Here’s the latest from FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, via his weekly Full Count video…
- Carlos Beltran wants to keep playing beyond this season and there’s a chance he could return to the Royals in 2017. Kansas City will have a vacancy at DH next season since Kendrys Morales is a free agent, and the Royals made a push to sign Beltran in the 2013-14 offseason before the Yankees boosted their offer to include a third guaranteed year. Beltran, who turns 39 tomorrow, is still swinging a strong bat, and it’s possible he could better preserve himself in a regular DH role — Alex Rodriguez’s presence in New York has kept Beltran mostly in right field as a Yankee.
- Aside from Ian Kennedy, the Royals also targeted free agent hurlers Zack Greinke, Wei-Yin Chen and Mike Leake as good fits for their rotation last winter. “All throw changeups, all field their positions well and, most importantly, all command their fastballs,” Rosenthal noted, and GM Dayton Moore told him that pitchers who tend to fall behind in the count didn’t mesh with the Royals’ style. K.C. ended up signing Kennedy to a five-year, $70MM contract, which was less than the five years/$80MM Leake and Chen respectively received from the Cardinals and Marlins and obviously well below Greinke’s $206.5MM megadeal with the Diamondbacks. (Leake, unlike the other three, didn’t have qualifying offer draft compensation to his services.) In the early going, Kennedy has been outstanding as a Royal, posting a 1.35 ERA over his first three starts.
- The Athletics’ good start will make it less likely that Sonny Gray is traded, though Rosenthal notes that even if Gray was shopped and a team was willing to give up “a ton” for the star righty, the A’s would still face a tough decision about pulling the trigger on a deal. Gray will become eligible for arbitration next winter, and though his arb costs may eventually price him out of Oakland’s comfort zone, Gray would still certainly be “affordable” for the A’s in 2017 (and really a bargain if he continues to post ace-type numbers).
- In another video from Rosenthal, he notes that the Astros might eventually need to make a trade to add some velocity to their rotation. Houston’s starters entered today with the lowest average velocity (87.8 mph) of any club in baseball, with the Orioles next to last at 90.1 mph. The rotation woes are just one of many problems plaguing the Astros right now as the team is off to a rough 5-12 start.
By the deadline , If the A’s are out of contention , I look for the Dodgers and Cubs looking to target gray.
I’d imagine the haul would have to bring in a few mlb level players or prospects close to mlb, which might scare away the dodgers. I can see the red Sox as buyers for gray too
In normal circumstances I’d agree. But it’s the A’s, so who knows.
No reason at all for Oakland to move him, even if they lose 100 games this year, unless its for like, Kris Bryant or Corey Seager. He’s still on min wage and the A’s need cheaper players to offset the horrendous contracts they like to give to guys like Billy Butler, Hiroyuki Nakajima and Jim Johnson.
All true, though it’s worth noting there was no reason to trade Josh Donaldson, either.
The cubs are not trading Bryant in the deal for Gray. they have other prospects to trade for a pitcher. Like I said , could be the dodgers in on him as well but they might have to give up Urias or DeLeon
There actually was a reason to trade him. He had a couple huge blowout with Beane. Go figure who won.
The won with the MVP?
I think Boston tried to get gray but Billy Beane asked for Bogarts or Betts I think
I think GM’s around the league are aware that the Red Sox “prospects” are vastly overrated and I fail to see why a pretty good judge of talent like Billy Beane would fall prey to “potential”.
No way they are really in the conversation, unless they mortgage the current ballclub and the farm.
Agree 1000%. Cubs will make a serious run, and they have the trade chips to pull it off.
The A’s should have no trouble keeping Gray through arbitration. They astutely arranged for their aging superstars (Butler, Crisp) to come off the books before Gray’s most expensive arbitration year.
The bigger problem though is that since Oakland has always been a low payroll team, signing Gray to a long term deal might be unrealistic. He might be gone before his final arb year.
Padres have Andrew Cashner available who averages above 95 mph on his fastball. I am not sure his trade value but a prospect like Colin Moran or J.D. Davis would be something that would interest AJ Preller with no real 3B prospects in the upper minor leagues.
Moran isn’t going anywhere.
I am not sure how other teams perceive Cashner or value their own prospects but just spit balling. What would you think of Andrew Cashner and Derek Norris for Albert Abreu, J.D. Davis, and another lower level prospect?
Cashner is not getting you that package. Come on. First he is not that good. He is injury prone. Inconsistent and will be a free agent and any team trading for him will not even be allowed to make a QO since your idiot GM waited, again, to long to pull the trigger. Cashner has no value.
Gray isn’t going anywhere this year but it would be stunning to me if he’s still there when he hits free agency. Part of it is obviously a money thing, but it’s also just Beane’s style: trade your veterans to reload on prospects. By 2018 I expect he’ll be traded.
Na I disagree, if they fall out of contention this year. I look for Bean to trade him at the deadline or in the offseason.
it’s the A’s. as Ken Harrelson would say, “He Gone”!