With the All-Star Weekend coming soon. There are certain teams that are now in the hunt for October and some that are accepting the rebuild and looking towards 2019. These next few post will be about the certain teams that will be buyers and sellers. I will be talking about what the teams needs, assets, and potential outcomes could be. With the season coming to it's halfway mark we will be seeing a lot more trades happening before the deadline. This is the time where we will see more above average teams become into a powerhouse team hunting October, and the teams that are treading water expecting to sell out and prepare for a better tomorrow.
Finally Opening Day is here and what better way to start off the season for the Cardinals than picking up their newest closer Greg Holland. Today Greg and the Cards agreed to a one-year deal worth $14 million. Greg was the NL 2017 Comeback Player of the Year with the Rockies having an NL best of 41 saves with a 3.61 era and 70 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings. With Opening Day on our way, Greg struggled in the offseason to find a deal suited for him to be a close and to have reassurance of a quality contract reflecting off last season. This is a huge boost for the Cardinals picking up Greg in a time of worry for newly acquired Luke Gregerson being put on the disabled list and the wait for top prospect Alex Reyes to comeback from Tommy John Surgery. Greg looks like he's back to his Royals form with an above average fastball with a devastating splitter and good location for both pitches. Also being the saves leader in the NL for the Rockies is an astonishing award to achieve for pitching in Colorado, one of the hardest ballparks to perform in as a pitcher. The only worries that Greg has is if he can repeat last years performance or close to it and if he can remain healthy for another full season after his two Tommy John Surgeries in the past. With Greg staying in the NL and playing for the Cardinals who have a new look to their team with young arms in the rotation and Ozuna as the cleanup hitter. We can see Holland being a huge contribution to the Cardinals hopes of a playoff run this season with Greg ending the game. It's great day for baseball and a even better day to see Greg find a home for this season.
It's been over 17 years since the Seattle Mariners have been in the playoffs and now it's time the drought to end. The Mariners were only 7 games behind for the 2nd Wild Card which isn't bad but did end up 6 games under .500 having a 78-84 record in 2017. This offseason Jerry Dipoto went back to what he does best which is making trades. The Mariners in the offseason acquired transitioned CF Dee Gordon from the Marlins, 1st base slugger Ryon Healey from the A's, with also signing reliever Juan Nicasio and future Hall of Famer Ichiro. Dee Gordon and Ichiro were the headline acquisitions this offseason for the M's. Dee Gordon was a great pickup for the M's for not giving up their farm system and receiving a player that will bat .280-.300 with 40-60 bags a season. Dee is ready to rejuvenate his career in Seattle after leaving the Marlins collapse, and will be the starting CF for the M's who's already showing signs that the outfield was his natural calling from his Spring Training highlights. With the Mariners bringing back franchise face Ichiro this gives the M's depth, ticket boost, and veteran presence. Ichiro will be turning 45 this upcoming season coming off an off year batting .255 with 1 stolen base in 136. His new role for the M's will be to mentor the new outfielders and provide a solid bat in the OF and DH role. Ichiro will be a big help for outfielders Ben Gamel, Guillermo Heredia, Mitch Haniger, and Dee Gordon who's transitioning from 2B to CF. Ichiro coming back will also help bring back more fans to Safeco Field for Seattle missing one of their most iconic players in Mariners history. This reunion could put the spark that can push the Mariners over the hump for October. The positives the Mariners have is their lineup and defense while their negatives are their health and pitching. The M's definitely boosted their offense adding Gordon to the top of lineup with Jean Segura as a 1-2 punch. Ryon Healy is a good 1st basemen with power that showed promise in Oakland and can hopefully show more promise in Seattle. Nelson Cruz hasn't realized he's turning 40 soon with hitting close to or over 40 homers every season with the M's. Mike Zunino has looked great this Spring Training and hopes to prove the Mariners why picking him 3rd overall in the 2012 was the best decision they