Hate to trade Salazar unless the trade is for a big, big bat. Not too many guys throw 97-98.

TFIR is absolutely right about Schwarber, whiff machine. Neither he nor Baez are on base guys like I like.

But I have to be honest, I remember when the Cubs first brought Schwarber up a couple years ago and he murdered us at home in a series. I said who the hell is this f'n guy. Started calling him Babe Shwarber.

I have to admit, I wouldn't mind adding him. ... My hipocracy knows no bounds.

Salazar and Kipnis for Schwarber and Baez as principles of a deal would not upset me. I'm sure Lindor would love playing with his old pal. And by all reports Schwarber has lost a lot of weight, been living in gym, and looks like a Greek god now. He's working on becoming more of a complete hitter and cutting down on K's. I'd take a shot. We need a big bat and have missed out on the best guys now.

I pity the fool who charges the mound on an Indians pitcher this year. Lindor is in Tokyo studying Aikido.

Jason Kipnis - 2B - Indians

Chris Cotillo of SB Nation hears there is "traction" between the Mets and Indians on a Jason Kipnis trade.

The two sides have engaged in serious discussions this week at the Winter Meetings and the heat probably turned up even further when Ian Kinsler went to the Angels on Wednesday night. Kinsler had been a target of the Mets, but they were on his no-trade list and he told Tigers GM Al Avila that he would only accept a move to Anaheim.

Kipnis struggled to a .232/.291/.414 batting line in 2017 with Cleveland, but the 30-year-old second baseman put up an .817 OPS in 297 games between 2015-2016.

I hate to think I may end up on Rusty's Deputy Downer list, but as I look at the "prospects" (suspects more like it) that the Cardinals gave up for Ozuna I am even more disappointed that we didn't get in on that.

Their #6 overall prospect was the best prospect they gave up in deal, and he is nothing special.

More or less I'm saying we could have acquired Ozuna without giving up Mejia or McKenzie. And not sure why we didn't jump on that. Ozuna is under contract cheaply for 2 more years.

You a downer ? Sure you jest ! Just gets tiring to hear people complain about a guy signed to a minor league, make good spring training invite contract.

I jest. I do. I'm a jester. It's what I do.

And I totally understand your viewpoint.

But what the hell did we re-sign Michael Martinez for?

As far as the Ozuna trade. St Louis wanted minor league pitching. Who would you have given up ?

As far as the Ozuna trade. St Louis wanted minor league pitching. Who would you have given up ?

Well McKenzie is top notch prospect. Othewise we have a couple very talented strike-throwers who are moving along rapidly: Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale, who don't project as no. 1's but have a good shot at slotted into the middle of a rotation. For both their velocity is not top notch but have great command and some secondary pitches of quality.

Is this the best return the Marlins have received in a trade so far?
Yeah, I think so. Pretty easily, in fact. Stanton was a salary dump, and Gordon was somewhere in the middle of a salary dump and a legit trade. This one clearly has financial implications, but it's the closest we've seen to "fair value" for a hitter so far. Best of the worst can still be bad, though, and this probably is.

Is Sierra going to hit enough to avoid being a bench player?
I think just enough, and maybe he profiles best as a fourth outfielder. He doesn't have to hit much, however, because of his arm, speed and glove all being plus. The Jarrod Dyson comp is easy, but if he's a semblance of what he provided Seattle in 2017, that's a good player.

Can Alcantara stick in the rotation?
I don't think so. I don't think the breaking-ball is consistent enough, and I don't think he's going to throw enough strikes. Many in the industry are higher on him, and I do get it; it's a big fastball and the change can make hitters look foolish. I just think it profiles much better in relief.

What do we need to know about Gallen?
I like Gallen a lot, more than the aforementioned industry might. He has three above-average pitches, and all of them are located well. What you see is what you get and what you see is a fourth starter, but a fourth starter is a very nice thing to have.

How about Castano?
Castano is the player I know the least about, but based on reports from those I spoke with, he's a throw-in. He's another strike-thrower, but doesn't have an out pitch, and probably profiles best as an innings-eater out of the bullpen, if not roster fodder at this point.

