Happy Sunday. Tough day for material, but the possible trade involving two University of Florida kids, Jonathan India and Brady Singer, is interesting. Are the Royals that deep in pitching? Singer started 32 games for the Royals in 2024 with a 3.71 ERA. India had some good years in Cincy, but a second baseman for a young SP? These may be the two primary pieces of this exchange, if it happens, but the Royals have to be looking to get a lot more than India.
And, if the Royals are that interested in getting a second baseman to pair with Bobby Witt, Jr., I wonder if the Pirates have anything that would interest KC. Somebody go wake up the front office.
India is actually pretty comparable to Singer. They both have two years of control left, they both rebounded from poor 23’s, they both fill a need for the acquiring club.
Obviously you do not value our collection of MI's very highly. I agree, but I do think there's trade value in this group. My suggestion:
1. Trade IKF to anyone willing to pick up all/most of his $7.5 mil salary for 2025,
2. Trade Nick Gonzales now while his trade value is high,
3. Work Williams, Peguero and Yorke as the MI, and involve Triolo at SS/2B/3B.
I like Peguero and Yorke as our two best power hitting second basemen. Peguero also played 39 games at SS for the Pirates in 2023 with a .960 fielding %age, and think he is now more prepared for that challenge, even though he is still better at 2B. Continue to develop Yorke at 2B, but blend in OF/1B/DH. Yorke and Williams are the wild cards here, and Williams started to show some bat at the end of '24 - let's see if it's real.
FWIW, and I wouldn't say much, Steamer projects Gonzales to be worth as many WAR as India in '25 but Gonzales has 5 years vs. 2 years of control. I could see him having comparable value, and his bat will play better outside of PNC. For example, Gonzales had an xSLG according to Statcast in the 54th percentile and India in the 56th percentile; Gonzales had an xHR of 9.4 in 387 PAs while India had an xHR of 11.5 in 637 PAs.
Happy Sunday. Tough day for material, but the possible trade involving two University of Florida kids, Jonathan India and Brady Singer, is interesting. Are the Royals that deep in pitching? Singer started 32 games for the Royals in 2024 with a 3.71 ERA. India had some good years in Cincy, but a second baseman for a young SP? These may be the two primary pieces of this exchange, if it happens, but the Royals have to be looking to get a lot more than India.
And, if the Royals are that interested in getting a second baseman to pair with Bobby Witt, Jr., I wonder if the Pirates have anything that would interest KC. Somebody go wake up the front office.
India is actually pretty comparable to Singer. They both have two years of control left, they both rebounded from poor 23’s, they both fill a need for the acquiring club.
Sadly, I don’t think Pirates have a MLB ready 2B who is as valuable as India.
Obviously you do not value our collection of MI's very highly. I agree, but I do think there's trade value in this group. My suggestion:
1. Trade IKF to anyone willing to pick up all/most of his $7.5 mil salary for 2025,
2. Trade Nick Gonzales now while his trade value is high,
3. Work Williams, Peguero and Yorke as the MI, and involve Triolo at SS/2B/3B.
I like Peguero and Yorke as our two best power hitting second basemen. Peguero also played 39 games at SS for the Pirates in 2023 with a .960 fielding %age, and think he is now more prepared for that challenge, even though he is still better at 2B. Continue to develop Yorke at 2B, but blend in OF/1B/DH. Yorke and Williams are the wild cards here, and Williams started to show some bat at the end of '24 - let's see if it's real.
FWIW, and I wouldn't say much, Steamer projects Gonzales to be worth as many WAR as India in '25 but Gonzales has 5 years vs. 2 years of control. I could see him having comparable value, and his bat will play better outside of PNC. For example, Gonzales had an xSLG according to Statcast in the 54th percentile and India in the 56th percentile; Gonzales had an xHR of 9.4 in 387 PAs while India had an xHR of 11.5 in 637 PAs.
But I don't want to trade Nick anyway :)