Major League Baseball Thread - 2018 Season

[classicrawker]

Heyward is a great all around player, his WAR last year was higher than: Robinson Cano, Jayson Werth, Lorenzo Cain, Dustin Pedroia, Justin Upton, Adrian Gonzalez and many more. Last year he posted his best AVG and 2nd highest OBP and is only 26. Plus by any defensive metric he is one of the tops in the league. Probably hasnt hit his full potential yet either. Based on the market this year for OFs, it seems right what he's going to get.

Stats are great but for me if someone is getting $30 Mill a year they should be able to carry the team on their back at times at times and while he is a well rounded player I am not seeing that in him. I see him doing well on a good team like the Cubs or Cards, as a piece to the puzzle, but I don't see him a difference maker on a bad team.....

Edited December 10, 2015 by classicrawker

[shades]

Heyward is a great all around player, his WAR last year was higher than: Robinson Cano, Jayson Werth, Lorenzo Cain, Dustin Pedroia, Justin Upton, Adrian Gonzalez and many more. Last year he posted his best AVG and 2nd highest OBP and is only 26. Plus by any defensive metric he is one of the tops in the league. Probably hasnt hit his full potential yet either. Based on the market this year for OFs, it seems right what he's going to get.

Stats are great but for me if someone is getting $30 Mill a year they should be able to carry the team on their back at times at times and while he is a well rounded player I am not seeing that in him. I see him doing well on a good team like the Cubs or Cards, as a piece to the puzzle, but I don't see him a difference maker on a bad team.....

IS he getting that much?

I thought he was like 5mil a year guy.

Man these teams are finding money to burn left and right.

I'd still like to have him on my team though.

[axlslash]

Heyward is a great all around player, his WAR last year was higher than: Robinson Cano, Jayson Werth, Lorenzo Cain, Dustin Pedroia, Justin Upton, Adrian Gonzalez and many more. Last year he posted his best AVG and 2nd highest OBP and is only 26. Plus by any defensive metric he is one of the tops in the league. Probably hasnt hit his full potential yet either. Based on the market this year for OFs, it seems right what he's going to get.

Stats are great but for me if someone is getting $30 Mill a year they should be able to carry the team on their back at times at times and while he is a well rounded player I am not seeing that in him. I see him doing well on a good team like the Cubs or Cards, as a piece to the puzzle, but I don't see him a difference maker on a bad team.....

IS he getting that much?

I thought he was like 5mil a year guy.

Man these teams are finding money to burn left and right.

I'd still like to have him on my team though.

Probably coming down slightly. Reports earlier that he's now looking more in the range of $24m AAV for 8-9 years

[bt88]

MLB trade rumors does a good job breaking it down of why he's worth it: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/10/free-agent-profile-jason-heyward.html

TLDR: Hes a really good but not great hitter, okay power, but excels in pretty much every other area. Plus he's consistent, young and it's not an exceptional market for OFs.

Theyre also reporting he has a $200 mil offer in hand. Down to Nats, Cubs, Cardinals.

Edited December 10, 2015 by bt88

[axlslash]

That offer is almost certainly not the Cubs. Both Lackey and Zobrist turned down bigger offers than the Cubs' to come play at Wrigley. Fingers crossed that our offer is at least close enough to snag Heyward away...

[classicrawker]

Heyward is a great all around player, his WAR last year was higher than: Robinson Cano, Jayson Werth, Lorenzo Cain, Dustin Pedroia, Justin Upton, Adrian Gonzalez and many more. Last year he posted his best AVG and 2nd highest OBP and is only 26. Plus by any defensive metric he is one of the tops in the league. Probably hasnt hit his full potential yet either. Based on the market this year for OFs, it seems right what he's going to get.

Stats are great but for me if someone is getting $30 Mill a year they should be able to carry the team on their back at times at times and while he is a well rounded player I am not seeing that in him. I see him doing well on a good team like the Cubs or Cards, as a piece to the puzzle, but I don't see him a difference maker on a bad team.....

IS he getting that much?

I thought he was like 5mil a year guy.

Man these teams are finding money to burn left and right.

