Rates & Barrels - Opportunities Coming From the Trade Deadline

Episode Date: July 27, 2023

Eno and DVR take a spin around the depth charts of the expected sellers at the Trade Deadline in search of potential playing time winners in the fallout from swaps.  Rundown 1:22 Marco Luciano Joins the Giants 7:13 White Sox Deadline-Related Opportunities 13:38 More Bullpen Changes in KC? 20:35 Limited Options for the Tigers to Deal Away? 26:48 Any A's Worth Stashing? 33:00 AL Grab Bag 41:36 The Next Rockies Up 46:02 Will the Padres Sell? 49:13 Pirates on the Move 54:41 Tyler O'Neil & Cards Trade Chips 59:01 Are the Cubs Buyers or Sellers? 1:04:13 Finding Value In the Nats' Depth Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow DVR on Twitter: @DerekVanRiper e-mail: [e-mail] Subscribe to The Athletic at $2/month for the first year: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels Check out these offers from our ad partners.... Get 25% off your order when you go to jamesallen.com and use code RATES! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Raids and Barrels. It is Wednesday, July 26th. Derek Van Ryper here with Ido Saris. On this episode, we have another top prospect getting the call to the big leagues. Marco Luciano headed to San Francisco. We're going to talk about more players to watch in the upper levels of the minor leagues and the players who are not necessarily prospects that stand to benefit

with the trade deadline just around the corner. There are tons of depth charts for us to dig into. So we're going to try and get through as many of those as we can on this episode. Other stuff planned in case we get through it faster than expected. But I think this is one of those

days, you know, where the rundown is about three times longer than it needs to be. I mean, this is other than the waiver Friday episode. This is one of the last times that we can talk to you all about stuff before the deadline, you know, in terms of what you could do to anticipate the deadline. I think, you know, that's something that you can almost go team by team. So, you know, those third and fourth and fifth items on the rundown, I'm not sure we're getting to them. No, those will probably roll over into next week.

But we begin today with Marco Luciano. Interesting prospect, a guy that I was really excited about when the Giants signed him as an international free agent several years back. And when you look at this Giants team, they could be pretty active at the deadline. There's a lot of moving parts on this roster,

but they've been doing a pretty good job in their minor league system this season, having guys take some steps forward. With Luciano, a lot of it's been health because he had a back injury last year. He had a minor leg injury that cost him some time as well the age to level context of his minor league performance helps his case quite a bit there is a lot of swing and miss in his profile right now but how much of a playing time share do you expect the Giants to give Luciano right out of the box with this quick promotion out of AAA Sacramento.

Well, I don't know. I mean, the big thing was that last night in the game, they chose not to use David Villar, a righty, knowing that the opposing team had a lefty reliever ready to go. They put in Mike Yastrzemski and against the lefty, the Giants have the second worst lefty-on-lefty splits in the big leagues, partially because I think they were built to keep those lefties from ever seeing lefties. And yet this year, they also have a lot of lefty-on-lefty plate appearances because you've got Michael Conforto, yastrzemski jock peterson got a lot of players that you can't necessarily can platoon them all so anyway long story short instead of putting david vr and they put in mike yastrzemski it worked mike scrumsey hit a double

uh off a lefty and that lefty was sam wall and lefties were hitting 190 again so it just wasn't a high probability thing so the minute i saw that they weren't even using David Villar in that situation, I thought David Villar is not long for this roster. And that's the corresponding move. But it also is meaningful for Casey Schmidt, a right-hander that's been playing shortstop, and playing shortstop capably defensively, but not being a real asset offensively.

You've got the team leaders on the team in home runs are Wilmer Flores and J.D. Davis with 13 home runs. You've got Marco Luciano hitting three balls, 110-plus last night in his AAA game. So I have to think that as a right-hander, he could leapfrog Casey Schmidt pretty quickly and at the very least be someone who plays third and short against righties, even with Brandon Crawford healthy.

And Brandon Crawford is still at least three, four days out. And even when Brandon Crawford comes back, it's not, he's not such an offensive force that if Marco Luciano gets going, that he can't sort of stave him off. So Casey Schmidt will stay on the roster because he's a good defensive player that can play short and third, but Marco Luciano could leapfrog him pretty quickly and become the right-handed infielder on that left side of the infield right that's how I see it I think the interesting thing with Luciano is that they haven't really moved him around at all defensively he's been a shortstop at every single yeah Schmidt is more likely to to be able to to move around like Schmidt has played third and short, so he's more like the defensive replacement as I see it right now. Yeah, I bailed on the David Fletcher

comp pretty quickly after I made it when Casey Schmidt got called up. He had that amazing first week. He hit a ball harder, I think, in his first week than David Fletcher has in his entire career. So the comp adjustment was fair, but he has not hit. He's got a bad approach right now. He's way too aggressive with pitches outside the zone. Yeah, and he doesn't make as much contact as I thought he would. So I think he's got work to do. And that's why in my piece today, I gave the Giants Tim Anderson.

I think calling up Marco Luciano before the trade deadline, it's only five days, but it does give you a sense that the Gi giants might be looking at marcio marco luciano instead of trading for tim anderson or paul de young uh because ideally at short and center where i think the giants are you know hurting the most you just you want youth there they're better at defense you don't really want a 29, 30-year-old.

Paul DeJong and Tim Anderson are not going to play shortstop for that much longer. Yeah, I think that's definitely a concern. I think with the way Luciano adds this power element to this lineup, he'll be a tough player to figure out from a free agent bidding perspective if you see him sticking i think there's a chance he becomes immediately relevant down to 12 team mixed leagues i think that's at least a possibility but the range of outcomes is really wide with that deadline just under and with being dependent on power like you like it's not like even if you're waiting till sunday and you're like oh well i have i have

five days where i'll get knowledge what if he just doesn't hit a homer those five days and then on monday hits you know two homers right before the deadline that would be extra fun because he'd be a bargain this weekend and then maybe he would be securing his job next week. It seems like a very day-to-day situation. I think it could be interesting in sort of 15 teamers to have at least a make good bid on him, you know, at least a sort of, you know, at least put 1% on him.

Yeah. A one to 2% minimum seems like an appropriate thing, but we'll see how he settles in here in these next few days. And he'll probably come up on our waiver episode on Friday as well. Let's take a look here at some deadline related opportunities. We're going to speculate depth chart to depth chart. Well, we could do this any way we want. We want to start at the bottom of the AL and work our way out of there.

I mean, I guess that's one way to do it. and work our way out of there. I mean, I guess that's one way to do it. The team that we've been talking about for weeks across all of our shows that's not even at the actual bottom of the American League is the White Sox because they have the most players that could be on the move

if they decide to go down to the likes of Tim Anderson or possibly making a bigger trade where Eloy goes somewhere. They've got a whole bunch of guys in the bullpen. Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman, a bunch of guys that can go. That's one of the few catchers I think that could be moved because he's on an expiring deal. He's a veteran that has good defense.

I think it's a little bit problematic to acquire a catcher on August 1st and expect that catcher to know your team well and frame well and call games well. So I don't know that a front-line catcher to know your team well and frame well and call games well. So I don't know that a front line catcher will get traded. Yeah, you look at a guy like Elvis Andrews, maybe he gets moved and becomes a bench guy for someone else. But playing time should be up for grabs with the White Sox. One of their problems has been organizational depth in the last, I don't know, half decade plus.

