Manny Machado

[Stradling]

58 minutes ago, Fish Oil said:

Earlier today I watched a defensive highlight reel from Machado. It's hard to imagine him playing next to Simmons. There are better 3B bats out there, but considering his D, I think he is first on my list for this team.

You need to watch Arrenado. 

[AngelArcher]

Machado isn't the defensive 3b wizard he was in his rookie year. Still good, but not great. I'm beginning to feel like he's the most overrated defensive player too.

 

[Fish Oil]

That's fair. This highlight reel didn't say which year these were from. I suppose those knee surgeries probably had some effect.

[tdawg87]

16 minutes ago, AngelArcher said:

Machado isn't the defensive 3b wizard he was in his rookie year. Still good, but not great. I'm beginning to feel like he's the most overrated defensive player too.

 

He is absolutely great defensively.

What did he do to you? It's ok. You can tell us. Did he touch you....down there?

[AngelArcher]

21 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

He is absolutely great defensively.

What did he do to you? It's ok. You can tell us. Did he touch you....down there?

He's a douche and I'm tired of seeing people talking him up like the best thing since sliced bread. I still think he's good, but overrated. 

 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

8 hours ago, AngelArcher said:

He's a douche and I'm tired of seeing people talking him up like the best thing since sliced bread. I still think he's good, but overrated. 

 

I prefer hot French bread that I can cut on my own.

[ettin]

15 hours ago, Fish Oil said:

Earlier today I watched a defensive highlight reel from Machado. It's hard to imagine him playing next to Simmons. There are better 3B bats out there, but considering his D, I think he is first on my list for this team.

 

14 hours ago, Stradling said:

You need to watch Arrenado. 

You need to watch Cozart!

[Stradling]

I will.  I watched every game Cozart played 3rd last year. 

[Mark68]

I know I get to see him a lot more than the rest of you because of where I live...but I think Arenado is a better all-around third baseman than Machado.

 

And he's a local kid...and will be in the same free agent class...

[AngelArcher]

5 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

I know I get to see him a lot more than the rest of you because of where I live...but I think Arenado is a better all-around third baseman than Machado.

 

And he's a local kid...and will be in the same free agent class...

He isn't a FA until after 2019 season.

 

[Mark68]

1 minute ago, AngelArcher said:

He isn't a FA until after 2019 season.

 

Yeah, I think I saw the "A4" on Cot's and thought it said "FA".

But...here is some highlight reel stuff...

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVjN.TV5a1HoAqJwnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEyMHJxZmlpBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjQ3NzZfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Nolan+Arenado+Highlight+Reel&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002

[Stradling]

Arrenado is the very best.

[fan_since79]

from Buster Olney:

Manny Machado continues to build his resume for free agency: 21 extra-base hits, 23 walks, 21 strikeouts, an AL-high .354.

[Warfarin]

6 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

from Buster Olney:

Manny Machado continues to build his resume for free agency: 21 extra-base hits, 23 walks, 21 strikeouts, an AL-high .354.

I'd say there's as close to a zero percent chance he becomes an Angel.  While he'd be a fantastic option to plug up our 3B hole, realistically, I'd say if we were to splurge on one of the two star players, sign the LH power hitting one, as we do need some lineup balance.  

Playing with Cot's contracts,  with a bit of creativity, we can stay below the luxury tax limit while signing one of these guys.  It's possible, although it's unlikely we do it.

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

I would also like Machado, but he is unlikely to resign with us because he wants to play SS.  I would prefer Harper over him, although I would not make that trade either.  We need to trade for Kelvin Herrera and Zach Britton ASAP to fix the pen.

Zach Britton is on the 60 day DL currently, so trading for him "ASAP to fix the pen" would actually do nothing for us.

[BackUpTheTruck]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

Zach Britton is on the 60 day DL currently, so trading for him "ASAP to fix the pen" would actually do nothing for us.

I know that, which means his trade value is lower.  He'll come back later in the season.  Herrera helps us now.  If the Mets can trade Harvey to the Reds way before the deadline, I feel we shouldn't rule out making trades happen now as well.

