Fantasy Team Preview: ... (12/23)
Rumor Roundup: Kenta M... (12/19)
the archives are now free.
13 comments have been left for this article. BP Comment Quick Links
| |
|
|
December 23, 2014 Rumor RoundupTroy Tulowitzki Won't Be a Met... Maybe
Mets will not acquire Troy Tulowitzki… at least not yet
CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman sparked the latest round of “will they or won’t they?” questions surrounding the Mets, Rockies, and the 30-year-old shortstop, when he wrote that the clubs have been “stealthily talking names for weeks.” Tulowitzki delivered 4.0 WARP in just 91 games last year, garnering down-ballot MVP votes for his bat, which was unstoppable to pitchers but not to the torn hip labrum that sidelined him from late-July onward and required surgery on August 15th.
The Long Beach State product should be healthy in time for spring training, but the returns on what might otherwise seem a bargain 10-year, $157.75 million contract—in which 2015 will be year five—are as volatile as ever. He’s owed $20 million annually through 2019, then $14 million in 2020, and either $15 million (club option) or $4 million (buyout) in 2021. Salaries in each year can increase further if Tulowitzki picks up any of the major awards or is named an All-Star.
Still, it’s fair for the Rockies to expect a sizable return for a perennial MVP candidate who just needs to find a way to stay healthy to reemerge as the league’s best overall shortstop. That’s why the Mets’ top pitching prospect, Noah Syndergaard, has been a fixture in negotiations as the centerpiece in a larger package.
But based on Renck’s tweet, a Syndergaard-led haul might not suffice—either because new general manager Jeff Bridich is afraid of selling low on a premium player whose five-year, $118 million contract is reasonable based on current free-agent trends, or because, as Heyman pointed out, the Rockies’ ownership might be skittish about letting Tulowitzki go.
In either case, this rumor can be put to bed… until another post by a national insider revives it again.
Phillies might enter the Asdrubal Cabrera race
According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, Cabrera—who finished off the 2014 campaign with the division rival Nationals—is on the radar, but the Phillies can’t squeeze him into their budget without shedding some salary. The 29-year-old switch-hitter won’t move the needle for the 2015 club, but he also won’t be an automatic out in front of the pitcher.
Of course, just how much more than that Cabrera would be is an open question. His True Averages have dipped into the .260s since a breakout 2011 in which he slugged 25 home runs. That long-ball total is an outlier that Cabrera has followed with long-ball totals in the low teens, more in line with what the Phillies could expect, even accounting for the boost he’d get from playing half his games at Citizens Bank Park.
Cabrera is also somewhat miscast at shortstop—he’d fit better at second base, but Chase Utley occupies the keystone in Philadelphia and has no desire to leave. So the Phillies would tack a tolerable, but subpar, glove on to an uninspiring bat and come away with a modest upgrade to a club that would need a miracle or three to keep up with Cabrera’s most recent employer.
Cross the Giants off Max Scherzer’s list of suitors
The remaining budget room figures to be spent on another starting pitcher or a right-handed-hitting left fielder. The operative word in the previous sentence is “or”—based on GM Brian Sabean’s post-trade presser, he does not have the financial cushion to do both.
Nor does he have the funds to chase the top free agent still on the market. San Francisco Chronicle scribe John Shea relayed key points from the session, and one of them was that the Giants have not been nor will they be in contact with the representatives for Scherzer. They were all-in on Jon Lester and might still bring in James Shields, who, sources told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, wants about $110 million over five years. But the former Tiger will have to look elsewhere for the mega-deal he seeks.
That’s bad news for Scherzer, because he’s quickly running out of high-payroll clubs that might consider a $200 million outlay. Yankees president Randy Levine effectively ruled out his team last week, and the Tigers seem poised to move on, although that could change if agent Scott Boras’ asking price drops. Then again, if the price does come down, the Dodgers—based on Andrew Friedman’s recent comments—might be the team to pounce.
Daniel Rathman is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @danielrathman
|
The Rockies unwillingness to trade Tulo for Syndergaard and co is absolutely bizarre. They aren't going to be good anytime soon. Actually, as a Mets fan I'm incredibly frightened of that deal, because Tulo might be a great player, but he's 30 years old and injury prone, having played as many as 130 games in a season exactly 3 times in his career, and not since 2011. The idea that the Rockies are the skittish team, and not the Mets, in making this deal seems incredibly silly to me.