2:30 update! Three and a half hours until the deadline: More meh moves!
— The Pirates added 29-year lefty pitcher Josh Walker from the Mets. So, you know, whatever.
— The Yankees added reliever Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs. I guess this is slightly above meh in that Leiter Jr. strikes out a lot of people, particularly considering that he doesn’t throw very hard. He’s whiffed 53 in 36 innings so far this year and the Yankees could actually use a little bullpen help.
— The Red Sox got solid-enough reliever Lucas Sims from Cincinnati. To get him, though, they had to trade Ovis Portes, so while they might have won the trade for the time being — we won’t know about Portes for a while since he’s only 19 — they definitely lost the name-game trade.
— The Orioles got Trevor Rogers from the Marlins in a three-player trade that included Baltimore’s No. 5 prospect (and another delightful name) Connor Norby. Rogers has been pretty darned terrible this year — hitters have been absolutely teeing off on his breaking ball and offspeed stuff, which isn’t great since he doesn’t throw hard — but he is a former All-Star and he’s left-handed and maybe jumping from a dreadful team into a real live pennant race will bring him back to life.
So, no, not much excitement yet.
OK, we’re down to the last, oh, 10 or so hours of the trade period. I wouldn’t say this trade deadline season has been especially compelling—we’re still waiting on our first star move—but it certainly has been active. I finished my 24 Hours to the Trade Deadline piece at 6 p.m. on Monday, and since then:
The Braves brought back Jorge Soler (A Braves fan asked me on Monday if Atlanta was going to make a bold move to improve for the stretch run. I suspect that this isn’t what he had in mind, but, hey, a power bat is a power bat).
The Brewers traded for Cincinnati pitcher Frankie Montas (meh).
The Pirates picked up 23-year-old lefty Jalen Beeks (double meh).
The Dodgers got Amed Rosario back for the second straight year. (I hope this turns into an annual tradition.)
The Astros got Yusei Kikuchi from Toronto. (Kikuchi was one of the most recognizable players dealt… though his career 88 ERA+ suggests this is pretty meh.)
The Guardians picked up Lane Thomas from Washington* (could be a useful player, though he’s apparently playing some subpar defense this year, and he leads baseball in getting caught stealing — so, yeah, meh).
The Mariners traded for Toronto’s Justin Turner. (I like this move a lot because I like Justin Turner a lot, and he’s still a slightly above-average hitter, which makes him a rare gem in Seattle.)
*This paragraph in the MLB.com story about the Lane Thomas deal is fun:
(Jose) Ramírez was asked about the trade, but didn’t know what had happened. So he asked Cleveland reporters to fill him in. When he was told it was Lane Thomas from Washington, he immediately approved.
“Good player,” he said in English.
There’s so much happiness to unpack in there.
So, I imagine that we’ll see some more trade action as the day goes along. So let’s open up the chat! I’m finishing my audiobook narration today (fingers crossed) but will try to keep on updating and answering questions throughout the day until we get to 6 p.m. So check on back in!
Jorge Soler is back in Atlanta! I’m not sure that news fully earned the exclamation point. (Rob Tringali/Getty Images)
OK, here’s your 2:30 update — three and a half hours until the deadline: More meh moves!
— The Pirates added 29-year lefty pitcher Josh Walker from the Mets. So, you know, whatever.
— The Yankees added reliever Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs. I guess this is slightly above meh in that Leiter Jr. strikes out a lot of people, particularly considering that he doesn’t throw very hard. He’s whiffed 53 in 36 innings so far this year and the Yankees could actually use a little bullpen help.
— The Red Sox got solid-enough reliever Lucas Sims from Cincinnati. To get him, though, they had to trade Ovis Portes, so while they might have won the trade for the time being — we won’t know about Portes for a while since he’s only 19 — they definitely lost the name-game trade.
— The Orioles got Trevor Rogers from the Marlins in a three-player trade that included Baltimore’s No. 5 prospect (and another delightful name) Connor Norby. Rogers has been pretty darned terrible this year — hitters have been absolutely teeing off on his breaking ball and offspeed stuff, which isn’t great since he doesn’t throw hard — but he is a former All-Star and he’s left-handed and maybe jumping from a dreadful team into a real live pennant race will bring him back to life.
