While he isn’t drawing as many headlines as some of his teammates, Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano is among the team’s more popular trade targets, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Interest in Laureano is only natural, given Oakland’s willingness to listen on virtually any player and the dearth of center-field options remaining in free agency. That said, Laureano’s trade candidacy is a bit muddier than that of teammates like Matt Chapman, Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea and Lou Trivino.
The 27-year-old Laureano is currently in the midst of an 80-game PED ban that still has 27 games left to serve. Prior to the suspension, Laureano was on pace to reach free agency following the 2024 season, but the service time he’ll miss due to this suspension now makes it appear likely that his path to free agency will be pushed back until after the 2025 campaign. With a potential four seasons of control over Laureano as opposed to three, the A’s may be less inclined to part ways with him — or at least to ask a higher price in return.
Since coming over from the Astros as a generally unheralded prospect in the 2017-18 offseason, Laureano has given the A’s 313 games and 1257 plate appearances of .263/.335/.465 production while playing strong defense around the outfield. He’s swatted 49 home runs and swiped 34 bases in that time as well.
Some more notes on the outfield market as a whole…
- In the hours after Derek Jeter left the Marlins, reports indicated that part of the rift that had grown between Jeter and principal owner Bruce Sherman stemmed from a shift in Sherman’s payroll expectations. Nick Castellanos, in particular, was a rumored target of Jeter, with MLB Network’s Jon Heyman suggesting that Jeter had been willing to green-light a five-year offer for the front office to put forward. While Sherman himself pushed back on those reports just this week and emphasized that the Marlins plan to spend money post-lockout, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets that the Marlins’ pursuit of Castellanos has indeed cooled off considerably. Ownership, according to Jackson, is no longer comfortable making that type of commitment to Castellanos. That said, Jackson emphasizes that the Castellanos shift is “not the main reason Jeter is gone” but rather one of many issues that contributed to the divide between Jeter and Sherman. Jackson writes that they’ve checked in with the reps for free agent corner outfielder Jorge Soler, who turned things around upon a midseason trade from the Royals to the Braves last season.
- The Guardians are among the teams with interest in free-agent outfielder Joc Pederson, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. Beyond center fielder Myles Straw, there’s little to no certainty in the Cleveland outfield. Highly-regarded prospect Steven Kwan appears ready for a look after a huge showing between Double-A and Triple-A last year, but he’s yet to actually make his MLB debut. Meanwhile, Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado both turned in below-average performances at the plate. The Guardians seem all but certain to bring in some outfield help, and Pederson would make sense as a potential platoon pairing with Mercado, who batted .294/.381/.435 against lefties even in a down year overall.
- Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets that the Rockies have also shown some interest in Joc Pederson. Colorado has been linked to bigger-ticket outfielders in their search for offensive help, although it seems Pederson’s at least on the radar as a possible fallback option. The past two seasons have been fairly disappointing for Pederson, who looked like a middle-of-the-order caliber bat (at least against right-handed pitching) during his early days with the Dodgers. Since the start of 2020, he’s a .227/.304/.416 hitter over 619 plate appearances.
C’mmon Braves, Soler would be an intimidating DH
If you’re not going to sign Freddie, sign this Tower of Power
Put him in left and Ozuna DH?
Ozuna will be handling social events & connecting with our feminine side.
The Braves would be better off keeping Joc or Rosario. Ozuna is the DH going forward
Pedersom is an interesting FA. I wonder what kind of money he’ll command
If you’ve got a lefty-masher to pair with him, he’s a very useful guy. A surprisingly good (and fast) outfielder. Doesn’t look like it but he is.
Righty masher? Pederson is LH hitter.
I think they meant lefty masher, as in righty who mashes lefties.
Tead the post again. He said if matched with a lefty masher. You know like a platoon?
He’s a lefty who mashes righties.
5-8 million for one year probably.
If I remember correctly, in 2031 Pederson turned down a I-year offer of $10-11 million from the Cubs, only to sign later for $7 million with the White Sox, with whom he started the year. I agree with iverbure’s projection.
*2021
You don’t remember correctly because he signed with the Cubs.
Don’t trade Laureano please
@oaklandfan22
I’m with you – I don’t think I’ve ever seen any pro player in any pro sport who hates losing as much as Laureano.
Michael Jordan hated losing more. That’s why he willed his team in the 4th quarter so often. Ya knew he was going to beat your team too. Regardless of the lead they had.
He’s the guy on the A’s I have been coveting. Love his game.
“I hate losing even more than i wanna win”
Risk reward. Next time he gets dinged for PED u lose him for nothing.
A team desperate for a headline like the Marlins might overpay for his services.
I feel like Joc has been a rumored candidate for the India…. err… Guardians… for years now. Would like to see him land in Clev.
The Fish decided not to spend money? Surely, you jest…….
Not necessarily. They were prepared to sign Marte in addition to Garcia and I don’t blame them for not wanting to give Castellanos 6+ years at well over 100 million guaranteed.
They’re better off signing a guy like Soler who will give you value for what they’re gonna pay him.
@stretch123
Agreed. I prefer Soler or Eddie Rosario or even Joc Pederson. We can get those guys at lower rates that allow us to go have a bit more budget to target are greater need of a legit Closer.
I like the mention of Laureano and Trivino in this article because I’d like to see the Marlins check in on a deal for both of them from Oakland because that would help us with our 2 remaining needs.
Don’t call me Shirley.
The Marlins will spend on some marginal improvements around the edge of their roster. Their pathetic excuse for a fan base will rejoice.
Yes, the dozen or two are planning a parade…
Just curious.. since Laureano still has games to serve from his PED suspension would he not qualify for the post season this year even though he was popped last year?
