2014/2015 Official MLB Offseason Thread: Signings, Trades, Rumors, Etc.
- Thread starter Special K
- Start date
With Victor Martinez about to re-sign with the Tigers & Melky Cabrera likely gone, the Blue Jays are expected to make strong pitches at Russel Martin & Pablo Sandoval. However, my money's on Sandoval signing with either Boston or San Francisco.
Deja Drew All Over Again
http://m.wsj.com/articles/for-yankees-its-deja-drew-all-over-again-1415756295?mobile=y
Would prefer Tulowtizki at shortstop but only if he can play in 140 games - contract has to be tied to games played somehow.
http://m.wsj.com/articles/for-yankees-its-deja-drew-all-over-again-1415756295?mobile=y
Would prefer Tulowtizki at shortstop but only if he can play in 140 games - contract has to be tied to games played somehow.
He also played second last season. He played great. The Jays are looking for a 2nd baseman, but it may be easier for them to fill up the hole by getting a 3rd baseman instead & shift Lawrie to 2nd permanently.
Well, forget about the Jays looking to get a 3rd baseman. They just traded Anthony Gose to Detroit for 2nd baseman Devon Travis.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/jays-trade-gose-to-tigers-for-2b-prospect-travis/
He was rated as the Tigers #1 prospect by Baseball America.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/jays-trade-gose-to-tigers-for-2b-prospect-travis/
He was rated as the Tigers #1 prospect by Baseball America.
And team that would trade for Stanton would have to have a deep farm system. That would eliminate the Yankees.
If we learn from history, Joe, you are correct: he will be traded to the Yankees, but not after two years. He will be traded to the Yankees after 8 years at the age of 33, when he will have four years left on the contract, but only two left in his prime. He will then negotiate a six year $252 million extension, carrying him through the age of 43.
And when Stanton retires, they'll put a plaque for him in the Hall of Joe's Imaginary Yankees, right next to Dontrelle Willis and Cliff Lee.
Jays sign Russell Martin to 5-year deal
by Shi Davidi, Sportsnet
TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays returned to free agency in significant fashion by agreeing to terms with Canadian catcher Russell Martin on an $82-million, five-year deal, a bold stroke aimed at strengthening the club up the middle and in the clubhouse.
Martin’s deal, initially reported by Peter Gammons and confirmed to Sportsnet by a source, is the second largest in club history, trailing only the $126-million, seven-year extension handed to Vernon Wells after the 2006 season.
It is by far the largest free-agent contract handed out by GM Alex Anthopoulos, dwarfing the previous high of $16 million over two years handed to Melky Cabrera in November 2012, and is the most significant commitment since A.J. Burnett was given $55 million over five years in December 2005.
Martin, 31, is expected to give the Blue Jays a significant boost behind the plate through his excellent handling of pitchers and pitch-framing.
“When you have a strong defensive catcher it makes your 12 pitchers better, there’s no question about that,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said last week at the GM meetings. “We’ve certainly experienced that over the last two years with Russ.”
Martin can also add value at the plate. He played in 111 games for the Pirates in 2014, batting .290/.402/.430 with 11 home runs and 20 doubles.
The leadership element is another reason why Martin was targeted, as he has consistently played on winning teams. He’s been to the post-season seven times in nine big-league seasons and his reputation as a winner will certainly help improve a club culture hampered by being playoff-free since 1993.
All of that is why the Blue Jays anted up in such a big way for Martin when they already had Dioner Navarro at catcher plus significant holes in left field, at second or third base and the bullpen.
At the GM meetings last week, Anthopoulos hinted that he wouldn’t be afraid to bring in some duplication.
“After trading (Adam) Lind, there are a lot of things we can do at DH,” Anthopoulos said. “We can go get a first baseman and DH (Edwin) Encarnacion, we can play Encarnacion at first base and get a pure DH, we can get another position that might be redundant with another spot and rotate the DH through. … We’re going to try to take the best player available, and we’re not locked into one thing, like we need a defender at first base, we need a pure DH. It depends on what becomes available to us.”
The Blue Jays will be open to moving Navarro but with the open DH spot, he could be the answer there, too. Anthopoulos worked to create the flexibility for his team by dealing Lind, and now he continues to have it as he could possibly package Navarro and J.A. Happ to address his team’s other needs.
