yo froggy. i just read that the padres and phillies are trying to work out a trade envolving cole hamels and wil meyers. how do you feel about that?

I don't think Hamels will be traded, but if he gets traded and Myers is part of the return package I'd be ecstatic. I think every offer they have gotten they have been low balled on, but this rumor seems to be the most realistic as far as meeting the value of the Hamels and what the Phillies ultimately need.

San Diego is a team that could ship MLB-ready players (and possibly prospects) to Philly for Hamels. It seems like there is smoke there, as Hamels is from San Diego. That would be a hell of a get for Preller. What a job that guy has done so far!

its like hes playing franchise mode on MLB the show

Mariners trade Brandon Maurer to SD for Seth Smith.

Got a soft spot for Smith given his Rockie connection and his history of coming up clutch for them. I think I read he will platoon with the other OF they recently traded for which should work well for Seattle. This will probably be one of the more under-rated/overlooked moves of the offseason, but I like it.

This is all assuming this Brandon Maurer guy isn't a stud prospect or something. I don't know anything about him, though the name is familiar.

It's a surplus for surplus trade. The M's have a ton of great bullpen arms. I'd like to have kept Maurer or at least gotten Venable, but I guess it's not the worst deal ever. Maurer has shown a ton of promise since they removed him from the starting rotation. Big guy, big arm, but like I say, the M's have a lot of those guys now.

The Padres apparently made the promise not to trade Smith, but that was a different regime, so that all goes out the window with the new guys (Preller). I don't like that we traded a 23 year old for a guy on the wrong side of 30, but I guess they gotta cash in on the better years of the Cruz/King Felix contracts. Like I say though, I wish they'd been more creative with the higher profile OFs with the Dodgers/BoSox/Padres, because it seems like this will probably be it for them.

I wonder if Smith okay'ed the trade, recognizing he should get plenty more playing time in Seattle than he would in the now super crowded SD outfield.

While not a fan of platoons, A Smith/Ruggiano platoon looks pretty solid on paper. I do agree, though, that I liked the idea of going after one of those bigger bats more. I kinda wonder if passing on Zimmerman AND Desmond for Walker and Miller was the wrong decision; they have money to play with so they probably could have extended one of those guys had they traded for them. That said, I continue to fail to understand how Brad Miller has as much value as analysts all argue he has.

Happy to see Big Unit, Pedro, and Biggio make it. Smoltz is definitely a hall of famer but I wouldn't have him a first ballot one.

Momentum looks to be pushing Piazza into it next year. Glad to see that. Hopefully Tim Raines and Jeff Bagwell get some momentum too and can make their own pushes. Bonds and Clemens too for that matter.

Bonds and Clemens have to make the Hall. They were HoF players long before either of them were suspected of using PEDs. Not putting them in there is pettiness at it's worst and would be at least as big of a black mark on the game's reputation as the whole PED thing.

I'm beyond the point of caring about PEDs. They don't make the player.

I am starting to wonder if it is going to be up to the Veterans Committee to elect Bonds or Clemens. Hope not but it is beginning to look like the voters wont be doing it.

Another guy who I forgot to mention who I think deserves to be elected is Edgar Martinez.

Pretty much that for me. I watched a lot of MLB Network this week and they're definitely biased because Smoltz is part of their crew, but he seemingly got a lot of credit because he did the switcheroo from dominant starter to pretty dominant reliever. The mindset and preparations are vastly different (at least to hear Smoltz describe it). He definitely always felt like the third wheel though down there in Atlanta, so I first ballot seemed a bit overboard.

It would be cool if Randy Johnson went into the Hall as a Mariner (he won approximately half of his games with Seattle), but I recognize his truly dominant era (1999-2003) came in Arizona. Plus he won a title there. Basically saving MLB in Seattle and building Safeco is really enough for me.

How long has Piazza been on the ballot? He hasn't been tagged, but he always seemed like a PED guy to me. I'd let him in, but next year seems kind of soon to me. Bonds should get in, as his pre-PED career already had him as a first ballot guy. It seems roughly a third of the writers are boycotting anyone who has been tagged with PED use, so it's a trip that he may NEVER get in! They just shortened the window of voting to ten years. It used to be fifteen.

I'd have to look at Clemens. His Red Sox career was stellar. The PED use definitely started when he went to Toronto; he was seemingly washed up when he signed there and then won two consecutive Cy Youngs, from out of nowhere.

Oakland/Beane trades for Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar. John Jaso and prospects go to Tampa.

Seeing the Oakland Opening Day lineup is going to be a trip. Beane has virtually turned the whole fielding playing lineup over. It's like a totally brand new team. It should be a serviceable lineup with guys like Zobrist, Escobar, Coco Crisp, Brett Lawrie, Stephen Vogt, Josh Reddick, Billy Butler there. Hell, I don't know; it might play for them?

