Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe shares a few hot stove items in his weekly notes column…
- The Braves have had some interest in trading for White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, though Atlanta president of baseball operations John Hart says his rebuilding team isn’t quite ready to make that kind of major deal. “We’re still growing this team. Our whole mantra has been young players,” Hart said. “It’s worked. We like where we’ve gone. Our farm system has gone from worst to first. At this point we’re probably likely not going to move these [prospects].”
- More from Hart, who said that the Braves “haven’t really entertained anything” in regards to trade offers for veterans, including Nick Markakis. “Nick is a good piece. He’s a super pro player….We’ll look at what happens this year, but he’s an affordable guy,” Hart said. Markakis is owed $10.5MM in both 2017 and 2018. The Braves somewhat surprisingly signed Markakis to a four-year, $44MM deal in the 2014-15 offseason just as the team was beginning its rebuild, and the veteran has hit .282/.358/.386 over 1370 PA since coming to Atlanta.
- Quintana may be the biggest name who could be traded before Opening Day, though the White Sox are steadfast in their demands for a big return and are prepared to keep Quintana until someone finally meets the asking price. Cafardo sees the Dodgers as a sleeper for Quintana, as Los Angeles has a good farm system and is dealing with some injury questions in the rotation.
- “The Astros seem to be the team most engaged” on Quintana, though Houston didn’t budge when the White Sox asked for a trade package of Francis Martes, Kyle Tucker and Joe Musgrove earlier this offseason. Cafardo notes that Martes is the specific stumbling block in talks, as the Astros are naturally unwilling to give up one of the sport’s most highly-touted pitching prospects.
- The Royals are reportedly preparing to shop their multiple free agent veterans if they fall out of contention this summer, and Cafardo says K.C. is looking at the Red Sox as a possible trade partner for Eric Hosmer. Boston could pursue Hosmer as a rental if Mitch Moreland isn’t performing, though the Sox also have an intriguing internal first base option in minor leaguer Sam Travis.
I see him traded by the asb unless injured
That’s right, the Dodgers definitely need another starter.
Trade you cossart for your short stop
lol
Jk
bd jk
Lol, too sweeten the deal we will throw in quack
Too much fun
Breaking News! Jose Quintana still has not been traded. Carry on.
Welcome to my entire offseason since the Adam Eaton trade.
I think the pirates make sense for Quintana, they have the pitching prospects the white sox would want but I wonder if they would trade josh bell, same with the dodgers in trading Bellinger
The Pirates made sense to me on Chris Sale I can’t see them beating Cubs next few years and if Pirates were to make Wild Card game Sale could of matched up with Synndagard…. Bumgardner….. Kershaw
The Cubs, on paper, are easily the best in the division but they dealt with very few injuries last year very unlikely for that to happen two years in a row. Quintana puts the Pirates in position if the Cubs falter due to injuries. I think he would be a great pickup for the Pirates but he will be very costly. On the contract that Q has he can fit in on any team. If the Cubs don’t suffer any significant pitching injuries then the Pirates are probably not going to unseat the Cubs but would be in much better position to win the Wild Card. It’s a long season injuries happen even to the Cubs.
you don’t sell your farm to be in a position to win if the best team falters. You make trades like that to put you over the top. If the cubs are bad and the pirates are close at the break, then maybe. Right now, it doesn’t make a ton of sense.
They also have a much better chance of being the wild card with Quintana. I think the Pirates make the most sense as a trade partner.
If the Pirates make the MOST sense, then Quintana can buy a house in Chicago.
The best prospects Huntingdon has traded are Dilson Herrera, Brock Holt and Keon Broxton.
He’s never traded a blue chip prospect and is most certainly not going to trade several of them.
Sell the farm for a better chance to get to the wild card game? For a guy who could very possibly end up being third in line to pitch in the wild card game, even if they made it there?
Unless the price drops in half or they can work out a 3 way deal with Cutch, it just doesn’t make sense for them.
The price won’t drop in half so if that is the Pirates stance then they won’t get Quintana and someone will pay the freight. The White Sox are in the drivers seat and have nothing but time. There only real risk is injury. I still think the Pirates make the most sense.
Make zero sense
They build through the draft. Don’t have the funds for a short term gain.
No. They would not and they don’t actually make sense for Quintana unless Cutch can be flipped for prospects they Sox want. Pirates aren’t trading their blue chips.
They Sox have been pretty good at scouting and developing pitching talent over the years. They’ve been terrible at finding and developing outfielders, so they should that’s what they should be asking for. They already have young pitchers on the roster, and they can acquire more later in the drafts.
Wish that were selfishly true now, but Pirates and Yanks smartly don’t want to partly undo a good thing they have going in-house with farm talent when rival Cubs/Red Sox look too strong. Maybe deadline for clubs like this or others IF they overachieve early. It’s too bad Astros don’t have a second really enticing positional player prospect besides Tucker, b/c they likely could have made a deal long ago without any mention of Martes.
Sox should forget Martes and take 2 of Perez/Whitley/Laureano in his place. Plus Tucker, of course.
No way, if you’re the Sox you get the two blue chip prospects they have. You don’t settle. Hell ask for Martes, Tucker, Laureano and JD Davis and get this deal done.
I know Perez and Whitley are good but don’t give up a blue chip prospect.
Martes is the stumbling block, but you want to keep asking for Martes?
Houston has done a pretty good job of home grown pitching in recent years. Martes is more highly touted than either McCullers or Musgrove was. Could very well be a #2 starter in the majors. So they should trade him (who is nearly ML ready, if he’s not now), + Tucker + Musgrove, another rotation arm?
