Looking to improve an already enviable rotation, the Nationals have Rays right-handers Chris Archer and Jake Odorizzi on their radar, Jon Heyman of FanRag reports (via Twitter). Either would cost far less in terms of salary than free agent Jake Arrieta will, and Heyman notes that the Nats are unsure if they’d be able to afford Arrieta. Heyman also points to Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke as a possibility for the Nats; however, he’s not exactly cheap, with $138.5MM coming his way through 2021.
More on the trade front:
- The Tigers “will only entertain lopsided offers” for righty Michael Fulmer, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). A trade involving the highly coveted 24-year-old doesn’t look likely, then.
- The Blue Jays are interested in Reds outfielders Billy Hamilton and Adam Duvall, per reports from Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (via Twitter) and Jays Journal. The Braves also have interest in the 29-year-old Duvall, tweets Heyman. Duvall, a 30-home run hitter in each of the previous two seasons, is controllable for the next four years. He won’t be arbitration eligible until next winter.
- The Giants’ own interest in Hamilton continues, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the chatter with the Reds has “faded significantly” of late. Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer adds on Twitter that the Giants are the most serious suitors for Hamilton, but they’re “at a bit of a standoff” with the Reds. San Francisco still has interest in free agent Jay Bruce, per Rosenthal, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that Bruce is the top name on San Francisco’s “wish list.” Still, the club has not made him an offer to this point.
- It’s up in the air whether the Marlins will trade center fielder Christian Yelich. Either way, the Phillies will continue to monitor his availability, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays. Meanwhile, they’ve “been aggressive” in shopping shortstop Freddy Galvis, according to Salisbury, who adds (via Twitter) that the Angels “really liked” second baseman Cesar Hernandez before they acquired Ian Kinsler. The Halos didn’t want to meet the Phillies’ asking price for Hernandez, however.
- The Red Sox asked about Marcell Ozuna before the Cardinals acquired him, but they did not have the sort of pitching assets the Marlins were for, Dombrowski told reporters including the Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link.) The Indians also inquired about Ozuna, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com writes.
- In addition to Chase Headley, the Padres are dangling infielder Yangervis Solarte in chatter with rival organizations, Heyman reports on Twitter. Solarte, 30, is controllable for the next three years at affordable costs (a guaranteed $4MM in 2018 and then club options totaling $13.5MM for 2019-20).
- The Blue Jays were another team with interest in Kinsler before Wednesday’s trade, Nicholson-Smith tweets. Toronto was on Kinsler’s 10-team no-trade list, so it’s unclear how open he’d have been to going there.
Pax vobiscum
Klentak thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room but he isn’t. He’s botched three straight first round picks, waited too long to trade Hellickson in 2016, made a qo to Hellickson for 2017, got nothing for Ken Giles and then there’s Buckholz, Morton and Michael Saunders…and the beat goes on.
CubsRebsSaints
Nothing for Ken Giles?
CubsRebsSaints
I thought they got 4 minor leaguers for a reliever? 2 of which were good prospects. I am asking, because I don’t remember exactly what they got
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Vince Velasquez, Mark Appel and a couple guys whose names I don’t remember. Anyway, if the 2017 postseason is any indication, the Phillies really aren’t missing much by not having Ken Giles on the team.
dudeness88
Jury is still out on Vince Velasquez I think. He still has a chance to be great. The big piece was Mark Appel and they cut him loose I think. Oberholtzer is gone. Eshelman has been good. should be called up sometime in 2018. Harold Aruaz seems to be a good prospect. threw a 7 inning no no last season I think. Deal can still be good for Philly I think..from an Astros fan standpoint at least. Kenny has had great moments.. and extremely frustrating moments as an Astro.
