Heading into the 2nd half of the season, 19 teams are within 5.5 games of a playoff spot while maintaining a .500 or better record. These are what we call the “playoff contenders” and, as of right now, they are potential “buyers” on the trade market in the coming weeks.
On the other end of the spectrum, those teams with sub-.500 records don’t appear to have what it takes to get back into contention. The Phillies and Rockies aren’t that far behind—they’re six and seven games behind the second Wild Card spot, respectively—and neither is a walk in the park on the schedule for opponents. But at six and eight games under .500, respectively, I’d be surprised if either front office isn’t ready to wheel and deal right now. If not already, these 11 teams will be in selling mode very soon.
Starting with the American League, let’s take a close look at each contending team’s biggest areas of need and some potential trade targets that could help down the stretch.
AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
51-36, 1st Place, +2
STARTING PITCHING
The good news for the divison-leading Orioles is that they have the 6th best record in baseball despite having one of the worst starting rotations in baseball. The bad news is that, barring a trade or two, they still have to play 75 games with one of the worst rotations in baseball.
Sure, the O’s are very good at hitting home runs and closing out games. That formula could work in the post-season. But very bad starting pitching will eventually wear a team down, making it very difficult to finish strong and actually make it into the post-season.
Chris Tillman is having a nice season. Kevin Gausman has been very good at times, but doesn’t appear quite ready to be the frontline starter the O’s need to carry them into the playoffs. Yovani Gallardo has been a disappointment. Ubaldo Jimenez continues to be awful. Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson have been serviceable, although both have an ERA over 5.00. Help isn’t on the way, either.
The O’s might not have the farm system to land a controllable top-of-the-rotation starter, but they have enough intriguing prospects—former 1st Round pick Hunter Harvey, Futures Game catcher Chance Sisco and 1st baseman Trey Mancini (.882 OPS between Triple-A and Double-A) all have value—to compete for the top rental available (Rich Hill) or a very good mid-rotation starter with control (Drew Pomeranz, Hector Santiago or Drew Smyly).
Boston Red Sox
49-38, Wild Card (1st-T), +2
STARTING PITCHING
The Sox struck early to solidify their bullpen, acquiring Brad Ziegler last week with Craig Kimbrel expected to miss 3-6 weeks. The offense is already one of the best in baseball and, if they choose, could possibly get better with internal options like Andrew Benintendi and/or Yoan Moncada.
Like the Orioles, though, this is a team that’s lucky to be where they’re at considering the state of their starting rotation.
They’re nowhere near as shaky as the Orioles’ starting rotation—David Price has mostly been himself aside from a few bad outings, Rick Porcello has been solid and Steven Wright was a well-deserved All-Star selection—but this is a team that had journeyman Sean O’Sullivan penciled into the No. 4 spot in their rotation before he recently landed on the disabled list.
A handful of young pitchers could potentially step up and help out in the 2nd half—Eduardo Rodriguez will return from Triple-A to start on Friday—but this is a team in desperate need of some stability. With so much minor league talent, the Sox have the means to go after Hill and a controllable frontline starter like Chris Archer or Julio Teheran, although it would be tough to get the Rays or Braves to budge on either of their staff aces without the inclusion of Benintendi or Moncada.
Toronto Blue Jays
51-40, Wild Card (1st-T), +2
LATE-INNING RELIEF PITCHING or STARTING PITCHING
Even with Marcus Stroman having a disappointing season, the Jays clearly have the best starting rotation in the division. And if Stroman’s last two starts are any indication that he’s turning things around (14.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 12 K), the Jays have the potential to overtake the Orioles and run away with the division. The bullpen, however, might not have enough talent to help the cause.
While Jason Grilli has given the ’pen a big boost since his acquisition last month (2.63 ERA, 13.2 IP, 6 BB, 23 K, 4 holds, 1 save), they’ll need another reliable arm to help bridge the gap to closer Roberto Osuna. Drew Storen hasn’t done enough to regain a high-leverage role and Brett Cecil is also no longer a trustworthy option with the game on the line.
