Team-by-Team Trade Possibilities: AL West

Previous entries in the series:
AL East
AL Central

Seattle Mariners – The Mariners are in really bad shape, to put it mildly.  They’re going through a front office change, they’re currently terrible, their franchise player (Ichiro) is aging, and their farm system is not among the best in the game.  However, they do have several movable parts for the deadline:  Adrian Beltre, who is coveted by the Twins, as I detailed yesterday; Jarrod Washburn, who they’ve discussed with the Yankees (however, it seems the teams are at an impasse – the Yanks only want to take the contract for a bit player, but the Mariners want a “real” prospect); and Raul Ibanez, who seems destined to become a Met once the two teams can agree on a price.  I’m surprised they’ve waited this long on trading Ibanez, Wladimir Balentien looks like a nice, major league-ready power hitting corner outfield prospect (and has for awhile now).  Other than that, Richie Sexson has already been released and signed by the Yankees – apparently he had NO trade value whatsoever, whether or not the M’s picked up the remainder of his contract.  Jose Vidro is probably not going to excite anyone, neither is Willie Bloomquist, neither is Kenji Johjima and his new extension, and so on.  Ichiro is going nowhere.
Arthur Rhodes might get moved – he’s another of those veteran lefties who is the backup plan for a lot of teams, so while he might not command a lot, he most likely will find a new home.

Oakland A’s – They’ve already been busy, moving Rich Harden, Chad Gaudin, and Joe Blanton this month, as we’ve covered already.  It has been a bit of a hard luck season for the A’s; the runs scored/runs allowed numbers indicate that the A’s should be at least one game better than the Angels.  That’s a better indicator of team performance going forward, but two caveats come into play here:

1. The team the A’s will be trotting out there the rest of the year is different from the one they’ve been using all year, and
2.  Great bullpens often help teams overcome mediocre expected (or Pythagenport) W-L records, and the Angels certainly have one of those.

Anyway, it’s possible the A’s still have some wheeling and dealing left.  Guys who might get moved: Justin Duchscherer – the AL ERA leader is probably experiencing a career year, and has several suitors, from the White Sox to the Rockies.  Closer Huston Street is one of the best relievers on the market, and has been rumored to be piquing interest in many places:  Tampa Bay, Chicago’s south side (Sox), and the LA Dodgers, among others.  Lefty Alan Embree is in that Rhodes/Eyre class of veterans who might end up elsewhere.  There have not been many Mark Ellis rumors, but with Eric Patterson on board and the A’s all but conceding this year, he might go for the right price – he’s a free agent after the season, though the A’s would love to keep him.  There had been some Jason Bay to the A’s rumors, but those seem to have died down.  Not much that Billy Beane could do would surprise me.

Texas Rangers – The Rangers won the prize at last year’s deadline, sending Mark Teixeira to the Braves for a gaggle of prospects and youngsters.  This year, they don’t have that one big name to move, but they do have some tasty side dishes.  For starters, they have 4 – yes, FOUR – catchers drawing interest who are big league ready, roughly.

1.  Gerald Laird has the most experience and performance certainty but the least upside among the four.  The catching-starved Marlins seem to be the front runner for Laird, but both AL East behemoths (Sawx, Yanks) have been linked to Laird.
2.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia came over in last year’s Tex deal, he was a big time prospect in the Braves system, but it’s yet to be seen whether or not he can really stick at catcher.  The rumors for Salty are more vague than those for Laird, which makes me think he’s staying put, which makes sense – if I was in charge, I’d move Laird and hang onto the other three, figuring out who could cut it behind the plate, then keeping the others as backups/DHs/backup first basemen, at least until I figured out which ones were really keepers.
3.  Taylor Teagarden is a really nice defensive catcher, and his bat is less Brad Ausmus/Mike Matheny and more someone who can actually help out a team with the bat.  The Red Sox are reportedly interested, as they should be.  Last Saturday, Wyatt and I discussed their options for replacing Varitek this offseason, and decided a trade was more likely than a free agent signing, figuring the Rangers were a good match.  I’m not sure if that will happen by the deadline, but they’ll definitely revisit it in the offseason if it doesn’t.
4.  Max Ramirez is probably the best hitter of the 4, but also has some questions about his defense.  He came over for Kenny Lofton at the deadline last year from Cleveland.

Manager Ron Washington has a wishlist, but GM Jon Daniels is too smart to mortgage the future for a futile run at 2 month rentals.
There have been some rumblings about Michael Young to the Dodgers, but I doubt they need him badly enough to pay the price.  Milton Bradley’s name has been tossed around, but I think he’ll stay put – Daniels would have to be bowled over to move him.  Same with pitcher Vicente Padilla.  Third basemen Hank Blalock is the Twins’ backup plan, and might go somewhere else before it’s all said and done.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (CA, USA) – As Wyatt covered this afternoon, the Angels already made a big deal today, bringing in Teixeira for Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek.  From their standpoint, it’s a deal you had to make – the price of the upgrade from Kotchman to Tex is significantly outweighed by the benefit.  The Angels have been rumored to be in pursuit of some of the lefties on the market, like George Sherrill or Jon Grabow.  Minor league slugger Brandon Wood has struggled in brief major league trials, but seems to crush minor league pitching.  He’s young enough to pan out, given the opportunity, and some team might bite.

