The Cubs have the prospect depth necessary to acquire David Price from the Rays, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes, and acquiring Price (and then extending him past 2015) is just the kind of big move Rosenthal feels the Cubs need to get them into contention sooner rather than later. Price is intrigued by the idea of playing in Chicago, friends of the southpaw say, and Cubs minor league pitching coordinator Derek Johnson was Price’s pitching coach at Vanderbilt.
Here’s some hot stove buzz from Rosenthal’s latest piece…
- The Athletics are getting calls about left-hander Tommy Milone, who lost his rotation job when Oakland acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Cubs. The 27-year-old Milone is controlled through 2017 and has a 3.84 ERA, 3.23 K/BB rate and 6.5 K/9 over 468 2/3 career innings, though his significant home/road splits could make some teams wary about his effectiveness outside of Oakland. The A’s aren’t too keen to move Milone since they value having rotation depth.
- The Phillies are willing to eat some money on their major veteran contracts in order “to effectively buy prospects” in trades, though with teams so hesitant to move their young talent, Philadelphia might be better served by just pursuing salary relief.
- Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon “is generating little interest,” sources tell Rosenthal.
- Many of the would-be best trade chips on the White Sox aren’t producing, which could make it tough for the Pale Hose to make deadline deals. Gordon Beckham and Alejandro De Aza, for instance, look more like non-tender candidates than valuable acquisitions in the view of one rival executive. John Danks might be the most attractive trade candidate on the Chicago roster, while the Sox might wait until the winter to explore dealing Alexei Ramirez when the trade market is more open.
- The Blue Jays’ search for offense could be mitigated by the impending returns of Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie from the DL within the next week or two. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos said yesterday that he was still looking to add a bat before the trade deadline.
- Eugenio Suarez has played well enough at shortstop that Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski doesn’t think his team will look for an upgrade at the position before the deadline. Rosenthal notes that Suarez’s presence could create a bit of a logjam next season when Jose Iglesias returns from injury.
- The Tigers do have a need for more lineup balance, as the team is short on left-handed hitters.
- With so little prospect depth, Rosenthal thinks the Yankees’ best trade strategy would be to offer salary relief for large contracts. In hindsight, Rosenthal writes, the Yankees might’ve been better off trading Robinson Cano for prospects last summer, even though being a deadline seller is unheard of for the always-contending Yankees.
Richard Hood
Maybe not today but soon the Cubs will take the step that Rosenthal talks about here. The only question is will it be enough to open a contention window? I do not know yet but it is good bet to at least be competitive in 2015.
Nick
This whole “the Yankees have no prospects” refrain that has become so popular is getting kind of annoying. They may not have that one “can’t miss” guy who will be ready within the next year, but they have a lot of young talent, especially at A and A-.
Richard Hood
But to make that splash trade you need almost ready assets so that you do not need to go quantity over quality. I think that the Yankees system in the next 3 years is probably going to be trending up but right now their lack of almost ready guys really hurts them in trade discussions.
Riaaaaaa
Severino is in AA, Refsnyder is in AAA and could be called up right now but they want him to become a second baseman, Greene is young and can eat a lot of innings. Many of these writers who say the Yankees don’t have pieces who can be ready within a year or two know little to nothing about the system
Richard Hood
Not a big Refsnyder fan in any deal because that is not the type of guy that you can build a trade around (not saying he wont be good just that he does not have those WOW tools that scouts and analysts look for). He is more of a guy that good teams have on them to help them win. Then again that is the same idea that most had about Pedroia before he got a couple years in the league. You never know with these kids.
Riaaaaaa
I’m not saying you have to build a trade around them, our biggest chip is clearly Severino but to say the Yankees have nothing else to offer is an overstatement
Bleed_Orange
But those aren’t the high end prospects that other teams are looking for. Every system in baseball has nice prospects that could become big league contributors, but if a team is going to trade an asset they are going to want to gamble on a guy who has a little more of a payout. I agree with the article the only way the Yankees are going to get anyone of note this trade deadline is to take on salary… and lots of it.
MB923
” I agree with the article the only way the Yankees are going to get
anyone of note this trade deadline is to take on salary… and lots of
it.”
And several of those players on the trading block, or at least Rumored to be, play in Philadelphia and they are mainly the ones that have that high salary.
(watch the Yankees make a horrible trade for Edwin Jackson now).
Michael Lynch
First off, Severino is a high end prospect who very single team would want in a trade. Second Rosenthal didn’t say the words lack of prospect depth in the article if you read it, using their salary advantage would let them keep their best prospects. People keep repeating things, the truth is the Yankees have more positional player prospects than they usually do, they are low on starting pitching prospects, which hurts them.
