Today I am depress that not one legit trade rumor involves a pitcher who was an All-Star last night. The market is weak. I'm starting to lean roll with what we got.
Tampa Bay has one of the wild card spots right now, and is only 3.5 games out of the division lead. I see them as buyers, not sellers. I'd like to see Michael Fulmer, but as others have said, Detroit is probably not looking to trade him. He still has 5 years of control left, and after 1.5 seasons, he certainly looks like a bona fide ace.
Sure, I understand that the Rays are playing well, so my approach at the deadline would be to pass on the big splash and roll with what we have, perhaps adding another solid arm to our bullpen. I know our bullpen is a strength, but I've never seen a problem with strengthening a strength.
I misread, though that doesn't help much as our top prospects are pitchers or outfielders. What we have left is Davis, Moran, White, & Reed who are basically limited to taking Beltran's spot on the roster as the primary DH. They other IF guys are probably 2+ years away (maybe Alvarez being the exception).
Hence the rest of my post.... they may have to part with some low level guys with high upside before they get in the category of a "not as good" prospect that Davis, Moran, White, and Reed currently sit at.
Last year was even worse... At least there are some names out there with Gray and Quintana... It felt like last season there were absolutely 0 good starting pitchers available
So you think deGrom would cost considerably more than Sale cost, even though he is nowhere near as good a pitcher, and has fewer controllable years. Interesting perspective.
Lol that's way more than fetched Sale... Bregman and a two/three other guys not named Tucker or Fisher would get it done.
For THOR, I'd give up Bregman, Fisher (or maybe Tucker depending on how much less you could give up with the other prospects), two other pitching prospects. That guy is an ace and under contract till 2021 (arguably a top 5-10 pitcher in baseball at the age of 24). Even if Keuchel left, we would have him and McCullers with 3-5 looking solid depending on who's left after the deal. But I doubt any convo would start without Bregman and Tucker being included as the main pieces. Keeping either Fisher or Tucker is crucial. You can't give up both. Bregman can be replaced (but I'm afraid he gets better...). Re-up on Marwin, keep Gurriel chugging along and give some of our other minor league guys a chance. You get THOR and you are set for the next 5 years at pitcher. Like we would no doubt be the team to beat and it would ensure us a chance at winning the WS and even more. Why not get greedy...
Not that long ago the top names were Bud Norris and Scott Feldman. Hard to get a legit ace at the deadline when they still have control left.
I would do another Giles type deal for an elite reliever. If we could bring in McCutchen for someone like Franklin Perez, for example, sure why not. But as many have already mentioned, the starters talked about as available are frankly probably not much better than Brad Peacock or Collin McHugh. Roll with what we got...
Who says no: Astros get: Brandon Belt Johnny Cueto Giants get: Colin Moran Francis Martes Nori Aoki PTBNL* If Cueto opts out, PTBNL becomes Franklin Perez; otherwise, Mike Hauschild. Belt can play LF and Cueto becomes the SP3 with playoff experience and elite track record. Giants get MLB ready prospects and Aoki makes some sense for them as they will need to add at least 1, probably 2 passable OF for next year. The PTBNL mitigated the risk of Cueto becoming an albatross contract.
Don't think we're looking for another bat. I'm on board with this DeGrom deal if the rumors are true. Think he's worth the hassle over a Quintana, Gray type. Or... Brad Hand seems like a reasonable target to get too.
We would say no. Not sure Belt is much better than Fisher would be, and why would we move Martes for a struggling starter who we could be stuck with his big contract as we start having to pony up for our own guys
