2014 Offseason

[donaldson79]

This from Olney on Gattis:

Evan Gattis: He caught a lot with the Atlanta Braves last season, but let's face it, the reason why the Braves have been talking with other teams about possible trades is because Gattis is now widely regarded as an AL type of player, a DH who can occasionally step in at catcher.

Gattis is arguably the most attractive DH candidate available other than Victor Martinez, because of his two years of service time and the relatively cheap cost attached to that. He also is one of the best pure power hitters available: In his first 723 at-bats in the majors, Gattis has 43 homers, along with 38 doubles and a triple, and his coverage of inside fastballs, with his tremendous bat speed, is legendary.

The Braves are asking for an enormous return for Gattis, rival officials say. There is some concern among rival evaluators about Gattis' hyper-aggressive approach at the plate. He averaged 3.55 pitches per plate appearance last season, which ranks 221st among 252 hitters with at least 325 plate appearances last season, and incredibly, he has exactly as many walks as homers in his career.

 

[jta4437]

This from Olney on Gattis:

Evan Gattis: He caught a lot with the Atlanta Braves last season, but let's face it, the reason why the Braves have been talking with other teams about possible trades is because Gattis is now widely regarded as an AL type of player, a DH who can occasionally step in at catcher.

Gattis is arguably the most attractive DH candidate available other than Victor Martinez, because of his two years of service time and the relatively cheap cost attached to that. He also is one of the best pure power hitters available: In his first 723 at-bats in the majors, Gattis has 43 homers, along with 38 doubles and a triple, and his coverage of inside fastballs, with his tremendous bat speed, is legendary.

The Braves are asking for an enormous return for Gattis, rival officials say. There is some concern among rival evaluators about Gattis' hyper-aggressive approach at the plate. He averaged 3.55 pitches per plate appearance last season, which ranks 221st among 252 hitters with at least 325 plate appearances last season, and incredibly, he has exactly as many walks as homers in his career.

In years past the lack of discipline would be an issue, but with the power outages of recent seasons, pure power is at a premium right now, so Gattis will probably fetch a solid package, but his inability to play a position adequately also works against him

Braves will probably end up having to settle for something lesser than they originally hoped, but still considerably better than they would've gotten in years past

 

[jta4437]

One low risk/high reward arm I'd take a 1-2 year flier on is Brett Anderson

 

[saddles]

This from Olney on Gattis:

Evan Gattis: He caught a lot with the Atlanta Braves last season, but let's face it, the reason why the Braves have been talking with other teams about possible trades is because Gattis is now widely regarded as an AL type of player, a DH who can occasionally step in at catcher.

Gattis is arguably the most attractive DH candidate available other than Victor Martinez, because of his two years of service time and the relatively cheap cost attached to that. He also is one of the best pure power hitters available: In his first 723 at-bats in the majors, Gattis has 43 homers, along with 38 doubles and a triple, and his coverage of inside fastballs, with his tremendous bat speed, is legendary.

The Braves are asking for an enormous return for Gattis, rival officials say. There is some concern among rival evaluators about Gattis' hyper-aggressive approach at the plate. He averaged 3.55 pitches per plate appearance last season, which ranks 221st among 252 hitters with at least 325 plate appearances last season, and incredibly, he has exactly as many walks as homers in his career.

I never cared for judging hitters by how many pitches they see. I would rather judge them by what they do with the pitches they see. I have never followed this particular player so maybe he isn't doing enough, but I wouldn't judge him strictly on the number of pitches that he has seen.

 

[donaldson79]

In years past the lack of discipline would be an issue, but with the power outages of recent seasons, pure power is at a premium right now, so Gattis will probably fetch a solid package, but his inability to play a position adequately also works against him

Braves will probably end up having to settle for something lesser than they originally hoped, but still considerably better than they would've gotten in years past

I agree. And since he'd definitely be the back-up to Chirinos and catching 40 games or so, it shouldn't be that huge a problem.

