On the heels of trade season kicking into high gear last night, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Will more deals be swung today?
We saw trade season kick off in earnest yesterday as the Marlins and Twins swapped right-handers Dylan Floro and Jorge Lopez, the Dodgers and Guardians swapped righty Noah Syndergaard and infielder Amed Rosario, and the Angels clearly declared themselves buyers by taking Shohei Ohtani off the market just hours before swinging a deal for right-handers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in the biggest trade of the year so far. With just five days until the trade deadline on Aug. 1, more deals could be announced as soon as today. Recent reports have indicated that infielder Jeimer Candelario is on the Angels’ radar. The White Sox were discussing righty Lance Lynn with multiple clubs yesterday and seem certain to deal him after the Giolito/Lopez swap. A reunion between the Dodgers and right-hander Joe Kelly has also been discussed.
2. Eflin MRI:
Rays righty Zach Eflin exited yesterday’s start after just four innings and went for an immediate MRI on his left knee after experiencing discomfort during a rocky outing (five runs in those four frames). Eflin, who inked a three-year deal worth $40MM in Tampa Bay over the winter, entered yesterday’s outing with a 3.36 ERA on the season and has been one of the team’s most consistent arms. However, he has chronic knee issues that have plagued him dating back to his amateur days. The right-hander had surgery on both knees in 2016 and underwent a second right knee procedure in 2021.
The Rays were already on the lookout for rotation help after losing Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen for the season. Any absence for Eflin would only accelerate their bid to acquire starting pitching. They were among the teams talking to the White Sox about Lynn as recently as yesterday, and they’ve previously been linked to Marcus Stroman, Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty, among others. The Rays are off today, so an update on Eflin isn’t a guarantee, but his status will be pivotal with regard to their level of aggression as the deadline looms.
3. Cubs’ last stand?
Despite being considered a likely seller by much of the baseball world for much of the season to this point, the Cubs are reportedly still evaluating their approach to the trade deadline on August 1. Muddying the waters on the decision for president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is the club’s play in recent weeks, as the Cubs have won seven of their last eight, making them 8-4 since the All Star break and 12-9 in July. In the event the club decides to sell, Chicago has some of the most interesting rentals on the market this July in right-hander Marcus Stroman and center fielder Cody Bellinger.
The Cubs are six games back of the division lead and 4.5 games back of a crowded NL Wild Card race. That being said, they also sport the NL Central’s only positive run differential and could put themselves back over .500 for the first time since May with a series win in St. Louis this weekend. Lefty Justin Steele takes the mound for the club against tonight opposite Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas for the first game of a four-game set that will take the clubs into deadline day, when Hoyer and his front office will have to make a decision on the Cubs’ course of action.
Stroman hasn’t done Hoyer any favors by struggling most of his last 6 starts. The trade return wasn’t going to be all that impactful anyway because of the option he has for next season. But hanging onto him would mean no return because he can’t receive a QO. What to do…
Him and Smyly are worn out both start laboring after getting 30-40 pitches in a game bring up someone from AAA I mean why else do you got them???
It definitely sounds like Domingo German or Jhony Brito on the Yankees could help here if a starter is needed.
Give it up Bellinger won’t be getting traded to Yankees, how about we trade you some garbage to get Rizzo back?
He hasn’t been the same since Mancini couldn’t catch a baseball at First base in London. That’s exaggerating when he went downhill. Also for a guy that’s been very vocal on Twitter this year he’s been eerily quiet since then as well. Who knows. Maybe he just needs to get past the trade deadline to come out of it
Stroman hasn’t been the same since revealing that the Cubs refused to talk about a contract extension.
He’s basically been a career ,500 pitcher his whole life totally overrated
Win-loss records are not a valid way in which to judge a pitchers effectiveness. Too many variables outside their control – defense, quality of the relievers following them and above all, run support. Didn’t King Felix win a Cy Young award years ago with a losing record? Again, agree that Stro has been struggling lately. Just wouldn’t look at his wins and losses.
I watch everyone of his starts ,he needs everything to break PERFECT for him to have a good game, comes unraveled if someone makes a error, tired of everyone make excuses for this very average pitcher….. Tell the HOF pitchers wins and losses don’t matter
Yeah, win-loss records AND ERA are antiquated stats that mean nothing any more. It’s just a wild coincidence that the Royals are the worst team in baseball and just happen to have Jordan Lyles (1-12, 6.16 ERA) and Zack Grienke (1-11, 5.50 ERA) both in their rotation. When you really dig into the numbers KC is actually first in the division, and those two guys are neck and neck for the AL Cy Young.