The answer could already be on the 25-man roster, but Aaron Sanchez is no longer a lock to move to the bullpen later in the season. Pitching well enough to be named to the All-Star team might have altered those plans. Manager John Gibbons said recently, however, that he still thinks Sanchez will shift to the bullpen at some point to limit his workload.
If the Jays do plan on moving Sanchez back to the bullpen—he posted a 2.39 ERA in 30 appearances last season while limiting opponents to a .178 batting average—they would likely pursue a trade for a starting pitcher. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote about the Trade Market for Starting Pitchers on Wednesday.
New York Yankees
44-44, Wild Card (8th), -5.5
STARTING PITCHING and OUTFIELDER
As difficult as the Yankees are to beat if they can get to the 6th or 7th inning with a lead—see Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman—they’re probably not good enough to do it often enough to make the necessary leap of six teams in order to make the playoffs. In fact, they could join the list of “sellers” if they fall any further back in a week or two.
A lack of good starting pitching has been an issue. Masahiro Tanaka continues to shine despite pitching with a partially torn elbow ligament, but he’s not getting much help. CC Sabathia’s career resurgence has taken a turn for the worse. After lowering his ERA to 2.20 with a quality start on June 16th, the 35-year-old lefty has allowed at least five earned runs in four consecutive starts. Nate Eovaldi and Ivan Nova have ERAs over 5.00. So does Michael Pineda, although his strong peripherals (2.5 BB/9, 10.7 K/9) are encouraging.
If you’re looking at the offense to carry the team, that’s probably not going to happen either. Carlos Beltran, Didi Gregorius and Brian McCann have all been very good. Jacoby Ellsbury has been OK. Everyone else on the roster, aside from maybe backup catcher Austin Romine, has underperformed.
The best internal option who could’ve potentially brought some firepower to the offense was Triple-A outfielder Aaron Judge, who made my “Knocking Down The Door” list a few weeks back. The 24-year-old right fielder is expected to miss 3-4 weeks, however, after suffering a knee injury last week.
While you can’t rule out the Yankees from making a trade now as a last-ditch effort to stay in contention, it’s likely that they go with what they have and hope that someone like Luis Severino, who has pitched much better since a demotion to Triple-A in late May, could light a fire under the team and get them a few games closer to a playoff spot by late July. If that happens, they could look to add one of the several big-name outfielders that could be available (Jay Bruce, Carlos Gonzalez, Josh Reddick), as well as a lower-cost starting pitcher—Andrew Cashner and Jeremy Hellickson come to mind—to help take some pressure off of Tanaka and the bullpen.
***Click below to read breakdowns of all the other AL contenders***
AL CENTRAL
Cleveland Indians
52-36, 1st Place, +6.5
CATCHER and SETUP MAN
If you think the Indians are good now, just wait until they get their best hitter back. Michael Brantley is currently on a rehab assignment and should be back very soon. He’d be joining a lineup that already includes five players with an OPS over .800.
Of the lineup regulars, only catcher Yan Gomes is having a bad season. Actually, it’s a lot worse than “bad.” He has a .516 OPS. Since he’s due close to $20 million from 2017-2019, the Indians might not want to go after Padres catcher Derek Norris, who would be under control through the 2018 season. But maybe they’d pay the price to add Jonathan Lucroy, who has a very cheap $5.25MM club option for 2017.
It would likely cost the Indians one of their top two hitting prospects, Clint Frazier or Bradley Zimmer, but the lineup could be equally as talented as the starting rotation with Lucroy and Brantley hitting in the middle of the order. That could be worth the risk.
Adding Lucroy would be a major splash, but the Indians would also be smart to shore up the back of their bullpen. Cody Allen has been very good and Bryan Shaw has been much better as of late after struggling earlier in the season. Adding another proven setup man to the mix, however, would make their path to the post-season much smoother. Hudson or Madson would be strong additions, although Jake McGee could be a better fit with only one lefty reliever (T.J. House) currently on the roster.
