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Indians could go either way
but certainly potentialComment -
If I'm Arizona I might be looking to upgrade the closing situation and try to pry Miller from the Yankees.
Ziegler is OK, Miller is a better option.
Staying with Arizona here, they really could use another lefty stick, all they have is Lamb (who I don't love) at 3B and Peralta (who I kind of love) in the OF.
Outside of those two, the rest of the lineup is all RH.
I'm expecting big things from the Phoenix Snakes this year.
Pollock and Goldschmidt in the middle of that order is lethal.
The two of then are clearly 20/20 guys (20 + taters / 20 + swipes) and then you got the aforementioned Peralta,
The three of them should be around or over the .300 Avg mark, and the three of them combined should have 60 stolen bases and 60 bombs.
I love Mike Trout, I still believe he is the best player in the game, but I'm starting to think Goldy just might be the very best fantasy player in the game. and if I was holding the very first overall pick in this years draft, I would think long and hard about grabbing him.
Expect from Trout 40/100 /315 17 SB 105 runs scored.
Expect from Goldy 40/110/.315 22 SB 105 runs scored.
The infield is the weakest link for Arizona.
I'm not in love with Jake Lamb, nose dived at the end of last season, but the potential is there.
Not in love with Chris Owings either, D-Backs snagged Segura from the Brewers, meh.
Like Castillo behind the plate, he can get you 20 bombs in 110 games or so.
Shelby Miller / Patrick Corbin / Greinke is a very nice front line, and like I mentioned at the top of this post, just get an upgrade at closer.Comment -
The Royals have officially signed free agent lefty Mike Minor to a two-year deal worth a reported $7.25MM. After promising Minor $2MM for 2016 and $4MM for the following campaign, the contract includes a mutual option for 2018 that’s valued at $10MM with a $1.25MM mutual buyout.
The deal also includes extensive performance incentives, MLBTR has learned. Minor can earn $175K roster bonuses upon reaching 30, 60, 90, and 120 days of service for the coming season. He can also pick up $165K apiece upon hitting his 11th through 20th starts, and another $165K for every five innings tallied between 75 and 120. (Each of those provisions, in other words, could earn Minor up to $1.65MM.)
Minor can also reach incentives for 2017, though they’ll require him to be more active. He stands to earn $225K upon reaching his 12th start, with another $225K due for every other start thereafter (capping out with his 30th). And he gets $225K for every ten innings accrued between 110 and 200. As above, then, Minor can hit each of those paydays ten times apiece.
Add it all up, and Minor can take down up to $4MM for the coming season — $700K via service-time bonuses and $3.3MM based on starts and innings. And he can boost his 2017 salary by as much as $4.5MM, if he turns in at least thirty starts and 200 frames. The deal also includes award bonuses.
Notably, Minor will follow another injury-limited former Braves pitcher in seeking a rebound in Kansas City. Kris Medlen signed a similar contract before the 2015 campaign, successfully making his way back to the mound with the Royals. (The club did something similar with Luke Hochevar, as well.)
Like Medlen, Minor was non-tendered after arm troubles disrupted an extremely promising start in Atlanta. He was projected to earn $5.6MM in arbitration from the Braves, and seemed likely at one point to receive it. But reported setbacks in his recovery from shoulder surgery caused the team to change course, leaving Minor a free agent.
Kansas City will hope that Minor can follow players like Medlen, Hochevar, and Ryan Madson in reviving their careers and providing excess value in the process. The most recent results from the lefty weren’t promising, as he struggled to a 4.77 ERA in 145 1/3 innings back in 2014 before missing all of last season.
But the strong ceiling is evident. Originally taken with the seventh overall pick, Minor ran up 466 2/3 innings of 3.72 ERA pitching over 2011-13. Though he’s never had much velocity, Minor has managed to carry solid strikeout and walk rates when his shoulder has cooperated.Comment -
I just don't see the Cubs winning 100 games this year...
