Tyson Ross spoke recently with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune about the likelihood that he’ll be traded by the Padres at some point in the near future. Ross spoke like a pitcher who is anticipating that he’ll be traded, though he notes that his experience with the Padres in 2015 taught him that there are no certainties. That season, Ross was considered to be among the top trade assets in baseball, but the Padres held onto him — a decision GM A.J. Preller likely regrets, given that Ross was injured for the whole 2016 season and ultimately released. “I was one of the bigger names being thrown around as a trade piece,” Ross said of that 2015 campaign. “A.J. held on to me. He didn’t get his return on that. If he wants to make a move at some point, that’s the game. For him, it would be a great investment — buy low, sell high.”
MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently took a look at Ross and another pair of Padres starters, Clayton Richard and Jordan Lyles, and explored their trade candidacy as the summer approaches. Ross, right now at least, looks like a rare thoracic outlet surgery success story; in 60 1/3 innings he’s notched a 3.13 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.75 HR/9 and a 44.1 percent ground-ball rate.
A few more notes from the game’s Western divisions…
- MLB.com’s Thomas Harding addresses a number of Rockies-related issues in his latest Inbox column, writing that while fans are champing at the bit to see Brendan Rodgers in the Majors, it may very well that infield prospect Garrett Hampson beats the more highly-touted Rodgers to the big leagues. Rodgers is still just 21 and has yet to play in Triple-A, Harding notes, while Hampson was recently promoted to Triple-A, has experience hitting leadoff and has a strong history of on-base skills. With DJ LeMahieu on the shelf, that skill set holds some appeal to the organization. Harding also looks at what could be a challenging trade deadline for Jeff Bridich as he looks to improve an inconsistent offense, though he adds that he isn’t hearing any indication that the Rox are aggressively exploring the trade market just yet. Of course, in late May, that’s hardly an uncommon stance for any team.
- Adrian Beltre hasn’t made a decision about his future beyond the 2018 season, writes Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, though he’s open about the fact that he’s not looking to play for several years beyond 2018. Asked if he had any desire to play to age 45 like his countryman Bartolo Colon, Beltre joked, “My wife would divorce me.” For now, the Rangers third baseman is merely focused on getting healthy enough to return to the field, and Wilson notes that the current plan is for the 39-year-old to return to the lineup in about two weeks’ time. Whether Beltre will finish out the season in Texas remains to be seen as well, of course, as he’s already come up as a potential trade candidate should he return to the lineup in good health and avoid further trips to the DL.
- Mariners southpaw Marco Gonzales chatted with Corey Brock of The Athletic in an interesting Q&A about his return from Tommy John surgery, the process of reestablishing trust in his curveball and his use of data and analytics. The 26-year-old said he feels like this is “the best curveball I’ve had in my career,” explaining that because he’s largely recovered from TJ surgery, his grip strength is improved and he can throw from his natural arm slot. Gonzales, though, added that he doesn’t feel that he (or any other pitcher) can ever say he’s 100 percent recovered from such a major surgery. “It’s a constant job,” Gonzales said of managing his recovery. “And it’s something I take a lot of pride in, getting my arm ready each day. It’s 45 minutes worth of stuff each day to make sure I’m feeling good. Even on days when I don’t need to do it, I still do it because it helps me feel secure. I think that’s what the rehab process did: give me some pride and some conviction in how I go about my routine.” Gonzales has turned in a 4.05 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 0.84 HR/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 53 1/3 innings this season, with FIP (3.22) and xFIP (3.20) looking even more favorably upon his work.
I’m an Astros fan and I think the Rangers owe it to Beltre to trade him to a contender. Beltre can probably play a couple more years if he wanted to. Hopefully he stays healthy for the rest of his playing career…. would also like to see Hamels go back to Philly. I just think that would be cool.
Whatever
Gotta keep Beltre around until 2020. In all likelihood he would be the last 4 decade player. I know newball fans get complainy over nostalgic desires but this game is nothing without a respect for the baseball days gone by, haters are ignorant. Look at the list of 4 decade players and tell me it wouldn’t be neat.
Just because he’s not in Texas doesn’t mean he wont be around four decades, which isnt as neat as it is councidental the years lined up.
Padres need to trade Tyson Ross to the highest bidder sooner rather than later, try not to repeat the same mistake twice by holding on to him for too long Preller.
I see the Angels a nice fit on paper, a package of Tyson Ross and Craig Stammen for Kevin Maitan and Chris Rodriguez. Prospects #2 and #5 in one of the weaker systems.
Maitan was essentially free for them because they had the available international money available at a time when nobody else really did, so they were able to grab him pretty easily. Could see them flipping that chip for a rotation arm (Ross), plus a year and a half of Stammen who has been dominant since the start of 17’.
Rodriguez would be the get in that trade, Maitan is a meh prospect that’s probably barely on angels top 10 now, at the least: Adell, Jones, Marsh, Canning, Suarez, Barria are ahead of him and also the angels system isn’t that weak anymore
The Padres have no excuse not to trade Ross this time around. He was signed for essentially nothing, so they need to take advantage of what he’s been doing, since I don’t think anyone could have predicted him to do this well coming back from major surgery. Their best bet would be to package him with a reliever or one of their many OFers.
The Angels two biggest needs are, third base and closer. Why would the Angels want to give up so much for a starting pitcher and reliever, who are not much better than who they have now?
ross would be to add depth (though he would likely crack the top 5) and stammen would be another high leverage reliever dependable enough to possible fill the closer role if parker struggles
Beltre to the Astros. How cool would that be? He can split time at third and be an upgrade to the dh spot. Astros are a contending team and will be back in the playoffs. Beltre has a great chance of getting a World Series ring with the Astros. Man with him in that line up they would be more deadly than ever. It would be a major upgrade for the Astros
Include Myers in that trade package. He is dumb and contract is stupid.
LOL….I’d keep Ross and dump Gomer and the 3rd baseman that can’t speak English after being in MLB for 10 years and needs a interpreter for his after game speeches.
There is zero need for the Rockies to wait around. They know Ian Desmond stinks, and CarGo isn’t much better. Waiting only continues the process of putting up L’s that could be W’s instead.
Rockies could get Hanley Ramirez real cheap.
I’m a rangers fan and I see both Hamels and Beltre being traded. I see Hamels going to the yanks and Beltre needs to go to a contender to try and get a ring. Rangers need to build towards 2020 when the new stadium opens