IMO, Oakland seasons is dependent on Brett Lawrie. If he can find a way to emerge as the player he has oft been touted as having the potential to be, Oakland can probably be players for a WC spot, but thats still probably dependent on the other teams under-performing. Serviceable is probably the best description for them. And they would pose no threat if they were to make the playoffs. Be another typical Oakland season.

And Piazza, think he has been on the ballot for 2 or 3 years. And it is the steroid suspicions that have held him back at this point. Reading some articles, it sounds like Piazza could be the tipping point for voters and their picks with players who have the cloud of suspicion around them regarding PEDs.

Yeah, I don't really see Oakland as even being players for the wild card, but Beane has put together improbable runs in the past. I even forget that they did have a string of futility from 2007-11, but I overlook that because those were lost seasons for Seattle as well. The period of Anaheim and then Texas dominance in the AL West. Oh well, let's hope it's Seattle's turn pretty soon.

Piazza's induction would definitely be a new era for the HOF, unless you think Roberto Alomar or Frank Thomas juiced (I don't). I do think they need to start letting those players in, but they'll need to be held to a different standard. Hell, pretty much everyone going in from this point forward will need to be held to a different standard.

Oakland trades Yunel Escobar to Washington. Makes you wonder if a Ian Desmond trade might be in the works, though it is always possible Escobar gets moved over to 2B. But there has been plenty of smoke around Desmond this off-season, as it seems like Washington has conceded that they won't be able to re-sign him next offseason.

Astros trade 3 minor leaguers to Atlanta for Evan Gattis. Should be interesting to see what kind of power numbers he can give them when he isn't dealing with catching. He should be a nice get in fantasy next year since he'll keep his C eligibility.

That's what I'm all about. It's huge when you can get a guy moving out of C into an everyday position. I had Victor Martinez and Carlos Santana in BOTH of my leagues over the last two seasons respectively in their last year of C eligibility. Both moves paid off in spades, although admittedly it was tough to stick with Santana's first half last year, but fortunately there wasn't any equivalent/attractive waiver pickups in the C position, so I was kind of stuck with him. He really blew up in the second half though and helped me cash in one of my leagues.

The Escobar trade pretty much signals the exit of Desmond out of DC. I would expect it to happen over the next week, but DC hasn't been working as feverishly as Oakland, San Diego and the Dodgers. They usually do pretty good in their late Winter trades (see Fister last year). Seattle has been rumored to Desmond, so this something I'm definitely going to be monitoring. I really hope they don't cut loose Taijuan Walker or James Paxton though. Those guys are going to be beasts for a long time to come.

Mauer lost his Catcher eligibilityfor this year.

The Nats sign Max Scherzer to a seven year deal. Dollars aren't published as of yet, but it's probably around $150MM, as Boras was shooting for. That money was probably Jordan Zimmerman's, so it would make sense he will be getting shipped out of town, but it could be Doug Fister possibly? Or maybe both of them? A lot of good starting pitching is still up in the air with James Shields yet to have signed and Cole Hamels and Zimmerman/Fister being on the trading block.

Texas is apparently lining up a trade for Yovani Gallardo. It'll be interesting to see how Texas shapes up after suffering all the injuries they did last year.

The Marlins are rumored to be considering giving Ichiro a two year contract. I really hope this happens. If it does, it'll pretty much guarantee him getting 3,000 in MLB, which I think means a lot to him (even though he denies this). He needs like another 156 hits, so even platooning he should be able to get that over two years, being a pinch hitting specialist.

$180 million to Scherzer, or roughly $25MM/year. Boras comes through again...

That deal has me wondering how much Jordan Zimmerman is looking for from his next contract.

Boras(s) manages to do come through every damn time. It is impressive.

im calling it now. stephen strasburg and ian desmond to the cubs for baez, castro, albert almora and kyle schwarber

Shit, I just read that the Scherzer deal is now reported to be $210 million. Granted, Scherzer's better than Zimmerman, but Zimmerman must be asking for the moon to make it so that the Nationals thought Scherzer at $210 million is the better value.

Houston trades Dexter Fowler to the Cubs for Luis Valbuena and Dan Straily. With the addition of Valbuena that's another low BA and OBP but able to hit double digit home run guy to add to their growing collection (George Springer, Chris Carter, Jed Lowrie, Evan Gattis, Jason Castro, Jon Singelton, anyone else?).

Yeah, I saw the $210MM number this afternoon. That's crazy, but apparently a lot of it's deferred and Scherzer gets paid until 2028 or something. You'd think they would need to dump a starter, but maybe they'll ride it through and get the draft compensation for Zimmerman and Fister. You never see teams do that though. They've certainly stockpiled a ton of talent there in DC.

You have a big imagination, but that will never happen.

Half of Scherzer's deal is deferred where essentially he'll get $15 million over 14 years, and he gets a $50 million signing bonus. This might actually save them money to resign Zimmerman or even lock up Strasburg, Harper, or Rendon earlier then they have to.