This time of the year is the worst for me. Little or no baseball news. An occasional minor league free agent signing or two. The Royals and Reds trade was somewhat of a surprise. Teams usually wait until the winter meetings to make their first moves. Major free agents usually start signing during the meetings. The Dodgers have some roster flexibility after non-tendering Honeywell and Logue. I also have to believe they will make a trade or two at the winter meetings.
As usual this time of year, the rumors run rampant. One I keep seeing on different news streams is that the Dodgers have a real interest in Blake Snell. Despite the fact that Snell is represented by Scott Boras, if he takes a shorter deal with a high AAV, the Dodgers might be interested. Snell will be 32 when the season starts. He is a high strikeout pitcher, but he also has stretches where he walks a ton. If he takes three years, the Dodgers might be interested. I feel they won’t offer long-term deals to pitchers in their late 20’s or early 30’s. The five-year extension for Glasnow was a big gamble.
They just won a championship, but the work for 25 is starting now. They have holes to fill, and the resources to fill them. They have in my opinion at this point, not much help coming from the minors. Rushing has played about 30 games in the outfield. Does his bat play strong enough to take over LF all the time? Doubtful, and no one knows at all how his defense will be. They might give Outman another shot in centerfield. His defense is fine. His bat last season was abysmal. But he has shown he can hit in the majors. He just needs to prove it again. Pages had stretches where he played very well. His BAbip was .304. His walk rate, 6.6% needs to be better and he struck out 24% of the time. He did have a 2-homer game against the Mets in the NLCS. I look for some improvement next season, but he is not a centerfielder.
One other rumor is that the Dodgers are really interested in Willie Adames. But will they pony up the five or six years at 160 plus? Adames has a lot of power, 31 homers last season. He strikes out a little more than 25% of the time. He can steal some bases and his defense is solid. Or do the Dodgers use Edman there along with Rojas? One thing we all know AF loves is moving parts. Unless they trade for Crochet, I really do not see a block buster trade coming. And we all read that Gomes said they were going to concentrate of starting pitching.
Winter meetings start in exactly 14 days. We know the Dodgers might lose a player or two in the Rule-5 draft. One thing for sure, the free-agent players and their agents will be meeting with teams the entire time. One thing I would enjoy seeing for once from AF is a quick strike for a major piece of the puzzle. Say re-sigh Teo or make a big splash trade for a pitcher. Newsweek, not exactly a hotbed of good info, proposed this trade, Dodgers get Crochet, Sox get Rushing, Freeland and Morales. Uh, do not see that happening. AF might trade one top prospect in a trade, but 3? Nope.
I want to take this moment to wish all of our readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. I will be heading out to California for a few weeks on the second of December. I will have my laptop with me, but doing research on it is not exactly easy. Screen way too small. I will keep abreast of all the moves LA might make. As usual, I do not see any urgency to make a major move at this point. There are a lot of options out there, and there will be more.
If LA does not sign Teo, I could see them trying Santander. Switch hitter with a lot of pop. I see more additions to the bullpen, and some guys signed to be depth pieces at AAA.
For those not knowing the definition of marking time, it means waiting idly for something to happen… Had to read up on that myself.
In the military it means marching in place. Don’t know what it might mean in the Army. Doh!
Same thing.
Hoornstra has a byline at Newsweek, and he is for the most part pretty good
Still don’t think AF would do that trade.
Did Hoornstra write the article you are citing?
No, some guy named Matt Musico
I’m with you bear, I don’t remember any team giving up three top ten prospects in a trade, at least none come to mind.
The Pads gave up CJ Abrams, Mackenzie Gore and James Woods to get Soto…. I think all were top ten prospects for the Padres organization at one point or another.
CJ Abrams #1 – Now Washington starting SS
Robert Hassell III #2 – Now on Washington 40 man
MacKenzie Gore #4 – #1 pitcher in rotation for Washington.
James Wood #5 – Current starting OF for Washington
Jarlin Susana #14 -Now Washington’s #4, overall #90 in MLB. (21 years old in 2025). Does not have to be protected until 2026.
I think Washington did well in that deal.
Washington did great and if SD had Tatis healthy they would have been powerful with Soto. SD then traded Soto to the Yankees for:
The Yankees also received outfielder Trent Grisham from the Padres as part of the seven-player deal. In exchange, San Diego received right-handers Michael King, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez, starting pitching prospect Drew Thorpe and catcher Kyle Higashioka.
Lots of moving parts.
