The Marlins “are extremely open to discussing” a Dee Gordon trade, reports Jerry Crasnick of ESPN (Twitter link). Gordon has been on teams’ radars in recent weeks, but now there’s “not much traffic” regarding the second baseman, per Crasnick. With roughly $41MM coming his way through 2021, the 29-year-old isn’t cheap, nor has he regained the effectiveness he showed from 2014-15. Gordon missed half of 2016 thanks to a performance-enhancing drug suspension and has slashed a meek .282/.323/.347 in 783 plate appearances dating back to last season. He has stolen 67 bases over that time, though, including 30 this year, and drawn plus marks in the field from defensive runs saved (eight) and Ultimate Zone Rating (8.1).
While a Gordon trade before Monday’s deadline may not be in the offing, it seems Marlins reserve catcher A.J. Ellis will switch uniforms. Along with the previously reported Cubs, the Rockies are in on the 36-year-old, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. With a .233/.314/.411 batting line, Rockies catchers have posted the worst wRC+ (45) in the majors this season. They’re looking for help behind the plate as a result, but Ellis hasn’t been a whole lot better than their choices with the bat (.232/.300/.341 in 91 PAs). Defensively, Ellis has had a rough pitch-framing season, per StatCorner, though he has outdone Rockies starter Tony Wolters in that regard. It seems the right-handed-hitting Ellis and the lefty-swinging Wolters would form a platoon.
More as the deadline nears:
- While the Dodgers have come up as a potential landing spot for Yu Darvish, Sonny Gray or Justin Verlander, it appears for now that they’re likelier to acquire an impact reliever than a high-end starter, relays Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). On the subject of the Tigers’ Verlander, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports (on Twitter) that Los Angeles has focused less on him than reliever Justin Wilson in trade talks with Detroit. That isn’t surprising, as Verlander is on an onerous contract and unlikely to move before Monday.
- The Blue Jays were reportedly “highly unlikely” to trade left-hander J.A. Happ as of two weeks ago, but now they’re open to offers, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag. The Jays aren’t aggressively shopping the 34-year-old, however, as he’s in the midst of another fine season and under control next season for a reasonable $13MM salary.
- This season has been a struggle for Rangers first baseman/designated hitter Mike Napoli, but he’s garnering interest nonetheless, per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan, who tweets that “teams love him in the clubhouse.” The powerful Napoli has slugged 22 home runs and put up an excellent .258 ISO, though his .208/.287/.466 line through 336 PAs isn’t pretty. But the 35-year-old has gotten hot at the right time, having slashed .260/.329/.658 in 82 PAs this month. Napoli’s on a $6MM salary this year and has an $11MM club option (or a $2.5MM buyout) for 2018.
- Calls have come in on the Angels’ resurgent relief trio of Bud Norris, David Hernandez and Yusmeiro Petit, and the Halos are willing to deal all of them, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd broke down their 2017 performances Friday in a piece focusing on available righty relievers.
Gordon to Seattle makes sense to me, move Cano over to first as it seems to me that his defense at 2nd has greatly declined. And their general manager seems to like fast players with light bats.
cano would not move to first
I don’t think Cano will switch positions that’s just asking for a clubhouse problem
Not that I think it’s a great idea right now, but according to Jacky Z the pint of signing him long term was that they can move him to first later in his career. Now I don’t know if it’s late enough in his career though but Cano will eventually be the M’s first baseman.
As much as I love Dee as a Marlins fan, I think it’d be best to trade him and open up some playing time for Brian Anderson who’s performed well this year. Not to mention, although the speed is a great asset, I don’t think Dee will regain his elite hitting form from a couple years ago.
I don’t think he really needs to regain his “elite hitting form” from a couple years ago. He’s batting about .300, great speed, good defense, he could help almost any team out.
Hitting .293 is different than hitting .333. I get that he has good speed, plays plus defense, etc. but my point is, he’s not an asset to the Marlins RN because they aren’t winning. As I clearly said in my post, Marlins need to open up time for the younger guys, who cost less, and a Dee trade, at an age where he’s inevitably going to decline, makes sense.
