Less than three months remain until the August 2nd MLB trade deadline, and starting pitching is always a hot commodity. Here’s a look at 18 starters who might be available in the coming months.
Top of the rotation-ish
- Frankie Montas, Athletics: Under team control through 2023, Montas continues to be an obvious trade candidate who can make a major impact on a contending team. He’s picked up right where he left off last year, with a 3.44 ERA and the skills to match. Having moved Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt after the lockout ended, the A’s are now primed to spark a bidding war for Montas.
- Luis Castillo, Reds: Castillo has shown the ability to pitch near the top of a rotation, even though he struggled in his first ten starts of 2021. Like Montas, Castillo is under team control through ’23. Castillo opened the season on the IL due to a shoulder injury, but he’s penciled in for his debut Monday. If he remains healthy, Castillo should be able to make around 15 starts prior to the trade deadline, so suitors will have plenty of information. The Reds may be able to extract a premium prospect for Castillo.
- Marcus Stroman, Cubs: Stroman may not be thought of as a true ace, but a 3.02 ERA in 33 starts last year is nothing to sniff at. Though Stroman’s ERA sits at 5.13 through five starts, his skills seem unchanged. I generally expect the Cubs to keep Stroman, as trading a player this early into a trumpeted three-year deal is a bad look. Plus, Stroman is on a three-year, $71MM contract with an opt-out after ’23, which may not hold appeal to certain clubs.
- Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, Padres: Once Snell returns from a groin strain IL stint this month, the Padres will simply have too many starting pitchers if everyone else remains healthy. Trading Darvish or Snell would alleviate that situation and give them financial flexibility to improve elsewhere. The Padres may not wait until the trade deadline to address the logjam. While Darvish and Snell had disappointing seasons in 2021, both remain capable of pitching near the top of a rotation. With more than $40MM owed and a 12-team no-trade clause, Darvish could be tricky to move.
Middle and back of the rotation
- Tyler Mahle, Reds: Mahle pitched to a 3.72 ERA with a 28.1 K% from 2020-21, but he owns a 7.01 ERA through his first six starts this year. Mahle, who seems to have cut his slider usage significantly this year, is not missing bats like he has in the past and is averaging only 4.28 innings per start. Mahle is under team control through 2023, and given his past success will be targeted whether or not he’s able to right the ship with the Reds.
- Mike Minor, Reds: Minor is battling a shoulder injury and working his way toward a minor league rehab assignment. If he’s healthy and pitching acceptably, the Reds may flip him at the deadline to save money.
- Zack Greinke and Brad Keller, Royals: Greinke’s early success includes a strikeout rate of just 6.5%. He’s on a one-year, $13MM deal and the Royals figure to defer to his preferences regarding a potential trade. Keller, who is under team control through ’23, also doesn’t miss bats, but does sport a strong groundball rate and ERA in the early going.
- Kyle Hendricks, Drew Smyly, Wade Miley, Cubs: Hendricks’ unique soft-tossing approach has resulted in a 4.90 ERA since 2021, and he has about $27MM remaining on his contract through ’23. Trading him at this stage would be a disappointing end to a player who has meant so much to the franchise. On an affordable one-year deal, Smyly is more likely to go, though his skills have been middling since ’21. Miley has yet to make his Cubs debut due to elbow inflammation, but he’s set to make a minor league rehab start tonight in St. Paul. While the Cubs in a sense have a starting rotation full of trade candidates, the returns wouldn’t be impressive and the club might elect not to decimate that group without worthy replacements.
- Martin Perez, Rangers, Jose Quintana, Pirates, Michael Pineda, Tigers: Though early results are good, there’s nothing skills-wise to recommend these guys. Their teams could could flip them to someone looking for depth, but there’s little urgency.
- Jordan Lyles, Orioles: The Orioles signed Lyles to eat some innings, so they might as well let him eat some innings this year. But they could probably be convinced to trade him.
- Patrick Corbin, Nationals: With $78MM remaining on his contract, Corbin could only be moved as part of a salary dump.
- Stephen Strasburg, Nationals: With $169MM remaining through 2026, Strasburg has one of the least tradeable contracts in baseball. He was set to face live hitters yesterday at the Nats’ spring training facility as he recovers from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery underwent last July. I suppose there’s a scenario where he pitches for a month in the Majors and looks like 2019 Strasburg, and someone goes about the complicated process of taking on some of his contract, but it’s unlikely.
As always, the market will take shape around the middle of July. The Phillies still have a reasonable shot at the playoffs at present despite a disappointing start, but if they fall further, impending free agents like Zach Eflin and Kyle Gibson could be traded. The Red Sox are in a similar place, and could put some interesting names on the market like Nathan Eovaldi, Chris Sale, and James Paxton.
With the 2 year option clause Boston has on Paxton (I believe at less than $15M per year), I doubt Boston will entertain trading Paxton if he comes back this season from TJS and pitches well. He is their Eovaldi replacement for next season, but I’d like to see them re-sign Nate for a couple more seasons too. Boston has some exciting young pitching ready to break into the majors (Bello, Seabold this year and Mata, Walter and Groome next year) so perhaps they will entertain trading Nate. They could trade Pivetta too if he can rebound from his poor start to the season.
Paxton has pitched over 150 innings only twice in his career (2018, and barely in 2019) and yet continues to get contracts. It’s amazing actually. Grow tall, throw lefty, don a memorable nickname like Big Maple, and the teams will bite. I’m not a Maple hater, I actually love watching the guy pitch, but he’s an example of more promise than performance.
And I agree, I don’t see the Red Sox waiting on this guy simply to trade him away.