Detroit Tigers
46-43, Wild Card (4th), -4
STARTING PITCHING and SETUP MAN
With recent injuries to Jordan Zimmermann (strained neck) and Daniel Norris (strained oblique), the Tigers’ priority could shift from late-inning relief help to the starting rotation. In reality, they probably need both if they’re going to stick around in this playoff race.
The Tigers’ best pitcher has been Michael Fulmer, who has been dominant as a rookie. The 23-year-old might not be around for the stretch run, though, as young pitchers are typically shut down at some point late in the season. He’s thrown 92 innings so far in 2016 after throwing a total of 124.2 innings in the minors last season. Even with a healthy Zimmermann and Norris, the Tigers could use some help if they’re going to finish the season strong.
Francisco Rodriguez has done his job as the closer and Justin Wilson has also been very good in a setup role. If they’re to make it into the post-season, however, and not have their bullpen be the cause of their playoff struggles, they’ll need another reliable arm to pair with Rodriguez.
A weak farm system could make it difficult to make a significant upgrade, but there are plenty of rentals that should be affordable. Relievers Jim Johnson of the Braves and David Hernandez of the Phillies would be in that category, as would starting pitchers Jorge De La Rosa and Tim Lincecum.
Chicago White Sox
45-43, Wild Card (5th-T)
OUTFIELDER or DESIGNATED HITTER
After back-to-back MVP-caliber seasons to start his MLB career, Jose Abreu’s production has fallen in 2016. He hasn’t been bad. He’s just not carrying a lineup that has probably needed to be carried. White Sox hitters have been, for the most part, underwhelming despite not having multiple players who are having poor seasons.
Replacing Avisail Garcia, who has a .633 OPS while playing on a regular basis as the designated hitter with a lefty slugger to hit between Abreu and Todd Frazier—Jay Bruce would fit well in front of his former Reds teammate—could be the move that jump starts this team.
Or if they don’t have the prospects to pull off a Bruce deal, they would be smart to add another top-of-the-order hitter like Coco Crisp or Jon Jay (if it appears that the latter could return from the disabled list in early August) so that current leadoff man Tim Anderson and his 1-to-37 walk-to-strikeout ratio could hit at the bottom of the order.
Kansas City Royals
45-43, Wild Card (5th-T)
STARTING PITCHING
We know that these Royals hitters can turn it on in the post-season. We know that a Royals bullpen led by a healthy Wade Davis—he’s currently on the disabled list with a strained forearm—and Kelvin Herrera can make it very difficult for opposing hitters in a seven-game series. It’s becoming clear, though, that this Royals team probably doesn’t have enough starting pitching to make it to the playoffs.
Danny Duffy, who was supposed to be the left-handed complement to Davis and Herrera in the bullpen, has been their best starter and Ian Kennedy has been about what was expected. But Edinson Volquez has taken a few steps back. Yordano Ventura’s inconsistency remains an issue. Chris Young has been moved to the bullpen after pitching poorly. Kris Medlen is on the disabled list with a shoulder injury and was recently shut down with a new shoulder injury. Dillon Gee and Brian Flynn are not the answers and there is no help on the way. It’s trade market or bust for the World Champs.
AL WEST
Texas Rangers
54-36, 1st Place, +5.5
STARTING PITCHING and CATCHER
Injuries to Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis have forced the Rangers to give 12 of their 90 starts to Cesar Ramos, Nick Martinez, Chi Chi Gonzalez and Kyle Lohse. The results are even worse than you can probably imagine.
The Rangers are set at the top of their rotation with Cole Hamels and Darvish, who is expected to come off of the disabled list on Saturday. It’s Lewis’ steady production from the middle of the rotation that they’re missing, though. Ervin Santana could be a capable replacement, although the Rangers could opt for a low-cost rental like Andrew Cashner. The 29-year-old is injury-prone and inconsistent, but he can be very good at times. Maybe a return to his hometown state in the middle of a pennant race would bring out the best in him.
