The Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies completed a trade on Friday, a rarity in this shortened season. While most pundits expect a quiet deadline 9 days from now, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal sees a template in Friday’s deal that might pave the way for more deals: “Desperate buyer. Eager seller. Cold hard cash to seal the deal.” That very well may be an equation that works, but there are a number of complications this trade season – including the identification of those “eager sellers.”
The Red Sox qualify, but it’s fair to wonder how many viable arms they have to move from the league’s worst pitching staff after sending two to Philly. The Angels begrudgingly find themselves with the worst record in the American League. The Mariners should be open for business again this year. The Rangers could have some interesting names if they decide to sell – especially from the rotation – currently 5 1/2 out of the wild card. The Tigers largely have the wrong combination of young players unlikely to move and veterans without much appeal, while the Royals rarely qualify as “eager sellers” no matter their position in the standings. Still, the tastemakers at the top of the American League have begun to pull away just enough to start some conversations with the cellar-dwellers.
It’s a different story in the National League, where the Pirates are the only team more than 2 1/2 games out of a wild card spot. Pittsburgh can dangle Keone Kela – if he’s healthy – and southpaw Derek Holland as well as some of their more controllable players, per MLB.com’s Adam Berry. Josh Bell would be the big fish here, and with a new regime in place and Bell off to a slow start, there could be the makings of a deal, but it’ll likely take some doing to pull him from the steel city. Trevor Williams and Adam Frazier are controllable, but both are 28-years-old and could do more for the Pirates’ future as trade bait. Richard Rodriguez, 30, is off to a great start (14-to-1 K/BB through 10 2/3 innings). Given the league-wide dearth of reliable/healthy bullpen arms, it’d be surprising to see Rodriguez survive trade season.
To illustrate the difficulty of finding an NL seller, we can stay in the same division. The Reds are off to a relatively disappointing 11-13 start, but that still places them just 1 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. They continue to be all-in this season, and they are hoping to add some talent, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Nightengale suggests they could look for a lefty bat to join the infield mix or to fortify their bullpen. The Reds might benefit most, however, from Eugenio Suarez finding his footing and Pedro Strop and Robert Stephenson returning to shore up the bullpen.
The other side of the deadline coin is finding the right prospects to ship out. Without minor league games to scout players, teams are mostly reliant on old or incomplete information. The Astros, for instance, could dangle top prospect Forrest Whitley, but after a disappointing 2019 and an injury early this season, it’s difficult to pinpoint his value. Still, new GM James Click isn’t taking anyone off the trade table for now, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The Astros would appear to be selling low on Whitley, however, and given the bizarre circumstances of this season, they might see more value waiting to see if he returns to form.
Red Sox, Royals, Tigers, Rangers, Mariners, Angels, Pirates, and Giants should all be sellers. Although, any of those teams could win 8 of 10 and be back in it in September. It’s hard to sell this year which makes it hard to buy.
I agree with all but the Pirates. If they won 8 out of 10, they would STILL be in last place in the NL. by percentage points.
True. Probably should have made a caveat for them.
I’d rather not win 8/10. I want that 1st overall pick.
Why? The MLB draft is risky enough as it is. Next year, the team picking 1 would be risking a lot of money on a player that may not have played at all for over a year.
There’s no such thing as a guarenteed prospect, but let’s face it. The Pirates probably aren’t going to be contenders until 2023-2024. There’s no point in being a middle of the road 75-80 win team until then. You’re better off going for a top 3 draft pick.
I get that guys like Rocker haven’t pitched since May, but I’d rather have him than like the 12th overall pick.
The draft is risky, but is statistically less risky, the higher you pick.
Exactly. We were gonna be bad this year anyway. Why not just go all the way?
As a Mariners fan I really want a Top 2 pick. It’s going to take a lot of suck to get beneath the Pirates though.
That is true, but the risk is much higher the less information you have. With the information you have on these 17 year old high school kids or even the college guys being well over a year old, the risk is much greater than normal.
So while the chances of success are greater the higher you pick, the amount of money you have to risk is quite a bit greater as well.
These kids have been scouted for years. Not a huge deal. At worst they don’t past medical and you get 2 picks next year. Higher the pick the better. Every year there is a clear drop off at some point. I want Cole strasburg Harper Machado bregman, Correa. Not the 4th or 7th guy after them. Not always guarantees but there is often a guy or 2 that is very very likely to be good. Higher the better.
This isn’t the NBA or NFL. First overall picks in MLB aren’t a lock to become superstars. There aren’t very many Dave Winfields.
