Under the radar trade targets

Tucker and guys not Perez/Martes, yes.
If they want more, better off trading Tucker for Stroman, and Perez or Martes for a great hitter that can put Beltran/Yuli/Aoki's bat on bench.

 

He's comfortably a strong #2 starter in the playoffs if not a non-Ace #1.

 

Watson is having a pretty good year don't know what makes you think he's struggling. 1.62 era 13k's to 7bb's in 16+ innings is the ideal situational lefty you want to have available. Luhnow values pitchers with high ground ball rates so I'm sure Watson fits the mold and even if you think less than a walk an inning on average is "too much" he's got a very good chance of quickly erasing it. I'd hate giving up Tucker but getting Cole for the next 3+ years would be sweet. Just keep Whitley and Franklin Perez. Everyone else is on the table.

 

Could simply be posturing from our side, as more options for us gives us more leverage (theoretically). If the White Sox know that we can either trade for Archer (not likely), but now Cole (a great replacement over Quintana), then they might possibly blink first, and take our offer.

But on it's own merit, adding a talented Cole would be great. And then if you double that up with replacing Sipp with Watson, then I'd be ecstatic. Our rotation would be:

Keuchel
McCullers
Cole
Morton
McHugh/Musgrove

That, my friends, would be really, really good. That is a talented, in-their-prime, AND cost-controlled starting 5, so not only would we get better immediately, but our future would still be bright as hell.

 

Yes

 

• 4.84 FIP / 4.70 xFIP. (His ERA is boosted by a 99.2% left-on-base...that will come way down)
• HR/FB % was a career high 14.1% last year. It's at 14.3% again this year
• Velocity is down 1-2 MPH this year
• Lefties are hitting .364 with a .462 OBP off him this year against 26 batters. Small sample, but not a good start (he did pitch well against lefties last year)

He's a fine pitcher, but there are guys who are just as good or better against lefties who don't have almost 2 years of up and down pitching in their recent past...who also will come at a lower price on the trade market IMO.

He's neither a high K guy nor a high groundball guy over the course of his career. Just average on both fronts. Which means it's harder to make up for his high walk rate.

 

Thoughts on Danny Duffy (KC)?

Will be 29 in Dec.
Signed through '21 for roughly 15 mil each yr.

KC may be losing a few of their core guys after this season in FA, and thus the process of rebuilding.

 

Like Duffy. I'm not too familiar with how KC's front office acts, but assumed they signed him to deal that long so that he would still be there when they are done rebuilding.

 

No way in hell Arlington trade's us Darvish. I would rather just pick him up in free agency. They will be asking way too much just to eff us over.

 

Justin Wilson has one arb year left, 29 year old lefty having a great year. I bet Tigers would entertain moving him as they fall out of the race.

 

The Astros did inquire about him in the offseason, so it probably wouldn't shock me either it they think about rekindling those discussions if that scenario were to play out.

 

Good list.

 

Cueto is attractive however he can opt out after this yr.

 

Poor Feldman. He was the epitome of a solid pitcher while with the Astros and would immediately be the 3rd best starter on this team.

 

For me, Marcus Stroman is the guy. Gutsy pitcher, young and cost-controlled. I kind of love that he's 5'8". And why has nobody mentioned that his name is Stroman? Think about it...

'Stro-Man!

That would be like the perfect stretch-4 coming available via trade for our basketball team and he just happened to be named Rocketman. This was meant to be!!

 

Love Stroman. If he were available, I hope we'd be in the mix. "Cost-controlled" is always an interesting word to throw around. While I agree that he's not going to be a FA, let's be real in that he's going to cost 7M+ next year (rough guess) and get a long-term deal after 2018 if we want to keep him. He's under team control, but he's not cost-controlled like Giles was, or even Sale given his signed contract under market value.

 

He still has three arbitration years so he won't hit free agency until 2021. So while he isn't as cheap minimum guys, he will cost significantly less than he would on free agency.