The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:
- Marcus Stroman lobbying for an extension with the Cubs (1:40)
- The struggling Mets lose Pete Alonso to the injured list (6:00)
- The Astros seem more focused on getting bats than arms at the deadline (10:05)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- Other than a pure prospect, I don’t see a difference making middle of the order bat being available at the trade deadline. Be it a 2 month rental or even someone with 1 or 2 years of control. Do you? If so please tell me about him. (14:45)
- Could this be the year in which the O’s get a starter? They’re notoriously cheap when it comes to big contracts or giving up the farm, but I can’t see any team going deep into the playoffs with Kyle Gibson or Tyler Wells as their Game One ace. If so, who are the top candidates, knowing that the O’s will have to compete on the market with any team with a winning percentage over .500? (19:45)
- The Cardinals are full of young players that may not be stars in the making, but probably get a fairer shot at regular playing time on many other rosters to prove their worth. If the Cards ultimately become sellers at the deadline, do they really get much value in moving guys like Iván Herrera, Juan Yepez, Luken Baker, Moises Gomez, and/or one of their outfielders? Or are they content to have that depth if the returns are minimal? (22:35)
Check out our past episodes!
- Elly De La Cruz, Alek Manoah’s Demotion and Surgery for Jacob deGrom – listen here
- The Wide-Open NL Wild Card Race, Returning Pitchers and Cast-Off Veterans – listen here
- The Mets are turning things around, and how serious are the Mariners, Marlins and Diamondbacks? – listen here
Cubs can probably get 1 decent prospect for opt-out rental Stroman since the deadline starter market is looking thin. Ditto the WSox with Giolito rental since they are 3 games in to another free fall. Game 3 type starters for playoff hopefuls.
The Cubs and White Sox are both playing well below their talent level this year.
With the Cubs rotation, especially given how well Steele and Stroman have pitched while thus far getting the “best case scenario” out of Hendricks, they should NOT be this bad. 3/5 the rotation put the Cubs in a position to win almost every time it takes the mound, Wesneski will find himself either back in the pen or AAA shortly and fingers cross Tailon corrects to his mean.
If anyone asks me, I think the Cubs should put their best foot forward until the trade deadline, and that means strongly considering putting Brown in the pen and possibly Wicks until around the trade deadline. Then if the Cubs have righted the ship, buy, if they have not, send Brown and Wicks back down and start stretching them back out.
Where are the Cubs failing? Only bullpen? Swanson is playing like he’s played every year except for last. Cue the Dennis Green line — “they are who we thought they were”. CHC is -5 in run differential, and that’s with exceptional rotation work. They don’t have enough offense, even if the light turns on for Swanson and Wisdom becomes wise to the change-up — need more cowbell. Maybe find a Delorean and turn back time to extend Contreras. IF STL wasn’t falling on their face, CHC would be in last place in the division.
The Cubs offense is failing in large part because the line up construction is awful and Ross got away from doing what the Cubs did to begin the year when they were one of the best offensive teams in baseball, stealing.
Contreras isn’t hitting his weight in St. Louis, please tell us how his below .200 batting average and awful game management would save this team.
The only reason I didn’t mention adding a bat is because we don’t have one in the minors that will help. A corner infielder/DH, if the Cubs were buyers, would be a priority.
How? I can venture to say that based on his CHC career, he wouldn’t be hitting .050 lower than his career IF he were still in CHC, where was comfortable. You could play him at DH and backup C, IF you were able to find a competent C in the minors or on trade market. You’re looking for a DH — there he is. The era of a starting C catching 80% games anymore like vintage Yadi is done.
I do tend to agree that there is no guarantee that Contreras would be this bad playing in Chicago (or another city) and I also agree that Contreras should have been viewed as a DH primarily and a back up catcher, I just never liked him in Chicago.
Contreras, IMO, was king of the garbage time stats. First inning, no one on, there was Wilco jacking a bomb. Or later in blow outs there he was again.
I really wanted the Cubs to sign JD Martinez to DH. Of course I also thought Abreu would have made a lot of sense on a two year deal.
