Matt Breen

Daniel Norris is a guy I would have some interest in as a post-hype type arm that could be available. As I recall, he was the centerpiece in the David Price deal. He has struggled with his command but working with Derek Johnson may help to alleviate some of those issues. Would not even begin to know what the Tigers would be looking for but would a trade from depth (OF - Keon Broxton, Corey Ray-type) be enough? I would certainly do either of those players straight up as I believe Norris has the stuff to be a solid SP if he could ever control it. Norris dealt with a lot of injury issues as well last year, could explain some of the control issues. He was very highly regarded coming through the minors though. Definitely an interesting name as a buy-low candidate. I've always been fan of Norris. Lots of positives about the guy - but he's just never put it together. Consistent control is really the thing he's lacking. He can look like a top-of-the-rotation guy when things are going right. He looked pretty good in 2016 - then struggled with injuries (again) last year. Put up some ugly numbers. If the Brewers thought he was worth it - I'd love to get the guy. Left-handed. Still got four years of control left. Will be 25 in April. Might be a good low-buy option.

Maitan has signed with the Angels. He gets an additional $2.2M. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/angels-sign-kevin-maitan-former-braves-prospect.html

Mikolas was a guy that I thought Milwaukee could have gone after - a young (only 29), mid-priced starter type who could (potentially) fill one of our rotation slots. Mikolas was not good on his initial run through the majors (2012-14 - only 91 innings with a 5.00+ ERA), but has been great in Japan for the last three years. Obviously, there's more than just his stats (which were great in Japan), so we'll see if he can translate his success to the majors. The price wasn't bad - I thought he'd get a little less - but he must have drawn some decent interest.

The Rangers landed one of the best relievers available by signing Mike Minor. Initial report is that it is 3 years, $28M million and a 10 team no trade clause. We will update as more details get added. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/rangers-agree-to-terms-with-mike-minor.html After missing all of 2016, Minor was outstanding last year as a reliever - sporting a 2.55 ERA in 77 innings with 88 strikeouts for Kansas City.

Jeffress was a pretty good pitcher from 2014-16. Sub-3.00 ERAs, bWAR of 0.9, 1.5 and 1.8. That's really quite good. I realize he was not good for Texas last year, but he was decent (not great) once he got to Milwaukee. I guess a lot of people just think the guy is going to suck, but I'm willing to roll the dice with the guy. It's only been a year since he was a good player. And if he falters, we don't have to pick up his options. I also think the club likes that Jeffress has closing experience - should they ever need to turn to him. As for Hughes, I'm surprised we didn't keep him as well, but such is life. The guy was a solid, if unspectacular, player. Perhaps the team viewed him and Jeffress as too similar - heavy ground ball inducing hurlers.

That review was written prior to the 2016 season - two full seasons ago. Current review: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017?list=mil Bickford can hit 95 mph with a four-seam fastball and miss barrels with a low-90s two-seamer that features plenty of sink and should net him more ground balls as he learns to better locate it down in the zone. This was written prior to the 2017 season. What the 2018 version will be is another question. Bickford has had sudden drops (and increases) in his velocity over his career. A review from Eric Logenhagen at Fangraphs in late 2016 had him operating in the 88-92 mph range much of the season. https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/scouting-phil-bickford-conundrum/

Sounds like Otani is focusing on the west coast teams. I hope he ends up in Seattle or Oakland or San Diego. I'd hate to give the Dodgers such a premium talent.

My guess is that the club viewed Hughes and Jeffress as similar pitchers - both extreme ground ball types. They saw Hughes as older and more expensive, and went with Jeffress. Hughes was perfectly fine last year, but the team probably feels Jeffress offers more upside - remember, he had sub-ERAs of 3.00 from 2014-16, and worked as our closer. Again, the team probably liked that they felt okay with giving him the job if there was an injury. Either way, I thought Hughes did a decent job and I'm a little surprised he was non-tendered.

