A player’s contract status can affect his trade value substantially this time of year, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes. Players under team-friendly contracts, like Denard Span, are much harder to acquire in trades. "It's really hard to place a value on a contract like that," one GM told Olney. Here are Olney’s latest notes from around MLB:
- The Blue Jays say Yunel Escobar has been a good team guy for them, despite his reputation as a difficult player. Escobar is under contract for $5MM per season through 2013 and his contract includes two club options valued at $5MM each for 2014-15. That’s good value for a 29-year-old who handles an up-the-middle position and has a history of providing league-average offense, Olney writes.
- There’s interest in James Shields, but the Rays could decide to hold their pitching staff together to make a run at the playoffs if Evan Longoria’s rehab assignment goes well. Some executives believe the Rays will trade Shields this month, according to Olney.
- The Marlins aren’t especially motivated to trade Josh Johnson, Olney writes. They’re content to keep him if they don’t get the trade offers they’re looking for.
- Anything the Indians do now will be done to help them win in 2013, not just in 2012.
- The Padres aren’t far down the road in trade talks regarding Chase Headley, Olney tweets. San Diego might table trade talks until the winter, he suggests.
“Anything the Indians do now will be done to help them win in 2013, not just in 2012.” — really worthy of tagging the Cleveland Indians in this post?
It tells me they won’t look for a rental player.
Lets all be realistic, Josh Johnson is going nowhere. For what the Marlins are asking in return for the pitcher, no GM will bite especially if the reported amount of multiple top prospects for Johnson is accurate. Maybe if Johnson wasn’t so injury-prone, more teams would consider making a trade but his health history doesn’t help the Marlins chances.
Doubt it was the injury as much as his inconsistency this year. If he had been consistent this year, rather than poor H/R splits, regardless of the health and pitched like the JJ of old? he was the best available SP on the market and only true #1 available. That would have made teams ignore the injury risk to a great extent with him not missing a start this season.
All for naught, as he hasn’t been consistent, but JJ prviously, even in seasons when he missed considerable time offered something that Garza, Greinke, Dempster etc.. Could never hope to as far as talent. Could exclude Hamels since many figured Philly would eventually sign him LT anyway.
Greinke probably has more raw talent than Josh Johnson. JJ has been more consistent when healthy, but Greinke has been healthier.
Thank you Buster for finally checking out what the Blue Jays have to say about Escobar. It’s fair to bring up his past problems in Atlanta and unfair to not bring up his lack of problems with the Jays. I do remember when Escobar arrived in Toronto, Bautista was assigned to mentor him. His job was to make sure Escobar understood everything that the Jays expected of him. So credit to the Jays, Bautista, and Escobar for making it work out.
Agreed – It’s about time this rumour got sorted out.
If Escobar is cost controlled under a good contract and provides excellent defense at SS and provides better than league avg offense… why are the Jays looking to trade him? Do the Jays have a better SS waiting in AAA? If not then maybe Escobar is not as good of a “team guy” as the Jays management is letting out…
The Jays have NEVER said he’s available. It’s all rumor and speculation.
They do, Adeiny Hechavarria, many scouts believe that he has golden glove defence and above average speed. His batting has also been good in the minors as he has a .314 batting average, but that is not his strenght.
“Players under team-friendly contracts, like Denard Span, are much harder to acquire in trades.”
Nothing gets by Buster Olney.
I think the Cards/Rays line up perfectly, but for an off-season trade, and not a deadline deal. I would bet the Rays much prefer Craig over Adams (they’re leary of PCL inflated numbers since being burned by SRod who had 2 1.000+ OPS seasons there). Plus Craig fits their profile needs perfectly….RHB with position flexibility, can play 1B, hits for avg & power and is still pre-arb. I would think a deal of Shields for Craig almost straight up (maybe with minor peices going either way to even it out) would work for both teams.
The only way Craig gets traded would be if in a package for Price. No way he goes for Shields alone.