Dee doesn’t have any value with that contract attached
Is the ask for Gordon high, or is it just a pure salary dump? With that contract, I don’t see much interest unless at a very favorable price.
The cost wouldn’t be bad as long as the acquiring team takes on his contract because Miami is just primarily looking to get rid of his contract, more so than anything. Maybe one or two mid-level guys for Gordon and his contract.
I hope the Blue Jays trade Happ. He’s getting old. Get something for him while he still has decent value.
Why are the dodgers more likely to get a shutdown reliever than a starter ?
It’s the old story, if you tweet it, you don’t need to explain.
Because of Andrew Miller….
Aces are too expensive and playoff baseball requires only 4 starting pitchers. When healthy, we have 7 so we’re not looking for back of the rotation help which leads back to my first point. The play offs have become more reliant on bullpens lately anyway. A lock down lefty, hell even a LOOGY, would be a better allocation of resources than a SP.
Sell sell sell don’t let the opportunity slip away!!!!
even if we sell, we’re not getting much back for what we can give up.
What are they doing yesterday they were confident that they were going to get a ace now.they are more likely to get a top reliever makes no sense.yes we need a reliever but we need a ace starter more so why not get both
Dodgers are trying hard not to mortgage the farm.
We don’t need an ace starter. There is a guy on the roster number 22, I forget his name. Adding gray or Yu behind Kersh would be great for obvisou reasons. But the Dodgers are setting win records without them already. Meaning this team can win it all without adding another ace. I would trade verdugo and Alvarez for gray or darvish no problem. But I understand why the FO might be hesitant. A solid lefty out of the pen makes more sense for our playoff run
Dee Gordon is a perfrect example of why MLB players will continue to try to get away with PEDs
If the Angels aren’t getting any quality prospects back for their relievers, then they might as well hold onto them and try to make a run for the post season. Our SPs are getting healthy, our schedule gets easier in August, and we have to try to win now while Trout’s still here.
Agreed
Considering the returns JD and Frazier brought I don’t think they can get much for anyone they try to trade, if that’s the route they’re going in the next two days.
The Angels will not get quality prospects back. Why? Because in order to receive value you must trade value. The Angels have only 2 players with value…… Trout and Simmons, and it does not sound like the Angels are willing to trade either of them at this time.
Even if they those supporting players had much value I don’t think they’d get a whole lot in return any way. That’s the point I was trying to make. They’re getting good years out of several relievers right now, which can bring back something, but teams are reluctant to give up highly valued prospects. They can either take what they can get or keep them so they can just get innings to close out the season to keep them from losing 90 games.
Dee Gordon is just a dirty rotten cheater.
It’s important to note that speed is typically the first skill set to decline. Gordon is nearing his 30’s, and he heavily relies on speed. If I’m a rival GM, and I combine that reality with his previous PED use, I don’t touch him.
Reyes’ performance fell off the table once his legs went…the key is to determine when those legs are going to go and it is different for every player…I guess that Dee Gordon thought he had to do PED’s if he wanted his bat to stay elite elite…apparently he has the speed tool naturally but not the eleite elite batting tool naturally?
Gordon is a very thin guy, which I don’t think works in his favor, from a physical perspective. Again, it’s mostly his long-term commitment and past suspensions which worry me. Everything else is pretty secondary.
Yard sale at Angel Stadium please include the Manager And the Owner we need a new direction with the will to win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With a full rotation on the DL and having to bounce back next season, it’s not going to matter who the owner or manager is unless they make a big splash this offseason and next offseason.
Angels are overdue for a change in Manager but it won’t solve all those injuries. Time will tell whether the Angels has filled their roster with injury prone guys or it is a bad year, a blip on the radar screen that will correct itself…
Dee Gordon to the angels would be amazing!! We really need a new second baseman and we need to make a freaking trade otherwise we are screwed!! Please aquire dee Gordon!!