So my question would be like, is there anybody who's been blocked or in a partial role that you actually like with the white socks, with the possibility of them getting a bigger role, at least for the final two months of the season? I mean, Sebi Zavala probably is only a two catchcatcher league guy when Grandal is hurt right now. Maybe he becomes two-catcher league relevant the rest of the way just because the playing time share would be

so large post-trade. Is there anybody else that you actually like from a tools perspective that you think could stabilize? Sebi is striking out 39% of the time. He's projected to strike out 35% of the time. He's your prototypical 200-h hitting catcher with some pop I don't I don't know that I'm super excited about that Jake Berger has been playing his way into uh regular time already I think he's owned in probably the leagues he's supposed to be owned in already at this point um and yeah it's nice that he has 21 homers and he does hit the ball super hard but he also has a 33% strikeout rate so he's not

probably a great 12 teamer type you know if he can cut that strikeout rate some and give you a 230, 240, 250 batting average of power here on out in an everyday role yeah

probably 12-team relevant. Zach Remyard is a guy who's been playing some, but he's 29 years old. And so even when you look at 2022 at AAA and say, oh, he's 11% better on league average, well, he's 28 years old. You're already sort of taking WRC Plus away from him at that point. And so I see a guy that makes some contact but does not hit the ball hard. And I don't think he'd be an asset in most leagues.

Unless you're really desperate for steals, he might steal some bags. leagues uh unless you're really desperate for steals he might steal some bags uh romey gonzalez 26 year old right-handed uh second baseman who for his career is has a 61 wrc plus and a 36 strikeout rate against a two percent walk rate i i don't know man i don't i mean oscar colas has already been playing his way into regular. I like Gavin Sheets a little bit. You know, I think Gavin Sheets might be the most exciting guy out of all of these. Yes, Gavin Sheets.

That's the name I'm going to put forth for people. It's at least a bat first sort of player if Gavin Sheets does get that opportunity. But again, speaks to some of the problems with the White Sox. I imagine they're looking for near Major League Ready or Major League Ready players back in the returns for a lot of the guys they're going to move. So the solution might be in the trade itself in many of these instances. We did gloss over one thing with the White Sox. That's pretty important. The bullpen.

Yeah. The problem with the bullpen, I think, is that they could move so many relievers that I think your best bet is to actually look at someone who has several years of club control left and decide based on club control that they're the least likely to get dealt. So does that leave us with Gregory Santos as the closer for the white socks post deadline? Yeah. I mean,

you're going to, you're going to hear this a couple times. So my general rubric is just rank by stuff plus and look at holds because holds are super important. They tell you about usage and who the manager trusts. And in terms of stuff plus, good stuff plus, and holds, you've got Joe Kelly, Ronaldo Lopez,do lopez gregory santos and kenyan middleton kenyan middleton free agent ronaldo lopez free agent joe kelly possible

free agent there's an option there so uh santos is the guy that is most likely to stay around and um you know could get in the closer role. The other one is Joe Kelly. And Kendall Graveman, who has been getting saves, also a free agent to be. So I think I like Santos and Kelly a little bit. The other guy in that mix, because he had a long-term deal, would be Aaron Bummer. He's not pitched well so far this year,

but he signed a very team-friendly deal a few years back. Still has one more guaranteed season on that plus two club options, so I'd keep an eye on him as well. But I think you're looking long term there because all those other relievers you name make sense for contending clubs. There's really no reason for the White Sox to hold on to any of those guys. And even with Kelly's club option, he's pitched for enough contenders where I would imagine there's plenty of interest yeah maybe get a little bit more for him than the other guys because the other team can say well we have over next year too yeah and there might yeah might be some bundling going on there too for teams that want multiple relievers back from the White Sox

as far as the Royals go we'll stay in the bullpen for a moment I've thought Carlos Hernandez should get a bigger role on this Kansas City club all season. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe it happens at the deadline. I can't imagine Scott Barlow is still a Royal after the deadline. Is there anybody else in this bullpen

that we should be keeping our eyes on? I like Jose Cuas. He's basically one of the guys if it's not Carlos. I think what will actually end up happening is that Carlos Hernandez becomes the closer and Kwas is the setup guy. That's fine from a Stuff Plus standpoint. That's fine. I think that's where Carlos Hernandez was headed

ever since we saw that he had the best stuff in that rotation and absolutely no idea where the ball was going. It made sense to shorten his appearances and just ask him to throw even harder. And he's thrived in that role, honestly. He's one of the best, I think probably the best SP slash RP in the game right now, other than maybe Brash and you know so I think he's he's headed for that reliever role and he might even keep that SP designation for next year because he was an opener for a while so kind of a sneaky important designation for some leagues and if you you know check your rules and you realize that he will be SP eligible next year as well,

might make him a keeper in some leagues. Or might make him extra interesting to get a closer you can slot in on your SP days when you don't have a starter in there. So I think it's probably Carlos Hernandez, but Jose Cuas deserves a mention. It's probably fair to say that if the Royals were to deal starters away,

that whoever they're backfilling with isn't going to be all that interesting, given the trouble they've had getting high quality pitching to the big leagues. So I don't think we have to spend a lot of time in that group. I still like John Heasley a little bit, but he's got eight appearances in the big leagues and no starts 9.2 innings nine and two-thirds innings in eight appearances um i don't know i think like he might be on his way out from being a reliever from being a starter especially since when he was starting in triple a he had a seven ra so maybe he's least following carlos nandez uh which is too bad because they are really struggling for

making starters over there you look at the position player group and as far as guys that play a lot that seem even somewhat likely to move i guess salvador Salvador Perez is the guy that you'd look at and say, well, he's a little more of a DH than a catcher at this stage, but that's about it. Everybody else is younger and probably part of their longer-term plan. Am I missing anybody who would make an impact? Perez is under team control until 2026. Right.

He's got that longer-term deal at like $20-ish million per year. So for a mostly DH, again, I'm not trying to completely write off how much he can catch. He's 33, and he's had a really heavy workload behind the plate for his career. I don't know. He's the face of the franchise right now. I think Bobby Witt Jr. is kind of taking that over. But if you think about Royals teams from the past decade, Sal Perez is that common thread.

So it'd be a strange player to see playing somewhere else. Yeah, it would be strange. I think Felix Firmin, there's some aspects to his line that are not prototypical for a catcher. And if you squint hard enough you could see uh an interesting catcher here because an offensive catcher here because you know something's changed from contact wise and he's he's had been up and down contact wise but this year 16 strikeout rate for felix fermin in triple AAA and 22 in the major leagues that's good for a catcher

that's really good for a catcher and 11 percent barrel rate and a 40 percent hard hit and a 107 max EV like all these things um you know on another on like a DH or corner outfielder would be a little bit less exciting but you put those all on a catcher, and those are pretty exciting, actually. So Felix Vermeen is somebody that I'd jump on in any two-catcher league the minute I heard Sal Perez was traded. Yeah, and they've been catching Sal more than I expected. Six of his last seven starts, actually,

have been behind the plate. Just one as a DH, but if Freddy Vermeen gets a chance to play more,'m with you i think the skills are actually calling him felix it's ready yeah ready for me sorry that's okay it's uh my son's name is felix it's it's okay it's just always in my head if we close the book on the al central and knock out the tigers here real quick yeah i don't yeah i don't know that uh the guardians are are you know if the guardians do something i think it'll be kind of surprising you know it will it'll be something where they're actually trading uh maybe even a young pitcher or a pitcher with

team control for a hitter with team control you know uh it'll be it'll be something surprising i don't think they don't have any sort of expiring veterans that are really obvious they want to trade they're not in a place where it is really obvious what they should do 20% chance of playoffs but in second place is a very strange combination and I'm sure they're well aware of both of those things so I doubt they're not going to buy

an expensive player at the deadline, I doubt, unless it's somebody they have under team control for a while and changes the makeup of their team. They could sell Ahmed Rosario and try to do it in some weird buying and selling combination. If they sell Ahmed Rosario, is there somebody you like? Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Brian Rocchio? I think it's Rocchio.