After all, they are the "Chicago Cubs"
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Head case Storen is expected to be Toronto's closer.Comment -
He is indeed, however according to an interview I heard with Earl Weaver about 15 years ago Weaver said the difference between a good manager and a bad manager is 3 to 5 games maximum.
Count the 'f' bombs Earl drops here.
Classic Earl.
(Eddie Murray, "listen to him ump")
Ump ("I ain't listening to him Eddie")
Must watch TV here.
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Once watched this kid pitch in high school. He just struck guys out.The Royals have officially signed free agent lefty Mike Minor to a two-year deal worth a reported $7.25MM. After promising Minor $2MM for 2016 and $4MM for the following campaign, the contract includes a mutual option for 2018 that’s valued at $10MM with a $1.25MM mutual buyout.
The deal also includes extensive performance incentives, MLBTR has learned. Minor can earn $175K roster bonuses upon reaching 30, 60, 90, and 120 days of service for the coming season. He can also pick up $165K apiece upon hitting his 11th through 20th starts, and another $165K for every five innings tallied between 75 and 120. (Each of those provisions, in other words, could earn Minor up to $1.65MM.)
Minor can also reach incentives for 2017, though they’ll require him to be more active. He stands to earn $225K upon reaching his 12th start, with another $225K due for every other start thereafter (capping out with his 30th). And he gets $225K for every ten innings accrued between 110 and 200. As above, then, Minor can hit each of those paydays ten times apiece.
Add it all up, and Minor can take down up to $4MM for the coming season — $700K via service-time bonuses and $3.3MM based on starts and innings. And he can boost his 2017 salary by as much as $4.5MM, if he turns in at least thirty starts and 200 frames. The deal also includes award bonuses.
Notably, Minor will follow another injury-limited former Braves pitcher in seeking a rebound in Kansas City. Kris Medlen signed a similar contract before the 2015 campaign, successfully making his way back to the mound with the Royals. (The club did something similar with Luke Hochevar, as well.)
Like Medlen, Minor was non-tendered after arm troubles disrupted an extremely promising start in Atlanta. He was projected to earn $5.6MM in arbitration from the Braves, and seemed likely at one point to receive it. But reported setbacks in his recovery from shoulder surgery caused the team to change course, leaving Minor a free agent.
Kansas City will hope that Minor can follow players like Medlen, Hochevar, and Ryan Madson in reviving their careers and providing excess value in the process. The most recent results from the lefty weren’t promising, as he struggled to a 4.77 ERA in 145 1/3 innings back in 2014 before missing all of last season.
But the strong ceiling is evident. Originally taken with the seventh overall pick, Minor ran up 466 2/3 innings of 3.72 ERA pitching over 2011-13. Though he’s never had much velocity, Minor has managed to carry solid strikeout and walk rates when his shoulder has cooperated.Comment -
good old days weaver and Martin used to put on great shows before being ejectedHe is indeed, however according to an interview I heard with Earl Weaver about 15 years ago Weaver said the difference between a good manager and a bad manager is 3 to 5 games maximum.
Count the 'f' bombs Earl drops here.
Classic Earl.
(Eddie Murray, "listen to him ump")
Ump ("I ain't listening to him Eddie")
Must watch TV here.
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Orioles sign Yovani Gallardo to a 3-year $35M contract. Good pickup at decent dollars though they do have to forfeit their top draft pick as compensation to Texas.Comment -
Dodgers Sign Yaisel Sierra
By Jeff Todd | February 21, 2016 at 9:00am CST
FEBRUARY 21: The Dodgers announced the completion of the deal.
FEBRUARY 20: Sierra and the Dodgers are expected to complete their deal soon, Jon Heyman tweets. It will be in the $30MM-$31MM range.
JANUARY 12: The Dodgers have reportedly agreed on a six-year deal with Cuban righty Yaisel Sierra. Jon Heyman tweeted that a deal was in place after Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported this morning that agreement was close (Twitter link).