75 minutes to go and still a real dearth of huge names being traded today. What’s up? Are remaining sellers really gonna stand pat if buyers won’t match what’s been set by this ludicrous market?
When is a prospect a prospect in name only? When they are the equivalent of. a lottery scratch ticket. I was just talking to one of my betters, which is to say a Brilliant Reader who sent me a message about the Justin Turner trade. In passing he mentioned the lack of movement of truly top prospects. This made me go to MLB.COM which just made this statement:
"Marked by a nonstop flurry of trades as the clock turned to 6 p.m. ET, the Trade Deadline has officially passed and a whopping 89 prospects have been sent to new organizations this month.
Included in that group are 53 players that were on their previous club’s Top 30 lists and two prospects that rank among Pipeline’s Top 100 – Robby Snelling and Dylan Lesko."
MLB.com lists Snelling as number 44 overall and Lesko at number 76. Yep, a truly meh trading deadline season.
Actually it may depend on the list. Those two prospects were in the top 100 at MLB.COM but not on the Sporting News top 100. MLB may have been only listing rookie eligible players while Sporting News may have included some with just enough experience to no longer qualify for ROY status.
MLB.com likes to talk about prospect rankings like they’re historical facts the same way they talk about where a player was drafted. Team Z’s #5 prospect, drafted in the 3rd round of the 2022 draft, batting .285 with 12 HR. One of those is not like the others.
I always cross-check at least one other prospect ranking.
So true. I just checked another list (USA Today's March pre-season list) and neither Snelling nor Lesko were on it. On the other hand, there were a number of players who have already gotten the call and are playing regularly for their team. Our two top 100 traded prospects per MLB.COM may not have been that high at the start of the year or may have even not been on the list at all.
You need to use BA. They are the industry standard and update monthly. Lesko and Snelling were top 100 prospects, but not on their most recent lists. Lesko has no command after coming back from TJ and Snelling’s stuff has backed up quite a bit. First time since 2014 no Top 100 prospects were dealt, although there wasn’t really a big time player that would warrant that type of package.
Would have liked for O's to get more than Rogers for a package of Norby and Stowers, but I do like they pushed their chips in. You need to turn prospects into players, and the O's are contending now. They needed pitchers, so they made a move for pitching. Yeah, they overpaid, but Norby was never gonna start over Gunnar and Holliday in the middle and Stowers will be lucky to get a cup of coffee. That's exactly the kind of prospects you flip at the deadline.
League average starter sounds great for the Orioles right now.
They’re just very crafty with their definitions. A Yugo can go full throttle, and someone can stop by the Dollar Store for two items and still be considered to be “buying.”
Yeah, this Nationals fan is going to miss Lane Thomas. What a great trade to have picked him up in the first place [from the Cardinals for Jon Lester, at the end of July 2021]. Yes, he got caught stealing way too often, it was frustrating. The whole team was running like wild at the beginning of the season, it was like their own special cheat code, they were really flustering their opponents. And then, just as suddenly, they started running into outs, and getting picked off.
I look forward to seeing the Nationals figure out that particular problem.
I look forward to seeing at least one of the players that they picked up from the Guardians make a positive impression at Nationals Park, someday.
I look forward to seeing Jose Ramírez and Lane Thomas celebrating together after eliminating the Yankees in the post season.
Let's be fair about the Mark Langston trade (you probably think of it as the Randy Johnson trade). It was a mid season trade where Langston was the proverbial rent-a-player. Langston was going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He fit a need in a tight AL pennant race. He was an All-Star caliber starter. He went 12-9 after the trade with a 2.39 ERA and 175 SO in 176 2/3 innings with an ERA+ of 148. What Seattle thought it was getting back were three lottery scratcher tickets. We knew we weren't going anywhere and that we were going to lose Langston at the end of the year anyway. We were just hoping one of the three prospects would turn out to be a serviceable player under team control for a few years. Randy was the third rated prospect of the three pitchers we received in the deal. Sometimes you boy a ticket and win the whole lottery.