I think that would be the path for Rocchio to get a regular opportunity. He's logged almost, he's almost a 550 plate appearances now at AAA. It's speed over power. I think it's a good hit tool. I don't know if he's ever going to be great in terms of what he does for home runs but i think he could be pretty good across the board

because he controls the zone well it could be rosario-esque i mean yeah that might be on the upper end for his power but in terms of like the kind of output that rosario has been putting up for fantasy rocchio could get close yeah absolutely so i think think those are the things you're looking at with the Guardians, just moves that are playing the middle but still trying to keep them in the mix, of course, for this year. My knock on the Tigers all season has been that they don't have a lot in terms of rentals to move away. I don't think anyone's trading for Javier Baez.

Still lots of time left on that contract. I mean, you could look at guys like andy abanyas or zach mckinstry maybe even matt veerling even though there's years of control left on players like that you get an offer you like for those guys you can trade them older types i mean bonyas is 30 yeah and mckinstry is 28 so you know are they going to be there for the next great tigers team and could their versatility both of them are of our versatile players, could their versatility be useful for somewhere else? I would say that one argument against it is that the GM for the Tigers

has in his provenance, like in terms of in his upbringing, as you want to say, the Giants. And the Giants don't seem to care too much about five years away from now and four years away from now. They seem to care a little bit more about versatility and can these guys help next year, right? If you think about how they've run their team, then that sort of fits with like the Wilmer Flores two-year deal.

You know what I mean? Like they don't care that Wilmer Flores is getting slower and older and not as good defensively. Can he be helpful to us? And is he worth more than what we're paying him next year? And so I think Andy Ibanez and Zach McKinstry may actually stay in Detroit because they are versatile, just like all those Giants players. And yes, they're older, but they're still cheap. So I could see both of those guys staying in Detroit. But they also don't block

players like Colt Keith or Justin Henry Malloy and some of the prospects because they are versatile. Yeah, they can just move around and move them somewhere else, play four or five times a week instead of six or seven, and you're a little better off in the long run because your depth is solid based on the way you're built. Maybe bullpen arms could go if they trade Alex Lang. Is there someone else you'd like on that list of relievers to emerge as a fill-in closer?

Lang is not the most delectable uh sort of team control arm i just i don't see like i don't know that i would give up a ton i mean he's awful location plus 85 location plus for lang right you know recently and that's in the last 14 days so that's a small sample let me see what the full season is on him uh 89 so it's pretty awful command for him and that will turn some teams off uh like for example the giants care a lot about reliever command um so i don't know that alex lang will go anywhere but if he does i suppose i I'd like Jason Foley. He's the guy they've been using. Four holds. The stuff plus is all right.

So Jason Foley's the backup plan there. Also, for the Tigers, I did have Michael Lorenzen joining the Astros. And Eduardo Rodriguez has been rumored in a fair amount of deals I would say that like I still think this Scott Bush this GM is going to try and turn this team around fairly quickly and Eduardo Rodriguez is under contract for like another three years or something although there's a there's a little bit of an opt-out situation. Like after this season, he has an opt-out, which really makes trading complicated. But I kind of think he won't necessarily do it

because, I mean, yes, he's pitching well now. It'll be interesting. In fact, I just don't think he'll be traded, and I think it's more likely almost that they just nail down that extension with him. Well, so if he doesn't opt out... They need to have some veteran starters, you know. Even if they trade Lorenzen,

like they have Rodriguez, Manning, and Skubal, and Olsen maybe, and Fido. Is that enough to be like, oh, we'll just trade Rodriguez? Fido would be the winner if they did because he doesn't have a spot right now. But with Rodriguez, it's $49 million over the next three seasons from 2024 to 2026

if he doesn't opt out. He could probably do better than that. He could do better than that. Is he getting a fourth year and getting maybe a little more on an average annual? Is he getting four for 80 if he opts out? I think he reprised the deal that he signed.

Five and 71. I think he could do a four and 80 or something now. I think he's pitched just well enough to test it. He's not going to do worse than the 3-47 that's left out, 3-49 that's left on there. It'd be really interesting to know what happened last year. Oh, yeah.

That's a big part of it, too. I mean, that's, you know, whether or not inside the league teams know about that or whether they will know more about that. It's hard to say. And also just what his feelings are about how they handled it or not. Right. If he has ill will towards the Tigers for that situation, then he's opting out and he's gone. Right. Or if it's the opposite, if he's happy with how they handled it.

If he felt like they helped him. If they supported the situation, which again, we don't know a lot about it because it was a very vague, very personal issue that kept Eduardo Rodriguez away. That could be a factor as well. So I don't know how active they'll be. They'll probably make some move. I think Lorenzen is gone. Lorenzen is gone.

I just think he's gone. So I think Fido will move into the rotation. I just think he's gone. So I think Fido will move into the rotation. He's okay, but I'm not sure that I'm rushing to add him. Other than it does give you another person that you could stream in Detroit, which is a good place to pitch people. Yeah.

The bullpen guy that I'm sort of intrigued by, he's just back from an arm injury recently, is Bo Brzezinski. Throws a little harder out of the pen. Throws it's more fastball change popping in the model out of the pen for sure yeah he could be someone that goes from starter that didn't quite stick to high leverage reliever pretty fast so he's someone i'd keep an eye on if they do end up trading any relievers out of that tiger's bullpen let's go to oakland we've talked about this team a few times. It's not necessarily having more than bench pieces.

I mean, you could make a trade for Tony Kemp, add Tony Kemp to your bench. Trevor May could go, in which case I do think it might be Lucas Urseg. It's a fun story that used to be a third baseman, and now he's telling me that he didn't do weighted balls. He didn't do anything special. As a third baseman, he always wanted to throw it through the first baseman's chest,

and somehow that intensity has led to throwing super hard off the mound. That has worked, yeah. He's always had that big arm, so it'd be fun to see him make it as a closer eventually. And I think the walk rate we've seen is understandable, given how much of his professional career was spent at third base and how much has been spent so far on the mound. But I actually think the more interesting players for the A's are some of the guys they've already called up.

You know, Tyler Soderstrom and Zach Galoff are already up. Lawrence Butler looks pretty good. The knock on Lawrence Butler entering this season was that he strikes out too much he's cut his k rate considerably he's up at triple a now maybe he gets a look at some point down the stretch but it's not really about someone being traded to make room it's more just about the a's thinking he's better than player x currently getting playing time. Yeah, and I think the players that are the veteran players that are somewhat near sort of DFA territory or trade or I don't know, or just reduced role

are obviously Jace Peterson, Tony Kemp, and Ramon Laureano. Ramon Laureano is already, this was seeing his role reduced a little bit before he was injured, and he didn't even enter the lineup as a starter the day that he came back. So, you know, he's really interesting because he projects well still,

but I almost don't believe the projections anymore. There's something that has been a steady decline since uh you know if you just look at his numbers it's been a steady kind of almost three-year decline for him and I I know that some part of it is motivation because there it is hard Trevor May has even admitted to me that it is hard there is anxiety around the Oakland situation for veterans it's hard to, you know, the whole coffee joke, you know, like he's having a hard time being motivated in Oakland.

Maybe you can make a real small bet on him and there is team control left, but maybe the A's say, well, there's team control left. You need to pay more. So I think Laureano is a really fascinating case that I couldn't put on any one team because I couldn't figure out what his price is. I couldn't figure out how good he is. It's a little bit like the Tim Anderson thing.