Where do these players rank in the Marlins system?
I would put all three in the Marlins top 10, and I'd probably put Sierra in the top four right now. Alcantara and Gallen will both go in the back-end of the system. It's getting better, but any legit prospects they acquire during this fire sale are going to rank high because there was so much room to grow.

The Marlins seemingly made their best deal of the winter, bolstering their farm system with a few interesting players. Sierra and Alcantara are the headliners, and each has a considerable amount of upside and risk to their games. How those two develop will dictate if the Marlins look smart or silly in about three to five years' time.

Listened to an interview with Scott Boras during the meetings.

Bottom line the whole Otani and Stanton things brought the entire industry to a halt for 2 weeks RIGHT before the meetings. Teams had to see how those shook out before they could even think to the next step in a trade or FA signing.

That killed the Winter Meetings. Most boring one in a long time.

Alllll those other deals will get done, but just spread out over the rest of the winter.

MLB Network did little but interview managers and GMs. They ended up looking a bit silly for promoting the Winter Meetings so heavily.

As an article pointed out, the EE deal got done on a cell phone between acts of the Little Mermaid - and way after the Winter Meetings.

Hard to face it but it's still 3 and 1/2 months before opening day. Looong way to go.

I'm gonna say right handed, very athletic option for the OF. Potential alternative to Austin Jackson.

Melvin Upton - OF - Indians

Indians signed OF Melvin Upton to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports says Upton will earn $1.5 million if he's in the majors. Upton, 33, hit only .244/.306/.333 over 12 minor league games in 2017 while battling injuries.

With Michael Brantley (ankle) unlikely to be ready for Opening Day and Jason Kipnis apparently on the trade block, Upton should have a shot to make the team.

rusty2 wrote:As far as the Ozuna trade. St Louis wanted minor league pitching. Who would you have given up ?

We are deep in starting pitching in minors. I think Merritt would have been more attractive than anybody Cards game up. He's already had MLB success. Could have easily included a guy like Bieber, Civale, or Merryweather.

I just think we could have easily beat the Cards offer without hurting ourselves any. Dealing from areas of depth and strength. Minor league pitching is definitely one of our areas of depth and strength.

Merritt is an odd man out for us. Also on the 40 man rotation we also have Merryweather, Morimando, Plutko ... and Cody Anderson is returning from injury next season.

At some point we have to do something with some of these guys. We already have 6 starters on MLB 25 man roster without any of the guys I just mentioned.

We are deep in the middle infield in the minors too, could have easily included a SS like Chang or Castro. that would have been attractive. Hell, I would have included Bradley in a deal for Ozuna too. I would have given more than Cards did. We're talking about a guy who became one of the top 25 players in all of baseball last year. Signed for cheap and under team control for a while. This is exactly the kind of guy we should be going for.

I would have talked about any prospect not named Mejia, McKenzie, or Allen.

Hey HB - you know far more about those Tribe pitchers than I do. But we both know TOOLS blind teams.

Alcantara has that 100 MPH fastball and Sierra (I also listened to raves on MLB Network) has crazy speed. This deal was really all about Alcantara.

The St. Louis Cardinals opted to bring right-handed pitching prospect Sandy Alcantara straight to the big leagues from Double-A Springfield in 2017, jumping Triple-A Memphis and stashing him in their bullpen for the season’s final month.

There, the flamethrower made his debut and appeared eight times in relief, pitching to no record and a 4.32 ERA over 8.1 innings. Before the call-up, Alcantara had been a starter in the Texas League, where he logged 125.1 innings over 25 games (22 starts), finishing 7-5 with a 4.31 ERA and 125 hits (9.0 H/9) and 54 walks (3.9 BB/9) against 106 strikeouts (7.6 K/9) in that span for Springfield.

After the season ended, the St. Louis Cardinals opted to send Sandy Alcantara to pitch for the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League in October and November, and it’s there that Baseball Census observed him throw several times against some of the best prospects in baseball. Long term, Alcantara boasts some of the most electric and powerful stuff in all of baseball, if only the 22-year-old (DOB: September 7, 1995) can harness it well enough to remain in the rotation as he reaches the big leagues. Should he fall short of that, he seems poised to take on a late-inning bullpen role with a power arsenal that’ll include an impressive triple-digit fastball. Below, you’ll find our full Sandy Alcantara scouting report from our observations during the AFL, including pitch notes, game video, tool grades, projections, and more on the St. Louis Cardinals prospect.