Riaaaaaa
Rosenthal at least knows the Yankees do have prospects, the author of this page is the one who wrote the misleading statement. Not sure why they threw that in there…
Riaaaaaa
Severino is a high end prospect one of the top 40 in baseball and he is flying through the system. I’m not saying Refsnyder and Greene are high end prospects though, but they are ready/nearly ready for the majors and could be added in a trade.
Michael Lynch
Really hope they don’t trade Refnsyder, they need young inexpensive starters and he could play second or right field for them next year as they will have openings at both position.
Riaaaaaa
I agree they need to give him time to develop at second base because that’s where his bat will provide the most value. But if they are going to have him at second they’ll definitely need a good fielding shortstop for next season
mrnatewalter
I think there’s a big difference between having attractive trade options and having talent to work with. The Yankees have a lot of guys they can work with over the next couple years, but they don’t really have any strong trade pieces. They certainly don’t have what it’ll take to get David Price.
MB923
Even if they did, I don’t see the Rays trading him in the division. Same would go for Boston who probably does have the pieces for Price
Yankees certainly have the pieces for Lee. It shouldn’t take a lot for an aging player coming off of injury who is still owed $50 milllion.
Whether or not they want to do it , or more importantly, whether or not Lee would waive his NTC to go there is a different story. So clearly this is just going on speculation that he would.
NotCanon
Why would the Phillies trade him if all he’s worth is “aging player coming off injury who is still owed $50 million” value? Getting out from under his salary obligation doesn’t really help them appreciably during the time when they’d have been under it.
MB923
Well they will certainly get something of value. Just certainly not a team’s top 2 prospects. Why keep him and pay him $50 million and get nothing out of it as opposed to letting another team eat perhaps some of his salary and net something of what likely will be a good value?
NotCanon
They’ve got another 1-2 years to deal him for something more valuable. Assuming he isn’t completely cooked now, why not hang onto him until he reestablishes higher value?
Also, the Phillies could use the salary relief, but they don’t need it so badly that they’d move a top-tier trade chip in exchange for it. They’d rather cover (hopefully) a significant portion of his remaining salary in exchange for a team’s top (2) prospects.
MB923
But in the next 1-2 years he may very well flame out much like his former teammates Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia. The chances of that happening are high and Much much higher than him reestablishing a higher value. If I’m the Phillies I’d trade him for what I can get. Not off to a great start. Got shelled in AAA and shelled tonight.
NotCanon
The odds of that happening exist, but you really have no basis for saying that they’re high – nor “much higher” than him reestablishing a higher (than injured, high-cost, mid-30s SP) value – other than seeing it happen once (Halladay) on a guy whose pitching style was much more power-oriented.
MB923
Fair enough. I just think now is the time to trade him unless the Phillies really feel they will be in contention next year and in 2016 (his vesting year I believe, but I could be wrong).
Eric 23
If the Cubs could sign Price for a discount, then maybe it makes sense. Otherwise, just wait and sign him or someone else as a free agent. Then the Cubs get to keep their prospects and get the pitcher.
Richard Hood
You are waiting till after 2015 to sign Price as a Free Agent.
jb226 2
No big deal. The odds of the Cubs being serious contenders in 2015 aren’t high. I’m not sure that changes even if they did get Price this season.
Richard Hood
I was just saying they could not sign him as a Free Agent for another 15 months. Not that it mattered when or if they acquired him.
Rally Weimaraner
Why is David Price any more likely to sign an extension with the Cubs than the Mariners?
Richard Hood
Because he talked about wanting to be a Cub (as an abstract concept) at the All Star break. This is just a continuation of that narrative.
Rally Weimaraner
There is a big diference between saying it would be “cool” to win a World Series with the Cubs and I want to spend the next 7-10 years playing for them.
Price also said he sees how the Cubs have stockpiled top prospects after the trade of Jeff Samardzija and finds their future full of intrigue; however, if they trade those prospect for Price their future looks a lot less intriguing.
Richard Hood
It matters what you traded. If you kept a prospect base of Almora, Baez, Russell and Bryant and built a trade around Alcantara, Soler and some of the pitching that is deeper in the system you might be able to stay the pace as far as getting better through the system and still getting that TOR arm that the Cubs are going to need going forward.
Rally Weimaraner
Realistically the Cubs need to count on a few of those top prospects turning into complete busts. The Cubs don’t have many quality options to fill out the rotation behind Price either.
