ShortStop - What are the options?

[TheCouga]

I have watched Assdrubal play since he came up with Cleveland. The Indians moved Peralta to make a spot for him (basically, he did play 2B when he came up). He is Peralta 2.0... amazing to me how you can have such a mirror image with two different players!

That said, between a friend in the know (supposedly!) The Tigers are in talks with Arizona about a significant deal. All of the Stephen Drew talk would be to fill in a resultant hole in the line up. Further, The sudden DD talk about Rondon and how great he is?? Reportedly, Arizona is high on Rondon and want him in the deal. Reportedly, the deal parameters if it is finally agreed to would be:

Johnny Peralta
Brennen Boesch
Bruce Rondon
Rick Porcello

for

Justin Upton
Propspect

Hot stove league could be interesting!

I find it hard to believe we could get Upton without giving up Castellanos or Garcia, but the rest of that trade has made sense for a long time.

[macedonian bengal]

That deal would make even more sense if both teams added one more player each, such as:

to Arizona:
Peralta
Porcello
Boesch
Rondon
Garcia

to Detroit:
Upton
Putz
Trever Bauer (as prospect)

And in a perfect world-

to Atlanta:
Upton
Castellanos
Crosby

to Detroit:
Prado
Simmons
Venters
(prospect)

resign Anibal!!!

sign Gorzellany and G. Soto

call it an offseason!!

my two cents.
Happy winter meetings everybody!!

[Gehringer_2]

I'd do that trade in a heartbeat and I'm one of the few who likes Porcello. I assume it comes with signing Drew.

You need Drew and Sanchez - Not likely IMO.

[irvink]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm - Just posted

Here are the teams that are "in" on Stephen Drew as of this hour: Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, Athletics and Tigers

Oakland trying to trade for shortstop to stop gap until Russell is ready in 2 yrs...Tigers want to improve range at SS...#Drew

Yankees seriously concerned about declining range of both Jeter and A-Rod are working hard to get #Drew

Red Sox not sure Iglesias bat is ready and Bogarts at least a year away..#Drew

Cardinals believe Furcal will be ok and Kozma needs more developing can always trade Furcal in Spring Training or move him to 2B if get Drew

[sabretooth]

Johnny Peralta
Brennen Boesch
Bruce Rondon
Rick Porcello

for

Justin Upton
Propspect

Hot stove league could be interesting!

The utility of this trade would depend on (a) whether the Tigers are re-signing Sanchez, (b) what they have in mind for filling the SS position, and (c) what kind of prospect the DB's would be willing to give. I am not a big Upton fan but this kind of deal could be good for us.

[Yoda]

Ill be that guy... "A friend knows a guy who said" doesn't make for a good rumor, those trades seem to never happen. I agree it'd make sense though, which is probably another reason it won't happen.

[Gehringer_2]

The utility of this trade would depend on (a) whether the Tigers are re-signing Sanchez, (b) what they have in mind for filling the SS position, and (c) what kind of prospect the DB's would be willing to give. I am not a big Upton fan but this kind of deal could be good for us.

The problem with Upton is that with Hunter signed and our two best prospects projected as corner OFs, it no longer makes sense to make a move for another OF as the first step for subsequent roster change. The biggest deficiency the org has, and the thus the biggest possible marginal improvement available, is middle infield, both at starting and depth positions.

It's not bad general managing to stay in the conversation for Upton, but if DD makes that deal without 1st securing a better SS, it will just be another example of wandering in a wilderness of gyrations between line-ups that don't win for lack of offense and those that don't win for lack of defense. Winning teams achieve balance.

[Gehringer_2]

Jones was on the juice.

Testing started in 2006 didn't it? How long could it take for the benefit to run down in the case of a pitcher?

[cruzer1]

One SS that might have the post hype vibe, and might be pickupable is Dee Gordon. He's got some crazy speed, and should have an option or two remaining, so in case the Dodgers are ready to move on there, they might make him available.

Bob Nightengale‏@BNightengale

The #Dodgers are letting teams know that shortstop Dee Gordon is available, who could be a nice fallback for teams who don't sign Drew

[roarintiger1]

I would pass on either Upton......too expensive for what you'd get in return.

