Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini hasn’t been a hot name in the run-up to the trade deadline, but MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that he’s coming up in late talks. The Astros, Rangers, and Rays are all said to have interest.
Mancini, 27, will be eligible for arbitration for the first time in the offseason to come. He’s off to an excellent start at the plate, putting a subpar 2018 season in the rearview mirror. Through 434 plate appearances, Mancini is slashing .280/.341/.532. He grabbed the 50th spot on our ranking of the top trade candidates based upon his evident talent and contractual upside.
For the O’s, nothing is bolted to the floor. But the Baltimore club surely isn’t in a rush to trade its best player, particularly since he’s a marketable figure at an organizational low point. Lovely as Camden Yards is standing alone, stars are needed to bring fans in and send merchandise out of the ballpark gates.
The slate of clubs with interest is itself both interesting and telling. It’s clear that Mancini isn’t a classic trade deadline piece, so much as a very good player with a great contract situation who is drawing teams that are interested in him from a talent standpoint. Roster fit and the situation in the standings are to some extent secondary considerations.
For the Astros, adding Mancini would mean putting another big bat into a lineup mix that’s already strewn with them. The priority in Houston is surely pitching. One wonders whether the connection is based upon some scenarios involving multiple other moving pieces.
The Rangers, meanwhile, are all but buried out of contention. But the team is looking to remain competitive and ramp right back up next year. Coming away with Mancini would mean adding a righty slugger to partner up with star Joey Gallo. The Texas org obviously wouldn’t be valuing Mancini for his late-2019 contributions, but for the three years of control thereafter.
It’s also a bit of an opportunistic possibility for the Rays, who have more immediate incentive than the Rangers but less than the Astros. The Tampa Bay club is always searching for value and has been connected to multiple righty outfield bats, so it isn’t surprising to see that they’ve propped open a door on Mancini. With loads of young talent, especially in the infield, it’s possible the Rays could come up with some creative packages in search of a match with their division rivals.
Braves will land Mancini and Givens
Wouldn’t mind a Mancini or Givens pickup
Mancini could help this year and be under contract for next year in case Markakis option isn’t picked up &/or Ender gets moved
Plus can back up Freddie if needed
Need more than Givens though. He can’t be the only bullpen piece we add. And last night proves an upgrade in the rotation is needed as well.
Starting to think we got to many holes to fill for a WS run this year.
Braves will be fine, moves will be made, holes filled. No need to worry about the future of the team and playoffs off one game, or one series.
Keep on winning the series’ and you’ll win the WS.
It’d give us O’s fans someone to root for, adding Mancini and Givens to Markakis, O’Day, and Goose. That’s a lot of ex-O’s
O’Day isn’t going to pitch for Atlanta, he might as well be released.
On that note, I don’t want Givens and don’t see why any fan would.
Braves have a deep farm system studded with potential stars to make the move for Givens and Mancini.
Just don’t believe Mancini could go to a NL team. His defense makes him a DH going forward.
Trey Mancini is no selling point for merchandise or tickets, sorry O’s
Yeah. He needs to do this for a couple years. He gets no pub from any news network. Doesn’t have star power right now. Maybe he will in time.
He has been really good to great this year.
No one cares about the Os.
It’s cyclical. Once the O’s start winning they will get recognition. Just like the Royals a few years back. No one talked about the Royals, then all of a sudden they were talked so much that Hosmer got wayyy overpaid for his market
No one cares- do you speak for everybody? Keep your stupid comments to yourself
He is productive even though doesn’t have name recognition.
He would a good fit for Cleveland or Rays.
that aint Trey Mancini Jeff
Did you just assume his race??? Perhaps he identifies as a black man.
i dunno, he didnt look like that last time i saw a photo of him, unless someone else was posing as him.
We could also realize it’s not Trey without putting race into this by noticing his number is different…
Really? We’ve reached the point where we have to pretend his number was the giveaway?
My dude, that’s future gold glover Johnathan Villar.
Did Mancini have a racial reconstruction surgery that I didn’t hear about?
Hahahaha, that’s Villar in the picture right?
He pulled the opposite of Sammy Sosa
I’d love for the Phillies to get him
phils aren’t in bad enough need of a 1B/OF to give up the prospects that would have to head back to Baltimore.
I’d like to see the Reds get in on this.
Mancini plays subpar defense and would likely have a high prospect cost, so unless they can get him for less I would pass
Not sure how high the cost in prospects would be actually.
If the Reds are going to give Puig a QO, I think it makes sense to go after Mancini. Puig certainly will turn the offer down, which would negate at least somewhat the loss of prospect(s) in getting Mancini. I’m not too worried about his defense. Small-ish outfield may help.
Be good fit for the Giants. Can play first over the poor hitting Brandon belt
Mancini is a quality player…clubhouse guy, had to work for everything. Gives you very good at bats and drives the baseball.