Latest numbers after Vogt and Jeffress agreed to deals - and Hughes was non-tendered. There's only 25 guys listed here, but with Nelson starting on the IR, another reliever is likely to be added to this. Asteriks (*) are arbitration eligible players - salary estimates are taken from MLB Trade Rumors website. [pre]C Manny Pina 0.55 C Stephen Vogt 3.065 1B Jesus Aguilar 0.55 1B Eric Thames 5.0 2B Jonathan Villa* 3.0 SS Orlando Arcia 0.55 3B Travis Shaw 0.55 LF Ryan Braun 19.0 ($4M deferred) RF Domingo Santa 0.55 CF Keon Broxton 0.55 OF Lewis Brinson 0.55 OF Brett Phillips 0.55 INF Hernan Perez* 2.2 SP Chase Anderson 4.75 SP Jimmy Nelson* 4.7 SP Zach Davies 0.55 SP Brandon Woodr 0.55 S/R Brent Suter 0.55 S/R Josh Hader 0.55 RP Jeremy Jeffress 1.75 RP Corey Knebel* 4.1 RP Jacob Barnes 0.55 RP Oliver Drake 0.55 RP Eric Sogard 2.4 SP Junior Guerra 0.55[/pre] Total: $58.125M

Yes. And guys like Guerra could easily be replaced with other minor leaguers who will make similar pay. It should be noted that the Brewers have had in the past an incentive program of sorts - rewarding the pre-arby guys with some extra money for performing well. None of that stuff is in here.

This guy seems to think otherwise Arby contracts are NOT fully guaranteed. Players on arbitration contracts who are cut on or before the 16th day of Spring Training are owed 30 days' termination pay (based on the prorated version of his agreed-upon arbitration salary). A player cut between the 16th day and the end of Spring Training is owed 45 days' termination pay (based on the prorated version of his agreed-upon arbitration salary). The arbitration salary becomes guaranteed if the player is on the 25-man roster when the season begins. http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/non-guaranteed-contract So if we cut Vogt, we will owe him roughly either 1/6 of his salary (around $500,000) or 1/4 of his salary (around $800,000) - depending on when we cut him.

Billy Mack: "Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!" Role of a lifetime for Bill Nighy.

Oh my, I forgot Die Hard. My son and I watch that every year.

Hearing the the Stanton to Giants deal is agreed upon by the clubs - just now they have to see if Stanton will agree to the deal. The deal is a previously discussed - Panik, Beede and Shaw for Stanton + cash.

I'm betting that Trent Grisham is better than Trent Clark.

The Brewers may very well do this, but I'm still betting that they bring in someone. One thing that a mediocre pitcher can do is provide stability (if that makes sense). There is some value (not a ton, but it's there) in a guy who reliability takes the ball every fifth day, tosses 5-6 innings and keeps his ERA around league average (major league starters had a 4.49 ERA last season). That's why I've tossed out the idea of guys like Lackey and Dickey - and even Fiers (although his ERA was not even close to league average). It's better having an RA Dickey with his 4.26 ERA out there 32 times than trotting out Wily Peralta, Tommy Milone, and so forth. Ultimately, the key is you want someone who is durable (meaning they stay healthy), but can still pitch okay. They might not be pretty, but they get their job done. You can risk going with a younger guy - say Wilkerson - but there's a big risk that he just is awful. The worst is mediocre and unreliable - like Garza. Of course, any of these guys can get hurt or fall off a cliff. But there's an inherent risk with any athlete that that kind of stuff is going to happen. You just have to live with it - and plan for what happens when it does. I'd rather get a guy with some upside - such as Chatwood - but there will be competition for him. And it will cost more years and money.

Latest salary update. [pre]C Manny Pina 0.55 C Stephen Vogt 3.065 1B Jesus Aguilar 0.55 1B Eric Thames 5.0 2B Jonathan Villa* 3.0 SS Orlando Arcia 0.55 3B Travis Shaw 0.55 LF Ryan Braun 19.0 ($4M deferred) RF Domingo Santa 0.55 CF Keon Broxton 0.55 OF Lewis Brinson 0.55 OF Brett Phillips 0.55 INF Hernan Perez* 2.2 SP Chase Anderson 4.75 SP Jimmy Nelson* 4.7 SP Zach Davies 0.55 SP Brandon Woodr 0.55 S/R Brent Suter 0.55 S/R Josh Hader 0.55 RP Jeremy Jeffres* 2.6 RP Jared Hughes* 2.2 RP Corey Knebel* 4.1 RP Jacob Barnes 0.55 RP Oliver Drake 0.55 RP Eric Sogard 2.4 SP Junior Guerra 0.55[/pre] TOTAL: $61.265M

"Elf", "Christmas Story" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (not the horrible Jim Carrey version), "It's a Wonderful Life", "Love, Actually". Usually "Rudolph" as well. Those are probably the ones we never miss during the Holiday season. My wife loves Christmas movies, so we'll watch others as well, but - thankfully - not all those Hallmark movies.

