The Giants could pursue Tigers ace David Price if he’s made available, tweets Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. Per Morosi, substantive talks will await the Tigers decision to compete or sell. Detroit won earlier this afternoon to improve to 48-49. They’re currently 4.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race. The Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Cubs are also interested in Price (tweet).
Here’s more from the West divisions:
- Astros owner Jim Crane is pleased with the acquisition of Scott Kazmir, reports Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston in a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, 4). Crane says the club will absolutely make a run at the postseason, and he seems confident that “there’s some deals to be done.” Houston is open to taking on a pricey contract for the right guy, “if it makes good sense.” Crane also confirmed that a hitter is among the many things GM Jeff Luhnow is seeking to acquire. Luhnow himself said he expects to be involved in at least one more trade, reports Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle.
- The Padres are “ready to sell,” tweets Scott Miller of Bleacher Report. However, the club will first see how they perform in a four game set against the struggling Marlins. San Diego is currently seven games below .500 and 7.5 games back in the Wild Card race. Four teams stand between the Padres and a Wild Card berth, but the Braves have already started to disassemble. A sweep could put the Friars back in the thick of the race.
- While San Diego waits to see how the upcoming series transpires, they continue to shop starter James Shields, tweets Jayson Stark of ESPN. Stark spoke with one executive who said the Padres would have to eat a big portion of the $65MM remaining on Shields’ contract. Shields is owed $21MM over each of the next three seasons with a $16MM option for 2019 ($2MM buyout). While he’s struggled with home runs this season, he’s also posted career bests in strikeout rate (10.13 K/9) and swinging strike rate.
- The Mariners have asked the Orioles about Triple-A catcher Steve Clevenger, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. Talks did not advance. The 29-year-old is hitting well in the minors with a .327/.402/.408 line in 246 plate appearances. He also performed well in a brief major league audition earlier this season, going 5-for-11.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels told reporters that a big weekend could lead the club to simply buy, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Texas is expected to market short term assets like Yovani Gallardo as they walk the line between contending and building for next season.
what do the Giants have in the minors to get Price? i don’t see much at all.
Like others have said, Price is just a rental so one of Susac, Crick or Beede and maybe two mid level prospects should be enough. That being said I highly doubt the Giants try and get him now (maybe in FA).
– 1..lol.. the Giants minors is not good. PERIOD.
Could start with chris heston. Rental for controllable back end guy.
that would make zero sense, heston has been performing a the giants’ #2 guy right now, you give up more than you get back
Tigers not looking for players that are in the minors. They are looking for MLB talent to help them in 2016. Sort of like what they gave up to get him in the first place (Smyly, Jackson).
Don’t see that happening at all. Young established major league players with years of control are not going to be traded for a 2 month rental. When the Tigers got Price they had him for a 2nd year, in which they could trade him, or use him the entire 2nd season and then get a draft choice at the end of the year. That was factored into the price they paid. The team that gets him is only guaranteed to have him for 8 weeks. They might get a little leg up when he goes free agent, but the man is going to have at least 3 quality organizations offering him big money – so I doubt the 8 weeks will have a major effect on his decision.
I don’t see the Tigers trading him. They’re in the WC race, and when Miggy gets back that can win a spot. And Price can start the game.
Lester was traded for a major leaguer under control for an additional year. He was NOT as good last year as Price is right now.
Peavy was an old #3 pitcher traded for an under control player(s):
Both Avisail Garcia and Jose Iglesias had major league experience (it was a 3 team deal) and were considered MLB roster players from DAY ONE.
Price should easily top BOTH of those deals.
I responded to your wanting the Tiger to get guys like Smyly and Jackson – two players under control for years -which they go in the Price trade. Now you’e bringing up the Lester trade and a player they got for one year.
Kazmir set the price. If the Tigers look for much more than that, they will be disappointed.
Tigers are not looking for A ball players. They are looking for players that will be on their MLB team in 2016. Miggy is still near his prime. Makes no sense to wait years.
The return will be different and bigger than Kazmir.
We shall see.
I don’t see any reason for them to trade Price. He’s their only above average pitcher, can get them to the WC game and pitch it. Then they get a draft choice back. Why would a team trade them a starting pitcher almost as good as him with an additional year of control?
Adam Duvall, Derek Law,Samuel Coonrod,Chris Shaw,Aramis Garcia,Johnsway Fargas,Beede,Bickford. The Giants system may not loaded but it’s deep.
Susac,Bleech,Crick and so on.
those guys won’t sniff the likes of Price. do the Giants really have 1 good prospect that would make it interesting? it would take all 3..Crick. Beede. Mella. and i don’t think that is even close. – but…i’d love to see the Giants get him.
actually, beede is the one everyone wants. There have been a lot of teams asking about him – Price is a rental and really isn’t worth a bickford, crick, beede, etc. I would be really surprised if he re-signed @ the end of the season even if there was a ring. The other name that keeps coming up as arroyo, I don’t know where he is at now but I wasn’t too impresses with what he did in the spring.