Eovaldi is going to be the most coveted pitcher at the trade deadline, if Bloom plays his cards right he can get something comparable to what the Yanks got for Chapman. That is, as long as Vazquez stays the heck away from Eovaldi. With any luck the Sox can unload Vazquez too.
As for Paxton, Bloom has to at least listen to offers. I don’t think he’ll bring much in return unless he’s pitching by next month.
Overall I like the methodology, build up the farm system by signing undervalued free agents and then trading them. But punting on this season still stinks, 2nd-highest payroll in the league and they have the most losses in the league. If this season results in Cora getting canned (pun intended) then that would be a silver lining to a forgettable year.
Obviously someone has not been paying attention to the MLB trade deadline in recent years because no team makes that type of trade anymore for a guy with less than two years of control. Top prospects only get moved for players with at least a season and a half (unless it’s an absolutely elite player like Betts).
Draft pools and draft pick compensation ruined those huge block buster type returns for players. Case in point, look at the Cubs last year, not one top 100 prospect came back for Bryant, Rizzo or Baez. The closest was PCA who was only moved because he was out for the season with a shoulder injury (same with Madrgial (hamstring)). Bryant landed Candario who maybe would be a top 200 and was expendable because he was in A+ ball and taking up a 40 man roster spot.
drascoo – You’re saying the package that the Nats received was mostly for Turner? And BTW, both Scherzer and Turner had less than two years of control when they were traded.
Sorry I have to respectfully disagree, if a team is close enough and desperate enough to win a championship then they won’t mind overpaying for a 3-month rental who gets them over the top. That’s exactly what the Cubs did with Chapman, overpaid to break a very long championship drought.
Are you serious trying to compare Nathan Eovaldi to Max Scherzer????
And yes, the price the Dodgers paid was MOSTLY for Trea Turner considering the FACT that Trea Turner is one of the best shortstops in all of baseball with an extra year of control.
Even if the Red Sox included Bogarts, they would not receive the return the Nationals got for Scherzer and Turner.
Blue Jays gave up Austin Martin for Berrios at the deadline last year. He has a chance to be more impactful than anyone the Cubs gave to the Yankees for Chapman. The same could be said of Pete Crow Armstrong, who the Mets gave up for 3 months of Javier Baez.
At the time, it seemed like the Cubs gave up a lot, but none of those players, in hindsight, have been transcendent. Gleyber has gone from budding star to borderline release candidate.
Tossing a no hitter helps too 🙂
Alec Mills threw a no-hitter… anyone want to trade for him?
If someone wanted to give Stroman that contract they wouldn’t trade for him they would have outbid the Cubs to sign him in the first place. He hasn’t exactly helped his stock since signing.
On Snell, I doubt they trade him unless they get back similar value to what they gave up to get him in the first place, which isn’t going to happen.
I agree on Stroman.
I don’t necessarily agree on Snell…I think the Padres understand his value is down from where it was 16 months ago.
I’m sure they understand that. I’m also sure they understand that trading a guy for 50 cents on the dollar not even two years after giving up that kind of a package to acquire him is terrible optics.
And as for the Padres having too many SP’s, people were saying that a year ago. Then the injuries happened and by the end of the year they were giving starts to Jake Arrieta and Vince Velazquez.
What are you talking about “optics”? Who cares. Not Preller (or any other GM). Bad trades happen all the time and you win some lose some. 50 cents is better than getting 10 cents on the dollar later. Dude’s still worth something. Lots of teams think they can fix anyone with talent, which he certanly has.
Frazier was a terrible trade and trading him to Seattle was terrible optics, but Preller sucked it up and did what he needed to do. But I also agree they won’t likely trade Snell (or Darvish) and I’m not sure why this article weven suggests it. They are both signed though 23, Manaea, Clevinger and Musgrove become FAs after this year, and at some point a SP will have health issues this year (could be Snell and/or Darvish) and the so-called logjam won’t be such a thing. The one strength this team has right now is depth in SP, which is why it shouldn’t be expendable.
Their relievers (other than Rogers) are a total mess so they should strongly consider piggy-backing Snell, Clevinger, Gore and Martinez, using Musgrove, Darvish and Manaea as anchors. Actually, I like the idea of Clevinger/Snell starting and going 5 innings, then bringing in Martinez to close out the game without using a RP at all. Likewise, start Gore/Snell then bring in Snell/Clevinger in to close out.
Not sure egos would manage such a scheme, and that doesn’t seem to be Melvin’s style, but I think it would work at least until they figure out their relievers – or get healthy with Pierce Johnson and Pomeranz back soon.
I’m tired of watching the reliever throw away easy wins. The team should be 20-5 right now
Even worse optics is continuing to receive 25 cents on the dollar when you had an opportunity to move him for 50 cents.
I know we like to think GM’s don’t care about optics but sadly they do.
And like I said. People were also saying last year that the Padres had too many starters. We all know how that worked out.
Can’t have a 7 man rotation and Darvish, Snell, Musgrove, Manaea, Clevinger, and Martinez all have no options. They can’t be sent down without exposing them to waivers. Gore has been outstanding. Stupid and bad optics to send him down. Melvin has been public about his distaste for using piggybacks. Not sure that is an option for them. The Padres have 4 relievers expected back by the All Star break, Pomeranz, Baez, Morejon, and Johnson.
Gore has gotten the job done so far but half of his starts have been against the lowly Reds and he hasn’t been able to command his secondaries at all. You can’t survive as a starter in the majors with just a fastball no matter how good that fastball is. His luck will run out soon enough. Just ask Ryan Weathers.
