Magicgames II » As a guy with a 3.03 regular-season ERA and a 2.11

In the KNBR interview referenced earlier http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-bettis-jersey , Zaidi stated that trade buzz surrounding Madison Bumgarner has been "overblown."Yet, that shouldn't be translated to mean that the ace left-hander is altogether unavailable.Like Smith, Bumgarner is heading into his walk year. postseason ERA, Bumgarner might have one team willing to overlook his 2017-18 troubles that values him as a guide to and through October. The Giants can't hang up if that franchise comes calling.Philadelphia PhilliesAccording to Morosi, the Phillies checked in with the Giants about Bumgarner in December. There hasn't been much (if anything) linking the two since then. That may be because the Phillies have been prioritizing other targets.Still, it's possible that they will circle back on Bumgarner. Regardless of whether they complete their offense with Harper, Bumgarner would be an equally appealing and potentially less costly alternative to Ray. The Phillies might even base a deal around Odubel Herrera, whose team-friendly contract runs as far as 2023. Milwaukee BrewersThat old Phillies rumor is nice, but Bumgarner wouldn't even be mentioned here if it wasn't for Milwaukee's interest in him. This also comes courtesy of Morosi, who reported Jan. 7 that the Giants and Brewers have had "substantive communication" about Bumgarner.We'rebig fans of how Bumgarner would fit on the Brewers, as well as of what he would do for their standing in a crowded NL Central race. And Morosi noted that the Brewers may have just the guys to get the Giants to budge in Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta. Speculative Wild Card: Atlanta BravesThe Astros could just as easily go here. If the Phillies don't pursue Bumgarner as a Plan B for Ray, Houston might.But once again, it's hard to ignore how well-suited the Braves are to trading for an ace. And much more so than Gray or Ray, Bumgarner's pitching ability and experience would make him an ideal leader for a young rotation.J.T. Realmuto, Miami Marlins7 of 8John Bazemore/Associated PressNow that Wilson Ramos and Yasmani Grandal have been taken off the free-agent market, all eyes are on where the Miami Marlins will trade J.T. Realmuto.According to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro, there are six front-runners for the 27-year-old backstop, who's fresh off breaking out with an .825 OPS and 21 homers in 2018. Cincinnati RedsFor the Reds, Realmuto would represent a major improvement over Tucker Barnhart. For that matter, including Barnhart in the deal would satisfy Miami's reported desire for "acatcher with some big league experience to work with a young pitching staff."But since Realmuto is due for free agency after 2020, a deal for him would effectively mean going all-in on contending in the next two years. That doesn't jibe with how the Reds have operated this winter. San Diego PadresIf the Marlins must have a catcher in a Realmuto trade, the Padres are the team to barter with. San Diego can offer either Austin Hedges, who excels defensively, or Francisco Mejia, who figures to excel offensively.Like with the Reds, however, there's the question of whether Realmuto fits the Padres' timeline. They might not be contenders by 2020. That's an excuse to keep their incumbent catchers, both of whom are controlled beyond 2022. Tampa Bay RaysThe Rays are also in on Realmuto, and there's plenty in their No. 5 farm systemto satisfy the Marlins'other desire for "a top prospect and more."But do the Rays reallyneed Realmuto? With Mike Zunino already in the fold, perhaps not. That might lead them to commit their time, energy and prospects to more pressing matters. Atlanta BravesTo some extents, the Braves are in the same boat as the Rays. They have plenty to offer the Marlins, but they already have Tyler Flowers and Brian McCann behind the plate.Where the two clubs differ is in what they stand to gain. The Raysmight have a shot at taking down the Red Sox or Yankees if they add Realmuto. The Braves would absolutely have a shot at winning a second straight NL East title, if not more. Houston AstrosThough the Astros could progress with Robinson Chirinos and Max Stassi behind the plate, that's a weak catching duo for a team with eyes on a second World Series title in three years.The Astros could fix that by offering Stassi and one or more prospects for Realmuto. He would not be the pitching upgrade they need, but his well-rounded defense would at least be helpful to what pitchers they do have.Los Angeles DodgersThe Dodgers' catching duo of Russell Martin and Austin Barnes is worth just as much skepticism as Houston's Chirinos-Stassi combo. Likewise, they too could look to upgrade their World Series pursuit with a blockbuster for Realmuto.The difference is what the Dodgers have to offer. If not Barnes, one of two top catching prospects could go to Miami: Keibert Ruiz or Will Smith. The Dodgers could also pile more on to form a package that likely nobody else would be willing to match.Speculative Wild Card: Colorado RockiesThe Rockies are threatening to roll with Chris Iannetta and Tony Wolters, who combined for negative WAR in 2018 Trevor Story Jersey , behind the plate once again in 2019. Instead, perhaps they'll sneak in through the backdoor and try to interest the Marlins in Brendan Rodgers, Colton Welker or Tyler Nevin.Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians8 of 8Phil Long/Associated PressThe Indians have entertained offers for both Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer this winter. But at this point, the focus seems to be entirely on the former.Kluber is a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, and his 2.89 ERA over 215 innings helped him finish third in the voting in 2018. Between that and the reality that his new team would likely have to pay him $52.5 million through 2021, he only fits with clubs that have spare prospectsand spare cash.San Diego PadresThe Padres have been hot after Kluber, according toMorosi, and they may have a shot at him despite their unwillingness to part with any of their top five prospects. Instead, they could offer Cleveland the outfielders it needs, such as Manuel Margot and Hunter Renfroe.Even still, this is a believe it/see it situation. Would the Indians really trade one of baseball's best pitchers just to cut his salary and add two warm bodies to their outfield? For their part, is the timing right for the Padres to sacrifice controllable talent for a guy who'll turn 33 on April 10? These are questions best asked in skeptical tones.Cincinnati RedsAlternatively, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported that the Padres have considered a scenario in which they would get Kluber only to flip him to the Reds in a three-team deal. One possibility may involve top prospect Nick Senzel going to San Diego to play third base.It's an interesting idea, but not very practical. As much as the Reds might like to have Kluber, he wouldn't fit with their current strategy of making low-risk buys on short-term assets. They're not trying to mortgage their future. Thus, Senzel (MLB.com's No. 6 prospect) is likely close to untouchable. Los Angeles DodgersThe Dodgers are also in on Kluber, per Morosi, and they too have parts that the Indians need. One is Alex Verdugo, who's an elite and MLB-ready outfield prospect. They could also offer Ruiz or Smith, and/or one of the pitchers they have no clear role for: righty Ross Stripling or lefty Julio Urias.The catch would seem to be that the Dodgers don't reallyneed another top-of-the-rotation starter to pair with Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler. But adding one certainly wouldn't hurt, and Kluber in particular would outfit the Dodgers with arguably baseball's best rotation. Speculative Wild Card:Atlanta BravesBecause of course. Though the rumor mill has yet to solidly connect the Braves to Kluber, that could change with one phone call. The Braves can offer Cleveland several elite pitching prospects to one day take Kluber's place. For them, the reward would be the perfect No. 1 for their rotation.Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. Payroll data courtesy of Roster Resource and Cot's Baseball Contracts. With Detroit still years away from spending competitively, the way they draft during the rebuild is even more crucial."The Tigers drubbed an NAIA team on Friday, which signaled that baseball has really, truly returned. In fewer than five weeks, Opening Day will arrive. Then, roughly two months after that comes the MLB draft. Given Detroit’s possession of a top-five pick and its current rebuilding mindset, that’s something to look forward to.This rings especially true in light of what general manager Al Avila said last month, when he told reporters the team is still at least a couple years away from spending competitively. Here’s his quote, as reported by Chris McCosky of the Detroit News:With that in mind, the way the Tigers draft in these lean years should be of even greater interest. That got me thinking about the last time Detroit tore things down and built back up — how did they draft? And what insight might that provide for this time around? Sometimes, when you stumble down a Baseball Reference rabbit hole, you have to see where it goes.Let’s lay out some parameters first. For starters, when was the Tigers’ last rebuild? They missed the playoffs four straight years after the 2006 World Series run, but they only finished sub-.500 once in that span. So that doesn’t count.Before the magical ’06 team, however, they had a five-season stretch in which they averaged 100.4 losses per year. And there we have our five-year rebuild window, which aligns well with what the Tigers project to be working through in present day.That time frame http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-bettis-jersey , from 2001 to 2005, included the end of Randy Smith’s tenure as GM and the beginning of the Dave Dombrowski era. It was Dombrowski who fired Smith six games into the 2002 season, Dombrowski’s first as team president, and assumed GM duties from there. The scouting director in that time was Greg Smith (later the Pirates’ scouting director) up until 2004, and then David Chadd (now Detroit’s vice president and assistant GM).There are numerous ways to examine the success of a draft class, certainly none of which are perfect. But for the sake of simplicity, I chose to evaluate each class by adding up the total career bWAR (Wins Above Replacement as assigned by Baseball Reference) of the signed draftees that year. The draftees who didn’t sign — even if they went on to successful careers after being drafted by someone else — don’t count.