As first cited elsewhere, great little article here on the McLain (Matt and Sean to be specific) brothers:
Sean is a minor league prospect for the powerhouse Dodgers, so finding a major league roster spot won’t be easy, but his position flexibility helps…
Sean raves about the Dodgers. He said that when Matt was promoted to the majors by the Reds, Los Angeles flew him out to Colorado to watch Matt’s debut….
“I feel like I’m in the best org in baseball,” Sean McLain said. “Some organizations wouldn’t do that…
Saw him play a couple of times. Kid looked good.
Sean bears monitoring. He is another in the long line of LAD utility players. IMO, he makes a MLB team as a utility player.
For Ryan Ward fans, he may not be in the LAD organization after a couple of weeks and the Rule 5 draft. Here he is in the Premier 12 tournament in Japan. I believe he led the tournament with 5 HRs, including this game winner over Venezuela:
Caught a spelling error in your comment about Ward. It’s spelled WILL not MAY. No way somebody doesn’t take him.
Ticky tack
Those Rule 5 guys can pay off.
Slugging Anthony Santander came to the Orioles that way. Now he’s rate just below Teoscar among the OF free agents.
Ward’s stats have remained fairly consistent all the way through the minors. He hasn’t lost a lot by going up from one level to the next.
For teams that don’t like to spend (A’s, Pirates, Rays, etc.), he’s certainly worth the gamble.
I’d love to see him get a chance, but hopefully not in our division, because as you said, he could turn into another Santander.
Plays both corner OF positions, plus 1B and DH. Somebody will grab him.
Sporting News thinks the Dodgers will give Buehler a 2 year deal worth 32 million. Seems a little steep to me.
That’s more than 1y/$20m.
Gotta pay a lot for Buehler, this is likely his best chance for a big payday.
I’d be careful with that.
Works for me.
I’ve read that the Yankees, Padres and others are seriously interested in Buehler. I want him to stay, just for a bit of continuity. He really does seem to have that ‘big game” mentality.
I could see the Angels offering Flaherty a similar AAV over more years.
I would give Buehler an incentive contract that allowed him to make big money if he does well but protects me if he doesn’t.
The rumors do run rampant…
And I can’t remember an off-season in which there was so much talent on the market. That’s my impression, anyway.
A pitching staff of free agents: Burnes, Snell, Fried, Sasaki, Eovaldi, Buehler, Flaherty, Bieber, Manaea, Kikuchi, Pivetta… and I guess Scherzer and Verlander want to give it another go.
Dodgers should give Buehler the Taylor deal. 4yrs/$60M. 😉
I would not give him a guaranteed contract. 2 TJ’s makes him a risk w lots of potential. An incentive contract is what I would offer and if he doesn’t like that he can walk
I think I agree Dave. The organization has been patient with him, he hasn’t been good since ‘21 and he’s been paid $20 million while he wasn’t any good. I think it’s reasonable for the team to make an offer with a base plus incentives and if he can get a better offer somewhere else just say goodbye and good luck.
I don’t know he’s fully recovered from his second TJ surgery yet. A few good innings at the end of the year guarantees nothing if you ask me.
Angels, LHP Yusei Kikuchi reportedly agree to 3-year deal, per Jon Heyman
New report has the Angels signing Kikuchi for $63m for 3 years.
Seems like an overpay to me, but I’m glad the Angels are making some moves. Kikuchi came on strong for the Astros down the stretch.
If he can keep it up for the Halos, my hopes for an October Freeway Series will –improve to a 1,000-to-1 shot.
Kikuchi became a different pitcher after he went to Houston. Houston changed his pitch mix and sequencing, less curves and fastballs and more sliders. The improvement was huge.
3 years $63MM does seem like another Scott Boras induced overpay. How does that bode for other Scott Boras pitching clients: Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes, and Sean Manaea? I am certain Max Fried, Jack Flaherty, and Walker Buehler have all taken notice. No loss of draft picks.
The Angels have quietly put together a decent rotation…if they all stay healthy. Kikuchi (L), José Soriano (R), Tyler Anderson (L), Kyle Hendricks (R), Reid Detmers (L). And two youngins waiting in the wings…potential Ace 21 year old Caden Dana (R) and 23 year old Sam Aldeghiri (L).o
Kikuchi cost Houston 3 of their top prospects. OF Joey Loperfido is no longer a prospect. RHSP Jake Bloss is now Toronto’s #3. Utility infielder Will Wagner is now Toronto’s #18 prospect. All three were top 20 Houston prospects. And Houston can ill afford to spend prospects as they have arguably the worst farm system in all of MLB. Not a good Houston trade.
Didn’t the Angels non-tender Sandoval?
Yes
It’s 21 mill per year, close to the qualifying offer.
