Despite shaky defense, Wilmer Flores will remain the Mets starting shortstop, reports Ken Rosenthal in his latest video for FOX Sports. However, one alternative is to trade Daniel Murphy, shift Flores to second base, and promote shortstop prospect Matt Reynolds. The move would instantly upgrade the Mets’ infield defense. Per Rosenthal, the club may prefer to promote Reynolds once David Wright returns to action.
As for trading Murphy, the club may look to acquire a prospect or reliever. Aside from Jeurys Familia and a couple role players, the Mets bullpen has been a little shaky. However, strong starting pitching has allowed the club to hide that shortcoming. New York relievers have thrown the fewest innings of any team. Conversely, their starters lead the league in innings pitched. Here’s more from Rosenthal:
- Cubs second base prospect Javier Baez is on an 11-for-22 streak, leading to speculation that he could be promoted. The easiest way to insert him into the lineup would be to move Kris Bryant to the outfield and Baez to third. Since the club is juggling several important future pieces, they’ll want to be careful about how they handle the logjam.
- The Orioles are built to sell with eight players on the 25 man roster set to reach free agency after the season. Don’t expect a fire sale anytime soon. Baltimore is just four games back in a shaky AL East. Owner Peter Angelos is loathe to throw in the towel. He famously nixed a couple trades involving Bobby Bonilla and David Wells during the 1996 season. The club later clawed its way into the postseason. It would seem the Orioles’ woes would have to get a lot worse before Chris Davis and others were shopped.
- Many speculate that Mark Trumbo will be available this summer, however the Diamondbacks have publicly resisted the idea. Per Rosenthal, the club believes they will contend next season once Patrick Corbin and other youngsters solidify the rotation. Trumbo is signed to a $6.9MM contract and has one year of arbitration remaining. Arizona could replace Trumbo with a platoon of David Peralta and Yasmany Tomas.
Baez is still striking out at a 25% rate. I wouldn’t promote him until he figures something out. A 25% rate in the minors isn’t gonna translate well to the MLB.
I don’t know how value Chris Davis would be. He hasn’t hit for BA or OBP in 2 years now, he has no defensive value and is almost striking out at a 40% rate.
what would it take for the angels to get trumbo back?
A pitching prospect or two not named Heaney I’d imagine, that came out wrong any pitching prospects not named Heaney.
more like not named heaney tropeano and newcomb, I don’t think they would bring trumbo back, they need a lefty bat, I was thinking about adam lind or maybe get both ben revere to play left and then adam lind to dh and split time at first.
You are undervaluing Trumbo by quite a lot right handed power has a lot of value. Look at trade value Cespedes has had.
He does have a lot of power, but right now the angels want a lefty bat to cover the loss of hamilton because joyce is not getting it done right now
I got ya now. Just a not a fit for angels
He would be a fit but if the angels have to give up tropeano heaney or newcomb to get him then its a no deal, other rumors were that the angels are linked to blackmon , dickerson , ben revere , cargo , adam lind . and possibly ryan howard. all lefty bats.
La Russa/Stewart seems to want pitchers that are on fast track to the majors, I imagine he wants a rotation that is going to age together with Bradley/Shipley
Yea well I don’t see the angels trading Newcomb/Heaney/Tropeano to get trumbo, maybe another arm that they have. those three guys are more valuable then trumbo. imo I think their best bet is either revere or adam lind or both. a power dh from the left side and a speedy left fielder who can bat 9th and be another lead off guy lower in the line up.
Cespedes, however has a bit of defensive value while Trumbo has none.
Cespedes would be awesome with the angels, should go after him in free agency lol, imagine an outfield of trout/calhoun/cespedes
Seems like a good fit for that park. All it would cost them is money. He’s more valuable than Trumbo.
Yea he is but right now, I think the angels should look at ben revere to play left
I hate ben revere as a hitter but his play in left has been pretty good this year; as long as he doesn’t play center…
I mean as a hitter he can hit singles and doubles steal bases batting 9th be another lead off guy, just like when they had bourjos. And then for the power bat they could look at adam lind and could use another bullpen arm.
Cespedes doesn’t move like a sack of lard and he has stayed healthy
Trumbo to the Pirates has been speculated for years, even when he was an Angel. What would it take to get it done?
That would be a nice bat behind, probably a nice pitching prospect not named tailon glasnow and kingnam
I think McGuire and a B level prospect would get it done.
