Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports brings us his latest edition of Full Count this weekend. Let's take a look inside..
- There's still a month to go in the regular season, but the Angels are already scouting pitchers they could go after in free agency or in trades. The needs in the rotation will be less glaring if they re-sign Jason Vargas – that would give them a front four of Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Garrett Richards, and Vargas. The Halos nearly traded Howie Kendrick for a package headlined by the Dodgers' Zach Lee in July and they could pursue something similar with teams deep in young starters this offseason, like the Nationals and Mets.
- A number of Diamondbacks players are frustrated with manager Kirk Gibson's changing lineups and they relate more with third base coach Matt Williams, but he could leave to manage the Nationals or another club once the season is through. However, the D'Backs have no plans to replace Gibson with Williams or anyone else.
- The first base free agent market will be thin this offseason with Justin Morneau, James Loney, and Mike Napoli headlining the class. The trade market doesn't look much better, but it does have a few options. Adam LaRoche of the Nationals figures to be among them as they look to move Ryan Zimmerman to first and Anthony Rendon to third. The Mets' Ike Davis will probably be another and he could benefit from a move to a more hitter-friendly park.
- The Dodgers will not lack rotation options next offseason – they'll try to re-sign Ricky Nolasco and they'll eventually get Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett back. The team also has three minor league prospects in Lee, Ross Stripling, and Matt Magill, who figure to pitch at some point in 2014. The good news is that the Dodgers should be deep enough to give them time to develop.