While they’re at it, they might as well make it a package deal and bring Cashner’s battery-mate Norris along for the ride. The 27-year-old catcher, who has an .821 OPS with 11 homers since May 5th, would be an upgrade over the current duo of Robinson Chirinos and Bobby Wilson. Of course, that Lucroy guy is also available and the Rangers certainly have the talent in their farm system to make it happen. Stephen Vogt could also make sense if they could pry him away from the division rival A’s.
Houston Astros
48-41, Wild Card (3rd), -2
LEFTY RELIEF SPECIALIST
Does a team that has won 31 of 44 games have needs? Maybe not major needs, but the surging Astros can certainly get better.
The expectation is that they will upgrade their lineup in the near future by promoting Alex Bregman, who has proven in a very short period of time that he is way too good for the Minor Leagues.
The starting rotation hasn’t been as good as expected, mostly due to Dallas Keuchel having an ERA near 5.00, but they’ve been able to stay relatively healthy while No. 6 and No. 7 starters Scott Feldman and Chris Devenski have been solid when called upon. Triple-A starters Joe Musgrove and Brady Rodgers have also been very good and appear ready to contribute. That’s a pretty good recipe for success over a 162-game regular season.
As long as Keuchel continues to pitch well—he has five consecutive quality starts—the Astros are one of the few teams that does not need a starting rotation upgrade.
The bullpen, despite some ups and downs, isn’t a weak link by any means. They might not have had everyone clicking at once, but that should be a scary thought for opponents. What if Will Harris, Luke Gregerson, Ken Giles, Tony Sipp, Pat Neshek and Michael Feliz are all pitching well at the same time in August, September and into the post-season?
The inconsistency of this group, however, even by relief pitcher standards, is a bit concerning. The lone lefty Sipp’s inability to get lefty hitters out (.935 OPS) is a huge concern. I wouldn’t expect Jeff Luhnow to give up very much to acquire another relief pitcher—see Giles-for-Vincent Velasquez—but it wouldn’t cost a lot to add Twins lefty and former Astros reliever Fernando Abad, who has held lefty batters to a .163 batting average.
Seattle Mariners
45-44, Wild Card (7th), -5
SHORTSTOP and CLOSER
Headed in the opposite direction of the Astros with 22 losses in their last 36 games, the Mariners need to do something. All of a sudden, a roster that looked strong in all areas has several holes.
Felix Hernandez is expected back from the disabled list next week. That will help. But not enough.
Taijuan Walker, who has appeared on the verge of a breakout season at times, is now on the disabled list with foot tendinitis. Offseason acquisitions Wade Miley (5.44 ERA) and Nathan Karns (moved to bullpen) have struggled. Ditto for veteran relievers Joaquin Benoit (4.57 ERA) and Joel Peralta (5.40 ERA; released). Closer Steve Cishek has five blown saves. It doesn’t stop with the pitchers. Adam Lind (.699 OPS) and Norichika Aoki (optioned to minors) haven’t impressed. Leonys Martin hasn’t hit since coming off the disabled list last month.
Jerry Dipoto’s first offseason as the Mariners’ general manager has been a disappointment—Dae-Ho Lee has been the lone bright spot—but it’s not too late for him to make up for it. His team is over .500 and still has plenty of talent, even though the players he acquired to surround King Felix, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager haven’t done the job.
While rookie Edwin Diaz is quickly making a case to be the closer, there are a lot of veteran options available on the trade market. While general manager of the Angels, Dipoto acquired Huston Street two seasons ago. He could look to do the same this July, which would enable the Mariners to move Cishek into a role where he can pitch almost exclusively to right-handed hitters (.152 batting average).
Ketel Marte’s rough sophomore season could also have DiPoto shopping for shortstop help with Eduardo Nuñez and Eduardo Escobar of the Twins and Zack Cozart of the Reds potential targets.
