The MLB season is over and the offseason has officially begun. Some teams will look to improve, while others simply hope to keep the talent they have.
Many player will be on the move this offseason, perhaps a Hall of Fame shortstop, a notable pitching ace, or maybe one of the league’s best sluggers.
Regardless, always remember that these are bold predictions, and in honor of the title that they shall be.
According to this report from Mark Feinsand in Thursday morning’s New York Daily News, the New York Yankees won’t be going after either of the top two outfielders in the free agent market—Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth.
“We are better with Crawford, but at that price?” a Yankees source told Feinsand. “I’m not sure it’s that good of an upgrade.”
We’re not the tiniest bit surprised with the news on Werth. The Yankees have never shown any significant interest in him, and he doesn’t fit with the more athletic type of outfielder Brian Cashman has been targeting for the past several years.
Carl Crawford, on the other hand, is EXACTLY the type of outfielder/player Cashman has been after, and the Yankees have had a significant crush on the Tampa Bay left fielder for years. We’d just about guarantee you Cashman has spent time wondering what a Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Carl Crawford outfield could mean to his Yankees. Good luck finding a gap between those dudes.
Bringing in Crawford would almost certainly mean the end for Nick Swisher in pinstripes, which would come as no surprise to us.
“Unless they parted with (Gardner, Granderson or Swisher), I’m not sure where they would fit,” Feinsand’s source said of Crawford and Werth.
As we have mentioned in this space before, trading Swisher now makes a LOT of sense. His value, off consecutive strong seasons in New York, has never been higher. Remember that the Yankees bought in VERY low on Swisher. Here’s a chance for Cashman to sell his penny stock as a real premium. Additionally, Swisher is due a salary bump to $9 million next season.
Bottom Line
The Yankees won’t be in on Werth, and they shouldn’t be. It makes no sense to move Nick Swisher so you can give the 32-year-old Werth $100+ million. However, we will be very surprised if the Yankees don’t end up being significant players for Carl Crawford.
Don’t forget. Two years ago, after the Yankees handed out all that money to CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, the New York media kept assuring us all that there was no way the team was in on Mark Teixeira. That worked out pretty well.
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Baseball is the only sport, in my opinion, where the season lasts 365 days a year. Major League Baseball’s offseason is unlike any other.
The “Hot Stove” is always cooking something.
Nothing like going to bed with a rumor and waking up to a new player on your team.
Teams can officially start negotiating with free agents come 12:01 Sunday morning. Teams that are likely to spend are, of course, the New York Yankees, who are looking to get younger and get back to the Fall Classic.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are looking to have a bounce back year and regain their AL West crown.
The Tigers did pretty much as expected in 2010. Maybe not the way it was expected or with the intangibles (*cough* UMPIRES *cough*).
Looking ahead to 2011, it is very promising. Millions and millions of dollars are being freed up and we could have a lot of fun these coming months.
This is a preview of the 2011 Offseason tied in with my prediction for it. The format will go as follows…
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Payroll Check
Pages 3 – 13: A look at each position and it’s 2011 preview
Page 14: Payroll Check
Pages 15 – 20: Free Agent and Trade possibilities for each position of need
Page 21: 2011 Offseason Predictions and Explanations
Page 22: 2011 Opening Day Predictions
Page 23: Final Payroll Check
Page 24: Conclusion
In what many experts peg as a make or break offseason for Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays look well on their way to their first playoff appearance in the last 17 years.
It’s been a long road since then—having to bear witness to many managerial changes and even a few general managers coming and going, mainly Gord Ash and J.P. Ricciardi.
But out of all the doom and gloom comes some light at the end of the tunnel.
The biggest but more unheralded thing to happen this offseason for the Blue Jays is that the U.S. $10 million contract owed to B.J. Ryan comes off the books. Not only can this money be used on multiple players, but it can also be used to hopefully re-sign home run champ Jose Bautista to a new long-term contract.
With that said, the Blue Jays come into the 2010-11 offseason with many question marks as well.
With a good handful of expiring deals and contract extensions hitting the Jays, there are questions as to whether Rogers will shell out the cash in order for this team to compete in a very expensive AL East.
The likes of Lyle Overbay ($7.9 million expiring), Edwin Encarnacion ($5.175 million expiring), Scott Downs ($4.0 million expiring), Jason Frasor ($2.6 million expiring), Kevin Gregg ($2.0 million expiring—although Jays hold an expensive option on him) and John Buck ($2.0 million expiring) have expiring contracts. I believe Brian Tallet will also be expiring at $2.0 million.
All in all, that gives the Jays about $35 million in expiring contracts (counting Ryan in the mix).
Much of that money will go towards pay raises expected for the likes of Ricky Romero, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind and Shaun Marcum.
The Jays finished last season with an 85-77 record, along with having one of the lowest payrolls in the game.
With new manager John Farrell at the helm, the Jays look to be gaining more respectability from around the majors. There’s actually some optimism now surrounding this Jays team.
Rogers should be investing all the money they can to put this team over the top. To do so, I think the Jays should invest in two All-Star players: Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre.