Up Next:  NL East

Team-by-Team Trade Possibilities: AL Central

Yesterday, I ran down the big rumors involving AL East teams, today, it’s the AL Central.   Without further ado…

AL Central
Cleveland Indians – The Indians have already been busy, moving free agent-to-be ace CC Sabathia to the Brewers earlier this month.  Over the weekend, they sent 3B/1B/OF Casey Blake to the LA Dodgers for Jon Meloan, a high minors pitching prospect, and Carlos Santana, a catcher at High-A ball with impressive hitting numbers.  They also acquired Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals for minor league pitcher Luis Perdomo.  A couple of years ago, Reyes looked like a good bet to have a long career as a middle of the rotation starter, but faltered in St. Louis.  These all look like good moves for a team that is not contending this year, but will in the near future.  Maybe they should have held onto CC a bit longer, but the package they got – centering on LF/1B Matt LaPorta, who might be up in September – is not lacking.
It now seems as though the Indians have done most of their selling.  They would like to move Paul Byrd, but there probably are not lots of teams panting after him; he’s 37, he’s struck out 51 men in 110.1 innings, and he’s given up 23 home runs.  Oh, and he has a 5.14 ERA.  He’s no more than a back of the rotation starter at this point, but some teams just need a guy to take the mound and give them 5 solid innings every 5 days.  He might not move until the waiver period in August, but I suspect someone will bite, even as an injury replacement.

Kansas City Royals – As has been the case in recent years, the Royals are in a position to sell off their veterans at the trade deadline.  This year, there are fewer to move, but they have several nice pieces, so we’ll see what happens.  There has been some noise about the Yankees wanting Brian Bannister; if they can’t pry Jarrod Washburn from the seemingly very stubborn Mariners, they might turn their attention elsewhere.  That’s where Bannister comes in.
Jose Guillen is another name who keeps popping up in rumors, but as I wrote yesterday, most of the contenders seem pretty well set at the outfield corners/DH.  Also, the Royals are not just going to give him away, as reports indicate they want to get back a nice package of players for him.
Catcher Miguel Olivo has been connected to at least a couple teams who badly need to improve behind the plate – Yankees and Marlins.  Despite what Joe Girardi says, the Yankees can do better than Jose Molina back there.
Theoretically, Esteban German could be moved, but there does not seem to be much interest.  Mark Grudzielanek’s name has been whispered around this time of year every year since he’s been a Royal, but he’s still there, and it does not seem like they want to move him.

Detroit Tigers – The Tigers have had a real roller coaster of a season.  Still, they’re only 6.5 games out of the division lead right now, and coming on pretty strong.  They’re looking for relief help, especially now that Freddy Dolsi and Joel Zumaya are experiencing some aches and pains.  They’ve been linked to all the usual suspects, and seem to be especially hot on Gians lefty Jack Taschner and O’s lefty George Sherrill.  Presumably, they could be a suitor for Scott Eyre, should the Cubs decide to move him, which seems likely, given their other two lefties (Sean Marshall, Neal Cotts) and the emergence of Jeff Samardzija.
This year marks the second straight year they’ve been linked to Pittsburgh shortstop Jack Wilson, but Pittsburgh would rather keep him, as they have few in-house replacement options, so the asking price is high.  He’ll probably stay put, unless Detroit decides they can’t live without him.

Minnesota Twins – The big story here is that Livan Hernandez just keeps getting lit up, while Francisco Liriano is toying with Triple A hitters.  Seriously, check out his recent starts, he’s been tremendous.  There are service time concerns, I guess, but Minnesota is just being incredibly cheap if they won’t cut bait on Livan and call up Liriano as soon as…last week.  Most of the other players they’re rumored to be interested in are hitters – that’s pretty much the case every year with this franchise, by the way.  They seem to be really interested in adding a third baseman, with the two primary targets being Hank Blalock of the Rangers and Adrian Beltre of the Mariners.  They also might be interested in LaTroy Hawkins, who the Yanks recently designated for assignment.

Chicago White Sox – Sox GM Kenny Williams recently said the “climate was awful” for trades, which for some reason I find hilarious.  They already have a nice bullpen, but they have been linked to Oakland A’s closer Huston Street nonetheless.  They’ve also been linked to the A’s Justin Duchscherer, who’s leading the AL in ERA.  They also might be willing to move Orlando Cabrera, which would open up shortstop for Alexei Ramirez, their current second baseman.  That would make sense if they acquired Brian Roberts, who they’ve been rumored to like, but it seems unlikely to me.  The Dodgers and Red Sox are also interested in Cabrera.
There have been some rumblings that they might send their backup shortstop, Juan Uribe, to the Red Sox for their backup infielder, Alex Cora, but those talks seem to have fizzled.  They would probably still be interested in moving Uribe, and in the right deal, they would part with third baseman of the future Josh Fields.  At this point, I would be surprised to see them make any blockbuster deal, but Kenny Williams has been quite a dealer in the past, so not much would shock me.