Richard Hood
Arrieta, Wood(I still think he would be a good innings eating 4 on a good team), Hendricks right now. Johnson and Edwards soon (maybe the 2nd half of 2015) if they can stay healthy. Plus they are going to have a top bullpen for a few years with the hard throwers coming through the system on top of the guys they already have. So They have some options behind Price now. Sign a FA that you can pencil in as a 2/3 guy and you have a good balanced rotation.
Richard Hood
I do agree that Baez has bust written all over him and need to move him while is value is high. I was thinking they would move him last off season.
oh Hal
I agree with the other poster that they’ll just sign FAs, but the idea that you can trade for a TOR with a quantity over quality strategy isn’t realistic IMO.
mrnatewalter
The Cubs have 2-3 marquee infield prospects in Alcantara, Baez, and Russell. They have strong outfield prospects in Almora and Soler. Yeah, maybe one or two of all of those guys will be busts, but you’re also dealing with Theo Epstein… not exactly a GM who falls victim to serious busts.
You could easily trade any 2 of those prospects and then plug Price in. I actually like the prospect of David Price being a Cub.
oh Hal
Alcantara is a marquee prospect? Theo doesn’t have bust prospects?
asovermann
Most mid-season prospect lists have said that he’d be ranked in the top 25 if he hadn’t been called up already.
oh Hal
Top 25? Off the top of your head, who are a couple list creators who made that comment?
asovermann
Both Fangraphs (Marc Hulet?) and Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus had him top 25. BP had him at #18 I believe and Fangraphs had him 20-25 if he’d of qualified. Then BA had him at #33.
CascadianAbroad
Baseball America had him as the #100 best prospect in all of baseball at the end of 2013 too.
Douglas Rau
Mark Teixeira talked about how he wouldn’t mind being an Oriole prior to his free agency between ’08 and ’09 and then signed with the Yankees. Saying, “I wouldn’t mind signing with this team” doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It’s just part of the game from the perspective free agent’s part. Side note, it’s ridiculous that Orioles fans boo Teix for that. It’s not as if he reneged on a handshake agreement or anything. He simply agreed to sign with the team that his favorite player growing up (Don Mattingly) played for and the Yankees were the one team that honored his request that the negotiations be kept out of the press.
Richard Hood
That is why I put that disclaimer in it about it being a concept in the conversation and this just being a narrative.
Bleed_Orange
It’s more so a hometown kid foregoing “coming home” for a better option. Same thing with LeBron James and Cleveland. Side note: “I don’t boo him because when I saw the contract he signed I didn’t want him and I will never blame a ball player for taking the money.”
mrnatewalter
But Teixeira and LeBron aren’t in the same boat… LeBron played for Cleveland and left (and then came back, oddly enough)… Teixeira has never played for Baltimore…
Bleed_Orange
I guess my point was more home town fans unrealistic expectations for home town super stars.
mrnatewalter
Ahhhhhh… gotcha.
As a midwesterner, I often think what would’ve happened had Joe Mauer left the Twins, or Alex Gordon left the Royals… we love our team loyalty around here…
But when you boo a guy for taking a better contract? I find that silly… I don’t ever expect a guy to take a pay cut just to stay closer to home.
Dynasty22
Chicago is closer to Tenneesee (Price’s home state) than Seattle is.
MB923
Wiki says Price grew up a Braves fan (just saying).
jb226 2
Braves could certainly land him, but I believe they were essentially removed from the running in a previous report. They couldn’t take the salary, in addition to being wary of giving up the prospect haul.
Dynasty22
I know. He was starstruck when Chipper Jones followed him on twitter. I don’t think the Braves could afford him.
Dynasty22
I know. He was starstruck when Chipper Jones followed him on twitter. I don’t think the Braves could afford him.
Light_tower_power
Im shocked people aren’t clamoring for Beckham…He is a stud come get him for us
liberalconservative
Batting in the 230s will not get you a good prospect. He looks more of a waiver wire deal. Most likely the chisox will dump him for a low level prospect.
Ned L
I think he’s being sarcastic about Beckham, at least I hope so.
Bleed_Orange
I hope so as well. I wouldn’t mine seeing the O’s target a second baseman like Beckham or Ackley, a guy who needs a change of scenery.
liberalconservative
I doubt the A’s will move Milone unless they get a top prospect for the infield back. Milone is a good #4 starter on most team. With having no starting depth in AAA Milone is the only option in case of injury for the A’s. You would either need to over pay foer Milone or he is going nowhere.
