is from Player X hardly matters. Now the speculation turns to thoughts of the pitcher-for-SS variety.

Baseball Prospectus begins with the NL East this year so they chime in first: 1 - RHP Noah Syndergaard 2 - LHP Steven Matz 3 - OF Brandon Nimmo 4 - SS Amed Rosario 5 - C Kevin Plawecki 6 - 2B Dilson Herrera 7 - RHP Marcos Molina 8 - 1B Dominic Smith 9 - OF Michael Conforto 10 - 3B Jhoan Urena Scouting reports hidden behind the pay wall. Some details discussed in comments section.

Except for Seattle, I can't see him as being much of an attendance draw. Plus, even if some fan base does embrace his chase to 3K as an act to follow despite his having no history with their franchise for 2,850 of them, I don't see him earning enough PT get to the 3K mark in just one season. I suspect he'll latch on somewhere, but I doubt it'll be as a full-time player.

Edgy MD wrote: Itchy is a counter, and no doubt would love to somehow chalk up the final 156 hits to get to 3,000 stateside. But with who? Colorady? Arizona? Toronto? Would the Padres pay tribute to Tony Gwynn by signing the Tony Gwynn of Japan as their Outfielder Emeritus? He'll almost certainly need two seasons to get those 156 more hits (that's 50% more than he got in 2014) and at this point he's a singles hitter who doesn't run or play defense as well as he used to. I'm not so sure he'll get a deal for next year much less for two.