@DrDan75 no one ever said the first overall pick was a lock to become a superstar, or even be average. But it is statistically more likely to happen than it is with a lower pick.
Last year’s Giants were, to my thinking, a weird example of a winning streak hurting a club. They got hot just before the trade deadline, which quelled the rumors and reality of their being sellers. By the time they came back to earth, the trade deadline had passed.
They still made plenty of trades last year.
Yea, they traded some and kept some. It was a roll of the dice and nobody can be 100%.
If you’re still in the Wild Card race, as they were at the deadline you don’t want to deal your #1 starter (Bumgarner), and I’m sure Zaidi listened to some offers for MadBum but no one wanted to give up the farm for a pitcher that amounts to a #3 starter or at the best #2.
@VTGiant: Exactly. They may find themselves in the same position this year with Cueto if he keeps pitching well and they are hanging on in the race at the deadline. The difference, though, is that Cueto has an additional year left. The Giants don’t need money; they need talent to add to a new core. So it may make sense to hang onto Cueto until next year’s deadline.
Cueto is pitching much, much, much better than Bumgarner was at the trade deadline last season. Cueto is more in Verlander, Greinke territory when they were traded. Bumgarner was in 2020 Robby Ray territory.
Steve- I’m not sure which Mariners games you’ve been watching but this team wont win 8 of 10! Btw- Kyle Lewis baby! Babip? Kyle’s just an intelligent hitter. Mariners are sellers all the way- they’ll prob move SP Taijuan Walker and RP Matt Magill. They’d love to move Dee Gordon but he has no value, he is absolute garbage. I have a feeling they might move Seager- who’s having the best season of his career, I really hope they don’t tho.
Arybhoy
Think they would trade Seager and Gonzales for Jordan Groshans our #2 (ranked in Top 50 of MLB ) ,Anthony Kay our # 11, Jacob Waguespack and Travis Shaw.
Get salary relief, a Top 50 Prospect and 2 good young arms ,
Their salary isn’t low this this year, but next year with more salaries off the books it’s down to 64 M. They won’t trade Gonzales. He’s pitched well and has a reasonable contract. His signing was heralded as the beginning of the rebuild. They really don’t have a third baseman to replace Seager. That doesn’t mean Jerry won’t be blown away by a deal, but he really makes the whole infield better.
Marko- that $64M includes Seager, so there’s a chance it goes down to $38M. You will likely read (from multiple sources) about Marco G being a possible trade chip but that’s because ppl are looking at his salary and his steady improvements the last few yrs and not listening to how this org values him as a clubhouse leader to the upcoming youth movement. He also went to a College nearby (Gonzaga)- he’s basically everything Dipoto wants in a SP. I’d bet my house on him staying in SEA. I suppose ppl would say Dipoto would never walk away from a sweet deal but if you deal away Marco you’d be left with a 2nd yr SP(5) in Yusei Kikuchi as your senior SP as well as 1-2 rookies making their debut and 2 SP’s w 3 months of ML experience.
Seager is a quite a different scenario- they’ve been shopping him the last 2 seasons with no luck for 2 main reasons: Performance- those were his leanest yrs in terms of OBA, BA, OPS, even his D took a slight dive. Contract- (poison pill) if he’s traded an extra year is added (players option.) Essentially the contract (inc. this year) becomes a 3 yr $52M contract. As the poster above notes, SEA doesn’t have a true 3B to fill in for this or next year. We have 2-3 utility men but when Seager was injured last year we witnessed a huge drop in defensive metrics from Dylan Moore as well as a drop in offensive production. Moore has improved offensively but we’d miss Seager’s GG defense and Moore’s positional versatility. So- I could def see them shopping Seager, esp since he’s having the best start of his entire career (he’s at the top of almost every category for 3B) but that contract prevents Dipoto from getting something valuable in return.
They will move 2-3 (avg) BP pieces in Hirano, Magill and Altavilla, possibly A Adams, maybe 1 rookie/prospect OF (Bishop or Fraley) and SP Taijuan Walker. Marco seems attractive to ppl who don’t follow SEA but it’s not happening.
Angels had a lot of promise with that line up , but with Rendon off to a slow start & Upton not hiting. The rotation needs a lot of work. If I was Arte Moreno , I would of offered over 300 mill for Cole, would of been worth it.
Rendon is batting .321/.466/.593/1.059
That’s a slow start?!
Trout’s slow start too has been hurting them. That guy can’t buy a extra-base hit
just like how bad Tatis has been with the bases loaded
In 3-0 counts up by 7 in the 8th inning
Nicely played sir
161 ops+ is slow start? it may be for him but it’s in no way a slow start.