If the Marlins trade for him he won’t need to worry about the playoffs.
my understanding is, if the suspension carries over from previous year, the playoff ban doesn’t.
i.e. while he’s suspended for parts of last year and this year, playoff ban only was for 2021.
Who the hell came up with the team name “Guardians”?
Some young punk straight out of marketing school.
How much is Castellanos asking for? I certainly wouldn’t give him anymore than 150 million.
cut that in half and you’re close
If he came to the team an a “generally unheralded prospect,” then put up better than expected numbers then got popped for PEDs… Wouldn’t teams want to see how he performs after he returns from his suspension (and assuming he learned his lesson and stays clean) to see his real talent level before considering trading for him?
As a Cleveland fan, I rather them bring in Kyle Schwarber.. He just flat out a better player. Also, local kid and be good for the fanbase. Than again,. I think they be wise to trade JRam and get a huge haul (He bring back more than Olson due to contract and talent). Trading JRam and bringing in Kyle kinda counter defeats it. though.
Where is there more room for prospects i n Cleveland. In December, they added 11 prospects to their 40 man roster. They will have another roster crunch this December. Where will the prospects fit? Is trading Jose the way to sell an unpopular rebrand.
Well. They are not going to pay him. That won’t happen. JRam is going get a a very big contract. You have room for good prospects and get rid of a few people who are just not good. Also, you’re going get a mlb player or two back as well. Look at our roster. Anyone think Zimmer., Mercado are MLB players? I sure don’t. We are horrible at C, We got lots of MIF but I literally have no confidence in anyone other than Gabriel Arias (maybe little on Tyler Freeman) coming up in the infield. Having lots of something doesn’t mean you got lots of good stuff. Our rotation and bullpen will be fine but we need help everywhere else. I mean we got Valera but he is not ready, so our OF is just not good. When Myles straw is your best OF, you got issues. He is a 4th OF at best on a WS team.
Spider, you have little understanding of the Guardian farm system..
Dude. I know more about the Cleveland system than you lie about. I know more about baseball than you ever will, so move on and go pretend. I don’t just know the top 2 prospects of their system like 95 percent of the people here who only know baseball from a few ESPN highlights. go take your bar baseball talk somewhere else. smh
Calm down. This isn’t a pissing contest.
Rocchio, Tena,also are outstanding middle infield prospects. Rocchio is probably the best one including Arias and Freeman. Cleveland has an excellent farm. Your just being the typical Cleveland whining fan. I have watched Cleveland baseball since 1965. And Spiders would have been a dumb name.
I don’t care how long you been a fan. You don’t know baseball and by your comments, you should be banned. Don’t ever talk to me again on this site again. Smh. Troll.
When one stoops to name calling when presented with an opposing viewpoint shows their ignorance and immaturity. They are unable to have a logical baseball discussion. Grow up Spider.
Not calling out ignorance or ignorant people is the real problem. You mad cause I put you in your sad place. Go away old man. Your time is up. You sus.
Go do your homework before your parents ground you.
You don’t have much time left, so not all is bad. . Good luck being no one.
Do you think Cleveland will trade him this summer if Cleveland is out of it? Seems they’ve been pretty resistant to trading him to this point. Only 1 year left on that extension after this season though, which seems like it could change that.
They should. I mean right now they could get a haul with two years left.Take for instance TOR who was rumored to be interested. We could get Gurriel+ Prospects. I take that deal in a minute. Only thing holding Ramirez back from a huge contract that we wont give him is he is 31 when he hits FA. I am not an advocate to give him what he deserves. He is a legit superstar and he should be paid accordingly but not at expense of our team.
The Indians do have a very good system with a lot of good prospects graduating in 2022-23. I think they would be wise to trade J-Ram now for a huge haul, and plan to be seriously competitive again from 2023 onwards. J-Ram is 30 and only under control for two more years, so the time is now to cash in and maximize their return on him. If they can get back 2-3 really good prospects for him who are near MLB ready (and they don’t trade away Bieber), this could be a seriously dangerous team by 2023-24.
Ramirez is 29. He turns 30 in September. Cleveland could have a good system. We don’t know. This system is all about what if’s more than most organizations. Some of the top ranked players have not progressed or took off like Nolan Jones, Bo Naylor, Aaron Bracho. Our most talented pitcher Ethan Hankins injury bug hurt. Also, remember history. We have been great in developing pitchers but not many offensive players. We always have to trade for some. Again. We got numbers in the infield but someone we traded for (Arias) might be the best one. Tyler freeman numbers look good but let’s see him do it at AAA over an extended period. We have lots of questions on the offensive player side. We only hope guys like Steven Kwan is not a 4A player because we don’t have many offensively all-star potential guys like Valera right now.
Any contract offer the Rockies would make for the services of
JOC
would be on the low side
as the team would prefer
not to be
STRAPPED !!
C’mon Mighty Guardians, what on earth are you waiting for ?? Sign some free agent Outfielders you pitching prospect hoarding/ no-hit team you. NEED offense for this dog to hunt.
Nice to see Cleveland continue to sign marginal FAs to block intriguing prospects…
Well Pedersen is gone. Take heart thought,we still have a shot at Michael Martinez.
No update by MLBTR on Castellanos? Today it has been reported that it’s the Phillies and Marlins going hard after him.
My goodness how would Jeter look if the Marlins end up signing Castellanos after all?
Castellanos is a complete duplication of what we already have. We have corner outfielders and DHs.
I need a centerfielder who can catch the ball. Laureano is a much better match. I can wait the 27 games.
Another Marlins supposed “target” Castellanos is off the board. What a shame for @MarlinsFanBase.