Like, you know, Tim Anderson would be is a really rare case because like when was the last time that someone who'd been that good recently but was that bad in season had been traded? You know, it's like you get you have to have another gm agree that like oh yeah he's gonna bounce back i'm gonna pay this price that's why the cardinals just announced that they're probably not going to trade tyler o'neill because you know they don't want to sell low and selling on roman loriano right now would be selling low so i like i just don't know what happens with those three guys lorano, Kemp, and Peterson. I mean, Peterson and Kemp, I could see DFAing, but Kemp is a really nice guy that has been around for a while,

and he's probably one of the few people that's keeping the clubhouse conversational at all. He's one of the few veterans that like talks to everybody um and jace peterson has some uh value if you can move him around i don't know do you see do you see something what would you do with those three players well you're gonna lose kemp at the end of the year as a free agent anyway so maybe you trade him and since you already have diaz and Peterson under contract for 2024 I'm not sure there's a desire for him I guess with Kemp I'd be like I'd be like you can have him for basically free like give me a reliever prospect you know who doesn't even look like like

just give me anything I'm just trying to give Kemp something better to do for the next couple months would they be willing to move any of their starters at this point? We saw Fujinami get traded out of the bullpen already in that small trade with the Orioles, but are there any of the older starters, the guys in their late 20s that other teams might come calling for? I mean, J.P. Sears has pitched pretty well. Paul Blackburn is one of those guys. He's a few years away from free agency.

I don't think Sears, they have entire control left, so I don't think that's control left. They have a long window on him. Blackburn's at least started to get a little more expensive next year and we saw him do it with Cole Irvin, so I think he'd be the guy that I'd say is most likely to get traded up those starters. Yeah, but he's very much like

Cole Irvin and you see that Baltimore has already converted Cole Irvin to long relief. It's not 100% that Blackburn is a starter. If you just want depth, pitching depth, and optionable, controllable pitching, no options. Out of options, probably your new swingman for a lot of contending teams, or your five until

someone gets healthy and then he's your extra starter in paul blackburn's defense a career best 22.2 k rate this year nice to see that up a little bit yeah but the results have not matched that so far big step back with the ratios so far as far as the other al teams go i think the general assumption is that all five teams in the east are buyers. The Twins are buyers and the rest of the AL West outside of the A's probably all trending toward buyers unless the Angels decide we're trading Otani, we're trading some other guys away as well. The Otani deadline speculation has been just over the top, understandably so. deadline speculation has been just over the top understandably so he's an amazing player i don't think we'll ever see a player that good and potentially that impactful get moved again if we even see it at all this year but is there anybody else looking up and down the al that

you think could be a big winner as a result of moves you're expecting some of those other teams to make well i was looking at jim bowden has like a sort of a cheat sheet on the athletic about uh guys that could that could move and that was uh the sort of uh the pathway into this discussion and um i don't know that i i think a lot of these names that you know or quote unquote could move, won't move. And so it was like somebody like Teoscar Hernandez, you know, impending free agent on a Mariners team, I suppose. Like, do you think that Teoscar Hernandez could get moved?

Yes, I guess. Their guy moves everybody. Yeah. I also think it's not, it's not waving the white flag completely if you trade Teoscar Hernandez and play Taylor Trammell the final two months. Is that really giving up on the season,

or is that just acquiring a little bit of future value for a player that you were going to lose anyway? Yeah. The thing that's so tough about Seattle right now is that they've massaged this starting staff, this bullpen, into really top-of-the-line parts of the team. When you compare their staff to other staffs, they're one of the best

staffs in the big leagues. And what they need is help in the lineup. but you're not going to trade to ask hernandez for an offensive piece that's going to fit into your lineup this year or next year no but you can do the thing where you trade to ask hernandez to someone else who sees him as a buy low and then you go out and get your own buy low that you like better because you've already seen you've already seen hernandez for four months so you go ahead and take a flyer on someone else instead. That's the kind of stuff, because Jerry DiPoto is one of those GMs who's willing to make three moves to get one trade essentially done.

That's why you can't really rule it out. Yeah, and I think with Brian Wu's innings running out, and somewhat limited arsenal, even though I think he's throwing two sliders, it's like two sliders and two fastballs. It's an interesting arsenal. It's not the widest arsenal. There's an outside chance that he tries to buy a bat with Brian Wu and buy a replacement arm with teoscar hernandez yeah because you're

going to get more selling a bat for an arm um unless you sell someone like brian woo who has all of his years of control left and you sell somebody on this massive upside that he's got and you know you deal from strength in terms of you know pitching strength and you try to get your you try to buy and sell that way that is a hundred percent of possibility in seattle i don't know what that op opens up for anybody maybe taylor trammell um i don't know darren mccahan is like a kind of a just a guy that could come up and, you know, pitch two or three innings for them as a fifth starter maybe, but I don't know. I guess pre-lander Barrella, you know, could be somebody that they could try in sort of a bulk five fifth starter type situation, but, you know, he's

already kind of moving to the pen and has poor command. So I don't know that I have moving to the pen and has poor command. So I don't know that I have my finger on a name here unless Emerson Hancock? If they're willing to trade a prospect that's not far away from the big leagues, I think that opens up a few interesting possibilities. I think they've become in their system with the promotions and graduations they've had,

they've become a little more position player heavy as I think Welsh and I were talking about yesterday. I forget if that was on air or before we started recording. So maybe they're reluctant to deal some of their depth right now, but that would be something that would actually move the needle for other clubs, given the constant need for more pitching up and down the league. I think the Rays, because they could be pretty active, as they often are. They're always a group where I'm looking at the position players who can't break through. Jonathan Aranda.

You look at Jonathan Aranda and Vidal Brujan, and you say, okay, how long are they going to wait on those guys? And then they've got someone like Curtis Meade, who I know has dealt with a wrist injury this year. They can't keep all of those guys. So maybe one of those guys is on the move and with an opportunity to play every day they become players that if you stash them in the weekend leading into the deadline you could get a pretty significant payoff coming out of it

yeah i'm trying to also uh find the willie adamas the guy that they just don't have room for anymore. Hmm. Also, entering more expensive Arb years. So like other teams think of like free agency as a big marker, but I think that the Rays think of arbitration as a big marker too. Well, it's a sweet spot in terms of a player's value because the teams trading for those players are still excited. They still have a cost-controlled player who's likely more valuable than what

you have to pay them. And for the raise, it's kind of like, well, we're saving money and we're getting extra value back in the trades because we're getting guys who haven't even reached arbitration yet in a lot of those trades. So they see it as kind of a,

a perfect like, Hey, we've got lots of willing buyers in these players because we're not holding them until the very last year before free agency right and the name that sort of pops for me is randy or as arena uh i'm not saying that they're going to trade them i'm just saying that did you think that they were going to trade willie damas before they traded willie damas you know what i mean yeah i wondered if wander was just going to play third base with willie playing short or if willie would move yeah i never like i was surprised by that and i think you know randy next year is an arb 2 he's coming

off of 4 million so i think by next year he's maybe going to double that 8 million then he's going to be arb 3 he's going to be like maybe he's like you're talking about 12 15 million by that year right so that's you know he's becoming more expensive and he also has like he would never have more you know uh more trade value than you know the next couple years but i just also struggle to see that a team you know near the top of the league in wins would would trade randy rosarino so i don't think it's really obvious the other guys that are going to become more expensive are just more fungible like harold ramirez i don't you know i don't think that he has they have much uh trade value there uh jason adam they need you know like so there's too much uh just needing the