Rendon’s slow start is when he he had 0 hits for the first several games — because he wasn’t playing.
Offering over $300m wouldn’t have gotten it done. Needed to be $350 plus to get Cole. Angels would have had to blown Cole away with an offer to get him over the Yanks and Dodgers. The Angels have no pitching and that is the reason they are struggling. They spend big money on Rendon, Upton, and Pujols.
Cole was too young for the Angels. They only give big $ to 30 year olds.
The Angels issue is other than Trout, they haven’t developed any good player in a while. Upton, Pujols, Ohtani, Simmons were FA. Goodwin has been a surprising waiver claim. And even the “good” players the Angels develop are never that good. Calhoun, Fletcher, Trumbo are okay, but not key pieces to a lineup. Don’t even get started on how bad their pitching development has been.
They have been so afraid to rebuild because they “don’t want to waste Trout’s prime.” Trout will be 30 next year and they are no closer to winning a pennant than they were in 2014. Hopefully with Adell and Marsh, we start to see that turn around soon.
Arte Moreno needs to spend on pitching then he does on hitters , then they would be a playoff team. Right now Upton’s contract is looking like Hamilton 2.0
angels were after all the top f/a starters. they all went to other teams. cole’s going to hurt the yankees in the later years of the contract. 4 year deal for ryu was very questionable choice.
Upton was a waiver claim from Detroit that signed an extension and Simmons was traded from Atlanta.
Also David Fletcher says hi.
And the problem is they haven’t developed any good starting pitching in a while.
You get the point though. And Fletcher has never posted a wRC+ over 100, so not really anything to brag about.
131 in’20! check it out!
27 games…
Upton was not a waiver claim. He was an All-Star in Detroit that year.
Ohtani still at league minimum. Cheaper than if they were to have drafted him.
Remember when Trout, Pujohls, and Josh Hamilton was supposedly the foundation of a baseball juggernaut? How’d that work out? Add Simmons. Add Upton. Add Ohtani. Add Joe Madden as the miracle worker. The Angels excel at adding players who should make a difference, but somehow don’t. The problem they face can be reduced to a single word: pitching.
There was no way the Angels were going to out bid the Yankees for Cole. Upton is Vernon Wells 2.0, but Rendon has really turned it around in the last ten days. The biggest disappointment is Shohei Ohtani, his inability to pitch hurt the staff tremendously and his bat has been atrocious. Most of all, Eppler has done horrible job putting together this team with his constant dumpster diving for pitching. Hopefully Arte is paying attention and makes the proper front office changes.
They did get a godsend in Dylan Bundy , he seems to have benefited from the change of scenery. If the angels could add a solid starter or two in the offseason, they could turn this thing around. no chance for this season.
change of scenery is better defense in bundy’s case.
Epstein will be a free agent soon…
Cole wasn’t going to sign with any team other than the Yankees. Arte knew that. Thats why he turned his attention to Rendon
You never know, I think Cole made the wrong choice in the end. I would of went to the dodgers.
But with Cole going to the Yankees, he is front and center, their best pitcher. If he was in LA, he would have Kershaw and Buehler taking SOME of his spotlight away. I don’t think Cole would be stuck-up for doing that, but just the face of the New, New York Yankees regime. Oh, and he was a huge fan of them when he was a kid, dream come true.
Cole would of went to Florida, Idaho, Japan. Whoever paid him the most $ just like 99 . Some percent of people would. Now if the $ was close he might turn down making 10 mil more to play in new york. But for 400 mil he could of been in the KBL
JD Martinez for Whitley and another prospect.
Who says No?
Anyone would say no. Martinez is hitting .232 on his way down and on a $23m contract. Whitley has potential and electric stuff if he gets his control under control.
Nobody as Asros are laughing to hard to respond
Astros. Their pitching depth is going to be a problem for them in the future w/ Greinke and Verlander getting up there. JD helps them for one season then they are stuck with two DH’s that can’t play the field well plus JD’s contract will eat money that can be used for their upcoming free agents or replacements. I don’t see them even trading Whitley for him.
Astros won’t say no, they’ll just laugh and hang up.
JD probably. Lol. Who’d want to go play with some of those dirtbags?
Someone takes JD full contract and he is gone for international bonus and a scrub ptbnl
Lesseee..
.National League parity, contrasted with lots of potential sellers in the American League. Is there any fundamental difference in play conditions that might that might explain this?
Bueller?