Besides, we're in need of some punch from someone.

Depends on what they want in return.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

 

[saddles]

From the DMN:

" The Rangers appear willing to let LHP Neal Cotts walk away in free agency. Daniels said the club does not plan on spending money on the bullpen, particularly early in the offseason. If Cotts remains on the market late in the winter, it’s possible the club could consider him. As of now, the pool for bullpen lefties consists of Robbie Ross, Alex Claudio and Michael Kirkman."

And, then there is this that comes as no surprise:

"While Daniels conceded the whole free agent/trade market for catchers is quite thin Tuesday, he all but ruled out the possibility that the 21-year-old Alfaro will figure into the Rangers’ catching situation in 2015.
“Timeline-wise, I think he’s still a year or two years away,” Daniels said during a break in the MLB General Managers meetings at the Arizona Biltmore. “There is a lot of growth going on, but there is still more that is needed.I think we need to consider how we fill catching for another year or couple of years.”

 

[saddles]

Grant: Buried treasure or trade? How Rangers should tackle free agent pitching | Dallas Morning News

"Unless they move a big contract commitment or two in a salary-dump trade, they won’t bid on the premier pitching free agents who come with more predictability, but also at extravagantly high prices. Nor are they inclined to “push all their chips in,” as general manager Jon Daniels described it, for one of the handful of impact starting pitchers who are a year from free agency.

And, if it’s not too much trouble, the Rangers would love for one of the pitchers to fit into the No. 2 or No. 3 spot in the rotation where at least 200 innings of work are almost a requirement.

Where’s that leave them?

In a very narrow channel."

 

[donaldson79]

I'd be very surprised to see us move EA this winter unless someone knocks our socks off with an offer of offerings. And that's unlikely to happen since he's coming off such a poor season and his bloated contract kicks in next year.

From everything I've read it seems anyone interested has the intend of fleecing the Rangers due to those two negatives, and I just don't see us thinking we're in a "must do" situation at all.

Besides that, we really need to see how Profar is, how EA responds early in the year, and the growth we see outta Sardinas this winter.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I'd be very surprised to see us move EA this winter unless someone knocks our socks off with an offer of offerings. And that's unlikely to happen since he's coming off such a poor season and his bloated contract kicks in next year.

From everything I've read it seems anyone interested has the intend of fleecing the Rangers due to those two negatives, and I just don't see us thinking we're in a "must do" situation at all.

Besides that, we really need to see how Profar is, how EA responds early in the year, and the growth we see outta Sardinas this winter.

With as many injuries as the Rangers had last year, I think they shouldn't make any major trades till the trade deadline. This team could be pretty damn good as is if healthy. Obviously, they have to go out and sign a catcher, starting P and maybe a stick, but I wouldn't go trading EA yet....

 

[romeo212000]

With as many injuries as the Rangers had last year, I think they shouldn't make any major trades till the trade deadline. This team could be pretty damn good as is if healthy. Obviously, they have to go out and sign a catcher, starting P and maybe a stick, but I wouldn't go trading EA yet....

I don't see them doing a lot of signing. They'll probably look for a backup for Chirinos. They'll need to make a trade for pitching because I don't see them investing in the FA pitching market heavily. My guess is if they do it might be for someone like Santana.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I'd be very surprised to see us move EA this winter unless someone knocks our socks off with an offer of offerings. And that's unlikely to happen since he's coming off such a poor season and his bloated contract kicks in next year.

From everything I've read it seems anyone interested has the intend of fleecing the Rangers due to those two negatives, and I just don't see us thinking we're in a "must do" situation at all.

Besides that, we really need to see how Profar is, how EA responds early in the year, and the growth we see outta Sardinas this winter.