could've made. Kyle Seager is ready to bounce back from an upsetting 2017 but still hit 27 homers last year. This lineup could be a big threat to the Astros and Angles competing in the AL West. The biggest problem Seattle is facing is their pitching, farm system and health. For their health Segura was injured for a while last season, Felix Hernandez hasn't been 100% the past 2 seasons, we still haven't seen James Paxton start in over 25 games a season, David Phelps a key bullpen piece will be out for the year due to Tommy John Surgery, and their's not a lot of youth on this team so we could see more fatigue in Robinson Cano who's turning 36, Cruz 38, Ichiro 45, and more. For the problems that Seattle has, one of them is their farm system. They are ranked in the bottom 30 of the league with only 1 prospect in the Top 100 MLB Pipeline in OF Kyle Lewis (42). In time hopefully their farm system will get better with Dipoto making better calls for trades and draft picks, but for now the Mariners have to wait for awhile until another big name prospect will come there way or even trade away. With their pitching they heavily rely on the King and James Paxton to carry the rotation, but with them being sidelined with injuries everyone has to pick up their load. Mike Leake was a solid pick-up last season who went 3-1 with a 2.52 era for the M's, but you don't know if you're getting that Mike Leake or the Mike Leake that was traded from the Cardinals who never reached his expectations let enough was a league average pitcher during his time in St.Louis. Erasmo Ramirez and Marco Gonzales will be at the end of their rotation who are both in experienced and lack innings. Ramirez has been back and forth with the Mariners starting his career with them, getting traded to the Rays, and now coming back to M's. He is a solid arm out of the bullpen that can do long relief and is a good back up starter if needed. For him being slated as the determined 5th starter this could either hurt his performance or will stay the same depending on if his arm can hold on and if he can consistently go 6 strong with good location. For Marco Gonzales he could be a good surprise for the Mariners. For being drafted 19th overall in 2013 and being a highly touted prospect for the Cardinals. Gonzales now comes to the Mariners as the 4th starter in the rotation at the age of 26 hoping to restart his career. Gonzales is a crafty lefty that has good deception and a solid 3 mix arsenal. The problem he deals with is location and facing a lineup 2-3rd time around. If Gonzales can't go 5 innings or more a start then we could see Gonzales get sent back down to the minors being another 1st round bust. The rotation is another worry in Seattle's pitching. Edwin Diaz a great arm in the 9th with a fastball that can reach over 100mph and a devastating slider, but struggled last year finishing games when it was not a save opportunity. Diaz did improve at the end of the season posting a 1.86 era in September. Diaz is the least amount of worry to Seattle's bullpen with David Phelps now out for the season being their setup man and a lack of quality arms in the bullpen shows worry to if Diaz will even get the opportunity for a save. The bullpen is noticed as an easy part to improve on. Jerry Dipoto does a great job in always looking for new players to pick up he just needs to pickup 3-4 more arms bullpen and rotation wise to compete in the West the season. With an aging team that has a solid lineup, above league average defense, some key names in the rotation hoping to stay healthy. We can see the Mariners place 3rd in the AL West at best 2nd with winning a Wild Card spot depending on if the Angels reach their expectations and if Houston can repeat.There are a lot of what if's to the Mariners, but there are also a lot of what if's to what will happen in this season. Anything can happen in baseball and it could be the time for the Mariners to break their 17 year drought of no playoffs. With Robbie Cano holding the fort for the M's and Ichiro reading to guide his old team back to October. The Mariners will be an exciting team to watch in 2018.
With Opening Day coming around in less than a week and clubs shortening their Spring Training rosters slowly to 25. It's time to asses which teams look ready for 162 and which teams are praying for an extra day in spring. In these next handful of posts I will be going in depth of individual teams on how they did in the offseason, how they did in Spring Training, which players to look forward too, and what we can project the team to end up at the end of the season.