[Just Some Dude]

Bob Nightengale‏@BNightengale

The #Dodgers are letting teams know that shortstop Dee Gordon is available, who could be a nice fallback for teams who don't sign Drew

I'd pass, his speed is nice but that is all.

[cruzer1]

I'd pass, his speed is nice but that is all.

You can bat him ninth, I think he'd be a nice get. The Tigers wouldn't put as much pressure as the Dodgers put on him.

[sabretooth]

The problem with Upton is that with Hunter signed and our two best prospects projected as corner OFs, it no longer makes sense to make a move for another OF as the first step for subsequent roster change. The biggest deficiency the org has, and the thus the biggest possible marginal improvement available, is middle infield, both at starting and depth positions.

It's not bad general managing to stay in the conversation for Upton, but if DD makes that deal without 1st securing a better SS, it will just be another example of wandering in a wilderness of gyrations between line-ups that don't win for lack of offense and those that don't win for lack of defense. Winning teams achieve balance.

Of course I agree.

[sabretooth]

Serious question -- is there anything that Dee Gordon does well?

[irvink]

Nick Cafardo ‏@nickcafardo - Boston Globe
Tigers will have big interest in Stephen Drew which may make it tough for Red Sox to land him. Tigers likely to deal Peralta.

[Just Some Dude]

You can bat him ninth, I think he'd be a nice get. The Tigers wouldn't put as much pressure as the Dodgers put on him.

His defense is not very good and his bat is not very good. We'd be better off with Danny Worth's solid D and no bat.

Serious question -- is there anything that Dee Gordon does well?

I'd say nothing other than being cheap. His 56 steals in 73 attempts is decent but that is all he has done well in the big leagues.

[PuNk42AE]

Jon Morosi ‏@jonmorosi

Source: Asdrubal Cabrera has 6-team no-trade clause, covering Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Nationals, Giants, Mets. @MLBONFOX

.

[itsallgood8989]

Ill be that guy... "A friend knows a guy who said" doesn't make for a good rumor, those trades seem to never happen. I agree it'd make sense though, which is probably another reason it won't happen.

Actually, I agree with you Yoda.... sometimes I just can't help myself... I hope your ok with my self indulgence!

[alwaysthrowheat]

Serious question -- is there anything that Dee Gordon does well?

He's fast. That's it. He's Quintin Berry at SS.

[Yoda]

Actually, I agree with you Yoda.... sometimes I just can't help myself... I hope your ok with my self indulgence!

Hey it may just happen, I mean one of these times it has to, right? Who knows.

[hueytaxi]

I know a guy that knows.......my version. Over three years our LFT manager's young son often sat with us if his mom was not at the game. It was amazing what he knew and would tell us. We could not pass it along in the minor league thread as it would have ruined our relationship with our manager Barkett.

[bosman]

Would Nick C, Jhonny and + get us Hardy from Baltimore

[sabretooth]

I like Hardy a lot, but I'd have a problem trading a top prospect like Nick C for a 30+ year old guy, unless that guy was a super player...Hardy's nice but not that good IMHO...tempting though.

[RatkoVarda]

Would Nick C, Jhonny and + get us Hardy from Baltimore

Yes. And it would get DD fired as well. Why give up so much talent for a possible small upgrade from Peralta to Hardy?

[Longgone]

Serious question -- is there anything that Dee Gordon does well?

He has plus range to both sides, good arm, fringy hands, incredibly athletic. He can hit, struggled with thumb injury last year.

[Lou Ferigno]

I'm pro Dee Gordon getting acquired. Plus range and arm; though he'll make 2x the errors of Jhonny. He hit terribly last year but his minor league numbers show potential and all the "he can't hit" thoughts come from his injury shortened '12 where he had a bad thumb. I'd do Garcia + Crosby if that would get it done.

[will the thrill]

Ill be that guy... "A friend knows a guy who said" doesn't make for a good rumor, those trades seem to never happen. I agree it'd make sense though, which is probably another reason it won't happen.

