In his latest notes post for FOX Sports, Ken Rosenthal writes that while he opined on Saturday that pitching-hungry GMs should act sooner rather than later, he spoke to one exec yesterday that plans to wait until the trade deadline is nearly at hand, believing prices will drop late in the month. A second exec opined to Rosenthal, though, that the market for pitchers other than Johnny Cueto and Cole Hamels will soften in the coming days. Rosenthal gets the sense that the trade market will “erupt” and action will be “frenetic,” but it might take awhile to reach that boiling point.
Some highlights from his column (though I’d recommend checking out the entire column)…
- Orioles GM Dan Duquette is very serious about wanting to add a bat and has indeed expressed interest in Jay Bruce, Justin Upton and Carlos Gomez, but as Rosenthal notes, the Orioles may have the thinnest farm system in the game. Baseball America ranked Baltimore’s farm just 29th heading into the season, and that was before recent injuries to top arms Dylan Bundy and Hunter Harvey. The team has some interesting names ready at the Triple-A level, but they also need to replace departing free agents Chris Davis, Matt Wieters and Wei-Yin Chen and will need to rely on the farm to fill some of those holes.
- The Mariners aren’t just looking for a backup to Mike Zunino, Rosenthal hears, but a veteran option who would allow them to send Zunino back to Triple-A. Of course, he points out the fact that Seattle had such a player in the form of Welington Castillo but traded him to the D-Backs in the Mark Trumbo deal, only to watch Castillo out-hit Trumbo.
- The Padres talked with the Diamondbacks about a trade that would’ve brought both Aaron Hill and Ender Inciarte to San Diego during Spring Training, and they’ve made a much more recent inquiry on Inciarte than that as well. The D-Backs are also receiving interest in David Peralta, Rosenthal writes, but Arizona isn’t motivated to trade either outfielder. Both are controlled through the 2020 season. Inciarte is a logical trade candidate for the Padres, in my mind, as a plus defender in center field and a left-handed bat — two things which the club currently lacks.
- The Phillies may end up hanging on to Jeff Francoeur rather than trading him, according to Rosenthal. While a last-place team hanging onto a short-term veteran such as Francoeur seems counter-intuitive, he notes that the return on Francoeur would be extremely minimal, so the team may value his leadership over the warm body they’d receive for trading him. I agree that the return on Francoeur, who’s hitting .257/.288/.449 with suspect range in the corner outfield, wouldn’t be all that exciting.
- The Astros do want to add a bat, but the team’s search for starting pitcher is a significantly greater priority, sources tell Rosenthal. GM Jeff Luhnow did tell MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart on Friday that getting a bat is a growing area of focus, however, and Chris Carter hasn’t played since Friday due to an ankle sprain. (He and other Houston first basemen have struggled at the plate even when healthy, as well.)
My gut feel is the Tigers will look for BOTH buyers and sellers type offers.
They want to know what they can get for Price, Soria, Davis, and Cespedes.
Price would be the biggest difference maker for a contender by far at SP.
Tricky business, if they can sign him, keep him. But can they sign him?
If they trade Price, their window is closed. But it may be anyway. Really tough situation for them, but sooner rather than later they’ll have to rebuild.
With Price, this season will end without a postseason ticket. Too much needed to go right this season and it was just unrealistic to expect no player down years, no significant injuries, etc… The Tigers went into this season with all their fingers and tossed crossed and that is not the most efficient way to run an organization.
I disagree on the need to rebuild. With some very smart moves, such as maximizing assets during this extreme sellers market, and even shrewder offseason trades, the Tigers can reload/retool without the five year rebuild. Personally, I believe the Tigers need an entirely new management structure making those moves.
I wonder how much they would need to kick in to move Verlander AND Price in the same deal. Might be an interesting situation for a cash rich team that wants to hold prospects. Verlander certainly would be interesting as a relief option down the stretch/post-season if he can’t right the ship in the next few starts. This is basically the Kimbrel/Upton model.
Tigers would then be freed up of a ton of cash commitments and could make a splash in the off-season (possibly by resigning Price with the savings they realize with Verlander gone).
With what pitching are the Tigers going to retool? They have none. Verlander is mediocre, Price will be gone and the rest of their starters are mediocre/bad. Anibal is still solid, but he’s just one guy. Besides, the Tigers don’t have many assets to trade. Price and Cespedes won’t get them much on the trade market considering they’re both expiring and anything else they could trade is a long term asset that they can’t afford to lose. The Tigers can’t really retool quickly. They either need to keep going for it 100% or trade everyone and enter a full rebuild.
