posty 2,295 Posted January 27, 2020 1 hour ago, posty said: Looks like four-year, $64MM... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posty 2,295 Posted January 27, 2020 Diamondbacks To Acquire Starling Marte https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/diamondbacks-reportedly-progressing-toward-trade-for-starling-marte.html The Diamondbacks were handsomely rewarded when last they dealt for a player named Marte. It seems they’re doubling down on that strategy. The Snakes have reportedly struck a deal to acquire outfielder Starling Marte from the Pirates. High-upside youngsters Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone are going back in return, along with $250K in international spending money moving to Pittsburgh. The Pirates will also pay down $1.5MM of Marte’s remaining obligations. If this swap is formally completed, it will go down as another fascinating gambit from the Arizona front office. When the offseason opened, there was more talk of trading Robbie Ray than of pushing to dethrone the Dodgers in the NL West. But Ray remains with the club. And after dealing away Zack Greinke at the 2019 trade deadline, the D-Backs have now added multiple veteran pieces to the roster — including veteran hurler Madison Bumgarner — and seem poised to contend. Marte would presumably step in at center field, thus allowing young Arizona star Ketel Marte to settle in at second base on a full-time basis. The pair would anchor a revamped Arizona lineup that has already gained Kole Calhoun and Stephen Vogt this winter. Marte — the prospective new acquisition, that is — would tack on $11.5MM to the 2020 payroll. He’s controllable for another season through a $12.5MM club option that can alternatively be bought out for $1MM buyout. That contract was a major part of Marte’s appeal. He signed it back in the spring of 2014 — a hopeful time for him and the Pirates organization. Things didn’t quite develop according to plan, though both player and team found success at times. Marte sat out for half of the 2017 season owing to a violation of the league’s PED policy. The Bucs took three-straight Wild Card appearances (2013-15) but haven’t been back to the postseason since. The situation in Pittsburgh reached a boiling point after a highly disappointing 2019 campaign that significantly downgraded the team’s near-term outlook. This move represents the first major decision for a new leadership team — president Travis Williams, GM Ben Cherington, and manager Derek Shelton — that was installed after the offseason was already underway. It’s not especially surprising to see Marte on the move. He sat atop our most recent ranking of the top trade candidates in baseball. Given the rough seas the Bucs had sailed upon of late, it made good sense for the organization to cash in the veteran and set the looking glass to the horizon. Cherington is hunting for gold with this move. Both of the young players acquired are seen as possessing massive ceilings. But they’re also still a long ways off. Baseball America graded both players (subscription link) among the top ten prospects on an Arizona farm that has drawn increasing praise for its depth of quality talent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RaiderHaters Revenge 3,563 Posted January 27, 2020 latest is Myers, Margot/Naylor, Quantrill/Lucchessi, and 1 minor leaguer for Betts money being figured out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 12,552 Posted January 27, 2020 15 minutes ago, RaiderHaters Revenge said: latest is Myers, Margot/Naylor, Quantrill/Lucchessi, and 1 minor leaguer for Betts money being figured out Awesome. Get him out of the AL. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
patweisers44 696 Posted January 27, 2020 6 hours ago, posty said: He should like hitting there and the smaller outfield gives him less room for butchering defensively. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posty 2,295 Posted January 28, 2020 Looking like Dusty Baker might be heading to manage the Astros... https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2020/01/28/dusty-baker-houston-astros-manager/4559024002/ The Houston Astros, a franchise in the crosshairs of Major League Baseball’s cheating scandal, is about to choose Dusty Baker to be their next manager, according to a person familiar with the hiring. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because Baker’s contract has yet to be finalized. Baker, 70, the three-time National League Manager of the Year who guided four teams to nine postseason berths, seven division titles and an NL pennant, is the perfect choice. This organization finally did something right. Baker is the ideal man to get them through perhaps the most tumultuous time an entire organization will face since the Black Sox scandal in 1919. The Astros, caught using illegal electronic equipment to steal signs, resulting in the suspensions and firings of GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch, are going to be facing horrendous backlash every time they leave the city limits of Houston. They will be insulted, scorned, and ridiculed. And that’s just by the opposing players. Fans will taunt them every time they step to the plate, hearing chants of “Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!’’ It will be relentless and vicious. “I’m sure,’’ Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. said last week, “it’s going to be hostile.’’ Astros owner Jim Crane, realizing what lies ahead, had to find the man that would best insulate the clubhouse from the outside noise, and threats, keeping them together. He chose Baker. Baker, who has led his teams to three division championships in the last five years in Cincinnati and Washington, is the Dalai Lama of managers. There’s no manager in the game more well-liked, respected and admired by his peers and players throughout the industry. “His greatest attribute is the way he manages people,’’ Davey Lopes, the former Dodger great and long-time friend of Baker’s, told USA TODAY Sports in 2017. “I find it hard to find someone who’s better. “Getting the best out of the players, getting them to want to play, getting them to want to put that extra effort into it, that takes a special talent.’’ That attribute will be needed more than ever when it will be so easy for the Astros to succumb to the pressure and distractions, and fall apart. It’s up to Baker to make sure it doesn’t happen. So when the entire team assembles in spring training on Feb. 17 at West Palm Beach, Florida, Baker will have them gather around, and he’ll tell them about his own battlefield. He withstood the heavy scrutiny during the 80s when some of his closest friends were implicated in the Pittsburgh drug trials, resulting in mandatory drug tests the rest of his playing career. He endured the public embarrassment of the IRS coming after him for $4 million in back taxes and penalties when a series of tax shelters were disallowed, garnishing his paychecks. He insulated Barry Bonds from the media circus in 2001 when he set the single-season home run record with 73 amid the BALCO fallout, and kept the feud between his two best players, Jeff Kent and Bonds, from dividing the clubhouse. He will remind the Astros the importance of staying together, just as he kept his two best players, Bonds and Jeff Kent – who once fought in the dugout – from dividing the clubhouse. He has been fired four times as manager and hired five times. He has had glory, winning more games than any active manager, and horrific heartbreak. He was one game away from winning the 2002 World Series when the San Francisco Giants lost the World Series in 7 games to the Los Angeles Angels in 2002, and his Chicago Cubs’ team squandered a 3-to-1 lead to the Miami Marlins in the 2003 NLCS. He survived prostate cancer, an irregular heartbeat and a stroke. He also persevered through racism in his playing career, and later as a manager, deluged with hate letters when managing the Chicago Cubs. Now, here he is, being given the greatest challenge of his managerial career, ensuring this talented collection of players stays strong in what looms as the most ordeal they’ve faced. If Baker leads the Astros back to the World Series, the road could lead him right to baseball’s greatest resting place: Baseball’s Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. “It would mean a lot to me and my family to be the first African-American manager in there,’’ Baker recently told USA TODAY. “But what matters to me the most is the championship. That’s what I want. I want to be a World Series champion. “That’s what has always brought me back.’’ He is in for one final ride, knowing deep in his heart that he deserved another chance, while believing he was the perfect man for an imperfect job. His calming presence will help soothe the angry masses. You can loathe the Astros all you want, but how can anyone be mad at Baker? He had nothing to do with it. Why, his Washington Nationals team even played the Astros at Minute Maid Park in 2017 during the heart of the scandal, and took two of the three games, trash can knocking and all. He’ll be asked about whether he suspected the Astros of cheating that series. He’ll be asked in whether the Astros’ players should have been disciplined. He’ll be asked how the Astros should handle the scandal going forward. Baker, who has managed everyone from Bonds to Sammy Sosa to Bryce Harper and Joey Votto, will handle all of the scrutiny impeccably. He’ll be in complete control, shielding his team the best he can from all the hatred. He comes along at just the right time when not only the Astros, but Major League Baseball, needs him most. Baker is ready to buckle up for the ride of his life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vuduchile 1,940 Posted January 28, 2020 19 hours ago, patweisers44 said: He should like hitting there and the smaller outfield gives him less room for butchering defensively. Crap. I was really hoping the Cubs could keep him somehow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
