Here’s the latest on two veteran outfielders who have been prominently mentioned in trade rumors and one young outfield prospect who (to date) isn’t yet a trade chip…
- Even if the Yankees did decide to shop Carlos Beltran, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that the relatively deep outfield trade market could result in Beltran staying in the Bronx. NL teams may pass on Beltran due to his defensive shortcomings and the fact that he couldn’t be used as a DH in the senior circuit. Failing to find a deal for Beltran wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for the Yankees, as they could still issue a qualifying offer to Beltran this winter and get draft compensation back if he left in free agency.
- One team that could be a fit for Beltran is the White Sox, as George A. King III of the New York Post notes how little production Chicago has received from its DH spot this season. The Sox recently signed Justin Morneau and the former AL MVP could make his season debut as soon as Friday, though Morneau is also coming off elbow surgery and hasn’t shown much at the plate in Triple-A rehab games (albeit in a very small sample size). In my opinion, the White Sox could make a move for the Yankees slugger even if Morneau does produce, as Beltran would provide a significant right field upgrade over Avisail Garcia’s sub-replacement level numbers.
- Cubs outfield prospect Eloy Jimenez is getting trade attention but the Cubs aren’t eager to part with the talented 19-year-old, CSN Chicago’s David Kaplan tweets. Jimenez signed with the Cubs during their spending spree in the 2013-14 international signing market, inking a deal with a hefty $2.8MM bonus that reflected his status as the most well-regarded prospect of that 2013-14 class. Jimenez is enjoying a breakout year at A-level ball, hitting .332/.372/.527 with 10 homers over 336 plate appearances. He also was one of the stars of today’s MLB Futures Game, going 2-for-3 with a homer and a spectacular catch in the outfield. Despite Jimenez’s promise, the Cubs’ minor league depth meant that he ranked only ninth (Baseball America) and 10th (MLB.com) in preseason rankings of the top 10 prospects in Chicago’s system. The Cubs have such depth that they could explore moving Jimenez or other top prospects in midseason trades and still have one of the game’s best farm systems.
- If Josh Reddick was indeed willing to accept a four-year extension in the $50-$52MM range from the A’s, Nico of the Athletics Nation blog feels the club should absolutely make that deal. Though there are some questions about Reddick’s long-term viability, the length and relative inexpensiveness of that proposed contract (not to mention Reddick’s role as a leader in the Oakland clubhouse) should ensure that Reddick still has value even if his skills do slightly diminish.
Have to imagine Beltran would accept the QO if he wants to play another year. He seems to like New York and he’s padding that HOF case.
Agreed. Beltran still swings a valuable bat, but I doubt anyone would give up a first-round pick and/or commit multiple guaranteed years to Beltran next offseason.
Agreed to both, QO will be guessing $16M next year, unless he takes a 2/22 contract, I doubt he goes anywhere.
If he wants to play next year, he will have to go somewhere else. The Yankees will never extend him a QO because he would most certainly accept it.
I’d rather keep Beltran as the DH next year and release the bench warmer that SHOULD be retiring.
Braves trade Arodys Vizcaino for Eloy Jimenez
Cubs are not interested in Vizcaino.
Yep. As much as the Braves could use Jimenez, they just don’t line up well with the Cubs for a trade this year.
They already said they don’t want him
only if Vizcaino suddenly started pitching left-handed (and fixes whatever other issues the Cubs saw last time they decided to part ways with him)
until then, though, keep dreamin’
I think Viz stays. His struggles the last two weeks do not help his case.
Don’t you know fans of every time want good, young, controllable players only if you’re willing to accept pure crap for them? God forbid anyone give up any prospects of note for these established MLBers!
Vizcaino is not an established MLer. He’s been with the Cubs two times and the Cubs got rid of him two times. Not gonna give up Eloy for that
pretty sure he was with the cubs just once, braves twice.
Cubs wouldn’t give Eloy’s sister for him either
don’t you know that relievers with no track record (Vizcaino’s been good this year… that’s it. before then he was all tommy john and PED suspensions) are the least valuable trade commodity in all of baseball?
even ‘proven’ relievers rarely net you prospects of Jimenez’ caliber, because they’re so mercurial
not a chance.
Is Dansby Swanson in that deal too? If so, OK.
Nor is Vizcaino a proper return
Heck NO
Eloy should have won MVP at the futures game.
That Homerun he hit was absolutely punished. He was fun to watch today. We all know about Bregman and Moncada but Jimenez came to play too.
