As was the case a couple weeks ago, the Dodgers are “quite interested” in multiple Giants relievers, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported July 10 that Will Smith, Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Reyes Moronta were on the Dodgers’ radar. At that point, San Francisco owned a 41-48 record and looked as if it was sure to sell prior to the trade deadline. However, the Giants were in the early stages of an out-of-nowhere tear that has continued, putting them at 52-51 and calling into question whether they’ll trade any of their top chips in the next week. Even if they do, there’s no guarantee the Giants will deal with the archrival Dodgers, despite the connection between SF president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and LA president Andrew Friedman. Zaidi was Friedman’s top lieutenant with the Dodgers from 2014-18.
More from around the game…
- The Blue Jays’ Eric Sogard is on the Cubs’ radar with the deadline approaching, but it’s not the first time Chicago has eyed the infielder. The Cubs’ interest in Sogard dates back to the offseason, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com reports. Back then, the 33-year-old Sogard had to settle for a minor league contract with Toronto after a rough season in Milwaukee. It’ll go down as an excellent low-risk pickup by the Blue Jays, who will almost surely flip Sogard for some kind of return by July 31. With a .299/.363/.480 line and 10 home runs in 317 plate appearances, Sogard’s enjoying a career year. His production’s probably not sustainable, but that won’t stop the Jays from finding a trade partner.
- Injured Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, per George A. King III of the New York Post. Barring setbacks, Maybin could return from his month-plus absence next week. The 32-year-old journeyman had been amid a dream season before suffering a left calf strain June 21. His .314/.391/.500 slash with five homers in 133 PA helped make up for injuries to big-hitting Yankees outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Judge returned just as Maybin went down, while Stanton headed back to the shelf after briefly gracing the Yankees’ lineup last month. Assuming Maybin does come off the IL soon, the optionable Mike Tauchman seems likely to go back to the minors. That would be a tough break for Tauchman, who has joined Maybin in posting surprisingly impressive numbers this year.
- The White Sox have shifted Nick Hostetler from amateur scouting director to special assistant to GM Rick Hahn, the team announced (via Lamond Pope of the Chicago Tribune). Hostetler will focus on pro scouting in his new role. He had been in his prior job since August 2015, meaning he was influential in the drafting of recent first-round picks and current top 100 prospects Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn. As Pope points out, 12 of the White Sox’s preseason top 20 prospects at MLB.com entered the organization during Hostetler’s amateur scouting reign. They’re now looking for someone to fill his former position.
angels proved once again how weak the n.l. is compared to a.l.
No thats just reading too much into an extremely small sample size.
Then explain how the AL has on overall record below .500 and the NL has an overall record above .500? It’s almost like the “weak” NL has been beating the AL all year.
If you concentrated that W/L record on competitive teams that’d certainly change. Im willing to bet the 5 teams I listed below really harmed the overall record. Though I’m not sure the W/L record between 2 leagues really has much of a correlation to anything. I know for example the Jays are a whopping 2-11 versus the NL so I’m sure that gives you a nice pad on the W/L record. Don’t really think that is representative of the strength of either league. There’s more teams flat out tanking in the AL. That’s certainly a fact.
The fact that the AL has more tanking teams means that the Yanks, Twins and Astros also get to pad their records against those same horrible teams. The Yankees, for example, play 38 games against the Jays and Orioles. That’s nearly a quarter of their schedule. In any case, my real point in my comment was to show the fallacy of looking at one series between two teams to show the “dominance” of either league.
I agree with you there. I think the inter league W/L record means little to nothing.
Don’t all the teams figure into the strength of the league?
To assess the AL’s strength only after setting aside teams that are “tanking” is like saying my ‘67 Mustang gets great gas mileage, when I’m going downhill.
The NL has much more parity, and the AL is much more top heavy
Lol. Weak argument. 2 games played and the angels did not dominate the games.
Giants should still trade whoever is a free agent this offseason. Whether they wanna compete or not, this team needs some youth. A wildcard run with most of the national league isn’t worth hindering the future when the future is already scarce.
It depends on what they get offered to them. The win streak they’re on has given them some options. If they get offered A scrubs for Bum why bother? Just let it ride. If they can secure some Top 50 talent then they have a decision to make.
If they get swept by the cubs it’s over. They really need to treat this like a game 6 and 7 of the playoffs. They have a very small margin of error in the coming days for Zaidi not to sell. I agree 100% w Andrew but it’ll be a very tough sell in SF to dismantle a team that’s a game or two out of the playoffs at the deadline or something.
How could they have been swept by the Cubs today when the Giants took the first two games?
Lmao My mistake. I meant the Padres. They played the Cubs last night I suppose that was still in my head for some reason.
