After spending parts of five seasons in the big leagues, Terrance Gore finally collected his first Major League hit, notching a single during the Cubs’ 10-3 loss to the Nationals yesterday in the first game of a double-header. Though Gore has appeared in 55 games since the start of the 2014 season, he has only 16 career plate appearances due to his exclusive usage as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive sub. Gore’s speed made him a valuable roster piece during the Royals’ two postseason runs in 2014 and 2015, and he’ll likely see similar work for the Cubs down the stretch this season and potentially into October.
Here’s more from around the baseball world…
- The Angels are expected to approach Mike Trout about an extension this winter, which The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) feels could determine whether or not the team would ever consider trading the game’s best player. Management has been adamantly opposed to the thought of dealing Trout in the past, and the general feeling is that Arte Moreno wouldn’t okay a Trout trade as long as he owns the Angels. If Trout declines an extension or gives an indication that he’ll test free agency when his current contract is up after the 2020 season, however, Rosenthal feels that the Angels “would know where they stood” in counting the superstar outfielder as part of their long-term plans. The Halos could still just aim to build around Trout over the next two seasons or, conceivably, at least think about the possibility of a trade that could instantly add a lot of young talent to the Angels’ organization. “One of the best talents in the history of the game is rarely explored in the market. A team might be willing to do something absolutely insane to acquire him. We just don’t know,” one rival executive said about a potential Trout trade.
- As you might expect, Ben Zobrist has no regrets about signing with the Cubs in the 2015-16 offseason, the veteran super-utilityman tells The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. The decision has already led to one World Series ring for Zobrist, and unlike his other suitors that winter (a list that includes the Giants, Mets, and Nationals), the Cubs are still postseason contenders in 2018. Zobrist has strongly rebounded from a down year in 2017 to hit .313/.387/.458 over 443 PA for the Cubs this season, so it’s fair to say that the team is also quite satisfied in its decision giving Zobrist a four-year, $56MM deal that winter.
- The Orioles are lacking in multi-positional players, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes, giving the team yet another area to address as it enters a rebuild period. Not even any of the players acquired by the O’s in their deadline deals looks like a candidate for such a role in the future, though the team will be looking at what Jonathan Villar, Breyvic Valera, and Steve Wilkerson can do at multiple positions.
Don’t really understand the section about Zobrist, I mean it’s just stating a fact and that’s it
Exactly. It’s a slow, NFL day.
The news stating? How dare they!
Why would anyone think zobrist regrets his place of signing
His role is somewhat diminished with all of Chicago’s young players on the roster. He’d likely be playing more if he’d chosen a different team
Not really. He’s in the lineup d @ mn-near every night. I mean, he gets a day off here and there, but he also needs the rest. He isn’t 21, anymore.
He plays five games a week and pinch hits.
Not sure if he would play more effectively. He already has 443 plate appearances which is pretty good. Maddon’s plan for him this year called for some reduced time to keep him fresher and more effective and it appears to be working. He is seeing plenty of playing time still.
Are there any teams that could even trade for Trout without hurting their major league team?
Braves stand up. They have 10+ arms for a 5-man rotation. It would take a lot, but LAA keeps thinking they have a shot like they’re trying to convince themselves Pujols’ contract was a good deal.
Or the Braves can sit down. While they no question have the talent to acquire him there is no way they could afford to extend him a contract that would meet his asking price. Even if they did, they would cripple their long term spending capabilities. Do you like Acuna? Because that’s probably the starting point in any trade talks.
Pretty much every team with a solid farm or a position surplus. Braves, Yankees, Stros, and Dodgers come to mind.
“Pretty much every team with a solid farm or a position surplus” The Yankees no longer have either of those…
The yanks have a top five rated farm system
Yankees would not cripple their farm for a OF like Trout when you already have Judge & Stanton in the OF.
Yeah why would the Yankees (currently a wild-card team 8.5 games out of 1st place in the AL East) want age 27-28 Mike Trout as their CF when they already have an incredibly talented young RF and a slightly older Corner Outfielder/DH/beast? Oh probably because adding a consistent 9-10 WAR player (a unicorn rare thing) to CF would give them two seasons of a historically great, Murderer’s Row Redux outfield (w/ occasional Aaron Hicks), giving them a much greater chance of winning the East.
