Jason Parks had a good interview earlier this season on a blue jays prospects/vancouver canadians blog called YourVanCs.
http://yourvancs.com/your-van-cs-weekly-episode-3/
The whole interview with Parks is a great listen but he talks specifically about those three shortstops you mentioned around the 1:04:00 mark. He really raves about Urena's defence saying: "That guy has surpassed a lot of major leaguers as far as what he can do with the leather."
He was also really high on Lugo.
This and the David Price trade really show how teams are looking more and more towards years of control and cost. They're going after getting huge surplus values out of players in early years of their careers. Salaries for free agents and extensions are still exploding while pre-arb and early arbitration years still cost effectively nothing.
I'm still loathe to move Sanchez. With that groundball profile and short stride putting him in great fielding position, I think he'll consistently outperform peripherals that are based on his K and BB numbers. I want to give him another year to make it as a starter.
What?
If the payroll goes up, it's not going to be by a huge amount. The Russell Martin signing doesn't signify a big spending spree. He's only making Adam Lind money next year.
Ignoring acquisition costs, how would you guys rate these three potential outfield pickup purely based on your expected value: Aoki, Michael Saunders, Alex Rios?
I'd say Saunders, Rios, Aoki. Pretty close though
Anthony Alford has been pretty bad in his first 5 games in Australia, hitting .100 with just two singles and two walks, along with 10 strikeouts.
But he's having a good game tonight. He's 2-4 with an inside-the-park homerun and a single