I think it just happens. Look at the NFL. I think 10+ years in a row or something the starting SB QBs for the AFC were manning, Brady, Big Ben or Flacco. While the NFC mainly had different QBs every year.
The Rangers are only 3.5 games out of the Wild Card right now. Don’t forget there are 8 playoff teams this year. Toronto is currently in 8th. The Rangers are in 12th place, but only 3.5 behind the Jays. I just don’t see how anyone other than the Pirates could be a seller this year, even the 15th place Angels are only 6.5 games out of a WC spot right now. That’s just a hot couple of weeks away from being right back in it.
that’s a lot of buyers and very little sellers. even if you’re very much in the playoff hunt but not a clear WS contender I could also see you selling to capitalize on a seller’s market.
That’s true, but the whole goal of playing MLB baseball is to win the World Series, not to build a good farm. I understand if you have virtually no chance to capitalize on a seller’s market, but as long as you can have a good week and be back in it, it is a slap in the face of your fans to not try to do it. I understand not going for it if you have a 1% chance or whatever, but if your chances are even 25%,, it’s worth the attempt. Especially this year, when all it would take is a couple of positive tests to take down even the mighty Dodgers.
Sometimes you have to lose before you can win. The Pirates from 2016 to 2018 were a middle of the road, 75-80 win team. That’s not going to win you anything, nor is it going to help you build a future. I’m happy the Pirates finally chose a direction to go in because they’re currently set up for a bright future.
In a normal season that is true, but with over half the teams making the playoffs this year, that same 75-80 win team could easily be the 8 seed. It’s been proven time and time again that the best regular season team is not likely to win the WS. In the WC era, wild card teams have won the WS times more often than #1 seeds did. This isn’t the NBA where the best teams usually win playoff series. In MLB, you just need to be hot at the right time and have at least 1 starter that has a dominant stretch.
Yea, but is that expanded playoff format going to stick around? I’m not betting on it. If it does that’s a completley different story. Ovbisously you don’t need to be the best team to make or win the World Series. But you still need to be a good team to make the playoffs. 75-80 win teams usually aren’t in that position.
As a Giants fan, even though my team is on a 4-game winning streak, I think we should sell. As one of the worst teams in the NL(in the bottom 5), and definitively on a re-build, we should try to deal anyone who we don’t have under contract next year who’s playing well (Gausman) or a guy like Cueto who has a year beyond rental status. We’d probably collapse completely in doing so, but all 2020 is for the Giants is reps for the young guys, and running out bad contracts for the old guys. As a fan, even if we had a realistic shot at the playoffs, we’d never get deep in the post season, and thus,
I am totally supportive of all things rebuild at this time.
If it doesn’t stick around, doesn’t that make even more sense for a middling team to go for it this year? A 75 win team that starts selling off parts won’t be a contender for 5-7 years.at the earliest. But the equivalent of a 75 win team that sneaks in as the 8 seed this year is a contender now. Sure, it is only a 1 in 16 shot, but as a fan I would much rather take shot than wait 7 years when I might not even be alive in 2026 or whenever. It’s easy to say let’s tear it down and rebuild when you are young. It’s a lot tougher for us older folks that are closer to the end than the beginning.
Interesting perspective hiflew. While I agree with you on certain cases (The Reds let’s say), the Giants are different. Our rebuild, I believe, is already in its second bonafide year (since Zaidi arrived) and I think the giants have the potential to be contenders again by 2022-2024 (not the 6-7 years you put forth). Further Gausman is gone after this year as we’re not spending big in FA until we have our new, young core established. Same goes for Cueto. We are not re-signing him or taking his option in 2022, IMO, so why not try to deal him now as his upside may presently be peaking? The rest of our present group that are young and playing well will hopefully be a part of that future core. So why not sell off/trade anyone who won’t be here in 2-3-4 years who will still be young(ish) and still producing? To me, for these reasons, we should try to trade Gausman and Cueto.
The 6-7 years I was referring to a team that just starts a rebuild. The Giants have been rebuilding now for I would argue at least 3 years. By 2022-2024, that would be 5-7 years. The Astros model is the one that people follow. It started in 2010 and took about 6 years. The Cubs took the same amount of time. The Padres are in their 5th year or so and are probably still a year away from serious contention.
As far as the Giants go, I could see the argument for selling. They are not that far out of the 8 seed, but they are in last place in the division and would still have to jump several teams for the final 2 WC spots. And as you said, they are in the middle of rebuilding anyway, so it might not take as long.