I'd still like to have him on my team though.

There is a lot of money to burn in baseball these days with revenue sharing and small market teams getting lucrative TV/ Radio deals.

I thought Hayward was maybe a $15-20 mill player max as he is only 26 and should improve but $30 mill seems like an overpay for what he brings to the table IMHO.

I agree with you though a I would love to have him on the Yanks........

[bran]

i agree with CR. the thing that scares me about heyward is, we have seen times where players come to st louis and revitalize their careers, just to leave and revert to what they were before they got to st louis. i think heyward is a good player but a guy that i see at 7/105 mil. to me a 300 million dollar player is a transcendent player, a guy that can take a struggling offense and carry them for a couple weeks, a player like miguel cabrera who from 2004-2013 was on another planet, if i owned a team i would gladly give him 300 million dollars.

[bt88]

Does anyone else think its insane what Arizona gave up for Shelby Miller? Dansby Swanson was the #1 pick and a power hitting shortstop. Those guys dont come along much. Plus Aaron Blair is a highly rated arm. I dont get why they wouldnt put all that toward a jose Fernandez deal. I get theyre in "win now" mode and sometimes teams over value prospects, but holy hell that seems like a lot.

[Apollo]

Cubs are all in.

You guys for your boy Heyward.

[axlslash]

Details not public yet, but reports are he's taking less than $200mil. That means he turned down a higher offer in order to come to Chicago, just like Lackey and Zobrist. This is a level of buzz around the Cubs that I have never seen in my lifetime. This is going to be fun as hell.

How goddamn ridiculous is this lineup?!

1) Zobrist

2) Soler

3) Bryant

4) Rizzo

5) Heyward

6) Montero

7) Schwarber

8) Arrieta/Lester/Lackey/Hammel/Hendricks

9) Russell

[Apollo]

Does anyone else think its insane what Arizona gave up for Shelby Miller? Dansby Swanson was the #1 pick and a power hitting shortstop. Those guys dont come along much. Plus Aaron Blair is a highly rated arm. I dont get why they wouldnt put all that toward a jose Fernandez deal. I get theyre in "win now" mode and sometimes teams over value prospects, but holy hell that seems like a lot.

I read somewhere that Swanson was the top pick mainly because of signing/cash reasons.

Prospects are just that. Unrealized production. There is a list that's a mile long of first round picks that totally flopped.

Hell. Remember Gregg Jeffries. People were comparing him to Ted Williams and saying he was going to be a Hall of Fame player

As a 20-year old, in 100 at bats, he hit 320 with 6 homers. He was the future of baseball.

As an 18 and 19 year old he was hitting like 350 with power in the minor leagues.

He ended up with a career average line of 8 homers, 50 RBI, 15 steals. And was hurt all the time.

He went from being the number one prospect in baseball to an average middle infielder.

Shawn Abner was the first overall pick of the draft. He ended up with 11 career home runs.

So some prospects turn into Trout and Harper and King Felix. Others turn into Greg Brock, Greg Jeffries and Shawn Abner.

It's really a crapshoot.

They could have gave up too much. Or all those products could end up not living up to potential.

[bt88]

yeah I see what you're saying. The classic example of that is the Royals-Shields trade. That trade got KILLED by the analytics guys like Keith Law, namely because they gave up Wil Myers. Well Shields and Davis got them to a world series, then a year later they won. And Myers got traded again and hasnt been great.

Buuuuut at the same time dont you have to try to build too? Emptying the farm system can be dangerous. I dont know. Seems like Shelby Miller wasnt the right return for the potential of the guys they gave up. Like I said if it were Jose Fernandez I could see it.

Still at a higher level if youre a Dbacks fan you have to be excited, and theyre a team overshadowed by the NL West powers. So I can see why they went all in.

[classicrawker]

yeah I see what you're saying. The classic example of that is the Royals-Shields trade. That trade got KILLED by the analytics guys like Keith Law, namely because they gave up Wil Myers. Well Shields and Davis got them to a world series, then a year later they won. And Myers got traded again and hasnt been great.

