The Red Sox are receiving a lot of praise throughout baseball for their approach to the trade deadline, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports in his latest video. The club considered prospect based offers for Jon Lester and John Lackey from the Orioles and Marlins, but ultimately opted to bulk up on major league offense. Boston is loaded with pitching prospects who they’ll be able to audition over the remainder of the season. Ostensibly, the club will have fewer holes to plug over the offseason as a result of their deadline dealings.
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told Rosenthal that Mike Russell (a scout who covers the Rays for Detroit) and Jim Leyland advocated for acquiring David Price. Without their advice, Detroit might have passed on Price.
- The A’s kicked the tires on a deal for Jimmy Rollins, but talks didn’t go anywhere. Oakland is Rollins’ home town, so he might considered waiving his no trade clause to go home.
- Cuban free agent outfield Rusney Castillo is expected to be the biggest August acquisition. The Yankees, Red Sox, and several other teams are in on Castillo.
- All of the guys the Phillies didn’t trade at the deadline – Cole Hamels, A.J. Burnett, and Jonathan Papelbon to name a few – could be dealt prior to the August trade deadline. The Phillies should see most of their roster clear waivers.
- Josh Willingham, Alex Rios, Joaquin Benoit, and Neal Cotts are a few other names Rosenthal mentions as August targets.
The Mets should jump on Castillo. He’s the perfect fit for the team. Good bat, defense, speed and a potential lead off hitter
The Phillies aren’t going to move anybody unless RAJ compromises on the money issue or on the prospects. He’s not getting anyone to sell the farm and take on these bad contracts. If they get through August and don’t trade anyone, he should be fired. Probably should be, anyway.
The only guys I would consider doing that for are Chase Utley (who, by his own choice, isn’t going anywhere) and Cole Hamels (whom, if they want to compete any time within the life of his contract, they shouldn’t move). Marlon Byrd, Antonio Bastardo? Yeah, (in the case of Byrd) eat some money and be okay with okay prospects or those guys will be wearing Phillies uniforms to the end of September.
He should definitely be fired, but that’s not gonna change much unless the new GM can get David Montgomery to stay out of his way and let him do what’s necessary to turn things around.
It’s kinda like the Knicks. Doesn’t matter who’s “in charge”. The owner/president is still the one really running the show.
Maybe we fans will get lucky and Comcast will throw some muscle around and demand a change at the top.
I think we’d need to take to a public forum… there’s a few really pathetic attempts on Facebook (less than 200 attempts) but really, gotta make a page that has a significant number of people i.e. Like = Vote to Fire, if it were to get enough traction, maybe, just maybe some news outlet would catch on and make it a story.
What money issues? RAJ has already said (and he’s been saying it for about 9 months) that the Phillies are ready to take on cash (mainly because they know they have money, but not prospects – so he will take on cash to get prospects).
Also, the only person he’s asking teams to sell the farm for, is Cole Hamels. One of the top 15 pitchers in baseball, locked into a 4 year contract (and if they eat the $10 M they were rumored to eat – at a bargain of $19 M a season, considering guys like Scherzer, Lester, Shields will all probably get at least $20+ M over 5 years).
If he was really willing to eat money to get better prospects, Byrd would be a Mariner or a Royal.
The highest amount that’s been reported that RAJ’s been willing to eat for a player not named Ryan Howard is $10 million and that was in reference to Hamels and Lee. I didn’t see any reports that indicated he was willing to eat anything for Byrd, Burnett, and Papelbon (though lack of interested in Pap could also be to blame for that).
What he’s said and what he’s done tell two different stories.
The problem with Byrd and Burnett was that the teams didn’t like the options on both of them (vesting for Byrd – which he wanted guaranteed to both teams you listed, and player for Burnett). The offer that was “reported” for Byrd was some guy in A ball with a 6+ ERA. If that was Jack Z’s starting point, he should be getting more flack than RAJ.
I agree they haven’t had specifics about how much money he was willing to eat, but at this time of year, what specifics do we actually hear.
And as yes, what he’s said and what he’s done are two different stories. But what’s been reported and what he’s actually done are also two different stories (because accuracy of reporting around trade talks is not something that is exactly bankable).
I don’t know what Rosenthal’s seeing when he evaluates Red Sox farm system, but they’ve been using players from their system all season and not one pitcher has any level of moderate success. So please explain to me what he sees that I havent
I know, De La Rosa has made a few starts and hasn’t made any all-star appearances yet, total scrub……….
Rubby through 9 starts has a 3.64 ERA and has given them 6 quality starts. That’s pretty good.
Webster only has gotten two starts 1 good 1 bad. Ranaudo only has gotten 1 start and it was good.
Workman has a 4.08 ERA which is decent for back of the rotation but not sure why he is getting so much of a shot really.
No one other young pitchers have had a shot so not sure what you are talking about.
Overall Webster, Ranaduo, Rubby, and Joe Kelly should all get a chance to prove themselves worth 3-5 starters the rest of the year. Personally I think Webster should be traded but lets see how it turns out.