RunDMC
Where are the Cubs failing?
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I’m still trying to figure out IF the Cubs are failing. They won 74 last year, so what was the expectation this year? Their Py W/L is 33-34, so they look about ‘right’ to me.
No thanks on Contreras.
And it’s been shown repeatedly that line up construction doesn’t make as big of a difference as people pretend it does. Their offense is bad because the players they have taking at bats are largely…bad. This is what most non-homer cubs fans expected this year. The cubs aren’t going to be good again unless they get some contribution from the farm or randomly catch lightning with some low cost acquisitions.
How is the deadline starter market looking thin?? Tons of teams have lost starters to injury and more will come before the deadline. By all means there will b a string market for SP rentals like there is every deadline.
Edit… this is a first, usually it’s a double comment. This time I spawned triplets
Supply is thin. You seem to have misinterpreted it as demand.
I worded it poorly and interpreted your statement, my bad. Demand is always high for quality starting pitching. I had misinterpreted cus with the value of quality SPs Stroman should command much more than 1 decent prospect. I’d think 1 highly touted prospect another decent prospect or 2 as well as some lower ranked toss in guy.
I’m assuming Cubs have every intention of flipping guys like him and Bellinger either hitting free agency or likely to opt out. Should b an interesting trade deadline for them.
If the Cardinals don’t trade Herrera to the Marlins, you have to wonder if it’s because they think they’ll be able to find someone to take Contreras off their hands in the off season.
Not saying that they will, but it seems like one of those moves of “We messed up. How are we going to save our jobs?”
Save their jobs? If they continue the path they’re on and come in last. There won’t be a job to lose and it’ll be clean-up duty from the incoming GM. Good luck finding a taker getting anything in return on Contreras’ deal, unless you’re willing to stuff Contreras’ with cash like a piñata on the exchange.
Epic failure only has victims.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they would get anything back if they even could move Contreras. They obviously seem to regret their decision signing him after they moved him off catcher earlier in the year.
Sure, but how much are you thinking they would need to include (or how much does an acquiring team pay) on his remaining deal ($59.5M inc. 5M buyout rather than option)?
I think that would vary based on how fringe of a prospect going back would be. A catcher starved team would likely be expecting to get $5 million per year on his 4 remaining years at that time I’d presume. Definitely more if it’s a team like the Marlins.
If a team like the Marlins looked to step in to pickup Contreras, you could see a discussion involving Contreras to Miami and Avi Garcia going to the Cardinals. Of course the Cardinals would still need to send money back to offset those extra contract years that Contreras has beyond Garcia’s two years.
It would be stupid to sell low on players because the manager and coaching staff are demotivating them and deflating them. They have jerked players around too many times. No one trusts a word they say nor should they.
Carlson for example took a lot of flak because someone decided he was the reason no Soto trade happened. MO made a huge public show about him being a big part of the future as the centerfielder Fast forward a few months to the unnecessary announcement that O’Neil will be competing for center. That was a lie. Carlson was given no chance in spring training to keep his job in center. He was DH more than centerfielder even when O’Neil was at the WBC.
The worst part about the way Marmol manages is he seems to pit the players against one another until they view their teammates as the competition. Playing time by success is one thing. What he does is an entirely different thing.
If the White Sox end up selling and get a good return on Giolito I think the O’s will be a team that has a legit shot at prying Cease from them. He is the exact pitcher they need with enough control to justify the prospect cost. I’m not sure if they will outbid the other potential suitors. There will be more pitchers available than currently appears. If they miss on Cease there should be another pitcher with a bit of control left that is a good fit. Let’s hope for their fans sake they don’t start rejecting every trade for medical reasons like they did a few years ago.
His K’s are down and his BB’s are up, I’m not sure Cease is the best target, unless you’re getting him priced as 2023 Cease vs 2021/2022 cease.
People sleeping on Tyler Wells. Leads MLB in Whip and showed this kinda stuff before injury last season. Os definitely need a quality starter but I got no issue throwing Wells out there in a playoff series.