And it was on a 95 mph fastball. Not junk ball
I agree I was at the game today and his catch and both of his hits were absolutely smoked. It looked like the ball was still rising in the air when it hit the third deck of the Western Metal
That seems like a Kenny Williams kind of move. Go ahead and trade Carson Fulmer for Beltran.
Ain’t that the truth. KW should have been fired years ago.
Don’t even suggest that to Williams. He’s the big part of the failed Sox organization. And Reinsdorf must have left the team to him since we haven’t heard from Jer in months. The jackass can’t do anything right. Poor field staff, poor GM, POOR MINOR LEAGUE DEVELOPMENT.
Cubs say Fullmer for Vogelbach
Reddick is the type of left-handed OF bat that the Dodgers need to jump start their lineup. The Dodgers have enough prospects and some current MLB talent that may get Senor Beane to pull the trigger on moving Reddick. It may take the Dodgers moving Puig, Pedro Baez, Grant Holmes and Jose DeLeon, but it would be worth it for Reddick and Sonny Gray.
So lets say hypothetically the Cubs are getting another really good starter. And Cubs need to trade one of Eloy Jiminez, Ian Happ, Gleyber Torres, Willson Contreras, and Ian Happ, who would Cubs fans want traded?
I would say the best of those to be traded would be not a prospect at all but Jorge Soler.
Yes. But depends on who the SP traded for is
Contreras is flat out not going anywhere. As a Cubs fan I would trade Happ and Torres all day before the other 2. Gleybar is blocked at 3rd, 2nd and SS so no huge loss and Happ is blocked at 2nd and Corner outfield. Jimenez at 19 is showing real promise and could force their hand in 2017 if he keeps mashing.
Jimenez is a 19 year old killing it in A-ball. He still has a LONG way to go before he’s forcing anyone’s hand.
Two years is feasible. 2018 call up or late ’17
Sounds like Red Sox fans aren’t the only ones that are hesitant to deal top prospects.
I can’t speak for Red Sox fans, but I wouldn’t say that Cubs fans are averse to trade top prospects. The fact is this: The Cubs top young players that have yet to establish themselves as productive big leaguers are Soler, Contreras, Almora, Happ, Torres, Candalario, Vogelbach, McKinney, and Jimenez.
Of that grouping, the team has glaring holes on the 2017 roster at catcher and in center field. Given that, Contreras and Almora are likely to stay due to their having obvious roles for next year’s team. Now, if that was all the Cubs had to offer in a potential deal, then the Cubs would either need to make the tough move or they’d forced to stand pat. But that’s not all the Cubs have to deal. Some combination of Soler, Happ, Torres, Candalario, Vogelbach, McKinney and Jimenez should be strong enough to get them anything they want on the trade marketing without having to deal from organizational weakness.
Personally I’d value Contreras a whole lot higher than Schwarber.. Contreras looks as if he will be at least a decent major league catcher behind the plate. His value isn’t all bat.
I doubt any deal would cause the Cubs to give up Contreras at this point.
That’s exactly how I feel. There is just no reason to move him. They have enough players that aren’t Contreras to get what they want/need. There is just no realistic scenario where it makes sense to move him right now.
I see he and Schwarber splitting time at both C and LF next season, with the usual Maddon lineup quirks that has them at other spots occasionally.
And they bring back Rossy on a 1 year deal.
Ross is retiring at seasons end
Love him but NO and Montereo should be traded this summer if not August 1st
Frank Richard – You just said Happ is blocked at 2B and the corner OF spots. What position do you think Jimenez plays?
Also, using the “blocked” position excuse is kind of the case for ALL the Cubs positions right now. Rizzo is the man at 1B. Bryant at 3B. Russell at SS. Zobrist/Baez at 2B, Soler for the time being in LF…. or Schwarber next year. Almora is likely the future CFer for years to come. Heyward is locked up for the better part of a decade in RF. And Contreras is looking legit as fuck playing Catcher. Everyone is blocked. That means the Cubs either need to start trading their prospects or start trading their ML talent. NO ONE is safe. Other than maybe Bryant, Schwarber, and Rizzo….. maybe. I wouldn’t be butt hurt if they traded Rizzo. He’d bring a stellar return. They also have Dan Vogelbach as a viable replacement who IMO is ML ready right now. I’d hate to see Rizzo go, but such is the game of baseball nowadays. No one ever stays forever. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they should trade Rizzo. It’s just that if an unbelievable offer came to them for him I’d strongly consider it. If the Cubs are anything like the Cardinals too, who they are trying to emulate, they likely won’t re-sign Rizzo when his contract expires in 2021…. after his age 31 season, and will likely let him walk much like the Cardinals let Pujols walk instead of gift him bucket upon buckets full of money. I bet they’re happy they did what they did because since leaving STL Pujols has sucked. So if I had to be a betting man, Rizzo has a maximum of 5 years left with the Cubs before they let him go elsewhere…… unless he signs another team friendly deal.