His running always looks funny and upright, but in the OF he always gets good reads and makes the play.
If we trade him, I will miss him and wish him well wherever he goes. If he stays, we can plug him into the lineup every day and that’s awesome, too.
Chris Davis is the elephant in the room. Mancini is collateral damage.
what would the rangers trade for him
Probably Santana and a pitcher from the BP.
Chris Davis is not hurting anything on the O’s. His salary makes them look like they are attempting to spend money. Until they have somebody coming up that needs to play just let him play and hope he turns it around enough somebody would want him. Until then it’s a rebuild. Gonna take a few years either way.
Drugs are bad.
Yes, Davis should stay for now.
Chris Davis is not hurting anything on the O’s. His salary makes them look like they are attempting to spend money.
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Couldn’t that be accomplished by spending money on Latin American prospects?
Trey Mancini now identifies as Jonathan Villar.
People in Baltimore think of Trey as some kind of star or something and will expect a lot back. I don’t think Elias will get a whole lot for him so I’m thinking it’s best to just let him be our good player during the crap years.
The Rays make all kinds of sense for Boom Boom. They have almost no RH power in their system, and I’m sure they’d love to move on from the likely 8-10M they’ll have to pay Pham through arbitration.
But the O’s need impact, not those middle IFs the Rays have, all of whom can hit but can’t field; the O’s already have those. And the O’s aren’t getting any of the Franco, Brujan, etc. collection.
SO, my suggestion is P Shane McCalahan (lots of tools, decent chance he makes his ceiling as a #2/#3 type starter) ;P Joe Ryan (short on tools, but the production has been fabulous, and gets better the further he moves up, a la Yarborough); Dalton Moats, a likely Rule 5 casualty who fits in the back of the bullpen.
3 pitchers is a lot, but the Rays have depth and quality on the mound, once the injuries get done with. Mancini is 1B only, but B Lowe can move to LF; he’s not going to be great there (he won’t be great anywhere), but the bat certainly plays.
Christ Bob. The orioles have no middle infielders. For someone who watches AL east baseball you couldn’t be more wrong. We don’t have a serious middle infield prospect in a level higher than low A.
So if you get Wong or Cronenworth or Fox, you still won’t have any. You need impact talent back, not a bunch of guys that essentially occupy a space as you marvel at their numbers. Some marvel at Villar’s numbers; you know better. . As Rays fans have already discovered, Mike Brousseau’s a great story, and shows some offensive upside. Then somebody hits a ball to him…..
Those guys are “OK”; you need more than OK. McClanahan can be very, very good. And again, I’m assuming Franco and Brujan are off the table.
You can’t trade a prime asset, which Mancini at least is at the border of, just to replace your second-division types with different second-division types.
Wong was already left off the 40 man untouched I would hope that’s not the level of player we get. I’d take Fox back as a second piece. I’d take Daniel Robertson back as a piece as well. We have 0 in the middle infield. I’d gladly take any number of the Rays MIF’s as 2ndary pieces. I’d obviously prefer Mcclanahan if that was feasible but the need for MIF in Baltimore is real.
I don’t know who will be our 2B or SS next year. There’s really no internal option besides Alberto Or Wilkerson. The Rays lot of MIF’s have more upside than that.
You can get middle IFs off the Winter Meetings Bargain Bin; see Iglesias, Hechiaveria, et al. And those guys help you on both sides of the ball.
I don’t want to sound 100 years old, but you really never do have enough pitching. If they’re going to move Boom, they have to get something significant. Otherwise, keep him. As you note, he’s popular, and seems for all the world to be a good soldier. And at least he TRIES to better his defense; it just isn’t there.
Wow, that’s a lot of pitching! Mancini is very good but he can’t run. 8-10 mill for Pham seems much more plausible. As for 1st base there are so many cheap options that hit. I like Mancini but maybe without Ryan would be a risk to take and have both Pham and Mancini next year. I would trade a lot of pitching for Edwin Diaz tomorrow though.
If they re-up Pham, that ties up almost 40M in 2020 for 4 players (KK, Morton, Pham, Snell). That’s hard to digest, even if the Rays were going to accept the fact that they should be spending 100M on payroll; and they don’t. And again, Pham puts up some nice squiggly numbers, but the baserunning is almost historically terrible, and the defense, which was never a strong point, has gotten worse.
It IS a lot of pitching; I’ll admit that. But that’s their strength, and Banda/DeLeon/Honneywell should be back next year. You don’t want to deal off the top of the deck for Boom Boom, but you’re going to have to come up with something decent.
Meadows to Mancini to Lowe to Lowe (either/or) is an impactful middle of the order.
