Phillies 2018 Season News/Notes/Discussion

[nycphils]

Keep in mind that IF you trade for him AND sign him, you are also receiving a first round pick as part of the trade.

[allentown]

Huh? How so?

[Lucky_Beagle]

Huh? How so?

Does it mean you really trade the prospects given up as opposed to not giving up a pick next year if signing him as a FA?

[andyb]

There is no compensation attached to free agents traded in their walk years. That was one of the attractions of Darvish this past winter.

Now in all likelihood Machado WILL be traded even if not to the Phillies. So there will be no compensation (i.e. lost 2nd round pick) to signing him as a free agent in all probability.

[Lawman]

I believe Hoskins is eligible to come off the DL tomorrow? If so, will he play some rehab games first? I would hope so, right?

[zambonir]

Rosenthal wrote a column recently about how relatively low the trade cost was for J.D. Martinez and Darvish, and that it will be pretty low for Machado too. If the Phillies are still in it and that's the case - both of those players were rentals too after all - I'm sure the Phillies will consider taking a run at him.

[nycphils]

There is no compensation attached to free agents traded in their walk years. That was one of the attractions of Darvish this past winter.

Now in all likelihood Machado WILL be traded even if not to the Phillies. So there will be no compensation (i.e. lost 2nd round pick) to signing him as a free agent in all probability.

If otherwise traded, correct - but there is no assurance. If we don’t want to give up those assets, who is likely to give something equivalent or more? If we trade for him, we are guaranteed to eliminate the compensation. Need to add at least SOME value into the deal for that assuming you believe you can sign him.

[EDmuch]

We will not be trading De Los Santos or Sixto for Machado. The price will be much lower, something like Crawford, Thompson and one of Kilome, Medina or Romero. And let's face it we cannot keep all of our pitching prospects. The 40 man roster limit prevents that. We need to use some of them as trade bait.

[andyb]

We know the market floor for Machado will be the value of a comp draft pick. At the very least Baltimore will get more than that. What is unclear is how important clearing Machado's salary is to them. If they are willing to pay the rest of his salary then they should be able to get a decent prospect for him. If they want to move the salary ($5-$10 million depending on when the deal happens) then the price will be lower.

[zambonir]

I think it is pretty much assured that he'll be traded. But by all means, if the O's botch it somehow and he's still sitting there on July 31, the Phils should make a move (if he goes into August there's a risk he gets block-claimed).

[andyb]

We will not be trading De Los Santos or Sixto for Machado. The price will be much lower, something like Crawford, Thompson and one of Kilome, Medina or Romero

You are just a Crawford hater. He is more valuable than De Los Santos and most of the other players on your list.

[EDmuch]

As I noted in a previous post, there are only 6=7 teams who can afford to make Machado the kind of offer that would be necessary to keep h9im. And most of those teams already have a hot young shortstop. It really comes down to us, Chicago and the Angels.

[nycphils]

Angels aren’t going to move Andrelton Simmons. If he goes there, going to have to be at 3B immediately.

[EDmuch]

And you Andy B are a name caller who lacks substantive support for your position. If we got Machado, we would have no use for Crawford. We need to include Crawford to counter the Cub's offer of Addison Russell. After that, from what I have read, the O's want young pitching.

And let me say Andy, that your use of the term "hate" in the context of a baseball message board is reprehensible. It demeans the seriousness of hate. Hate is what you see from young Nazi sympathizers screaming at blacks and minorities.
Hate Crawford, don't be so childish. Crawford is an anonymous baseball player whom I have never met and never will. He means nothing to me. You, however, need to show more maturity in your choice of language.

[zambonir]

"Hater" is not the same thing as "hate" or "hatred." It's like a reality TV word. I would say the dictionary definition of it does describe your opinion of Crawford (and Eickhoff). Even if you turn out to be correct.

"a person who greatly dislikes a specified person or thing."

Now, we know it's not a personal dislike, but that's not necessarily implied by the term, people use it about musicians or TV shows or athletes. You dislike him as a baseball player.

Anyway, we don't know if there is anything to the Russell/Cubs rumor. And Crawford's value probably is still too high for a rental. I'm all for trading him (or anyone) once Machado is actually locked up but not before.

[Austinfan]

Crawford? Are y'all crazy!
Franco yeah, he's reaching his expiration date.
But Crawford would have a spot even if we sign Machado.

I'm not sold on the value of Machado as a rental, at best 2-3 wins in the second half, and that won't make us a wild card team unless a bunch of other players step up.

[RTaylor]

Crawford and really most of the young starters are better than they've shown. As awful as the team has looked at times, it's coming home with a winning record and five strong SPs (with at least two more knocking at the door). They could win the division in spite of not hitting or playing defense! I'm okay with letting the team see what it has before making big moves.

[EDmuch]

You demean the inherent evil of the term hate. Hate is far more than disliking someone. Hate implies an irrational, venal emotion behind the dislike. The idea that because I think someone is not a very good baseball player, I hate them is Trump-like in creating an alternative reality. And as for whether the Cubs would include Russell in a trade offer, the Phils FO will know and factor that into their trade discussions.

The point which I was making and gets lost in the inflammatory "hate" claims is that there is no chance whatsoever that either Sixto or De Los Santos would be included in a Machado trade. It would be lesser prospects.

[andyb]

Never meant to imply hate as in anything non-baseball related. Apologize if you took it that way. My comments try to be completely baseball-related and always backed up by data and scouting reports.

You just consistently downgrade Crawford in your posts. The guy has been one of the top prospects in baseball and has largely had the performance to back things up. Are we really saying he has no value after an injury-filled month in the big leagues? His value is also largely in things like OBP and defense which are consistently under-rated to the OPS-loving crowd. You have been pretty consistent in your posts that have said that Crawford is over-rated or simply not that good. I just don't see why he is not seen as a top prospect and someone like Kingery is. They both are good prospects. I still think Crawford has the higher ceiling of the two largely because of defense. None of this has anything to do with anything other than dozens of your posts that devalue Crawford.

[andyb]

Agree with you here on Crawford vs Franco. I just don't see Machado as a SS long term and if he insists on playing there (which I doubt he will) then I have less interest in him as a player. Bottom line for me is I think Crawford can be an above average SS and I don't think Franco will ever be an above average 3B starter largely because of defense. If Franco hits 30 HRs a year he still is probably not as valuable as Crawford would be if Crawford hits .250 with a decent number of walks.