Starting pitching is always the biggest need at the trade deadline. Over two months remain until July 31st, but we may have enough data to determine who's selling.
- Orioles. They'll presumably have Kevin Millwood up for auction. The 35-year-old righty is winless in ten starts despite the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career and a league-leading 68 innings. The Orioles are paying him $9MM this year and would have to get around his limited no-trade clause. The O's can also offer 31-year-old righty Jeremy Guthrie, who's trimmed walks this year and sports a 3.86 ERA. Guthrie is more than a rental; he's under team control through 2012.
- Indians. A Jake Westbrook trade seems inevitable. He's finally back from Tommy John surgery and has retained his ability to generate grounders. His $11MM salary will limit the Indians' return.
- Royals. They could part with Gil Meche, but he's been walking everyone this year after dealing with shoulder pain in April. He earns $12MM this year and the same in '11, so interest will be minimal. Brian Bannister might be a better trade candidate. The 29-year-old righty is under team control through '12, just like Guthrie.
- White Sox. If the Sox quit on the season, they could consider dealing Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, or even John Danks. Buehrle is well-paid and will get 10-and-5 rights on July 6th. If dealt, his contract is expanded to cover 2012 at $15MM. Garcia hasn't shown much promise this year. Danks has been dominant and is under team control through '12, but the Sox would presumably need a ton to cash him in now.
- Mariners. They'd have the best rental trade chip of any team: Cliff Lee, being paid just $9MM this year. The Ms would also want to dump Ian Snell, who is likely to be non-tendered after having his '11 option declined.
- Astros. They could market three veteran starters, led of course by Roy Oswalt. We've discussed Oswalt quite a bit at MLBTR, but the Astros may also trade Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez. Myers is having a resurgent season and has only a mutual option for '11. Rodriguez has slipped from his breakout '09 and is under team control through '11.
- Brewers. They can offer up veterans Dave Bush, Doug Davis, and Jeff Suppan, if anyone will have them. The goal here would be just to free up a few million bucks.
- The Pirates, Cubs, and Diamondbacks could become sellers, with Brandon Webb the most interesting potential name. The Athletics, Angels, Braves, and Padres could offer a few arms if things head south.
The starting pitching trade market may feature a pair of aces in Oswalt and Lee, with the cost-conscious buyers gravitating toward Lee. Millwood, Westbrook, and Myers are three likely veteran rentals. The undefined segment of the market is those under team control beyond 2010 – we don't know whether Guthrie, Bannister, Danks, and Rodriguez can be had.
With regards to the White Sox unloading pitching, you left off Peavy and Floyd. I understand that both are undesirable at this point with their contracts, but wouldn’t the Sox be dying to unload either of them if someone would eat the contracts and throw in a couple minor leaguers? Especially considering how difficult it will be to trade Buehrle, these guys have to be open for trade.
I don’t see Peavy moving because if I remember correctly he is under contract for a few years as he just signed with the Padres before being traded…I could be wrong though. If that’s the case, the White Sox traded for him, while he was injured, knowing this and obviously didn’t want him as just a rental player.
But the team sucks and has one of the worst farm systems in baseball, if they could get anything for an overpaid pitcher who hasn’t looked very good for a few years, they should take it.
Just because they made a mistake taking him in the first place doesn’t mean they should never correct it.
peavy isnt going anywhere for a few reason, full no trade, huge contract and he seems to have turned it around recently and along with gavin and danks is a big part of the sox future…there is no reason gavin, jake ,and john are going to be traded…John will be locked up sooner or later the organization loves danks and is huge on him it would be a very very bad idea to trade him unless we were to get a major league ready pitcher and a lot of farm hands as well
First off Danks isn’t going anywhere, secondly lately(minus the last start by PV) the sox pitches have looked more like what they are expected to do. trading Peavy, and Floyd makes no sense especially with floyd controlled at a decent price.
It’s not as exciting as the Cliff Lee and Millwood trades that are almost certain to happen, but the Brewers dumping Bush and Davis is inevitable. Won’t be glamorous moves, especially with their lackluster stats so far this season, but their track record suggests that either could slide in as a 4th starter or 5th starter for a wannabe contender with a relatively thin rotation.
everyone seems to forget that cooper was telling peavy to pitch differently for his first starts which is why he was bad…then he got the ball to talk to cooper and say look coop this is how i pitch im going to go back to it…he is back at the three quarters delivery and is pitching like the ace we traded for…he is going to top our rotation for years to come….if mark can keep this up then we should keep him if not then he should be gone by the dead line there will be an NL team that will take him and even if we trade buehrle it does not mean our season is done
lol
whats so funny?
i still say dump freddy and randy williams and call up hudson and torres use one as the starter and one as the long reliever that the whitesox obviously need……
the m’s should just trade cliff leee back to the phillies i bet they will un do that deal
The extra year for Buehrle only kicks in if he is traded before July 16th. AFter that its only through 2011, and yes of course, he still has the NTC because of 10/5
If the Brewers’ non-Gallardo pitchers were worth having, the Brewers wouldn’t be sellers.
I mean who would take Suppan off of our hands? Nobody.
The walks are still coming, but Meche has been MUCH better the past 3 starts. 19ip, 5er, 15 hits, 0 HRs, 11Ks, 13bb. (2.37 ERA, 1.47 WHIP)
Ben Sheets is also on this list. He probably was being marketed after he pitched his first good game for Oakland.
add the cubs