There’s a belief among some rival evaluators that the Rangers will trade ace Yu Darvish by the July 31 deadline if they don’t believe they’ll be able to re-sign the impending free agent, reports Buster Olney of ESPN.com. With Texas unsure of whether it’ll be able to retain Darvish long term, there’s at least one starter-needy team waiting to make a move until it sees whether the Rangers shop him. Consequently, the possibility of a Darvish trade is affecting the market for starters and “muddying the waters” for the AL West rival Athletics in their quest to deal Sonny Gray, writes Olney.
- Given that the Marlins’ ownership situation is in limbo, their baseball department isn’t in proper position to weigh offers for outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich, according to Olney. Moving either could make the Marlins more appealing to potential bidders because their contracts factor into the franchise’s heavy debt, though Olney notes that trading a superstar like Stanton might sabotage the rebranding effort of the next owner. And if Jeffrey Loria’s successor signs off on a Stanton trade, the team’s fan base could see it as a typical Marlins cost-cutting maneuver.
- First baseman Carlos Santana’s down season may help explain the Indians’ interest in slugging outfielders J.D. Martinez and Jay Bruce, suggests Olney. The Tribe missed out on acquiring Martinez, whom the Tigers sent to the Diamondbacks this week, but the Mets’ Bruce remains a prime trade candidate. It’s unclear whether Bruce would play first for the Indians, who have seen Santana slump to a .238/.335/.406 batting line in 397 plate appearances during a contract year. Cleveland could acquire a natural first baseman instead, with Olney pointing out that Texas’ Mike Napoli (a former Indian) and Oakland’s Yonder Alonso may end up elsewhere.
- It’s a buyers’ market this year as the deadline approaches, so a successful return for sellers could depend more on how much salary they shed than the quality of prospects they acquire, per Olney. As an example, Olney points to the trade Miami and Seattle made this week. The Marlins received four prospects for reliever David Phelps and got rid of his $4.6MM salary in the process, but only one of those minor leaguers (outfielder Brayan Hernandez) looks particularly promising. The quantity of prospects the Marlins picked up isn’t impressing rival evaluators, as some of them believe landing four players was done to make the package look better than it actually is.
CursedRangers
It’s going to be an interesting trade deadline. The Yankees make the most sense for Darvish. As a Ranger fan I’d hate to see him go. He’s been a fun player to watch. The Dodgers could be a player for Darvish as well, but their rotation is much stronger than the Yankees. It’s just a matter of how much Darvish could help NY in a series against the Astros. Wonder if Napoli would also make sense as a bench player for the Yanks. His numbers are way down this year, but his veteran presence could be valuable in the playoffs.
I also see the Cubs ultimately trading for Lucroy.
slider32
Agreed, the Yanks can give the Rangers the best package for Darvish, maybe Mateo, Green, and Florial.
Teddyballgame13
I’d rather get Avila from the Tigers as a veteran catcher to mentor Contreras. Hes also having a career year hitting. Darvish for Schwarber, Almora and Hatch???
cubsfan2489
Way to much of an overpay for a rental. More like Schwarber for Darvish straight up.
Sibert18
No interest in Schwarber as Rangers fan. Already have too many high power high K guys.
Mikel Grady
No interest as a Cub fan losing schwarber for 10-12 years for darvish rental. Just throw money at him next year and have them both.
RangersFanCD19
Lol 10 to 12 years??
CJ81
Don’t the cubs already have 5 good starting pitchers? Lester, Arrieta, Quintana, Hendricks, Lackey. Darvish is a clear ace, but I wouldn’t give up young talented positiin players to improve an area thats already pretty strong.
thegreatcerealfamine
Schwarber alone won’t get Darvish,plus the Rangers already have a more versatile SO machine in Gallo.
fisher40
The Rangers would want Happ and the Cubs Top minor league pitcher in return
Bruin1012
Seems like an overpay for a rental starter but who knows if a bidding war starts up you never know.
JKB 2
Bad news dude. Schwarber gets Darvish in ten seconds but Cubs would never do that dumb deal
MurderersRow27
Schwarber foe Darvish straight up isn’t happening buddy, hate to break it to you.
hodor 3
Where does Schwarber play? He’s not exactly filling a need for the Rangers. If I’m Texas, I ask for a couple of good SP prospects.