A playoff lineup with a Trout/Judge/Stanton heart of the order? The Yankees would cripple their mothers for that.
Unless Judge was part of the package heading back to the Angels
I think a Trout trade would start with a team’s top 3 prospects and then a major league piece just to save some face for the fans. Houston has enough outstanding young major-leaguers in Bregman and Correa and maybe even Springer. But man, trading Trout would be a tough sell for the Angels no matter the return. They could package Pujols’ bad contract and ask for a slightly worse deal but then they’re *really* rebuilding and I don’t think they got Ohtani to rebuild their whole team.
Braves or Padres. Not that either would want to.
It would have to start Tatis and Gore right?
Exactly
You’d have to start with a lot more than that…I think for Trout you’d basically have to gut the farm system and include some young major league talent
It’ll start lower but yes
I’m sure their 1-4 are off limits and a couple of hurlers, but everything else would be in play, but no they would never make that trade.
That’s why I don’t think Trout can be moved, the team acquiring him would essentially become the Angels.
Absolutely no one is off limits in a Trout trade. Granted I don’t see the Padres being interested in gutting the farm for a guy who can be a free agent in 2 years.
@24thekid
Good point!
I would guess any trade for Trout would have to include an extension for him; and, if people thought Harper was going to get 400 million, what does an extension for Trout look like? I don’t think the Padres would get involved for that reason alone, especially with their albatross contract to Hosmer.
I think Trout should be traded if you want to enter a rebuild & he still has a few years left on his current deal. Unless you want to add some FAs this winter the Angels have only a few options to go-
A- he does not want to sign a extension & you do your best to add talent around him to compete (trade him at the deadline during his last year if out of contention or issue a QO at the end)
B- he does not want to sign a extension & you trade him for prospects/big league players
C- he signs a extension.
Angels will not be trading Trout but the internet needs clicks.
Hope they enjoy that draft pick they get for him then.
Except theres legitimate reports out there that say he wants to stay .. so theres that
Ok then why not trade him, gut another’s team’s farm system, take the next two years to build up their farm even further then bring Trout back in free agency after 2020 when they should theoretically be right on the cusp of contending?
Because front offices with half a brain dont take those unnecessary chances
What unnecessary chances? I thought you said Trout wants to stay in Anaheim? If that’s the case then they should have no problem trading him then bringing him back!
U must b on red rooster and Red Bull do you understand how annoying it’ll be for trout to do that he’d be offended and not come back and to put another team in that issue to leave them dry and knowing this mentally for 2 years that he’s leaving anyways ehh you’re wrong he loves it in Anaheim then extend him duh we have a top 10 farm already and are building on that more relax
Work on that grammar.
And if he loves it in Anaheim so much like you claim, trading him wouldn’t change that. And they can’t just “extend him.” He has to actually AGREE to any extension.
why don’t they trade him and resign him in 2 years? Because that would be insane. This isn’t a video game, you don’t risk Trout getting comfortable in a new place, having feelings of betrayal, or any other thing like that.
Was it insane when the Yankees did it with Aroldis Chapman? How about the Cubs with Jason Hammel? Trading Trout wouldn’t lead to any feelings of betrayal. Players today are more aware of the business side of the game than ever before.
Trading two impending free agent pitchers in July with the hopes of re-signing them that off-season is not insane. The idea that those examples are anywhere near the equivalent of trading the best player in baseball with the expectation of resigning him 2 seasons later because he “likes Anaheim” is insane.
I’m not the one who said he likes Anaheim. It was the other commenters. I’m not sure how they know that but I guess I’ll take their word for it. If he does like Anaheim, they trade him and then their offer to him after 2020 is higher than anyone else’s (or at least in the same ballpark), why would he sign elsewhere? Honestly, if I were him and the Angels didn’t trade me and then failed to make the playoffs in 2019 or 2020 I’d be less inclined to stay than if they had traded me and let me have a chance at a ring for those two years.
Unfortunately, the whole you-not-being-him thing makes your theoretical inclination literally meaningless.
Whatever. Trading Trout isn’t going to be the difference between him signing in Anaheim and signing elsewhere.
