Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has posted his latest edition of Full Count. Let's dive in..
- As of this morning, the GMs of the Orioles and Brewers have not spoken about a trade involving Zack Greinke. But the O's, despite sending three starters to the minors this week, continue to indicate that they are buyers. Brewers pitching coach Rick Kranitz was previously in Baltimore and O's right-hander Jake Arrieta was originally a Brewers draft pick in 2005 and could be of interest as part of a package for Greinke. However, the Orioles may not want to pay a steep price for a potential free agent when they might only be playing for a wild card.
- Rival teams covet Rangers third base prospect Mike Olt and the Phillies would likely target him in any talks for Cole Hamels, but the odds of Philly landing him are slim. Texas would view Hamels as a rental and are looking at Olt at first base and right field, in addition to third. His bat will be needed next season if they lose Hamilton or Mike Napoli to free agency.
- The Red Sox face ongoing luxury tax concerns and are over the threshold by $10MM, according to a source. That could make holding on to Jacoby Ellsbury difficult after 2013 and trading him might make sense at the end of this season. Unfortunately, the free agent market will be flooded with outfielders including Josh Hamilton, Michael Bourn, B.J. Upton, and Shane Victorino. That will obviously hurt the market for the 28-year-old.
- Victorino could be a fit for the Pirates or Indians as they aggressively pursue hitters. The Pirates like Carlos Quentin but his asking price is steep. The Tribe has inquired on Corey Hart, but he is unavailable. Victorino would be a solid fit for Cleveland as he is a switch-hitter (who would join a predominantly left-handed lineup) and can play either left or center field.
Please!!!! Braves lets get us an ACE!!! This would be awesome! He may not be young but he’s not old has the experience we need with a little fire in him!
wandy maybe but the childish kid greinke! he is inmature, and doesnt care about his team, he lost the game to the astros, childish.
You need to get a clue. Zach is a Cy Young winner. Wandy is an overpaid #3.
I think more and more that the Phillies will be sellers at the deadline. The Brewers could go either way.
Ha ha… I posted here a few days ago that Profar and Olt weren’t worth giving up for a two month rental. And they don’t even pay me to do this stuff!
With a name like yahoo-WHDI74N2ELXXOA7TDHWBY5VKXE
Even if someone wanted to pay you, I don’t think they could find you.
Plus, I am unsure if anyone could fit your name on the check.
Rosenthal also said the Red Sox were asking teams to add money in with any deal and that that would mean the Red Sox had to give up better players…
Don’t do it Ben. Whatever it is, just don’t do it.
I like the thought of Victorino on the Bucs. Especially if it will be as low-cost as Rosenthal thinks it will be.
im still trying to grasp my mind around the pirates as buyers and phillies as sellers
Red Sox wish list:
1.DFA Punto
2.DFA Punto
3.DFA Punto
when are people going to realize the Brewers have no need for pitching, their minor league system is loaded with it. need a difference making shortstop or else this deal most likely will not get done.
Not to dismiss the Sox’s luxury Tax concerns out of hand, but they do have a number of guys on the team that have underperformed and can be cut or moved.
To look at ridding themselves of Ellbury in order to save $10MM is just plain stupid talk. That’s not the place to look.
Its far more appealing to pay for players instead of trading prospects for a player and then having to pay him or let him go after a year. Ells is good but he is not better than Hamilton.
ellsbury puts up 1 year of good numbers and all of sudden he is the best?.
If Ellsbury is dealt, it’s because they’d rather not do business with Boras, not because of their finances. From what I understand, the $10m over has to do with THIS YEAR’S finances and the impact it will have on their penalty payout (40% of every dollar over THIS YEAR). So his report to trade Ells next offseason makes little sense as they’re clearing payroll trying to get under the threshold because it resets, based on THIS YEAR. I think the ownership is happy to spend, but they’re business savvy enough to avoid the hefty penalties (which at this point would be $4m just in penalties alone); but more importantly, resetting the % is a priority. So look for them to try and get under the threshold THIS DEADLINE (very difficult), but no way it’s Ellsbury — he was only making $8m at the start of this season anyway, so trading him would relieve appx $4m. I think the bigger trade candidate is Beckett ($15.7m this year) and one partner might be Washington with Strasburg on an innings limit.
Agreed, and with Youkilis, Jenks, Dice-K, Ross, Shoppach, and possibly (although somewhat unlikely) Ortiz coming off of the books after this year (plus other, smaller contracts) they’ll have plenty of money to play with.
Zach Wheeler and he’s yours.
The Pirates have plenty of cash to spend. They shelled out quite a bit for Burnett and I doubt Victorino will cost much but a couple of B prospects. I doubt they have any interest in Pierre.
Combined that total is only 30m range and if they are smart use 5-7m (average) over 2 seasons to try and retain Ross at 2y and 10-14m.
Then make up their minds whether or not are going to waste money even thinking of bidding on Ells next year, which is just not going to be worth it. They should just let him go and plan on thinking of after 2014 when Beckett/Lackey and even lester will be close to having his contract expire and what to do then.
and especially with this ownership group willing to spend…hopefully
At this point, even if Hamels does not resign, it makes ZERO sense to trade him. Realistically, no team will be willing to part with one of their top prospects for a two month rental, nor should they.
That said, the two first round picks would probably represent a better return than what the Phils would get in a trade.
Victorino is a different story, as he has said that he would entertain the qualifying offer. In his case I would trade.
As for anything else of some perceived level of value, such as Pierre, Polanco, Blanton, name your price.
No chance he resigns in Philly. They have too much money tied up in starting pitching, several teams will likely outbid Philly for him, and he’ll probably want to go to a team that has a chance at winning a World Series. As opposed to one that’s falling apart with each aging overpaid veteran hitting the DL week after week. Plus, I’m sure he’d like to start an Opening Day at least once in his career.
yeah my brothers a pirates fan and i was talking to him and saying they should’ve gone for youk. good low cost rental, change of scenary, and the white sox basically gave up hardly anything
The Rangers will go after Greinke before Hamels. Hamels is a good as a Dodger next year. Greinke still could sign with the acquiring team. The price will be steep though as their are a handful of teams wanting to deal for him right now.
Well, they plan on getting under the luxury tax threshold by 2014 ($189M that year), so I don’t think they will spend past that amount (until after 2014 at least), but even if they resign Ortiz and stay under that $189M they would have ~$30-35M to play with (before arbitration raises anyway).
profar and my tax dollars will pay Greinke’s salary and he’s yours!
But not the best use of available funds considering they need an everyday third baseman, a couple of starting OF’ers, and a whole bunch of quality middle relief. A starting rotation of Lee, Halladay, Worley, Blanton and Kendrick is still better than most teams.
Woah… Dominic Bust, Ty Nothington and John Mayburied is your everyday solution to keeping Hamels??? So to answer your question… NO, it isn’t a good deal for several more years. And no one had a problem with RAJ’s moves when he was making them. Blame it on the players!
You are all far overvaluing Olt. I saw him last season at MYB and, while his power stats are very good (22-63 at the midway point), his 85 strikeouts at a AA level is alarming – how many of you would beat down the doors for a guy who’s 24 years old with 150-160 K’s at AA?
He has Mark Reynolds written all over him.