Although I love Tommy Edman, as a Cardinals fan I'm happy they added a decent starting pitcher and a lefty-mashing OF, both areas of need, and gave up zero prospects to get them.
Edit: Oops, I forgot the Cardinals did send a 17-year-old pitcher to the Dodgers in the deal. I fully expect a Cy Young award in his future.
The early reports on that trade were laughably incomplete—I saw 2 different outlets say that STL only gave up Edman and that LAD only gave up 3 prospects, and it made no sense at all. Add another prospect from STL and a couple PTBNL/cash from LA, and it adds up, kind of.
Pham is a nice pickup, I'm really mad the Pirates didn't get him.
In the post season a superstar. In his years with Rays an OPS that declined every year and was at 104 at the time of the trade. At age 29 and with a career WAR just over 12 he's fun to watch but you have to spell "star" with a lower case s. Even so, it was a big upgrade for my Mariners cringe-worthy offense.
He made one hell of an impression playing in the WBL, he played to the fans, and they ate it up. I expected that to be that moment where he entered the next level, of performance, and of fame.
Speaking as a Mariners fan, though not for Joe, I’d say no and not close. A solid player, a famous player for his post season and rookie of the year. But not really a star.
Yeah, not every player you've heard of is a star. Over the past 265 games (start of '23), he has basically the same production as Lane Thomas, who isn't a handful of postseason homers from being a star.
Good point though a bit of cherry picking. I think every team would take Arozarena over Thomas. Thomas’s 2023 looks a bit fluky while Arozarena’s poor start to 2024 looks like the outlier.
Either way, they’re both perhaps 1.5-2 WAR players this year and that’s solid starter not a star.
Beslow has done not one thing to help Boston win. I think his goal is same as owners…make a lot of personal income. Maybe Cora shares their vision. Give me Dave Dombrowski.
We really turn on our new people so damn quick. Breslow wants to win and knows what it takes to win. He’s also only had half a season riddled with injuries (during which, unlike Bloom, he has actually brought in serviceable replacements instead of forcing minor-league depth into the bigs before they’re ready) and you’re ready to turn on him? That’s dumb.
He’s not going to overpay and dump some of baseball’s biggest prospects for a reliever or a rental starter like the Astros or Padres front office does. That doesn’t mean he’s not about winning or that he’s only in it to enrich himself and Henry
This is my devil advocate position on this: you wanna go back to the Yawkey/Harrington ownership group? No titles in 70 years of ownership. Henry has 4 in 22 years. Granted, since 2018 it has not been great. I do not get nostalgic about pre-2004 Red Sox fandom.
Sure but Dombrowski was hired by Henry. As was Theo and Ben Cherington, Bloom and Breslow. They all were hired by Henry and worked under his direction. So you can’t fault Henry for the losing under Bloom and Breslow without *also* giving him credit for the 4 titles win under Dombo, Epstein and Cherington.
Brewers have a knack for improving pitchers who have good stuff and Montas still has good stuff. Fingers crossed that this turns out to be a little better than meh (which in any case is better than feh).
With expanded playoffs and the mediocrity after the top 4 teams, more teams feel like they’re in it at least enough to not totally tear down. Then the four really bad teams are so bad they don’t have anyone to move — do the Rockies or A’s really have a player to trade who isn’t under control for many years? So there aren’t many sellers and many good player to move.
And so we’re mostly seeing relief pitchers and 4th OF change teams, at least so far, and those don’t fetch a premium. I think we’ve seen one top 100 prospect change teams, and it depends what you think of the guy the Astros traded (the deal they moved him in suggests he’s not that great).
I do expect the Cubs to do more selling now. They have to move a reliever or two and will try to move an OF. But getting a flier at low A ball who needs to be on the 40-man roster after 2025 doesn’t have much value.
I think this season has really upended the traditional buyer-seller dichotomy. Six of the 12 teams sitting in a playoff berth this morning are within a game or so of losing their perch. Among the also-rans, there are eight teams within 5 games of the wild card, and a handful of others not that much further back. Which means you've got about half the teams in majors all asking the same question: how much do I want to spend, how much of my future do I want to mortgage, for the slim chance of coming out on top in this dog fight? For most, the answer seems to be: not much.