With both parties crying for help in pitching and for a home before Opening Day. The Baltimore Orioles and SP Alex Cobb reached an agreement yesterday to a 4-year deal worth up to $56-$60. Alex had a stellar 2017 campaign after fully recovering from Tommy John Surgery back in 2015. Cobb started in 29 games putting in 179.1 innings, going 12-10 posting a 3.66 ERA with 128 strikeouts. Cobb was one of the top pitchers in this free agent market but struggled to find a home and with Opening Day coming up Alex had to settle with the O's. The O's had the worst team era in the MLB posting a 5.70 and the had least amount of innings in the AL with 846 innings. What Baltimore hopes to see in Cobb is more wins, depth to the rotation, and less strain to their bullpen. Cobb is a durable pitcher that locates his pitches with good deception and holds great composure on the mound. His ability to go deep into games posting a league average to above league average era will be a huge bonus for the Orioles. Cobb might not be their Opening Day Starter but will definitely be a huge reliability to their rotation. With Chris Tillman being a disappointment that needs a new home, Gausman not proving his value of being the former 4th overall pick in 2012, Andrew Cashner getting overpaid after one average year with the Rangers, and with Dylan Bundy being the only bright part of the O's rotation says a lot for what Baltimore has and what Baltimore needs from Cobb. Hopefully Cobb won't be a bust like in previous years with the O's locking-up starters like Ubaldo Jimenez and Yovani Gallardo who were both huge disappointments. Cobb has a lot more upside compared to Ubaldo and Yovani which gives the O's hope. Alex Cobb will be turning 30 in 2018 who has pitched in the AL East his whole career. Cobb's young with a young healthy arm that will bring depth, experience, and quality starts to the team. We could see Cobb either taking a big step forward or backward to his game. Cobb now has a solid lineup that can provide enough run support for him to keep the O's in the win column. Also playing in Baltimore is a big difference to playing in Tampa. The Orioles have a great supportive fan base that can excite Cobb to perform to his potential compared to the Rays dead fan base. The problems with this move for the Orioles is that Camden Yards is a hard ballpark to pitch in and less money for future free agents. Camden Yards is known for the long ball and Cobb isn't a power pitcher so if he gives up more fly-outs than groundouts than we could see more of those fly-outs turn into homers. With Cobb joining the team this gives reassurance to the fans and players that the O's organization believes in this team, but now there's less money. With superstar SS Manny Machado and Oriole's fan favorite CF Adam Jones becoming free agents after 2018. There's a worry in Baltimore of if they can keep these players and with Cobb added to the payroll this doesn't help Baltimore's hope of keeping Machado and/or Jones. There's a lot of mix feelings to if the Orioles made the right decision on Cobb, but for now it's a bonus to what they do have in the rotation and to compete in the AL East with New York and Boston leading the division. With Cobb coming off one of his best seasons in the show and ready to win some games for the O's. We can see Cobb starting in 28-32 game going 175-200 innings posting a 3.25-3.75 era, with 12-17 wins, and 135-165 strikeouts. All in all the Orioles made a solid move with Cobb to the rotation. The only thing that matters now is with time will this contract come to haunt the O's or help them with 2018 being one of the O's last hope for a playoff run. Good luck to Alex Cobb and the Baltimore Orioles for this upcoming season.
The Tampa Bay Rays have a lot of promise coming their way with a surplus of prospects that can break into the league in these upcoming seasons featuring Willy Adames. Adames was a huge piece of the 2014 trade that took former star SP David Price to the Tigers for a hand-fold of prospects in return. The return is now paying off for the Rays as Willy Adames is ranked #22 in MLB Pipelines top 100 list and ranked #2 in the organization. Adames is 23, who played in Triple-A in 2017 thriving for the Durham Bulls. Adames played in 130 games batting .277 with 5 triples, 10 home runs, and 62 rbi's. Willy's key attributes to his game are his glove and his bat. His fielding is above average with quick feet and smooth footwork to cover enough ground, a quick glove that can make the transfer from glove to throwing position at a plus rate, and a above average arm that gives him the strength to be a solid SS. His hitting is solid having great control of the barrel hitting line drives to all sides of the field and with a solid knowledge of the strikezone lets him work the count in any at-bat. Willy's power is slowly developing and his is speed is average compared to the league's which is another plus to his game. The problems with Adames is his flexibility with position and his patience at the plate. Sometimes it can hurt being