I was thinking more as a Rockies fan. The Rox had a horrible year last year and are currently on a big losing streak, but still technically in the playoffs right now. I would absolutely hate to see them (or a similar team) START a rebuild this specific year since there are so many playoff spots available. SInce starting a rebuild this year would probably not start to bear fruit until 2026 or so.
Hiflew, I can’t disagree with anything you posted. Not sure I agree that the Giants have been rebuilding for 3 years when they went after Stanton in the ‘17-‘18 offseason and Harper last year (‘18-‘19). However, all your points are well taken. I don’t disagree that this would be the WRONG season to start a rebuild. Further, teams like the your Rox who haven’t gotten deep into the playoffs in some 13 years, I would agree: don’t sell and push hard for a WC spot and enjoy postseason ball. Then again, the Giants just won their 5th straight. If they can go 7-3 or so in the next 10, maybe I’ll change my tune.
I can vouch for Rangers fans when I say this: we don’t deserve to be in the postseason. If we had a Lynn, Kluber, Minor rotation clicking on all cylinders, at least we would be a pest to beat, winning 4-2 games and stuff. Now Minor is lost, Kluber is gone, and Lynn is one of the best starters/trade pieces in the game. Our offense is pedestrian at best, and we could use some more farm pieces. We need to sell, on Lynn, but I’d extend Gallo next season.
It’s actually very difficult to leapfrog multiple teams to make up a 6 1/2 deficit in just a little over a month.
Dangle Holland? And his 7.00+ ERA?
he’s been unlucky though! look at his FIP! /s
Look at his career though. Gunna be hard to get a team to bite on a guy with a bad track record because of 3 good starts.
A lot of the runs he gave up came from one inning. Subtract that one inning and he has a 3.62 FIP.
Dangle him from a cliff.
If you look at it, the Pirates are the only true National League sellers. Anyone on the roster who isn’t a rookie/prospect, or name is Bryan Reynolds should be available in talks.
With the returns the pirates been getting – all 29 teams should be calling to trade w them
Calling it now: HOU acquires Felix Vasquez to replace Osuna. Will claim they didn’t know.
That was with the old regime. The new front office looks like they actually know what they’re doing based on the draft and Marte trade. If this were Huntington, I guarentee you we get back nothing of real significance in the Marte deal.
Reynolds is expendable but doubt anyone pays the price for him. He is nothing special and even if he was he will be in arb by the time pirates are ready to contend so that means time to be traded. He isn’t going anywhere but they have nobody untouchable.
This illustrates an admittedly weird way to look at 2020. It’s a season in which we entered July 24 with every team being 51-51 with eight playoff teams in each league and a lot of rainouts to make up so few days off. That’s where we were. Instead of thinking of each game being worth 2.7 games in a full season, think about the season as you would a normal season: How far out are you, how many games are there left, and how many teams are there between you and the playoff spot or the division title? What does your team need to do? And, given the schedule and the large number of playoff teams, the risk of losing out on the playoffs if another team goes on an unworldly run is less. Sure, if a team wins 25 of the last 30, they won’t be caught but that still leaves your team with three wildcard slots to shoot for. The way to look at it is that the outliers this year are COVID-19 and the need to play so many games in such a short period of time. Just some weird thoughts.
X Bogaerts is the biggest prize to be had. His contract isn’t too much at all and he’s locked in for a long long time. And Boston needs pitching.
Since ima reds fan…..hunter Greene, Jonathan India and Tyler mahle for bogaerts. Who’s got a better package than that ?
Could Philly pull it off by trading Stott , Kingery or Segura plus a prospect and taking on some of the contract?
Underselling Xander there. Not only are you getting a 27 year old SS with 4 years of All-star production and very good defensive skills at a premier position. You are getting a very team friendly contract through 2026 which will only be his age 33 season. If the Red Sox can’t get a package similar to the Sale deal, by that I mean two 55 FV prospects or higher. No way I move him as he will still be under control and very good when they are competing again.
Steve N. – Only 33. As a SS. You stretching that Steve-O.
Xander can opt out after 2022. Sale had a much more team friendly contract, $12m in ’17 then a $12.5m team option and a $13.5m team option. Xander is going to make $20m in each of the next 2 seasons and then will most likely opt out. Xander also has full no trade protection once he reaches 7 years of service time which he is rapidly approaching. I don’t think the Red Sox are going to be able to get a similar package as the Sale deal.
Xander had an opt-out after 2022. That means he only has 2 years of a very team friendly contract. After that either you lose him to FA or his contract is underwater.
He has an opt out coming and gets no-trade rights in September.
