Being 29, and being a Braves fan, it all just seems so weird and out of the blue. RIP. I very much enjoyed getting to watch him pitch when he came up. He had electric stuff.

Has to be some sort of virus, strange either way.... guy was a decent AAA hand, one of hundreds that were only a hot streak away from re-establishing themselves in the majors.....

Yankees send 2B of the future Jose Pirela to Padres for some minor league pitcher.

Yeah, okay.

***BREAKING NEWS***

John Ryan Murphy traded to Twins for AARON HICKS

really loved JR Murphy,,,,,but I'm totally amped that I am the one breaking the news #tweitter #plugged in

<font color=goldenrod>Yankees get: OF Aaron Hicks
Twins get: C John Ryan Murphy</font>

<font color=goldenrod>god dammit PFWD</font>

Log jam in the outfield now. SOMEBODY'S GOTTA GO!

So Cashman wakes up this morning and decides to wheel and deal. Where was he at the trade deadline?

Reports are saying Tommy Hanson overdosed. No word on what exactly.

Jays talking long term with Marco Estrada.

Speculations around the net about the same time the news of him being in a coma were about it possibly being cocaine. Something about him having past problems with it and a shady guy with a documented history being close to him. Supposedly the Braves were aware of this guy and banned him from the clubhouse out of concerns.

Pure speculations though until the autopsy report comes out stating what exactly caused his death.

No bueno. Estrada had a career year at age 31 that's unlikely to be repeated. His rate has declined and his batting average against on balls in play was 217. Extremely unlikely he is able to replicate that number and not regress back to the mediocre pitcher he was before.

They should let him walk and seek an upgrade.

Babip is against him but they need to sign who they can sign. He's definitely not a surefire guy, but a money playoff performance this year gives me a little more faith in him. In saying that I have my doubts in him without Navarro but see him posting an era close to 4 which isn't that bad.

And yeah as much as he could just flame out this year sometimes you just have to reward a guy for some great work.

No you don't. That's where you start digging yourself into a hole. Using playoff performance, where you're looking at a limited sample and giving credit to that instead of looking at the entire body of work is setting your team up for failure. Guys don't just all of sudden find something once October hits. You reward a guy with playoff bonuses that teams give out. Giving a guy a contract just because he threw well in a handful of games despite being mediocre his entire career would be a mistake.

Would be risky to sign him to anything more than a two year deal. I wouldn't go higher than 2/15, but I'm sure someone will go 3/30.

If we gave contracts out based on playoff performances, Marco Scutaro would be the highest paid player in baseball. I think GMs are smarter than that though. Yeah, a guy could probably make a few more bucks or maybe get another team desperate enough to throw enough chips in to reach the other high bidders, but he's not going to break the bank most likely. A good case to follow will be Daniel Murphy. If he gets more than 3/30 someone is overpaying.

They definitely shouldn't break bank on him, but he had a very good year, not just in the playoffs. 3 years for 30 is overpaying but not wholly unreasonable. And yeah gis flyball rate in the dome is a tad concerning. Maybe it's too sentimental of a signing? But who else is going to make themselves available to Toronto? Honestly, this is not historically a place where players want to sign. Yeah, money talks, but money costs when you have to drastically over pay more than any other team for any half decent signing.

But your point is valid and I do have similar feelings myself, just trying to be optimistic about him because I like him :'-(

However one argument that can be made towards Babip is that if you have a great defence which the jays have, it'll keep that number fairly low, particularly as a pitcher who pitches to contact, with the type of command needed to be effective as a pitch to contact guy.

That only works if you're a groundball pitcher, which Estrada is not. He's an arguably extreme fly ball pitcher with a declining strikeout rate and mediocre track record.

Yes, he had a nice year, but it's a outlier. Prior to this season he was barely a replacement level player. That's far more telling than a fluke year on the wrong side of 30.

He'd absolutely be a sentimental signing. Drebin is right, more than two years would be ludicrous. If he's available in January or February, the leverage falls into the team's lap. I'm hard pressed to think of a team that'd give up a pick to sign him when the current market is so deep.

In terms of signing players via postseason heroics, the Giants are a prime example of why it doesn't work. They've handed out contracts to Angel Pagan, Aubrey Huff, Freddie Sanchez and Marco Scutaro after postseason heroics.

Pagan is in steady decline going into his final guaranteed year, and had missed significant time over the last 3 years. They paid Freddie Sanchez $12 mil to play 60 games in 2011 and none in 2012.