Agree. You really do not want to trade a player when other teams will treat Andrus as one who is stock down right now. And we do need to make sure how Profar comes out of all of this. Plus I am interested to see how Andrus responds this season.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I agree with you UK and Romeo. We need to not get carried away with ourselves. We need to let the dust settle and see what shape we are in. There is a nice nucleus with the possible exceptions that you mentioned Romeo in another catcher and adding a MORP. See if we bounce back with a healthier team and with our young guys who were forced into action sooner that planned now that they have some MLB time under their belt.

 

[scotsman1948]

I don't see them doing a lot of signing. They'll probably look for a backup for Chirinos. They'll need to make a trade for pitching because I don't see them investing in the FA pitching market heavily. My guess is if they do it might be for someone like Santana.

i know you are probably right about this but it will still leave a sour taste in my mouth if we do nothing but we are bottom dwellers in the West again.

 

[donaldson79]

With as many injuries as the Rangers had last year, I think they shouldn't make any major trades till the trade deadline. This team could be pretty damn good as is if healthy. Obviously, they have to go out and sign a catcher, starting P and maybe a stick, but I wouldn't go trading EA yet....

Exactly.

We've got a whole lot more questions than we have answers for the 2015 season, without creating another "I sure hope this works out" scenario which we have damn near all over the diamond.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Exactly.

We've got a whole lot more questions than we have answers for the 2015 season, without creating another "I sure hope this works out" scenario which we have damn near all over the diamond.

Sounds like computer programming where you are suppose to fix one error at a time then rerun the program. Otherwise you may create more issues and not be sure which correction should have been made.

 

[saddles]

Here is Scott Lucas' list of Texas's Full-Season Minor League Starting Pitchers of 2014

Scott says of the list, "This isn't a pure performance or prospect list. I take every player's stats, prospect status, usage, level, age and my personal observations, and I arrange the players as I see fit."

1. LHP Andrew Faulkner
Age 21.9
High-A and AA
135.0 IP, 2.73 ERA, 2.90 FIP, 0.7% HR, 9% BB+HBP, 24% SO

2. RHP Alex Gonzalez
Age 22.6
High-A and AA
138.7 IP, 2.66 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.0% HR, 9% BB+HBP, 19% SO

3. RHP Alec Asher
Age 22.9
AA
154.0 IP, 3.80 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 2.9% HR, 6% BB+HBP, 19% SO

4. RHP Jerad Eickhoff
Age 24.1
AA
154.3 IP, 4.08 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 2.7% HR, 9% BB+HBP, 23% SO

5. LHP Frank Lopez
Age 20.5
Low-A (and rookie ball on rehab)
79.3 IP, 2.72 ERA, 3.37 FIP, 1.5% HR, 9% BB+HBP, 26% SO

6. RHP Luke Jackson
Age 23
AA and AAA
123.3 IP, 5.40 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 2.6% HR, 11% BB+HBP, 24% SO

7. RHP Tyler Smith
Age 22.5
Low-A
125.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 1.6% HR, 7% BB+HBP, 23% SO

He also gives a one paragraph write up on each that I will add if anyone is interested regarding any particular pitcher.

 

[romeo212000]

i know you are probably right about this but it will still leave a sour taste in my mouth if we do nothing but we are bottom dwellers in the West again.

A lot of things would have to go really bad for that to happen. Like losing $70 million in payroll at one time to the DL for the season.

 

[darrylgann]

With as many injuries as the Rangers had last year, I think they shouldn't make any major trades till the trade deadline. This team could be pretty damn good as is if healthy. Obviously, they have to go out and sign a catcher, starting P and maybe a stick, but I wouldn't go trading EA yet....

Totally agree here. Should be an interesting trade deadline seeing how both Elvis and Profar are doing respectively. Of course, a trade of one of these could happen, as some have said earlier, around this time next year. Hopefully from a position of strength.

 

[darrylgann]

W@mlbtraderumors: Yasmani Tomas Deal Appears*Imminent Yasmany Tomas Deal Appears Imminent ? MLB Trade Rumors