What are you babbling about trading Rizzo? Top tier glove , big power, awesome contract.
Agreed
As a Cubs fan I would want to trade Soler or from that list, Happ for sure. I think Torres could have a roster spot carved out for him. Maybe if Zo regresses he could play 2B and Zobrist could be traded. Jiminez I like because his ETA isn’t until 2018 and heyward could potentially have opted out by then so he could slide into right. As for contreras, he’s as untouchable as Bryant and Rizzo right now. No chance he leaves.
Between Torres and Happ I’d rather have Happ. Only thing Torres has on Happ is maaaaybe just a little bit more speed on the base paths. Defensively I’d say Happ is better. Happ has better plate discipline as evidenced by he lower strikeout rate and higher OBP. Both are hitting well…. but Happ a bit better, .283 BA in his career for Torres to Happ’s .288. Both might have similar power since Torres is showing some this year (he’s only 19 yrs old compared to Happ being 21), but I am more comfortable saying Happ is a future 20+ HR hitting 2Bman than I am saying that about Torres. I’d say Happ is also a 20+ SB threat whereas Torres looks like he could nab about 30 a year. Bottom line is, I just think Happ looks better. He looks stronger at 6’0″ and 205 lbs to Torres at 6’1″ and 175 lbs. Happ is flying through the system too, much like Bryant did. He’s in his second year with the organization after being drafted just last year and is already in double A, and will likely be in triple A at some point next year, and by 2018 he might be on the big team after only 3 years in the minors. Torres is still in high A ball. In a perfect world you keep them both. I wouldn’t rule that option out just yet. I could see a scenario where the Cubs trade Russell and Baez and promote Happ and Torres. They’d likely get a much larger return for Baez and Russell than Happ and Torres…… and Happ and Torres might actually be better players than Russell and Baez. It’s these glorious problems of having too many great players in your organization other teams are envious of. A similar situation is at 1B. I feel VERY strongly that Dan Vogelbach is a stud in waiting. People say he must be traded because he is blocked by Rizzo. But why not toy with the idea of trading Rizzo and promoting Vogelbach to play 1B everyday? With the VERY team friendly deal Rizzo is on I guarantee the return you get for him will be insanely higher than what you get for Vogelbach. IMO Vogelbach has just as much potential as Schwarber. Not only do the two look like twin brothers, but they both have excellent power. Both have excellent plate discipline and both should hit for average when all is said and done. Schwarber might ding more HRs than Vogelbach in a given year, but that’s because I think Schawrber is a future 40 HR hitter year in and year out. Vogelbach will “only” be hovering around 30. As for their OF situation. The only OF situation they have is that they have an insane amount of extremely good and very promising OFers and OF prospects. I still have faith in Soler being a .270-.280 hitter who in a full season could mash 30 HRs. His only problem is staying healthy. Almora is looking pretty decent at the plate, and is as advertised defensively. Heyward is locked up for the foreseeable future. I doubt he opts out of his contract. As far as Prospects go they have Ian Happ who can play the OF in addition to the middle infield positions, Billy McKinney, Eloy Jimenez, Donnie Dewees, DJ Wilson, and Eddy Martinez…… all of which are VERY promising young OFers. So in addition to Schwarber/Soler in LF, Almora in CF, and Heyward in RF for at least the 2017 season and beyond as of right now. They have 6….. SIX outfield prospects who are looking pretty damn good.
Jimenez, Happ, and Trevor Clifton are on my No-Fly List.
Torres could go in a package, but the SP had better be really good.
Contreras really shouldn’t even be listed in that group. In order from least to highest reluctance to give up from that list: Torres, Happ, Jimenez, , , , Contreras.
Don’t get me wrong, all players could be had, but the quality of major league return coming back increases drastically when you’re talking about a guy like Contreras.
Well, since they seem to have cloned Ian Happ, i’d trade one of him.