A definitive statement as to how a completely hypothetical, detail/context-free trade will/won’t affect the 2-years-in-the-future decision making process of a complete stranger who also happens to be the best baseball player on the planet reaching free agency smack-dab in the middle of his prime (a pretty rare, approaching unprecedented, occasion).
Really something you can set your watch to.
There is no guarantee he comes back to the Angels as a FA after being traded. In fact there is a good chance that whoever trades for him gives him a record breaking extension and he never sees FA.
Its possible he hits FA and then of course possible the Angels could resign him at that point but naturally any trade they make, if they trade him, has to nail it on its own, as I am sure you agree.
@JKB There is no guarantee he comes back to the Angels if they don’t trade him either. So what’s your point?
The Angels aren’t going to trade Trout without making a serious effort to extend him first and failing. If they can’t do it, why would the other team be able to?
Trout would bring a franchise-altering package in a trade. Much better than losing him for a compensation pick.
If he is not interested in signing a extension with a few years left on his current deal then the Angels could get a nice return for him now if they trade him. 2 years of Trout or getting a good haul of prospects to add to your farm system for a future foundation?
I’m not sure I understand what Mark’s getting at in the last section. Villar and Valera were acquired at the deadline and both seem like utility pieces, no?
Villar looks very good so far.
Brewers got fleeced
And then Schoop hits a grand slam off Bumgarner
Well that’s one at bat. Villar has really brought so much to the Birds: great hustle and attitude, speed on the bases, a better glove and range than Schoop.
It’s one at bat that helped win the ball game. Every win counts, especially in this race against the Cubs.
And how many has he cost them with his mediocre offense and 7 errors in 31 games?
He hit the grand slam literally 3 minutes after I posted that. Villar must be a cancer in the clubhouse for Milwaukee but like segura and gennet, I’m sure he’ll just flourish away from Milwaukee
In all fairness to Schoop—whom I’ve watched carefully for years—I think the adjustment mentally to a new team has been very very difficult.
The trade trout narrative gets old. I think trout likes being an angel, he understands that going to a new team doesnt guarantee success. Sports would be boring without “rumors” but let them be reasonable in nature. Trading the best player in this generation is laughable.
He also likely knows that the Angels aren’t a competitive team. He’s spent 8 years on the Angels and has yet to win 1 postseason game. They have no farm, their rotation has been wrecked by TJS, and they have holes all over the place. To top it off their owner refuses to cross the luxury tax penalty. The Angels need to make a run in the playoffs next year or Trout is as good as gone.
I can easily see him in Philly for the long haul, considering their position, money, and, well it’s Philadelphia. he loves the eagles.
You are absolutely correct about their farm system, especially when it comes to pitching.
The Angels can simply just hold onto him for two more seasons…
Misinformed. Farm is solid with a top 25 and multiple top 100 guys. There arent many holes on the roster either. C and pitching seem like the only glaring ones and the pitching side is mostly due to the injuries you alluded to. We need durable arms and a catcher.
Lol “farm is solid” lol
Look it up
Jo Adell is their farm lol. And they’re probably gonna trade him this offseason.
Yeah forget Canning. Oh, and Marsh… Rengifo isn’t bad either. Plus, Maitan and Adams have some legit potential. Jam Jones is a nice piece too. They have a couple arms in Suarez and Rodriguez too…. But other than that nothing… Wait Thaiss
Better prospects than those guys bust all the time lol. Let’s see them show some sustained Major League success before we go around anointing them the next Murderer’s Row.
So you rank farm systems based on their sustained major league success? A real strawman – catch 22 mashup there. Kudos
So do all the people who say that the Padres won’t contend in the next 10 years and completely disregard the fact that they have a top 3 farm in MLB. If they can’t build a contender with that kind of a farm system, what does that say for the Angels?
You know how to keep those goalposts moving. The original point of the person that you were replying to was that the angels don’t have too many holes on the major league roster and have a solid farm system. You laughed at the farm system bit and anytime anyone replies to you, you change the argument.
I don’t agree that the Padres are that far away from competing, but that has nothing to do with this topic
Has everything to do with the topic. If the Padres’ prospects aren’t going to make a difference for them, why would the Angels’ prospects make any difference for them?
