6:26pm: Matt Reynolds is also drawing trade interest, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Reynolds, 27, has a 3.61 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and 46.3 percent ground-ball rate in 42 1/3 innings of work this season.
6:15pm: Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports that the Rangers, Braves, Red Sox and Blue Jays are all inquiring on Betancourt (Twitter link).
Sunday, 6:02pm: Betancourt continues drawing trade interest but nothing is imminent, according to Renck (Twitter link). It's probably fair to assume that several of the teams who are currently discussing Brandon League with the Mariners are also intrigued by Betancourt, though that's my own speculation. — Steve Adams
Saturday: The Orioles, Yankees, and Athletics are among the teams with interest in Rockies reliever Rafael Betancourt according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post. The Red Sox had interest earlier this month and both the White Sox and Angels are digging around for bullpen help.
Betancourt, 37, has pitched to a 3.00 ERA and gone 17-for-21 in save chances. His strikeout (9.3 K/9) and walk (2.5 BB/9) rates are superb as usual. Betancourt is owned approximately $1.5M for the rest of the season and is under contract for $4.25MM next year. His deal includes a $4.25MM mutual option ($250K buyout) for 2014 as well.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
This would be a nice solid pickup for someone. He’s been doing what he’s been doing in Coors, so he’s been able to keep it down. Very good quality to have in the late innings at Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards.
Need to get a good pitching prospect back for Betancourt. Or I wouldn’t mind seeing Bichette Jr. come to Colorado. :)
Don’t worry u won’t
Yea, I don’t think that bullpen is a strong enough need to give up any decent prospects.
Why would the Yankees be looking for bullpen help? That’s the one thing they *don’t* need.
For sure. They already got Eppley, Logan, Phelps, Rapada, Robertson, Soriano…… and Qualls. But Qualls will most likely be cut sometime in the next couple weeks to make room for Joba.
If I were Cash I’d give up just about anybody San Diego wanted in order to get Chase Headley. He can play 3rd when A-Rod is out or DH’ing, he can play 3rd when Jeter is out or DH’ing and A-Rod can play short, he can play right when Tex is out or DH’ing, and Swish can play 1st. He’s the best player on the trade market this year by far, and the fact that it isn’t obvious where the Yanks would put him, with the age of their infield, is a tempest in a teacup. I’d give Banuelos, Betances, and Ramiro Pena — or Nunez and Banuelos *or* Betances, presumably Banuelos. Headley is a flat-out superstar in waiting, if not all the way to a future HOF’er, and I’d be getting two more years of team control into the bargain, too.
One question. What is in the water in Gainesville?
ozzie along with alligators……
Mr. Byrnes, is that you?
LOL! What the hell are you smoking? Seriously? You think Chase Headley is a future “superstar” or “hall of famer”? REALLY?! Headley is an average player, he’s not worth anywhere close to the Yankees top pitching prospect, much less their two TWO pitching prospects. Nunez maybe, but certainly not anything of real value.
I said this last year and Cash went and proved me by trading Montero for Pineda, but if I’m the Yankees I wouldn’t trade my top prospects for anything short of Felix, JJ or Stanton
thats selling him short. He’s a solid allstar caliber performer outside of PetCo with great defense. Superstar like David Wright, no, but good.
The montero wasn’t a bad trade. The problem with montero was that he didn’t have a position. If you are able to acquire a top young starter that has proven himself in the majors then you go for it. Headley could be a good player outside of Petco, but I still don’t think that he becomes a superstar, and 100% he never gets to hof. He is 28 with 48 HR and a lifetime .268 avg. He would have to go on a major tear to get there. Next 10 yr, 30 hr per still falls short.
ummmmmm future HOF??? .743 career OPS and 48 hrs in 630 career games at age 28. No.
What are we going to trade to get Betancourt?
If we trade for Liriano, Morneau, Headley, Colon, Blanton, or mystery player. What will we have left to trade to the Rockies?
This isn’t a good idea!
What we do need is a back up catcher or a coach who knows how to call a game. Someone from the Orioles needs to be let out of the herd if you get my drift. The person responsible has no clue!
does his name rhyme with beeharden?
The O’s being in on Betancourt makes no sense. A starting pitcher, yes, but not a reliever.
Their bullpen is worn down and beaten up. They need another reliever.
you know what would fix a worn down and beaten up bullpen? a starter who can go deeper in games.
I wish I could give this a thousand +1’s.
True. But that doesn’t change the fact they could use another reliever.
Gonzalez would be another reliever if they acquired a starter.
Ok, but a good starter is going to cost a lot more right now than a bullpen arm. They might not be able to afford the cost of a James Shields, Ryan Dempster, or Josh Johnson.
This is who the Cardinals need. This year’s Dotel. Veteran battle tested arm who won’t cost some of the top prospects.
Here’s the deal Oakland. If you’re not going to improve significantly, then stop these BS trades for Betancourt and Kottaras. I’d rather not get anyone and play with the guys we got than take a risk of disrupting the clubhouse for a backup catcher and 37 year old bullpen arm. Carry on.
I agree.
What are you talking about? The A’s need a another proven bullpen arm if u haven’t noticed in this baltimore and yankees series. They aquired a catcher that could possibly put up better numbers than Norris/suzuki. I don’t. Know why you’re upset? They’re not getting Headley and they’re not gonna overpay for a ss that’s a lil better than Penny. I’m sure they’re trying but if that fails I believe the back up plan is to have Green come up. That’s why he’s been playing ss the past few games.
Completely agree. Chemistry? Half of these guys won’t be in Oakland next year anyway, and everybody knows it.
The A’s don’t have a closer and their catchers, in the immortal words of Tommy Lasorda, “couldn’t hit water if they fell out of the boat.”
Bring him in Beane. Then, trade Mike Taylor and a pitcher not named Straily, Peacock, Cole or Gray for Escobar.
The Yankees have enough bullpen arms: Soriano in the 9th, Robertson in the 8th, Logan/Rapada the lefties and Eppley. Joba appears to be close to returning and Aardsma possibly before the playoffs. What am I missing?
If anything, Cash needs to go after another starter. Go big for Shields and knock everyone else down a slot or at least someone better than Garcia for the 5th slot.
Do you really believe the Rays would trade Shields in the division? And IF they would consider it, the haul it would require would be way more that what Shields is truly worth. Shields would only be a 4th Starter on Yankees anyway he’s not exactly a game changer. If you want someone better then Freddy, give Phelps a shot.
Maybe O’Dowd can trade them both for more AAAA second basemen.