In today's Insider-only blog post, ESPN's Buster Olney compares the current state of the trade market to shopping at an airport, where priced are designed to gouge customers. Buyers want more sellers and sellers want more buyers. Olney also previewed the NL trade market, so let's dive in…
- The Mets are among teams looking for bullpen help and are waiting for the market develop. The division-rival Nationals are also in the market for relief help but do have Drew Storen on the mend. Olney wonders if they'll look for a starter given Stephen Strasburg's inning limit.
- Executives expect the Padres to deal Carlos Quentin and Huston Street, plus they continue to get calls about Chase Headley. Olney speculates that the Reds could be a fit for Quentin.
- The Braves are looking to add a veteran starting pitcher, but Olney says they're unlikely to swing a trade for Zack Greinke without having some kind of long-term contract agreement in place.
- Olney wonders if the Diamondbacks could become surprise buyers for pitching help given Joe Saunders' injury and Trevor Bauer's early struggles. The Cardinals figure to jump into the pitching market given Chris Carpenter's season-ending shoulder surgery.
- The Cubs, Astros, and Rockies are among the clubs in sell mode. The Brewers will wait a little longer before deciding to sell, and while Greinke, Shaun Marcum, and others could be on the block, Corey Hart will not.
- Olney says the Blue Jays actually finished third in the bidding for Yu Darvish behind the Rangers and Cubs. No bid was within $35MM of the $51.7MM Texas submitted.
I don’t get why the Nats would go for a reliever. They are pretty solid late in the game, to the point that it won’t be clear who leaves the team when Storen returns. I would be content to have the Nats stand pat, honestly. Of course, I would like them to find a way to stretch Strasburg out a bit, as well. The temperature during his next start is likely to be back in the high 90s again. Rather than have him wilt after 3 innings, it would be better to just skip this start.
+1/2St.
There bullpen got bouncy in June but I think the lineup and rotation are much more of a need then the bullpen.
They might be looking for a veteran to help some of their young guys prepare for a playoff push. Better safe than sorry i guess
I would also assume the Mets would be a solid fit for Quentin too if they can get him maybe with Street.I would come to assume that because they barely have any right handed power period and Jason Bay may not be enough no check that he won’t be enough because he can’t hit a teebal if he tried or even stay healthy for 10 games.Quentin is batting arounf the .320s and would be a perfect fit in the middle of the lineup right now taking Hairstons spot.
Tejada
Murphy
Wright
Quentin
Davis
Duda
Torres(until Kirk returns)
Pitcher
I know Davis was intended to be the cleanup guy but it seems that he is having a streaky season and to make things worse he went 0-5 last night and his AB’s didn’t look good at all.He was chasing too many pitches out of the strike zone.
Well with so much good news about greinke and the braves its about time something came out dashing hopes of him being a brave
Braves (or any other team) will look bad if they give up a top of the line young player for Greinke, only to have him re-sign with the Brewers in the winter (a real possibility). Greinke likes it in Milwaukee and realizes his getting rented out for 2 months actually could affect his future success.
If Greinke helps the Braves(or any other team) win a World Series, they really won’t care where he goes after the season.
That said, if he loved it there so much he would of been signed to an extension already. The price isn’t going to get any cheaper when he’s a free agent.
I don’t see him going back to the Brewers in free agency…
greinke said if he was traded to STL, he would resign there for years to come..or hel just sign with STL if hes not traded haha
not a dodger page but TRADE CHAD BILLS, I’m tired of watching him give up leads, all the talent in the world but put to waste!!!!!
I would love Quentin to the Reds, that way they could move BP back to lead-off which is really where he’s needed (no complaints about his production at clean-up though). I just don’t know if the Reds could put together the most appealing package out of all the teams that would be interested Quentin. This line-up would be nice though:
BP
Cozart
Votto
Quentin
Bruce
Frazier/Rolen
Stubbs
Hanigan/Mes
I wonder if the brewers would consider the tigers Nick Castellonos for Greinke seems that would work for both sides although the tigers might have to throw in a few more prospects.
Absolutely the Brewers would make that deal. But what are you going to say when Brewers have both of those guys after Greinke re-signs as a Brewer this winter? Sort of how the Brewers tricked the Tigers into dealing them Ben Oglivie in the 70’s for Jim Slaton, whom they turned around and signed back as a FA a year later.
Of course, nobody talks about what these teams might be willing to surrender in terms of prospects and that’s half the equation. Sure, Mets, we’ll give you Quentin and Street but what do we get in return? What? C’mon! You gotta do better than that…
Good point, I dont think any team can give up a big time prospect without some sort of extention worked out with greinke before hand
As depressing as it is as a Reds fan to admit, Greinke is going to end up in St. Louis.
As a cardinal fan I dont know who you would give up for Grienke. It better not be Shelby Miller. I really think their team is very mediocre and we dont need to deplete our farm system for two months of greinke. Although I was saying the same thing last year…
greinke said hed resign with STL, for years to come..and miller isnt looking all that great in i think its AAA..