The phillies need to buy in at the deadline, if they can get that bullpen fixed , then their a playoff team. I don’t put the blame on Joe Girardi. not his fault that Klentak failed to fix the bullpen once he found out that Dominguez was out for the year.
I agree and was thinking bout that earlier. They need to get w royals for their closer ASAP
Rosenthall?
Brewers should be a seller. The pieces signed to replace moose and grandal have been massive disasters thus far. (the entire lineup has been for that matter) and our starting pitching has been decent but little run support.
With expanded playoffs sure they could sneak in at the very bottom, but no way this team is built for any kind of run.
Holt, narvaez, smoke and gyorko should be released yesterday since we couldn’t get a wet paper bag for them at this point.
Maybe trade peralta, houser, Phelps, or yardley. If a team breaks the bank then possibly consider hader.
Brewers need a rebuild and you just signed yelich so they should start yesterday.
What could they get for Hader?
A hair cut
ahahaha!
All the weed and all the chicken too
Seriously though. He’s worth any teams top prospect to even start the dialog. Closers have became increasingly difficult to find and maintain over the past few years while his value has increased substantially. He’s one of most valuable players in league
Lux Gray and Ruiz for hader and Dodgers would almost have to pull the trigger.
I think you are the one smoking weed if you think the Dodgers give up Lux for Hader. Let alone throw in Gray or Ruiz. Maybe I could see Ruiz for Hader, but even then that would be a great return for the Brewers.
Lux is top prospect in baseball bc….wait for it….he’s in the dodgers system. You get a 50 player bump by Mlb for being in dodgers system. Those are 3 good prospects no doubt. But none of them are G Torres and that was price for chapman and eventually a ring for cubs. So if Dodgers or anyone else want one of the best players in baseball and best closer by far and have him for longer than cubs got chapman. It’ll cost em. All the weed. And all the chicken.
What Chapman got in 2016 has no impact to what Hader gets in 2020. The market determines the value. There is not gunna be a market in 2020 and the market that last few years has drastically declined because teams realized how dumb that trade was long term. Lux is by far a better prospect than Torres was in 2016 anyway. The Dodgers are also why more shrewd in trades and I can tell you now, that trade will never happen.
Cubs won the WS w chapman. Broke the curse w that trade. It was worth Torres and more. And Why trade hader then if you aren’t going to get an absolute haul for the guy. He’s a great extension candidate or you’ll get a top pick anyway.
Also Lux is a second basemen. That’s the position they put u at when your not good enough to play any other position in the infield. At 22 he’s still in AAA while many others younger than him are already up this year. Torres is only a year old and Lux won’t match his career stats by the time he’s 25. Torres is in a completely different league than Lux.
Dodgers wouldn’t part with one of their top guys for Vasquez. Chapman trade is only a thing of legend. Hasn’t happened since and will it ever happen again? Maybe, there are always players in the top 50 that I feel have very little chance of ever being a star or even very good so I can see a GM swindle a weaker gm.
Who is Primarily at 1st for the Abgels?
Id say they they do nothing. Trade for Josh Bell and Chad Kuhl or Trevor Williams. We all know the pirates are pretty much always sellers. The Angels adding even more offense around Trout and Rendon would be scary. And they get a decent starter as well.
The Angels have nothing to offer. They aren’t giving up Adell or Marsh.
I think they could trade Marsh, He would be blocked by Upton & Adell. Goodwin has been a great addition to the team. Marsh could get them a solid starter.
It was just an idea thats all.
NOT IN STEVE NEBRASKA’S HOUSE
Angels have a guy who can only dh and a 1 St baseman that makes 30 million a year so he isn’t going to ride the bench. And that 40 year old man is still better than Bell.
Pujpls is actually 45.
While it’s nice to make the playoffs, the goal is to win the World Series, and I think teams should be looking at their WS chances more than just squeaking into the playoffs when deciding whether to be buyers or sellers this year.
And sure anything can happen in the playoffs, but if you are hoping for a wild card spot, you are going to have to win series against 3 of the best teams in your league in order to even get to the WS. In the American League, those 3 teams you will have to beat will likely come from a pool of teams consisting of the Yankees, Rays, Twins, Indians,As, and Astros. If you are still a couple games out of the wild card race a week from now, it’s just not worth it to be a buyer, and you should be a seller trying to keep improving your team for next year and beyond.