too patient at the plate when your best pitch is not available and don't capitalize for the best pitch in the at-bat. For his flexibility on the field and athleticism he's only 6ft tall and young but has only played at SS so if he can't play at SS will he be able to still perform with the bat moving to a different position like 2nd or 3rd base. Those are minor setbacks that Adames could encounter, but in general is a solid player that we can expect to see in the show by either this upcoming season or the next. The future is getting brighter in Tampa and Adames is a key piece to their new movement. We'll most likely see Adames shine next year so lookout because Willy's coming in faster than what we thought. After coming off the best season that the Houston Astros have experienced with Jose Altuve career year winning the AL MVP. The two parties have agreed on an extension after 2020 for another 5 years worth $151 million. They will have the Star 2nd basemen through the rest of his prime at the age of 34. The last largest contract that Houston gave out was in 2006 with Carlos Lee for 6 years $100 million, but El Caballo's value is nothing compared to Altuve's. Altuve has been with the organization since 2007 signing as an amateur free agent, and made his debut with the Astros in 2011 at the age of 21. Altuve has been with the Astros in their rebuilding seasons losing over 100 games in his first 4 seasons with the club, and now apart of their new dynasty being the 2017 World Champions and ready to repeat. Jose has been one of the best players in the game since entering the league being a 5-time All-Star, 4-time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove winner, and now 2017 MVP winner adding to his impressive resume. In the past 4 seasons Altuve has averaged playing over 150 games batting over .310 with over 200 hits, and 30 plus stolen bases with his power now coming around hitting 24 bombs in back-to-back seasons. Altuve is the glue of the team and was the start of their process so locking up their franchise player is key to maintaining their potential dynasty. Altuve has a lot of good reasons to stay in Houston. Altuve, Keuchel, and Springer are all great leaders of the Astros with Correa, McCullers, and Bregman ready to hit their peak of performance, Kyle Tucker on the rise, and a solid rotation helps Altuve believe in this team to be in October for seasons to come. Jose is a fan favorite in the league, and hopefully we get to see a future Hall of Fame career unfold right between our eyes. This was a great move for the Astros and a even better move for Altuve. Glad to see the two sides reach an agreement and hope to see Altuve lead the Astros to another World Series soon. The Cincinnati Reds are in a disappointing state of where their organizations aiming for. It's been 5 years since the Reds have made the playoffs. Now being on the bottom chain of the league losing 94 games last season and starting the rebuild. The Reds are now looking for key players in their organizations to stay loyal to the process and preparing for the future like rising star Eugenio Suarez. The Reds and Suarez agreed to a 7-year $66 million deal with a club option for 2025. The 27 year old 3B had an impressive 2017 campaign playing in 156 games batting .260 with career highs in home runs (26), rbi's (82), OBP (.367) and OPS (.828). The Reds saw Suarez's potential when they made the trade to get him in 2014 from the Tigers in exchange for SP Alfredo Simon which is now looking to be a lob sided trade. The Tigers only made the trade due to the desperate need of a cheap quality starter and the assumption of Nick Castellanos staying at 3B and for Jose Iglesias's bat to come around. Neither of those assumptions panned out and now Suarez is on the up and up with his ceiling still in tact to reach. Suarez has above average power that can be pull side friendly with a simple swing that gets him to the ball quick enough to turn on it. Suarez is also a reliable player that you can pencil in everyday staying at the league average to above league average performance. His fielding is improving with the transition from SS to 3B only committing 9 errors in 153 games with a steady glove and above average arm. The only problem Suarez might encounter is his athleticism and his hitting. In the last couple seasons Suarez has been gaining some lb's whether it's muscle or not it's still more weight which can damaged his verticality making him stay at 3B and loss of speed on the basepads. With his hitting being pull-side friendly isn't the worst habit especially with how the game is trending to that style but once the league adjusts he could struggle to get on base more and then would only be focusing on the long ball which never helps a batters mindset thinking that they only need to focus on the long ball. Another problem Suarez might have is with the Reds top prospect 3B Nick Senzel who's expecting to break in with the team as soon as this season having a surplus of high name corner infielders. This could create a conflict with