So the few sellers are in a position to demand high prices, while most of the buyers are not in a mood to splurge.
OTOH, we've got a lot of teams having good-not-great years, who will be looking to take the next step forward. I think the off-season trade and free-agent markets are going to be lit!
Teams have also gotten smarter with regard to how much a deadline acquisition helps and the value of prospects. There’s also the risk of guys having good years rather than actual good players. Candelario and Lorenzen are good cautionary tales. Both are meh players who had (near) all-star level performance through the deadline. I thought Candelario was a great pickup for the Cubs. But over two months he was close to replacement level and actual HURT the Cubs because they had better options (in retrospect). Lorenzen threw a no-hitter but was mostly terrible for the Phillies. And for all of nothing they gave up prospects. Neither has done much this year (that contract is awful for the Reds) so looks like 3-4 month fluky performances. You want to trade and risk getting THAT?!
I do think the prospect love has gone too far the other way. In the past, it was not only less playoff teams, but the fact that teams basically threw good prospects away for marginal two month players that filled an immediate need. Then they started realizing the value of prospects. But, now, they overvalue them for the most part. Add that in with less sellers because of the extra playoff teams, and people all crazy about the deadline are always disappointed.
But it is still the best trade deadline in sports, exponentially greater. I count 57 MLB players and 90 prospects changing hands, and I am almost assuredly missing a few. That is almost 1/13th of all the MLB players, (7.3%) and 90 prospects. People whine when there isn't some kind of huge deal like Soto or something, but there is nothing else like this in sports.
If the White Sox move Crochet, their remaining pitching staff will have a collective total of only 10 wins. If he stays, the needle moves to 16. Call it “rebuilding,” but this fire sale is the equivalent of spraying Round-Up on their field…
Well, at least the Lane Thomas deal is not the Guardians standing pat as you had (reasonably) predicted. I just don't think it's a year when there are real stars that selling teams are compelled to move - either because there's no guy like Juan Soto who a team *has* to trade, or because there are too many buyers and not enough sellers. Or both. So what we've seen are some tinkering, seller-to-seller deals, plus Tampa and Toronto emptying the shelves of guys nearing their sell-by date.
This is a culture building move by the Braves. Keep the team happy, keep the fans engaged, make it as exciting as you can for as long as you can, and try again next year. I'm a fan of it.
Morning, Joe! I *like* the Quinn Priester and Danny Jansen moves for my Red Sox, but they have to do a little more, right? I’d LOVE a Rooker/Erceg double-dip for them. Do you think with a new GM, a bit of a chance to keep going in the WC, they do something of substance today?
Okay, so revisiting this: I like the moves they made, tbh. I think this was a job well done by Craig Breslow. Improved the club, but didn’t do so at the expense of the future.
I think they at least have to get in on Flaherty to go with Paxton, but in reality I don’t think they have the arms to stay in it. Houck is already 10 innings past his previous max with two months to go. Crawford is getting close. Everybody is erratic. I don’t see this staff making a run if they get in the playoffs.
That said, Rooker would be a fine addition to the lineup, and he’s still got a few years of control.
Maybe not, but I want them to try. It’s simply wrong not to try. With how the Sox are hitting, all we need to ask of the pitching and defense is to give the bats a chance to win it. The post-ASB skid has been defined by pitching that doesn’t do that. Houck looks a little gassed but he has yet to fail to give the team an opportunity to win… Bello usually does so too, just in a messy and unideal but serviceable way… Pivetta does that sometimes but not nearly often enough… and Crawford has gotten totally shelled his last two starts. Crawford is the one I’m worried about.
Pivetta is a guy who can be dominant for stretches, and his metrics this year are better than the results. As long as they don’t part with Anthony, Mayer and Teel I am okay. I’d try to sell high on Kristian Campbell and hope he’s more Daniel Nava than Jeff Bagwell.
Same feeling here. So far we have made nice little fringe moves but I want to see a big splash today where we grab front-end pitching. Rumor has it we’re close on Flaherty, which would be the sort of add I want.
