Expecting fireworks at the deadline from the Rays? History would dictate that it won’t happen, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. If anything, Topkin writes, Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman has been known for holding on to big-name players like Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, and James Shields. More from the AL and NL East..
- There’s “absolutely nothing” brewing on trade talks for Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon at the moment, a source tells Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (on Twitter).
- The Blue Jays were interested in Darwin Barney before he was shipped to the Dodgers and have kicked the tires on the White Sox’s Gordon Beckham for the last month, tweets Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM. However, Beckham’s recent slump has hurt progress in those talks. Toronto was linked to Beckham last October.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said the main reason why he traded for Danny Valencia was his “success versus left-handers and what he can do in the box,” tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Valencia boasts a career .879 OPS against lefties.
The main reason why though that Friedman has held onto star players before during this time of year was because they were annually in contention since 2008. Now that they’re not even at .500, it could be different. I expect guys like Price and Zobrist to be available. But in a market where prospects are extremely overvalued, who knows whether a contending team will have the courage to make a drastic win-now move.
Why would they trade now? They’re 2 games under .500. Only 4.5 out in the wild card and 7 out in the division with a little more than 2 months to play! This is the same team that made up 10 games in one month a few years back. They’re still very much in the playoff hunt and to trade either or both Zobrist and Price now would be tantamount to quitting, something this team doesn’t do.
Cause it’s smarter to get the best prospects you can now for these players. And yeah that happened years ago when they made a come back but history doesn’t always repeat itself. Not to mention they aren’t the same team they were…
Smarter or safer? Your reasoning is not good enough to ignore the fact they are only 4.5 games out of the Wild Card spot with 2 months to play. That’s not a reason to throw in the towel.
Smarter lol they need to continue to do what they do best and that’s gain prospects. They don’t have the biggest budget and I won’t even be surprised if they sell the team someday or have to get a new stadium… They haven’t exactly drafted in the top 10 for awhile now either, so.
So, “plan for the future” is your only reason to throw this still viable season under the bus? Also, I know how small the Rays budget is, being a Rays fan and blogger and all.
But they still have a lot of teams to jump and you have to keep that into consideration. It isn’t as simple as “they are this many games back”. And the thinking behind trading Price seems to be that they won’t be able to afford him next year and his value is likely higher now then it would be in the offseason. There’s an argument to be made to keep him but there’s also a very strong argument to trade him.
The Rays have several teams to jump, but they still have 9G against the Blue Jays, 9G vs. Yankees, 7G vs. Orioles and 3G vs. Cleveland. These are all teams they are chasing, so they are definitely still in this.
The Rays plan all along was to keep Price this season and then reassess his trade market in the offseason. When they started losing and the season looked lost, they decided to trade him at the deadline. Now that they are back in the race, I have to think the initial plan is back in play. Of course, if a team comes with a great offer, I’m sure they would consider it. However, I would think it would have to be the type of deal that everyone will look at and moan about how the Rays hosed the other team.
But all those teams face one another as well. The odds are still below 5 percent of them winning the division or making the playoffs.
Naw just get the best you can for him now. They might even be able to trade for a pitcher who’s good enough to be in the rotation right away but has many years already locked up in a deal but is cheaper than that of what Price will cost long term to stay. Therefore they get a good piece back to help now and some prospects. Price + Zobrist can get them basically anything lol But I do see your point, and they could just deal him in the off season it’s just that other teams will be desperate now to go “all in”
Nothing brewing for Colon? I expect that to change in the coming days. People from the Cards, Pirates, Jays, and Braves were scouting Colon’s start tonight.
source?
Jon Morosi.
I wouldn’t mind the Jays looking at Colon if the Mets ate a bit of his salary but otherwise naw lol
They’re willing to eat $2 million last I checked.
Hmmm I’m sure AA has called and had dialogue lol
They’re willing to eat $2 million last I checked.
thank you
Jays have pretty much no need for Colon, and won’t be expending anything of value to acquire him.
The only SP variety the Jays will be acquiring is that of the top-tier variety, as the Jays have plenty of SP depth.
Getting a player like Valencia for Hendriks is a steal of a deal. Hendriks is terrible, just awful on all accounts. He’s a AAAA pitcher. Kratz, well I kind of like his everyman kind of story and his ability to John Buck a fastball or two but he’s expendable. Having Valencia and fat Juan platooning is going to be slick, especially since Valencia can play a few infield positions and could be more than a platoon player.
Yeah this is a fine trade from the Jays perspective. They ship out a catcher and a pitcher that just weren’t optimally helping out the squad for an infield piece that should more optimally help out the squad. Can’t hate the idea.
You managed to use “optimally help out the squad” twice in one sentence. Bravo.
Thanks, the grammar and spelling are even correct too!
Not to mention, the statement is almost impossible to argue with. Unless of course, you’re that guy.
By “that guy,” do you mean Dayton Moore?
I don’t think Dayton Moore would argue with what I said, as he would know that the Jays have acquired a piece that addresses their most pressing depth needs while giving up expendable depth pieces (from the Jays perspective). These same depth pieces might have different uses for KC (such as Kratz being a clear cut upgrade as a backup C, Hendricks providing SP injury depth higher up in the order).
Unless you are simply stating that Dayton Moore has no clue what’s good. In which case, I would probably still agree with you.