Lol, 75 percent of the teams need starting pitchers. That could mean a few things. Either some team is going to way overpay, or SP will be devalued due to everyone needing starters. I doubt the later will happen.
I can’t wait to see what Rich Hill brings in, I bet its a “wow” package that will have the team where he ends up fans being sour about the prospects given up (a top 10 guy maybe?).
Barring another injury or a collapse, I think he’ll bring in a top 10 prospect or two-to-three top 20 prospects depending on if the A’s prefer quality or quantity.
David Price didn’t even bring back that type of return. Rich Hill has been great but he is still a rental player and still does not have the track record Price did.
But last year there were a lot of guys having good seasons available; price, cueto, leake, kazmir, hamels, and to a lesser extent fiers. This year it’s basically just hill and if you miss out on him, you’re next best option is probably hellickson. I think hill is going to have a surprisingly big return, and it’s going to look like a massive overpay for 3 months of him
You can put Price and Hammels in the elite section. Cueto had serious health issues. The rest were the next tier. Hill will bring a nice return but there are still going to be available options. I firmly believe that there are Ace options available at a pretty penny. So I don’t believe that Hill will bring the biggest return. On one hand Hill may seem as an overlay but if a team wins the WS I don’t think they care.
Really nice article, love this type of content. Anyways, I could see the Astros grabbing a starter, maybe Cashner, Hellickson, Pomeranz, or Matt Moore.
MLBTR usually puts up pretty good work but I’m severely disappointed in the laziness of this article. The idea that the Indians would trade one of their two nearly-untouchable outfield prospects for a catcher when Roberto Perez is about to come off the DL and Yan Gomes still has a chance to return to his elite form before the start of next season (if not sooner) is absolute garbage. Pure ignorance of a small market team’s business operations and dramatic misjudgment of prospect values, not to mention complete oversight of Roberto Perez.
Lucroy is super cheap and controlled for next year. He’s going to cost that kind of prospect to get. And he isn’t the kind of super-expensive player that the Indians can’t afford to pay. They could also add him for the stretch and trade him over the winter.
You might disagree, but the article merely suggests it as a possibility and your assessment seems a bit dramatic.
Ban Hammer him, Jeff! Just kidding.
Lol he will, he did it too all my other accounts because I said it was funny he was arguing with a 14 year old, and now pretty much most of my comments get deleted from all of my accounts.
Hmm..you sound just like the kind of poster I hope gets banned. =}
I already am banned pretty much so thank you very much
Hey Jeff, did I miss chats this week???
Perhaps the idea that the Indians should try to hold onto Zimmer if possible is a matter of opinion. My real issue isn’t that the article mentions the trade as a possibility. It’s that it does so without mentioning the value of Roberto Perez as an above-average catcher, or the value of Gimenez as Bauer’s personal catcher. It seems as though the writer looked at Gomes’ stats and immediately assumed that catcher was an area of dire need for the Indians, to the point at which they ought to give up a top 50 prospect to address the issue. That simply isn’t the case.
Whoa! I feel that you underestimate what a great contract and talent Lucroy actually is. He also plays a great 1B in case Gomes starts out-hitting one of the other guys, and his bat is DH-worthy as well(Napoli’s deal is up after season as well I believe). Gives Yan a chance to get right and likely keeps Lucroy healthier for the season. Yan being around Lucroy couldn’t hurt anyway. If $5.25 Million is too much to put a frontline catcher on the roster(and a good enough excuse for Perez>Lucroy), then that really is terribly sad. If the Indians could manage to get Lucroy and one of Milwaukee’s controlled relievers and only give up one of the big two, you should do backflips. I keep dreaming that Milwaukee will take back Prince for Lucroy(or even a bullpen guy ha), then I realize that they would also want Gallo, and Profar, or Brinson, or heck, even Odor. Maybe Mazara. Oh yeah, and Millions of dollars… Yeah.
The Mariners write up is a bit lazy, and I feel bad saying that. I never comment on these things, and appreciate the level of effort it takes to do these write ups.
