In his Inside Baseball column today, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag takes a look at some of the most important remaining trade deadline scenarios. He also runs down some news and notes from both the American League and National League. Among the highlights with relevance to the trade market:
- The Royals remain on the hunt for rotation help even after netting Trevor Cahill, Heyman writes. (That much may be evidenced by their apparent talks for Francisco Liriano, which are reportedly progressing.) Heyman notes that Kansas City even called the Athletics on Sonny Gray and the Rangers on Yu Darvish, though the team was realistic about the fact that it doesn’t have much of a chance of outbidding the competition for either player.
- If the Cardinals ultimately make Lance Lynn available, the Yankees would have interest in the right-hander, though Sonny Gray remains New York’s top target. Lynn is a free agent at season’s end, and as such wouldn’t help fill any of the upcoming voids in the Yankees’ rotation after the 2017 season.
- The Braves have scouted Gray more than any team in the league, per Heyman, though they’re not currently believed to be the favorite to land him. Heyman notes that the money saved in the Jaime Garcia deal could help facilitate the acquisition of Gray, which is a suggestion that has been made in recent days. It seems worth bearing in mind, though, that Gray is only earning $3.575MM in 2017. Plus, any financial crunch the Braves had would only have been present due to the fact that the team acquired Garcia (and Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey) as stopgaps in the first place.
- Starting pitching remains a target area for the Rockies after picking up Pat Neshek in a trade, and Colorado even considered Darvish as an option, though the Rockies are unsurprisingly on Darvish’s no-trade list. (That’s not a knock on the Rockies by any means, but I’d imagine that most pitchers, if given the opportunity, would want to safeguard themselves from being traded to pitch at Coors Field.)
- Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is more willing to part with top prospects in order to land Sonny Gray than his front office is, according to Heyman. General manager David Stearns and his staff are reluctant to part with the club’s very top prospects, and Attanasio has been deferring to the preferences of his baseball operations staff. The Athletics are eyeing center field prospect Lewis Brinson, Heyman continues, but it seems that the Brewers’ front office isn’t keen on parting with that level of talent.
- It’s been reported that the Mets are likely to hang onto lefty Jerry Blevins, and Heyman notes that GM Sandy Alderson’s rationale is that if he traded Blevins, he’d merely be looking to fill that void with a free agent in a market where most relievers will enter the offseason seeking three-year deals. (Of course, that logic could also be used to argue that Blevins’ value is all the higher, and the Mets managed to pick up Blevins on a one-year guarantee even though he reportedly sought three years himself early last offseason. Boone Logan, who also signed a one-year deal in Cleveland, was also reportedly seeking three at one point.)
greenarrow1150
I’m still saying Gray for Brinson
yukongold
Mateo and Florial.
mp9
Thats Garbage! have to throw in Gleyber or Chance Adams in order to make that deal happens’
mp9
Thats Garbage! have to throw in Gleyber or Chance Adams in order to make that deal happens”
mp9
Thats garbage! have to throw in Gleyber or Chance Adams in order to get a deal done.”
failedstate
Gleybar won’t be in on it, sorry.
El Duderino
Your posts don’t generate rave reviews.
ray_derek
The Brewers will be in 4th place in two weeks. They shouldn’t do a thing besides convince someone to give up a prospect for Braun.
zclee06
You don’t know that. They’re in first place now so they should be buying. If I was the GM of the Brewers I would be willing to give up Luis Ortiz or Lewis Brinson
junkmanj
Don’t worry Braves fans, I deleted Forst’s phone number from Coppy’s phone. We’re safe.
squish
Thanks man
junkmanj
I do what I can
bravesfan
lol
TylerThe bravos fanatic
Hahaha
Matt Galvin
mobile.twitter.com/dgoold/status/89074846325167718…
Armaday
Mateo and Florial. No need to include Adams. Maybe an unranked pitching prospect.
fatelfunnel
Mateo stock is down. Adams and Florial might get it done.
cmancoley
Why don’t the Royals go after Lynn? all they need is a rental
pdubs2907
They’d have to pay a premium to deal with STL
takeyourbase
Why do you say that?
STLCards33
I don’t think the cardinals would care at all
tharrie0820
A smart team doesn’t care, especially for a rental
real_ttebow_
Lynn goes to Houston after astros get outbidded for darvish and gray, and don’t want to take JVs risks
jsloan
Latest on Sonny Gray: I heard he just ate dinner.
