Five games back of a playoff spot, the Royals aren’t ready to sell yet, but contending clubs are eyeing their potential trade chips, reports Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. The changed qualifying offer system in the new collective bargaining agreement could impact the Royals’ decisions, per Dodd, who notes that draft-pick compensation isn’t as appealing as it was previously. Had the Royals been in this situation last year, they could have kept impending free agents such as Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas, issued them qualifying offers and landed first-round picks had they signed elsewhere. Now, in order to secure a first-rounder, KC would need to offer a QO, have the player reject it and then join another team for $50MM-plus. Otherwise, if a player signs someplace else for less than $50MM, the Royals will get a pick after the second round.
More from the Central divisions:
- The Cardinals will have to decide before the trade deadline whether their current lineup will suffice, observes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ranking 26th in the majors in runs and 21st in wRC+, the Cardinals’ offense lacks a hitter capable of inspiring fear in opposing teams, several talent evaluators told Goold. They’re unlikely to acquire that type of hitter if he’s only a short-term rental, though, as Goold relays that the Redbirds “remain reluctant” to sacrifice significant assets for a stopgap. Internally, St. Louis isn’t convinced it needs to make a notable upgrade offensively. Rather, the club could pin its hopes on Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler and Aledmys Diaz recovering from slow starts. All three, especially Carpenter, have been resoundingly successful offensive producers in recent seasons.
- Writing for MLB.com, Cuban outfield prospect Luis Robert acknowledges that the White Sox “probably were the team that offered more money” than anyone else, which was key in his decision to sign with the team for $26MM last weekend. It also helped the White Sox’s cause that they’ve never shied away from adding Cuban players. That includes first baseman Jose Abreu, who “can be a big help for me, because he is a veteran and has experience in this league,” posits Robert. The 19-year-old believes he’ll need a full year in the minors before he’s ready to contribute at the big league level.
- Third baseman Travis Shaw has been a steal thus far for the Brewers, opines Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. Shaw, whom the Brewers acquired in an offseason trade with Boston, has slashed .296/.341/.538 with 10 home runs and five steals across 214 plate appearances with his new team. The 27-year-old is relishing his time in Milwaukee, telling Kepner: “I miss the guys over there, but coming over here was a blessing for me,” Shaw said. “I get a chance to play every single day. They wanted me, the ballpark fits my strengths a little bit more, and so far everything’s gone very smoothly. I’m glad I’m over here.”
Mo won’t do it, he’s really comfortable with the team he’s constructed
He has said “We want to be able to compete”……..he didn’t use the word “Win”.
I’m starting to think that he’s MORE afraid of “Making a move that’s a mistake”, than he is of “NOT making a move that’s a mistake”.
That’s a recipe for mediocrity…….
That’s why I wished MO tried for Encarnacion and/or Trumbo. I saw no offense in the off season
Trumbo isn’t a NL player
Unfortunately many Cardinal fans expect teams to hand us impact players with little in return. There seems to be two main camps of Cardinal fans. One camp thinks teams will hand us all stars for an MLB bench player, a decent prospect, and a throw in long shot prospect. The other camp wants to take C-Mart, Reyes, Weaver, and Kelly and throw them in for a bat that is on the wrong side of 30. Personally, I disagree with both. Last year I thought we should sale and get rid of players like Peralta, Grich, Adams, Wacha, and Leake and stock our minors with more bats. This year my philosophy is the same because this team is worse in every aspect except starting pitching. This isn’t a get one impact player and we will be world series favorites type team. The only real hope for this team is for Fowler, Carpenter, Diaz, Piscotty, and Wong to start hitting. At the same time they have to hope Gyorko and Pham keep producing. Plus, let’s face it Leake, Wacha, and Lynn are due to regress some. Wacha and Leake are already coming back down to Earth their last couple of starts. Pretty much if the offense doesn’t heat up now, and those two continue to trend back to their norms then this team will fall to the basement in a hurry. The only reason we aren’t double digits back is because the Central is struggling. That won’t last, and this team just isn’t god enough to keep up when the Cubs do heat up. Mo needs to sale, shed salary, restock, and make impact deals in the offseason.
The cards definitely need a upgrade in their lineup!!! The bullpen needs upgraded also!!!