That’s a tough one. Too get you have to give . Contreras Torres Jimenez happ hardest to trade in that order for me
I’m a cubs and 49ers fan. when Kenny Williams son, Kyle, muffed that punt in the nfc championship game my first thought was I wish Kenny Williams’ mustache would strangle himself and his family…side note I would trade Torres before Jimenez.
News Flash; If the Cubs trade Jorge Soler, they are TOTAL morons. Give up Montero, Almora, Baez, Sczur, LaStella, Jimenez, Heyward or maybe even Schwarber before trading Soler. Soler was snubbed by the dynamic duo signing of Fowler and Heyward. The Cubs shouldn’t have signed Heyward to that kind of money. Soler will soon be hitting .280 and 30 HR’s for someone., and if they’re not idiots, it will be with the Cubs. The only reason he won’t hit more than 30 HR’s is because he is a natural line drive hitter and will have plenty of doubles and RBI. Get Heyward out and make Soler your starting right fielder for years to come.
….until Solar gets hurt.. Soler is a good hitter, but still strikes out way too much and is a liability in terms of his health and staying on the field. He is far too over rated (much like Schwarber is) by fans. You have to give up something to get something and Soler would easily be the odd man out.
I would listen to offers for Eloy Jimenez if I were Theo. I mean the only teams that should be inquiring about him are the ones with quality relievers on the market since that is pretty much the Cubs only true need at the moment. Cubs have been consistently linked to the Yankees to go after one or two of either Miller, Chapman, and Betances. If Eloy Jimenez can help land you 1 or 2 of those guys I’d entertain it. Cubs are loaded with OF prospects. Jimenez while yet another stud in the system is expendable. Last I checked you couldn’t have like 5 OFers play the OF in the majors. Between Schwarber, Soler, Almora, Heyward, McKinney, Dewees, Eddy Martinez, Mark Zagunis, and Ian Happ who is a MI/OF……. I think the Cubs have plenty of other OFers and fairly highly touted OF prospects to let Jimenez go. I mean that is “only” 9 OFers at the ML level or who are ranked in the Cubs top 20 or higher prospect list. Mark Zagunis is the “worst” ranked one at #18 in their system. He’s hitting a “pathetic” .290 this year between double and triple A with 8 HRs, .384 OBP, 52 R, and 40 RBI in 86 games this year so far……. what a bum. I didn’t even mention/list DJ Wilson who just started his season in low level A ball. He isn’t hitting too well in his 19 games, and projects to just be a decent hitter. He is supposed to have stellar fielding and be a speed demon on the base paths…. which is showing. He has 8 SBs already in 19 games. He is the Cubs #14 prospect. So if you throw him into the mix that is 10 OFers the Cubs have either at the ML level or in their top 20 prospects list. Eloy makes 11. So yeah…… I think one of them is expendable, hahaha. The Fact that Ian Happ is looking insanely legit and is shooting up through the system almost as fast as Bryant did, coupled with the fact the Cubs have Russell, Zobrist, and Baez clogging up the MI positions I expect Happ to be more of an OFer than a 2Bman……. .but he could play both. I guess the Cubs could trade away one of the other 3 to make room for Happ at 2B, but why? With Fowler likely gone after this year I assume Almora will be the starting CFer and if he doesn’t do well I bet Ian Happ makes his debut sometime next year already. If he rakes like he is in the minors that locks up another OF position for years to come. With Schwarber in LF, Happ possibly in either RF or CF, and Heyward locked up to play CF or RF…… and Soler as the 4th OFer…… Eloy is without a position.
