Here’s the latest on some starters who may or may not be on the move at the deadline…
- The Rays have told teams that ace Chris Archer is unavailable in trade talks, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (Twitter link), barring an offer that “overwhelms them.” It would be hard to see such a huge offer in the making given Archer’s disappointing 4.68 ERA over 117 1/3 innings this season. ERA indicators (4.35 FIP, 3.77 xFIP, 3.85 SIERA) hint that Archer has been a bit unlucky and could be primed to some improvement in the second half. The righty has had some batted-ball misfortune in the form of a .315 BABIP but the real outlier is Archer’s 17.4% home run rate, which is well north of his 11% career average. Archer has been scouted by the Dodgers and other teams as we approach the deadline, though it isn’t surprising that Tampa considers him virtually off-limits given that he is controlled through 2021 on a team-friendly contract.
- The Athletics asked the Red Sox for Anderson Espinoza in exchange for Rich Hill, according to Olney (Twitter links). When the Sox rejected that proposal, the A’s countered with another offer that didn’t involve Espinoza. Of course, Boston ended up dealing Espinoza to the Padres for Drew Pomeranz. Boston had scouts watching Hill’s start today, though we heard yesterday that the Sox weren’t keen on meeting Oakland’s obviously high asking price for the veteran southpaw. Hill is almost nine years older than Pomeranz and a free agent after the season, so it isn’t a surprise that the Sox were more willing to surrender their top pitching prospect for the controllable younger arm.
- If Eduardo Rodriguez is able to re-emerge as a legitimate rotation piece, it will impact not just the Red Sox pitching search but also possibly Clay Buchholz’s immediate future, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Cafardo believes the Sox could trade or even designate Buchholz for assignment, though that would leave Boston with one fewer starting option (despite Buchholz’s struggles) for the questionable back of its staff.
- Jered Weaver has thrown consecutive quality starts and FOX Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi suggests (Twitter links) that the Angels’ veteran could get some deadline attention as an innings-eater, if nothing else. Recent form aside, it’s been a tough season for Weaver, as today’s quality outing only bumped his season totals to a 5.02 ERA, 5.02 K/9 and 30.2% grounder rate over 107 2/3 innings. His fastball velocity has dropped to just 83.6 mph as Weaver has relied more on his changeup, curve and slider. Weaver is still owed roughly $7.2MM of salary in the last year of his contract, so even if a club was interested, the Halos would likely have to eat a big chunk of that money to facilitate a deal. There’s also the matter of Weaver’s full no-trade clause, as Morosi notes, though one would think he’d be willing to waive it to join a contender.
Don’t trade weaver , he’s an angel for life
Since there’s no hope of getting anything for Wilson before his contract expires, they might as well try to get something for Weaver if they can. Angels still have a lot of pieces they can deal to at least get decent young talent in return.
I disagree, any talent the Angels have to give up are extremely controllable. IMO the only expendable pieces the Angels have to offer is Escobar, Santiago is he keeps his stock up. No reason to trade shoe, he is still very controllable. Smith maybe?? But he hasn’t had a great year. Idk just my opinion
If the front office was smart, they’d try to move Santiago right after a start versus the White Sox. They simply cannot hit him.
Weaver can still give a contending team innings and keep his team in every game, particularly a team with a good offense.
That might be the strangest compliment I’ve ever heard of a pitcher.
It should be simple. Weaver is an aging SP with a 5.02 ERA, but still has plenty of decent starts in his game logs this season to show he can keep his team in any game. And if he has a good offense behind him, he’s still just good enough right now to get his team a win.
Problem with Weaver only waiving his NTC to go to a contender, is that no contending team will want to throw him the ball every fifth day.
There’s eating innings, and then there’s simply bad pitching. Weaver is a bad pitcher now.
He’s had plenty of good starts with a few bad ones that have inflated his ERA. He’s utilized his breaking stuff quite well. He’s touched it out despite the loss in fastball velocity.
LOL
I can see not wanting to give up Espinoza for hill, but you’d think hill would be more of a sure bet (even though he’s 37 and has only had 20 good starts over the past 5 years lol) than Pomeranz. Obviously not for Espinoza, just as a target. Pomeranz has never touched 150 innings, is moving from the NL to the AL, and throws the second most pitches per ab among qualified pitchers. But of course hill comes with huge question marks to
Pomeranz is young and controlled unlike Hill.
Hill is a rental, which we have to factor in. That said, Hill comes with the uncertainty of his injury (which apparently he is hurt again, after just 5 pitches today). If Pomeranz can be a #3 for the next 2.5 years, it’s a win for the Red Sox. You trade to get talent back, not to not give talent up.
Hill hasn’t thrown over 100 innings since 2007 (in the majors). I’d say the surer bet is Pomeranz’ 150 innings.
I guess I said that wrong, Pomeranz has never came close to 150 innings, his career high before this year was 96 innings in 2013 I believe
No serious contender would be interested in Weaver. If it happened the Angels wouldn’t get much of anything back.
the prospect that angels could get for weaver would not be good. Almost better to just keep him and not have a messy breakup like hamiltons although it wouldn’t be as bad as hamiltons
There’s a good chance that if Weaver is traded for prospects , they’d be the Angels top prospects instantly
If prospects were involved in a trade for Weaver, they would probably be coming FROM the Angels side.
I feel like if anyone traded for weaver it would be Miami
Too late for him to feed Stanton at the Home Run Derby.
Might be useful to help the hitters put on a laser show before games.
I’m not saying it would be a wise move lol nobody should trade for him, he should just hang it up he has no velocity. But if anyone made a move for him I see it being the Marlins
I wish Boston’s reject on Hill was the same this off season on Price….. 200 mil on a over 30 player ….. They are great on finding hitters …. Pitching they don’t have a clue…..
It’s more of a 3-$90 million with the players options and Price really hasn’t pitched that bad, his peripherals are fine. Just seems to be a little tough luck.
Can someone explain? How do the Marlins wind up with only Rodney for Chris Paddack, and the Sox score Pomeranz for Espinoza? Paddack was vastly better than Espinoza at the same level.
Paddack threw 28 inn in the Sally league and is over two years older than Espinoza. Paddack is about 1.4 years younger than the average hitter in the Sally, Espinoza about 3.4 years.
Espinoza one of the top 20 prospects in the Minor leagues and Paddack well he isn’t.
You’re looking at strictly numbers which don’t tell the whole story. Espinoza is more highly regarded by scouts, is two years younger and pitching at the same level, and likely has better stuff and projectability. Pure numbers, particularly at the A level, don’t mean a lot.
Weaver should and Angel for life. I know he is not longer a front of the rotation type of guy, but he should be there the rest if his career mentoring young arms and being a leader. Baseball is not all about performance.
*should be