Article: Let's Make A Deal, Part IV: The Sellers

[Jeremy Nygaard]

The Twins made their first (biggish) move of the month on Saturday by acquiring Sergio Romo from the Marlins. Yet it’s still more than fair to believe that there are more dominoes to fall in the next handful of days.

 

Phones around the league are ringing off the hook. Do people still say that in 2019? A more accurate description is probably, “cell phones are vibrating in everyone’s pockets.”

 

When Falvey and Levine pull their phones out, who’s on the other end?

Have you missed the earlier parts of this series?

Part 1: 2020

Part 2: Payroll

Part 3: The Ammunition

**********

(Standings are through Saturday night and games backs are for a Wild Card spot.)

 

THE SELLERS:

 

Detroit Tigers (30-70, 26 games back): Expected to be aggressive sellers. SP Matt Boyd, CL Shane Greene and OF Nicholas Castellanos all seem likely to be on the move. While the Twins should show interest in the pitchers, the Tigers don’t seem entirely motivated to trade within the division.

 

Baltimore Orioles (35-69, 23 games back): The Orioles are in the unenviable position of not only being really bad, but also not having many assets to move. OF Trey Mancini would generate interest with multiple years of control let. RP Mychal Givens has had a rough year. They’ve traded Andrew Cashner to Boston already.

 

Kansas City Royals (39-67, 20 games back): Another division foe who possesses trade chips. The Royals have been active early, trading Martin Maldenado to the Cubs and Homer Bailey and Jake Diekman to the A’s in separate deals. INF/OF Whit Merrifield is appealing as a player and has a super team-friendly contract. OF Billy Hamilton still provides speed on the basepaths. (He’d be a perfect August 31 trade target, if that still existed.) SP Danny Duffy and RP Ian Kennedy are attainable and both should have a market.

 

Toronto Blue Jays (40-66, 19 games back): SP Marcus Stroman and RP Ken Giles may be the top (and affordable) SP/RP combo. The Blue Jays are also expected to move 2B Eric Sogard and RP Daniel Hudson. Things will be definitely be busy for the next few days for Toronto, an organization who boasts some of the brightest young talent in the game.

 

Miami Marlins (39-63, 15 games back): After hooking up for the Sergio Romo deal, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot more in terms of trade chips unless Miami is considering shipping out any of their younger talent.

 

Seattle Mariners (45-63, 15 games back): Jerry DiPoto will make moves, this we know. SP Mike Leake appears to be their biggest trade chip, but when it comes to DiPoto, forecasting anything is an act of futility.

 

Chicago White Sox (46-56, 11 games back): The Twins have probably checked in on RP Alex Colome and RP Aaron Bummer. Beyond that, 1B Jose Abreu is the only other player with value they’d consider moving.

 

Pittsburgh Pirates (46-58, 9 games back): Despite being aggressive buyers last season and having a disappointing 2019, the Pirates have an impressive young core to build around. CL Felipe Vasquez and OF Starling Marte could be had, but likely have very high price tags. It’s possible that Pittsburgh could look to flip their two additions from last year: SP Chris Archer and RP Keone Kela, but both would be moved for pennies on the dollar.

 

New York Mets (49-55, 6 games back): SP Noah Syndergaard, SP Zack Wheeler and RP Edwin Diaz are probably the highest-end shopping trio any team has to sell at the deadline. And the Mets are going to want everything in return.

 

Arizona Diamondbacks (53-52, 2.5 games back): Above .500 and great series from being a Wild Card team, they don’t really fit on this list. But all indications are that they are looking to sell. And sell they can. SP Zack Greinke, SP Robbie Ray, CL Greg Holland and RP Archie Bradley have all been rumored to be on the block. If the Diamondbacks do decide to trade their assets, they could definitely restock quickly.

 

Texas Rangers (53-52, 5.5 games back): SP Mike Minor and SP Lance Lynn might not have the star power like the names the Mets have to offer, but the Rangers may very well have the two best (in 2019) pitchers in their stack of chips. Additionally, bounce-back OF/DH Hunter Pence, UTIL Danny Santana and a variety of bullpen arms all make the Rangers an attractive team to potentially do business with.

