Here’s the latest out of the NL Central as we keep a close eye on the latest Zack Greinke rumors..
- The Pirates have moved Kevin Correia to the bullpen to make room for Wandy Rodriguez in the rotation and Correia isn't thrilled about it, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Angels could be interested in acquiring the California native, who says that he hopes to get back to being a starter.
- As it stands now, Greinke is scheduled to pitch against the Nationals on Sunday, but Nats skipper Davey Johnson doesn't expect to see the right-hander on the hill, writes Amanda Comak of the Washington Times. "I'd be real surprised," Johnson said. "I know in the past if a ballclub's intent on making a move, you're not going to pitch him two days before the deadline."
- Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com handicaps the most likely destinations for Greinke and the Rangers top the list with 9-5 odds. The Red Sox are categorized as a longshot with 100-1 odds.
- Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter) believes that someone will bite on the Pirates' Kevin Correia as he is owed just $1MM for the rest of the year. The Bucs are reportedly sending signals that they could part with Correia after acquiring Wandy Rodriguez.
- Teams have expressed interest in Corey Hart and Aramis Ramirez, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. However, the Brewers would be have to be overwhelmed to trade either player.
- Brewers relievers Francisco Rodriguez, Jose Veras, Manny Parra and Kameron Loe had been drawing interest, but their value “tanked” following a poor showing in Philadelphia this week, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter).
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow suggested to Rosenthal that absorbing salary can help Houston obtain better prospects in trades. “In this environment, you’re limited in how much money you can spend on the draft, how much you can spend internationally,” Luhnow said, referring to the rules regulating amateur spending in baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement.
- Pitching prospect Shelby Miller is available in trade talks, yet the Cardinals don't appear anxious to make an impact deal, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (on Twitter).
Zach Links contributed to this post.
K Rod is so bad, I wouldn’t even use him for batting practice because he would never throw strikes.
That’s not his problem, he knows how to throw strikes but he can’t locate the ball where he wants he throws a nice average speed fastball over the plate and the Phillies just knock the laces out of it and practically hit it to Pittsburgh…
So, ideal for BP!
Cardinals are flying somewhat under the radar, and have some decent trade chips. I wonder what the wishlist priority is.
PITCHING. Hopefully Project Fuentes pans out and they can just focus on a mid-tier rotation guy. Unfortunately, they only have a small test window to gauge that.
No point in trading Miller now, and selling low. You don’t trade a former top pitching prospect in baseball who is just 21 for two months of anybody.
Really shocked that Shelby Miller is now suddenly tradable because he’s have a bad yr in AAA. He’s 21 for petes sake. Give him more time to adjust to more proficient hitting and he’ll be fine. Trading him would be a huge mistake
Cardinal fans have no appetite for players that struggle-ever, even at AAA. If you ain’t good right from the get go, they want you tarred and feathered.
I think they’d be making a mistake if they fold up their tent on Miller after a lousy year in AAA, but a lot of fans would be happy if they did just that. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s traded.
Tarred and feathered? Really? I don’t understand your theory about Cardinal fans. It’s absolutely bogus if you ask me. I don’t see any Cardinal fans on here that agree with what Strauss is saying about Miller tradable because he’s struggling. And if you think that’s how we are, give me some examples of when we “have no appetite for players that struggle-ever, even at AAA”?
Sorry…you are right. We don’t like players that struggle. We like to win. Fans of winning teams have a hard time stomaching players like Colby Rasmus, Tyler Greene, Anthony Reyes, and the remains of Tino Martinez. That stuff might fly in Toronto, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Seattle (amongst other cities), but it doesn’t go over real well in Saint Louis, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
That being said, I know exactly 0 people that think trading Shelby Miller is a good idea.
I think tanked is an understatement. Their value is flatlining.
All I have seen on the here was St. Louis might have some interest in Tapa Bay pitchers.
Knowing the Cardinals, they’ll trade Miller and he’ll end up being a great pitcher. They traded Haren, and Barton for Mulder and we know that Haren was a really good pitcher for awhile and Barton was a good player for a while and Mulder only played a year and a half or so. Don’t make him available just cause he’s having a bad year. It happens, especially in a jump from AA to AAA. I wouldn’t mind having one the Rays pitchers. Hellickson, Price or Shields, although I think it would cost way too much,
I’d love to see Hellickson in a Cards’ uni. I think there could be some mutual interest in making it happen, but I don’t know where the Rays’ front office’s feelings on Hellickson reside at the moment since they labeled Price and Matt Moore as likely the only “untouchables” (I despise using that word).
First off, it was Walt Jocketty that traded Dan Haren, not Mozeilak. What other starters have the Cardinals traded in the last 20 years that went on to be studs? It’s not like they’ve made a habit of getting fleeced for their prospects. People always want to criticize Jocketty for the Haren trade, but I rarely hear anyone pointing out that Jocketty absolutely stole Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Darryl Kile, Edgar Renteria, and many others.