Quintana, at this point, is a “nice to have” for Houston. He’s far from a must have. Their rotation was middle of the pack last year in the MLB. Healthy year from Keuchel and McCullers gives them a bump, McHugh/Morton just pitch decently, and they’ll be solid enough. Martes/Musgrove/Fiers for depth/5th starter roles.
If Quintana was really worth what the CWS were asking, would they still be sitting on him? Multiple interested suitors, and they asked for too much in every case.
Trades take time to happen remember. The Sale deal was a year of talks in the making before Boston and Chicago came to an agreement
There is a difference between the White Sox being willing to move Quintana, and receiving an offer that gives them enough reason to trade him.
No team has yet to pay the required price, but that does not mean the Sox won’t get their price eventually
I get Quintana is available and other GM’s are interested but not at the price. How many times do we need to be reminded?
Knowing this site, at least twice a day, every day.
Meadows is the guy they’d be going after more than pitching prospects
I don’t blame them. Kid crushed another one today. He’s not being traded.
if martes is the stumbling block, I’m sure the sox would be happy to take bregman instead.
LOL.
LOL indeed. The WS fans on here are a hoot.
Like the Twins fans with Dozier, they want too much, but at least Sox fans understand the importance of trading him and getting a good return.
Twins fans were just like “whatever, we’ll just keep him and lose and then get nothing for him…as long as the Dodgers lose, it’s the same as the Twins winning!!!”
It the cardinals can’t have quintana then i’d like to see him with the pirates.
Cardinals have no where near the prospect chips to trade for Quintana.
Good alternative suggestion “pplama” for working around Astros not including Martes. Tucker/Perez/Laureano seems fair since Sox so bad with realistic OF options in-house, but do you think Hahn would squeeze too much for adding Stubbs given the fixation with a “potential” catcher?
Boy that’s some real reporting, really going out on a limb there!
Especially, Royals ready to shop their Fa’s if they fall out of contention.
Caffardo and Gammons….two of a kind.
The Yankees will be the team imo. It’s in their DNA.
Yanks will be sellers again not buyers
That’s what everyone thought before they signed Chapman too.
I agree. Red Sox have a really good chance of running away with the division and the Yanks rotation just isn’t good enough. They shouldn’t trade away the farm for one A-/B starter. But like canyon said, they’re the Yankees so I wouldn’t be surprised if they made the impulse splash.
Astros have several but I think the Astros are super tight with their prospects.
If Markakis is affordable at $10.5, why is not Quintana affordable at a lower cost? Quintana = 4WAR, Markakis =1.3WAR. Poor Management of how we spend our money. Four years of Quintana has an excess value of $88Million, I doubt three prospects two of which would be pitchers have that value. Hart needs to go he has brought nothing but misery and pain with his thoughtless plan. If he stays expect to see Atlanta without an MLB team, oh wait, that already happened.
the problem is that we don’t have what the White Sox want. So we would have to do quantity over quality. Any trade for Quintana starts with Folty, and since they have no need for Albies, they’ll probably ask for Enciarte, and 2 other top 10 prospects. I wouldn’t do it. Also, Hart has done very well with the rebuilding.
Hart has rebuilt an atrocious farm system and dug the Braves out of a potential long-term disaster of poor contracts and aging veterans that plagued the Frank Wren era. Also, the new stadium is like 15-20 minutes out of town, not uncommon in professional sports.
What a silly meltdown you are having Backatit Markakis is affordable simply because we already have him. We are not giving up a ton/any prospects for him and he performs ok enough. At least ok enough until some prospects take over… Quintana doesn’t make sense for the braves right now unless it’s just a awesome price. (which is unreasonable to expect the white sox to just hand him over).
Why empty our system to go get a guy that just isn’t gonna make enough of an impact for us right now. He’s a great pitcher, but we still have a bad team. he would be in a worse situation with the braves than he was in with the Sox, which he wasn’t winning games for the sox, so he is likely to struggle with us also. and realistically, I don’t see us winning much in the next few years anyways… so his contract might be friendly but doesn’t help if our team still sucks. No need for the braves to go get him.
Quintana is affordable, that’s why he will cost a ton of prospect capital to acquire. Braves are better off with the prospects at this point. Maybe in 2020 when the team is stocked with young controllable talent and they’re making a WS push it would be worth packaging a bunch of young, high upside guys for an inexpensive, controllable mid rotation starter, but right now it makes no sense.
But in reality, in 2020 the Braves will probably be overflowing with pitching and will be the team looking to deal a solid cost controlled starter for extra pieces. Mid market teams have to be creative to stay competitive.
Harts right, it truly doesn’t make sense for us to go get him. No need to unload our system just to go get a guy that won’t make a huge difference for us in the near future. And that’s a straight knock on the braves before Quintana.
Absolutely. The Astros are more likely to give up position player value than pitching value. As a Sox fan, I would drop the Francis Martes/Joe Musgrove demands and be happy with something like Kyle Tucker/Derek Fisher/A.J. Reed for Quintana. This addresses two areas of extreme scarcity in the Sox organization: outfield depth and power.
Tucker/Fisher/Reed would be a pretty weak return for a player of Quintana’s caliber
For sure. 5 of the Astros top 10 prospects are OFs. If you want to make a deal happen, you need to look for a team looking to deal from a strength, not a weakness. Maybe they could get the Braves involved, send a high upside OF prospect to ATL and the braves would chip in a high upside pitching prospect.