It’s obvious the greatest need is bullpen help, but I would not be surprised if Breslow is looking at the prices going for top bullpen arms and passing on that. Besides, SP adds can help the bullpen indirectly.
OK, here’s your 2:30 update — three and a half hours until the deadline: More meh moves!
— The Pirates added 29-year lefty pitcher Josh Walker from the Mets. So, you know, whatever.
— The Yankees added reliever Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs. I guess this is slightly above meh in that Leiter Jr. strikes out a lot of people, particularly considering that he doesn’t throw very hard. He’s whiffed 53 in 36 innings so far this year and the Yankees could actually use a little bullpen help.
— The Red Sox got solid-enough reliever Lucas Sims from Cincinnati. To get him, though, they had to trade Ovis Portes, so while they might have won the trade for the time being — we won’t know about Portes for a while since he’s only 19 — they definitely lost the name-game trade.
— The Orioles got Trevor Rogers from the Marlins in a three-player trade that included Baltimore’s No. 5 prospect (and another delightful name) Connor Norby. Rogers has been pretty darned terrible this year — hitters have been absolutely teeing off on his breaking ball and offspeed stuff, which isn’t great since he doesn’t throw hard — but he is a former All-Star and he’s left-handed and maybe jumping from a dreadful team into a real live pennant race will bring him back to life.
So, no, not much excitement yet.
75 minutes to go and still a real dearth of huge names being traded today. What’s up? Are remaining sellers really gonna stand pat if buyers won’t match what’s been set by this ludicrous market?
Annnddd.... Tommy Pham's first AB in his return to the Cardinals is a pinch hit grand slam. Welcome back Tommy!
When is a prospect a prospect in name only? When they are the equivalent of. a lottery scratch ticket. I was just talking to one of my betters, which is to say a Brilliant Reader who sent me a message about the Justin Turner trade. In passing he mentioned the lack of movement of truly top prospects. This made me go to MLB.COM which just made this statement:
Addendum. MLB.com just reported
"Marked by a nonstop flurry of trades as the clock turned to 6 p.m. ET, the Trade Deadline has officially passed and a whopping 89 prospects have been sent to new organizations this month.
Included in that group are 53 players that were on their previous club’s Top 30 lists and two prospects that rank among Pipeline’s Top 100 – Robby Snelling and Dylan Lesko."
MLB.com lists Snelling as number 44 overall and Lesko at number 76. Yep, a truly meh trading deadline season.
So 36 of the prospects traded weren’t even on a team’s top 30. Yuck, those aren’t even prospects except technically in that they have rookie status.
And only two top 100 prospects. A total meh trading deadline.
Actually it may depend on the list. Those two prospects were in the top 100 at MLB.COM but not on the Sporting News top 100. MLB may have been only listing rookie eligible players while Sporting News may have included some with just enough experience to no longer qualify for ROY status.
There’s also pretty wide variance.
MLB.com likes to talk about prospect rankings like they’re historical facts the same way they talk about where a player was drafted. Team Z’s #5 prospect, drafted in the 3rd round of the 2022 draft, batting .285 with 12 HR. One of those is not like the others.
I always cross-check at least one other prospect ranking.
So true. I just checked another list (USA Today's March pre-season list) and neither Snelling nor Lesko were on it. On the other hand, there were a number of players who have already gotten the call and are playing regularly for their team. Our two top 100 traded prospects per MLB.COM may not have been that high at the start of the year or may have even not been on the list at all.
You need to use BA. They are the industry standard and update monthly. Lesko and Snelling were top 100 prospects, but not on their most recent lists. Lesko has no command after coming back from TJ and Snelling’s stuff has backed up quite a bit. First time since 2014 no Top 100 prospects were dealt, although there wasn’t really a big time player that would warrant that type of package.
Good advice. I don't currently subscribe but that could change. Whatever list you use, the result is the same "meh" on the excitement meter.