Per Passan, Sierra is expected to receive a guarantee of around $30MM. The Dodgers “pulled ahead” with an offer of between $30MM and $35MM over six years, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter links). The other teams that have at least made a “strong push” for Sierra are the Marlins and Cubs, he adds. (Miami’s pursuit was recently reported.)
Needless to say, Los Angeles has been remarkably active on the international market, and the addition of Sierra only continues that trend. The club already added Japanese hurler Kenta Maeda in the new year, signed and traded Hector Olivera last spring, landed a number of high-priced July 2 prospects (led by Cuban hurler Yadier Alvarez) over the summer, and then continued to pay 100% overages on large bonuses to Cuban prospects Yusniel Diaz and Omar Estevez.
Sierra, like Maeda and Olivera, is more or less MLB ready, though he’s probably more likely to see big league action out of a pen in the near term. The Dodgers’ rotation is already arguably somewhat overloaded, though, so Sierra could factor as a 2016 relief piece while looking to tap into his starting upside down the line.
The 24-year-old seems to come with a fairly intriguing ceiling. While he didn’t post good results in his most recent action in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, he is said to have a mid-90s fastball with a good slider. The ready comp is Reds’ righty Raisel Iglesias,with Ben Badler of Baseball America explaining (subscription required) that Sierra has more physical tools but less polished command than did Iglesias when he signed.
Sierra boosted his stock with a showcase in late October that drew a throng of scouts. And recent scouting reports have suggested that the righty has shown improvement in cleaning up both his delivery and command. As Badler noted today on Twitter, Sierra looks like a potential mid-rotation starter at his best.
It’s easy to see the rationale here from the Dodgers’ perspective. Even as the team increasingly eschews large commitments to veterans, it is putting its admirable financial position to work by doling out huge bonuses on the international market. While Sierra won’t require the team to pay a 100% tax, as he wasn’t subject to international signing limitations, the investment still represents a significant up-front cost that probably won’t yield a commensurate return on the field in the immediate future (if it ever does).
Of course, that’s precisely the gamble that all teams take when they dedicate resources to amateur talent. But Los Angeles is uniquely well-situated right now to utilize cash to accumulate young, controllable assets. With the strict limitations applicable to the draft, and the organization’s coming two-year ban on international signings of over $300K, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if we see yet more outlays over the next several months.Comment -
Earl used to call his reliever Don Stanhouse "full pack"
Don Stanhouse's nickname was Full Pack. This nickname was given to Stanhouse by his manager with the Baltimore Orioles,Earl Weaver, who claimed he went through a full pack of cigarettes while the reliever pitched. Another memorable quote of Weaver's was, "He doesn't suffer from stress. He's a carrier." Stanhouse got hitters out, but was notorious for throwing a lot of pitches to each batter and putting a lot of men on base. Even in his best seasons, 1978 and 1979, he walked 6.3 batters per 9 innings pitched.Comment -
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OK , let's analyze the Orioles.
Matt Wieters from 2011 - 2013 was one of the better hitting catchers in MLB.
2014 and 2015 he was pretty much on the DL.
If Wieters stays healthy he'll give you .250 20/60.
If Wieters goes down again, your stuck with Caleb Joseph again, and you ain't going anywhere with Mr. Joseph, for he is trash.
Chris Davis is resigned and is a lock to hit 40 bombs +
He's also a lock to strike out 4000 times.
Schoop is a nice 2B with a big swing who's very impatient at the plate.
He's hit or miss, when it's hit, it's gone, but he misses a lot.
Pencil him in for ,260 and 15 taters up to a 22 tater ceiling.
JJ Hardy return to SS
His power is gone, his average is putrid, at age 32 is washed up.
Kind of harsh, I know, but JJ is done.
No bat speed, no foot speed, no on base percentage.
Defensively he's a mediocre at SS
The best you can hope for in 2016 is 12/50 .240
Machado is not an elite 3B. Yet.
He's knocking on the door of elite.