The NL has more league-wide parity and the Dodgers are the only really scary team, so wild card teams will have more of a chance to make a deep playoff run in the NL. But there are still 3 rounds of playoff series to win, in a year with an asterisk, so I still don’t think it’s worth giving up too much as a buyer to fight for a wild card spot. I think NL teams will wait until close to the deadline to make their decisions, and the next week of games will be very important in that respect, both W-L records and team injuries.
I think right now the rays are the team to beat in the al east. Yankees injuries are piling up, and since its a short season, thats something they can’t afford. The NL imo I think will go through Chicago.
I learned a long time ago if you want sports to make sense you have to think like upper management and not like a player or fan. Owners are thinking fans will be back next year and making the playoffs even with all the teams making it will sell tickets next year.
Wish Detroit could sell but they have nothing really to sell! Cron might have been someone that could’ve been helpful to a contender if they needed a HR or K type of batter off the bench. And as far as BP arms go, you could do alot worse than Buck Farmer or Gregory Soto. But probably just going to be a team that watches this deadline pass. Such a strange and weird season man….
Schoop is raking and plays a hard position to get offense at. Could definitely see a team giving a fringe prospect for him. Jimenez would have been the big piece but his velo is way down and he hasn’t been good.
The LHP Gregory Soto had been absolutely lights out until his most recent outing where the WS lit him up. He’s still got a great 2 pitch repertoire for a 7th or 8th inning guy. And J. Jimenez just can’t find a corner of the plate. He either doesn’t get close at all or throws it directly down Broadway and gets smashed! Actually hoping someone may take Jimenez and Schoop and maybe get a decent prospect back but not holding my breath.
With Rogers being the closer and the only established lefty in the bullpen, I wonder if the the Twins FO has considered Hader.
Prob not. They are super stingy w their prospects. Would be selling Lewis at his lowest value though
Could see them moving Larnach, but Hader wont get Lewis or Kirilloff
Larnach for Hader sounds like a perfect deal for both sides.
I bet if your a Twinkie fan-
This is all crazy talk- Hader gets soo soo much more than all you are eluding to
The deal this offseason was Lux for Hader straight up……..Thats the #2 prospect in the game and you guys think you’ll get Hader for beans ??!!!
He has 3 more years AFTER this in arb years!!!
He would cost either Lewis or Kir + more….if your not open to that then move along
What deal are you talking about? I’m not a twins fan, but I do know that Lux would not get moved for Hader.
The Rangers said they’d have to get blown away by a deal for Lynn in order to trade him. They said top 50 and top 120, but I think they might’ve been exaggerating. So my question is this: What deal could Texas get for Lynn, while receiving a top 75 and top 120 prospect, from a team that could use Lynn?
Braves move Drew Waters and Bryce Wilson for him could get it done.
The Orioles will be sellers soon. Givens and Severino are really the best pieces that the club has to offer. We should be able to get something interesting for them. Alberto is an option for someone needing a guy who can rake lefties and cover a couple infield slots. Nuñez is
hitting very well for any team looking for a DH. I’m sure cobb will be available for salary relief. Then there’s Castro ,Sulser, and Milone if anyone is interested.
Don’t stop Boston!
Cleveland should bring back Clevinger and trade Plesac, a decent minor league arm, and a decent minor league position player to the Red Sox for Eavaldi, Vazquez, Barnes, and cash (1/2 of Eavaldi’s salary would work). Boston is rebuilding and Cleveland needs pitching leadership and a front line catcher.
I’m thinking Boston would ask for Karinchak to be included in the deal because of the cash that would be sent with Eavaldi.
The Indians always have a very low payroll. They do not spend big money. They have a ton of great pitching. The last thing they would EVER do is trade an excellent, young, controllable starter for an old, expensive starter who is severely injury prone and who has not been good.
Vazquez would be the centerpiece of the deal.
Anyways, that could be the reason why Cleveland has not won a World Series since 1948.
I’m not so sure about Eovaldi, but Vazquez and Barnes sound very realistic to me. Probably would take either McKenzie or Plesac as the centerpiece to get the deal done, although I’m not so sure Cleveland would be willing enough to deal either.
roberto perez is better than christian vasquez
McKenzie is a good arm, just 2 to 3 years away from being a major leaguer. I agree that Plesac is the centerpiece but I don’t think Boston does it without Karinchak or someone similar.
Lol. That’s a reply bait or click bait comment
I’d like to see Cleveland win a World Series in my lifetime
Lol. You probably believe Gary Sánchez is better than Vazquez you homer
sanchez is better than vazquez, as is perez.
Typical yankee pinhead, I mean yankee pinstripe response without facts or data to back up your claim
actually, pretty much any fact and data will back up my statements you biased homer. do some research, vazquez is a one year wonder bust. nobody wants him.