Buuuuut at the same time dont you have to try to build too? Emptying the farm system can be dangerous. I dont know. Seems like Shelby Miller wasnt the right return for the potential of the guys they gave up. Like I said if it were Jose Fernandez I could see it.

Still at a higher level if youre a Dbacks fan you have to be excited, and theyre a team overshadowed by the NL West powers. So I can see why they went all in.

Prospects are always a crap shoot but every baseball guy and talent evaluator from the other teams has been killing the Snakes over this trade...

From ESPN:

OK, let's talk about that Shelby Miller trade. I've heard it described as the biggest heist of the decade. Other teams see Dansby Swanson as a potential star. Ender Inciarte is such a talented two-way player, the Braves got calls from a dozen teams on him in the first 24 hours after trading for him. And while the ceiling on the pitcher they got back, Aaron Blair, isn't as clear-cut, he'll be ready to pitch in the big leagues sooner than later.

Only time will tell if they are right but on paper it looks like the Braves made a killing.

Cubbies sign Heyward for $184 mill for 8 years which makes more sense than the $300 mill that was speculated. $23 mill still seems a little high to me but in todays market, and considering he is only 26 and theoretically ahs not peaked yet, they paying a little more for that potential so it is a great signing. He should flourish in that lineup.

It is a great time to be Cubs fan for sure!

Edited December 11, 2015 by classicrawker

[axlslash]

Jesse Rodgers reports that he has an opt out in there somewhere, but no word on how far in. Also haven't seen any word on movement restrictions.

[bran]

a little high but contracts are inflated beyond belief now but much better deal than the 300 million. he is still young and entering his prime and he will run down a lot of fly balls, which will help an already good pitching staff out immensely, plus taking away to assets from the cardinals is also a kind of cherry on top.

Edited December 12, 2015 by bran

[bt88]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

[downzy]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

Yeah, I don't think I came across one pissed off Jays fan when Price signed with Boston. We all knew he was a rental and the money he was going to command was never going to align with Blue Jay ownership.

Never been to St. Louis, but Chicago is a hell of a town to play baseball.

[DirtyDeeds]

Cuddyer has called it quits. It's nice that he knows when to cut bait on a career that just isn't really producing.

[Apollo]

Wasn't Miller traded for Heyward last year? So the dude is pretty good.

Arizona also got a 20-year old lefty in the deal who had an all star season last year in the low minors.

For a team making a run at the Series this year, I think they paid a reasonable price for a pitcher who will probably be one of the top three #2 pitchers in the league.

From what I've read it appears that Arizona felt comfortable with the deal because they feel they are deep in the minors on middle infielders and pitching.

To me it seems like a great trade for both teams.

******

It's nice to see Cuddy leave money on the table when he knew he was done.

[axlslash]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

Yeah, I don't think I came across one pissed off Jays fan when Price signed with Boston. We all knew he was a rental and the money he was going to command was never going to align with Blue Jay ownership.

Never been to St. Louis, but Chicago is a hell of a town to play baseball.

Jersey burning is idiotic. You love this person enough to pay 200 bucks for a shirt with the dude's name on it, but he changes shirts and you set your 200 dollar shirt on fire? Grow the fuck up.

[DirtyDeeds]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

Yeah, I don't think I came across one pissed off Jays fan when Price signed with Boston. We all knew he was a rental and the money he was going to command was never going to align with Blue Jay ownership.

Never been to St. Louis, but Chicago is a hell of a town to play baseball.

Jersey burning is idiotic. You love this person enough to pay 200 bucks for a shirt with the dude's name on it, but he changes shirts and you set your 200 dollar shirt on fire? Grow the fuck up.

They're actually $300 now in most cases. Which is why I don't have one and won't. And they're not even comfortable. A simple Mets t-shirt does it for me.

Edited December 14, 2015 by DirtyDeeds

[axlslash]

Rob Manfred has officially rejected Pete Rose's petition to have his ban lifted. In related news, fuck Rob Manfred.

[downzy]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

Yeah, I don't think I came across one pissed off Jays fan when Price signed with Boston. We all knew he was a rental and the money he was going to command was never going to align with Blue Jay ownership.