He has a career 3.61 ERA. That’s very good. He was fantastic at the beginning of the season, but he’s in a funk right now. That’s how baseball goes; performance isn’t steady. But by the end of a given season, Stroman has usually done pretty well overall.
Stroman has been a good middle of the rotation starter his entire career and after his incredible start to the season, has put up a horrible July, bringing his season era in line with his career era.
Right an average.500 pitcher nothing special he’s a small guy who wears out over the course of a summer.
He’s average that’s it, can find a guy like that for half of what he makes
@solaris602 Just out of curiosity who do you think is having a better season this year: Dean Kremer or Josiah Gray?
If he’s so average like you say he is, which he isn’t, finding an average pitcher who throws as many innings as he has so far is extremely hard to find. Right now, there are only 23 starting pitchers with 120+ innings so far this season. Only 18 have an ERA of league average or better.
I think the Royals lead the division in xCRAP
Nobody should believe those stats tell an entire story, and nobody should believe they are worthless either. Guys that rarely go past 5 innings are not going to get a lot of wins. Striking out 11 in 4 2/3 and giving up 4 runs is not a good start. Regardless of what other metrics might say.
And that’s exactly the type of SP Stroman is. He’s a reliable/solid #3-Middle rotation pitcher. He’s a good guy to have out there every 5th day over a 162-game season, but not the type of pitcher who can/will make a serious impact come post season time.
Stroman will turn 33 next year. He can return to the Cubs for something like $21M. I believe the Cubs would be happy to have him back for another season at that amount. It lines up well with the time when their minor league pitching starts getting to Chicago.
If he keeps pitching overall, like he has, $21M for his services in 2024 could work well for both sides.
Have you been watching his starts??? Dude has totally come unglued since London series will be a .500 picher by end of year not worth 21m for next year put the weed down you are embarrasing yourself this morning
@Wheeler Dealer
Actually you are embarrassing yourself by continuing to emphasis on him being a .500 pitcher. Winning percentage doesn’t matter for pitchers at all. Yeah it is nice to have a winning record, but not at all how you measure a pitchers worth.
deGrom won a Cy Young with a 10-9 record.
King Felix was 13-12 when he won his Cy Young.
hahaha another rocket scientist trying to make HOF pitchers out of average mediocre pitchers
@Wheeler Dealer- I’ve watched Stroman pitch all year. I agree, I really don’t think he is worth $21 million a year, either. Hopefully we trade him somewhere other then the Yankees, since Stro has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to play here. Oh please no trading with the Astros! Lol.
I pray they unload him, I think he’s going to keep regressing or he’s hurt and that’s why he was pushing so hard for a contract extension something isn’t adding up.
I don’t think I would say he hasn’t come unglued—but what he hasn’t done recently is pitch through trouble.
The Mancini drop of a four foot toss in London, could be looked at as the defining moment of the season….followed by four runs that Stroman didn’t pitch around.
And, last night, the Bellinger statue play led to a run that he didn’t pitch out of and the Tauchman mistake led to three more that he needed to not give up.
Early in the season he stayed out jams and pitched around a handful.
Not sure if something has changed in his delivery (I’m not good enough to detect that) since the blister—but the results have.
He really needs to get back to minimizing damage—not letting it snowball.
@Wheeler Dealer
I never said he was a HOF pitcher. I’m saying you can’t rely solely on winning percentage to determine a pitchers worth.
I will say he is definitely better than average. He isn’t an ace by any means, but he is definitely a solid #2 or even great #3 guy in a rotation.
Dog one, Stroman is opting out. He can get a much bigger overall guarantee on a multi-year deal.
Is it possible that my Cubies got a legitimate shot for a WC? If not my Yankees are ready to do business. Truth be told I’d rather Sweeney/ Pereira German, Oswaldo Cabrera Brito/Vasquez, Will Warren, Ron Marinaccio and others be traded to my Cubies, instead to the hated Cardinals. Cody Bellinger is my preference to the Yankees over St. Louis Cardinals Dylan Carlson, Brenden Donovan and Tyler O’Neill. I’m not interested in Tommy Pham or Mark Cahna on the Mets either.
Cubs aren’t trading Bellinger you can take that to the bank
@Wheeler Dealer- have you taken a look at what the Yankees would be given up? Maybe you should look again? Just assuming your a real Cub’s fan. Not really sure. I’d hate a package like that going to the Cardinals. Let’s Go Cubies!!!