 

Colorado Rockies (49-56, 6.5 games back): Admittedly haven’t heard much about the Rockies plans this deadline, but their idea a few seasons back to spend heavily on the bullpen didn’t work out. They have high-priced, underachieving relief pitchers they would probably like to part with and it has been reported they’d move OF Charlie Blackmon for the right (big) return.

 

NOT SELLERS (BUT MAYBE SHOULD BE):

 

Cincinnati Reds (47-55, 7 games back): The team has been on record saying they are more likely to add, which sounds like a terrible idea. That stance has softened recently and the teams should listen on offers for SP Tanner Roark, SP Alex Wood, 2B Scooter Gennett, OF Yasiel Puig and CL Raisel Iglesias.

 

San Diego Padres (49-55, 6 games back): Though I don’t necessarily understand the idea of packaging top prospects like 2B Luis Urias and SP Cal Quantrill to get SP Noah Syndergaard when the team is not going to make the playoffs, A.J. Preller is a unique person who has a unique way of doing business. The Padres look like a team that can potentially compete with the Dodgers in the next couple of years and Syndergaard can help do that. So, too, could moving Kirby Yates and one of their young, valuable surplus outfielders (Franmil Reyes or Hunter Renfroe).

 

San Francisco Giants (53-52, 2.5 games back): We’re all familiar with this situation: The Giants are bad and going to blow things up by moving SP Madison Bumgarner and RP Will Smith, along with other trade chips in their very good bullpen. But then they go on a three-week tear and look like the best team in baseball, shifting their focus to looking at ways to supplement what they have to make one last run in future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy’s career. It's probably a bad idea.

 

Which teams do you hope keep texting Falvey and Levine?

 

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[Brandon]

In terms of who we receive I hope to here from the Mets on Noah Syndergaard. But I think Minor from Texas is the more cost effective option or Stroman from Toronto. As far as relievers go ...maybe Arizona or Giles from Toronto....

[Doomtints]

The market this year should be ample for the Twins to improve where they need to. This is rare and let's hope they take advantage.

[Tom Froemming]

The rumor mill certainly indicates Arizona is acting more like a seller, but man do I not get that. They have some nice long-term pieces blossoming and the second-best pythag W/L record in the NL. They already have four top 100 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, so it's not like the system is barren. Weird. 

[railmarshalljon]

 

The rumor mill certainly indicates Arizona is acting more like a seller, but man do I not get that. They have some nice long-term pieces blossoming and the second-best pythag W/L record in the NL. They already have four top 100 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, so it's not like the system is barren. Weird. 

 

Yeah looking at what they are selling and I'm thinking, yeah I'd like all 4 of those guys on the Twins lol. 

[nicksaviking]

The rumor mill certainly indicates Arizona is acting more like a seller, but man do I not get that. They have some nice long-term pieces blossoming and the second-best pythag W/L record in the NL. They already have four top 100 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, so it's not like the system is barren. Weird.

 

I wonder if the talk of them selling is just a ploy to see if they can get a feel for how much of Greinke’s salary they’d have to eat and which teams would be a match. His salary is such a burden that they’ll probably need to know if they can move him before they can formulate an actual off season plan.

[wxman91]

 

The market this year should be ample for the Twins to improve where they need to. This is rare and let's hope they take advantage.

 

That's funny, I feel exactly the opposite.  The league is so "bottom heavy" that there are far more potential buyers than sellers.  And almost everyone is looking for starting and relief pitching.  We thought that Bumgardner and Bauer were going to be on the market, and now they aren't.  The Mets want a King's ransom for Syndegaard.  

[FLTwinsGuy]

Marcus Stroman traded to the Mets

[jrod23]

Could you imagine having Falvey’s power? Really. Just sitting at home thinking, “Do we pay up for Syndergaard and give up Lewis et al, or give up less for Robbie Ray? Do we go all in on Smith or do we piece together the bullpen?”

[Doomtints]

 

That's funny, I feel exactly the opposite.  The league is so "bottom heavy" that there are far more potential buyers than sellers.  And almost everyone is looking for starting and relief pitching.  We thought that Bumgardner and Bauer were going to be on the market, and now they aren't.  The Mets want a King's ransom for Syndegaard.  

 

The media believes teams vying for one-game, sudden-death wildcard games would be buyers. They are largely incorrect.