Chris Sale Amateur Tailor
they got some good prospects in that deal the problem was that they could have had derek Fisher instead they gave up more to get appel
chris5
Velasquez was the big piece. Appel was the throw in.
justinept
Appel wasn’t the big piece. He was te 3rd or 4th piece. Yes he was the top pick of the draft in 2013, but his prospect shine wore off after his first pro season in 2014. By the time he was traded after the 2015 season, nobody thought he was any good. He was somewhere between a lottery ticket and a throw in with this deal.
dudeness88
Appel was definitely the biggest piece they got in that deal at that time. He was still a top 40 prospect back when it was called MLB Pipeline or something. Was definitely not a throw in or lottery ticket.
Priggs89
No, he wasn’t. Velasquez was the centerpiece of the deal. Appel was top 40 the previous season, but he was dropping VERY quickly. At the time of the trade (pre-2016), Appel had already fallen of BA’s list and dropped to the 60-70 range for MLB.com and BP. The only reason he even remained that high was because he was a former #1 pick. He was far from the biggest piece.
dudeness88
google.com/amp/s/amp.mlb.com/159294368-phillies-ge…
Jon Mayo’s word. Not mine. But it is just one man’s opinion I guess. “The key to this deal”.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
It is well known that Vince Velasquez was the centerpiece of that trade.
JKB 2
No Appel was not only not a big piece he was not even in the original trade the teams were contiplating
some guy 2
Was it my imagination or was Appel swapped in at the last minute? I seem to remember the original deal had a minor league outfielder….
herecomethephillies2018
It’s not your imagination. The trade was supposed to involve Derek Fisher instead but the Astros balked at the last second.
I don’t get people being down on that deal, it worked out for both clubs. Shift Appel and VV to the pen and then the payoff will come for Philly. VV lacks the durability to be a starter and will be at least as good as Giles as a reliever, and Appel’s lack of a third quality pitch will be less damaging to him when he only has to face hitters once in a game. I get why they wanted to see if these guys could get the hang of starting while they were rebuilding, but hopefully the experiment is over and the front office and coaching staff have returned to reality with what they actually got in this deal.
DannyQ3913
You’re way off
beard
I could see the Nats offering a big package like Taylor/Difo + Soto + Kieboom + some lower tier guys for Archer + Colome. Or a slightly smaller package for Odorizzi + Colome
Chris Sale Amateur Tailor
that seems pretty fair package but I think they need that a bit more to get Archer and odorizzi wouldn’t cost nearly that much
floridapinstripes
That’s okay but if you know the Rays they don’t want anyone entering arbitration years.
It would have to be headlined by Robles.
you’re not getting both archer and colome without emptying your top 3 at least
Priggs89
They refused to trade Robles for Sale. It’s definitely not happening for Archer, especially after Robles continued raking all of last year.
floridapinstripes
you didn’t get sale and you won’t get archer.
If it was just archer and not colome that package might be close to okay
therealryan
If the Nationals trade for Archer, it will take Robles as the headliner plus another very good prospect. We’ve seen the cost for other quality SP on team friendly contracts. 3 years of Sale returned a 65 FV 2B/3B and a 55/60 FV SP as the headliners and 3.5 years of Quintana returned a 60 FV OF and 55 FV SP as the headliners. 4 years of Archer will require similar types of headliners. For the Nationals that means Robles (60 FV OF) and one of Soto/Fedde/Kieboom all 55 FV prospects as the headliners, plus some quality filler. If you want to include Colome, it will take another of the 55 FV and a 50 FV such as Crowe/Romero/Garcia as well.
The trade would be huge, but it would probably look something like Archer and Colome for Robles, Fedde, Kieboom, Romero plus 2-3 young big armed pitchers or toolsy flier types.
pseudostats
Lopsided for Avila could mean anything. Haven’t been impressed with any of his trades, they are nothing but salary dumps.
stymeedone
It’s called rebuilding. Teams trade established, well paid, players for unproven prospects in the minors, many of whom fans won’t know the names of. Many teams go thru this, and fans are seldom ecstatic about the returns, thinking the team should have gotten more. We really won’t know how well Avila has done for a few years.
petfoodfella
I’m not sure where Atlanta would play Duvall, but his bat would be nice. Especially w/ Acuna coming up, and still having Kemp and Markakis on the roster.