Rally Weimaraner
The Phillies need to accept that they are going have to pay 6+ MM a year just to ship the rest of Papelbon’s contract out of town. His massive contract, poor clubhouse reputation and declining velocity dont make him an attractive target.
flyerzfan12
I think most teams and GMs are waiting for him to implode. And I don’t blame them. With the decreased velocity and K rate, it’s shocking he hasn’t given up a homer yet this year (any bets he gives one up tonight now that I wrote this?)
NotCanon
The clubhouse reputation seems to be overblown. He’s bad with the media, definitely, but the other BP arms in Philly really have nothing but good things to say about him as a teammate.
evanwins
Yeah, that sub 1.50 ERA is really unattractive. His really amazing stats this year and for a majority of his career really belie a lousy pitcher.
SteveF
Milone> Orioles
Bleed_Orange
Seems exactly like the kind of guy that DD would target. Also seems exactly like the guy DD would over pay for, would come to Baltimore and would look all sorts of awful in OPACY
Rally Weimaraner
The Yankees should have traded away someone… never Ken!
NRD1138 2
Rick Hahn shot himself in the foot when he did not move these guys where the were playing better. De Aza, Dunn, and, to a lesser extent, Beckham should have been gone already once you saw the horrible coaching of Ventura and the ‘anything can happen for us to lose’ mentality on the Sox about 1 month in (or after the 5th blown save). They are interesting to watch but they would have been just as interesting to watch with Viciedo at DH and Jordan Danks in the OF.
Of course when you trade 20-30 wins (saves) away for a guy sitting in your minor league system this kind of season is going to happen.
Now that De Aza is starting to come around… again, trade him while he is the ‘good’ de Aza. Dunn should be traded for a bag of baseballs at this point (if you can even get that for him). Figure out Beckham’s ‘deal’ and fix it or play it as all he needs is a a change of scenery. Get rid of Danks now before ‘bad’ Danks starts rolling in, like that clunker against the Astros.I know you will not get a lot but get something for these guys. Dunn I’m not expecting much, but get him out of here as this guys loses you more games than wins. Same with De Aza, and to a lesser extent Danks. Danks is a lefty Gavin Floyd, great talent, but cannot put it together all the time.
mikecws91
I was surprised De Aza wasn’t dealt in the offseason, but that tells me Hahn wasn’t getting the kind of return he wanted. No one expected De Aza to be as bad as he was in April and May, so holding onto him wasn’t an indefensible move, although it may not have ended up being the right one.
NRD1138 2
The twins wanted him in the spring but Rick Hahn decided no no no, and now he is paying for it. Danks was destroying it in the spring and he opted to keep De Aza… I’m sure hoping there was more to it than that, otherwise that seems absurd to me
mikecws91
Since I’ve read it on here many times, let’s get one thing straight: Jordan Danks will never be a starting outfielder.
You know who had the best spring in recent memory for the Sox? Wilson Betemit.
mattfromchicago
This is preposterous, as bad as De Aza is, he’s 10x the player Jordan Danks ever will be.
mattfromchicago
Of course, this assumes that there are teams out there trying to acquire De Aza, Dunn, and Beckham, I’m not so sure there are. De Aza is, at best, a 4th OF on a good team, but he’s not an everyday kind of player, let alone an impact guy. Dunn has been a disaster for the past 3 years. Beckham has been a serious disappointment essentially since the beginning of his MLB career. It’s not like these are guys that were on the receiving end of a ton of interest even if, like Beckham, they were playing well for a couple of weeks.
I can’t blame Rick for waiting, hoping any of them would get real hot and maybe some desperate sucker would try and part with something to land them but, unfortunately, all those guys suck and probably aren’t worth anything. The only good news is hopefully all 3 will be gone next year, which frees up approximately $20 M for Hahn to play with.
StevetheBaker
Disagree. De Aza got off to a poor start this year but was worth 1.9, 3.1 and 1.7 offensive WAR in 2011, ’12, ’13.
Dunn is worth offensive .9 this year and 2.0 in 2012 and .9 in 2013. Not justifying the contract – though no one should have expected the end of contract to be cost effective – but hardly disaster.
Teams don’t wait for a hot streak. The book is pretty set on these guys – unless there is fear of injury or someone is just ‘broken’ – and they know what they are getting.
Cyyoung
I wouldn’t do that if I were the Cubs, not at this time. Wait till Off-Season, they could make run at Lester or Scherzer, with their #1 probably protected, they would just lose a #2 Pick. They should be all set if they want to spend.
Richard Hood
I think we can see a plan coming into focus pretty soon. Probably by the trading deadline. If we see the Cubs starting to trade for some of the CB picks then they are probably not going to sign anyone with compensation attached (the pool money is just to important to acquire more just to loose it).