You must not be actually watching him pitch if you don’t see his relatively good command over his 4 pitch mix
@brew
Musgrove is probably going to get a nice extension. He’s a local guy in his prime who owns the only no hitter in the history of the franchise. And Clevinger absolutely loves playing in San Diego. He will likely stay if they want him and he gets a decent offer. Snell was acquired more or less because he baffled the Dodgers in one World Series game. I think he’s the odd man out.
@DrDan75 They’re not trading Snell unless they get Luis Patiño and Cole Wilcox back. Or at least something comparable. And like I said, if they wanted to trade a SP Sean Manaea would not have been traded for at all.
And I’d pump the brakes on assuming all the pending FA’s will stay in town. Preller has had difficulty keeping his key FA’s in the past.
Pitchers get contracts based on performance. Musgrove and Manea will be expensive. Clevinger, Darvish and Snell… not so much.
The Yankees gave up too much for Sonny Grey, then got too little in return when he didn’t excel, so the same thought process could be applied to Snell by the Padres
Yankees gave up basically nothing for Sonny Gray. There is no comparison.
With what happened to the padres last year, I doubt they trade any starters
I can see that, and an injury or two might “solve” the issue. That said:
Darvish
Snell
Musgrove
Manaea
Gore
Clevinger
Nick Martinez
I think the solution would be Martinez to the bullpen and a six-man rotation for as long as everyone is healthy.
Another point, which Anthony Franco covered at length in a subscriber article today, is that the Padres have very little financial flexibility right now if they intend to stay under the CBT.
Right, which is why you trade Snell, who is making $13m in cap hit this year.
Add Ryan Weathers too. To upgrade their relief pitching and help for all three outfield spots, I can see two trades of starters coming.
Morejon might be ML ready before Weathers is
The problem with a 6-man rotation is that the bullpen will be going 4 innings or so many of those games (especially Snell, Martinez, Gore games), and the bullpen is disastrous. I’d rather see them piggy-back starters to reduce RP to mop up, at least until they get their better RPs back from health issues.
The piggyback option makes some sense. The problem who, I’m sure all these dudes want to be starters.
The easiest to move to the pen would be Martinez (worse of the group) and gore. Gore has been great but he is a rookie and assuming on a innings limit.
Clev/gore
Snell or manaea (depending on who is going deep)/martinez
My guess is they go with Martinez to the pen when snell is back and a 6 man. Martinez and crissmat gives them decent long guys to save the pen.
Waiting for the Snell for Adell posts.
@ Tim D. The Pads need to clear about $2.8 mil to get under CBT and if that’s their only goal, I suspect they’ll try to trade Lamet rather than Snell or Darvish. If they want additional flexibility to sign an OF or another RP (two areas of need) then a Darvish/Snell trade might be in the works.
Curious though, if they want to cut salary this year and trade a SP, why not trade Clevinger instead to an AL contender (Yanks, Red Sox, etc…) as a 2022 rental, given that Snell/Darvish are signed through ’23? I doubt they would part with Sunshine, but it seems to make some sense over Snell and Yu.
Padres are currently under the tax.
according to spotrac they’re $2.0 mil over (not 2.8 as I thought): spotrac.com/mlb/tax/
I think trading Clevinger makes some sense, but it’s possible the Padres think he’s better than Darvish. In that case, trading Darvish would mean clearing more money and keeping the better pitcher. Darvish has a 6.05 ERA over his last 19 starts.
If Snell’s $13m was such a problem they wouldn’t have traded for him to begin with. Let alone trade Luis Patiño and Cole Wilcox.
They have said multiple times that they intend to use Gore as a starter ONLY
Both of those would require someone to take Darvish or Clevinger. Not self evident that teams would do that. And if they would, they certainly wouldn’t give up the packages Preller did for those pitchers.
Buying guys at absolute peak value is a huge problem for Preller.
Also… Why would they trade a starter after they just traded FOR Sean Manaea? Wouldn’t that just be a lateral move?
When they decided to sign Manaea in the 11th hour, Gore was pegged for AAA, and both Snell and Clevinger had hit the IL. I think OF was their need to fill then but they opted instead for insurance at SP. Since then Gore has looked ready for prime time, and both Snell and Clev seem to be getting back to health, which all has been a pleasant outcome really. We’ll see how long they all stay intact, it’s a good problem to have and I’d be surprised if they deal any SP in next few months at least.
It was never forecasted to be a long absence for either Snell or Clevinger and no one expected Gore to be in the minors very long.
With Clevinger coming back from 2TJS, many big questions, and with Gore so bad the last 2 years, who’da thought he’d figure it out so quickly? …but yeah I didn’t think they made the Manaea trade out of urgency – they clearly had that one in the works, but it might have been the plan B that made sense at the time, especially since all the Plan As (for OFs) likely fell through. Ultimately I think the Manaea trade was a good one for the Pads
Wasn’t a bad trade. Just one that doesn’t make sense if they trade away a starter.
I think you can tell I’m not a fan of lateral moves.
legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/nl…
Who is? But it’s impossible for us fans to know the backstories. What appears to be a lateral move to us might not be as juggling player control and contracts this year and in upcoming years plays into decisions and that information is hard to come by. Would be fun to interview Preller, but even then he wouldn’t share everything. The article suggests that Darvish and Snell are potential trade options this year, as a premise, as a basis for discussion, as a wild guess? Then there’s the actual performance of the rotation, as the year plays out. That was an impressive start by Martinez last night.
I still don’t see it happening. If they are still in contention by the time Fernando comes back, I don’t see the CBT being a roadblock if they can smell a championship.
Plus it was around the all-star break when darvish had his hip issues and the rotation fell apart.