They then sunk 20 mil into Aubrey Huff in 2011 and 2012 and he returned the favor by being dramatically less productive in that two year span.

Marco Scutaro was paid 20 million through this past season to play 132 games, 127 of which came in 2013.

The Jays would be wise to steer clear from Estrada unless it becomes clear nobody's gonna sign him and they can lowball him on a deal closer to his actual value per production instead of paying for a career year.

<font color=goldenrod>Braves are shopping Andrelton Simmons once again. Mets inquired and were told it would cost Harvey or deGrom.

I needed a good laugh this morning. Thanks, Braves!</font>

One more shitty year for the Braves. Then the new stadium opens and the are going to spend all the money they have been saving for the last 3-4 years and the NL East will just go back to the old race for second place for everyone else.

Simmons is like the greatest defensive shortstop in ages. He could be a mediocre hitter the rest of his career and produce a hall of fame level career. That good.

The Padres kicked the tires but I doubt they'd have the prospects unless a second team gets involved.

Now that would be a laugh. Send the Padres some more players and they are just going to end up being the 2012 Braves.

I'd take Simmons I heartbeat. He's signed thru 5years for $53 million. That's a bargain for what he gives you. The Padres would likely need to trade Ross and package him with another player, maybe Kimbrel and/or Norris, and take some of the prospects they get back and flip them to Atlanta.

Addison Russell is Simmons to the tenth power.

Phillies reportedly taking calls for Ken Giles if it leads to a rotation upgrade.

I get the thought, but I'd rather they go for a guy like Happ or Fister (maybe even Chris Young?) before dealing the best guy in the bullpen.

I can't really argue with that logic. But deep inside I still will

Tho as far as the conventional logic on ground ball contact pitchers vs flyball.... With pilllar and potentially revere in the outfield that's a lot of ground covered defensively with flyballs. Even his epically bad 2014 was said to be a bit of an anomally. He was never that bad. But 2 years is reasonable. Plus he's added a couple of pitches to his arsenal. I am more speaking on his potential for the coming years more than what he deservesto make in hos body of work. He's not a hard thrower mixed with evolving his game and havinng a beauty change up. There is an upside and there's possibility for longevity.

The Jays are retarded if they sign Estrada to a long term deal. Don't sign players just because.

Well he's gonna be 32, so I'd reckon he's peaked from a potential standpoint. And while outfield defense does benefit fly ball pitchers, you can't defend a homerun and the potential damage output against a fly ball pitcher is always going to be more risky. Especially when that pitcher is 32 and doesn't have great stuff.

They should try and cash in on him. Teams might be willing to give them a guy like Happ or better who's going to cost less and have team control. Bullpen guys are expendable if the return is a mid rotation starter or everyday player.

<font color=goldenrod>Okay then.

Braves get:
RHP Chris Ellis
LHP Sean Newcomb
SS Erick Aybar
$3 million

Angels get:
SS Andrelton Simmons

Angels give up their top 2 ranked prospects.</font>

Braves dealSimmons to the Angels for their two top pitching prospects and Eric Aybar. What a steal for L.A.. Their farm system isn't strong at all but they still were able to acquire a huge upgrade for them.

I'd imagine Aybar will get flipped. Can'thelp but the Braves got fleeced.

<font color=goldenrod>In other news...Colby Rasmus just became the first player to ever accept the qualifying offer. He'll get a 1 year, $15.8 million contract from the Astros and then head back onto the market next year. Outfield was the deepest position in free agency this year, so it's a sensible decision from him.

Brett Anderson and Ian Kennedy are widely expected to accept their qualifying offers too, as the SP market is looking weak for next winter.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>Good fucking riddance to Simmons. He absolutely killed the Mets pretty much every time the teams met up. Despite his offensive struggles he hit at like a .400 clip vs. the Mets in his career on top of the normal wizardry with the glove (Travis d'Arnaud in particular got victimized by Simmons' arm a lot).

Are they trying to get rid of every player under a long term contract? Because I'd cum buckets if they traded Freeman too.</font>

Ugh I'd be furious if Kennedy accepted.

Reds expected to be trading Aroldis Chapman within the next couple of days. A bunch of teams are interested with Red Sox rumored to be the possible favorite to get him.


Former Nationals manager Matt Williams got hired as the new 3rd Base coach for the D'Backs.

Colby Rasmus can suck my dick

I imagine that's their reasoning, which is good because the rotation is pretty terrible. But I'm such a fan of Giles because he was pretty much the only solid hand outta the pen all year.