On some of the RedSox communities I frequent, increasing buzz for Teo signing a deal there.
Makes a ton of sense given the splits and ability to also DH.
How about this resign Teoscar put him in rightfield and bring back ex dodger Verdugo who can split time in Lf with Pages and then Edman and Taylor in centerfield then they can sign Adames to play shortstop and then have alot of options to trade for pitching plus only have to get one big name pitcher then two.
Verdugo is a cancer. Stay away from him. He wasn’t liked in Boston or New York and the Dodgers couldn’t wait to get rid of him.
Absolutely True.
Double down on that, they traded him for a reason.
I’ve been watching the Bregman/Astros situation with interest. From what I read, there is almost no way they can afford to re-sign Bregman and then bring back Tucker next winter when he reaches free agency.
So, if the Astros bring back Bregman, what say we try to get Tucker. The Astros have one of the worst farm systems in MLB, so they need young guys.
How about Rushing, Wrobleski and Payton Martin for Tucker? We only get him for a year, but that might tempt him to stay here after next year. He’s going to get a big contract, but nowhere near what Soto gets and I think his value (production vs dollars spent) will probably turn out better than Soto’s.
Anyone here think the Astros would take that deal? How about Andrew?
They might. The only thing I don’t like is dealing with the Astros. I’d hate to send any nice people there.
I have been an advocate for Tucker for years. Houston not only has one of the worst farm systems, they have THE worst. But that cost for a one year rental seems steep. A number 1, number 6, and number 28 per MLB Pipeline from a top farm system. Probably too rich for AF, but not rich enough for Houston. Tucker is a 3-time All Star, GG, SS, 3 top 20 finishes in MVP with one top 5. You have to give to get, but for a rental, that is a tough read. AF does not like to overpay.
Pretty much this, but if it does reach a point à la Mookie Betts, where budgetary constraints force the Astros to trade. I could see the Dodgers pursuing an under market deal.
also, this theoretical timeline does match up to when money is coming off of the books
I don’t see the Astros ever needing to do an under market deal for Tucker. So many teams would want him that a couple would be happy to overpay. Just probably wouldn’t be Andrew.
I agree with Jeff that the deal I suggested would be too much for AF and not enough for Houston.
“So many teams would want him that a couple would be happy to overpay.”
Isn’t this what most people said about Mookie Betts? Or Flahrety (admittedly a deadline deal). Or Sherzer and Turner?
Sherzer/Turner was a deadline deal also but remember we were only trading for one year of Mookie and we gave them Verdugo (#35 rated prospect in the MLB Top 100 the prior year), Jeter Downs (#44 rated in the Top 100) and Connor Wong (Dodger’s #28 rated).
It turned out that was a huge underpay, but that really wasn’t all that obvious on the day of the trade. Again, for only one guaranteed Mookie year.
This is a silly rebuttal.
Given how it’s either a trade for Tucker now with one year remaining, or at the deadline with ~1/2 year remaining both examples are valid.
I’d think that fewer teams will be interested in trading for Tucker with less than one year of control.
All this is beside my point, the Dodgers will only make that deal if Tucker’s value is reduced.
Who put you in charge of grading rebuttals, Bluto?
I thought it was brilliant.
You know your stuff and I enjoy (most) of your contributions here, but you really need to try not to be so condescending.
How about “I disagree” instead of “this is a silly rebuttal.”
OK, I’ve said my piece. Who knows, maybe this comment will even turn out to be more silly than my last one.
Not disagreeing Jeff but I’m a big Kansas University Basketball fan or more. of a Coach Bill Self fan. He uses an expression he got from his father “load the wagon we can worry about the horses later.” Get Tucker for a year and plug him in a spot the Dodgers need help and run it back. I agree it’s an overpay but the Dodgers are fairly deep in the players Singing the Blue suggested. Maybe not left handed starters, but Rushing wherever he’s going to play and Martin. Again I’m not sure I’d deal with Houston and help them restock their awful farm system. Tucker would fit the 2025 Dodgers needs real well.
Wrobleski is the one I was wavering on. As I have said, Rushing is a luxury for the Dodgers. He is more valuable to LAD as a trade piece than as an untested LF or backup catcher at the MLB level or at OKC. I like Payton Martin but the Dodgers have 20 more of those, and 10 of them are rated higher on the LAD top 30. I would be more agreeable to Knack than Wrobleski. I don’t know about Houston.
Still, AF wants to win trades, and Houston probably wants to hold onto Tucker to see where they are at the trade deadline. Can’t blame them.
Agree
A lefty bat but sure, I’m mostly in.