Official offseason thread

[cheddar08]

There is no way Hardy goes for Smoak. Hardy just won a gold glove. I honestly don't think they will trade him at all.

[cheddar08]

I think the Os are set on Davis at 1st and Machado at 3rd for another year at least. Maybe another DH type player can be had for a bullpen arm like Hunter. But with Markakis coming back the lineup is pretty solid already. They need to focus on starting pitching.

[rkelly7]

At least we are trying to make big moves... I bet Towers asked for Bundy, Schoop, Tillman plus




D'Backs, Orioles Discussed Kubel, Upton
By Zach Links [January 7 at 9:50pm CST]
Monday: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds (via Twitter) that the Orioles have also shown serious interest in Justin Upton over the past few weeks, but talks between the two sides have sputtered. The Orioles are shifting their focus to starting pitching. They've expressed interest in bringing Joe Saunders back recently.

Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun adds (via Twitter) that the Orioles find Arizona's asking price for Upton too high.Saturday: The Diamondbacks are looking to get young pitching from the Orioles in a trade for outfielder Jason Kubel, but Baltimore has been disinclined to do that to this point, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Arizona has a surplus of outfielders and some believe that they would prefer to trade Kubel than Justin Upton at this stage.

Kubel hit .253/.327/.506 with a career-high 30 home runs in 141 games with Arizona last year. The 30-year-old is due to earn $7.5MM in 2013 with a mutual option for the same amount in 2014.


Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#ETVAGWtyBq3FpB3y.99

[rkelly7]

I would be ok with trading Hardy if it got us a younger player with more upside. Let's say we included him in a three team trade with the DBacks that would net us Justin Upton for example.

I would trade Hardy and Gausman for Upton. Don't know if that is fair for either side, but the DBacks get the SS they'd want and a very solid prospect in Gausman.

[rkelly7]

And I'm happy with giving Davis the 1B job. When he was on Texas, he was considered to have a plus glove there. I think he just needs constant repetition to get in the swing of things. He deserves a chance to be an everyday player and not just a DH after the season he had. I just hope he can find some consistency.

[cheddar08]

The only wy I would trade Hardy is for an upgrade at some position. No need to take a step back to get younger since we will be one of the better teams in the division next season. I highly doubt at this point Hardy moves.

[cheddar08]

A power bat like Uptons would be nice but I don't see him leaving unless Bundy is involved which won't happen. It was said they were asking for Profar from the Rangers who is their top prospect so I assume they would want ours.

[OsfaninFlorida]

ok so Natz signed Laroach so they need left hand BP action, so heres the trade we need for our middle of the line up bat, Trade either Patton, Arrieta, and prospect
tim Berry and Oliver Drake. So they would get 2 BP pitchers, and 2 pitching prospect

[rkelly7]

This is quite interesting.. I don't know if I'd deal Hardy for prospects though. Unless we send them and get Upton or something. Don't see it happening. I'd like us to deal directly with Detroit and look to acquire Porcello.











Tigers, Cubs, Orioles Discussed Three-Way Deal
By Zach Links [January 8 at 2:35pm CST]
The Tigers and Cubs are discussing a potential three-way trade that would send Rick Porcello to Chicago with the Orioles as the third party, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The Tigers want Baltimore involved because they want shortstop J.J. Hardy and they don't feel that the Cubs have the necessary components to make it a two-team trade.

For the O's to part ways with Hardy in a deal, the Cubs would have to send pitching to the Orioles. However, Kubatko thinks that the O's will have to be overwhelmed by an offer in order to part with Hardy. Dan Duquette & Co. are happy with the left side of their infield and they don't intend on moving Manny Machado to shortstop this year.

The Orioles are also one of the teams that are interested in Porcello and it's logical to think that they could just hammer out a two-team swap with the Tigers instead. The Padres, Mariners, and Pirates have also expressed interest in the right-hander recently. The 24-year-old posted a 4.59 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 53.2% ground ball rate last season and is under team control through 2015.


Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#2eDwURJ7kdrxYf4l.99

[rkelly7]

ok so Natz signed Laroach so they need left hand BP action, so heres the trade we need for our middle of the line up bat, Trade either Patton, Arrieta, and prospect
tim Berry and Oliver Drake. So they would get 2 BP pitchers, and 2 pitching prospect

how about Morse for Tryo Patton and Xavier Avery?

Is that fair at all? Seems like your proposal requires giving up a lot, and I don't see Arrieta having a lot of trade value.