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

I know that, which means his trade value is lower.  He'll come back later in the season.  Herrera helps us now.  If the Mets can trade Harvey to the Reds way before the deadline, I feel we shouldn't rule out making trades happen now as well.

Yeah I mean, we could acquire him for very little I suppose, but we realistically wouldn't be getting any pen support from him until July or so.  And even then, there were issues with his elbow I believe last season, etc.  We can acquire him but I am doubtful we'd see the Britton of the past.

[AngelStew43]

Britton is close to returning from an Achilles injury.  It would be interesting to see what Baltimore would want in return.  

[Stradling]

The idea of adding another injured pitcher isn’t appealing to me.  We are looking for talent and certainty.  He provides talent.   

[CubsFan]

On 1/15/2018 at 9:02 AM, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

I prefer hot French bread that I can cut on my own.

That's great with Lasagna.  Escpecially garlix French bread.

[Warfarin]

If we truly want to improve our pen now, while also providing us with someone beyond just this one season, then I say we look into trading prospect capital for Hand or Velazquez.  I'm guessing Velazquez might be off the table, since the Pirates are actually contending, but Hand should definitely be available.  He's signed to a long-term, cost-controlled deal as well, so if we acquire him, we'd be gaining several years of control of a strong LH closer.

I don't know what the Padres would want, but I'm sure it's significant.  If our current prospect core keeps developing as they have been, with others emerging out of nowhere (i.e. Fletcher, Ward's improvements, etc), then perhaps we could trade some prospects without feeling the impact too significantly. 

So ideally, come the trade deadline, we can trade for Hand and maybe even Herrera.  Herrera should come somewhat cheaply (only 2 months of control, then becomes a free agent), while Hand will cost considerably more (in terms of prospect capital) but we'd have him locked up for up to 3.5 years (if we exercise his option) at a reasonable cost.

Think of the pen then:  Hand and Herrera can pitch the 8th/9th (depending on L/R matchup), Anderson, Middleton, and Alvarez can pitch innings 6-7, and Johnson + Ramirez can be the "long relievers" and cover whatever is necessary.  We'd have a truly, legitimate shutdown pen that could carry us through the playoffs entirely.  We'd just need our SP to pitch roughly 5 innings, then hand the baton off.

IMO, this is entirely attainable without being devastating to our minor league talent pipeline.  We wouldn't need to make a single other move outside of this.

[Stradling]

So Hand would cost what?  Two top ten guys?  Barria and a top ten guy?

[Warfarin]

13 minutes ago, SuperTroopers said:

So Hand would cost what?  Two top ten guys?  Barria and a top ten guy?

I'm not really sure, I know SD was asking for a lot last year.  Probably one of Adell/Marsh/Jones, one of our SP prospects (Canning/Suarez/Barria), and some other "wild card" type prospects (Soriano, Deveaux, etc).  Personally, I would not trade Adell, Marsh, or Canning in pretty much any deal, but I'd be willing to trade anyone else under the right circumstances.

I'd see if maybe we could part with, say, Jones, Ward, Suarez, and maybe someone like Aquino (i.e. lower level wild card)?  I know people will be upset with the cost of that, but I feel we have seen enough development from some minor league infielders (i.e. Fletcher, Rengifo looks to potentially be promising, etc) and minor league SPs where we could part with Jones and Suarez in the right deal.  

No one likes to trade prospects because we watch them grow, see their potential, etc.  But if we truly want to contend this year and years beyond, we do need a shutdown closer.  Hand would fill that niche for us this year and for several years beyond (while also giving us a second lefty reliever), which coincides with our desire to win now while also trying to maintain a bright future.  Our prospect pipeline would take a hit, but we'd still have SPs in the pipeline (Canning, Castillo, Rodriguez, Soriano, etc), still have Ohtani on a rookie deal, still have our future OFers developing (Adell, Marsh, Hermosillo, Deveaux), still have middle infield prospects (Fletcher, Rengifo), etc.  The future would still be bright AND we'd have a much stronger pen to boot.