Would have liked for O's to get more than Rogers for a package of Norby and Stowers, but I do like they pushed their chips in. You need to turn prospects into players, and the O's are contending now. They needed pitchers, so they made a move for pitching. Yeah, they overpaid, but Norby was never gonna start over Gunnar and Holliday in the middle and Stowers will be lucky to get a cup of coffee. That's exactly the kind of prospects you flip at the deadline.
League average starter sounds great for the Orioles right now.
Really tired of the Red Sox making big promises (“full throttle,” “we’re buying,” etc) and going out and getting… a decent middle reliever. Cool.
They’re just very crafty with their definitions. A Yugo can go full throttle, and someone can stop by the Dollar Store for two items and still be considered to be “buying.”
“Good player“
Yeah, this Nationals fan is going to miss Lane Thomas. What a great trade to have picked him up in the first place [from the Cardinals for Jon Lester, at the end of July 2021]. Yes, he got caught stealing way too often, it was frustrating. The whole team was running like wild at the beginning of the season, it was like their own special cheat code, they were really flustering their opponents. And then, just as suddenly, they started running into outs, and getting picked off.
I look forward to seeing the Nationals figure out that particular problem.
I look forward to seeing at least one of the players that they picked up from the Guardians make a positive impression at Nationals Park, someday.
I look forward to seeing Jose Ramírez and Lane Thomas celebrating together after eliminating the Yankees in the post season.
Are serviceable replacements now the goal for a market like Boston. Please name one desirable prospect that Dombrowski ever lost.
You are on to something, only I would say that serviceable replacements have become the goal for every MLB team.
I meant while with Boston
Randy Johnson? Trevor Hoffman?
Let's be fair about the Mark Langston trade (you probably think of it as the Randy Johnson trade). It was a mid season trade where Langston was the proverbial rent-a-player. Langston was going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He fit a need in a tight AL pennant race. He was an All-Star caliber starter. He went 12-9 after the trade with a 2.39 ERA and 175 SO in 176 2/3 innings with an ERA+ of 148. What Seattle thought it was getting back were three lottery scratcher tickets. We knew we weren't going anywhere and that we were going to lose Langston at the end of the year anyway. We were just hoping one of the three prospects would turn out to be a serviceable player under team control for a few years. Randy was the third rated prospect of the three pitchers we received in the deal. Sometimes you boy a ticket and win the whole lottery.
Most of the deals are like buying framed pictures at Home Goods and referring to it as artwork.
Meh
Although I love Tommy Edman, as a Cardinals fan I'm happy they added a decent starting pitcher and a lefty-mashing OF, both areas of need, and gave up zero prospects to get them.
Edit: Oops, I forgot the Cardinals did send a 17-year-old pitcher to the Dodgers in the deal. I fully expect a Cy Young award in his future.
I can't stand Moz, but he pulled off a heist on this one.
I first read that three prospects went to Chicago, and was halfway expecting one to be Jordan Walker, but no, they were all from LA.
The early reports on that trade were laughably incomplete—I saw 2 different outlets say that STL only gave up Edman and that LAD only gave up 3 prospects, and it made no sense at all. Add another prospect from STL and a couple PTBNL/cash from LA, and it adds up, kind of.
Pham is a nice pickup, I'm really mad the Pirates didn't get him.
Wait, does Joe not consider Randy Arozarena a star?
In the post season a superstar. In his years with Rays an OPS that declined every year and was at 104 at the time of the trade. At age 29 and with a career WAR just over 12 he's fun to watch but you have to spell "star" with a lower case s. Even so, it was a big upgrade for my Mariners cringe-worthy offense.
He made one hell of an impression playing in the WBL, he played to the fans, and they ate it up. I expected that to be that moment where he entered the next level, of performance, and of fame.
It doesn't seem to have happened, not in my eyes.
Speaking as a Mariners fan, though not for Joe, I’d say no and not close. A solid player, a famous player for his post season and rookie of the year. But not really a star.
Yeah, not every player you've heard of is a star. Over the past 265 games (start of '23), he has basically the same production as Lane Thomas, who isn't a handful of postseason homers from being a star.
Good point though a bit of cherry picking. I think every team would take Arozarena over Thomas. Thomas’s 2023 looks a bit fluky while Arozarena’s poor start to 2024 looks like the outlier.