(A quick example: Detroit picked locally raised D.J. LeMahieu in the 41st round of the 2007 draft, but did not sign him. They, and many others, passed him over twice in the 2009 draft before the Cubs scooped him late in the second round. The two players Detroit took ahead of LeMahieu in ’09, pitchers Jacob Turner and Andy Oliver, have netted a combined -3.5 bWAR. LeMahieu’s career bWAR is 17.6.)Now, here we go.2001: Five of 35 signees reached the majors (14.3 percent), accumulating 9.4 bWAR. Long-time Tigers Ryan Raburn and Don Kelly came from this draft. The 11th overall pick, pitcher Kenny Baugh, never surpassed Triple-A.2002: Six of 31 signees reached the majors (19.4 percent), accumulating 53.4 bWAR. That sounds pretty great, and it is, but 47.7 of that is courtesy of Curtis Granderson. Joel Zumaya chipped in a bit, too.2003: Six of 35 signees reached the majors (17.1 percent), accumulating -2.3 bWAR. Oof. The third overall pick, pitcher Kyle Sleeth, never surpassed Double-A.2004: Four of 34 signees reached the majors (11.8 percent), accumulating 63.4 bWAR. It just so happens that Justin Verlander has accumulated 63.4 bWAR. But hey, sometimes hitting on one pick is enough to call it a successful draft.2005: Eleven of 27 signees reached the majors (40.7 percent), accumulating 35.1 bWAR. Clearly this is better than 2004 from the perspective of depth, but also it took 11 guys to collet just over half the bWAR that Verlander has by himself.The final tally of those five drafts looks like this: 32 of 162 signees reached the majors (19.8 percent), accumulating 159.0 bWAR. That’s an average of 5.0 bWAR per player, which sounds okay, unless you remove the heavyweights Verlander and Granderson (111.1 bWAR), in which case the remainders averaged only 1.6 bWAR for their careers. For context, consider the 2006 Tigers. They had 11 players on their roster who amassed more than 1.6 bWAR in that season alone.So from that perspective, it seems like the Tigers caught a couple big fish in five years and missed almost the entire rest of the time. But it’s very easy for me, with my zero years of experience drafting baseball players, to opine on the missteps of a franchise that certainly wanted to make the best picks it could. The reality is that the mass of draft-eligible North American players, from all levels of high school and college ball, make for a crapshoot of a selection process.Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesLet’s look at another rebuild to see how the 2001-05 Tigers stack up. I picked the 2009-13 Houston Astros, who averaged 99.6 losses in that span, because they’re a modern example of what the Tigers are currently trying to achieve. Keep in mind that the Astros’ career bWAR values are less important because many of their picks are still relatively young. And, although Houston was still really bad in 2014 Greg Holland Jersey , I thought comparing five-year time frames would be tidier.2009: Four of 35 signees (11.4 percent) reached the majors, accumulating 45.4 bWAR. Dallas Keuchel, a Cy Young winner and one of the many mysterious free agents this offseason, was among this crop. As was a random 20th-rounder named J.D. Martinez, though Detroit deserves quite a bit more credit for his career-to-date value than Houston does (Martinez has 20.4 bWAR. He collected -1.3 bWAR in three seasons with the Astros).2010: Four of 35 signees (11.4 percent) reached the majors, accumulating 13.2 bWAR. Oddly enough, the four major leaguers have only spent a combined three MLB seasons with the Astros. Their eighth-overall pick, Delino DeShields, was chosen in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft by the Rangers and has played regularly for them ever since.2011: Four of 35 signees (11.4 percent) reached the majors, accumulating 20.5 bWAR. Almost all of this value comes from the 11th-overall pick, World Series MVP George Springer (18.7 bWAR). He leads that draft class with 121 career home runs.2012: Nine of 31 signees (29 percent) reached the majors, accumulating 18.5 bWAR. Again, practically all the value is wrapped up in one player. This time it’s former Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa (18.3 bWAR), who was chosen first overall for a reason.2013: Three of 32 signees (9.3 percent) reached the majors, accumulating 2.0 bWAR. What hurt in this draft was using the first overall pick on Mark Appel, who is now out of baseball. Still, two serviceable players in Tony Kemp and Tyler White were plucked from this draft.Now, for the final tally: 24 of 168 signees (14.3 percent) reached the majors, accumulating 99.6 bWAR. That’s about 4.2 bWAR per player, with several of those players either currently in their prime or soon to be entering it.Correa, Springer and Keuchel were all critical pieces of the 2017 World Series team. Keuchel was the Astros’ most valuable pitcher that year in terms of bWAR — but if you want to debate Verlander’s impact, you can, I suppose. Correa and Springer, along with Alex Bregman (picked second-overall in 2015), were three of the six most valued hitters.Detroit’s runner-up team in 2006 received some critical help from homegrown talent, including Verlander, Granderson and Zumaya. Of course, no championship-caliber team is complete without the right mix of trade acquisitions (Carlos Guillen, Placido Polanco and Nate Robertson) and free agent pick-ups (Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Kenny Rogers).Relying on draft success can only bring the Tigers — or anyone, for that matter — so far. In their recent reign among the league’s best, from 2011 to 2014, it was free agent spending and some big-time trades that made most of the difference (in terms of bWAR, the top seven hitters and four of the top five pitchers on the 2013 team came from a trade or free agency). International free agent signings can make a significant impact too, as evidenced by Jose Altuve in Houston among many others around the league. The window for Detroit to make significant splashes in the market is still years away, which makes its current drafting efforts all the more important. With Avila as GM and Scott Pleis as the scouting director, it’s difficult to say how closely this rebuild’s draft crop will resemble the last one.But one thing is known for sure — fans will hope that players like Casey Mize and Matt Manning end up more like Justin Verlander than Kyle Sleeth.