guys they have asap parades is still pre-arbitration next year so like this that's too early to trade somebody like him so i don't uh i don't see it i you know i've i've heard some stuff about josh lowe but i don't see it either he's pre-arb like they're gonna they love this pre-arb guys they keep those guys for sure so i don't know uh exactly what's gonna happen maybe yeah if they don't see a place for Aranda, then they just use Aranda. Is Aranda for Lance Lynn too much? Probably. I think there's an option on Lance Lynn. You could make that trade fair. If it's not, even up

might not be fair, but you can balance that out. Lance Lynn with Joe Kelly, who has an option for next year, or with Reynaldo Lopez? No, you're talking. One reliever's that's the way to do it I mean we already have Lance Lynn to the Rays as a rumor today so I don't think that really hurts anybody in the Rays rotation because they were kind of feeling it out in the backs back two spots anyway yeah I think you could look at that as a pretty smart trade for the White Sox second base not really a position most teams build around long term anyway they don't have anyone who's

clearly the second baseman of the future aranda could just play a ton there and if they're not doing the full teardown especially they get the guy that plugs in right away and makes their projection for next year a little bit better in the process i like that as a possible fit might be a fun ronda might be a fun pickup in certain leagues as just a possibility he plays more right after the deadline full time for somebody yeah he's pretty high on my list of players to speculate on for keeper and dynasty purposes if he's still even available i think more shallow leagues and leagues where you're going to find him on the wire at this point let's go over to the national league where, you know, working from the bottom, let's start in Colorado.

That's the true bottom is in Colorado. 40-61 entering play here on Wednesday. Of the Rockies, I know they'll get a few in your piece and get Blackman and Gritchick both on the move. Possibly other CJ Krohn, I think, could also go somewhere. could also go somewhere. They actually have a handful of guys that, with more stable playing time, could inch their way into some more shallow fantasy league relevance, right? I mean, knowing Nolan Jones won't get jerked around with playing time, having a more stable floor for Brenton Doyle, that's a good thing for our purposes.

I don't know if there's anyone who would net a massive windfall of playing time other than maybe Michael Tolia. If you see two to three Rockies position players on the move, he's probably that guy that gets the biggest lift in playing time. I'd like to throw Brenton Doyle out as a guy. I just

put Gritchick on the Yankees and I put Blackman on the Braves. I think those two guys are super easy to trade. Expiring deals, righty, lefty outfielders that could fill a fourth outfield, sort of DH-ish, roll off the bench. And if those guys go, and Profar is an expiring deal too. So honestly, there are three

outfielders there that could leave town Brian is hurt I mean that outfield right now is just an open land of opportunity Tolia might play there some he has played there some and Nolan Jones obviously is playing his way I think into regular there. But Brenton Doyle is somebody that doesn't project all that well, especially if you're looking too hard at WRC+. His high watermark for WRC+, projection, is 80. But that has something to do with the adjustment to the Rocky Stadium and to Coors Field and what WRC Plus is doing. If you just look at raw, what he would do for you projection-wise,

the bats has 249 batting average with five homers and five steals, 150 plate appearances. That might be low if he's playing every day, and I think they might just hand him the center fielder glove and say you've got the rest of the season to to play your way into a future um i don't know what his future is as a 25 year old with a 35 strikeout rate uh but in the very short term present if you need some steals with a little modicum of power and especially are in a league where maybe you can change your lineup monday through friday and friday through

sunday or it's a daily lineup and you can take advantage of someone who plays in cores like Brenton Doyle, man. Think about it. Yeah. I like the tools. I mean, I think you see it when you look at the scouting grades and for a guy that

played his college ball in D two, I think I'm willing to give him a little extra time and the Rockies can afford to do that just to see if, if seeing more advanced competition over a longer window actually helps him whittle away at that carry. The questions have been about the hit tool, but should be an above average defender and center runs really well, has that raw power. A player like that in Colorado without someone pushing him for plate appearances is very interesting. Totally has been playing a little bit more anyway because CJ Krohn is dealing with a back injury

right now. But if we assume that Krohn gets moved, the numbers we saw at AAA this year from Tolia were pretty good. It's basically a low 30s home run pace. He could steal a handful of bases. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe not be a total liability in batting average. The park certainly helps in that regard. So I think he's one of those guys that I might start to pick up this weekend

in deeper leagues, like 15 teams and deeper, because I think there could be a little bit of a stabilization of his playing time. As far as the bullpen goes, I think Al and I talked about it on Friday. I don't fish in that pond. I don't look for closers in Colorado. I mean, aside from being a last place team, the blowups that happen at Coors can just be so bad for the ratios. They could move Justin Lawrence.

They could move anybody out of that bullpen. There could be interest in a handful of their relievers, but I don't really see anybody that I like enough to want to go ahead and change my usual approach to their bullpen. Yeah, I'm not down. Are you looking at the padres as clear sellers nope they're kind of just they're so pot committed based on the moves they've been making they're stuck the word for them is stuck so i see them as buying small something small yeah but buying

small makes a lot of sense here i mean if they if they want to upgrade at DH, they could do that. That would be a good idea. Shouldn't be hard to upgrade at DH. That's the type of player profile that costs you almost nothing. You don't have to give up top-end talent to upgrade there. Yeah, I don't know where that is obvious, but they've been running through left-handed DH types, and they haven't found you know they haven't found

their guy um and you know you know on jim bound's piece for you know dhs it says joey manessis but he's under team control for a long time he's old and he the power's gone and Andrew McCutcheon, who's right-handed. Shohei Otani. And then Brent Rooker, who I could see the A's trading, but he also has a lot of team control left. And then if you look in the corner outfield bin

for possible D.H.'s, lefty D.H.'s, I just don't see the the the mix seth brown 196 with you know with team control left like i don't know it's not super obvious to me what they're going to do preston tucker is back on the big league roster he's on the il do you notice that the padres have preston tucker he hasn't played in the big league since 2018. He was playing really well at AAA to begin this season. 52 games there.

30 years old. A little old, but. Went to Korea. And I think he had an opt-out coming up in his deal. So they added him to the roster and put him on the IL with a foot injury. But. Stranger things have happened. I call fishy business yeah interesting timing there but uh plantar fasciitis they say so that's the that's the

report that's what we're going with uh so the the only good thing is that probably uh the player like is is is in on it you're getting a major league salary. You're going to 650K, right? Yeah, and he had a 150 WRC plus in the liners. So maybe it's possible that he actually has an injury. It's more if they don't get someone to replace Matt Carpenter. Preston Tucker might be that guy once he's healthy again. And guess what the corresponding move will be? It'll be an injury to Matt Carpenter. It'll be an injury to Matt Carpenter.

It'll be an injury to Matt Carpenter or the DFA. It could be. It could be the DFA. Or the dreaded DFA. That's true. But I brought the Padres up because some people think Blake Snell's on the move. I think if they're just going to keep playing it out, they want to keep him because he's pitching so well.

And with that, you don't have that glaring hole in the rotation that a Jackson Wolf type has to come up and fill. So I think that's not really a spot where you're going to find a lot of change. Pirates, working from the bottom of the NL Central, anybody that you could see post-deadline getting a big boost in playing time. I wondered if David Bednar would be on the move. And I think when it was discussed last week, moretta versus holderman was the debate and looking more at the usage it looks like holderman might be the first guy up yep he's got the holds uh it's got good stuff plus they're using them that way i think dory moretta you know is exciting and fun and it's lovely to talk about his uh weird change up uh i'm gonna call it a change up. I know he calls it a slider, but if you

call it a change up, it's much more conventional. And so I just look at the usage. I mean, the one thing that's been super important in all the research I've seen, Derek Hardy, you know, has written 25 pieces on

this. And the one thing that he found that was most predictive when it comes to changing closer rolls was usage who was used in the eighth and so that's why i have holds as you know one of the number one things that i look at you know when i'm looking at closers i do like to look at stuff and velo and strikeout right those we found a little whiff of predictive quality there but it still really matters who's being used. And Halderman's being used in the eighth. He's the eighth inning guy.