Either way, they’re both perhaps 1.5-2 WAR players this year and that’s solid starter not a star.
If he hits .275 with some pop he'll be a huge star in Seattle...
No
Beslow has done not one thing to help Boston win. I think his goal is same as owners…make a lot of personal income. Maybe Cora shares their vision. Give me Dave Dombrowski.
Charlie Bercury
We really turn on our new people so damn quick. Breslow wants to win and knows what it takes to win. He’s also only had half a season riddled with injuries (during which, unlike Bloom, he has actually brought in serviceable replacements instead of forcing minor-league depth into the bigs before they’re ready) and you’re ready to turn on him? That’s dumb.
He’s not going to overpay and dump some of baseball’s biggest prospects for a reliever or a rental starter like the Astros or Padres front office does. That doesn’t mean he’s not about winning or that he’s only in it to enrich himself and Henry
This is my devil advocate position on this: you wanna go back to the Yawkey/Harrington ownership group? No titles in 70 years of ownership. Henry has 4 in 22 years. Granted, since 2018 it has not been great. I do not get nostalgic about pre-2004 Red Sox fandom.
Dombrowski was pre 2018.
Sure but Dombrowski was hired by Henry. As was Theo and Ben Cherington, Bloom and Breslow. They all were hired by Henry and worked under his direction. So you can’t fault Henry for the losing under Bloom and Breslow without *also* giving him credit for the 4 titles win under Dombo, Epstein and Cherington.
If I was Dombrowski and had been told that I would have to trade Mookie Betts, I likely would have ended up fired, too.
Brewers have a knack for improving pitchers who have good stuff and Montas still has good stuff. Fingers crossed that this turns out to be a little better than meh (which in any case is better than feh).
I wanted Cleveland to trade for Brent Rooker. Sigh.
Hopefully they can teach Thomas how to utilize his speed and quit getting caught stealing.
Tell him to watch Jose. He is slower yet still steals without getting caught much.
Sandy Alomar
With expanded playoffs and the mediocrity after the top 4 teams, more teams feel like they’re in it at least enough to not totally tear down. Then the four really bad teams are so bad they don’t have anyone to move — do the Rockies or A’s really have a player to trade who isn’t under control for many years? So there aren’t many sellers and many good player to move.
And so we’re mostly seeing relief pitchers and 4th OF change teams, at least so far, and those don’t fetch a premium. I think we’ve seen one top 100 prospect change teams, and it depends what you think of the guy the Astros traded (the deal they moved him in suggests he’s not that great).
I do expect the Cubs to do more selling now. They have to move a reliever or two and will try to move an OF. But getting a flier at low A ball who needs to be on the 40-man roster after 2025 doesn’t have much value.
Very boring.
I think this season has really upended the traditional buyer-seller dichotomy. Six of the 12 teams sitting in a playoff berth this morning are within a game or so of losing their perch. Among the also-rans, there are eight teams within 5 games of the wild card, and a handful of others not that much further back. Which means you've got about half the teams in majors all asking the same question: how much do I want to spend, how much of my future do I want to mortgage, for the slim chance of coming out on top in this dog fight? For most, the answer seems to be: not much.
So the few sellers are in a position to demand high prices, while most of the buyers are not in a mood to splurge.
OTOH, we've got a lot of teams having good-not-great years, who will be looking to take the next step forward. I think the off-season trade and free-agent markets are going to be lit!
Teams have also gotten smarter with regard to how much a deadline acquisition helps and the value of prospects. There’s also the risk of guys having good years rather than actual good players. Candelario and Lorenzen are good cautionary tales. Both are meh players who had (near) all-star level performance through the deadline. I thought Candelario was a great pickup for the Cubs. But over two months he was close to replacement level and actual HURT the Cubs because they had better options (in retrospect). Lorenzen threw a no-hitter but was mostly terrible for the Phillies. And for all of nothing they gave up prospects. Neither has done much this year (that contract is awful for the Reds) so looks like 3-4 month fluky performances. You want to trade and risk getting THAT?!
