MLB Insider Robert Murray on Kyle Schwarber Landing Spots and MLB’s Pitching Market

MLB Insider Robert Murray on Kyle Schwarber Landing Spots and MLB’s Pitching Market

Let’s start with Kyle Schwarber. I just wanted to get your thoughts on what his market is looking like. It sounds like there are a ton of teams interested, but I’m curious how many of them are seriously going to get up to a number that he’s good with and how many of them he’s going to consider contenders. This is going to be his last contract. How could you not love Kyle Schwarber? He hits bombs. Like Schwar bombs are like the best thing in baseball. Um he hits for power. He’s a great leader. Gets on base pretty frequently and he’s just a total package. And if you’re the Philadelphia Phillies, you need to do everything in your power to keep him. If you’re the Boston Red Sox, you need to write that wrong when you ended up letting him leave as a free agent when he went to Philadelphia. If you’re the Toronto Blue Jays when you want to take a big swing, why not go after Schwarber or even Kyle Tucker? Uh he’s from the Midwest area. So, you got to think some of those teams would be involved. He was asked about uh the possibility of the Cincinnati Reds the other day, I believe, maybe even it was yesterday, and he didn’t shoot that down. I mean, there’s so many teams that could use a Kyle Schwarber that need a Kyle Schwarber. He’s going to do very well in free agency. It’s going to be like his eventual contract is going to start with a three probably $30 million per year, probably well well more than that. Uh whether it’s three, four, five seasons remains to be seen. But to me, he’s the best player in the market. And if I was a GM, which I’m not, um I would do everything in my power to possibly sign him. But couldn’t he hamstring a team? I watched him a lot here in Philly. I, you know, I watched him when I worked for the Red Sox. Like, he obviously brings that extra value, that extra clubhouse value. But a lot of teams with expire, not expiring contracts, but contracts that are getting deeper into their age, aren’t they leerary of locking up any DH for any amount of time, let alone for four or five years? Yeah, that part’s tricky for sure. And I think he’s an elite enough player that you don’t really hesitate in doing so. And I was talking to Craig Brezlo. And he like he made it clear he can’t talk about any specific player because he didn’t want to get get in trouble or anything, but um he said when you have an elite player like such as a David Ortiz, like you don’t hesitate. You make him your designated hitter and you don’t think twice about it. Like yeah, he likes flexibility at the DH spot. Like rotating guys there is something that he’s definitely open to. Um, but when you have an elite player, in this case, Schwarber, that could be the exception to the rule, which is why I think Boston or plenty of these other teams, um, should take that risk, which I don’t know if it’s necessarily, well, I mean, there’s always risk with contracts, but with Schwarber, that’s like a really good gamble to take. And that’s what I was kind of getting to my next question. There’s always teams lurking and especially two teams I think of. Well, one you gota always number one guy is always the Dodgers or what they did last year. Uh what do you see from them? And then you got the Mets and Stevie Cohen over there is not afraid to pull off anything. You know, not only with Sarver, but do you see any of those two teams going after some high price guys to get them back to where they need to be? Well, the Mets back to where they need to be, not the Dodgers. No, for sure. And I I feel like both of those teams should never be ruled out. Like Steve Cohen, he spends unlike almost any owner in baseball on the Dodgers. They their ability to stockpile talent and be competitive year in and year out is admirable. And with the Dodgers, I’m not ruling it out, but for them, their priorities are clear. Uh they want to add to the bullpen. And whether that’s a Devin Williams type, which I believe Fabian Ardia of The Athletic reported that first, that he’s interested or that they’re interested in in Devin Williams, uh even a guy like Pete Fairbanks would make a lot of sense for the Dodgers, too. And you would think maybe they end up looking for an outfielder of some sort. Whether that could be just speculating, but I think a Harrison Bader type would be a great fit for the Dodgers and really add to that outfield defense, but they’re also evaluating their internal options there as well. But you can never rule out a splash with them. The Mets, they they need to figure out the pitching side and they also need to figure out defensively as well. um what like how they can upgrade that that defense and those are two things that David Sterns is really known for. He thrived with that in Milwaukee. I expect him to do so. I just don’t know the caliber of player that they’re that they’re going to be able to go out and sign. But that being said, um with Steve Cohen, you can’t you can’t really rule anything out there. All right, I went danced around it a little bit. The Dodgers are good at DH, so Schwarber ain’t it for them. the guy show I think it’s Otani Otani. I’m not sure how I think maybe. Yeah, he’s he’s he’s probably he’s probably good unless they can make another rule for the Dodgers where they could have two DH’s in the lineup, which Major League Baseball already makes rules for