I do think the most likely solution would be to push Martinez into the pen, and stick with a 6 man rotation. Unless we can make several big league upgrades by trading someone like Snell, I don’t see it happening just to fix a logjam.
Yeah I was at the game last night and Martinez was lights out. He had a lot less base traffic and worked very efficiently. Had the last inning not thrown soany pitches he could have justifiably went 8 innings
Boston needs to figure out the Xander Bogaerts situation before anything. Chaim Bloom seemed forced to make the Trevor Story signing to appease the fanbase and now they’re turning on him because of Story’s continued decline. That money should of been spent on Xander. You can’t trade Mookie and then let Xander walk.
We’re barely in Chapter 1 with Story. Too early.
Its early this season. But the signs were there last year in Colorado. He just doesn’t look like the same guy. I hope he turns it around but im worried
Story was producing at an All Star level in the 2nd half last year.
He needs to play short. That was a bad call by the Sox. They overcame his own reluctance by overpaying him, but he’s clearly not comfortable at 2B and is a WAY better SS than Xander.
It is funny/odd to me that the Red Sox are seemingly willing to play both middle infielders out of position so as not to piss off Xander, who has a good chance of leaving after this season.
Or before the season ends via trade deadline. Someone may bite (Angels, Astros).
Really doubt the Astros would even entertain this idea after letting Correa walk. They have a ROOKIE playing short that is an absolute stud.
harambe – I agree you’re legendary, but on this one you’re not looking at The Big Picture.
Story’s OPS by year:
2019 – .917
2020 – .874
2021 – .801
2022 – .619
And I haven’t even brought up The Coors Effect.
As good as he is defensively, that contract is a risky overpay.
Tim – When Xander was given a planned day off in Toronto, it was Arroyo and not Story who played SS. Of course Arroyo made an error that cost the game.
The same Arroyo who had started just 12 games at SS in his career, 9 of which were in 2017.
It sure seems like Red Sox management is suffering from “I’m Smarter Than Everyone Else” syndrome..
Are you serious? .253/.337/.506 is All-Star level? Maybe if you are implying that every team needs a representative and the Rockies didn’t have anyone else?
The Red Sox made a stupid decision with Story because Story had “coors concern” written all over him on top with his throwing issues last season.
Definitely too early to talk about Story’s “decline”. He has been a very good player and it’s a long season. He should be fine.
His decline has been happening for a while. He also isn’t a 2B.
A lot of people think just because a guy can play short stop he can seemlessly slide into second base but that isn’t the case.
Now I’m sure the Red Sox did their research on story’s lateral movement but people forget that you’re getting different reads, you are making different turns, you’re throwing more moving away from first base than towards. It’s not as simple as it seems to switch. And now you have ego playing it’s part since Story is a vastly better defender than Bogarts at short, yet Story is getting the ARod treatment and is being moved off his position in favor of a defensive liability
The Red Sox and Yankees are similar in one regard. Both will overpay on FA talent yet attempt to get hometown discounts on their homegrown talent.
Boston pays JD, Story, Sale… not Betts, and haggling with Boegarts and Devers.
NY pays everyone, but lowballing Judge. They lowballed Jeter, Petitte, Posada and Rivera for years because they knew the would never leave.
I don’t think the Yankees lowballed Judge.
He certainly won’t get more than the 8/230 the Yankees offered when he hits FA going into his age 32 season. 5/150-155 is probably what he will be looking at. Maybe someone gives him 5/160.
What is certain is that his stats will decline every year after 2022. It happens with all players once they pass their age 30 season. By looking at the pattern of decline in other top end hitters, we see that by the end of a 5 year deal he will be a slightly below average hitter and he will be relegated to being a DH. $30+ million for a below average hitter that can no longer play the field is not a smart decision.
The Yankees offered him more than anyone else because of loyalty.
Judge might get more if the Mets or somebody make a crazy offer and the Yanks are forced to meet or beat it.
Tim – I agree. Prior to this season, I was expecting $30M/per from 2022-2029 with 2030/2031 option years at $30M each.
Now, he should get $210M guaranteed 2023-2029.
They paid Story because he won’t command as much as the other two. Sale was at the top of his game when traded for and JD was below what folks expected him to get.
never leaving is not a good negotaiting position to maximize contract values. Judge’s 230 over 7 is a very very reasonable offer. Personally Im stunned he passed on it.
The Yankees look like the smartest people in the room passing on Story for IKF
As a Padres fan, Snell has potential but has proven over a few years he is closer to average than top of the rotation pitcher. I understand why you lumped them together, though
If the Braves dont start winning they will be looking to sell at the deadline.
Braves sell-off could be interesting. Morton, Jansen, Will Smith, Duvall, Swanson.
Charlie Morton is *always* welcome back in St Pete’s.
Morton’s toast. Finally. Nice career though.
As well as Houston! The announcers used to call him “Ground Chuck” because of his ability to induce ground balls. More of a soft contact pitcher now but still welcomes back after the post season performance he has put on.
Surprised Montas is still in Oakland considering he makes over the league minimum
5.025 mill is league minimum?
spotrac.com/mlb/oakland-athletics/frankie-montas-1…
Reading comprehension is hard.
Probably should have clarified my comment better.
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33739094/average-mlb-salar…
Average salary in the mlb is around 4.5 mill.
Montas is practically making league minimum. He’s a little more than the league average.
My comment wasnt refuting what they said. It was suppose to me a tongue in cheek comment of how cheap the A’s are.
nice attempt at a save
Believe me don’t believe me doesn’t really matter chef. Think I know what I meant better than you do.
too many nitpickers around here! I knew what you meant to say but thanks for clarifying
Maybe if the Nats eventually trade Soto they will unload Strasburg and his contract.
