Here are the highlights from Jon Heyman’s massive new Inside Baseball article for CBS Sports. Be sure to check out Heyman on the latest edition of the MLBTR Podcast.
- The Braves have had “serious talks” about dealing closer Jason Grilli to a contender, Heyman writes, with the Blue Jays and Dodgers among the teams that make the most sense.
- The Diamondbacks have made infielder Aaron Hill and pitchers Jeremy Hellickson and Addison Reed available in trades, and all three players have attracted at least some interest.
- The Marlins could trade starter Dan Haren for the right return. On paper, the Dodgers would seem to make sense, but that seems unlikely, since the Dodgers treated Haren basically as a throw-in in the Dee Gordon trade in the offseason. The Dodgers would also prefer to find a starter they could use in the playoffs, and Haren likely doesn’t qualify.
- Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins could become available in a trade as top prospect Corey Seager continues to demonstrate he’s ready for the big leagues.
- The Dodgers, Blue Jays, Nationals and perhaps other teams had scouts on hand as Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma returned from a lat injury this week. Iwakuma could be a trade candidate, but Heyman notes that giving up four homers to the Tigers probably didn’t exactly increase his value.
- Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez still seems set on retiring after the season, despite agent Paul Kinzer’s efforts to get him to continue.
- The Padres have been scouting the Mets lately, leading to speculation that the Mets could be trying to trade for Justin Upton.
- The Phillies are “not bending” in their demands for Cole Hamels, and his limited no-trade clause remains an obstacle.
- The Giants have had talks with free agent infielder Everth Cabrera. The Orioles released Cabrera last month. He would provide depth for San Francisco.
With Refsnyder finally getting called up tomorrow I doubt the Yankees are in on Aaron Hill anymore.. The Mets are going to have to give up a lot for Upton.. Even with him they don’t seem to be a world series team.. I hope they wait until the off season before getting any major pieces..
Exactly. A guy like Parra who is cheaper can hold them over until the off-season so they don’t raid the farm in a panic move.
not sure why anyone would want rollins
Agreed.. The Yankees lucked out with him choosing the Dodgers over them in the off season..
Probably the Dodgers will continue to want Rollins. He got off to a terrible start offensively but he’s been quite respectable for the last month or so, good enough that he might even win back the leadoff role, and of course he’s a steady glove. I don’t see the Dodgers dropping Seager into the position now, at least not without a backup plan. Which would be Rollins.
I could be wrong here because I don’t catch many Dodgers games. But Turner is capable of being a backup shortstop, isn’t he?
Turner is their 3B ever since trading Uribe. If they traded Rollins, Turner would most likely be the SS, and Guerrero the 3B.
Capable, in a pinch, but he’s better at 3B.
.219 in June and .228 over the last month. Guess that’s respectable to Dodgers fans.
You have the wrong numbers. He is .250/.284/.333/.617 over the last month.
Seager will struggle with Major League Pitchers he has trouble on Inside Hard stuff.
The Rays could use him, so could the Padres…. both still in the playoff hunt with lousy Shortstops. Gregorius is also a no bat player so far. Flores at 2B, Mets could use him as well… so there are playoff hopeful teams that could use him.
The Mets have two shortstops playing better than Rollins in Flores and Tejada. Why would they want him?
He could provide a veteran presence for the Twins.
Rollins restructured his contract in December to give himself a 28 team no trade clause. The only teams he could be traded to without his permission were the Dodgers and Phillies. He was on the Phillies, so it’d be odd to put them in a no trade clause.
Rollins is a veteran who has always been a starter. He only wanted to play for the Phillies or Dodgers. I doubt he’d waive his no trade clause to spend the rest of the season playing for the Twins or on the Rays’ turf.
Kind of amusing when sports writers think that atmospherics are so important. The reason the Dodgers aren’t likely to want Haren back isn’t because he was shipped away before, but because he isn’t the top-3 type of starter they actually need.
Haren is a very good #3 starter. But he won’t go back to the Dodgers, the Dodgers paid the Marlins to take him away.. 6-5 with a 3.34 ERA. 105 IP / 92 H / 19 BB / 76 K’s is better than most rentals on the market.
Adding him makes a whole lot of teams better than who they have as their own #3. Look at the possible playoff teams and tell me that their #3 pitcher is that much better?
Blue Jays? Orioles? Royals? Tigers? Angels? Astros? Rangers? Giants? Dodgers? D-Backs?
All those mentioned above – Haren is currently better than their #3 Starter.
West Coast Team?
Dodgers always can Trade Rollons for a SS or 3B.
Haren isn’t better than the Angels’ number three starter. Santiago has been pitching like an ace this year.
But yet he’s pitching better than the Angels #1 and #2 Pitchers.
(Weaver and CJ Wilson)
Haren’s numbers are from pitching home games in a pitchers park, and in the NL. I don’t see him doing all that well if he’s moved to an AL team.
Gotta love people that post that have no clue of the facts….
Haren’s record is 76-61 Pitching for AL Teams. 72-56 in the NL.