Never been to St. Louis, but Chicago is a hell of a town to play baseball.

Jersey burning is idiotic. You love this person enough to pay 200 bucks for a shirt with the dude's name on it, but he changes shirts and you set your 200 dollar shirt on fire? Grow the fuck up.

They're actually $300 now in most cases. Which is why I don't have one and won't. And they're not even comfortable. A simple Mets t-shirt does it for me.

I never bought a sports jersey but was never really opposed to them until I saw the movie Trainwreck this past summer.

I kind of agree with Amy Schumer's viewpoint that when you have another dude's name on your back, it kind of looks like you belong to him; like your his property. I know most would disagree, but now I can't help but think that whenever I see someone wear a jersey with another dude's name on his back.

[axlslash]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

Yeah, I don't think I came across one pissed off Jays fan when Price signed with Boston. We all knew he was a rental and the money he was going to command was never going to align with Blue Jay ownership.

Never been to St. Louis, but Chicago is a hell of a town to play baseball.

Jersey burning is idiotic. You love this person enough to pay 200 bucks for a shirt with the dude's name on it, but he changes shirts and you set your 200 dollar shirt on fire? Grow the fuck up.

They're actually $300 now in most cases. Which is why I don't have one and won't. And they're not even comfortable. A simple Mets t-shirt does it for me.

I never bought a sports jersey but was never really opposed to them until I saw the movie Trainwreck this past summer.

I kind of agree with Amy Schumer's viewpoint that when you have another dude's name on your back, it kind of looks like you belong to him; like your his property. I know most would disagree, but now I can't help but think that whenever I see someone wear a jersey with another dude's name on his back.

I see that a lot more with a corporate logo than a name, personally. Like I get it, but a shirt with the team's logo says "they own me" as much as anything - hell, "the team owns these people" is literally the reason uniforms exist!!!!

I'm not a huge jersey guy. I only get my absolute favorite players, and don't go out of my way to add. At this point, I have 3 Cubs jerseys (Sosa, Grace, and a Santo throwback that I got when he died) and one Hossa Blackhawks jersey, and prob not planning on getting anymore for a good long time. And I totally see how it's kinda weird.

[downzy]

Cardinals fans had an absolutely pathetic reaction to the Heyward signing. Dude played there one year

http://deadspin.com/bad-st-louis-cardinals-fans-assail-rent-a-player-for-l-1747618873

I know this happens across many fan bases but there is a particular arrogance and entitlement to cards fans, namely due to their "best fans in baseball" narrative.

Yeah, I don't think I came across one pissed off Jays fan when Price signed with Boston. We all knew he was a rental and the money he was going to command was never going to align with Blue Jay ownership.

Never been to St. Louis, but Chicago is a hell of a town to play baseball.

Jersey burning is idiotic. You love this person enough to pay 200 bucks for a shirt with the dude's name on it, but he changes shirts and you set your 200 dollar shirt on fire? Grow the fuck up.

They're actually $300 now in most cases. Which is why I don't have one and won't. And they're not even comfortable. A simple Mets t-shirt does it for me.

I never bought a sports jersey but was never really opposed to them until I saw the movie Trainwreck this past summer.

I kind of agree with Amy Schumer's viewpoint that when you have another dude's name on your back, it kind of looks like you belong to him; like your his property. I know most would disagree, but now I can't help but think that whenever I see someone wear a jersey with another dude's name on his back.

I see that a lot more with a corporate logo than a name, personally. Like I get it, but a shirt with the team's logo says "they own me" as much as anything - hell, "the team owns these people" is literally the reason uniforms exist!!!!

I'm not a huge jersey guy. I only get my absolute favorite players, and don't go out of my way to add. At this point, I have 3 Cubs jerseys (Sosa, Grace, and a Santo throwback that I got when he died) and one Hossa Blackhawks jersey, and prob not planning on getting anymore for a good long time. And I totally see how it's kinda weird.

Wait a second, you cheer for the Blackhawks and you got a Hossa jersey??? And here I thought you were a level-headed guy