Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Will the Nationals sell off more pieces?
The big news around baseball yesterday was the Nationals swinging a trade that sent star lefty MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers in exchange for a package of five prospects headlined by Texas’s 2025 first-rounder, infielder Gavin Fien. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni hasn’t been shy about the fact that the team remains in a rebuilding period after five years near the bottom of the standings under GM Mike Rizzo, and the deal indicates Toboni doesn’t see things turning around in the next two years. Reporting has indicated that the team has also fielded offers for infielder CJ Abrams and center fielder Jacob Young. Abrams has three years of team control remaining, while Young has four. Nats fans will surely be watching the trade market for those players with significant interest in the run-up to Opening Day, as Toboni’s decision on whether or not to hold a player like Young could serve as a sign for just how long he expects the team to remain out of contention.
2. Who’s left on the trade market?
Gore was one of the most obvious trade candidates of the offseason, and with both him and Freddy Peralta off the board the pickings are starting to get slim when it comes to pitchers teams can look to trade for. The Royals could make someone like Kris Bubic available and perhaps the Red Sox would listen on some of their depth options like Patrick Sandoval, but the majority of the smoke on the trade market figures to center around position players at this point. Brendan Donovan has been the big name on that front, and the Cardinals still seem more likely than not to move him before Spring Training given persistent interest from teams like the Giants and Mariners. Whispers of the fit between Isaac Paredes and the Red Sox don’t seem likely to go away until Boston resolves the hole in their infield, and the possibility the Cubs trade a player from their infield like Nico Hoerner or Matt Shaw after Alex Bregman’s arrival created a logjam remains very intriguing as well. Meanwhile, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu have seen their names in the Boston rumor mill for years at this point. Who will be the next to move?
3. Fan events this weekend:
While Spring Training is still a few weeks away, teams around the game have started holding their annual offseason events to hype fans up for the upcoming season. The Twins, Astros, Rockies, and Pirates are all hosting fan events this weekend, with details on the linked pages courtesy of MLB.com. The Rangers were set to host one as well, but the team announced that the event will be cancelled in light of the weekend’s inclement weather forecast. The Orioles, meanwhile, announced that Saturday’s events will be cancelled while today’s events will be limited in scope as a result of the coming weather. Fans planning to attend any of these events should keep a close eye on the team’s respective event pages (and club social media accounts) in the run-up to the event to stay updated in case inclement weather causes further cancellations.
Is Abrams still in the doghouse over his antics last season in Chicago? I haven’t seen much about it.
that was in 2024 so I would guess that it’s water under the bridge
Please explain why Boston would want to trade Duran.
OF logjam. He’s not a better CFer than Rafaela, not a better RFer than Abreu and Anthony needs to be in the lineup ahead of him. As the Sox roster is currently constructed he’s a part time player. He represents more value to them in what he can bring in a trade for someone who will play full time than being a part time player for them.
Sad, but true. By the other hand, other teams love to have Duran in his lineup everyday.
Why not DH him?
Then they’d be eating Yoshida’s $18M salary. Maybe they’re willing to do that and just call it even but the Red Sox have a strange position where they have a glut of outfield talent and a super-expensive bench piece that I’m sure they’d like to try to get some value out of.
If they didn’t have Yoshida, they could utilize the four outfielders, taking turns as DH. It’s a problem caused by players being good. As the saying goes, you can never have too many outfielders. Oh wait, wrong saying.
Kingken: thanks. Seems to me Duran is a big talent and the Sox are rich.
I’m truly shocked Isaac Paredes hasn’t been attached to the Yankees. He crosses off so many things they could use. He’s a righty with power. He doesn’t destroy LHP but his. 800+ OPS is better than McMahon and Rice vs lefties, although I think Rice should be allowed reps vs lefties to improve. He has great positional flexibility, as does Caballero and Rosario, and offers a ton of added value to a 25 man roster. And he’s a relatively good contact hitter. Makes too much sense to not be linked to the Yanks.
Well the book on him is that fenway is suited for his type of hitting as a pull hitter if that is true without looking my guess is that he would not fair well in yankee stadium as those parks play kind of opposite with the short wall in ny in rf vs lf..so anyone gaining unusual benefit from one may be hurt by the other if that makes sense
The Yankees have shown no interest. But kind of surprising.
Nationals got a haul of prospects from the Rangers. Good move back.
Anybody home at MLBTR? The link about the changes in the Orioles’ fan festival goes to the Rangers’ event.
Are these writers dumb? Astros have 5 infielders for 4 spots yet leave this off their “who is left on trade market” everyday lol. Obviously Paredes/Walker are out there for a trade immediately.
No interest in trading Nico Hoerner, thanks.
If the Astros can’t get an outfield talent like Duran for Paredes +, maybe the better play is to wait it out and rotate DHs in the packed early schedule (running a 6 man rotation) with few days off until someone has a DH or 1B with a season long injury.
Then trade Walker who really should be the guy moving, since Paredes is a perfect hitter for their park.
The Red Sox should find a team that needs to add offense any way they can but doesn’t have much money to spend, like the Pirates, Reds, Royals, or Marlins, and offer to eat all but like $5 million of Yoshida’s salary as part of a pure dump trade, then just keep Duran and play him everyday, or even better still, platoon him with somebody who mashes lefties since he doesn’t.
Would the Astros trade pena? He should be bostons target over someone like paredes..trade duran, one of the young pitchers and maybe arias