’22 version of Cease seems like the outlier b/c his command just isn’t there. That kills him against patient lineups you need in money time. The plus is he’s been very durable.
Hahn and Williams should have been replaced by astute execs last offseason, but that aside, at minimum next FO should be the one to decide on an optimal prospect return for trading his ’24/25 years once this season ends.
The 22 version of Cease definitely now seems like an outlier. But I believe with the uncertainty with Lynn and Giolito definitely leaving town, the Chisox should keep both Cease and Kopech – and see what they can get for Giolito, Lynn, Grandal and Vaughn. But the number One guy the organization needs to get as far away from the team as possible, is Moncada. He is an underachieving, lifeless creation of White Sox hype – or should I say, hello Steve Stone and Ozzie.
As an O’s fan Giolito is my #1 target for rental option this deadline. DL Hall is currently ranked the #78 prospect, Joey Ortiz the #79. Kyle Stowers seems like another piece the O’s can safely trade away at the deadline. I think offering one of the two top 100 prospects plus Stowers for Giolito would at minimum be a very generous offer. My #2 target is Chapman. Get an extra arm for the backend of the pen to compensate for what I hoped I was getting when I signed Givens
I don’t think we need a reliever. Tate’s return will be welcomed.
Contending teams always need top-line relievers. Consider, Cionel has been awful this year. And while Coulombe and Cano have done great, will they still be dealing six weeks from now? Both have looked less unbeatable recently. Will Tate ever make it back or will he get TJ first? Will Baker, Akin or Baumann get injured?
I think the most likely thing the Orioles will do is trade for a dominant reliever.
The Orioles have made huge strides with “average” pitchers. They’ve consistently won series against the toughest competition they’ve played against so far. While these are young pitchers, they’ve strived to learn and adjust as the season progresses. The bullpen has been mostly stellar and reliable. “Experts” keep overlooking the job that the manager and coaching staff has done with the staff. Their entire minor league system has been revamped with the same goals and direction..
Write them off at your own peril. The Orioles are a legitimate contender.
The Orioles’ success in August, September and October (if they make it) is fully dependent on the bullpen. If it isn’t fried, they’ll do well.
Most of the advances have been on offense this year and primarily with being more patient. They were #1 in walks for a bit (slipped since facing better pitchers during May, still solidly in the top half), which is a big change from the team of hackers they’d always been. They can still get shut down by good pitchers more often than you’d hope
The bullpen hides starters’ flaws. I think the Yankees have a higher ceiling if they really got it together, and Tampa and Toronto are certainly no slouches. I would feel much better about the O’s making the playoffs if they got a good starter in July, but they’ve gotten off to a good start and (unlike last year) don’t need an almost miracle run to get in.
Does anyone want to talk about the new lawsuit against Bauer?
“Bauer’s attorneys have told USA Today that he has the accuser on tape saying she was pregnant and asked for $1.6 million for her to agree to get an abortion.”
If that’s the case, it sounds a whole lot like a shakedown. It also says that they met thru social media. If that’s the case, both sides should be looking at their interactions.
Getting tired of these mercenary See You Next Tuesdays coming out after this guy.
Getting tired off seeing all the incels jump to the defense of an player who in addition to being an a-hole gets his rocks off on committing violence against women.
I could see Seth brown or Brent rooker get a no name prospect in A ball or a fringe middle reliever stuck in AAA, A’s GM sucks
Stroman: hey, I really love it here and really want to sign long term
Cubs: we’re all set. Thanks, though.
Starting to wonder if all these “experts” that write about O’s pitching have actually watched games with Wells, Kremer or Bradish pitch some games. Since the start of May and together with Gibson they’ve been as good as any foursome.
Bradish is good. Glad he put it together. Was really high on him.
We need 1 more at the top though. I don’t trust Kremer and Irvin or whoever else we may throw out there.
I understand the feeling about Kremer but he has had very good outings in 7 of his last 8 starts.. He has been trending in the right direction.