I do think the prospect love has gone too far the other way. In the past, it was not only less playoff teams, but the fact that teams basically threw good prospects away for marginal two month players that filled an immediate need. Then they started realizing the value of prospects. But, now, they overvalue them for the most part. Add that in with less sellers because of the extra playoff teams, and people all crazy about the deadline are always disappointed.
But it is still the best trade deadline in sports, exponentially greater. I count 57 MLB players and 90 prospects changing hands, and I am almost assuredly missing a few. That is almost 1/13th of all the MLB players, (7.3%) and 90 prospects. People whine when there isn't some kind of huge deal like Soto or something, but there is nothing else like this in sports.
If the White Sox move Crochet, their remaining pitching staff will have a collective total of only 10 wins. If he stays, the needle moves to 16. Call it “rebuilding,” but this fire sale is the equivalent of spraying Round-Up on their field…
I am more of a vinegar guy for killing weeds. Add salt if you want more lasting control
And has two huge advantages. One is little to no chance of neurological problems and the other is you can use what is left over to make.a vinagrette.
As a Royals fan, I appreciate the White Sox and what they are doing this year.
"As a Royals fan, I appreciate" playing "the White Sox and what they are doing this year."
Fixed it for you. :)
Thank you. That is much clearer.
"But, eh, did you have to salt the earth so nothing would ever grow again?"
"Hehehe...hehe...yeah."
I am honestly surprised the Ray's haven't sold off more. It seems like the ideal market for them to get big hauls as one of the few sellers
Well, at least the Lane Thomas deal is not the Guardians standing pat as you had (reasonably) predicted. I just don't think it's a year when there are real stars that selling teams are compelled to move - either because there's no guy like Juan Soto who a team *has* to trade, or because there are too many buyers and not enough sellers. Or both. So what we've seen are some tinkering, seller-to-seller deals, plus Tampa and Toronto emptying the shelves of guys nearing their sell-by date.
This is a culture building move by the Braves. Keep the team happy, keep the fans engaged, make it as exciting as you can for as long as you can, and try again next year. I'm a fan of it.
Morning, Joe! I *like* the Quinn Priester and Danny Jansen moves for my Red Sox, but they have to do a little more, right? I’d LOVE a Rooker/Erceg double-dip for them. Do you think with a new GM, a bit of a chance to keep going in the WC, they do something of substance today?
Okay, so revisiting this: I like the moves they made, tbh. I think this was a job well done by Craig Breslow. Improved the club, but didn’t do so at the expense of the future.
I think they at least have to get in on Flaherty to go with Paxton, but in reality I don’t think they have the arms to stay in it. Houck is already 10 innings past his previous max with two months to go. Crawford is getting close. Everybody is erratic. I don’t see this staff making a run if they get in the playoffs.
That said, Rooker would be a fine addition to the lineup, and he’s still got a few years of control.
Good idea but the Dodgers swooped in at the deadline and took Flaherty.
Maybe not, but I want them to try. It’s simply wrong not to try. With how the Sox are hitting, all we need to ask of the pitching and defense is to give the bats a chance to win it. The post-ASB skid has been defined by pitching that doesn’t do that. Houck looks a little gassed but he has yet to fail to give the team an opportunity to win… Bello usually does so too, just in a messy and unideal but serviceable way… Pivetta does that sometimes but not nearly often enough… and Crawford has gotten totally shelled his last two starts. Crawford is the one I’m worried about.
Pivetta is a guy who can be dominant for stretches, and his metrics this year are better than the results. As long as they don’t part with Anthony, Mayer and Teel I am okay. I’d try to sell high on Kristian Campbell and hope he’s more Daniel Nava than Jeff Bagwell.
Same feeling here. So far we have made nice little fringe moves but I want to see a big splash today where we grab front-end pitching. Rumor has it we’re close on Flaherty, which would be the sort of add I want.
It’s obvious the greatest need is bullpen help, but I would not be surprised if Breslow is looking at the prices going for top bullpen arms and passing on that. Besides, SP adds can help the bullpen indirectly.
No.
Man. A fast answer from what seems like a fast guy, Ray.