Terrific defender at 3B, had a monster season last year, considering you factor in the broken leg in 2014 you could say remarkable.
Almost a five tool player, steals bases, hits for average and power......
Pencil him in for .290 25 to 30 HR's and 20 SB's.
The real deal.
Adam Jones high strike out - high K batter,
Will hit 30 homers, plays a good CF too.
Don't know what to expect from Korean import Kim in LF this year.
They say he's a good average stick with 18 or so homer potential in the bigs.
Nolan Reimold / Jimmy Paredes completes the OF, neither are much of a threat.
Trumbo is the DH strikes out too much, will give you 25 HR's.
What you have is a team that has five guys in the lineup that will give you 20 or more HR's each, but will K a 1000000 times.
Sounds like the Cubs.
Rotation of Jimmenz / Tillman / Gallardo / Gonzalez is not that bad, not that great, better than ordinary.
Day setting up Britton is a nice back end of the 'pen.
Orioles should hang around in the race, fade late in the season, Toronto is too much, Boston is much improved, and Yanks have that new monster bullpen.
Tampa is going nowhere.Comment -
The O's should sign Desmond and put Hardy out to pasture.Comment -
No Extension Talks Between Dodgers, Kenley Jansen
By Mark Polishuk | February 21, 2016 at 10:20pm CST
The Dodgers didn’t talk about a multi-year contract while in negotiations over Kenley Jansen’s deal for 2016, the closer tells MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick. The two sides avoided arbitration by settling on a $10.65MM salary in Jansen’s last year of arb eligibility, and he’ll hit free agency after the season.
As Gurnick put it, Jansen mentioned the lack of long-term talks with “the implication being that he wished [the team] had” discussed keeping him in Los Angeles beyond 2016. Still, Jansen seemed at peace with the one-year deal, saying “at the end of the day, it’s just business. I’ve got to move forward. Who knows what’s going to happen after this year? It’s not in my control. All I can do is stay healthy, help my team win and when the year is over, I can’t predict the future.”
Though president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has far more financial resources available to him in L.A. than he did in Tampa Bay, Friedman’s modus operandi with the Rays was to acquire relief pitching at a low price, a tactic that often resulted in great success (i.e. Fernando Rodney, Kyle Farnsworth). Continuing this strategy would allow Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi to spend the Dodgers’ many millions on more stable positions than the often-inconsistent relief market. With Chris Hatcher, Yimi Garcia and Pedro Baez already on board, Jansen himself would understand if one of the Dodgers’ current relievers will be his replacement.
“They can close — Hatch, Yimi, Pedro. I’m not mad at that. If that’s the road they want to go, who knows? This day I’m a Dodger. I’ll just continue to keep improving and help the team win and be better every day,” Jansen said.
Then again, the Dodgers also attempted to bolster their pen with a much more high-priced arm in Aroldis Chapman this past winter, before concerns over an alleged domestic violence incident involving Chapman scuttled the trade. Jansen said he had no hard feelings about a deal that would’ve relegated him to a setup role, saying that Friedman contacted him to discuss the failed Chapman trade once the news broke.
In terms of pure on-field performance, Jansen is certainly worthy of a multi-year commitment after four excellent years as the Dodgers’ closer. The righty has a 2.28 ERA, 4.89 K/BB rate and a whopping 528 strikeouts over 340 innings in his career, and he’ll be a big target on the open market next winter. (If not the biggest free agent closer, as Chapman is also in the last year of his contract.) One concern beyond cost for both the Dodgers and other teams could be Jansen’s history of heart issues, though those problems haven’t cropped up in the last few years.Comment -
Gio Gonzalez said Sunday that he hopes for a longer leash in 2016 under new manager Dusty Baker.
The southpaw averaged just 5 2/3 innings per start in 2015, primarily due to elevated pitch counts. If he is able to work deeper into games in 2016, it would be a nice boost to his strikeout numbers and in turn his fantasy value.
Source: Mlb.comComment