The minors are filled up don’t need anymore Bryce Ball type prospects for a Cody Bellinger, love how fans of other teams can’t understand why we don’t want more garbage clogging up our minor league system
@Wheeler- You really need to look up Yankee top prospects, these players are far from garbage. Smh. You really think the Cubs are going to the World Series this season? I hope so. But probably not. Keep it calm, guy. You really want Anthony Rizzo back? Love em’ but he’s been awful this season. Take em’ back then.
Cubs aren’t going to WS but we just want to keep playing meaningful games and if we can win division it’s a bonus, yeah if it doesn’t cost much I would love to have Rizzo back
No it definitely wouldn’t cost the Cubs much as far as prospects, just wondering if he wants to go back to the Windy City? It’s definitely a great question. I would miss Rizzo playing on the Yankees. Nobody beats the Riz!!! As legendary radio voice John Sterling would say.
Someone would probably have to overpay.
Most of the starting pitchers rumored to be moving, seem to have been affected by the rumors. None have been lights out.
Ya pretty much everybody except Lorenzen has been fairly shaky in their last start or two
How desperate are teams for pitching if anyone wants Lance Lynn
They saw his 16 strikeout game and know he can eat innings. He’s also healthy and throws smoke. Also, half of his games have been in a hitters paradise…
Watch him pitch. Statistics say one thing, but on the mound he looks done, and uninterested. He can strike out all the guys he wants, but if he is giving up six runs a game…no thanks. (Modern baseball seems to have lost the goal–to score more runs than the other team and win the game…so much emphasis on these periphery statistics–and statistics in general–that many lose sight of what matters: W’s and L’s.)
Getting traded to a playoff contender can do wonders to fix the “uninterested” look you say he has. The fact that the White Sox are horrendous defensively behind him can attribute to many of those runs scoring.
@Rsox You’re right, the White Sox’ defense has not done him any favors. They’re next to last in defensive runs saved and third to last in outs above average. The .328 batting average on balls in play is significantly higher than his career average, and the .288 mark he has put up the last four seasons.
Where Lynn is struggling is with home runs. His strikeout rate is still great and he is allowing walks at about a nomral rate for him. But he has a 2.11 HR/9 rate. He’s never been a groundball pitcher, but he’s giving up a lot of quality contact. He’s only in the 11th percentile of barrell rate. Could simpily be age catching up to him. He is 36 and he is only averaging 92.7 MPH on his fastball.
I tend to think that he’s not really a guy who’s allowing nearly seven earned runs on average, but I also don’t think we are talking about prime Lynn anymore, like his days with the Cards, Rangers, and his first year in Chicago. I still think he could rebound and be a solid #4 type starter, depending on the team that trades for him, if he is traded.
The Home Run rate can be attributed to trying to strike every hitter out. When you are in the strike zone that much you’re going to get tagged more often. A better defense behind you and you don’t have to worry about getting every out yourself
You aren’t wrong, but he’s not throwing in the zone any more often than he has before. In in-zone pitch rate is 42.1%. His career average in-zone rate is 41.8%, and his in-zone pitch rate the last 4 seasons is 43.1%.
Trade Stroman, Cubs have like 4 guys at AAA that can do as good as hes doing
2) Bellinger isn’t going anywhere don’t even listen
3) Make a trade for Kendall Graveman shore up the Bullpen
4) Go get Ryan McMahon from the Rockies and stop the nonsense at 3B (make a real deal Jed )
5) Have Ben Brown replace Michael Rucker in the Bullpen
Graveman absolutely stinks.
hahah thats the dumbest thing ive read today
“Trade Stroman, Cubs have like 4 guys at AAA that can do as good as hes doing”
Dumb, dumber, and dumbest.
Dude hes a career .500 pitcher and that ERA is going south totally overated pitcher with a big mouth and ego NOW i see why hes gone from New York HES NOT ANYTHING BUT AVERAGE
There’s a reason why he has a .500 record and that’s because he’s been on a lot of mediocer teams in his career. He’s only ever once spent an entire season on a team that won 85 or more games. The 2014 and 2016 Blue Jays are also the only teams he’s ever played a full season with that were top five in runs scored.
You say he’s nothing but average, but pretty much every measurement says otherwise. Even with his struggles in July, he still has a 3.51 ERA and 127 ERA+. 2018 was the last year he posted an ERA+ below 115 (15% above average), and 2016 was the last season he started at least 25 games and failed to post an ERA+ above 115.
The cubs are not good, why would you be a buyer.? Sell!
The cubs are the only team in the division with a positive run differential, which happens to be + 50 something. That’s exponentially better than the brewers or reds, who have largely gotten by on good sequencing, whereas the cubs have gotten the short end of the stick. With Milwaukee’s anemic offense, and the reds terrible starting pitching, neither of them project to be world beaters the rest of the way.