Are you saying that having good prospects is not an indicator of the potential of a franchise in the future? Or you are you just letting this argument devolve into a dig on these others who are ignorant of farm systems and are pessimistic about the padres?
I’m saying that if the people you mentioned in your second point are correct, then there is no hope for the Angels either.
I’ll just leave this here for the Gallo Rojo
bleacherreport.com/articles/2787867-updated-mlb-fa…
See? The Angels rank below the Padres and Reds. Two teams who everyone says will never contend. I’m still convinced the Angels will trade Adell like they did with Newcomb.
If 12th out of 30 isn’t considered “solid” I don’t know what is.
And if 1st out of 30 doesn’t mean anything, 12th certainly doesn’t either.
Who said padres aren’t going to be good you’re using what a mystery person said to troll on here with your argument go get laid or paid or sit in the shade and choke and pass out you are childish and make no points who’s your team? You got 0 brownie points
A lot of people actually. Steve Adams (who writes for this site) to name one.
You’re the one who brought the Padres into this. Can’t even troll using other people’s quotes lol. The point is that the halos do in fact have a “solid farm system”, my only previous claim.
@AngelsintheTroutfield So we’re just going to call me a troll because I disagreed with you?
You’re either trolling or a huge fan of logical fallacies and at this point it doesn’t really matter which is the case
Not really. Sorry you don’t like my opinion but it’s my opinion and always will be. Have a nice day!
They angels have tried repeatedly, without tapping into the farm. They got upton, cozart and kinsler. Trout sees this, just because he is from philly I have seen interviews where he enjoy beautiful laguna beach it is a vast contrast to where he lives in offseason. Home will always be home but no indication from trout or his group that he wants out.
More than Trout liking Laguna, and most important, his lady likes Laguna.
He’s always in Laguna. Can’t really blame him either, it’s a great place to be.
I stopped reading after you said angels have no farm. Check again bigkempin, your stuck in 2016
If he likes being an Angel so much why not trade him for a haul then sign him after 2020?
The Angels have spent heavily to compete now. Why throw away two years of the best player in baseball after re-signing Upton to a deal worth well over 100M?
Because they aren’t going to contend in 2019 or 2020
Most guys don’t go back to teams that trade them
It happens all the time. You’ve got Jim Johnson, Jason Hammel, Aroldis Chapman, Jay Bruce, Pat Neshek, Miguel Gonzalez, etc. If Trout really does like playing for Anaheim, if they trade him then make a competitive offer in free agency he’ll come back.
Most guys do not go back
Yes and how many of those players who didn’t go back to the team that traded them explicitly said that being traded was the difference between signing with the original team and signing elsewhere?
Obviously you don’t bet on a given free agent signing with any one team over the field. But that would still be the case if they didn’t trade him. If there is mutual interest (which apparently there is) and the Angels don’t try to lowball him there is no reason why they would have any less of a chance than any other team.
If he likes the Angel’s, he would be doing them a favor by being traded for a bunch of talent, then resigning with them when hes a free agent. The Angel’s would also be a better team if he got traded for some talent then came back, more so than if he just stayed the next 2 years. He could maybe win a ring somewhere then come back in 2021? With the Angel’s being in better shape due to what they got in the trade for him. Just a thought
@bighiggy exactly. And he would be doing himself a favor in coming back to LAA by signing with a team he is familiar and comfortable with for what I’m sure will be a market rate deal.
Because you dont send your dream chick out to date another guy just test her out to make sure she loves you bruh….
But what if you can make like a billion dollars by letting your dream chick go on 2 dates with the other guy and you already know 100% than she’s gonna come back to you?
Because the other guy might have AIDS/HIV/STDs, and if she comes back to you, she’s dirty and infected and then you will be too. Then you’ll die a slow, painful death, she won’t, and she’ll go back to the other guy when you die. The end.
So you are saying that trading Trout and then re-signing him after 2020 would somehow lead to the folding of the Angels organization?
It won’t happen so let it go you little underaged weird troll
I already said what it will take for me to let it go, I’m not underaged and saying something you disagree with is trolling now?
How long have they been building around Trout?FLYEAGLESFLY!
Let’s have some laughs. If Trout declined to discuss a contract extension and the Angels put him on the block this winter, what are some hypothetical offers teams would make Trout?
GO.