L Martin is OPSing at .717. He also wasn’t brought into hit. He’s played great D.
Our first basemen have 25 HRs between them. I’d do the OPS for the combined position, but I’m at work.
Our RF platoon (Smith/Guti) has 18 HRs between them. Guti has an OPS of .784 and Smith’s is over .800.
For as much as everyone rags on Cishek, his WHIP is 1.05. He’s pitching well. He just isn’t a closer. Keith Law’s not wrong on him.
So to call DiPito’s first off-season a failure is a little rough. The Martin deal worked out to be him for Jones and Kivelehan and Wilhelmsain came home.
I’m far from a DiPito apologist. I wasn’t a fan of the Miley deal. That’s wasted money. So was Aoki.
The M’s problem is they didn’t expect to be good. Now we’ve gotta buy or sell. I’d vote sell. I think they’re buying. Whichever..
Don’t sleep on their offense though. They’re a platoon team at a lot of spots, and their platoons haven’t been bad.
Not to mention the “rough” season of Marte, sure his OBP isn’t great but he’s 22 I’m pretty happy to have a 22 yr old SS hitting around .275
I don’t really know how a shortstop trade is supposed to help us, Marte is like Martin, they are both spark plugs and it can be hard to find players like that.
Jeff and I had this discussion about Marte a few weeks ago he is far from our biggest problem. We need a better bat than Lind HRs aside his OBP is not good. My family makes fun of me because when I bad mouth Smith he does something good. The other day I sent a text to my daughter when he came up that he sucked and he hit a 3 run HR. When I sent it my Son in Law said tie game. We lost ln extra innings anyway I still think an upgrade out there that can platoon at RF/DH would help and a SP would be the biggest needs. SS is not one of them. The D SABR for Marte are not good I guess but I still think they have a way to go to be as reliable as the O ones. One of Jeff’s complaints about Marte was lack of walks but I think that is partly because of the amount of bunt attempts and the age and trying to adjust to what pitchers are doing to him. Hopefully they fill the glaring needs and don’t worry about what these guys seem to have fixated on, SS. I love the site but disagree with them and I am positive I have watched more games than they have. You get a lot more from watching than looking at a piece off paper.
It would be nice if DJ could come up and play some 1st but I understand not rushing him like the team has fine in the past. If they could get the in field of DJ Cano Marte Seager Zunino all playing to they potential and then work on the OF and pitching staff the team could give the fans since real hope. I went into the season with a wait till next year attitude but now I think there is a bit if a chance we could make the wild card nobody is catching Texas. If the guys I mentioned can live up to the hype and Alex Jackson comes around we can start to have some post season thoughts.
Would Matt Wieters be of any value as a trade chip for the Orioles? If they’re going to trade a catcher, I’d rather it be Wieters than Sisco.
Wieters, a rental player, only has value to another contender. Not impossible for a deal to be made but it would be tough
Why would Baltimore trade him though? I’m pretty sure Caleb Joseph has a WrC of 5 lol
I’m actually thinking wieters or trumbo could go at the break of it brings back pitching
What does everyone think of this trade?
Milwaukee
-C Jonathan Lucroy
-RHP Jeremy Jeffress
Cleveland
-OF Bradley Zimmer
-RHP Triston Mckenzie
-C Francisco Mejia
-LHP Thomas Pannone
I don’t like it for Cleveland. Roberto Perez will return from the DL soon, that should help out their catching situation. I don’t think the Tribe should give up McKenzie or Mejia. If Cleveland and Milwaukee hook up on a deal, I think Cleveland should be targeting Will Smith. How about Adam Plutko, he is a starter doing well in AAA, and Thomas Pannone for Will Smith?
Indians chuckle and hang up the phone.
