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Trade ideas
#921 · December 7, 2019, 3:55 pm
Quote from Henry Silvestre on December 7, 2019, 3:24 pmKevin Acee of the SD-UT said on his appearance on the Darren Smith Show on Friday that the San Diego Padres are “actively trying to trade” Austin Hedges. In fact, they have not tried to trade him this hard since he reached the majors despite being in trade discussions before, according to Acee.
Hedges is going to make around $3 million in arbitration and that is too much money for a backup catcher who hits .167, which was his batting average last season.
They need “to find a starting catcher because I don’t think that they believe it is Francisco Mejia either.” Acee reported. Their plan from…late last season is 2020, we will have a new starting catcher. That would be Plan A.”
Like I said CONTRERAS or SANCHEZ.. lets Go
This would be AJP admitting he made a mistake. In 2018 AJP traded one of the best closers in baseball with team friendly contract for a "stud" Catching prospect. And 18 months later, you need to find a new catcher. Thats admitting to a big mistake.
And even though Acee is reporting a "they dont think Mejia is buying is it either". Well Im not buying that Acee. And even if they are, Contreras is not the answer. He is starting to get expensive $4.5M, his first year of arbitration. Cubs are going to want a lot for him in prospects. And if SD all of a sudden doesnt think Mejia is the answer, why will CHC, so now you cant include Mejia as part of the package back to CHC.
So who do you think CHC will want in order to send us Contreras.
#922 · December 7, 2019, 4:00 pm
I’d love to see a Price/Benintendi for Myers/Kinsler/prospects deal.
If we are Ok with losing good prospects to rid ourselves of Myers contract maybe the Sox are OK with losing Benintendi to move Price?
We May have to include a couple good prospects but still....
#923 · December 7, 2019, 4:03 pm
Contreras would be a huge addition. He’s one of the better overall catchers in the game. I’ve liked the idea of pursuing that route as well. I’d prefer Salvador Perez and Jorge Alfaro as secondary trade options. Sanchez is not a catcher in my book. His defense is just that atrocious. He should be a DH.
I wonder if Mejia will have a Stephen Voigt type role in 2020? He can serve as backup catcher, get occasional at bats in LF or 1B and serve as pinch hitter off the bench. I honestly thought I saw growth in Mejia as a hitter and catcher last year. I’m not saying he was good defensively, but he appeared to improve over the course of the season. If 2020 is a playoff hunt year I guess it’s hard going into the year with a “project” defensive catcher. Makes sense they would target an all around catcher like Contreras. AJP drooled over Realmuto for a couple years and might not be comfortable waiting for Campusano to arrive.
#924 · December 7, 2019, 4:24 pm
Quote from TatisJr on December 7, 2019, 4:03 pmContreras would be a huge addition. He’s one of the better overall catchers in the game. I’ve liked the idea of pursuing that route as well. I’d prefer Salvador Perez and Jorge Alfaro as secondary trade options. Sanchez is not a catcher in my book. His defense is just that atrocious. He should be a DH.
I wonder if Mejia will have a Stephen Voigt type role in 2020? He can serve as backup catcher, get occasional at bats in LF or 1B and serve as pinch hitter off the bench. I honestly thought I saw growth in Mejia as a hitter and catcher last year. I’m not saying he was good defensively, but he appeared to improve over the course of the season. If 2020 is a playoff hunt year I guess it’s hard going into the year with a “project” defensive catcher. Makes sense they would target an all around catcher like Contreras. AJP drooled over Realmuto for a couple years and might not be comfortable waiting for Campusano to arrive.
I think you are right about Sanchez, he is a horrible catcher. And to be honest, not that great of a bat except for the power. And the power is a by product of Yankee Stadium and the fact that he owns the BAL pitching staff. Put him in SD and its not going to be good.
Love S Perez, no way KC is giving him up. They see him as the anchor to their next run.
Alfaro might be an option.
With the acquisition of Pham, the days that we will need another LFer is now down to about 6. And I think that France is the better option to drop into 1B against a tough LHSP.