I would keep Kemp and move Markakis, and put Acuna in RF, but that still leaves Duvall w/ out a spot. I don’t see them moving both Kemp & Markakis.
Billy 3
If the Braves are talking to the Reds…they should be talking about 3B Suarez
RH power bat at a position of need…not Duvall
dhud
Suarez is gonna cost a haul. Thinking Acuna +
bbritton209
They’d ask for Acuna but it would be a hard and quick no. Why would you trade for Suarez when you could sign someone like Moustakas and keep our prospects.
Good player but doesn’t make much sense to go after him when there are better options available.
Billy 3
Suarez is blocking Senzel and the Reds need pitching.
Folty for Suarez should do the trick….or we will trade prospects
Austin Riley + Kolby Allard for Nick Senzel
Billy 3
If we trade Kemp we need a RH power guy….Suarez is who we need…not Moustakas…Suarez also can play some SS…just in case.
1) Trade Kemp
2) Trade for RH 3B E. Suarez from the Reds
3) Trade for C. Yelich from the Fish
bbritton209
If the Braves were to trade for Duvall you can bet that Kemp and Markakis would both be gone. As it is, rumors and signs point to both being gone before the beginning of the preseason. Seems the Braves want to move on from Kemp and with Yelich and Duvall better my mentioned I would guess Markakis is out as well.
Also Suarez, with the Reds, isn’t what the Braves are looking for. Not that he isn’t a good player but they want a short term player to hold the position down until Austin Riley is ready which could be as early as 2019. So they want just a 1 or 2 year player at most. Suarez is under contract through 2021 I believe.
Billy 3
Yes controllable and affordable 3B, RH power and good defense
If we keep waiting a year for this or that prospect to be ready, Freeman’s
gonna be out of his prime years…with Suarez and Yelich we can win now
sixpacktwo
DUVALL CAN PLAY rf or lf well.
JoeyPankake
Sure wish the Giants didn’t trade Duvall for 3 mediocre months of Mike Leake.
pustule bosey
I was always a fan of duvall when he was coming up and felt that they never gave him enough time to settle in before jettisoning him in favor of other guys way more mediocre than him. I hope it is a lesson learned.
jimmyz
IF the Pirates trade Josh Harrison before the week ends, they should look to pick up Solarte from the Padres. The Bucs could fill second base internally with some combination of Sean Rodriquez, Max Moroff and Adam Frazier and Solarte could be a three year stopgap at third base til they figure out a real plan A at the hot corner for about 14 million less than Harrison if both players have both of their options for ’19 and ’20 picked up.
mlb1225
I highly doubt they’ll trade Harrison this off season. There has been very little talk about him, outside of a few teams that might be interested in him.
gizmoldp46
everyone with a no trade clause has Toronto on it
pseudostats
Toronto is a great city. Sure, the taxes are higher, but there’s a lot worse MLB cities to live in.
jimmertee
It still comes down to money and being a foreign country. If we listen to the players unofficial conversations, many don’t want anything to to with the combination of higher taxes and the border issues and the cold weather in spring and fall.
Some players play in Toronto becuase the situation forced them too. Then they learn about the city and people and they love it, but if they is an “out” to another place at the same contract rate, they go for the new opportunity in a USA city.
Dock_Elvis
Players so seem to be done of Toronto generally. It was the same in Montreal.
Luis6789
Braves same thing…prospects and prospects..2018 3rd place
NVSportsCards
I really want to hate the Giants going after Jay Bruce, but I can’t. He averages 30 HR a year and even though he’s not a one man difference maker, as part of a larger plan, he makes sense. If the Giants can also acquire a speedy lead-off hitter, then Bruce makes even more sense, hitting 4th behind Posey. My only fear is that his production declines once he gets his free agency deal, like so many others before him. If the Giants can stay under or around 19 million/yr and no longer than 4 years, this is a good deal for SF.
padreforlife
Big market for Solarte lol
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Short bus lol
garrog1949
Trade with Padres,,,,,,,,,Muller,Wisler, Blair and Demeritte forSolarte .