Exactly. I had a "friend" call me this fall and say his friend who works inside MLB told him that Fielder and Verlander tested postitive for PEDs and gave him a scoop. We all know that didn't happen

[sabretooth]

I'm pro Dee Gordon getting acquired. Plus range and arm; though he'll make 2x the errors of Jhonny. He hit terribly last year but his minor league numbers show potential and all the "he can't hit" thoughts come from his injury shortened '12 where he had a bad thumb. I'd do Garcia + Crosby if that would get it done.

I would not mind trading Crosby because I'm not that high on him, but I would not trade Garcia straight up for Gordon, much less as part of a 2-for-1 deal as you suggest.

Garcia is a serious hitter with power. Gordon is incapable of hitting anything but singles -- admittedly, in the minors, when he hit a high enough BABIP (.360+) he managed to hit .300. Perhaps he's capable of that with a tad of on-base, but overall career-wise he's a guy struggling to keep his OPS between .700 - .750. Fielding-wise he sounds like a pretty raw talent.

I would not mind at all if Gordon were on the bench, he seems like a toolsy guy with a lot of speed. But as a starter I think he'd be a bad fit...he's got to prove that he can hold down that kind of job IMHO.

[RatkoVarda]

Yunel Escobar to TB

[PuNk42AE]

Jon Morosi ‏@jonmorosi

Official: #Rays acquire shortstop Yunel Escobar from the Miami Marlins in exchange for minor league infielder Derek Dietrich.

2B/SS Dietrich was just rated the #9 prospect in the Rays system by Baseball America a few weeks ago. They gave up a bunch!... ... ...

[Nastradamus]

That's probably better than we could have offered. That'd be like us giving up Garcia, maybe even Garcia and Suarez or something like that.

[benrush]

That's probably better than we could have offered. That'd be like us giving up Garcia, maybe even Garcia and Suarez or something like that.

Oh Please now your reaching! Detrich might turn into a Dan Uggla he has good power, high K rate low walk rate and below average defense. He is also three years older than Garcia. Garcia put up the same numbers last season and has steadly improved and has better speed and defense.

[pyrotigers]

I'm pretty sure the rest of MLB places a lot lower value on Garcia than the Tigers do

[alwaysthrowheat]

That's probably better than we could have offered. That'd be like us giving up Garcia, maybe even Garcia and Suarez or something like that.

Garcia is a much higher regarded prospect than Dietrich.

[ballmich]

Beck says the Tigers don't want to go beyond one year on Drew.... Really? Then why were we even involved at all? And what is the plan at SS in 2014? A reasonable two year deal would be fine with me.

[theroundsquare]

I had the same thought. I figured it might a 3rd year that could be the issue.

[irvink]

Also read somewhere today that it's still the Tigers and A's who are most interested in Drew.

[Yoda]

Beck says the Tigers don't want to go beyond one year on Drew.... Really? Then why were we even involved at all? And what is the plan at SS in 2014? A reasonable two year deal would be fine with me.

Haven't you learned not to take what the Tigers "want to do" as gospel? They say this sort of stuff all the time. There's no need get upset about it, wait and see what happens. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if they gave him a 3-year deal.

[tiger337]

Beck says the Tigers don't want to go beyond one year on Drew.... Really? Then why were we even involved at all? And what is the plan at SS in 2014? A reasonable two year deal would be fine with me.

If they really said that, it could be because they are realistically hoping for two while Boras asks for three or four.

[irvink]

If the Tigers manage to sign Drew (or another SS), Oakland would then push to acquire Peralta.

The A's and Tigers don't look like an automatic match when it comes to a trade. Detroit is looking for a right-handed-hitting outfielder, but the A's have none to spare from the major-league roster and the Tigers have little interest in Triple-A Sacramento's Michael Taylor.

According to one major-league source, however, Detroit likes second baseman Jemile Weeks, and might contemplate moving the switch hitter to the outfield. It's not clear if the A's would consider dealing Weeks, who was demoted to Sacramento in August.

Losing Drew could mean gaining Peralta - SFGate