The cubs at minimum are as good as either of those clubs, and the underlying numbers say they’re better.
Edit: Honestly, why would you sell everything off in a division this terrible? I’m not entirely against sending Stroman away if some team overpays in this inflated trade market, but the division title is still attainable.
I agree on Brown (add Wicks to that list)
I disagree that we have anyone in AAA ready to take Stromans spot. Wesneski I think is a reliever because his location is terrible.
I don’t think the Rockies would deal McMahon and I’m not sure I’d be okay with the prospect price if they did. He isn’t a Arenado type contract that is strangling the organization.
I’ve mentioned before that McMahon would be perfect at 3B for CHC. The problem is the COL FO is deathly allergic to buying AND selling at the deadline. They like their guys regardless of results.
They got a guy in double A who may bypass triple a consitently touching high 90s luke little
Cubs were:
14-13 in March and April
10-18 in May
14-11 in June and are currently
12-9 in July.
They played an epically bad 5 week stretch but have posted winning records every month besides June. The Cubs should definitely be buyers if they didn’t dig such a big hole in May and then stumbled again the several games after the London Series.
Cubs need a “big” bat, another starting pitcher and at least one bullpen arm capable of handling high leverage innings. They also need to pick up another game or two on the Brewers in the next four games which should seem too tall of a task given the Brewers have the Braves (and the Reds, Dodgers).
It’s nice to see that some teams are trying to improve instead of sitting on their hands for two months.
The Cubs have a pretty good run differential, best in their division at least. Might not be a bad idea for them to stay the course or even add a bit
That awkward moment when the Reds could get more out of the line-up by benching Joey Votto. Is anyone else watching that?
Votto has become an albatross. Trade him to Seattle and make him an Ancient Mariner.
Then again, Votto gets one of only three hits off Burnes to knock in a run in the only game they won in the series.
Sometimes the veteran comes through when the kids do not.
I don’t watch a lot of Reds games. His leadership and tenure with the Reds counts for something, but all I’ve seen at a quick glance is a crowded infield, he hasn’t hit in 3 years, and he’s either hurt or throwing tantrums at umpires over ball/strike calls. Something like coming through against a tough pitcher or that he’s only played 20 games is something I’d overlook, but yeah
Fools Gold. A short winning streak vs terrible teams means nothing. Stroman is and never was an ace and Bellinger is playing for a big contract that’s not in Chicago. Sell and accumulate-but does anyone trust this FO?
Come on Cards, take all 4 this weekend and crush the cubs playoff hopes – gimme just a small silver lining to this terrible season.
I like how you think.
I’d hope for the opposite… Except the Marginal’s hopes have already been crushed.
One of the biggest joys of being a Cubs fan is being amused by Cards and Sox fans that care more about the Cubs than their own teams. Just think about all the rent you can be collecting with the Cubs living in your heads constantly.
100%!
Even after the Giolito trade, it’s hard to see the Angels making the playoffs considering the current Wildcard landscape and even harder to see them making it very far if they do somehow manage to squeak past all of the other teams in the hunt. Just a horrendously run franchise, basically the Rockies of the AL.
Agree. They are catching neither Texas nor Houston, and does anyone truly believe they will end up better than whichever of those teams does not take the division and any of the AL East teams?
Any of the AL East teams…..they are literally 1.5 games behind the Yankees and 2.5 behind the Red Sox (and 4 behind the Jays). Do you truly believe that it’s not feasible to gain 4 games in two months, let alone 1.5?
Seven games to catch Texas may be a stretch, I agree on that and Houston is just good.
I’m not betting that they will make the playoffs but there is certainly a chance.
So Cleveland traded a serviceable infielder for a injury prone pitcher with a current ERA of 7.16
Cleveland is loaded with young IFs and Rosario has been worth less than 0 WAR this year. As good as they are at developing pitchers, it’s not the worst move I have ever seen.
Not saying they shouldn’t have traded Rosario, at least get a prospect not an injury prone pitcher with a 7.16 era that was heading for DFA, he should fit right in to the Cleveland hospital ward for pitchers
Just be sellers cubs get more younger guys you can sign belly next year maybe to play firstbase
Yesterday’s trades proved the Dodgers don’t care about hitting.
Last night they played Kike, Austin Barnes, Miguel Rojas, Taylor and Muncy (who at least hits home runs and walks but is a butcher with the glove) at the same time.
Another Barnes start, another pitcher blow up. Dodgers have a losing record in games Austin plays but they add Kike, and Rosario? I don’t get it. I think getting rid of Thor was a hood move though.
M