I think they might find a taker for Stras and Bell, one of the few guys who is crushing the ball this year. They’d have to cover some of Stras’ deal, but they can get out from half of it or something by letting Bell go.
Unless Strasburg is back looking like a top of rotation starter again, it would take much more than half a season of Josh Bell to shave anything off that contract.
I assume you’re not talking about this year. It’s May and Strasburg just started throwing to live batters in West Palm.
Anecdotally ,thoracic outlet surgery is a kiss of death.
Non-anecdotally, Frankie Montas had the same surgery as TO for a slightly different reason. That was over four years ago.
Of the 27 pitchers, 20 (74.1%) were able to return to MLB play at a mean of 297 days (range, 105-638 days) after surgery. Pitching metrics demonstrated that pitcher ERA remained inferior postoperatively compared to baseline preoperative performance (3.66 vs 4.50, p = 0.03). Fastball velocity (p = 0.94) and strike percentage (p = 0.50) were equivalent to pre-injury performance.
Padres are more likely to move Lamet and put Martinez in the pen.
With Pomeranz on the 60 once Morejon is back he probably shifts to the pen to limit him once he returns from TJS.
Darvish, Snell, Gore/Clevinger, Manea, Musgrove.
Gore and Clevinger are probably on inning limits, Gore has only topped 100 innings once in the minors and Clevinger is back from TJS, so they may eventually piggy back each other.
Snell makes $9m more than Lamet, and the Padres have lux tax problems if they want to shore up their pen for the 2nd half. They were dangling Lamet in part to free up space, but now that Hosmer’s hitting I think that’s off the table.
Lamet is in the pen and injuries have derailed his starter career for the Padres, least until he gets surgery.
Padres aren’t going to move Snell and put Lamet in his place. Lamet has avoided having surgery by putting him in the pen. Moving him to the rotation and expecting him to give you significant innings wouldn’t be the smartest decision in the world.
They don’t currently need to make any moves to sure up the pen considering
Morejon, Pomeranz, Baez, Johnson should be retuning at some point this year.
Wait it out.
Lamet was an arbitration eligible player, so if the Padres release him by May 6th, 30 days into the season, only a portion of his salary is owed to him and only that part is used in the CBT calculations. I think its 30%, but not sure.
That changed in the new CBA.
Padre fans:
Would you be more inclined to trading Snell knowing his value is low and you will not receive anything close to what you have up or Darvish whose value is even lower?
I know you need outfield help. I’m guessing the Pads would trade to open up some money and financial flexibility. Obviously you need Hosmer now as Voit again has shown he can’t stay healthy but more than anything the Pads need outfield help.
Neither.
Problem Padres have faced the last couple years has been rotation depth. I don’t see Preller making significant changes this year to the rotation depth. During the off season probably but doubt he makes major changes to it during the season.
Most likely scenario would be move Lamet, shift Martinez to the pen. Gore and Clevinger are probably on inning limits. They could piggy back each other at some point.
Kim has been playing well at SS. If./when tatis jr comes back he should shift to the corner OF for remainder of the season.
Kim won’t become the regular SS. When (not if) Tati comes back in a month or so, Kim becomes their valuable utility guy at SS/2B/3B, and Abrams goes to AAA to get more experience.
In terms of the starting pitching only, if the Padres get to the ASB and Gore is healthy and pitching well and the rest of the starters are all also healthy, trade Martinez even if the team gets nothing but salary relief. That was a stupid signing in the first place.
In terms of the pen, the Padres need some help. Taylor Rogers has been lights out. Can’t be any better than 10/10 on saves with a 0.00 ERA. Hill is a lost cause. If they had any options he would not be pitching at all. Lamet is toast. Just release him now and save $3 million.
Pomeranz, Baez and Morejon should be ready to help out of the pen by mid season so they don’t need Martinez in the pen. If he is not starting and they have a six man rotation without him in there with Musgrove, Darvish, Manaea, Clevinger, Gore, and Snell, then he has to be the one to go. The upside for the rest is much, much higher.
As far as the OF goes, Myers should improve immensely once he returns. Apparently he couldn’t hold a fork steadily his hand hurt so bad. How he held a bat is beyond me. That still leaves a big holes in LF and CF. Azocar is a good defensive fill in, but its obvious that he is not the answer at the plate. Thompson is waste of a roster spot. 5 SO in 8 AB is pathetic. Grisham and Profar are, well, terrible. Not sure what else to say. They don’t play on any playoff caliber team.
If Kim continues to play Gold Glove defense and hit for an .850 plus OPS, the Padres may have to move Tatis to CF or LF out of necessity. That would solve one of the two issues in the OF.
So now the question is what OF is available? What do the Padres have to give up to get him?
Reports are myers injury won’t fully heal until the off season. Not sure the padres can count on him.
What reports are those? Nothing coming out of the Padres or any beat writers say that.
Its not a tear or a broken bone. It was a jammed thumb and forefinger. Mostly the bruise on the thumb that was keeping him from gripping.
The medical exams didn’t show any structural damage, but the area between Myers’ thumb and forefinger was swollen and discolored. That is where he holds the bat and swinging would hurt like BLEEP.
According to Melvin he will be ready to come off the IL on the 7th.
My sources tell me…..WHAT sources!
Actually, Myers is expected to have to deal with the contusion for quite a while, it’s going to be about pain management. But the inflamation has gone way down, let’s hope he can manage it. I think I’m happiest with the Pads when Myers is hitting well, it changes the entire dynamics of the offense.
They said on the broadcast of the game tonight that the next few days were key for him because he started hitting off a tee again. They also mentioned something like he might go yo Lake Elsinore for a rehab assignment depending on how he feels.
