The Cubs are discussing a trade with the Angels for reliever Joe Smith, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Cubs are considering other possibilities as well, according to Rosenthal. As you can see on our Cubs depth chart page, Theo Epstein and company have already augmented their bullpen with the acquisitions of Aroldis Chapman and Mike Montgomery, as well as the activation of veteran Joe Nathan.
In addition to the Cubs, the Angels are talking about Smith with two other teams, according to Rosenthal. He has previously been linked to the Mets, Indians, Mariners, and Cardinals. The 32-year-old righty has been OK this year, with a 3.82 ERA, 6.0 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.96 HR/9, and 54.8% groundball rate in 37 2/3 innings. Smith has about $1.8MM remaining on his contract, after which he’ll be eligible for free agency.
Please discuss something else
Tim, any idea whether trading Smith would get LAA back below the luxury tax threshold they crossed when Lincecum signed, or would the Angels have to reduce their salary commitments with one or more additional trades?
I think they’d still be over by a little.
Why? The roster is already swollen to the point that LaStella, and his .295/.388/.457 slash line was sent to the minors this weekend to make room for a guy coming off the DL. Joe Smith’s peripherals aren’t even better than Justin Grimm, another guy who was just sent to the minors to make room for a spot starter.
I want the Mets to pick him up
Cards should make the move to get him. He’s a very good submarine pitcher. Could also use him as a closer if rosenthal doesn’t come though.
Going by Theo and Hoyer’s track record over the last 2 weeks I bet they offer up Ian Happ and Eloy Jimenez for this guy. smh.
Are you stupid? They’ve trade one big prospect in the last 5 years. Seriously, go away if you think they’re going to trade big prospects for EVERYONE they trade for
You should change your u-name to SheldonCooper. Sarcasm is not strong in this one.
Vogelbach+Blackburn is a huge overpay for Montgomery
Torres, McKinney, Warren, and Crawford is a huge overpay for 2 months of Chapman. It is essentially an equal deal to the one the Red Sox made in the offseason for Kimbrel……. to have Kimbrel for 3 full YEARS….. not 2 f’ing months.
That’s 4 top 20 prospects they traded for 2 d*** relievers. 2 of those prospects were top 10 in the system, and 1 of those 2 was their best prospect. One of those relievers they got has no track record of success in Montgomery and the other is a rental in Chapman. If you don’t get how these are overpays….. well…….
If this was the board game Clue you’d lose……. because you don’t have one.
They paid what the market dictated and they did it from a position of strength. No team has ever one a WS title with prospects that would never sniff the Bigs with their given club. Sounds like you need to get a clue.
Keep on playing MLB the show on franchise mode with force trades on. Seriously go the f*** away. You’re a moron who is turning into bigpapi4ever, except worse!
To be back Ian happ would have been very fair for Chapman straight up. The jankees would have had to send betances with him.
Going by Theo and Jeds track record I would not worry at all about what they do KB
Angels should really try and dump street any way they can, guys terrible.
all the hate for street is ridiculous. the Guys been a great closer for many years, give him a chance to fix himself my goodness. some people watch one game (yesterday’s) and went off on how bad street is. give him a break
Seems like Joe Smith would be pretty cheap too. 2 low level prospects. No one from the 25 man or40 man roster.
They don’t need him though. I can see this being a mid-late August move for when rosters expand in September, but not now.
That’s true but they might need him in a game like last night. In the 8th inning maddon used everyone plus Travis wood pitching twice and in LF
With all these teams needing and wanting corner outfielders, maybe the Angels could package Calhoun, Smith and Sales and get a good haul in return. I know Angels fans, I don’t want to lose Calhoun either. But if they can get pitching in return, they need it. The FA market this offseason will have plenty of good hitters. But not much starting pitching. It will be easier to replace Calhoun this offseason. Than trying to add starting pitching.
Jesus. With this market being the hottest ever, if Eppler stands pat with Street, Smith and Escobar he should be fired on the spot. He should be able to turn each Smith and Street into top 100s (if not more) and reduce salary short term. Grab a corner OF bat and potentailly a 3b. THat plus a hopefully healthy rotation in 2017 and 18′ the Angels definetly compete.
looks like smith is the only one with a chance of being dealt. maybe Escobar this offseason I hope