There will be a market for either JBJ or Kevin Pillar come August 31st. JBJ has a 2-3 week hot streak left in him and it would be smart for a team to take a chance on that. The return won’t be great but maybe the Sox could get a 23-24 year old relief pitcher with upside for him or Pillar. I don’t remember if Pillar’s deal has an option but if it does, it would make sense for Boston to hold onto him as he is great 4th OF and is still their only right handed OF in their system (except for Marcus Wilson who is a boarder line 5th OF at best).
Pillar has no option.
This may come as a shocker- Which are the only 3 teams top 10 in OPS and ERA
SF is the place to shop imo this year-
You’ve got Sps, Rps and even a little Bn avail to pick from
Z is even keen on taking back some bad salary to beef up the prospect capital
I expect them to make at least 2 trades in the next 9 days- Gausman is gone for sure, sadly I see Hou making a bid and turning him into a good Sp for the future
What’s a Bn? Why would any team trade for Gausman?
The Red Sox are lucky as Covid took all the attention off of them. They were going to have a season like the early 90’s. The last 5 million of Panda’s horrible contract is off at the end of the year. They are dropping from 188 to 128 million before any roster management for 2021. They have Pedroia, Eovaldi, JD Martinez and Price’s contracts tied up for 2023.
If they could get anything for Bradley, Eovaldi or Martinez they should. If someone overwhelmes them for Devers, Boegarts or Benetendi they should listen, at least but I doubt it.
It depends on where they think they will be in the short term. Assuming Sale is 80% of what he was when he is back and E-Rod will decide a lot.
They are paying the price for Dombrowski. You get a shot at the title. If you are lucky you win it. Then it is a question of what you have left when the price comes due.
BuT wHo StArTs If ThEy TrAdE eOvAlDi!?
They should give Darwinzon Hernandez, Tanner Houck, Josh Taylor, Colten Brewer and even Austin Brice a chance to start during this lost season. Maybe 1 or 2 will surprise them during this list season
As long as none of their trade chips end up in prison, it will be a more successful trade deadline for the Pirates than last season.
If I am Toronto I soft cell with their relievers in Cole, Bass and Dolis. I would also explore interest in Teoscar Hernandez. As great as it would be for this young team to reach the Top 8 in the AL, 2021 is the goal, not 2020.
If none are traded, fine. But they shouldn’t be buyers. The 2016 Astros are a great example; in the WC hunt, got rid of some guys, brought up Bregman and others, made offseason acquisitions and reloaded in 2017.
If it’s no names or not common names for the same return, those trades are ok. But during this pandemic and short year, no big names should be traded in my opinion. I want the Braves to get some awesome players and we need them… but this is not the year to trade away prospects… it just isn’t
You’re right. 2018 was the year the Braves shoulda traded away their prospects. They had like 7 in the top 50 and none of em panned out. A full lot of busts. And don’t even think about trying to plug Acuna there. Dude broke out at age 19 so no way u can write that up as player development.
Best trade piece to steal from the pirates is Brault. Solid lefty starter with years of control. Kuhl hasn’t been good but has good stuff. Really good odds at improving any pirate picher. At least trash or rays should be calling. I don’t see any super stars on the move. Mainly ok guys. And crap guys who are less crapy then their guys. Lots of average relievers on the move. Some average starters. But a Pillar or Joyce would be a nice upgrade for Indians.
How much do the Mariners really have to sell though? Kyle Lewis of course has a lot of value right now but he’s on a rookie deal so I can’t see them letting him go unless it’s for a king’s ransom. Kyle Seager has value but he also has a big contract that has made it difficult to move him so far. I can’t imagine that’s changed all that much with him playing well through 29 games. Marco Gonzales would have value but DiPoto has repeatedly said that he is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the rebuild. I guess maybe Taijuan Walker may generate some interest but really what would they get for him? You can say the same about Austin Nola and Dylan Moore, sure some interest may be out there but really what is he going to net you besides minor league filler? Aside from that all the other names you can think of are either playing so poorl;y nobody would want them (Dee Gordon, Mallex Smith) or haven’t played enough to generate any interest (Graveman, Hirano, Edwards).
MLB should do something similar to NHL did with their draft pick selection. MLB should do first 4 teams eliminated during the postseason, get the top 4 picks in next years draft. They draw sticks for top pick in the draft and shortest to biggest stick gets the 1-4 picks. Maybe by then, my Pirates will actually play some baseball lol