If anyone is hanging up its Milwaukee. 1 top 100 prospect for one of the best catchers in the game who’s signed for pennies this year and next and then throw in a good closer who’s controlled for nothing for the next three years? Brewers should ask for more than that
Barring injuries, the Jays do have a capable Drew Hutchison in AAA. He’d take Sanchez place if the do move him back to the bullpen, which solves the bullpen. I don’t see them trading any high end prospects at all, their farm system needs time to mature. They have more than enough to make the playoffs.
Fun article – as always.
Please disregard all the crybabies that are complaining because the author didn’t write exactly what those commenting negatively wanted their team to do. This is all more of an art than a science and the unpredictability of baseball is what makes it all so fun.
As a Rangers fan, I’m tired of hearing about Lucroy. I’m so glad he just glossed over it in this article.
Ditto. With our problems at SP, DH and 1B a different catcher isn’t going to help a lot.
I’m to the point where I wish they would just write Fielder a check and send him home.
Nice comment man.
News flash, no one is required to read anything on this site. If you don’t like it, go to a different site. Stop freaking whining. Did you not get enough attention as a child or something?
Oh the irony of whining about whiners
nice
I didn’t get enough attention as a child so I feel I need to whine about the people whining about whiners.
Are we not allowed to disagree with a write up? I wasn’t aware the comment section for articles was to only to praise the writers.
There is a big difference between disagreeing and saying the writer is being lazy. Opinions and laziness are two different things.
Everybody need starting pitching and there just ain’t much available. Somebody is about to get fleeced.
Yup…Too bad the Dbacks aren’t in the mix. I’d love to see them overpay for yet another starter! It would be funny to see them deal Brito and Drury for Julio Teheran!
I know a certain Braves fan here who would become even more intolerable if that happened!
I’m still hoping the Angels can land a big return for Shoemaker. He needs to pitch really well in his next two starts for that to happen though
Which one?
It would be interesting to see what kind of package the Sox would put forth to get Archer. I have to imagine they would want a haul to trade with a inter-division rival.
Speaking as a Rangers fan, the need for a catcher is not the team’s priority at this moment. The Rangers have a bigger need for bullpen arms as well as an additional starter. Furthermore, can someone stop these silly Lucroy-to-Texas rumors? Hell will freeze over when the Rangers trade for Lucroy!
Jays will stand pat.
Unless they dump Joey Bats for an arm
And at this point, they’ll be lucky to get an average arm back in return.
I’m hoping the Tigers can make a trade for a “warm body” starter, like they did with Doug Fister. Not likely, but almost anyone would be better than Sanchez or Pelfrey.
Z isn’t making trades this year so there probably aren’t deals like that to be had. The last two GMs Seattle has had seemed to almost always be on the short end of those deals. I don’t think it was the Fister deal and I am too lazy to look it up but the 3 players we got for a pitcher were gone by spring training the next year.
The Angels may be having a garage sale with the entire roster minus Trout… Pick and choose… First come … First served!
Indians should have player targets on both the Mariners & Yankees. Hoping both teams fade after the all-star break & become sellers. Miller/Chapman/Gutierrez would be great additions for the Indians.
You can’t have Guti.
Great article. In response to the guy above that thin the Stros will go after a starting pitcher… No they wont. Keuchel has been back to form for the last month. Friers, Feldman, and McCullers have been solid. McHugh has been outstanding or horrible and not much in between, but more of the former as of late. They have 2 stud pitchers in the minors that they don’t have room for on the 40 man roster. My guess is if Feldman comes back from his stiff back and pitches well he goes to a desperate contender (maybe back to Baltimore). Frees up room on the 40 and money with no drop off with Devenski what so ever. Also look for them to ship Feldman for a low level prospect to someone who needs bullpen help. Another 40 man spot free. Then watch them bring up Hoyt and Bregman or Rogers. I would say they have a better chance at bringing Jay Bruce home than getting another starting pitcher unless he is a single A guy in exchange for Feldman.
Do you guys think there will actually be a blockbuster trade this year that involves mostly big league talent on both (or all three) sides? Or will it mostly be like the Pomeranz trade with prospects for MLB ready talent?