I don’t mind the Cardinals lineup if they are all batting 1-2 and then 6-9. We have no 3,4,5 hitters whatsoever. And the incompetence over the last few seasons tells me that nothing will change during this season. No trade and all the continuous call ups and demotions says we’re trying to find it within our own system.
I hope we put it together but I don’t see this team improving too much. Weak defense, weak offense, weak pitching. Middle of the road team.
Carpenter would be a 3-5 hitter in any lineup in baseball
If you really think that you are nuts. He is a guy who would rather take a third strike if he thinks it’s a ball instead of protect on a close pitch. He tries to hit a home run every at bat which is why his batting average has plummeted. He is. 5-7 hitter.
Agreed.
So we’re just going to ignore that he is tied for 19th in baseball over the last three years in wRC(plus) with Stanton and Belt over the last three years, okay.
Lol not this years version of Carp. Heck he wouldn’t crack the lineup as a Yankee, Red Sox, Cub, Ranger, Dodger, Astros…
Carpenter would be the starting 2B or 3B on all of those teams. You’re so wrong
carpenter is a flash in the pan. he’s got allen craig disease
This year’s version of Carpenter is still OPS’ing at an above-average rate. His low average is clouding some people’s judgment. They see .216 and forget that a .351 OBP is pretty damn good and .415 SLG is respectable.
Carpenter won’t continue with a .241 BABIP. Especially considering he continues to hit the ball hard. He has been as good as Robinson Cano since 2013. If that’s not a middle of the order hitter, I dunno what is.
Not on the Dodgers or Astros or Cubs or Rangers. Maybe over Headley with the Yankees
Which long-term impact batters are available on teams that are “selling?” What would it take to get one?
What would it take?………….Right now, it looks like it would take “Mo Resigning”……He has whiffed on so many opportunities over the last 2 years.
Anybody else wondering why Adams is raking now in Atlanta……??? He’s playing like the “Adams we thought we were getting”………..There’s something wrong here.
Keep in mind Adams obp with ATL is 283. Yeah he has hit 4 hrs. but Sun Trust park is a launching pad. been to games there. Adams is a part time player. Mo held on to him for to long. Mo has a long enough track record to justify his job security. MM has got to go. Mo has tried to tailor this team the last two seasons & MM doesn’t have this team playing up to their talent level. True they lack a superstar hitter. But there is no reason why this team cannot field, or run the bases. And that’s soley on MM as the manager. Cards won despite MM managing by numbers up. Now they need MM to get players to consistently play at their highest level & MM is incapable of doing that.
Adams was coming off injury. They probably wanted to give him time to rebuild value.
Raking??? He is batting like .250 and Atlanta is an easy park to hit homers in.
Look at most of the impact trades in the past year or two. It would probably take our 4 top prospects to even have a chance at a true impact player. Maybe more since Boston, and other teams, have more highly regarded prospects and they had to sacrifice about 4 in their trades.
cardinals, in the past, had will clark, larry walker, carlos beltran, and lance berkmann as veteran players on the roster. no one like that has been signed recently. no one on the roster now like those players listed. justin morneau, comes to mind as a good fit, if he still wants to play.
What needs upgrading in STL is the manager position
I think they need a New GM
Exactly, how long do we accept the decline in defense, base running, and basic fundamentals and not blame the Manager?
Matt Kemp to Cards for Carson Kelly & Tyler Lyons
Terrible trade
Lol
No way. Laughable. Carson Kelly needs to be on the majors. Yadi can play first and trade Carpenter for a bag of baseballs.
Agreed
trade Yadi then, he would have negative value at 1B.
Why exactly is everyone so low on Matt Carpenter?
He’s a top 20 hitter in baseball and the numbers support that. Two months in, he has a low BABIP that won’t sustain.
He’s the best Cards hitter by a good distance.
Travis Shaw has been solid for the brewers. GM Stearns has been spot on with his moves thus far in Milwaukee.
Shaw, not signing Villar to an extension, Thames, Aguilar, Sogard, Bandy/Piña combo. Great off-season by Stearns.
Lewis Brinson about to be up too. Brewers lineup could get scary. Maybe they will look for a Santana/Braun trade, that is if Broxton shows more consistency.
Braun has a right to approve any trade. He’s not going anywhere but LA if he’s dealt.