Doesn’t sound like he’s coming off the IL right away but it shouldn’t take too long. They need him back, no one else in that OF is even hitting .200
The Profar, Grisham, Thompson/Beaty OF isn’t even as good as the expansion year team of 1969 Cito Gaston, Ollie Brown and Al Ferrara
How’s that stupid signing going for ya? Seems like your the stupid one in this conversation
Seems like his what is the stupid one in this conversation?
Phillies need 3 starters..
I don’t really think pitching is the problem in Philly. Defense. Offense.
Phillies actually aren’t too bad offensively, offense has been pretty dead league-wide because of the new baseballs apparently.
The Phillies will be selling , the team is a total dumpster fire.
Yup. The Phillies have been mediocre for years, but this year is an absolute nightmare. Teams aren’t beating them; they’re beating themselves. And every game it’s a different issue.
Corbin and Strasburg being on this list is comical to me to say the least…
I mean, they figure to be available, if unwanted.
Last I checked, Strasberg was the least valuable player in all of baseball per baseball trade values.
Good luck.
Strasburg.
Not Strasbourg, FR either.
BTV is a total joke. Why would you even bother looking there?
Eh, it’s fine for ballparking player values with some consideration for their contract situation.
I suppose I could take the route of many here and evaluate by some combination of baseball fan intuition and self righteousness.
“BTV is a total joke.”
Having Eric Lauer at $9.2MM is comical.
Or you could take the opinion of experts.
Yes but the article is on trade targets. If it’s from Nats perspective, then sure I guess they might target trading them both
Yeah, and the article also refers to them as “hot commodities.”
Soooooooo
No, it doesn’t. He refers to starting pitching at the deadline as being a “hot commodity.”
Oh yeah you’re totally right.
He calls starting pitching a hot commodity and then lists Stephen Strasburg, who… let’s see here, ah yes, is the least valuable purveyor of that hot commodity as a potential target for teams looking for said hot commodity.
I apologize.
Well starting pitching is generally a hot commodity, but I think he’s inferring that means any pitcher that’s worthy of being traded for at the deadline. Honestly, I’d like to see ‘devastating” Strasberg come back. Good for the game.
Corbin pitched very well the last two starts (including last night in Coors, even though he lost). He may have found something and if so he could be a steal for a smart team with some payroll room.
Sorry this article completely missed out on the Milwaukee Brewers, they have 7 to 8 pitchers that could put teams over the top. All these guys could be a one or two on most teams.
Right, but why would the Brewers be trading them? They’re going for a deep playoff run this year.
Brewers do need some offense and I don’t know if a guy like Woodruff or Houser are resignable so those guys with a top prospect could get a good controlled MLB ready guy
Brewers aren’t trading Woodruff until the offseason at the earliest. Ethan Small should get called-up post S-2 & if he pitches well out of the bullpen, can be the 6th starter the rest of the year, with Ashby taking Adrian Housers rotation spot if Stearns trades him.
This article is about pitchers who will be trade targets at the deadline. The Brewers are very unlikely to deal from their big league roster
Ironically I don’t think Castillo will be traded at least at the trading deadline. The team is under heat for their off season payroll cuts, the owner’s son making insulting comments towards Reds fans and a truly historic miserable start. Perhaps they should trade Castillo but I think it’s unlikely they will do so now.
Sure, Reds fans would be angry if they just continue what they did this offseason—dumping salary for almost no return. But they’d also be angry if the GM just sits on his hands and gets nothing in return for a lost season.
In any case I think most Reds fans will have long since tuned out by the trade deadline.
The FO has to weigh the possibility of trading Castillo very carefully. On one hand they want to dump his salary for marginal prospects, but in the other this team desperately needs some Ws. Nothing screams “tanking” like a 3-22 start. Something has to be done to stop the hemorrhaging, and it isn’t shedding salary.
Nothing to SNIFF at,……. LOL
Who wants to Sneeze, when you can sniff?
Found Brandon’s account!
Let’s go?
That Strasburg contract was bad the second he put his signature on it. Anybody with any sense knew Strasburg would never live up to it.
Stroman has also been touted as some excellent big league pitcher capable of great things, but having watched him in NY – as a member of the Blue Jays, then the Mets – this guy is league average. Plus, he’s obnoxious.
Average?! You have very high standards Ser. He’s a bit up and down but never bad and has been excellent fairly recently.
Stroman is a serviceable MLB pitcher, but far from a difference maker. And, his mouth and antics on and off the field make him a liability.
Stroman is far above average, and had fantastic year for the Mets last season.
But lest we forget, Tom Seaver would never wear a durag. He didn’t participate in any antics or tom-foolery, as Stroman does, either. Didn’t have a mouth and also wasn’t obnoxious.
Now that’s what I’d call a pitcher!
Most of the Cubs rotation is listed here once Wade Miley returns from the IL.
Looks like a weak group overall this year. Selling teams can probably fleece desperate buyers. The A’s are actually looking very smart for not moving Montas this past offseason
Better hope they get a good deal, didn’t like any of the trades they made thus far
From an outside perspective, I’d say it looks like the A’s did pretty well in those recent trades. The Olson and Bassit trades already look good and the Manaea trade could pay dividends down the road as well. The A’s usually do well in trades when they’re the sellers and Montas will probably be the top SP available at the deadline so I expect them to get a haul
You forgot Noah Syndergaard in your list. He’s sitting at 2.63 with good peripherals and is only a rental.
The Angels are currently in 1st place. Unless they go into free fall, Syndergaard isn’t being moved
Off topic, but what happens to DiPoto when the Mariners finish under .500 this season?
