Offseason Rumors

[Clem Fandango]

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers are listening to offers for Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford.

Rosenthal writes that the club is telling prospective suitors, "If you’re interested in one of them, make us an offer." One of the trio seems likely to be moved this winter, with Ethier probably the most likely to depart. As one rival executive told Rosenthal, the club would likely have to eat some salary when moving any of the three. The Dodgers, of course, have Yasiel Puig slated for everyday duty next season, and top prospect Joc Pederson isn't far away

 

Just FWIW... Ethier is the likely culprit to go, obviously, though Kemp hasn't been healthy in two years and is still owed $128 million. I wonder if they'd be interested in moving him at this point and eat a lot of his salary to do so?

 

Also curious how high they are on Joc Pederson.

[Cubswin11]

Samardzija for Kemp?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Jesse Rogers tweeting from one of the STH meetings:

 

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 23m

Theo to fans: "It takes great courage to be patient."

 

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 16m

Says of 50 players on WS roster this yr , 35 were homegrown or acquired using homegrown players

 

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 15m

Theo making the case for young, homegrown players

 

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 9m

Theo points out they have traded 8 vets for a total of 4 yrs of "control" for 14 young players for 78 total yrs of control

 

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 9m

He admits "it better work" because it comes at a cost (losing)

 

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 4s

Theo on providing an atmosphere at ML level for players to succeed: "I haven't done a good job at that"

[Guest]

It's difficult for me to even think through any potential trades with the Dodgers because their method of roster construction has become so disparate from how pretty much every other team is doing so. Do they even care that they might pay Matt Kemp 20 million to be a 4th outfielder to the point that they'd eat money or take a lesser return to lose that contract? I have no idea.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 5m

Fan to Theo: "Mr. Epstein I like your plan but I don't get Edwin Jackson." Ha.

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 5m

Theo response: "Give him another chance." Then says maybe we "got ahead of ourselves"

 

 

Might as well just drop trou and take a dump on the MLBTR Top 50 FA list. It'd be getting the same point across.

[jersey cubs fan]

Theo: "It takes great courage to be patient."

 

Great courage and a 5-year contract with no demands from above to field a winning team.

[Tyrant]

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 5m

Fan to Theo: "Mr. Epstein I like your plan but I don't get Edwin Jackson." Ha.

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 5m

Theo response: "Give him another chance." Then says maybe we "got ahead of ourselves"

 

 

Might as well just drop trou and take a dump on the MLBTR Top 50 FA list. It'd be getting the same point across.

 

Got ahead of themselves? They're going to be bad for 3 more years aren't they?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Got ahead of themselves? They're going to be bad for 3 more years aren't they?

 

It seems like Castro's falling apart and Jeff Samardzija's curious desire to be paid market value were the push that made him say "screw it, let's just wait for our own draftees"

[jersey cubs fan]

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 16m

Says of 50 players on WS roster this yr , 35 were homegrown or acquired using homegrown players

 

It's not particularly meaningful to include homegrown plus acquired using homegrown.

 

Homegrown requires patience, acquired using homegrown is an aggressive move.

 

And there better not be any older international free agents on that list.

[Boris]

I knew I was being courageous. Thanks Theo!!!

 

:lol:

[HoopsCubs]

This may be surprising to some, but I have been told that the Cubs are definitely "kicking the tires" on free agent Omar Infante, and would prefer to sign him for 2 years and team option for year 3. The source believes that if Infante were signed to play 2B, it would not necessarily mean that Darwin Barney will be non-tendered or traded. It could mean that the Cubs are trading Starlin Castro for pitching, and will slide Barney over to SS temporarily until Javier Baez is ready to be brought up.

 

Lots of moving parts...

[jersey cubs fan]

He seems so old to me, but only 31?

[Guest]

Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 16m

Says of 50 players on WS roster this yr , 35 were homegrown or acquired using homegrown players

 

It's not particularly meaningful to include homegrown plus acquired using homegrown.

 

Homegrown requires patience, acquired using homegrown is an aggressive move.

 

And there better not be any older international free agents on that list.

 

I was curious, so here's a quick look:

 

http://i.imgur.com/XguXat8.png

 

The player counts aren't 100% accurate because I cut corners and removed the 0.0 fWAR players. I pulled out scrap heap because there's a decent number of waiver/non-impact FAs that are really a different type of acquisition than someone like Napoli or Dempster, or even David Ross.