This is great news for any Jays fan!! Russell Martin has returned to his roots & will give the Jays a boost!
by Shi Davidi, Sportsnet
TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays returned to free agency in significant fashion by agreeing to terms with Canadian catcher Russell Martin on an $82-million, five-year deal, a bold stroke aimed at strengthening the club up the middle and in the clubhouse.
Martin’s deal, initially reported by Peter Gammons and confirmed to Sportsnet by a source, is the second largest in club history, trailing only the $126-million, seven-year extension handed to Vernon Wells after the 2006 season.
It is by far the largest free-agent contract handed out by GM Alex Anthopoulos, dwarfing the previous high of $16 million over two years handed to Melky Cabrera in November 2012, and is the most significant commitment since A.J. Burnett was given $55 million over five years in December 2005.
Martin, 31, is expected to give the Blue Jays a significant boost behind the plate through his excellent handling of pitchers and pitch-framing.
“When you have a strong defensive catcher it makes your 12 pitchers better, there’s no question about that,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said last week at the GM meetings. “We’ve certainly experienced that over the last two years with Russ.”
Martin can also add value at the plate. He played in 111 games for the Pirates in 2014, batting .290/.402/.430 with 11 home runs and 20 doubles.
The leadership element is another reason why Martin was targeted, as he has consistently played on winning teams. He’s been to the post-season seven times in nine big-league seasons and his reputation as a winner will certainly help improve a club culture hampered by being playoff-free since 1993.
All of that is why the Blue Jays anted up in such a big way for Martin when they already had Dioner Navarro at catcher plus significant holes in left field, at second or third base and the bullpen.
At the GM meetings last week, Anthopoulos hinted that he wouldn’t be afraid to bring in some duplication.
“After trading (Adam) Lind, there are a lot of things we can do at DH,” Anthopoulos said. “We can go get a first baseman and DH (Edwin) Encarnacion, we can play Encarnacion at first base and get a pure DH, we can get another position that might be redundant with another spot and rotate the DH through. … We’re going to try to take the best player available, and we’re not locked into one thing, like we need a defender at first base, we need a pure DH. It depends on what becomes available to us.”
The Blue Jays will be open to moving Navarro but with the open DH spot, he could be the answer there, too. Anthopoulos worked to create the flexibility for his team by dealing Lind, and now he continues to have it as he could possibly package Navarro and J.A. Happ to address his team’s other needs.
This is great news for any Jays fan!! Russell Martin has returned to his roots & will give the Jays a boost!
How about the Jays? Jose Bautista & Edwin Encarnacion won't play forever. R.A. Dickey & Mark Buehrle will come off the books one of these days.
The Jays are paying Martin almost what the Yankees are paying McCann for a catcher who is a year older and not as good a player.
McCann- 5 years, $85 million
Martin - 5 years $82 million
Truth is Yankees will probably get one more year out of McCann as a catcher than the Jays will out of Martin. McCann has way better stats than Martin except in one category which is that Martin's career OBP is higher. But that is also due to him hitting lower in the NL batting orders and getting pitched around so that you can bring up pitchers and shortstops who are automatic outs, whereas McCann is a middle of the order guy and has been his whole career. There is no bigger BS than a bottom of the order hitter that routinely gets walked so that automatic outs can be brought to the plate, who is artificially beefing up his OBP as a result. It's stat fraud in its purest form.
Also, whatever happened to the notion of a hometown discount???? You call Martin's contract a hometown discount for a Toronto born player?
McCann- 5 years, $85 million
Martin - 5 years $82 million
Truth is Yankees will probably get one more year out of McCann as a catcher than the Jays will out of Martin. McCann has way better stats than Martin except in one category which is that Martin's career OBP is higher. But that is also due to him hitting lower in the NL batting orders and getting pitched around so that you can bring up pitchers and shortstops who are automatic outs, whereas McCann is a middle of the order guy and has been his whole career. There is no bigger BS than a bottom of the order hitter that routinely gets walked so that automatic outs can be brought to the plate, who is artificially beefing up his OBP as a result. It's stat fraud in its purest form.
Also, whatever happened to the notion of a hometown discount???? You call Martin's contract a hometown discount for a Toronto born player?
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