Odubel, Sixto, Medina, Haseley, Ortiz and Ranger Suarez
We did this yesterday.
Why not – it’s a rainy Sunday on the east coast .. For the Braves .. I’d like to see Simmons back in ATL where it all started. Re-swap of Simmons for Newcomb? Then for 2 years of Trout .. Swanson, Incarte, Luiz Gohara Kyle Muller, and Rio Ruiz. If I’m the Angels I flip Swanson – AZ would love him back after this weekend – for pitching prospect(s) and go hard for Machado replacing one superstar with another while getting some much needed (young) pitching along with a face of the franchise – or one of them – for 10 years. For the Braves the damage to the prospect pool isn’t too bad and this makes them legit favorites over the next 2 seasons with some relief help (Kimbrell). Machado – or Harper – mitigates the blow from losing Trout with their fan base.
And the pathetically delusional trade suggestions begin. The best prospect the Braves are offering in your deal is their 6th best prospect?
So your top 5 in the system are off limits in a trade for…..for….let me say this slowly….for Mike Trout?
Hate to burst your bubble, but for any team that wants Trout, they have to offer no exclusions on which and how many players the Angels get from your farm system. And that will be on top of cost-controlled MLB pieces also.
I hope they could give Trout the extension, then add to the bullpen and rotation. All they need is health.
Selfishly I would love Philly to get trout but would prefer to get him in free agency. Moneys not much of a problem
It’s difficult to imagine what Trout would command if traded this offseason. He’s obviously the best player in the game but the reality is, his 1 year of control will limit what teams are willing to give up knowing he could walk as a FA. Mark Teixeira might be a decent comp (not comparing the two players but Tex was elite at the time) but he was traded with about 2 months and 1 year left of control. He netted a total of 5 prospects.
A top rated SS (Andrus), C (Saltalamacchia) and flame thrower in., then starter, Neftali Perez, and Matt Harisson was seen as a solid mid-rotation prospect and Beau Jones who was an ok prospect back then,
Just to put into perspective, that would have been the same as asking for then prospects, Torres, Severino, Sanchez, Montgomery and a relief pitcher prospect. That’s a heck of an ask.,
I did not read the Rosenthal column as I don’t subscribe to anything but none of the conversation that surrounds trading Trout ever mentions that he has full no trade protection. Not only does Cot’s Baseball Contracts state this but the article from 2014 below informs everyone as well.
mlb.com/news/angels-sign-mike-trout-through-2020-f…
Oh the horror. If only any player with a NTC ever got traded.
The no trade clause has to be mentioned; not just the Angels could “think about the possibility of a trade that could instantly add a lot of young talent to the Angels’ organization”.
The conversation starts with where Trout would be willing to go, other than the Phillies, and/or how much would a team give up for two years of Trout knowing he will be a free agent in two years
Doubt he blocks a trade if it means going to a team that has a better chance in 2019-20 than the Angels.
If he wants to stay he’ll block it you little pop tart!
Not necessarily. He might want to win a title in the next 2 years and see a better opportunity to do that elsewhere. But in 2021 and beyond the Angels might look a bit better. Especially if they gut another team’s farm by trading him.
How am I the only person that read this, and thought how in the heck was that seriously Gore’s first ML hit!!??
I would have guessed he got his first ML hit like 4 years ago or so..lol..
This certainly would have been one bet I would have lost…Still find it incredibly hard to believe, that was his FIRST ML hit..
He’s barely ever batted at all. He’s not in the game for his bat. Look up Herb Washington some time; dude played 105 games and never had an at-bat. Gore has 16 PAs in his entire major-league career; plenty of guys go 1-16 at times.
Why would the Cubs have any regrets signing Zobrist. He’s been great for the Cubs. I hope they give him an extension after 2019. Or this winter extend him 2 years through 2021. He’ll be 39 that year.
It was basically trading castro to the Yankees for cash and then they signed Zobrist. I’ll do that trade every single time. To be honest they should have got something for Castro. Considering the Yankees got Giancarlo Stanton for him. Maybe a few minor league players thrown in. Castro is at his peak. He’s at his prime right now. He wont improve anymore more. Hell get his 12-18 home runs a year. 185-200 hits a year. 15-20 errors a year. 275 BA.