The Angels will be the buyers.
The author didn’t forget. The Angels are paying Syndergaard $21M and it’s looking like he might be a bargain, by the results of his first 4 starts, which includes a WHIP under 1.00, ERA+ of 143, and a K/BB of 2.80 as he continues to improve in return from TJS. He is averaging 6 IP per start. They have no incentive to trade him.
I think if the padres traded a starter it would be Martinez.
Then again I really don’t see them moving anyone because of how last year went.
Think they will move lamet, but I also don’t think the luxury tax is that big of an issue for the right trade that would put them over. They tried to sign seiya which would of put them over this year.
All things be near equal They would like to stay under the tax but at the sametime winning will be the priority. If nothing else seidler (owner) has shown he will spend.
As he signed a FA deal I don’t think Martinez can be traded until after the mlb draft or maybe that rule change…
Martinez is also weird to trade because of all his player options. He’s potentially a rental if he pitches well enough, but if he implodes then you’re stuck with his deal for a while.
With Preller anything is on the table, but I don’t think they will move quickly to trade Darvish or Snell since they are 1 injury away from needing the depth and Clevinger and Gore will be on inning limits.
If the Red Sox do end up falling out of the race, they’ll have some great chips to move that would really make any sort of mini rebuild be relatively pain free. Those pitchers on top of Bogaerts should bring back a lot of pieces that could help them compete pretty soon.
Red Sox are already finished at 8 GB.
The Yankees were 8.5 games behind at the end of June last year. The Braves were 5 games behind and below .500 at the end of June last year as well. Nats were 9 games out on May 31, 2019. Not saying the Red Sox are all of a sudden going to become WS contenders and win 30 of their next 35, but it’s way too early to give up on a team that looked good going into the year. One good week from the Sox and they’d seriously close the gap.
Shhhh, I just enjoy kicking the Red Clots when they’re down
8 GB in May. ALE is a tough division, and I don’t have Boston winning it, but it’s so ridiculously early.
I may be wrong, but I believe that several teams have made bigger moves than 8 games after the ASG including the Red Sox.
I’m glad Bieber is not on the list. The Braves will get him anyway
It’s a tribute to Chaim Bloom’s dynamic leadership skills (and yes. it all comes from above) that one month into the season, Red Sox Nation is already planning the fire sale.
Elieser Hernandez will likely be dealt. Not sure who would want him at this point. It’s been ugly so far.
Quintana, early on is making of a case. but the way the pirates are utilizing starters with facing less batters could be skewing that
but yeah way early to get to in depth on the more fringy
I’d put Miles Mikolas on the list. Clearly the cardinals will not win the division and have no shot with the west or east gaining the wildcards.
I geuss the the reds are going for 155 loses
They’re projected for 142. I’ll take the under!
Fun article! One bit of advice, and this is just personal: maybe include a “supposed” or “likely” return for (x or y) player. I know this is spitballin’ and presuming “a lot” but it would add to the fun, again, in my personal opinion. Great article regardless!
Braves need to be looking. Plus they need to see if they can get someone to throw in a pitching coach.
Heck I think a good trade for the Brewers and Red Sox would be a Woodruff, Wong, Barker and File for Devers and Downs.
Is Bumgarner’s contract untradeable for the Dbacks? Assuming they are out of it, I wonder if teams like the Yankees or Blue Jays would be interesting and willing to pick up the remainder of his contract?
No contract is truly untradeable but no one is taking Bumgarner unless the Diamondbacks attach money/prospects.
The other way would be a bad contract swap.
I was just thinking that I didn’t see Madison Bumgarner
Aside from the 1 start in SF…Darvish is pitching at a 1.41 ERA ….no way in hell he gets traded
Snell would be the obvious odd man put in any trade to a contender
The trade doesn’t have to be for an OF but could include a solid BP arm and a top 5ish (organizatuinal) and top 10ish type spec
Then AJP can do whatever needs to be done to add an OFer… Doesn’t have to be Reynolds like (lots of spec capital) all they need is a good OBP leadoff type I would sign Dexter Fowler to be honest and later try to acquire Kwan (Orioles) or someone like that… Taris will be back in a month or so and the offense is top 3 or 4 in runs score atm…so even with all the struggles if they keep this up until Yayis return
Kwan (Guardians?)
According to Tim Dierkes in this thread, Darvish has a 6.05 ERA in his last 19 starts. Its just not the one start in SF.
Darvish was hurt at end of last season when his ERA shot upwards. He courageously agreed to try to pitch through the hip injury because his team was down to 2 legitimate starters and needed the innings. He also made the AS team last year (when healthy and pitching great). I frankly don’t see a meaning trend in the numbers cited by Dierkes
During spring training they were also talking about how he made a couple mechanical tweaks because of that injury issue last year, so I think it’s something that’s been addressed.
I’m putting more stock in the 6 shutout innings against LA and the other quality starts as opposed to the one blow up this year.
The Phillies will be selling. This team is a total dumpster fire. Hopefully they can get some young talent in return, but not likely.
They’re not playing anywhere near their potential. They can’t be this bad all season.
Can they?
If things don’t improve between now and 7/1 I can see Girardi being fired. Not saying all this is his fault, but somebody has to go. I look at that lineup and think, “How are they this bad?”
Bold prediction: the Phillies won’t lose to the Mets today…….because they are already rained out.
Lamet, Martinez plus International Draft money for Schwarbs? Phils get 2 ready-to-use arms; Lamet would presumably be their immediate closer and Nick slots into the rotation. Coughing up 7 in the 9th to the Mets is an ominous harbinger. Phils need arm help pronto and can “afford” to lose an OFer.