Up next:  AL West

Team-by-Team Trade Possibilities: AL East

The non-waiver trade deadline is quickly approaching, and the rumors are flying.  We’ve already covered a bunch of the trades that have happened, so here’s a quick rundown of each team’s status.  By the way, the best site on the web for rumors is MLBtraderumors.com, which aggregates rumors from reliable sources in one place.

Anyway, team by team, division by division, here we go, starting with the Worldwide Leader’s favorite division.

AL East
Baltimore Orioles – The O’s are overachieving a bit this year, making a run at .500, but the difference between 78 wins and 82 wins should not be enough for the team to hold onto its veteran hitters.  They ought to be shopping Jay Payton, Ramon Hernandez, Kevin Millar, Melvin Mora, and Aubrey Huff.  It’s unclear whether anybody on that list other than Huff could bring back a worthwhile piece.  The O’s would especially like a young, promising shortstop in return.
Early in the year, there were a bevy of Brian Roberts rumors, usually with the Cubs as the destination, but obviously they all fell through.  Rumor has it that O’s owner Peter Angelos, a notorious meddler, squashed any Roberts deal, but it might be wise to explore their options with him.  They don’t have an immediate replacement, but as an ideal top of the order hitter and a solid glove man at second base, Roberts could be a hot commodity.

Toronto Blue Jays – There have been nonstop A.J. Burnett rumors since roughly the beginning of time, but he can opt out of his contract after this year.  If he doesn’t, he’s due $12 million in each of the next two years.  His market value is probably right around that, give or take, oh, $4 million, so it remains to be seen whether he should opt out.  Anyway, most of the teams who wanted pitching have already turned to better or more easily acquired alternatives.  At this point, I’d say it’s more likely that Burnett stays put.
There have been some other rumors about Toronto’s two primary shortstops, David Eckstein and John MacDonald.  MacDonald is one of the best gloves at shortstop in all of baseball, but he is not any kind of hitter.  He might be an upgrade for the Dodgers or another team in need of a shortstop.  Eckstein isn’t much of a defender, but he’s an adequate bat at either middle infield slot.
Matt Stairs could also be moved, he can still hit, but this year, most of the contenders are pretty well set at first base, DH, and the outfield corners.  He might be Plan B for a team like the Mets, though, as he’ll come more cheaply than, say, Raul Ibanez.
Two other names being batted around:  Greg Myers and Rod Barajas.  Neither is more than a temporary solution at catcher.

New York Yankees – It usually is not possible for the Yankees to do anything quietly, but by their own standards, their recent surge has been quiet.  Even with injuries to 60% of their opening day starting rotation (Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Chien Ming Wang), the Bombers have gotten good pitching.  The offense has been another story, but the recent acquisition of Xavier Nady should change that, and Damaso Marte will bolster the bullpen from the left side.  The Yankees will definitely be buyers over the next 4 days, but they might not do anything too noteworthy.  It seems at this point as though they will add Jarrod Washburn from the Mariners, although the M’s want a solid prospect in return, and the Yankees would rather just absorb the innings eater’s contract and send back a C+ prospect.  Nonetheless, I think both teams will figure it out in time for the Yankees to add Washburn before his scheduled start Friday.

Boston Red Sox – The Sawx just got David Ortiz back from injury, which just about amounts to adding a bat at the deadline.  They’re one of the few teams that doesn’t have an obvious hole to fill at the deadline, especially if Clay Buchholz can return to pitch effectively.  The bullpen could use a little help, maybe from the left side, but with the transition of Justin Masterson from starting to relieving, they might be fine.  There’s been some chatter that they might add a shortstop, especially a defensive minded one, but Jed Lowrie will probably be good enough that Julio Lugo’s job might be in jeopardy even when he recovers from injury.  Lowrie’s bat is definitely major league ready, but scouts doubt his ability to handle it defensively.
Due to Manny Ramirez’s recent antics, there have been some rumblings about his potential departure, but I doubt that Boston could trade him for more than 80% of his true value.  He’ll stay put, but don’t be surprised if he becomes a free agent in the offseason if/when Boston declines his $20 million option for next year.

Tampa Bay Rays – Like Boston, Tampa is solid in all facets of the game.  There have been rumblings that they’ll add a bullpen arm or a right handed hitting OF/DH, but they might find the price too high.  Their minor league talent and depth is unbelievable, and they might decide to hold onto it.  Rocco Baldelli will make his return sometime in the next month or so to fill that void.  Also, last year’s top pick David Price seems likely to make a Joba/K-Rod-esque impact on this pennant race, negating the need for the bullpen addition.  A Gabe Gross/Erik Hinske/Rocco Baldelli/Jonny Gomes timeshare in RF and at DH is, in my opinion, better than they could do via trade.

Up next:  The AL Central