I disagree completely. First, you have no idea what a contender will give up for Price or Cespedes. The present market will dictate that, not you or I.
Secondly, and this really goes back to the first point, you are assuming that the trades the Tigers make will bring absolutely nothing in return, and I’m not talking only Price. No, the Tigers are not trading every single guy on the 25 man roster, but the Tigers should do their due diligence and see what the market will bear for all their assets. No “blood oaths” , no desperate contract extensions.
I agree that their are some players on their team that would bring back a ton on the trade market. JD Martinez comes to mind. Maybe Iglesias too. But the problem is that if they traded those controllable, valuable guys, they wouldn’t have a strong enough core to build around for the future anyway and they might as well just go into a full rebuild. Also, I’m very confident that neither Price nor Cespedes will bring back huge returns. You’re kidding yourself if you think that they will. Maybe 1-2 solid prospects for each, but nothing that will turn the tide of a rapidly aging club. The Tigers need to sell, they need to sell now, and they need to be content with 2-4 years of not contending.
Agree , Tigers are making the same Mistake Phillies made Three years ago , hanging on to aging Veteran Players until it’s too late !
It seems that if something is repeated enough, it is assumed to be true.
The Tigers are actually getting younger, not older.
Only Cabrera (age32/8yrs left),Verlander(age 32/4yrs left) and Victor Martinez(36/3yrs left) have 3 or more years on their contracts. McCann,Iglesias, Gose,and Castellanos are all 25 or younger.J.D. Martinez is 27, so that’s 5 starters with team control. Kinsler (33) and Sanchez(31) have 2 years left(with buyouts). Cespedes at 29,Simon at 34,Davis at 34,and Soria at 31 are FA.
Tigers do not have to rebuild, but rather retool and look nothing like the Phillies.
This is going to be a sellers market. If Detroit does plan to sell, Price and Cespedes,as 2 of the top FA available would help retool for 2016. They will then have $60+mill in FA money for 2016 to reload if no Tiger FA signs.
With a healthy Cabrera,Martinez,and Verlander in 2016 teaming up with these young starters, the Tigers will be able to compete in 2016.
I agree. Much of the team has already been rebuilt. Age is not a concern. Few contenders have ALL young players. Those that do, end up looking for a veteran presence. The difficulty will be in rebuilding the pitching staff. Greene has not worked out as well as Scherzer or Fister. The bullpen is still a mess. If they sell, pitching must be the priority.
Yeah, but you just named a bunch of mediocre/bad players. Any team can have young players, but they also have to be good. Iglesias isn’t bad, McCann and Gose might be ok, but are probably more bench players than starters and Castellanos is awful. The Tigers GOOD players are either old or expensive, or expiring. Except for JD Martinez, who is their one cheap, controllable and young stud.
Trading Cespedes makes the most sense. He can’t be offered a QO and the trade market has fewer hitters than pitchers available.
He would not be the biggest difference maker “by far”. Cueto is just as good and Hamels is just as good and under contract for a lot longer. Also, Kazmir’s having just as good of a year as Price too.
would Ruiz, with Phils eating a majority of his contract, be an option for Mariners?
Who would Seattle send to make it worth eating his contract?
He’s owed ~ 4 mil for the rest of this season and 8.5 mil for next year, plus a team option of 4.5 mil or a 500k buyout in 2017. So that’s a minimum of about 13 mil still owed to Chooch. As a Phillies fan, I’d eat half of that and only ask for a middle of the road prospect back. Dan Altavilla maybe? 16th ranked Mariners prospect on mlb.com to start the year. Don’t know how highly he’s regarded. Sound reasonable?
Phillies will have to eat more than half of that. Probably $10 million to make a team even consider it.
Yes , Good Stop Back until youth arrives !
I’d rather see the Orioles try to target someone like Maybin, Revere, or Parra maybe. The farm isn’t exactly bursting with prospects, so it might make more sense to look at someone like that instead of Upton/Gomez/Bruce
Any idea in trade bait for Maybin? He’s controllable and we’re not hurting for cash, so I’d hope they wouldn’t send him away for just anyone. Not to mention he’s playing the best baseball since 2011.
If the D’Backs trade Inciarte, do they promote Pete O’Brien as a backup OF or potential starter?
Hamels and Howard Fix Astros Problems !
1st Rate Starter, and a Run Producer and Power Bat in lineup with the Big Piece.
Make the Deal Big Jeff !