Not sure what career W-L record has anything to do with how a player is pitching.
It shows he has as much success in both leagues, but be my guest in looking up his other stats AL vs NL and you’ll see he’s been good in both leagues.
w-l for starting pitchers is NOT a random outcome. It shows durability if nothing else. Pitching badly and winning is not a common outcome. Pitching well but not lasting 5 innings prevents a win. To have a winning record over a long period of time indicates that the pitcher, more often than not, pitched well.
Or it means he played on teams with good offense.
The fact is where is he pitching this year?
Haren was dealt because they had Ryu and McCarthy. Now they don’t have Ryu and McCarthy. If the Dodgers thought Haren was the best option to replace them, then the atmospherics aren’t going to matter to either the player or the GM.
Unless there is a clubhouse issue with Haren we don’t know about I can’t think of a reason in the world why the Dodgers WOULDN’T want Haren the rest of the year. And why in the world WOULDN’T Haren “qualify” as a pitcher in the playoffs?
That part about not qualifying baffled me, too. It’s not like he’s struggling to go five innings a night. He’s in the six-plus range with his usual good control and middling ability to miss bats. You wouldn’t necessarily want him as your playoff ace, but he wouldn’t be at all out of place as the third guy in October — especially with the Dodgers, where his weakness for the longball could be mitigated by starts at the Ravine.
That lot from the D-Backs is more like DFA material.. More to the point? If Hellickson and Reed have any value still, that means guys like Niese and Masterson do, which the odds are slim and none of.
Stewart thinks he can move 5m salaries (portion remaining) of hellickson and Reed, he’s subsiding most of it, or giving up a sweetener in the deal to make it palatable to any taker.
Worse with Hill. Dealing him will require the receiving GM to be wearing blinders, or Stewart paying most all of the deal.
Cashman and the Yankees have gone a different route this year, they are bringing up all of their prospects to the show, and giving them a chance. This gives them a better chance to evaluate them. Players like Heathcott, Flores, Williams, and Pirela have done a good job filling in until some were injured. It now looks with Judge the Yanks will be fine in the outfield in the near future. I have always liked Refsnyder since his playing days in Arizona in college. I hope he does well. His make up is similar to Jeter.
Agreed.. I am looking forward to seeing Refsnyder as well.. Although, I agree with you to a point on how the Yankees have brought up players this year, they seem to only be promoting complimentary pieces.. Heathcott and Williams were the only ones that held top prospect status before, and that was a couple of years ago.. Refsnyder will be only the second player (Lindgren being the first) brought up that has a chance of making an impact.. If they decide to give Severino a chance sometime after the all star break I will say the Yankees have turned the corner on how they approach prospects..
The Yankees are becoming a different team then they’ve been in decades. They have always played strong fundamental ball under Gerardi, but now baserunning, defense and the bullpen is how they’re winning. As Whitey Herzog (who came up with the Yankees) notes – in Casey’s first five years from 1949-53, they did not have any stars in their prime. And in each of those years the Yankees were not favored to win. But each year they won the AL pennant – and it was on baserunning, solid defense and smart baseball. As Casey always said – “there are more games lost then won”. Gerardi has this Yankee team understanding that. Buck – who learned from Billy who learned from Casey – has the Orioles playing the same way.
Grilli and jace Peterson for joc pederson.
Let’s at least try to be realistic.
Seems Like another Dream Boy Joc settles into Mediocrity, what the record for stikeouts by a Rookie ?
What can we get for Grilli?
him alone? not much.
Angel Nesbitt from the Tigers. Young Hard thrower for the bullpen.
I’d like to see the Braves make a play for Pentecost. Throw in a young MLB ready pitcher along with Grilli ( one of Folty, Wisler, or maybe Jenkins) may close the gap to getting a good catcher. Pentecost is blocked and the Jays could use the starting pitching depth to go along with Grilli I think.
Its been awhile since Grilli butted heads with Leyland. I wouldn’t mind seeing him back in Detroit for the stretch drive. Go get him Dave!
Suggestion: D’backs trade for Cole Hammels, pay all of his salary, which would be very attractive to Phillies, and in exchange give the Phillies a 4 player package, including #2 prospect Aaron Blair RHP, #6 prospect C/OF/1b Peter O’Brian, with SP Hellickson and 2b/3b Aaron Hill. Thought? Would you do this deal as either the Phillies or D’backs GM?
You have to wonder who will go first, Hamels or RAJ.
Ruben only still there , because he’s a Company Man , company Man. No CEo would survive under a Nornal Management Team. It’s been that way for generations in Philly , That why we’ve won Only Two World Championships .Hopefully the New president cleans House , and i mean Cleans House all and anybody with this Management Group needs to Go.
The braves are just 5 gms back, this guys have played excellent baseball, our bullpen has blown us a lot of games , get some bullpen help and we will contend for the division. The guys are leaving it all on the field . Dont Quit on the braves HART not yet!!
Braves probably wishing they completed those serious talks before Grilli’s season-ending injury today