Here’s the latest out of baseball’s eastern divisions:
- New York remains in contact with the Athletics on the versatile Ben Zobrist, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. The fit is obvious, and the teams have long said to be in contact, but Ackert says that things have progressed to the point that Oakland has made a specific prospect ask. Nevertheless, no deal is imminent, per the report.
- The Mets are loath to part with outfielder Michael Conforto or shortstop Amed Rosario to add a bat, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com hears (Twitter link), echoing a recent report. But the team is still certainly after a hitter, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets that Michael Cuddyer’s injury situation has led to a “seismic[] shift[]” in the ballclub’s deadline approach. We had heard earlier in the summer that the team was interested in offense even before Cuddyer’s knee troubles worsened, but at the time the focus seemed more on the infield.
- Lefty Josh Smoker has opened eyes in the Mets organization, Mike Puma of the New York Post notes on Twitter. The 26-year-old was a first-round pick of the Nationals, but never gained much traction. Now, he’s said to be bringing big heat at Double-A and could be a candidate to see time in the New York pen.
- The Blue Jays are primarily focused on adding a starter and are not presently discussing reliever Jonathan Papelbon with the Phillies, Heyman adds on Twitter. It could be that Toronto is allowing the development of its rotation plans drive the bus on whether (and how) it acts on the relief market.
- The Red Sox have already made some moves focused on giving MLB time to younger players, notes Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald, who argues that Boston ought to do more of the same the rest of the way. One forward-looking deadline move, says Lauber, would be to resume pursuit of Cole Hamels, who per the report would not be inclined to trigger his no-trade clause just because an acquiring team is not in contention.
- Rays lefty Drew Smyly is making good on reports indicating that he’d try to throw again, as Josh Vitale of the Charlotte Sun reports (Twitter links). After emerging from a 40-pitch live BP feeling well, Smyly says he’s hopeful of beginning a rehab stint soon. It remains to be seen how long he’ll take to work back to the big leagues, particularly with Tampa Bay likely to exercise quite a bit of caution with an important asset.
This trade Deadline is going to be weak….im sick of all these rumors of teams interested in this player or that player…..And this team wants to keep this prospect or that prospect…….I’ll be back when something big finally happens……..
You’re leaving? There’s a good pre-deadline move right there.
You realize the name of this site has “rumors” in it?
Lots of good OF available for Mets. That’s a smart move regardless of Cuddyer’s health. Sometimes you just have to admit you made a bad decision and replace your worst offensive player no matter what he makes.
Cuddyer is nowhere close to the Mets worst offensive player. Among players with at least 150 PA, Cuddyer is 5th in wRC+, barely behind Murphy and Tejada and way ahead of players such as Flores, Lagares, Campbell and Plawecki.
Heyman said in his column that the A’s & Mets were previously talking Montero for Zobrist, but the A’s wanted to wait & see how their season was looking and Montero got hurt. Guess if they have a specific list they must think their season is over…unless those prospects would go to the 25-man.
The Red Sox should be “sellers” here in July. Now is not the time for them to be buyers, during the high-priced, heated competition for pieces to make a playoff run. When you are in last place, you sell now, and buy in the off season, when the price to acquire is cheaper and fewer teams are bidding for the limited pieces that are available. The Sox should forget about acquiring anyone until November.
Problem is they’re not really in a good position to sell either. From a record standpoint, yes, but from an organizational standpoint? They’re not trade Xander or Mookie. Nobody else on their MLB roster really has trade value (either big contracts or not productive) and you don’t part with prospects as a seller since you need those to develop and buyers want proven commodities at the deadline.
So basically, they can sell Brock Holt and maybe Uehara, but if they plan on competing next year, Uehara is on a very affordable one year deal.
Red Sox need to accept the fact that they’re not getting Hamels without throwing in Betts or Swihart. No one wants Margot, Owens or Cecchini.
I don’t know that the Sox would do well in trading for Hamels. National league to a tougher American league and all, not to mention that his record hasn’t been good these past 2 1/2 years. Oh, you’ll get your 200 innings out of him, but probably little else worth a big paycheck.
The Mets are not going to make a trade for an outfielder or a shortstop. Can’t see the owners or the GM giving up the system for anyone, unless it’s Harper, Goldschmidt (sorry for spelling) or Trout. San Diego is asking for too much for Upton who won’t be returning to SD or for that matter the Mets next year. He is a rental player but the reality is that he isn’t worth the system!
Enough of this bologna Hamels stuff. Red Sox need to make the Godfather offer to the Reds for Cueto and Chapman, then lock Cueto up. We dont need to hold on to all of these ‘prospects’. We have 2 great youngsters in Bogy at SS and Betts in the OF for a long time, Pedroia is having a good year and is a life time Red Sock. Why are we holding onto Moncada, Margot, Marrero, and Chavis. These positions are already taken! deal them for something we need. And whats the point of having 3 young left handers in the rotation (Owens, Rodriguez, and Johnson) Trade one of em! sheesh!