[mikeydady]

I like the trade but I'm worried about Morse maybe getting the PUP help. Any history of that for him? I'd love Upton for As long a Manny and Bundy are not on the table. Therefore, I don't think it could happen.

[rkelly7]

I like the trade but I'm worried about Morse maybe getting the PUP help. Any history of that for him? I'd love Upton for As long a Manny and Bundy are not on the table. Therefore, I don't think it could happen.

what does this mean? Ha

[mikeydady]

I was petting my dog while writing. I meant PEDs.

[mikeydady]

I heard about this trade on mlbtrade rumors. I guess it was in the works but the Os said they needed more to give up JJ. The cubs we rumored to offer more so it got me thinking hypothetically, Is Garza the added guy we could get back from the cubs in this rumored 3 way deal between the Os, tigers and cubs?

If it is-
Os get- Porcello and Garza (Assuming he is healthy)
Tigers get-JJ and an Os BP arm
Cubs get Tiger a OF like Boesch/ Avery and say Hunter

Other things to think about too. Somebody in the AL would need to take Soriono right? Not bad if he'd DH and the cub eat some salary. Also,the cubs may have a log jam at SS with two good prospects on their way up soon and their best but often time frustrating player Sterling Castro their too. Maybe there is another possibility there.

I think I like that trade. (Not sure it is more than fantasy) It would create lots of questions for the Os and not answer some old ones

Who would play 3rd?
Can Davis play 1B? Especially if Soriono is included since he become the DH
Do we have enough at 2B?

We would have great pitching. No Doubt!

But I think we would mean another move to help fill in our lineup so...
Do we then make a move like Reinold and BP arm to Seattle for say Smoak and Seagar?

What do you guys think? Its slow this off season. Let's play GM for a day.

[hoosiercubsfan]

I heard about this trade on mlbtrade rumors. I guess it was in the works but the Os said they needed more to give up JJ. The cubs we rumored to offer more so it got me thinking hypothetically, Is Garza the added guy we could get back from the cubs in this rumored 3 way deal between the Os, tigers and cubs?

If it is-
Os get- Porcello and Garza (Assuming he is healthy)
Tigers get-JJ and an Os BP arm
Cubs get Tiger a OF like Boesch/ Avery and say Hunter

Other things to think about too. Somebody in the AL would need to take Soriono right? Not bad if he'd DH and the cub eat some salary. Also,the cubs may have a log jam at SS with two good prospects on their way up soon and their best but often time frustrating player Sterling Castro their too. Maybe there is another possibility there.

I think I like that trade. (Not sure it is more than fantasy) It would create lots of questions for the Os and not answer some old ones

Who would play 3rd?
Can Davis play 1B? Especially if Soriono is included since he become the DH
Do we have enough at 2B?

We would have great pitching. No Doubt!

But I think we would mean another move to help fill in our lineup so...
Do we then make a move like Reinold and BP arm to Seattle for say Smoak and Seagar?

What do you guys think? Its slow this off season. Let's play GM for a day.

For the Cubs to be involved first they would want to be the receiving team of Porcello. According to someone on the Cubs board the Tigers asked to trade him straight up for Barney and got rejected. So chances are great that unless the return to the Cubs is FAR better than an OF and RP they don't need. Also they aren't going to sell low on Garza right now unless someone comes in meeting the package for him they are asking. Otherwise they are going to wait until ST and let him pitch to see and let others see if he is truly healthy. If he comes in still dinged up in ST its a better bet that he gets extended than traded being he is still young enough to be part of the core when they are ready to compete.

The Cubs have made it known that they are willing to eat a large portion of Soriano's contract for the right return. As he is the only power threat in the lineup currently they aren't going to be in a hurry to just dump him. Especially with nobody beating down the door behind him to take his spot. Like Garza if they didn't get the return for him it would make more sense to keep him instead of trading him at this point.

As far as Castro he isn't going anywhere. He just signed a long term team friendly contract. He really isn't that frustrating when you consider that his growing pains are being seen at the ML level and not in the minors where the majority of the other same aged guys are playing. The value the Cubs are going to place on him is far and away going to out pace anything any team in baseball would want to spend. I mean we are talking about starting with Bundy and adding quite a bit more after that.

For the trade to work with the Cubs, Tigers, and O's what would come back from the Cubs really would be dependent upon what they get to go along with Porcello. He would be nice to have as I think putting him in front of a competent defensive infield would do wonders for him. But not a necessity given all the Cubs have added to their starting pitching depth thus far.