TobyReese
I heard he just farted
jleve618
Any idea what the advanced metrics had on it?
barnard
Exit velocity of 96.6 MPH
Varangian
With some late movement on it
bravesfan
OMG Advanced metrics on a fart with exit velocity of 96.6 MPH and late movement! now that’s funny!
DW 3
Hahahaha!!!!
Cardinals17
Good one!!! Ha!
66TheNumberOfTheBest
I don’t care who gets him, but someone please get Lance Lynn out of the NL Central.
That would probably add two more wins to the Pirates remaining schedule.
stubby66
You know I would go back to the trades that were made back a couple of years ago and I think I would have preferred to have kept the prospect of them from then.Well now here comes the people who will rip on me. Personally I think I would rather just hold off on trades. Go with a rotation of Nelson Anderson Hader, Woodruff and Surter. As far as second base maybe give DeJuses or Orf a chance even if it means Villar to the the minors he took the chance on himself now he can accept the the demotion. The bullpen they can give the rule 5 pick from a couple of years ago a chance. Go with the farm system to trust some of these pitchers are close to be ready time to let the stopgap guys to go like Scahil Peralta Torres and Oliver need to go. Save your money why can’t the Brewers be in on Machado in a couple of years
jameyc
yanks need to walk away from gray,,,the hold up is apparently the a’s are demanding one or frazier or torres…..for a guy who isn’t an ace, with injury history, and only 2 years of control? PASS,,,frazier and torres will be long term, all star quality, everyday pieces. kick rocks billy beane. and before anybody says but gray is an ace,,,,is he
sale,,kershaw,,keuchel,,degrom,,,or heck, even quintana? that’s an astounding no.
OrangeKhrush
Have a whinge
jobro962
Jamey, I don’t think you’ve watched Sonny pitch. If you want him him your team you’re gonna have to pay the price. It’s fine if you don’t want him on your team, just don’t downplay his abilities. Look back to game 2 ALDS 2013 went toe to toe with Verlander as a rookie. His stuff is good. You’re trading for 3 postseasons with Sonny, do you want him or not? Prospects are gambles no matter how you slice it
tylerall5
So are pitchers in today’s MLB
frogger6
can’t they settle for Broxton instead of brinson
stubby66
heck I would say give Broxton,Peralta and Bickford that more then fair
tylerall5
Broxton has huge strikeout totals. The guy has speed and power but those numbers can’t be ignored.
Waspybud
What would it take for the Astros or Rockies to get Lance Lynn?
Danthemilwfan
They better not include Brinson or hader!!!
Brewersnation
I would hope we do not trade for starting pitching. I am a huge fan of Brinson, Phillips, and Woodruff. I would also love to see a rotation of Nelson, Anderson, Hader, Suter, and Woodruff. Maybe Braun will retire after 2017 due to injurys. Brinson, Phillips, Santana in outfield. We need to address relief pitching but not for three or four prospects unless it involves Wilson and kinsler. Trent Clark, Diaz, Durbin, and player to be named for kinsler and Wilson. Thoughts?
912boy
The Gray rumors have trumped Jaime Garcia now lets just please put him in an ATL uniform and start our transitioning to taking back over the NL East
bravesfan
I just don’t want the braves to give up the haul that’s gonna be asked for Gray. I truly don’t think he’s worth it nor do I think the braves need Gray THAT bad. Great pitcher, and I’m sure at the end of the day I’d be happy to have him, but the lvl of happiness will be greatly affected by which prospects we would give up…. whatever we do, maybe we can package Blair in the deal just to get him off our books. God what a disappointment. Former top prospect that has really disappointed. Wisler too, but I still think Wisler has sooooooooommmmmmeeeeee potential. lol I mean it’s very little, but it’s still there I believe.
junkmanj
If we didn’t give up any of our top 5 prospects, we’d probably be looking at a package of Ian Anderson, Luiz Gohara, Touki Toussaint, and Aj Minter. And I just think that’s too much for Gray.
I think that’s a fair deal for both sides. However, I don’t think it would benefit the Braves in the long run.
bravesfan
I don’t think it would be that much. Anderson and Gohara are prob more than enough. you can throw in a few other minor leaguers and that deal is fair. But overall
junkmanj
I agree that he’s not worth that much. But I definitely think that the A’s are asking for that much. They were supposedly asking for Acuna and that’s just crazy. So if we didn’t offer a top 5 prospect, I think we would have to overpay. Which is probably why a deal won’t get done.
zclee06
I was watching MLB network and they said that Coppy was willing to give up Newcomb for Gray but none other top prospects
garrog1949
Trade Pache,Wentz,Wisler,B.Wilson and Seymour for Gray.