But to rebuild you have to give up some good talent so I guess I could live with it for a good starter coming back.

Now who wants Howard as a DH? I'll throw in a cheesesteak and some soft pretzels.

Would love if the Braves traded Freeman also.

mlb-trade-rumors-chris-davis-not-gonna-happen-lol-still-funny

Tigers fan page view on likelihood of signing Davis

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nothing finalized, but lots of buzz <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bluejays?src=hash">#Bluejays</a>, Estrada nearing 2-yr deal in $24M-$29M range. Would mean not taking $15.8M qualifying offer</p>&mdash; Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) <a href="https://twitter.com/Joelsherman1/status/664999902833999872">November 13, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Seems a bit much for a guy that has yet to pitch 200 innings in a season. I guess thats the going rate for a "dependable #4" starter?

Yeah that's too much for 2 years. Seems like a panic/sentimental move. I do know that Lacava (along with AA) had a lot of stock in Estrada and they had been scouting him for some time. Similar to what they did with Bautista. Taking a big low odds chance. You can just hope this past year wasn't a fluke.

You just get worried that since Toronto traditionally doesn't have a huge budget that a deal like this could hinder them for the next couple of years by not allowing them to add that extra piece or for them to not be able to go the extra mile for David Price. Teams like the Yanks, Boston, LA and even the Angels and Cubs can afford to absorb some shit deals but not so much Toronto. It still seems like yesterday Venon Wells' contract crippled the franchise.

Well their budget is top 10 as of now so they have been spending and they realize this is their window to be aggressive, so we'll see

Might be better if he takes the qualifying offer lol

Phillies reportedly want Marcell Ozuna. I'd be on board with that for the right price.

<font color=goldenrod>It would be hilarious if the Marlins went to great lengths to keep Ozuna in AAA for a good chunk of this year just to extend his service time/delay his arbitration eligibility only to then immediately trade him to a division rival.</font>

Rasmus was smart to accept the offer, I wouldn't have even offered it to him....

Did not realize no one accepted the offer before him.

Wieters accepts qualifying offer from Baltimore. Good for both sides imo.

Blue Jays re-sign Estrada: 2 years, $26 million

Meh.

Brett Anderson has accepted the Dodgers' qualifying offer. That's the third player to accept. Can't imagine general managers and owners are excited about this. Draft pick compensation is dumb to begin with, but maybe now that the owners are finally gonna get punched in the wallet for the dumb Mets system, maybe there's a mutual agreement between union and owners that dramatically changes or eliminated draft compensation.

Padres send Kimbrel to the bosox for a package of prospects, including Manuel Margot, a top 100 outfield prospect. Excellent move.

That could make a huge difference in the al east

Seems like the Red Sox gave up too much but some depth at the setup/closer role is good. Especially after how bad it got once Uehara got hurt and Tazawa fell apart near the end of the season.

Part of me is secretly hoping that Kimbrel in Boston ends up like every closer DD tried to bring into Detroit.

At this point, wouldn't be surprised if this backfired. Way too many seasons recently where Sox pitching killed any hopes of a good season.

Taking my love for the Padres out of it, from a process standpoint, it's a terrible move for Boston. Even if you think Boegarts and Betts are you future long term ss and cf, you just traded two players at those positions with massive major league upsidefor a guy who will cost at least $24 million to throw maybe 120 innings. You then also gave up a possible major league second baseman and starting pitcher to boot.

It's the kind of trade Dombrowski is known for, and the type of trade Boston fans should fear. Those four players could've netted an ace, or a few arms that would be upgrades, but instead gave up 4 players, who even if they end up mediocre major leaguers, will provide more aggregate value than Kimbrel every could. Hell, if only the shortstop or centerfielder work out, it's a bum trade for Boston.

Think Dombrowski overpaid for Kimbrel on this. 2 Prospects and a bag of cash probably would have done the trick.

Welcome to the Dombrowski era!

Have read reports that had it only been Margot (cf) or Guerra(ss), it still would've been a bad trade.

Red Sox definitely overpaid, but doesn't hurt my feelings, they can eat a big bag of dicks all season long....

Phillies send Sam McWilliams to Arizona for Jeremy Hellickson.

Who would ever want an increasingly extensive Jeremy Hellickson? I don't know why teams don't take the Cubs' approach, signing solid vets and flipping them at the deadline.

I don't love the move, but I'd rather have Hellickson than Williams/Harang/Billingsley/Buchanan.