[HoopsCubs]

He seems so old to me, but only 31?

 

Cubs would like to inject more OBP into their offense without taking too much of a hit defensively. Good objective.

 

And while Infante did have a .345 OBP in 2013 and a nice .359 in 2010, his career OBP is only .319. That figure seems awfully low when you are considering paying a guy 2 years and $12-16M, especially when you're still a year away from contending, and you do have some good to great prospects (Baez, Alcantara) on the way for that position.

[Guest]

If they can get Infante for 2/16, they need to sign him immediately and ask questions later. The guy's at 6 fWAR the last two years, paying him like a league average player for his age 32 and 33 years is an easy value grab and adds flexibility to do a number of things with the infield.

[imb]

There's also a huge chasm between Santana wants 100M and Santana signs for 100M. That said, If he were to get that, with the existence of the QO, then it would almost certainly change the market for SP, and we'd have to adjust what is a good contract accordingly

 

Right, the chasm between Santana wanting 100M and Santana getting 100M is the whole reason to laugh at that attempt in the first place.

 

Why would you laugh at an athlete reaching for the most he can get in an incredibly inflated market? I'd laugh at the idiot who strives low and the teams that can't hang in the market.

 

For the same reason you laugh at anything? What type of hyper-literalist question is that? If Dioner Navarro says he wants a 4/50 deal, are we forbidden for mocking that attempt because it's a weak attempt at anchoring his price?

 

unrelated but i'd give navarro 50 mil before i'd give santana 100 mil

[Rob]

Maybe we could trade Infante for Will Ohman again.

[SouthSideRyan]

Nah we had ohman I can't remember who we traded him for but it was almost certainly a bad return

 

Eta traded with ohman for Jose ascanio

Edited November 8, 2013 by SouthSideRyan

[SouthSideRyan]

@poortomricketts may be live tweeting the afternoon season ticket forum shortly depending on how bored I get

[USSoccer]

@poortomricketts may be live tweeting the afternoon season ticket forum shortly depending on how bored I get

 

Make sure you make it clear that he's tweeting from a Cricket Wireless prepaid phone.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/11/huntington-qualifying-offer-for-burnett-did-not-fit-budget.html

 

Pirates' GM is starting to cry poor, which would be nice if true. Also had some interesting things to say about that national TV deal that kicks in this year.

[HoopsCubs]

Heard from a source that the Dodgers have inquired about James Russell's availability. Cubs are shopping him, but Theo is supposedly looking for a "Sean Marshall for Travis Wood, part II" trade where he can acquire a young starter from a contending team looking to upgrade their bullpen. From that perspective, the Dodgers don't seem to be an exact match. The source said that the Cubs are hoping to talk to Atlanta at the GM meetings next week.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Heard from a source that the Dodgers have inquired about James Russell's availability. Cubs are shopping him, but Theo is supposedly looking for a "Sean Marshall for Travis Wood, part II" trade where he can acquire a young starter from a contending team looking to upgrade their bullpen. From that perspective, the Dodgers don't seem to be an exact match. The source said that the Cubs are hoping to talk to Atlanta at the GM meetings next week.

 

Umm, I'm willing to grant that Theo probably knows that James Russell is way worse than Sean Marshall was, but does he really think other teams don't know that too?

[HoopsCubs]

Heard from a source that the Dodgers have inquired about James Russell's availability. Cubs are shopping him, but Theo is supposedly looking for a "Sean Marshall for Travis Wood, part II" trade where he can acquire a young starter from a contending team looking to upgrade their bullpen. From that perspective, the Dodgers don't seem to be an exact match. The source said that the Cubs are hoping to talk to Atlanta at the GM meetings next week.

 

Umm, I'm willing to grant that Theo probably knows that James Russell is way worse than Sean Marshall was, but does he really think other teams don't know that too?

 

The point is that Theo is proactively looking to deal another left-handed setup man for a young, promising starter. He is probably hoping that other GMs see Russell's 2.78 pre-All Star Game ERA and 5.29 post-All Star Game ERA as s function of over-use.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

You can't use ERA for relievers. Even if he was overused, he had a 4.11 xFIP in the first half when he was supposed to be good.

 

Last three years xFIP: 4.49, 4.35, 4.77

Marshall's last three years as a Cub: 3.77, 2.50, 2.50

 

If Theo really thinks he can get a young starter of any value at all for Russell, I'm just ... confused. Russell is barely tenderable.