Rosenthal On Young, Rangers, Rios, A’s

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports posted his latest edition of Full Count.  Let's take a look at the highlights..

• The Phillies' direction remains unclear and its possible that they might not even deal Michael Young.  His .344 OBP is the highest of any team regular and the return that they would get on him is unknown.  Young also has a full no-trade clause, so he can effectively control the process.  If he's zeroed in on returning to the Rangers, he can conceivably block deals to other clubs until that gets done.  Both sides are interested in a reunion.
• It will be interesting to see if the White Sox actually trade Alex Rios in the days ahead.  The Rangers' interest is overstated, Rosenthal hears, and the Pirates wouldn't necessarily want to take on the balance of the outfielder's contract.  Things can change, but White Sox might have to wait until the winter to find a palatable deal for Rios.
• The A's remain interested in Jake Peavy, figuring that if they can't fix their offensive issues, they might as well add to their pitching strength.  They're not going to part with Sonny Gray or Addison Russell, but if they do acquire Peavy, they could promote Gray to their bullpen and send Tommy Milone down, keeping him in reserve as their No. 6 starter.
• The Blue Jays appear unlikely to make a big move and they're not going to trade Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion unless they can improve their big league club and it's hard to see how trading either would accomplish that.  Toronto is far more open to moving Emilio Bonifacio and they're also drawing interest on their relievers.  They're also in something of a bind with something on Josh Johnson: they could either take what they can get right now, which isn't much, or risk giving him a qualifying offer this winter and having him accept.