Giants looking for Bench help.
more than bench, I would say relief help. The core four have been off and on, strickland and kontos have been great but everyone else – shaky at times. A solid closer and moving casilla to setup man (like he was with wilson) would help a lot. it would most likely mean though, moving a starter like vogelsong or having hudson retire before the end of the season –
Ok, Price and Soria.
Bleech? Do you bean Beede or Blach?
Bean em both. Warn the benches and toss the manager!
Why didn’t the Mariners just offer Boston the lowest of prospects for Sandy Leon when the Sox DFA’d him last week? Leon’s going to hit about as poorly as does Zunino, but he’s got a plus glove and has a cannon for an arm (50+% CS) and controls the running game.
Zunino is great defensively, too.
NO HE IS NOT
A 1.3 dWAR in 89 games is very good.
SSS. Fangraphs pegs him as a negative. But with positional adjustment it makes it look positive. Although until framing is added to catcher dwar it shouldnt be looked at as the answer.
Zuni needs to be in the minors. he was rushed.
Probably rushed but little lat for the minors.
That’s part of the reason they were looking at Pierzynski… to option Zunino to AAA
because he is exactly what they have right now, without any upside.
Does anyone know what the Padres asking price is for Cashner?
Supposedly way higher than it should be.
I’d say a self-perm kit, carton of Marlboro reds, and three pairs of Wranglers.
Going to take a lot to get a guy that has a 3.18 ERA over past 3 seasons and is under team control for 2016. Figure 2 of your teams top 10 prospects and at least one other prospect.
That seems too much, even for an arm as controllable as Cashner. His numbers seem to be heavily inflated by pitching in Petco (his away stats are downright mediocre in fact, but I am giving him a bit of the benefit of the doubt), and most teams will see this and are not going to offer 2 top 10 prospects and more ,since that seems more like what you would give for a much better pitcher like Hamels who has even more control and a better track record. Heck, that seems more like a deal someone would give for someone like Cueto.
Go take a listen to Rosenthal’s podcast or read what Heyman said about it. That is exactly what the Padres are said to be asking.
Cueto is a rental. No one will give anything close to that for 10-12 starts from him.
Just because that’s what they want doesn’t mean a team will offer that.
Cueto is also way better. Cashner pitches at petco which makes every starter look good. His era at home is 2.6 and 4.1 on the road for his career. He has also never thrown more than 175 innings. Extra year of control is great but he isnt near a cueto like upgrade fod a playoff push.
Padres already lost the 1st game of the series against the Marlins. No sweep possible.
Why is it that only ESPN seems to think the Padres will have to pay a portion of Shields contract to move him? No one else has said that, but Olney and Stark both said. Seems to me that ESPN is pushing an agenda on that one. An agenda that makes no sense to anyone, but them.
No reason for Padres to eat any of Shields contract. He is pitching well and 3 teams offered as much or nearly as much as he will make over the next 3 season before the Padres signed him.
If they eat salary, they’ll get better prospects back
The 3 teams that offered him that money are not now going to give it to him after 1/2 season, and turn over a couple of prime prospects as well. Why would they do that unless the Padres paid some of his salary. That would make no sense.
Cubs had two scouts in attendance for his last start. I think they are very much still in on him. Giants have seen him several times and are in on a top line pitcher if they have the pieces to get one. So I think you are off base as much as ESPN is off base. Gammons was on MLB Network saying that he thinks the Padres wont trade Shields unless they get a top line MLB ready prospect and are not willing to pay any of his contract. He thinks the Cubs are one of the most likely teams to trade for him. I agree with him.
I don’t think I’m off base at all. I think you did not comprehend what I wrote, which I thought was pretty straight forward,
You have to realize that just because someone reports that Padres want X, Y, and Z doesn’t mean that other teams will agree to X, Y, and Z.
Well they’re not gonna get a top line MLB ready prospect unless they pay at least half of his salary. He’s basically a #3 getting paid ace money for the next 3 years.
No one else was interested in paying him $21m a year in 2016-2018 during the offseason so they’re not going to give up any nice prospects in order to do it now. And you are incorrect about 3 other teams offering Shields close to as much money as we did. Only the Giants were also willing to give Shields a guaranteed fourth year and they retracted their offer after he told them he wanted 5 years and 100m+.
The other teams didnt try to backload the deal… its now a higher AAV than teams were close to offering.
If the Padres ate enough of the money, it would be nice to see Shields go back to the Royals. But my guess is that Moore and his FO they have some problems with Shields age and the length of his contract.
I think you are on on that one – it has been reported that the royals don’t want a salary on their books and are looking rental.
Its not the contract or the age. It’s all about the money. Which is why Gordon is gone at seasons end. Would have been hard to let him walk if he hadn’t gotten injured. Now the fan base has seen they can still win without him. Bye Bye.
No one knows if Gordon is gone.
As much as I’d like to see Price with the Giants, they simply do not have enough to acquire him via trade. It’d be nice to see them go after him in free agency but I think SF will be gun shy about spending big on a free agent pitcher after the Barry Zito fiasco.
I’m guessing the Orioles are just leaving Clevenger in AAA until next year after they let Wieters walk and Clevenger and Joseph will share the catching duties next year?