Like I said I like Mancini but he ends up on 1 base and Nate Lowe needs atbats in 20. Lot’s of Rays rumors today, did you hear W Adames for E Diaz has been mentioned? I like Adames but Robertson /Wendle SS option is better I think. E Diaz is a possible steal!.If they want CF-would we give up Keirmaier? Put meadows in CF,Pham or Mancini in OF!
There SHOULD be lots of rumors…they’re almost there, and certainly have both the payroll space and prospect inventory to impact their season. I’m sure Eric is a busy guy; I’m also sure Stuie’s standing over his shoulder.
Adames (and obviously more) for Diaz? In a heartbeat. Adames has always been less than the sum of his parts, and probably always will be. And Fox can play SS there tomorrow (may not hit much, but he shows signs). And you’ve got, as you said, Wendle and D-Rob; neither one plus, but they’re not minus either. And I think Wendle will start hit again once that wrist heals totally; I’m not sure it is right now.
I’m drawing interest on my investments.
Where’s my article?
Boom Boom is to valuable a piece in Baltimore to move. IMO it would take a haul, like two top 100 guys and that isn’t happening.
He’s not worth that much not would any team give up that much. If a SP like Stroman can’t even get a top 100 prospect, a 1b/dh guy isn’t gonna come close. He’s a good player but not that good.
I agree, that’s why a deal won’t happen. O’s value him more than what they can actually get back.
I don’t think that’s really the case. The fans love him but I don’t think for one second if someone offered 1 top 100 prospect that Mike Elias wouldn’t pull the trigger immediately. He’s not the Madison Bumgarner of Baltimore.
This would make the Astros lineup LGENDARY!
Springer
Bregman
Altuve
Brantley
Correa
Alvarez
Gurriel
Mancini
Chirinos
If we could get Mancini and leave Tucker in the fold to trade for pitching, this would be awesome.
that’s actually a pretty good scenario, minus moving Tucker, I thought they were on the record as saying he’s staying put.
The only way it makes sense for the Astros is if they trade away a major league asset. The Astros outfield is already crowded so either Marisnick or Reddick would have to go. I can’t see the O’s taking on Reddick’s salary in a rebuild, so you’re down to Marisnick, whom the Astros for some reason place too much value on. Bringing in Mancini would only serve to push Tucker further down the depth chart.
Reddick could be headed elsewhere, freeing up opportunity to use prospects for Mancini.
Astros are certainly formidable for the next 5 years!
That would be an incredible lineup.
They honestly shouldn’t trade Mancini unless the return is something they can’t say no too. Very young and can be the face of the franchise when they start competing again
For the life of me I can’t figure out how Mancini fits the Astros unless it’s 3-team deal and he’s a flip. He isn’t going to come cheap (and no way Tucker to BALT is in the equation) and something like a AA P prospect, Straw, and Reddick I wouldn’t think would be all that appealing to BALT. It’s a head scratcher for sure.
The Astros don’t have any OF options past 2020. Springer, Brantley, and Reddick are FA’s after next season.
True, but like I said, Mancini isn’t going to come cheap. Obviously Tucker isn’t in play here as they could get P help for him and it doesn’t make sense to give him up for another OF. So, it goes back to my question and why it has me stumped… What would they have to give up or have to offer? I can’t imagine BALT is all that interested in a Reddick+Straw+?? deal as Mancini is a good younger player that is controlled for ~2-3 years. IMO, it would have to be a 3-team flip trade.
And let me add, Reddick is the only MLB OF the Astros would even remotely consider parting with this year. No way Brantley (certainly not Springer) would be part of it.
They could be looking for Tucker’s replacement if they need to include him in a deal for Syndergaard.
Or flip him in the deal.
Rangers are probably trying to send Willie Calhoun over for him to get a needed righty bat. Willie can hit and has two extra years of control.
Rangers aren’t giving up Calhoun’s control. They’d trade Mazara away and put Gallo in RF.
Ideally yes, but Calhoun has more trade value and you have to give up something to get something.
If Mancini’s walk rate continues to increase he could be on the cusp of being one of the top hitters in the game. Looks like hes headed for a nice 5 year peak
Rangers don’t have many right hand batters save for the couple of “switch hitters” in their lineup. Mancini would be a good acquisition. They could part with Calhoun and or Santana and a starting pitcher to get him.
Rangers offense are already leading MLB in strikeouts. Manicini would fit right in with his 24% K rate.
22% . That’s very reasonable for a power hitter corner player. Most give you K rates in the high 20’s or 30’s like Domingo Santana.
Rangers aren’t trading Calhoun. Mazara far more likely.
Maybe not, but they would have to give up a lot more than Mazara for Mancini. Mancini is already a better player than Mazara, with plenty of control.
Mancini has more control than Mazara and he’s a better player.
Mancini to the Cubs?