Suarez and the Reds unless they put Senzel at a different position or for either one to reach their expectations. These worries are only "what if's" and Suarez has more positives to his game then negative. With Cincinnati now locking up Suarez and also keeping 2017 Gold Glove Catcher Tucker Barnheart and face of the franchise 1B Joey Votto for the long haul. We can see Suarez perform at a high level now waiting to become the savy veteran to the Reds new youth movement. We can see Suarez take another step to his game playing around 145-160 games batting .255-275 with 22-32 home runs and 80-98 rbi's. It's a tough and confusing time to be a Reds fan, but with this acquisition there's now clarity and relief knowing that a solid player in Suarez will be loyal to the team and exciting for what the future will hold. The Big Red Machine will be back sooner than later and Suarez will be ready for it. The San Diego Padres are becoming a young exciting team with Fernando Tatis Jr. being the next face of the franchise. Baby Tatis is already showing superstar level of performance being ranked #8 in MLB Pipeline Top 100 and for entering 2018 at the age of 20 playing starting in Double-A. Tatis Jr. has been around the game his whole life with his father playing in the league for 11 years showing him the ways of the show goes. This experience has helped mature Baby Tatis at a faster rate and shows a lot more promise than what his father did. Fernando has the potential to be a routine 20/20 maybe even 30/30 hitter in the show with a flashy glove at SS. In 2017 Tatis Jr. played in 131 games batting .278 with 22 home runs, 75 rbi's, and 32 stolen bases. He did struggle during his time in Double-A, but had a small sample size only playing in 14 games. Tatis Jr. has above average bat speed that has a good feel of getting the barrel to the bat giving him above average power and solid contact to all sides of the field. His speed is also above average on the base pads and on the field covering majority of the left side of the infield. Tatis Jr. was the youngest player to be apart of any Major League camp at 19 years old batting .281 with an opposite field home run. The only problem with Tatis Jr. is if the Padres rush his development, strike-out rate, and youth get the best of him. He will be turning 20 this upcoming season starting out in Double-A with the expectation of breaking into the league around 2019-2020. If the Padres jump him to the bigs or even Triple-A too quickly this could regress his performance and confidence. Also being so young Tatis Jr. could encounter the injury bug or let the media and expectations get to him if he under performs to what we want to see from. For hitting he did strikeout 141 times last season showing some impatience and the league could adjust to that. Tatis Jr. is very young and poised to improve his game more and more so we can Tatis Jr. excel at a faster rate. I could see Tatis Jr. being at a young Troy Tulowitzki level. With Tatis Jr. on the come up and All-Star players 1B Eric Hosmer and OF Will Meyers waiting. We can see San Diego's lineup being a juggernaut in years to come, but only time will tell. Baby Tatis is exciting to watch and hope to see him in the show soon because once he's called up he's never looking back entering his path to stardom. In the 2017 trade deadline the Oakland Athletics struck gold with giving up SP Sonny Grey to the Yankees for high leveled prospects. The Yankees gave up Dustin Fowler, James Kaprielian, and Jorge Mateo. These 3 prospects are now ranked in the A's top 10 prospects with Jorge Mateo being the highlight of the deal. Mateo will be turning 23 in 2018 starting the season off in Triple-A poised to join the A's this season. Mateo is a solid player overall with his speed, hitting, fielding, and arm. Mateo's best tool is his speed stealing 52 bags in 2017 and 82 bags in 2015. He has a solid bat with a steady swing that can hit all sides of the field with a little bit of pop batting .292 once joining the A's. Mateo's power might never come around but for hitting 12 bombs last season as a speedster is over his expectations. Another plus to Mateo's game is his solid fielding. Mateo's primary position is SS but can also play some outfield due to his speed. He has solid range with a flashy glove and a strong arm that can make the Top 10 play ever game. There's not a lot of weak spots to Mateo's game we just need to see if his tools and performance in the minors can correlate to the Majors. With Marcus Semien being a disappointment showing no signs of improvement to his defense or hitting. We can see Mateo taking over at SS sooner than later being a key part of the A's new wave of players. He might not be the next Ricky Henderson but he will definitely be able to bat .275-.300 with 10-20 bombs and 35-65 bagsI'm very excited to see what Mateo can do once he gets called up it was hard to watch him leave New York, but it's the best for his career. Get excited Oakland the Swingin A's are coming back. |
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