You are really confused.The Giants just took 3 out of 4 from the Cubbies. Why should the Giants sell? Making up 3 games with 60 left is not insurmountable.
It’s all good. Thanks for clarifying
Also if Teams in front of them keep winning then they stay back 2.5 then still Trade.
Vince, you are also confused. Giants took 2 of 3 games, not 3 of 4.
; )
He’s not the only one confused, don’t let facts get in the way of your comments. The Giants won 2 of 3 of a 3 game series.
Machado didn’t get a top 50 prospect and he was having a great year. For a top 50 prospect it will take Bumgarner packaged with a reliever.
Bumgarner is one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time, machado was never able to sniff a pennant until he was traded to the dodgers.
You are really confused.The Giants just took 3 out of 4 from the Cubbies. Why should the Giants sell? Making up 3 games with 60 left is not insurmountable.
Machado was a free agent
Ummm….Giants only played 3 games against the Cubs. The correct answer is the Giants won 2 games out of 3.
Thank you both for playing.
*was* one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time….
Vince he was also traded by Baltimore to LA before he hit FA
Bad start to Vince’s Thursday thus far….
Day games to end a series on Wednesday are a little weird.
any team that pays for bumgarner’s past rather than what he is right now would be making a mistake
So is bum get a clue.
Diaz would’ve been top 50, no?
Ya but Machado wasn’t going back to the orioles so they took whatever they could get
As a Dodger fan, I really really hope the Giants are buyers this year.
Can’t wait for Kenny Williams to leave the White Sox
Then explain how the AL has on overall record below .500 and the NL has an overall record above .500? It’s almost like the “weak” NL has been beating the AL all year.
Yeah you said that already
No surprise there. The AL has the orioles, Tigers, Royals, and Blue Jays. Also known as the worst clubs in the sport. Honorable mention to the Mariners who have been one of the worst since the blistering start. The only really non competitive team in the NL is the Marlins.
Tauchman has put up such impressive numbers, that they should not trade him. However, he has made Frazier very likely to be dealt. When the Yankees took Tauchman to London instead of Frazier, it was apparent that the Yankees are not in love with Red Thunder..
The twins have the greatest need for pitching if they want to win a championship and why the Dynamic Duo Front office is bailing on the season I don’t know: What i do know it was a good series to watch and a Big Shout out to Devin AlkaSmeltzer for his relief work tonight.. Plop Plop Fizz Fizz.. oh what a relief it is.. ( if you are old you will get the reference.. if not google and enjoy)
Wrong Will Smith linked
Call me a purist, but I wouldn’t want the Giants to help the Dodgers unless the package was too good to pass up. Happy to trade a reliever or two but I’m at the point where I hope the Giants keep Bum, make him a Giant for life
Giant for life is right!!
White Sox kicked Hostetler upstairs.
His draft strategy was pretty much a disaster, as the system is entirely too with on corner players and relievers.
All the value in minors is from trades or international signings. There isn’t a single significant Hostetler-era draftee currently on the roster, and probably won’t be until Madrigal makes the leap.
Ha, corner players and relievers…the lowest valued players in the sport. Poor White Sox, loaded w starting pitching and up the middle players…
I could have drafted for the CWS from 2015-2019 and have the same results.
I would like to see someone run back the last 10 years and draft the BPA according to fangraphs for various teams. Then compare the results with what transpired. I’m guessing the better draft path would be a toss-up, 50/50 between the two. Anyone know if this has been done?
Tauchman has made Frazier expendable, and Maybin isn’t needed either. With Tauchman being superior to Gardner in Age, fielding, batting, Gardner might be expendable as well once Stanton returns. Don’t blame the messenger.
Gardner isn’t going anywhere, not this year.
Gardner is staying put.
Don’t jump on the Tauchman train yet. .285 xwoba severely lags his .317 WOBA. Few other red flags in his batted ball profile and he’s striking out nearly 30% of the time. He’s definitely playing over his head at the moment. I wouldn’t send Gardner out the door yet.
Wrong Will Smith linked
The Giants freakish winning streak had to have been orchestrated by the Big Dodger in the Sky. It couldn’t have come at a better time as Giants have essentially waited for the 2019 trade deadline for at least two seasons to unload salary and spearhead their rebuild. Their false sense of competitiveness may result in them playing things out without restocking their system. . Dodgers and their fans are high fiving while they sip their micheladas and Giants fans will be chucking batteries in despair all over their 900 square foot bungalows.
The Giants have a choice of standing pat and hoping for a Wild Card or they can trade their expiring contracts and older veterans for young talent to speed up the rebuild. To me it is a no-brainer, think long term and get some talent back that you can build for the future. This was supposed to be a throw away season anyway.
Of course the Giants won’t trade with the Dodgers… They don’t want to help LA overtake SF in the standings!
No… wait…