JKB 2
Schwarber Almora and Hatch for 2 months of Darvish??? That is absurd
Codybellingersgrandma
Alex vertigo for darvish. Let’s go for it all this year
Sibert18
As a Rangers fan I pray this happens. I think 1-2 other lower end prospects would have to be thrown in but if Verdugo is key piece I’d be overjoyed… Plus Dodgers are my NL team so win-win haha
corey5kersh22
Calhoun,Sheffield, keibert ruiz sounds better as a dodger fan
Michael Chaney
The Indians are kind of in a weird spot with Santana…he has too much of a track record for the Indians to just relegate him to being a bench bat, but at the same time something definitely needs to be done because he’s struggled. I’d be okay with getting Bruce even though I wouldn’t love it, but I’ve been beating the drum to trade for Sonny Gray for a while, so if there’s a way to get him and Alonso in the same deal, I’d probably do it as long as Mejia and McKenzie aren’t part of the package.
arc89
Not happening without either Meja or Mckenzie in the package for him. Gray is very expensive is why he is still on the market. To many teams have much better prospects than the indians. Team who gets Gray will need to out bid 4 or 5 other teams.
Michael Chaney
Gray isn’t (or shouldn’t be) bringing back as much as Quintana. Quintana has a team friendly extension for several years, and Gray doesn’t (plus Quintana had a nearly sterling record of health and whatnot). That said, the Indians don’t need to include a true blue chip guy like the Cubs did when they traded Eloy Jimenez.
The Indians can still include Bobby Bradley, who in my opinion is a better prospect than Dylan Cease in the Quintana deal. The Indians can also include Naquin, who I’d imagine has more value to the A’s as a potential everyday outfielder than to the Indians as depth.
The other two guys the Cubs gave up are just warm bodies, but the Indians could include any 1 or 2 prospects other than Mejia or McKenzie. I’ve suggested Willi Castro (who’s going to be a good shortstop someday but clearly not in Cleveland), and Adam Plutko (who’s the type of major league ready starter the A’s like to use as depth). If another guy needs included (or maybe Oakland would prefer Yu-Cheng Chang to Castro), then fine but it shouldn’t have to be much more than that.
Michael Chaney
Obviously if they want Alonso too then they’d have to add a little more, but based on the return JD Martinez brought to the Tigers, it shouldn’t be much.
Bruin1012
Other teams would easily outbid that offer what you say makes sense from an Indians standpoint but there are a lot of other teams that would jump in with a much better offer so just don’t see the Indians getting him without one of their big two.
believeland
That’s true, but Oakland always wants “their guy.” We’ve seen them take seemingly underwhelming returns time and again because there happened to be a player involved they liked a lot. Not saying that that Indians deal would fit that, but when it comes to Oakland, always expect something crazy.
Rounding3rd
expect a “their guy” crazy bad trade like Joey Wendle for Brandon Moss
sufferforsnakes
Tribe doesn’t need Gray, especially after that outing by Danny Salazar last night.
wants to be a GM
They don’t need Gray, but they need another starter so Tomlin and Bauer can move to the bullpen. I would rather see us get a #4 type innings-eater guy so the return wouldn’t have to be too much.
sufferforsnakes
Then who gets kicked from the bullpen?
See, this is what gets to me. People want the Tribe to trade for this player or that player, never really taking into consideration that other players are already in those spots.
hodor 3
I agree that Stanton shouldn’t be traded. Every franchise needs a face for everyone to rally behind, for better or worse.
Bullet
The Yankees need Darvish. We can’t keep running out the Cessa’s of the world with the rest of the SR shaky at times, we’ll never make up ground that way.
Tyler Austin and Jake Cave. Maybe not enough but for a rental, you can’t expect the World.
Philliesfan4life
I dont see them making a trade for an ace
aff10
You can’t expect the world, but you can sure as hell expect more than that
Michael Chaney
Tyler Austin and Jake Cave might get you a struggling reliever but not Darvish
Bruin1012
Darvish is a rental but it is going to take quite a bit to get him look what the Cubs gave up to Chapman last year.
Bullet
Yeah unfortunately I’m sure you’re right…
Polish Hammer
Slight difference being Chapman will close out every close game and Darvish will take the mound every 6th game,
JKB 2
Exactly. Chapman pitched in 13 or 14 of 17 playoff games. Huge impact as a reliever that Darvish will not have as the number 3 or 4 starter
slider32
Chapman brought back a better package than that last year, the Yanks will have to give up a package of something like Green, Mateo, Florial, and Solek to get Darvish.
CursedRangers
I wonder if Andrew Cashner makes sense for the Brewers. He isn’t a top notch pitcher, but could help Milwaukee hold off the Cubs.
The Rangers have a week schedule this week, with the Marlins and Baltimore at home. This could give them a false sense of security if they pick up some wins against less than stellar teams (which the Rangers are as well).
cbf82
Please deal Darvish, Napoli, Cashner, lucroy and even Hamels! Get back as many prospects as you can and just rebuild this thing! The Astros are gonna be really good for a long time and we are just gonna be treading water every year, giving away our prospects for rentals, hoping for a wild card spot. REBUILD PLEASE JD!
chuckymorris
JD Martinez already got trade to the DBacks, he’s not going to the Indians lmao
chuckymorris
I didn’t read the line after that lol never mind
GodHatesCleveland
Bring Napoli back to Cleveland!