I’ll start with Beltre first. Beltre is easily one of the best all-around third basemen in the majors. His combination of bat skills and glove skills leaves him in a class alone at the top of the third baseman free agent crop this offseason.
Having played on the same team as Farrell coached, Beltre would have a great idea of what his philosophies are and how well he can run a team. Beltre finished last season with a .321 avg along with 28 HR, 102 RBI and, most notably according to Farrell, a .365 OBP along with 49 doubles thanks to Fenway’s Green Monster.
I would love to peg Beltre in the No. 5 slot in the Jays lineup.
As for Crawford, he’s the epitome of what the Jays have been missing since the days of a healthy Shannon Stewart.
Crawford’s combination of defence, batting and his best attribute, his blazing speed on the basepaths, leaves him unmatched in the left field free agent crop.
Crawford would bring a newfound optimism at the top of the Jays order, getting on base and getting around the bases easier than anyone the Jays have ever had since Rickey Henderson.
Carl finished the season last year with a .307 avg along with 19 HRs and 90 RBI to go along with 47 stolen bases and 13 triples.
I would love to peg Crawford in the No. 1 slot in the Jays lineup:
Crawford/Yunel Escobar/Bautista/Wells/Beltre/Lind/Hill/Travis Snider/Jose Molina.
Yes, this may be a bit too much to ask, but you have to aim high to get results. I’m not expecting both of them to sign, or either of them quite frankly, but the reality of the situation is the Jays need to target these players if they hope to do anything this year.
This could be the year to make the playoffs. The Rays are trying to minimize payroll, the Yankees are aging fast and appear to only have CC Sabathia as their only reliable starter going into the season next year, and the Red Sox are not getting any younger either, although they stand the best chance next year of having success.
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The moment after Brian Wilson threw the final pitch of the 2010 World Series, 142 Major League Baseball players officially became free agents.
The first champagne cork hadn’t been popped in the San Francisco Giants locker room and approximately 19 percent of opening day rosters didn’t have a contractual agreement for the 2011 season.
Welcome to the MLB Hot Stove season.
We would wait for the Giants to fly back home to San Francisco and hold their championship parade, but we simply don’t have time to do that.
Clubs have five days to exclusively negotiate with their own free agents before the bidding is opened up to the rest of the league.
What does that mean precisely?
When Monday morning arrives next week, Cliff Lee can officially bolt Texas if he chooses to do so.
To prepare for the free agent bonanza that will be upon us shortly, Bleacher Report will take a look at many of the names that could be on the move.
Today, we look at 20 of the “top” hitters on the free agent market.
There’s one distinction in play: This is a list of names, not a ranking, which is why they will not be numbered from 1-20.
Yes, rankings are fun. Debating who’s the “best” at anything provides a great conversation point.
But presenting this discussion in that form would simply be an insult to your intelligence. Why?
Well, let’s say that the free agent market this year is rather feeble, at best.
There’s a handful of intriguing names, and then it drops off rather quickly. Getting to 20 quality names on this year’s list wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and therefore I think you’ll be able to discern rather quickly who is potentially an impact bat and who isn’t.
With that in mind, here’s 20 hitters who are (or could be) free agents this winter.
Recently, The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo entertained the idea that Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka could generate some serious trade interest if the Sox chose to put him on the block.
He cited an informal poll of baseball execs as the basis of his claims that moving Daisuke could generate a lot of interest among the baseball community
This is certainly not a new idea, as his inconsistency on the mound and unwillingness to adapt to a more aggressive style of pitching has frustrated many Red Sox fans.
Yet the talent is definitely there, and a change of scenery could be all it takes for Daisuke to finally figure it out on the major league level.
If the Red Sox really were going to seriously consider trading the Dice-Man, which teams would be lining up for him, and what could the Red Sox expect to get in return?
One thing’s for certain: The Red Sox would likely have to eat a portion of his remaining two years and $20 million to move him.
The 2010 World Series is not over yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to talk about players who could be changing teams this offseason.
Notable playoff players such as Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee, Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth and Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford all could start with different teams next April on opening day 2011.
Free agency and trades make the hot stove season very exciting, and this winter is sure to see major players switch cities.
Next, we will look at 10 significant players who are free agents or may likely be traded this winter.
This year’s free-agent class is fairly weak overall. This is true of the available outfielders as well. There is a lot of good talent at the top of the class, but from there, it declines fairly quickly.
With many teams looking to fill a hole in their outfield, you can expect a few bidding wars to occur over some of these players.
The World Series hasn’t even started yet and already MLB rumors about trades and free agents are heating up. Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee is once again at the forefront of the offseason rumors as he will be a free agent this offseason, and many teams are lining up to get his signature.
Besides Lee, this years crop of free agents is one of the weaker ones we have seen over the past few years.
In recent years, a weak group of free agents has led to teams overspending for mediocre talent. However, due to downfall of the economy many teams have less money and will be less willing to spend big on players.
This could lead to more players taking one year contracts to wait another season to test the market, which will lead to more players switching teams.
While it is still early, everything is speculation at this point. Here are some educated guesses on where 10 players will end up next season.