Sandy Alcantara Scouting Report, St. Louis Cardinals — 2017
Dates observed in 2017: Arizona Fall League

TOOL (FV)NOTES & COMMENTS
Four-Seam Fastball (70)

Most impressive fastball we observed at AFL this year; easy, easy access to velocity. Ball explodes out of his hand. Typically dead straight with little by way of arm-side run and occasional modest sink. No problem reaching back to hit upper 90s, and velocity gives margin of error when he misses spots, but command needs to improve to establish the pitch early. Nevertheless, legitimate double-plus pitch with impressive velocity and real chance for more to come considering age and notably lean frame upon which to build. Velocity: 93-98, T 99.

Two-Seam Fastball (60) Sinker;
exceptional arm-side life with hard downward fade; tough for RHH to square up running hard inside. Command problems here as with the four-seamer; he will overthrow it, losing control of it arm-side at times, with other offerings flattening out in the zone when thrown too hard. Exceptional pitch when thrown right, though; late movement, exploding velocity with life. With command improvements, could become consistently effective against LHH on glove side. Velocity: 92-96, T 97.

Changeup (55)
Throws it hard; looks like a straight change with tumble and some late arm-side run. Tunnels well with his fastball/sinker combo; arm action sells pitch and looks identical to fastball out of the hand. Can sometimes throw it too hard, lacking speed differential to fastball, but even when thrown hard it doesn’t lose much life. Control acceptable right now, generally living in the lower half of the zone — but as with the rest of his arsenal, command must improve if it’s to be a go-to pitch, particularly against LHH. Velocity: 85-89, T 91.

Curveball (45)
Very hard and very sharp, with a short 12-to-6 hump. Inconsistent feel for it down in the zone; lacks side-to-side feel for it more than just getting it over for a strike in multiple AFL looks. Even so, curve is a workable off-speed look when it’s down with late break. As with the changeup, he’ll overthrow it at times; on curve, overthrow manifests itself as flattened out slider/cutter with little tilt and less hump. Can bleed into slider too often; may be worth picking/improving one of his two breaking balls and scrapping the other. Velocity: 81-83, T 84.
Slider (45) Appears to be a relatively new offering in his arsenal. Throws it hard (actually, could probably throw it a bit harder), with 11-to-5 tilt late to the plate. Good extension out front and can get it out to his glove-side with tight spin and late break. As with the curve, lacks more nuanced side-to-side feel for the pitch and must rely on just getting it over with late life and velocity to work. Will get around the pitch and cast it at times, robbing it of depth. Can bleed into curveball too often; may be worth picking/improving one of his two breaking balls and scrapping the other. Velocity: 82-86, T 87.

Control/Command (45/40)
Command issues are prevalent with his entire arsenal; in some cases, late life on stuff will be harnessed and finessed over time, but he needs to throw more precise strikes than he did at AFL if he’s to remain a starter. Obviously, some margin of error here considering double-plus velocity; can reasonably survive with below-average command considering power profile, but some improvement is necessary. Feasible to expect that improvements will come with age; tough to remember he still won’t be 23 until next September. If command doesn’t improve at least a tick or two soon, though, his power stuff may prove too tantalizing a transition into a late-relief role rather than fight through continued rotation inconsistency.

Mechanics
Conventional mechanical look with three-quarters release and consistent follow-through to plate with occasional fall-off to first base side. Relatively short arm action in the back while staying on line to plate helps him hide the ball pretty well, particularly against RHH. Very low effort delivery; repeatable with a rotation profile and easy velocity without max effort look. Remarkably consistent mechanics, especially considering age and command issues, but some areas to improve — notably in more consistently allowing arm to catch up to body at release to avoid leaving fastballs high and arm-side. 1.41 – 1.47 to the plate from the stretch; hold runners fairly well, especially considering his size/length, predominantly with long/varied sets.

Intangibles Interesting to see much-ballyhooed Alcantara in person for the first time at AFL; big fastball velo ranges suggest ability to play with the pitch: put something on, take something off, experiment with grips and life. That might profile well moving forward if his command can improve considerably; experimentation even suggests some foundation for advanced pitchability as he ages?