NRD1138 2
I think it all depends on what the Cubs can afford to part with to be honest.
But I agree, as much as you want a stud like Price they should remember what they had to give up to get Garza, and Garza is no Price. My guess is that the former GM of the Red Sox is going after Lester so they can make Wrigley Field ‘West Fenway’
bobbleheadguru
If DD believes that Nathan is done, then make a simple, clean trade:
Papelbon for Nathan and Thompson. If possible ask for some of Papelbon’s salary.
Philly gets out from under some of Papelbon, but has to eat Nathan’s contract next year.
flyerzfan12
I think that’s an overpay by Detroit.
jeffm
Might be, but they’ve gotta go for it this year. Scherzer, V. Martinez and Hunter are all slated for free agency after this year. That’s a lot of production to lose and would certainly bring them back to the pack in the NL Central.
flyerzfan12
Absolutely right. And nevermind, I was under the impression that next year Detroit held an option/buyout on Nathan, not in 2016. With that being the case, I guess it isn’t such an overpayment.
jeffm
The guaranteed money works out pretty well, roughly $15M for Nathan and $19M for Papelbon through next year. A deal like Papelbon and cash considerations for Thompson and Nathan should work, assuming the Phillies aren’t on Nathan’s 5 team NTC. The cash considerations could go towards 2016 if Papelbon’s option vests.
flyerzfan12
Seems logical enough. But I’m guessing Tigers fans will think it’s an overpay including one of their top prospects and would rather a cheaper option or hoping Nathan turns it around. Most fans expect Papelbon to regress given his decreased velocity and K rate and don’t want to give up an asset for him even with money eaten because they fear that. Don’t necessarily disagree with them either but he’s seemed to have found out how to pitch with the lower velocity. We shall see if it continues.
Jerry Mandering
Why would a rebuilding team want Joe Nathan? Thompson, a position player and some salary relief seems more plausible. Regardless of what the deeper numbers say, Pap’s only blown 2 saves thus far. Phillies hold the advantage in this case and I can’t see them trading for a 39 year old, especially an ineffective one.
Phillyfan425
I’d love to take on Nathan’s contract if it would get us Thompson. It’s done a year earlier that Pap’s *(well, technically the same – but Pap has a vesting option for 2016 while Nathan has a team option with a $1 M buyout for 2016). The Phillies aren’t (or at least shouldn’t) be looking to add payroll this off-season – and having a luxury like Pap at the back of the bullpen is pretty pointless.
Jerry Mandering
It makes sense on paper, there’s no way he’s a Phillie by the start of next season. It just depends on who gives them the best offer. I think they’ll get better offers.
Phillyfan425
If they get offered Thompson, I’d jump on that. I’m not sure there will be a better offer (from looking at the other teams that are in need of closers and in contention).
Phillyfan425
If they get offered Thompson, I’d jump on that. I’m not sure there will be a better offer (from looking at the other teams that are in need of closers and in contention).
bobbleheadguru
Papelbon’s contract is a complete albatross. 2 Years of Albatross for 1 year of Albatross PLUS a solid prospect… that is what it comes down to.
Tigers have at least a half dozen other trade options for either 8th or 9th. You could argue that Papelbon would not be a fit unless they dumped Nathan completely because of both of their egos.
Bob 31
If the White Sox “trade chips” were producing well enough to garner a good return, the Pale Hose would be contenders, looking to buy, not sell!
Douglas Rau
It’s easy to say “The Yankees should have traded Robinson Cano last year at this time” now and the thought even bounced around in my head more than a few times. No one gave any real consideration to the possibility that Cano would sign anywhere but with the Yankees (EDIT: sorry, I have this amazingly bad habit of having thoughts of what I want to write and then no writing the second half of my sentences) and there’s no doubt that Cano’s potent bat in the no. 3 hole is one of the main thing the Yankees starting 9 line-up has been missing all season.
Cubstein
Sure glad Rosenthal isn’t the GM for the Cubs. Only way you consider this is either a sign and trade or a trade with a clause allowing for the reversal of the trade if Price doesn’t come to terms with the club ala R.A. Dickey. Even so, you have a lot of guys becoming free agents this year one or two is just as good as price and would only cost you a 2nd round pick, or in the case of Lester nothing in terms of prospects.
citizen 2
yankees always contending. shmmmsh.
bigbadjohnny
Cubs will not trade half their farm system for Price.
Just another one of those NY Media false rumors.
MB923
Ken Rosenthal has nothing to do with the NY Media (though he is from NY)