He might be a victim of the new baseball. He's kind of always lived on the edge - and giving up an extra few feet has simply translated into too many extra HRs.

I'm not saying we get Fiers, but I do think this is the kind of guy that the team will get. A back end guy with a low salary that they hope will rebound a bit or will just eat innings at an averagish rate. A guy like Lackey or RA Dickey -- nothing special, but just someone to hold the fort down for a year (or until Nelson returns to Burnes is ready for a promotion). As for Fiers, his peripherals have tumbled steadily the last two years. Always a red flag for a guy with mediocre stuff. His fastball velocity is still the same as his days with the Brewers (which is not anything special). The big thing I saw looking at his stats was that he has cut back on throwing his four seam fastball. He used to throw it 55% or more of the time while in Milwaukee. In Houston, he only throws it 30%. Instead, he seems to have gone with his change up and sinker more - throwing the latter 19% of the time last year - and less than 5% while in Milwaukee. Perhaps there's something to be salvaged there. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7754&position=P

I guess I don't see the 'east coast bias' thing here. Yes, he probably is hoping the Yankee-related news helps with his clicks. But I don't see it as 'bias' or anything. In reality, the Yankees are probably the biggest force in baseball. He says that they have spoken to the Marlins about Stanton. I mean, should he NOT report what he has heard? To speculate how a deal would work isn't outrageous. Ultimately, Heyman is just saying that if the Yankees are serious about Stanton, they need to move some salaries in the deal - which means they include better prospects in the return as well. He mentions 'some combination of Jacoby Ellsbury, Chase Headley and maybe Brett Gardner' would need to be involved. And he stresses that Ellsbury (who's owed around $90M over the next four years) is hard to move because of his no-trade deal. That leaves Gardner (who is not a 'bad' contract) and Headley - who are due $24.5M next year - plus a $2M buyout for Gardner. Taking back $25M in salaries in 2018 might be too much for Florida, but there are ways to mitigate that. It's not hard to see Florida being able to flip Gardner (and unload his salary) for something decent. Headley would be tougher. But even if you're left covering only $5-8M or whatever of those two salaries - it might work for Florida. I acknowledge that people will write stuff that gets themselves coverage - and that the coast markets, which are bigger, tend to get more written about their teams - but to just say everything is 'east coast bias' just seems to be stretching it. Heyman covered the Yankees as a beat writer for a long time. He has interest, sources and a following from that market. If he really got wind that the Yankees are asking about Stanton - he's foolish not to report it.

They've got one on their roster right now that was due over $100 million going into the 2017 season. Exactly. And they don't want a second one. Putting $50M into a pair of aging players isn't the best strategy.

Yelich is a guy who could really thrive outside of Marlins park. The last three years, his OPS at home is .763. On the road it is .867.

One thing about the A's is that they may put Franklin Baretto - their top prospect - in CF. Of course, they could move him to a corner spot as well - or he could go to 2B. They also have Dustin Fowler, who has played some CF. But he could easily be shifted to a corner spot.

Manaea is an interesting guy with a lot of potential. He's had some minor injuries, and his numbers aren't great - just average. But at 26 (in Feb.), he's young and got 5 years of control. Thus, he'll cost a lot. Not Christ Archer cost - but a lot. The thing is that Billy Beane is often willing to deal anyone for what he likes - so it can't hurt to ask. I'm guessing he'd want major league ready players. The A's have terrible outfielders, so there might be a match there. Would Phillips be enough to build a deal around? Broxton would need something more to the mix. The A's have a lot of young (and unproven) starters - so they may not want to deal Manaea. He's probably their best pitcher (with Gray traded).