#925 · December 7, 2019, 4:41 pm
Since in MLB these days a single "starting catcher" virtually is extinct ... more than likely the intent is to get someone to pair with Mejia with maybe a 50/50 split. Mejia with 5 control years at league minimum and now with Barajas as his personal catching coach is staying. Plus given his bat as displayed in the second half of 2019 ... and his athletic abilities ... might see him as the RHH option at 1B or in a corner OF as needed when not catching.
Plus getting rid of Hedges just make sense at this point (3 years control at $2.9MM).
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- just stay away for Sanchez ... he is rated on a par with Mejia defensively. 3 years control now at $5.6MM and the scary stat ... in 2019 (240 PA) AWAY from Yankee stadium .. .189 BA. That is Hedges like without the defense and for more money.
- As for Contreras ... can hit but is rated a worse defensive option than either Mejia or Sanchez which may be why the Cubs (with Ross as the manager) are "willing" to deal him. 3 years control now at $4.5MM. Add that he really took an offensive none-dive in the second half of 2019. Don't think the Cubs are giving up on winning in 2020 ... so the return likely will be very high and fronted by ML talent given the number of teams that want to upgrade their catcher (think LAA and Maddon). Unless Ross (who knows catchers) and Maddon (who knows Contreras) have insight that makes him less desirable.
I will toss in 3 other potential targets that will be an upgrade offensively from Hedges:
- Vazquez from Boston ... a hard get but given Boston's situation maybe Hedges and prospects that can be flipped with Price to some unsuspecting team solves the luxury tax issue. Vasquez is a top line defensive catcher but did deliver a 102 wRC+ making him really valuable. Only 2 years control (now at $4.2MM) ... but that allows both further development of Mejia and the bridge to the arrival of Campusano.
- Tucker Barnhart from CINN ... a plus defensive option (+8.6 dWAR) with an 81 wRC+ (318 OBP) ... sort of the balance of offense and defense. 2 years control / $3.9MM. Apparently CINN has been willing to move him. Again Hedges plus some others to help their quest to compete this year.
- Pedro Severino from BALT ... not good defensively (in the Contreras / Sanchez mold) but did deliver a 94 wRC+ (321 OBP) to support the offense. 4 control years at league minimum. I guess a lot would ride on Dickerson / Kirby evaluation. Clearly he could be had from Baltimore in the rebuild mode with a package of prospects. Here maybe Torrens plus others ... they would have no use for Hedges.
For me, if you go all in it is for Vazquez. Keep the elite defense of Hedges but double his offensive contribution. For a lot less in trade chips but still getting a major upgrade from Hedges ... could live with either Barnhart or Severino splitting the catching duties with Mejia.
#926 · December 7, 2019, 4:52 pm
Quote from MrPadre19 on December 7, 2019, 4:00 pmI’d love to see a Price/Benintendi for Myers/Kinsler/prospects deal.
If we are Ok with losing good prospects to rid ourselves of Myers contract maybe the Sox are OK with losing Benintendi to move Price?
We May have to include a couple good prospects but still....
I go back and forth on this BOS thing. My concern with either Price or Sale is IF or WHEN is their arm going to fall off their shoulder. Either way, it is a lot of money to gamble with for SD IMO.
As Fenn and someone else have posted previously, Sale and Price have much bigger AAVs than Myers. BOS is more concerned with the AAV than the true money, which is more important to SD.
Price is both more real money and AAV than Sale.
Price is $32M x 3 = $96M. AAV = $31M.
Sale is $30M, $30M, $30M, $27.5M, $27.5M, $20M vested option for 2025. AAV = $25.67M.
Myers is $20M x 3 = $60M + $1M for buyout. AAV = $13.84M.
Now that I look at the contracts this way, Sale only saves SD $6M over the first 3 years over Price, and then SD is still on the hook for another $55M after that. Price is an additional savings of $5.4M in Luxury Tax for BOS. So for BOS, they would much rather prefer to trade Price since they save the most. SD is spending is only picking up $10-12M over Myers contract. Which is the better bounce back candidate? I think that Price is the safer bet money wise, since he is the shorter term. Price is the greater trade savings for BOS. But I do think that Sale is probably the better bounce back candidate, although I heard the wrist surgery (?) on Price went well. So?????