The Mets’ moves should be bullpen, bullpen, bullpen. If they get that then maybe you think about a hitter.
The Braves are freeing up lots of money this offseason and they’ve already said they will use money budgeted for this offseason in order to nail an effective SP at the trade deadline. We’ve heard all the talk in the world about guys like Greinke, Garza, Dempster and Liriano and they’re all worthy candidates…it also means that the Braves will end up with Cole Hamels, Brandon Woodnorth or Wandy Rodriguez. When’s the last time the Braves traded for someone whom they’ve been connected to heavily?
hope it is wandy or saunders, after what i saw of garza last night, no garza, not mature enough, hamels to expensive, greinke is ok, but not worth the trouble and money for 2 months.
If the braves lose the upcoming philly,mets national series, we will be sellers before the deadline. I hope it is wholesale, keeping only heyward,prado,simmons,freeman, signing bourn, kimbrel,medlen,ross. Everyone else on the market,lets go for 2013,2014.
Atlanta will find out soon if we are going to be sellers or buyers, phillies,mets series are very important upcoming series to find out if we sell or buy.
simmons isnt going anywhere ss in AAA maybe
in 10, 9, 8…
If they were in last place in the bidding and every other bid was close, sure. But when one team is bidding $30M+…
this is pretty funny haha, a little too aggressive
The Rangers were the only ones who knew Yu’s true worth.
and then grossly overpaid for it…..
and a 1 and a 2 and a 3…..
yeah… over paid for a pichter who will be an all-star is in top 5 in SO and is the ace already of the ranger staff…yeah overpaid..
No, everyone else grossly underbid because they hadn’t done their homework enough to realize how good he was. When it is all said and done a few years from now and you add up what the Rangers spent for 5 years of his service it will seem like a great bargain compared to what other top pitchers have gotten.
Texas turned around and gave away Salty also however. it could have been one of the biggest deals in the last 30 years (one sided), up there with Heathcliff Slocumb for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.
Edit:
Should have said still was an out right coup on texas part. They sure pulled a big one on Atlanta.
The Braves didn’t extend Tex…. He had another year on his deal.
What?
so your saying the Braves will turn around this time and send Teheran,Minor,Delgado and Simmons for Grienke no Atlanta learned their lesson that will not happen
I think the Rangers trade for Cliff Lee worked out very well for the Rangers. That being said, I don’t want to see the Rangers trade for Greinke or Hamels. We aren’t starved for pitching the way we were two years ago.
Point is you could have signed him for 30 million less AND signed Beltran for two years….Yeah
The point is, this wasn’t a normal free agent process. They had to bid blindly. They had no idea everyone else was going to not have a clue as to how good the guy is. Had they bid $30 million less and another team had outbid them it would have been a colossal mistake. In a bidding process like this one they had to pay what they thought he was worth to them and they did.
Yea, because it was a live bid where everyoen just held up paddles. Do you even understand how the “bid” process worked?
The Rangers could be looking for a Lewis replacement for next season. If that is the case then any pitcher the Rangers traded for would have to include an extension for what Daniels would send.
You are 100% correct, they just overpaid by 30 – 35 million.
They have enough internal candidates to fill Lewis’ spot. I like a rotation next year of Darvish, Feliz, Ogando, Harrison, and Holland with Grimm, Perez, Loux and Bell waiting at AAA if needed.
I don’t think a pitcher like Greinke or Hamels will sign an extension now. They want to hit free agency just like Hamilton does.
Then overpaying was the smart thing to do. It would have been foolish to bid any lower in hopes that every other team didn’t have a clue. If the same situation comes up again then I would hope they would bid the same way.
If you bought a car from me that was valued at $15,000 and paid $13,000 for it and then found out that if you hadn’t have bought it I was going to sell it to someone else for $10,000 I don’t think you can say that you overpaid. Maybe you would say that, but I don’t think that would be the proper way to look at it since you had no idea about what any other buyer was wanting to pay and you had no idea that I was selling it in such a flawed market.
No offense to Jays fans.. But you don’t think they would like another attempt right about now at the bidding?
I’m sure they would and so would a bunch of other teams.
That was my point. You bid a figure with these less than 9 year NPB guys still owned by teams and hope for the best. look at Matsuzaka? think Boston wants to redo that bid and just take the day off?
I will buy it for 10k and turn around and sell it for 15k if its valued at 15k. Good asset management. And oh ya, you still over spent by $35 mill. poor asset management
I am glad those poor asset managers run the team then. I hope they continue to manage their assets poorly if it brings in another Yu for no more than he cost.
The Brewers would be open arms
This would of been done already if Atlanta made this offer.
Hell why not throw in Vizciano while their at it
I thinks the Brewers would be on this immediately and all this speculation would finally be over. Get it done!!!!!!