This time of year, I tend to comb through the organizational charts of teams that might be trading, looking for anyone with a heart who might earn playing time. I’m not sure I can do that this season because it’s unique. I mean how many salespeople are there today? There are only five teams with fewer than 40 wins: Los Angeles of Anaheim (36), Colorado (38), Kansas City (38), New York (38) and San Francisco (38).
That’s a good thing for the life of the game, of course, and it’s exciting when the league office is increasingly pushing the public for a salary cap.
Cincinnati, Boston, Detroit and the Athletics all have 41 wins. Baltimore has 42 and Toronto has 43. I wouldn’t be surprised if all these teams stick to their ranks. The Reds recently got Hunter Greene and Elly De La Cruz back. Boston is 8 and 2 over its last ten games and has a hot reason to fight for the final bell. Detroit is 7-3 over its last 10 and holds the biggest deadline domino in recent memory with Tarik Skubal. Baltimore has its reasons for staying hot, and Toronto was just in the World Series last year. Heck, they were just a minute or two away from winning the thing.
Minnesota has been surrounded by pundits as a potential seller, but they are just two games under .500 at 45-47, which means they are only three games behind the leading White Sox. The Twins will have the best or second best arm on the market in Joe Ryan, but his salary is $6.1 million this year with a $13 million option in 2027. It’s hard to get a fair return for a player with that much money, especially when you’ve already cemented your 40-man roster timeline due to last year’s firebrand acquisition. As one of the worst bullpens in the league, Minnesota is guilty of being a buyer. They don’t really have much to sell if that’s their passion. Trevor Larnach’s is hot and would make sense for many teams. Byron Buxton may return the haul, but he’s injured and doesn’t want to move, in more ways than one, because of lingering hip pain. Maybe someone would want Bailey Ober, but he probably has more value as an innings eater for a decent team than to bring him back in a trade. The team just remembered Alan Roden to take Buxton’s place while he was on the mend. In 19 Triple-A games since returning from injury, Roden has drawn 14 walks against 14 strikeouts and slashed .294/.422/.618 with six home runs. The organization’s strategy of piling up a bunch of young bats for a little bit has had immediate benefits in terms of depth.
If you’re overly optimistic, you can take a peek and think that the Giants and Mets would probably make their front offices think twice about trading from now to improve the future with enough running between now and the deadline. I guess I’m not an optimist. The Giants have a lot of pieces of their own he can sell: 3B Matt Chapman, SS Willy Adames, SP Logan Webb, 2B Luis Arraez, SP Robbie Ray, even 1B Rafael Devers. Another issue is that the team has money to spend, and free agents have repeatedly decided against signing with San Francisco. We also don’t have enough experience with Buster Posey’s front office to make too many predictions. of Jonah Cox he has played two games at second base, which is Werth’s. He could be an immediate player if Arraez or an outfielder is traded.
The Mets seem to be hitting the ground running SS Francisco Lindor trading for planting stories about a broken clubhouse. He’ll be a big name, but he’ll also add an estimated $34 million over the next five and a half seasons. He also struggled this season whenever he was healthy enough to play, posting a career-worst wRC+ through 32 games. It could be an opportunity for a team with deep pockets to buy a star in the dip. It can be a quick way to burn some cash in the waning years of a 32-year-old.
Other Mets likely on the way: 2B Jorge Polanco, SP Freddy Peralta and LHP Sean Manaea. Maybe Marcus Semien and Luis Robert too, although both guys are injured right now, and Semien’s contract is underwater. Peralta is the only guy who should command something like a premium prospect in return. If the circulation is off, we can see RHP Jack Wenningerwho would be valuable in almost any major league during this time of poverty on the pitching side. SS Ronny Mauricio he should get another look when the middle infield opens up, and I think he remains interesting enough to warrant a flier.
For the Angels, I would expect to see 3B Christian Moore after the trade deadline, but I expected to see him before the trade deadline again. It’s hard to argue with what’s going on out there. Jorge Soler could be traded, so maybe that’s Moore’s spot. I’m watching too OF Raudi Rodriguez here. I think he could hit the league title soon if given the chance. He’s having a great season (144 wRC+) in Double-A despite skipping High-A entirely.
The Royals must make room for a utility man Tyler Tolbert. Maybe in center field, where they played Lane Thomas, or right field, where they played Kameron Misner. Nick Loftin it should be playing every day and wherever they start Josh Rojas in a game. By Matthew Lugo he’s had another solid season in Triple-A and may find the corner field sooner rather than later, though I wouldn’t rush to add him. On the pitching side, the entire staff could be traded, but I don’t think that will happen because Kansas City has several healthy starting pitchers waiting in the wings.
Thanks for reading!
