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By Jason Martinez | at
Email a copy of 'Playoff Contender Needs (American League)' to a friend
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krillin
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.
A'sfaninUK
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?).
JT19
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.
Rally Weimaraner
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.
BoldyMinnesota
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
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
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.
johncena2016
Really nice article, love this type of content. Anyways, I could see the Astros grabbing a starter, maybe Cashner, Hellickson, Pomeranz, or Matt Moore.
ghostofgradysizemore
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.
Jeff Todd
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.
krillin
Ban Hammer him, Jeff! Just kidding.
kingfelix34
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.
hanks1hammer
Hmm..you sound just like the kind of poster I hope gets banned. =}
kingfelix34
I already am banned pretty much so thank you very much
Gogerty
Hey Jeff, did I miss chats this week???
ghostofgradysizemore
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.
TheAdrianBeltre
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.
andy t.
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.
reed 2
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
kingfelix34
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.
whereslou
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.
ln13
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.
Rally Weimaraner
Wieters, a rental player, only has value to another contender. Not impossible for a deal to be made but it would be tough
BoldyMinnesota
Why would Baltimore trade him though? I’m pretty sure Caleb Joseph has a WrC of 5 lol
eggy
I’m actually thinking wieters or trumbo could go at the break of it brings back pitching
augold5
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
tribefan
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?
ghostofgradysizemore
Indians chuckle and hang up the phone.
baumer16
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
jaysfan77
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.
strike4
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.
gammaraze
As a Rangers fan, I’m tired of hearing about Lucroy. I’m so glad he just glossed over it in this article.
73rangers
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.
Gogerty
Nice comment man.
krillin
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?
Rally Weimaraner
Oh the irony of whining about whiners
TonytheKeg
nice
reed 2
I didn’t get enough attention as a child so I feel I need to whine about the people whining about whiners.
reed 2
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.
krillin
There is a big difference between disagreeing and saying the writer is being lazy. Opinions and laziness are two different things.
Rally Weimaraner
Everybody need starting pitching and there just ain’t much available. Somebody is about to get fleeced.
AshamedMethGoat
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!
Rally Weimaraner
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
Gogerty
Which one?
baronbeard
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.
rodharper
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!
Shakey
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.
stymeedone
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.
whereslou
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.
AngelFan69
The Angels may be having a garage sale with the entire roster minus Trout… Pick and choose… First come … First served!
triberulz
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.
whereslou
You can’t have Guti.
Indyjuster
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.
krillin
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?