Don’t forget Larry Walker
Also, Adam Wainwright for 1 season of JD Drew
Haren was not the centerpiece of that deal though. He got people excited at A and AA ball but tailed off a little at AAA, then when he got up to the majors he was serviceable but in no way remarkable. The thought of Dan Haren ever being an all star was laughable at the time, he was a sort of young Jake Westbrook, he’d give you a chance to win but not much else. That he turned in to a very good pitcher was just good luck for the A’s. This should ring true for anybody on the ‘trade Miller’ band wagon. He’s basically still a child, it’ll take a while for him to mature.
I wonder since the Diamondbacks arent interested in selling anyone if the will hop on the ARam discussion. Not sure what Brewers would want for him but he could help us at 3rd.
that makes no sense, why would miller be available if they’re not looking to make an impact trade? hes their best prospect regardless of this year, its his first year of real competitive hitting
i agree they need to give him more time just because he’s having a bad year doesn’t mean he sucks but we have some good prospects in the minors other than miller so if they can get a good pitcher they should go for it but i also think he’s done some things that the cardinals haven’t liked
while I’m not disagreeing with you, if i could only have one prospect in the system, id rather have Oscar Taveras.
Agreed. In my mind he is definitely the Cards top prospect.
Tavares is clearly their best prospect now, some think he has best combo of hit/power tool in the minors along with Myers.
Don’t the Rays and the Cards match up? Rays have excess pitching and the Cards have excess position players.
But not at catcher, which the rays want
Too bad the Cards released Koyie Hill. He would have been awesome in Tampa….
Correia has been giving quality starts all year. He always gives up 2 or 3 runs, but he also always keeps the Pirates in the game and within reach of winning. I wouldn’t mind if they hung onto him.
I think he’ll be more effective in middle/long relief than starting, if simply because most of his problems seem to come in the 5th inning and later when he leaves 91 mph fastballs up – similar to Brad Lincoln.
I’m not saying he wouldn’t be good in long relief, but he’s been very dependable this year as a fifth starter. But I agree that lefthander Wandy needs to be in the rotation and Correia is just the unlucky one to be removed for now. But injuries always lurk so it’s good to have him around.
He’s the best kind of bullpen guy really. Former 5th starters seem to very often make excellent relief pitchers.
Like Frank Morales.. If certain teams would just LEAVE them in the rotation is another issue..
Yeahhhhh >_> I was so sad that I didn’t get to see him pitch last week.
But the Padilla, Atchison, Albers (somewhat), Aceves types (Sox bullpen being the only one I’m *deeply* familiar with) really show it. I think it has to do with the fact that a guy who has ups and downs starting can generally focus the ups into shorter outings and avoid a lot of the downs.
I’d enjoy seeing the Pirates trade Correia in a package to LAA for Morales or Hunter. Perhaps w/ Justin Wilson, Brad Lincoln, and a couple prospects outside of the top 20.
I doubt they would trade both Correia and Lincoln. Because Lincoln would be their swingman if they got rid of Correia. Can Morales play RF at all anymore? Would love to have him. But Maybe the Bucs could just part with Correia and a few minor leaguers. Who else could the Angels part with. Bourjos instead of Morales? Is that reaching too high?
I don’t get the love affair for Peter Bourjos. He’s a 4th of’r on a good team.. The fact the Angels fans think he’s a “centerpiece” type player is homerism at it’s finest. He wasn’t a top prospect, had some limited succes in the bigs his first time through…now he is what he is. I see Carlos Gomez as his ceiling.
Bourjos may not be someone you build a team around, but he would be our starting centerfielder right now if it weren’t for 1.) his awful start this year which resulted Trout’s quick call up to jump start the team’s offense, and 2.) the embarrassing Wells contract that, for some reason, we have let play out on a nightly basis. He hasn’t exactly gotten enough playing time for you to conclude that “he is what he is”.
Bourjos’ highest WAR ever = 4.3
Gomez’s highest WAR ever= 2.6
had a totally unpredictable breakout (early peak) last season, had a starting job and couldn’t hold it…he is also only one year younger than Gomez. Not saying his defense doesn’t have a place on a MLB roster just saying they missed their window to “sell at max value”. Wouldn’t be a solid everyday regular for a contending team
PLEASE FOR GOD SAKE NO NO NO NO. None of that for Correia. Unless we want to forfeit the season, NO CORREIA.
I’m not sure the Pirates should be so eager to ditch Correia. Bedard has pitched better since the break but who knows how long that’ll last. Plus both Karstens and JMac have a history of petering out during the dog days of summer. Would be nice to have a solid swing man to give a guy an extra day rest every now and then.
If they do trade him, his value isn’t going to be very high. He’s a rental so the only suitors would be teams in contention looking for a cheap 4th/5th starter. I suppose getting a Colton Cain-type prospect for him is better than the nothing you get when he walks but I’d rather have the insurance to be honest.
I love bedard. But counting on him to pitch at all, much less be effective, past the deadline is a huge order. Glad the M’s salvage what they could last year.
Especially after JMac’s last two starts. Seems like there are always a couple starts like that before Tommy John. Hate to say that, but I sure wouldn’t deal him till he breaks out of his funk.
How do they do these “odds,” anyway. What is the mathematical basis saying the Rangers have 9-5 odds (55%?) of getting Greinke.
Actually, it’s a 35.71% chance.
And it’s just a betting line, you know if you were betting on it. lol
What math is this
Kevin Correia to the Angels for Vernon Wells and cash.