Where would he play? 1B is taken and he’s not displacing Marte or Polanco.
Well I remember the angels tried to put him at third when they had trumbo morales and pujols, but that didn’t work out that well for trumbo
That was a disaster. Trumbo is a born DH/part-time 1B who is in the wrong league and the absolutely wrong team for his skills. I don’t understand why Arizona has said they are unwilling to trade him. He’s an awful fit for that team.
because they think they will be contending in 2016 when they have a healthy patrick corbin to go with bradly and shipley. and then have a line up of goldy , trumbo and tomas. But trumbo belongs in the AL. if they do look to trade him the pirates could be a good fit, and maybe another is to bring him back with the angels but they want a lefty bat.
I don’t know that the Pirates are a great fit either; he and Alvarez are basically the same player, and ALvarez is a bit younger and a bit cheaper.
Well speaking on the angels , they need a lefty bat. Adam Lind for dh and maybe ben revere to play left. But if they did get adam lind, the brewers might ask for cron in return.
Can’t imagine what Milwaukee would want with Cron – they’ll need to move Braun to first eventually and Cron has been terrible this season. And Cron can’t even play first.
I’m just thinking like a GM, if they traded lind, they wouldn’t have a first baseman and Cron would be the obvious choice I guess but who knows what the angels will do. other names have been linked to them, Cargo , dickerson , blackmon , revere , adam lind and somehow somebody said michael brantley
I wonder if the Angels would have to give up anything to get Howard? He’s not any worse than Cron. Or maybe if the White Sox fall out of contention Adam Laroche?
I would still take adam lind over Laroach and Howard. Howard needs a change of scenery but only if philly eats 50 mill of the contract, they already said they were willing to do that.
Lind signed as a free agent, right? Because if he was he can’t be traded until June, I think…oops, never mind, he was acquired in a trade. Would be a good fit and probably cheap.
I think he has an option for 2016 I think
brewers need pitching or an athletic infielder (3B, SS, 2B)
Out of curiosity, where does Tomás play?
I have said it and I will say it again. Wilmer Flores has positive defensive grades according to fangraphs and baseball reference. Who is to say Matt Reynolds would be a significant upgrade?
Watching the games would you give Flores a positive review as a SS?
I would
So far this year he’s been no worse than Ian Desmond
No, but he is a guy that will get better with time. It’s not like he’s the worse in the league and trading Syndergaard and Matz to acquire another slightly above average SS does not make sense for the Mets.
He’s not an SS in 2016 but if he can hit exactly like he has since the end of August last year, he’ll be one of the best offensive threats at the position. He has 11 homers in 235 PA from 8/27 onwards; that’s a 30 homer pace over 650 PA. Sure, he probably isn’t a 30 homer guy but even 20-25 is tremendous for a 2B/SS. Heck, Ruben Tejada has 7 homers for his entire career.
Yes, there is no question that the guy can swing the bat a little bit (for a SS). Hopefully he can prove everybody wrong and play passable defense
If Baez is picking up steam wouldn’t trading him make more sense than moving Bryant off 3rd? He could bring back a nice haul and I am not sold on his bat. Castro is proven to be solid and has a set contract. Maybe Baez to the Yankees for Severino and Lindgren, or to the Blue Jays for Norris, or perhaps part of a Hamels package?
Trumbo is an American League,player he really limed Defensively in the field !
At 86 years old, how much of a grip could Angelos possibly have on the Orioles. His son, John Angelos, seems to be mostly involved and it’s looks like Duquette and Showalter has the most control over player transactions. How relevant is it to bring up Wells and Bonilla in 2015?
86 years old kinda explains why he is loathe to throw in the towel.
A topic about the rays, I saw somebody wrote that the rays should trade Longoria to the cubs for some of their prospects.
That’s a great idea. Because the Cubs don’t have anybody at third and would rather spend money on infielders than on pitchers.
Oh. Wait. The exact opposite of that.
Yea I was watching High Heat with chris russo and somebody sent in a tweet about that since the rays traded myers away
Just want to point out that your link to Matt Reynolds’ baseball-reference page goes to the wrong Matt Reynolds.. the Mets prospect is an infielder with no ML experience.. your link goes to the page for the pitcher who has played for the Rockies and Diamondbacks. 😀