Though they’ve fallen back to the pack somewhat in recent weeks, the Astros have serious interest in Reds starter Johnny Cueto, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. Cueto sat atop Houston’s list of targets at the end of June, per Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle, and Heyman says that still appears to be the case. Needless to say, the veteran righty would provide a huge boost to an Astros team that has received underwhelming results from the back of its rotation, effectively slotting another top-of-the-rotation arm (alongside Dallas Keuchel) into a slot that has been occupied by a revolving door of starters. Houston will obviously face plenty of competition in their pursuit, assuming that Cincinnati puts its ace on the market.
Here’s more from the AL West:
- The Athletics remain one of the most interesting teams to watch heading into the season’s second half, as they possess several obvious trade pieces but are still not fully buried in the AL West. John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group breaks down the factors weighing in club’s decisionmaking process, noting that GM Billy Beane remains optimistic of his current roster’s quality. A rival American League GM tells Hickey that he doesn’t believe Oakland to be too far back to make a run, and Hickey ultimately concludes that “it seems unlikely to see a mass selloff” as things stand.
- After welcoming back starter Matt Harrison from a lengthy absence, the Rangers are set to activate fellow left-handed rotation piece Martin Perez on Friday, the club announced. Perez underwent Tommy John surgery last May, at the same point in time that Harrison went down. Now 24, Perez agreed to a four-year, $12.5MM deal with three club options (2018-2020) back in November of 2013. At the time, he was fresh off of a 124 1/3 inning, 3.62 ERA showing in his age-22 season. He has plenty of time to regain his former promise and provide value to the Rangers under that contract.
- While Rangers GM Jon Daniels said recently that he hopes to add a “complementary right-handed bat,” it remains unclear precisely what players the team could target. MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted in the just-linked piece that now-free agent Delmon Young could make some sense, particularly given that he could likely be had for a relatively meager commitment. Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets that Texas has not yet reached out to Young’s representatives, though of course the 29-year-old has only been on the market for a few days.
Brett Phillips and Josh Hader for Cueto? You get 2 top 10 organizational guys, 1 his ranked 21st in MLB per BA.
I’d accept Mark Appel, Brett Phillips and Colin Moran for Cole Hamels, as a Phillies fan
Phillips and Hader for Cueto sounds reasonable, but I’d rather do Appel & Moran/Santana/Hernandez(one of those three) for Cueto.
I don’t want Hamels due to the higher prospect cost.
You will overpay for Three month rental , and your worried about overpaying for Cole !
There are different levels of overpay. Basically, trading for Cole may require Appel and Phillips. I don’t want want to give up both of those, and really don’t want to give up Phillips at all. Appel may eventually turn into an ace, but at this point I think Phillips is likely to end up being the more valuable of the two.
So I guess I should say I’d love to get Cole if it can be done without giving up Maverick(Phillips) and Appel.
Then Finish in second place,wondering what an opportubityI missed !
It’s really a moot point since Hamels would likely block a trade to Houston.
The Astros are going to compete for quite a few years with their young core.. They should target Hamels and let him and Keuchel anchor that rotation for years.. That 1-2 would rival any in baseball outside of the Dodgers..
Agreed ! Now Pay up !
Ya Hamels looked really good in his last start.
Moran/D.Santana/Hader for Cueto.
Even though it’s only been a couple days I dont know why Delmon Young hasn’t been signed. He can be be had for minimum and he is the most clutch pinch hitter in the game. He would be a great fit for a lot of teams
We do need another top notch pitcher, but there’s a gaping hole at 1B and 3B that absolutely needs to be addressed. Lowrie is back soon, but he can’t fix both those positions at the same time. This is amplified by Springer being out for an extended time. They’ve got to get a good bat at the corners to really be able to keep up for the second half.