He's going to be the ninth inning guy, Ben Argos. I think the bullpen is the most interesting area for the Pirates. If they were to move a starter, and they could move Rich Hill potentially to some other team looking for innings. I don't think the long control guys like Oviedo, I don't think he's going anywhere. Keller is possible, but unlikely. There's not somebody at the ready right now that I would necessarily stash immediately. But I think we talked about him earlier in the year. Jared Jones is a really interesting prospect that they have now up at AAA. He's not getting quite the same results in his first six appearances there that he was getting a double a but if they open up a spot in the rotation i think there's at least a possibility that jared jones gets a look in pittsburgh before the season is over yeah i mean they're giving quinn priester a look and uh it's

not going that well uh and uh i think that the the stuff that we said on Project Prospect and generally was that there's some fastball-shaped concerns, and honestly, he's not even locating it that well. So there's still some potential for Quinn Priester. Stuff Plus says his sinker is above average, so maybe he just needs to be a sinker-slider guy that figures his way through lefties. But right now, the strikeout rate's not good, the whiff rate's not good, the walk rate's not good.

Stuff Plus doesn't tell you that this is all going to get better. that this is all going to get better. And I think that Quinn Priester is a guy who's just going to have to take three or four tries at the big leagues before maybe he gets it going. And Jared Jones is a little bit more conventional, I guess, in terms of he's a big fastball slider guy. And it's V's velo he throws 100 he throws like a 91 mile an hour slider so uh he may hit the ground running more and he may get

a shot soon because how long are they going to try quinn priester rich hill could be traded i don't think that i don't know how much desire there is for Rich Hill around the league. But even with Rich Hill right now, it's Oviedo, Hill, Priester, and Keller. And, you know, Beto and Bull Ricky. So they're already kind of looking for a fifth starter right now in the last 14 days. And so I could see JR Jones getting a try this year. You really start to dream on the potential of this group, right? Because they had Paul Skeens, 1-1 in the draft. Skeens should be pretty quick to the big leagues.

Jones isn't that far away. Anthony Sola-Meadow is not that far away. He's at double-A right now, 20-year-old lefty. He could be really good. So you take those three guys. That's why I think Keller doesn't go because you've still got a couple years of Keller. Right. You've got Keller for a few more seasons.

And then if one of Oviado, Beto or Priester is consistent, then there's your, there's your five right there. And that's a pretty, I'll throw Ortiz in that mix where, you know, I don't,

I don't, I don't, you know, I know that stuff plus favors Ortiz and people see me as, as linked to Ortiz. That's fine. I do like Ortiz, but I also scratching my head at why he doesn't get better results. And I would just put it as like Oviado,

Beto, Priester, and Ortiz. You just want one of those guys to be a credible major league starter, and then you're starting to build a real rotation. If you get two, then you're really happy, I think. Yeah, I'm surprised Ortiz isn't getting better results at triple a especially now that he's back down at that level i think he's made three turns in july and he's given up something like 14 earned runs and it's been like nine and two-thirds innings so a rough go for him but he could also somehow less than the sum of his parts i think it's probably command i also think though like he could be an excuse to wait a little longer on jared jones that could bring ortiz back up and try and work with him at the big league level I also think, though, he could be an excuse to wait a little longer on Jared Jones. They could bring Ortiz back up and try and work with him at the big league level again if they wanted to and give Jones more development time at AAA.

It wouldn't be that surprising if they chose to go down that path. The Cardinals, you mentioned earlier, Tyler O'Neal probably not getting traded. At least that's the current reporting on the situation. I still think there's a possibility he goes because outfield's been kind of crowded. It just seemed like they had a bit of a falling out between manager and player earlier this year. It could be posturing.

Basically, he's saying, I don't want to sell low. Yeah, we'll see if it ends up being just that. Who do you look at as more likely to be flipped by the cardinals and within the organization is there anyone you've been eyeing up to possibly capitalize on that time well i did send jordan montgomery away um i forget what team i gave him to but um i actually i think my original analysis was that montgomery is the guy that I would put a QO on. And so I'm going to keep Montgomery, put a QO on him, and hope the QO scares away free agent competition. And I go into next year with Michaelis, Montgomery on a one-year deal, Matz with a couple years left, and Libertor is the sixth.

And I know that I have to go and sign a couple starters that's that's I think what I would do is I was the Cardinals because I Montgomery's a solid enough guy that I want him around and Flaherty is the guy that I would be really I personally would not put a cue all on flarity i think the case is the easier guy to trade yeah the case for not putting the qo on flarity is that you've had him and you've had a hard time you know with injuries but also a hard time with him like you haven't been able to make it work with him. He's argued with you. Right. You have not agreed on the course of rehab. You've yelled at each other.

Right. And the results aren't that amazing that you need to put a cue on him. And the command has just really, really fallen apart since he's been hurt. Yeah. I mean, you look at the walk rates, double-digit walk rates now going back to last season. Swinging strike rates are lower than they were when he broke into the league. He's just not that same guy, so I don't think you want to keep running it back

with Jack Flaherty. So I think he could go. Is there any other depth starter that hasn't really had a lot of opportunities for St. Louis that, with an opportunity, would actually be interesting, maybe as a possible streamer down the stretch? I mean, Dakota Hudson's healthy again. I'm not really that excited about him. Don't do that to me.

Dakota Hudson? I'm sure I'll do it somewhere at some point because I'm in a couple leagues. I'm just desperate for innings and whatever. I'm not going to uh recommend him uh i do think he's the guy that steps in though yeah i don't think we'd see tink hens this year because of the way right is an interesting streamer sometimes don't do that to me with dakota hudson but let me make a case for Adam Wainwright. How are you dodging raindrops and streaming a guy with a 731 ERA and a 192 whip? How are you pulling that off?

Because he's still, the curveball's still there. So, I mean, I wouldn't have used him at Arizona. That start was fine. He didn't get a win, but it was five innings, two earned. I would have used him at Miami. He got smoked there. Wouldn't have used him against Houston, got hit there. Wouldn't have used him against Houston. Got hit there.

Would have used him against the Cubs at home. Got hit by them. Might have used him against the Mets. That start was okay. Got a win. Went deep. I don't know, man. I don't see it.

Sorry. I just don't see it. He's 86 with the fastball. I was hoping that in that Arizona game his velo was up and it was .1 did they trade him? he throws the sinker more than the foreseam and his sinker

87.7 close to a season high that's still 87.7 no I don't think they trade him I don't think anyone wants him if you wanted Rich Hill you might want Adam wainwright so if you missed on rich hill maybe you would make still throws harder yeah that's true it does uh does make a bit of a difference here in this case uh cubs a team that seemed to be caught in the middle we've talked about them

as probably a seller the assumption is that cody bellinger is one of the better outfielders available at the deadline. So they might be really wise to move him. And we were shuffling through their organizational depth chart before the show. I think Nelson Velasquez is the guy at AAA that maybe would get a roster spot and get to play a lot more. There's always been swing and miss. But if you're just playing out the string for the final two months, you at least want to see what a guy who's 24 can do with an extended run of regular playing time,

especially when the player is able to make as good of hard contact as Velasquez can. Max EVs of 111, barrels of 14% career barrel rate, 43% career hard hit, has good slugging numbers. numbers i know he strikes out too much and he's a right-hander and you know people project him into the short side of a platoon but um yeah i'd uh i'd give him a shot at 24 there's still still a chance that um you know he takes a step forward and you know you give him that maybe you give him just the rest of the season you say yeah you got two months man like you see what you can do with it the other

position i think that is somewhat up for grabs is third base uh partially because patrick wisdom kind of needs a platoon buddy but also because you know patrick wisdom is 31 years old, and though he has been slightly above average by WRC+, it is the type of package that kind of gets old quick, where it's three true outcomes, it's poor platoon, it's poor defense. It's like one of those things where it's like, you look at the player and you're like, oh yeah, that has some value, but then you're like, but I have to caddy him. You know, I have to it's it's it's not one player that I can stick in a spot and be like, OK, he's our third baseman. And, yeah, he's going to hit 200, but he's going to hit a bunch of homers and play good defense.