If a package of Eloy Jimenez, Dan Vogelbach, Jeimer Candelario, and…… say Pierce Johnson can land you both Miller and Chapman I say why not. IMO the prize in that package is Dan Vogelbach. He is insanely underrated. I’d only do this deal if I feel confident I could lock up Chapman to a 5-6 year deal therefore not making him a rental. If they can land Miller and Betances with this package…… I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d prefer Betances and Chapman though. Both are 28 years old and IMO better than 31 year old Miller. For Yankee fans thinking this is not even near enough for them, you need to come back to reality. Despite their greatness they are just relievers. You aren’t going to fetch a top tier, top 10 prospect in all of baseball for a reliever. Look what SD got for Kimbrel….. and that was an offseason trade meaning the Sox got to have him ALL YEAR. The closest thing they got to a can’t miss prospect was Manny Margot. In my proposed package I think both Vogelbach and Jimenez are equals to Margot’s “can’t miss” level. Candelario is OK, and Pierce Johnson is the Cubs highest ranked pitching prospect….. take that for what it’s worth. You get a potential everyday starting 23 yr old 1Bman, 22 yr old 3Bman, 19 yr old OFer, and I’m tossing in one of our highest rated pitching prospects all for what? A couple of relievers who toss maybe 70 innings per year? Yankees would be dumb not to take it. I am open to trading our number 1 prospect in Gleyber Torres. I wish Theo and Co. were too. I don’t understand why they might listen on offers for Jimenez but not Torres. Both are 19 year olds and both play positions the Cubs are loaded on, middle infield and outfield. Both are equals in expendability to me. It’s just that for some reason the baseball “experts” have ranked Torres insanely high and Jimenez much lower. IMO Vogelbach (Cubs #20 prospect) is about 15 spots too low on the Cubs prospect list and in all honesty I am baffled as to why Vogelbach isn’t a top 50 prospect in all of baseball. The kid has insane plate discipline and hits for a high average…… oh, and he has 30+ HR potential……… and hits left handed. IMO in my package the Cubs would be giving up two stellar prospects in Vogelbach and Jimenez, and Candelario and Johnson aren’t exactly bums either. But Yankee fans would rather keep their fossils on the field and keep their awesome bullpen intact for no reason since they don’t get used often enough because the Yanks suck overall. Imagine how bad that team would be if they didn’t have one or two of their 3 guys in the back of their bullpen. I bet they wouldn’t be much better than the Twins. I mean Chapman missed, what, the first MONTH of the season, but yet he is almost in the top 5 in saves in the AL with 17 saves since the beginning of May. Impressive considering the Yankees are still a .500 team. Imagine if they didn’t have those 3 shutting down the last 3 innings and only had one of them. So yeah. I stick with my barely better than the Twins statement.
What would you give up for Pomeranz and Ryan Butcher? Both have multiple years of control left and are lefties. Pomeranz could slide into the back of the rotation pushing Hammel to the bullpen and Butcher would give them a good lefty from the pen.
It has been stated many times why Vogelbach is not considered a top 50 prospect by most. While the kid can absolutely rake, he is slower than a turtle, has noodle arm and an iron glove. The only place to logically play him at the major league level is DH. He isn’t a complete player and absolutely has no place being a top 50 prospect. His future is limited and totally dependent on his performance with the bat.
With that said under the right circumstances with the right American League team Vogelbach should be a solid contributor.
I 100% agree with KB – I wouldn’t give up 5 prospects for Miller, but the Cubs could do a package deal to land at least Miller and or even Chapman, maybe even Evo all from the Yanks. Most of the prospects are blocked and by the time they aren’t they will be 28 – 30 years old. Sell them for what we need. WO getting a top reliever I don’t think the Cubs are going to win that title. The post season will all be close games and if the bull pen can’t close were done simple as that. The pitching SP is still the best in baseball, but anyone who thought they keep up a below 2.00 pace all 5 starters was dreaming. They aren’t God. Before they burn out we need pitching help.
First of all, let me say that as a life-long Cubs fan how cool is it that we have ANYONE in our minors/rookie/2nd year players that might remotely interest another team, let alone many solid youngsters. Decades of bare cupboards and now this. That said, I see the 2017 Cubs with Bryant, Schwarber, Contreras, Russell, Baez, Rizzo, Heyward, Zobrist, and probably Almora. So to look at who might be moved this year, lets work backwards from this list. Soler and Almora would have to be a very high value, controllable return. Szczur, Miggy, LaStella all expendable and we’d eat a chunk of Miggy-money.. From there Jeimer, Happ, and Gleyber are all valuable bargaining chips that hurt the Cubs less since the 2017 roster has plenty of what they bring. Next level of McKinney, Eddie Julio, Zagunis, DeWees will be a matter of any one team taking a specific liking to them. Jimenez, De La Cruz, and Cease would be all but untouchable or bring back a blockbuster return. Pitching with Williams, Johnson, Underwood, Steele, Sands, Stinnett….seem mostly mired in mediocrity or downright disappointment but you never know who may see them as a bargain and part of a deal/steal. Just my two cents
Not sure why there is talk about the Sox getting a RF. They have one in Eaton, and Jackson will be back soon. Cabrera is in LF and not terrible (not sure if Beltran would play LF either). Finally, Im not sure why the Sox would trade a lot for aging players to win this season. I have no confidence in Robin Ventura as manager (not sure his team does either) and they cannot beat teams in their own division. Trading away half the farm for an older ball player is not really smart, especially when the Sox have bigger issues than DH/RF