But, he has been a franchise corner-stone, and still holds tremendous value as a 3-hole hitter in the lineup. Love the 2-3-4 as Thames, Braun, Shaw. Santana could be dealt for a pitching prospect(s) too, since he’s low-cost & controllable, and hasn’t his potential ceiling yet, but is showing signs.
If anyone from the outfield should be dealt, it should be Keon. He strikes out far too much to be a top of the order guy, and OBP is too low.. He has been inconsistent, to say the least. If Brinson can stick in CF, that’s the move you make. Realistically, both Santana and Broxton have options left, so there’s no need to trade either.
Shaw has been a steal for the Brewers(coming from a Red Sox fan) but it is also because we have yet to see what we can get out of Thornburg when he returns. People aren’t giving the Red Sox much credit for what they are doing they are winning or losing close games(with a few blow out losses here and there) without their 2 best relievers(smith and Thornburg) without having a completely healthy rotation(Price started the year on DL and then Wright went down for the year and now E-Rod is on the DL) and without their key bench player like Brock Holt who could help stabilize 3rd base which is another issue for the Sox. Merrero and Johnson and Travis and Scott have all done great jobs holding down those positions but they are no where near as good as the people they are trying to replace. By the end of the year when everyone is healthy(I am confident that there will be a point this season where this is true) people will see how dangerous the Red Sox really are
He had such a strong first-half last year, he just needed to be a more focal point in the lineup (batting in the heart of the order consistently). Once he moved down to the lower-half of the order, it was over.
Thornburg has had a lot of arm trouble in his young career. Could be a Carson Smith-type acquisition for them. He is a strong late-inning arm though. Brewers could use one at the deadline.
I get the point you’re making, but part of the problem is that DD dealt away a lot of the depth that would’ve patched those holes. DL stints happen to every team (take a look at the Mariners who have seen 4 starting pitchers and a SS who was performing at an all-star caliber level hit the DL for multiple weeks or more, the Mets who have seen a solid amount of pitching depth and their best hitter in Cespedes go down, etc.). Thornburg may come in and pitch lights out but he was a surplus acquisition. Shaw could be helping Boston more than a relief pitcher ever could.
I give the players credit for grinding, but DD has not done a good job since taking the helm.
I agree, he was given a fully stocked farm system. He went for it too soon. He didn’t need to get Sale. Could have had Kopech & Moncada coming into fill roles, which would have been much more valuable. This team could have competed without Sale. A lot of people are pointing to early regression from Sale as well.
Instead, the team is down. This would have been a great time to infuse Moncada.
Hosmer to the Yankees makes sense no? I get they have Greg Bird and Carter but Hosmer would be a loaner player anyway and would shore up the position THIS year for a playoff run.
Hosmer isn’t good…
No! He would cost too much in prospects for a rental. When all is said and done Bird plus whoever will equal or pass Hosmers production.
Yankees have become competitive and interesting again by going with youth. No Hosmer for the price of youth and athleticism. You’d basically be bringing in another, albeit younger, Headley
DH Bird against Righties?
I blame Mo for the Cardinals mess. He hired a manager with no experience when they could’ve signed Franconca. Look what he’s doing in Cleveland. MIke Matheny and his Mafia needs to hit the road, but I don’t see it happening right now. The person that should’ve been fired is John Mabry. Every year he’s been hitting coach with the exception of 2012, the Cardinals offense has fallen. I may be time for Dewitt to step in and make changes because Mo has been singing the same song since he became GM
What did you say about me?
he said your a troll
I’m really bothered by the way Cardinals fans are turning on Carpenter. He has been our best offensive player for several years now, has a remarkable work ethic, has moved around the diamond without a complaint that I’ve heard. He’s had a few mediocre months and suddenly he’s a bum? He is still OPSing .766 on a brutal BABIP of .240. He has found ways to contribute. When did fan base get so vicious?
He isn’t performing. Fans have a right to get on his case. It’s the position he is in as a corner-stone player. But, he is still a producing player that impacts the game in a strong way, give him time, he always comes out of these little slumps.
he’s disappointed he doesn’t bat first. he must be a snowflake. leadoff batters only get one guaranteed at bat to lead off an inning, the first inning. after that, it’s luck of the draw.
Please provide any evidence that he has expressed disappointment about not leading off. You state a false premise, followed by meaningless babble.
evidence isn’t always something that is verbally expressed. that and the rest of the babbling is true. research it.