And we can just have him be our third baseman. No, it's more like he can be our third baseman against left handers. third baseman against left handers. In which case you're kind of as an organization, I think, looking for a more full time solution at third base. Not too many teams around the league platoon third base. I mean, yes, you have the Giants and some other teams, but I could see just plugging Christopher Morrell in there if you're not plugging him in at center all the time and just seeing like maybe, you know, maybe maybe morale is our third baseman and then uh

madrigal is our utility guy but uh there's some opportunity at third base and center field post deadline i think yeah a lot of opportunity potentially in the rotation marcus stroman could be among the best starters moved the cubs do fully commit to selling and drew smiley i guess could be on the move as well i think think we talked about Ben Brown earlier in the season and once again more recently. He has not pitched as well at AAA as he did at AA, so a chance is possible but not necessarily guaranteed. I would imagine we'd see some more Hayden Wesneski.

Hayden. If one starter went, it seems like he'd be the next guy back up looking at his numbers at AAA. 28-8 strikeout to walk in his five starts there. 135 ERA, even one whip, right? He would be the guy that, if you're looking for a pitcher to stash going into the weekend, Hayden Wesneski makes sense because there's more than one Cubs starter that could open up a spot by being flipped. Yeah, and the thing that I like about him is just that he's got pieces.

And yes, he's got some flaws in that, like neither of his fastballs, cracks 100, WRC plus, but he's got a real great sweeper. And there's so many pitchers who've made one great pitch work, even like a guy like Michael Waka. It's the one great change up and figuring things out around it. And I think that it's easier if you're Bobby Miller and you come to the big leagues and you have five pitches that are above average by stuff plus, and you just got to sort of put them in the right order and you're, and you're set. It's harder to become a major league starting

pitcher when you have this one elite pitch and you've got these other sort of average pitches and you have to put them around them. But I think he can do it. I think there's still a lot there to work with. I think if you're in an auto new league, like a 12 team league or anything deeper and Wes Neskey is out there pitching so hard to come by, you want to go ahead and take that flyer as soon as you can, because the payoff might be a very nice one. I also think Matt Mervis would get another look at some point before the end of the season. Depending on what happens on this depth chart. I know they played Bellinger at first base a lot recently.

So the Bellinger trade could open a spot for Mervis. They could shuffle guys around. Because you mentioned Burrell being so versatile defensively. Maybe he's part of the outfield rotation more often. And they're playing someone else like Madrigal at third base. So I could see Matt Mervis getting another run with the Cubs. His season at Iowa has been fine. He's been there for 50 games, 290, 423, 528.

There's really nothing left for him to prove against AAA pitching at this point. So he's another guy that I'd keep an eye on here because I think there's a very good chance they want to give him an audition for 2024 over the final 50 games or so one team that looks like a clear seller in the nl east it's the washington nationals jamer candelario almost certainly goes somewhere else could be the best third baseman moved at the deadline that makes a lot of sense unfortunately for the nation, unless the replacement comes back as part of the trade, you're looking at Carter Keboom and Jake Alou as the most likely players to step into that void. And neither has acquitted themselves this year at AAA.

No, and they're a little old, so you're not really that excited about what they're going to bring to the table, even though playing time helps in really deep leagues. DeMotto Vargas is 32 years old, you know. I don't think he's part of the future. Nope. I don't think so either. And I used the word kid there liberally. I did notice something that was strange. If you are a team looking for a defensive center fielder,

and there are some contenders that could use that, the problem is generally defensive center fielders and shortstops are young. And so I was looking for centerfield options there's cody bellinger and then there's almost nobody else everybody else is on a contender um and then i looked at expiring deals next year nothing there expiring deals in 2026 uh there was one name that was eligible and um that was victor robles now don't do this to me know that teams value defense first center fielders that have iffy defense defensive first center fielders that have iffy defense. Are you hearing yourself? I don't.

I mean, am I characterizing it wrong? I don't know. I just wanted to mention that buying a center fielder is real tough. I think Lane Thomas is probably really the center fielder there, and that's the reason I don't think Lane Thomas is going anywhere. Corey Dickerson can go somewhere that gives more time for Alex Call. Maybe another shot for Stone Garrett. But Stone Garrett is himself 27 years old.

I don't know. I think Stone Garrett could play more post-deadline. Dickerson, DFA or trade or I don't know. Maybe he gets DFA'd and then just signs on with a contender. But there might be some opportunity at outfield for Alex Call and Stone Garrett post-deadline. I'm seething at the Vic Robles mention. He did lower his K rate and increase his walk rate before a lengthy injury. And he's not playing at all.

Not playing at all. He's hurt. I don't think so, man. I don't think it's going to happen. The recurring, like this is the hit now. If Hunter Harvey's available in your league, if he's healthy, again, once he's healthy, I think he's the guy that closes if they move Kyle Finnegan, but Harvey's hurt again. It's an arm injury.

Nothing guaranteed. I don't know if you necessarily want to stash him right now. I think you want to watch list him and just be ready if we get some good news if he's getting close to a return here in the near future. It was a right elbow strain that put him on the IL just over 10 days ago. The luster is fading

a little bit there as well. Anybody else up and down the NL that you think could be a big winner? I mean, the Mets, they're probably a seller. You put Tommy Pham and Mark Canna on new teams. So for me, Mark Vientos is kind of an interesting stash right now because I think the Mets could move some guys around. Daniel Vogelbeck might be gone at the deadline too. Vientos should play a lot more in the final two months to see what he brings

to the table and to get a sense of whether he can cut down on some of that swing and miss. Yeah, I think that would be the idea in New York is try to aid Pham and Ken Ha. Ken Ha has an option, I think, but just his place in this roster and what this team needs seems like an injection of youth somewhere.

So, yeah, I don't think Starling Marte is going to move because I think he might already be a millstone. But so then you're penciling in your roster. because I think he might already be a millstone. So then you're penciling in your roster. You're like, well, Nemo and Marte are here for a while. Lindor and McNeil are here for a while. Beatty seems he's going to be here for a while. I bet they sign Alonso to a long-term deal. So Vientos and left field seems like an opportunity there.