Webster’s command just hasn’t translated into the majors. I don’t think he has much of a future with Boston. As for Workman, I think to really evaluate him he has to be a good number of starts for a stretch, considering how he’s bounced around from AAA to Boston, to starter to BP.
He means they have a lot of talent that is almost MLB-ready are continuing to improve as they learn. Talent evaluation is A LOT more than statistical evaluation. This is where scouts come into play with MLB. A scout can look at a guy’s “stuff” (how many pitches he can throw and how nasty they are), body type, work ethic, mental toughness, command etc and give you a pretty good idea where he could be in 5 years, what he could grow to become if he is properly developed. Not all prospects pan out, of course, but all the elite pitchers in the game today were at one time just “this guy no one has ever heard of.” It takes patience but when a prospect is highly rated it means there is a consensus among most scouts that he has the necessary tools to become someone you’ve heard of.
Why would the Phillies move Hamels in August? Makes no sense. First, it is well-established that they are reluctant to trade him. Also, they’d get more for him in an off-season trade for Hamels than they would now. Most August trades, with the exception of the Red Sox-Dodgers trade of a few years ago, aren’t big trades. I don’t see the Phillies moving Hamels unless he asks to be traded.
I could see them moving Hamels to the Yankees if they’re willing to part with at least Severino, Sanchez, Clarkin and Judge. Though I’m not sure he’ll pass through waivers far enough for the Yankees to make a claim.
I don’t think Brian Cashman wants to move top-tier prospects. And the odds of it got worse when Jon Lester was traded. Now that Lester hasn’t spent the whole season with the same team, Oakland can’t make him a qualifying offer which means he won’t be tied to draft compensation. Why trade for Hamels now and drain the farm system when you can wait a few months and get Lester for literally just money? Is Cole Hamels the difference between winning a World Series or not? No, not likely. Not unless the Yankees offense wakes up sometime very, very soon and they probably still need Tanaka and Pineda to come back and pitch as well as they each were before they got hurt. Does Hamels alone make the Yankees better than the Athletics or the Tigers? No. No, he doesn’t. Not with those rotations.
Plus, if the Phillies wait until the off-season, they can negotiate with any team. If they trade him now, they can only trade him to the team that wins the claim on him.
Because the Yankees might not get Lester. Trading for Hamels guarantees you get him.
Bring Rollins home Billy
“The Red Sox are receiving a lot of praise throughout baseball for their approach to the trade deadline…”
Mainly the Rays are getting burned and buried at every corner for their approach to the trade deadline…
He would have to go through every single NL team… including the Dodgers.
My point being, that’s not happening.
It’s too early to tell in most cases. Also, most of their higher-tier prospects have either had virtually no MLB experience (Ranaudo) or none at all (Owens, Barnes, Johnson). I think most Red Sox fans would feel a bit more confident if they had a top-notch hitter or two in waiting.
Leyland knows a lot about baseball, beside obvious Price recommendation, surprising a MLB team don’t offer him a management or office job.
He wasn’t fired from the Tigers. He’s just old. He works as an assistant to the GM.
Never going to happen. If a team starts listening to its fans for managerial advice, they’ll be in more trouble than they are now .
They are in trouble… 5 years away from being competitive in 5 years. 1 SP in the minors to hold hope for, and there is still time to mess him up. Marginal position players in the minors. Contracts for the next few seasons that they can’t move because guys are injured/inept or have 10-5 rights.
I agree they are in trouble but while they aren’t loaded in the minors, they do have a few (very few) good prospects with the best being SS JP Crawford and 3B Maikel Franco. Both should be ready in 2016. (Franco next year). I think the biggest hole for them in outfield and starting pitching, which is possibly why they are so reluctant to deal Hamels.
Webster to me is not impressive
I agree though he has been consistent in the top 100 prospects lists so he definitely has potential just might not have the mentality to be a starter. Might be best as a middle relief guy or trade bait.
But you get him by mortgaging the future. Doesn’t make sense for a team that has to get younger. I have as good a feeling about Aaron Judge as I’ve had about a prospect in a long time. He’s going to be a really good player and I’d prefer for that to happen in Pinstripes. Trading a bunch of kids for another pitcher over 30? Doesn’t make sense.
Red Sox should offer Webster, Barnes, Cecchini and either JBJ or Betts for Hamels. Considering the Price deal and the contract that comes with Hamels, I think value is fair.
Sox make a huge push to resign Lester and they have:
Lester ($23M), Hamels ($23M), Buchholz ($12M), Kelly ($1M), Workman/De La Rosa/Ranaudo ($1M).
Starters = $60M
Relief = $25-30M
Everyone else = $85-95M
Total payroll = $170-185M, gives the Sox a buffer to add players at next years deadline.
It’s interesting that the Red Sox reportedly get praise for their fire sale while the Miami Marlins were harshly criticized for their fire sale in 2012.
Each strategy represented a prudent business (and competitive) move.
Big differences is the Marlins had literally just signed those guys long term and that was part of the support for the new tax payer funded stadium and then after 1 year they traded away all of the players they had just gotten…
Red Sox traded 3 guys with half a year of control each.