the show Dodgers. So, that’s that’s totally fine. But I want to go back to one of the teams that was actually in on Schwarber and that’s a Pirates. I don’t necessarily need to talk about them being in on Schwarber because that’s laughable to me, but supposedly they were in with a much lower offer on Naylor, on Josh Naylor. So, are the Pirates really going to be spenders? And if so, why? And what level are we going to? Are they just doing this to like make sure Major League Baseball knows that, oh, it’s so tough for these small market teams to even compete. So, they have to make these piss poor offers. I like I love that the Pirates are actually willing to go out and bolster their offense because I’ve been I’ve been hoping for this for years now and they have the pitching staff. You have Paul Skins, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler. I mean, they have the pieces there in the rotation and it’s they’re young and they’re they’re signed cheap, too, with the exception of Keller. Um, and then offensively, they they traded Key Brian Hayes at the deadline. They saved a good amount of money and my indications then were that they were going to reinvest it back into the roster. And the early indications this offseason are, yeah, like they’re they’re going to go out and do that. And Ben Cherington told me at the at the GM meetings that they have more flexibility now than they’ve had in in most offseasons there in Pittsburgh. And we saw that with Josh Naylor, who is definitely a player they coveted there in Pittsburgh. Obviously did not did not get him. uh he went back to Seattle, but they’re going to be fishing in some different waters than they’ve been in previous years. And like yeah, like the Schwarber thing, I I have a pretty hard time seeing that as well. Like that would be that’d be a big surprise. And but the fact that they’re even mentioned with those kind of players is a really cool thing. But if I’m looking at Pittsburgh, I would imagine like a a Ryan O’Harn type or someone along those lines could be a really good fit and maybe a more realistic match. But obviously they they signed Tommy Fam last off seasonason. They had a great experience with him. I I would not rule out a reunion there. But Fam is not going to be would would not be the last of their last of their moves there. They’re going to be in the market for offense, meaningful offense, and maybe it gets to the point when we can talk about them being a playoff team, which would be really exciting. Robert, I’m going to put you on the spot, and this might be me and I’m putting you on the spot. Do you remember their last multi-year free agent contract? Yeah, because that was one of my first stories I ever broke. Francisco Liano, three years for 39 million. Yeah, I’ll never forget it. There you go. So, what about what about their last free agent position player multi-year deal? Russell Martin. Oh, I was gonna say Jason Russell. Wow. So, what year was that? Do you know? The 13. 13 and 14. I think you got a two-year deal. So, if you’re if you’re telling me this is what’s going to happen, all I have to say is prove it from the Pirates. Prove it. Don’t don’t don’t give me We were in on him. We called Kyle Tucker and he actually talked to us. It was amazing. Like to me, I needed to be proved. That’s it. No, I I totally agree. Like, talk is cheap, but this year they seem more serious about it than they have in previous offseasons. So, like we’ll see. I’m I’m more optimistic about it, but yeah, the proof is in the pudding. And you gota you got to talk the talk, you got to walk the walk, you got to do all that stuff. And I hope that happens because Pirates fans deserve a playoff team. Uh they are a very passionate fan base and they are constantly hitting me up asking like what’s my team doing? And and hopefully this offseason I can say they’re doing a whole lot. So we’ll see. Talk about the Yankees a little bit. Jazz Chisum, really good player, 3030. Um, what do you think about him signing back with the Yankees and and moving forward with that situation? I know the Yankees aren’t usually the ones that hit right away, but what do you what do you think about that? Yeah, I if I was them, I would definitely explore it. Like, he was an all-star last year. He’s a tremendous player. Uh, he’s really been a great fit in New York and you talk to people around that team and they they love him. And Brian Kman did not shoot down the idea of a possible extension when he was asked about it at the GM meetings or on a conference call at the GM meetings. Um, but they typically don’t extend players before they reach free agency because Cashman prefers his players to to reach the market so they can establish their values there. But he could be an exception to the rule. But that being said, he’s a year away from free agency. He had a great year this year. if he has another great year next year, he can really just turn that into a like a very strong contract in free agency. So, my guess is they poke around, they see what it’s going to take, but my feel is it’s probably unlikely and that he becomes a free agent after the 2026 season. Robert, we’re getting some fan questions about some other starters. So, I’ll bring up Ryan here. He asked about Diamondbacks pitchers. First off, he said, “What do you see Zack Allen landing in terms of money?” He said, “Over under $50 million. I know where I’d go there.” And then he also said, “Is there a signing order