Vientos in left field seems like an opportunity there. They also seem like a team that could trade a lot of their relievers away. Yeah, White Sox-esque. They could clear out three or four relievers pretty easily. Yeah, Robertson, Adovino, expiring deals could be useful to other teams. Brooks Raley has an option that might make him more appealing because they get another year on him. And I think Drew Smith, he has one more year left,

but he's my guy because he's got holds, he's got stuff. I think they'll keep him around. I actually think they'll keep Smith and Raley and there might be a little bit of a platoon reliever option there the one nice thing is as bad as these Mets are at least they are uh like a 500-ish team and so they are going to get some uh saves opportunities I did want to mention in Washington

that like I think uh Kyle Finnegan could easily go I did talk to an executive that was interested in Kyle Finnegan um and with Hunter Harvey hurt, I do think there's an opportunity there. Maybe Mason Thompson is the guy. That's the sort of combination and stuff and holds. But, you know, I would prefer Drew Smith over Mason Thompson because that would be a righty on a better team that would ostensibly get more save chances yeah it's just so weird looking up and down this Mets team and Verlander and Scherzer they still have years remaining it's lots of money so that really narrows down the number of teams

that would want to trade them there are no trade implications in those cases as well so that gets really complicated and even if I kind of think they don't trade Verlander and Scherzer because I think they just want to re-rack and be good next year. At least they don't want to be bad next year. And if you start trading those guys away, you're going to be bad next year because that depth didn't come through. I thought their pitching depth was in a much better place going into this season.

It just didn't work, and I'm stunned. I don't think Carlos Carrasco brings back much. I don't think he opens the door for an interesting starter. The only guy that I've started to become interested in in the upper levels of that Mets system from a pitching perspective is Mike Vassell. He's at AAA now. The results haven't been nearly as good there as they were at AA earlier this season, but pretty good swing and miss numbers. 17.1% swing strike rate at double a pre promotion k rate just a shade under 30 percent and the walk rate was really low as well that has not

been the case so far for him at triple a so maybe a guy that gets up if they move a couple starters but no guarantees they're not someone i'm stashing right now more of a keeper dynasty league speculative dart at this point by the model he's got a an out pitch in the curve ball uh a cur and then a cutter and four seam combination that he can command pretty well um so i don't think that leaves off the page to me as um you know potential number one or number two but um i do think there's enough there to be a usable starter in the big leagues. Anything else in the NL? We got to the Mets. We got pretty much everything there. The Marlins still, to me, look more like buyers. I don't know if there's going to be anything as far as a promotion. We know Uri Perez is probably coming back at some point

anyway. It's not really about trading a starter away to make room. It's more about time and just making sure his workload doesn't get completely used up before they hit the end of the regular season. In either situation, you're monitoring on that side? No. I do think that some of the intrigue is the Reds and Brewwers like how much they buy um and uh

you know and then on the flip side the padres and mets how much they sell um because those are teams that are locked into certain philosophies it seems like um and uh how much will they sort of go counter those philosophies would the padres or mets decide to blow it up decide being despite being win now and would the brewers and mets decide to buy despite you know being cautious buyers in the past so i i don't know how to um appraiseise those depth charts necessarily all the way. How about this? We leave with a trivia question.

Name the four Brewers hitters that have been used in the cleanup spot going back over the past calendar week. I know one. We named one yesterday. You got one freebie. Sal Freelick. Sal Freelick is one. He's done it twice. It's one yesterday. You got one freebie. Sal Freelick. Sal Freelick is one. He's done it twice.

It's never Christian. No. He leads off. He leads off. But he kind of looks back in some ways. Not all the way back, but more back than he was at the beginning of the season. Yeah, he's doing alright. So Sal Freelick and then

Brian Anderson's been hurt. He's been hurt. Rowdy's hurt. Rowdy's hurt. That's part of the problem. Willie hits close to the top. Willie hits third. And I'll give you another one.

William Contreras hits second. Did Willie hit fourth once? No. No, it's not a trick question. Yellich, Contreras, and Adames are one, two, three every single day. It's also who is the fourth best hitter on the Brewers right now. Yeah. Yes.

That is the exercise right now. And it's rough. It's been, you know, part of, in my defense, it's been in flux. They're definitely changing things around. Four in a week. Four cleanup hitters in a week for a first place team playing against high quality teams. I don't even know who's playing first base for them right now. Okay.

Yeah. Well, Wisconsin native Owen Miller is getting some run at first base. He's had a fourth place. He's had a fourth spot. He's been in there a little bit. Jesse Winker has still been in there a little bit. He's not on the IL. And Andrew Monasterio. Wait, Jesse Winker's going on the IL yeah oh god he's hurt again he's back jesse winker was up in

a situation i think it was on monday night he um he came through it was a ninth inning single that kept the game going he i i thought if he got out in that situation, he was getting DFA'd the next day. I think he's kind of played his way into the roster spot is legitimately in danger going into the trade deadline. Now he's on the IL, so they've got a little more time to see how things play out. Joey Weimer's got to be the other one. No, no. Andrew Monasterio is the other one. Andrew Monasterio. Yep.

Yeah. Joey Weimer hit fifth once, though, recently. So you're not that far off. You can't tell me that this team is going to sit there and not make some upgrades. They can't possibly just cruise the deadline and say yeah we're good. We don't have to add any bats. They have to add multiple bats. They can add a bat anywhere. Anywhere. Anywhere. Any position. have to add multiple bats they can add a bat anywhere anywhere anywhere any position you know

the my method for my piece was uh teams that are currently projected um in the top 10 and wins and the brewers aren't in it so i didn't give them uh i didn't give them i didn't give them a player. Well. But if I gave them a player, you know, Tyler O'Neal, that'd be pretty interesting. And what do the Brewers have? They have pitching. They have some pitching. They have pitching in the division, though. I think the Brewers player that I've been trying to stash

is actually Robert Gosser. Because they could either use him outright. He's pitching really well. Or they could trade him. So I think we're going to see him in some form before the end of the season. He's pitched really well at AAA. The last 10 starts, get the walk rate down.

He's over a strikeout per inning. He looks like a near-finish product at this point. And when you're... Colin Ray has been surprisingly effective chewing up innings. Julio Teran. How long can you continue to rely on those guys? That's the other part of it, too.

But the core group of position players, because of injuries, some attrition, you could probably look at this team and say, Luis Urias is going to come back and he's going to be healthy. He'll be fine. He'll be at least like a number six hitter. Okay, I'll buy that. Brian Anderson, passable. Sure.

It's a lot of passable. Roddy Tellez wasn't good before he went on the IL. So there's a question there. They have to upgrade this group. Then he had the most gruesome injury. The Rowdy injury? Yeah. He was just about to come off the IL

and then he stuck his hand in the IV and ripped a nail out of its bed. Oh, I didn't actually see that. Heard about it. That's why he went back. Yikes. On the aisle. Jaime Candelario or Teoscar Hernandez?

Or both, I mean. Maybe both. I mean, they could use Teoscar being a righty for that mix. Probably makes some sense. I think I'd rather have Jaime Candelario. But they have to do something. All right, I'll wrap it up. That's enough Brewers talk. mix probably makes some sense. I think I'd rather have Jamer Candelario. But they have to do something. Alright, I'll wrap it up. That's enough Brewers talk. Long episode,

lots of speculation, hopefully a few targets in there worth stashing, especially in some first-come, first-served leagues or in those auto-new or deeper formats where you can make some moves, and hopefully a few more coming up this weekend. Lots to get to on the Friday show. Eno will be with me on that one. You can get a subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month for the first year at TheAthletic.com slash rates and barrels.

You can see the latest trade piece that Eno wrote, all the coverage we have going into the deadline. Plus, we've got Women's World Cup, fantasy football starting up soon. So lots of good stuff. Just $2 a month for the first year on Twitter or X or whatever it's called now. That stupid social media site that we're all still hanging on to. I'm at Derek Van Ryper. He's at Inoceros. We'll probably be on some other sites soon.

But once we do that, we'll be sure to pass on the handles accordingly. That's going to do it for this episode of Rates and Barrels. We're back with you on Friday. Thanks for listening. Thank you.