Also I really hope Jeff Francouer comes back. Love that dude.

Boston could use pieces that will allow them to actually get to the 9th in a save situation to use Kimbrel

Jeremy Hellickson is a tire fire.

Droford making sense for once.

What the Hell happened to Hellickson, the kid was money a while back....

He actually wasn't. He just had really good, unsustainable luck. ERA and run prevention indicators had rated him below average for years. Just finally caught up with him.

Damn you and your analytics D Ray.

Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa are your Rookies of the Year.

Mariners get Leonys Martin and Anthony Bass from the Rangers for James Jones and Tom Wilhelmsen.

<font color=goldenrod>There is growing sentiment that the Marlins will trade Jose Fernandez this offseason.

lol god that franchise is such a trainwreck</font>

Suddenly I wish we had Dombrowski still

<font color=goldenrod>Big Papi has announced that 2016 will be his final season.

Might explain the "win-now" move that was the Kimbrel trade. Papi is still the heart and soul of that franchise.</font>

I would welcome him to Philadelphia with open arms. Package him with Ozuna for two cheesesteaks and 50 soft pretzels.

http://twitpic.com/show/thumb/d529ji.gif

Please give him the busted phone as a farewell gift...please..

Haha love Pedroia

<font color=goldenrod>Jeff Banister and Joe Maddon win Manager of the Year.</font>

Yost got screwed again?

Feel like the Baseball Writers got something against him. If that's who votes on all the awards.

Giants retain Brandon Crawford. 6-years, $75 mil.

Manager of the year is maybe the worst award there is. There's no criteria or skill that's assessed.

Good deal for Crawford and the Giants. His glove is pretty close to Simmons', and considering how hard a decent, legitimate shortstop is to find, it's good on San Fran to lock him up now for a pretty responsible price.

In other news, apparently Matt Kemp's corpse is on the trade market. Maybe Dombrowski will bite once more. Can't think of many teams that'd be interested in watching a man break down before their eyes.

Probably a mix of Royals were expected to be good and both Astros and Rangers having a huge turnaround compared to last year. Had Astros not faded near the end, probably a lock that A.J. Hinch would have won the award instead.

What was that Hard Knocks type show that followed the marlins staff for a while? I remember watching it and really hating Loria and Sampson. Scumbags. I feel bad for the taxpayers who funded that stadium and will have to pay tons of interest on the bonds the city and county took out.

I'm not one for sweetheart deals or going for it for a single player, but I would say that a guy like Ortiz was what got the Red Sox over the "cursed" era. That personality is something the cubs are sorely lacking as they try to do the same.

Simple: Whichever team that was supposed to be bad gets the furthest from bad gets manager of the year.

<font color=goldenrod>Cliff Pennington becomes the first free agent to switch teams this offseason. Angels sign him for 2 years, $3.75 million. EARTH SHATTERING!

A's sign Rich Hill for 1 year, $6 million. Supposedly had a bigger money offer on the table but wasn't guaranteed the rotation spot that he was in Oakland. Good for him. Went from playing independent ball to getting a multi-million dollar deal in the span of about 3 months.</font>

@pfwd

I had no idea. Now I want to see that. He probably trained for months. What a douche.

<font color=goldenrod>Brewers get: 2B Javier Betancourt
Tigers get: RHP Francisco Rodriguez</font>

I like the move

Tigers definitely need the bullpen help, hopefully they won't regress and sign Joba The Hut again....

Nah definitely not. I like that they got K-Rod for probably like 2/3 what Miller is going to get. Didn't break the bank for him. Low-risk/high-reward kind of thing. Still have a lot of holes on the pitching staff as a whole but this was a good step

Wouldn't mind bringing back Soria as an 8th-inning guy but he probably wants a closer gig

Cy Young winners:
AL - Dallas Keuchel
NL - Jake Arrieta

Keuchel beat David Price by 43 votes and Arrieta beat Zack Greinke by 22 votes.

I think Price would have won easily if he hadn't shit the bed in the playoffs.....his second half run was amazing....

shit the bed is a very toronto way to look at it

<font color=goldenrod>Nope. Ballots are due basically the day after the regular season ends.</font>

What Vito said.

Glad for Arrieta. Don't think there's a wrong pick between him, Greinke and Kershaw.

Now we get to see if the dumb line of thinking about making the playoffs will be cast aside in favor of a landslide win of mvp for Harper.

I'd be shocked if it isn't.

As would I, however, I put very little past the current bbwa voting process. We shall see.