for starting pitchers? Like, do you have to wait for a few to sign before you get to maybe the second tier of a gallon and a Kelly?” Yeah. As as far as Gallon goes, like the Diamondbacks, they have not ruled out a reunion there. And I also think Kelly has a very legitimate chance of going back to Arizona as well. Um, but their markets are overall going to be pretty strong. I know Gallon, if you would have asked me even a year ago, his contract would have ended up being one of the biggest in in baseball in terms of free agency. Uh, well, for this offseason, I should say, not overall, but um, he’s coming off of a down season. He still showed some signs of being a really good pitcher there in Arizona. So, I’m like I I still expect him to get a fairly sizable contract this offseason. So, I’d take the over on 50 million. Um, but as far as the rest of the market goes, it’s it’s always you got to wait for the top names in the market to go and then we can kind of see um the other options end up coming off of the market. But all it takes is one team, and even Jed Hoyer was talking about this at at the GM meetings, is all it takes is for one team to value a starting pitcher way more than the other teams to the point where they’re aggressive with signing that pitcher and they go out and get him early in free agency. So maybe that happens with Kelly, maybe that happens with Gallon. I don’t know, but um we we’ll see. That is funny that you brought that up because I was thinking about that with Devin Williams. Devin Williams had a tumultuous Yankees campaign last year after being traded over. I think he was maybe used improperly, the pitch calling, but that’s here nor there. Are the Yankees truly going to go back after him or is it more of like a posturing of, hey, we had this guy, we really liked him, everybody else should like him, and then the market kind of blows up the Devin Williams train and then they they kind of pivot and go with one of the other two guys that are that high-end closer role. Yeah. I mean, I I think their interest in in keeping him is sincere, but if you look at it, there’s so many teams that have been connected to Deon Williams already. We’ve got the Red Sox, the Reds, the Dodgers, the Marlins, the Mets, Tigers, and Giants. Like I believe those are all the teams that have been linked to him in reports. So like that’s that’s a lot of teams that are that are in the game right there. And like he obviously did not have a good go of it in New York. Like that was a really tough season overall for him. And my thinking is that a change of scenery would be really good for him. And maybe it’s going back to a smaller market or maybe it’s going to even the Dodgers or it’s going to some like just going to a different environment where he has a chance to to write a new chapter and we like because you caught him in Milwaukee, didn’t you? I did not. I missed him. I missed Oh, okay. Okay. That’s my bad. But yeah, like he’s he’s one of the most talented young pitchers in in baseball. Um he is he’s going to bounce back. like I’m going to bet on the talent and just bet on his overall success and wherever he goes like I count on him being way closer to the version that he was with Milwaukee rather than what he was in the procs. Um one more for you Robert at the finish line. We’ve got the nonwaver or uh not the non-waver non-ender uh deadline coming up tomorrow. Is there anything that we should be on the lookout for over the next 24 hours? I mean, Duban looked like one of those deals where Houston wasn’t going to keep him, so they end up moving him and getting Nick Allen for some infield depth, but anything else to keep an eye on in terms of trades or a big name that could get cut. Yeah, there was one name that I thought could be possible, but I kind of had some cold water thrown on it was Jason Adam with the San Diego Padres’s. He’s got a bigger salary. He’s coming off of a I believe a ruptured quad. Um, but his recovery is going very well and I have not gotten any indications as of this point that he is a non-tender candidate. I mean, we’ll see, but like my feel is is especially with Robert Suarez now a free agent, Padres are going to value him. I mean, he would make more in the open market um than he than he is on his current deal. So, I think he’s probably safe. Uh, the other team, like if you would asked me this question yesterday, I would have definitely said Mauricio Duban. I had a pretty good idea he was going to Atlanta, but I could not get it across the finish line, which that’s kind of sad. Um, but Houston is Houston is definitely a team that is trying to shed some payroll so they can add to the rotation. So, I wonder or just add to the pitching overall. So, I wonder if they can end up being a candidate there where maybe a guy like Jake Meyers or or someone along those lines can end up being a candidate for a trade. So, we’ll see. But those are those are a couple that I’ve I’ve kept an eye on.

MLB insider Robert Murray joins Erik Kratz, Todd Frazier, and Scott Braun to break down the biggest offseason storylines. He dives into Kyle Schwarber’s market and what it means for the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox, plus why the Pittsburgh Pirates might finally spend. Murray also hits on how the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and New York Yankees are approaching free agency and potential pitching moves

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