So MrP, I think you are right, if SD does trade with BOS, Price/Benintendi for Myers/Kinsler is a start, the big key is who are the prospects?
I understand that BOS needs are probably 1B or 2B based on where Chavis plays. SP and RP especially based on health and where they place Eovaldi. And some farm depth since they have traded away quite a bit, and they have a TAM disciple as their new GM.
#927 · December 7, 2019, 4:54 pm
AJ traded the biggest asset he had in 2018 for Mejia. He is not going to trade him or just move on. You don’t dump prospects or second years for veterans just to GET TO the playoffs. You trade them to win the World Series.
Mejia was the best C prospect in baseball last year. He has hit, he has shown at least passable defense and he has the best C arm in the game. He does not need to be replaced. Instead of trading boatloads of prospects to upgrade areas where we are already good, why don’t we upgrade the places where we suck? We have more than one of those.
That kind of trade would be like the White Sox giving up on Eloy Jimenez and trading for Mookie Betts. It would cost them a couple more premium prospects and give them better defense and BA. But it wouldn’t be a huge improvement over Jimenez, it would cost them a ton and they would have much less control. Besides which there is a great chance that Jimenez will be more valuable than Betts within 5 years.
#928 · December 7, 2019, 5:07 pm
Quote from MrPadre19 on December 7, 2019, 4:00 pmI’d love to see a Price/Benintendi for Myers/Kinsler/prospects deal.
If we are Ok with losing good prospects to rid ourselves of Myers contract maybe the Sox are OK with losing Benintendi to move Price?
We May have to include a couple good prospects but still....
A lot of discussion about including Benintendi to move Price since the Red Sox have little else of value to move with Price. Benintendi has 3 control years and is at $4.9MM. Tie that with Price at $31MM ... Boston shed about $36MM vs the roughly $21MM (minimum) they need / want to drop. Taking Myers' AVV at about $14MM would fit but not more.
We know Preller can swing three team trade so maybe we want Benintendi and don't want Price ... give Myers and a load of prospects to Boston who packages them with Price to a team that needs / wants Price and has the payroll to take him. Or more simply don't send Myers ... just a ton of prospects for Price and Boston moves them with Price and could eat some of Price's contract to make this work.
Would be way more interested in just getting Benintendi (CF) and deal with Myers separately.
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I guess tying to my last post ... getting Vazquez to catch (and replace Hedges) might also work in a Price - Myers deal. Not sure how to structure a return that would get BOTH Benintendi and Vasquez without a lot of top prospects going and a lot of payroll coming. But?
#929 · December 7, 2019, 6:20 pm
Quote from fenn68 on December 7, 2019, 5:07 pm
Would be way more interested in just getting Benintendi (CF) and deal with Myers separately.
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Just to throw a wrench into things, where does Benintendis defensive skill set lend him to playing. We now have Pham a LFer, Grisham, who maybe a LFer depending on scouting reports, and Benintendi has really only played LF in the ML as well. Are we just collecting a bunch of LFers again like in 2015, or do we know if Benni can play anything else besides LF? Can he play RF or CF? I guess he played most of his time in the MiL in CF.
So if we can get Benni, what are you thinking, Pham - LF, Benni - CF, Grisham - RF v RHSP. And Pham - LF, Margot - CF, and Benni/Grisham or RHH player TBD - RF v LHSP?
#930 · December 7, 2019, 6:59 pm
Benni has the defensive ability to play any OF position. He can be a below average (but not terrible) CF, which is less than ideal in Petco Park. He has an average arm. Usually you want a strong arm in RF but it is not actually essential. Taylor Trammell supposedly has a weak arm too. So yes, we have many LF now. One or 2 of them could play out of position, but it would lead to opponents getting extra hits because of sub-par defense and taking extra bases because of bad arms next year.