Aren’t the Padres trying to shave off a few million to stay under the CBT? Schwarber is making a heck of a lot of money and he is hitting .193. .
Padres aren’t doing that, if they wanted Schwarber they could of signed him 2 months ago. Padres will likely aquire an outfielder but he either won’t be making that much money or will be at the end of his contract.
I see the Phillies unloading Elfin, Alvarado,Norwood,Gibson,Familia, Hand,Hoskins, Gregorius and possibly Herrera
by the trade deadline. Even if it’s for young
lottery tickets this team needs an influx of youth and defense.
I don’t see Madison Bumgarner on the list
Any Diamondbacks pitchers?
The Padres aren’t trading Darvish. The Padres are currently tied with the Dodgers for 1st in NL West. This year getting the 1st/2nd best record is the NL/AL is HUGE with the 1st rd playoff bye.
I could see them trading Snell to a team that is desperate for SP help thou. But, you can never have too many SP. Very rarely does an entire starting rotation go thru an entire year without someone needing to go on the DL/IL.
So the Cubs staff is all up for trade…
Strasburg really??? I’m sure teams will be lining up to take on that contract knowing he might play for about 40% of it. I get that his inclusion was prefaced but why even include him on that list at all?
Reds putting any player on a minor league rehab assignment. Is this actually a necessary step this year?
Hendricks appears to be done. Or if not done, medium well done anyway.
I feel that if anything, the padres may trade Martinez for bullpen help and/or a bat. He’s been reliable, pitches deep I to games, doesn’t give up runs(a lot of runs, at least) and he has definitely increased his stock value since coming to SD. If the padres trade any pitchers at all, I feel like they would rather keep the pitchers as it currently stands, just in case last year happens again
Martinez is hard to trade because of the player options after every season.
I don’t disagree, but that was just who I thought the padres would even consider moving, even though I don’t think they will end up moving anyone, especially after last year. Plus I think they will be in a much better position seeing as they are playing fairly well and once Fernando returns will push the padres over the CBT threshold
Fernando returning has no bearing on the CBT threshold.
You misunderstand what I mean I guess, padres without Tatis had this idea that they want to be treading water for when he returns, that’s what they would view as a positive result. If the padres are excelling when he returns, I feel that ownership would be buyers for bullpen help rather than sell off starters to make that push
Teams rarely trade starting pitchers when they are still trying to compete. The Padres will not trade any starters unless they have at least 4 of the 7 others pitching well. They won’t trade a plus starter unless he is their 5th starter. The chances of that are essentially zero.
Like I said, they’d probably only consider Martinez, thought I highly doubt that.
Chris Illich will have to pay me for my opinion.
No more free lunch, unless you pay me!
While Darvish has been hot and cold this year, don’t they need him – along with Musgrove, Manaea,and perhaps Gore, for a legitimate playoff run? As a 32yo soon to be free agent, isn’t Clevenger the likely SP to be dealt with Snell taking the fifth spot and Martinez serving as the fill in a few breaks in July and August so that the top 4 are fresh in October? SDP has plenty of bullpen depth and could also deal Pierce Johnson and Suarez = there will be teams that need pen depth for October and they are both free agents and over 30.
Darvish has been elite this year except the one start in San Francisco.
And why would they trade Clevinger after giving up all that prospect capital for him?
Also, padres need pen depth more than anyone, so Suarez and Johnson won’t go anywhere
@nlonly1251 while it seems like clev woulda been the most likely trade candidate, I honestly don’t think any of the Padres SPs will be dealt, most likely they will do a 6am rotation with Martinez or Snell moving to the pen.
If they were to trade any of them, it would probably be Martinez, though with how good he’s been doing, I think they will keep him
Martinez is pretty much impossible to trade because of the opt-outs after every season.
Martinez has value only for this year. He is a rental, but rentals have value. Manea, Musgrove (and Martinez essentially) are on their last year of control. Plenty of teams would still pay handsomely.
Martinez is worse than a rental because most rentals don’t have player options that they can exercise if they get injured or suck.
Which is exactly why the trade deadline is LATE in the season. With 3/4 of the season completed you should know what you are getting by that point. Most teams won’t trade for a starter who has been crappy for 3/4 of a season would they? No. They would trade for someone who was impressive for 3/4 of a season any only lost value due to injury. Nobody will trade for Martinez if he sucks all year. An injury would be a freak accident. Like Clevinger. I mean, who would complain about a pitcher acquired via trade later suffering an injury, right?
Again, anyone trading for Martinez is trading for what he can give them THIS YEAR. How hard is that to understand?
Again, which is exactly why I don’t think they will trade ANYONE. I just thought that of all pitchers he’s the only one the padres would even attempt to trade
The Padres will not trade any ML players unless they are out of the playoff hunt by the trade deadline. If they are out of it any of their starters on expiring contracts outside of Musgrove should be available. Manea should be highly sought after at the trade deadline. Clevinger could be tempting too. Even Martinez will have value if he pitches well.
If they are out of it at the deadline they need to trade Musgrove then bring him back as a FA (like the Yankees with Aroldis Chapman or the Cubs with Jason Hammel).
There is a nonzero chance that Martinez gets seriously injured or stops performing in the 25% of the season after the trade in which case he doesn’t opt out and they are stuck paying him more than he’d get in FA. The player options do not help his trade value.
Agreed, which is why I don’t think they will trade anyone
Certainly not expecting a collapse or sumo but the friars. But the OF is awful. They seem to have pitching depth. And while I agree they have up a lot to get Clevenger, just this year they went out to get Nick M and traded for Shawn M. So they would seem to have many options. Will be fun to watch. NL west looking very strong again.