Trade Deadline Sellers

Every sport has its winners and its losers but what makes the difference between the two?  The talent on the team of course, well that may not always be the case but it helps the have the better team and the better talent.  The Tampa Bay Rays have been in the playoffs almost every year for the last 4 years despite having a much smaller budget than their division rivals New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.  They are one of the smartest ran organizations in all of baseball and one of the best in all of sports.  They do this with 3 critical tools; good scouting, smart drafts, and getting the best value for players that are traded and the best time to trade is the deadline.  That’s our topic for today; I’m going to take a look at possible sellers and buys.  I’ll be looking at the players that may or may not hit the market by the deadline.

Now when I say may or may not I do need to explain first that this is my best estimation and in no way does this mean the players will be traded or are even on the market.  The criteria I’m looking at are where the team is right now in the rankings and what kind of pieces they have to sell.  Financial situations also play a major part in seeing who will be traded.  Back in 2007 Johan Santana was traded at the deadline to the New York Mets; at the time Johan was considered not only the best player on the market but the best pitcher in baseball.  The Twins, Johan’s team at the time, traded him only because they had no choice since they couldn’t afford the money to sign him and they wanted to get value from him leaving.  Now with that out of the way here we go.

Sellers:

1)                   Tampa Bay Rays- The team is not really off to the best of starts but it may turn around at some point, and I hope the do since I like the Rays.  But with money on the tighter side they have to look at the possibility of trading players to get some future talent that they can A) afford and B) sign to long-term deals that are cheap (Evan Longoria as an example).

·      David Price- Sadly this one is going to happen at some point.  If not this year than next year, he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball and that’s why the Rays can’t afford to sign him.  Really this is just a money issue and it will hurt them for a time.

·      Jeremy Hellickson- This one is a shot in the dark since I’ve been hearing his name come up this year in trade talks quite a bit.  This isn’t a money issue since Hellickson is still young and relatively cheap but since teams out there, like the Angels and Dodgers, have need for starting pitching this could be a trade.  Look to see this happen if the Ray falls out of contention.

·      Fernando Rodney or Kyle Farnsworth.

·      James Loney

·      Luke Scott

2)                   Houston Astros- No surprise here that they would be sellers.  The idea of rebuilding is to build a team around a player and slowly build strength, if you’re not in the plans for the projected time your trade bait and that’s what the Astros will look to do.

·      Bud Norris- Probably the most likely to get traded as he has the best value of the people I’m going to list.  Bud is a good #3 guy on most teams and with pitching at a premium he can bring in some good value.  Norris is still relatively young and a good money value.  He hits free agency for the first time in 2014 so he has 1 more year of team control adding value.

·      Lucas Harrell- Here’s a guy that I actually wise we could keep.  Like Norris though he will be to old to make an impact when the Astros become contenders again.  Harrell’s a solid #3 guy on other teams and with a good team behind him will surprise people how talented he is.  Harrell’s under team control till 2018 so he comes with the bonus of long-term control and being 27 he’s in his prime.

·      Eric Bedard

·      Carlos Pena

·      Brett Wallace- The experiment is over, trade him and hope he can rebuild himself.

3)                   Miami Marlins

·      Giancarlo Stanton- I’m honestly not sure what to think about this guy when it comes to trade market.  He’s on a bad team and it’s hurting his value but at the same time the team wants to keep him, so they say.  Personally I’m almost 100% sure that Stanton’s traded this year or the next.  The first year of arbitration is coming up and he’s under team control until 2018.

·      Logan Morrison- I think the team wants to get rid of this guy just because he’s been somewhat of a distraction.  He has talent and value so there’s that.  This years Morrison’s first arbitration year and he’s under team control until 2017.

·      Steve Ciscek- Pitching is valuable and teams want it, pure and simple.

·      Juan Pierre- Older guy that can do a lot of good on another team.

4)                   Philadelphia Phillies

·      Chase Utley- Really the only player of value on the team that actually has a chance to get traded.  Solid defender that has lost a step.  Power 2^nd baseman that could be a .290/15/80 guy on the right team.  Utley is expensive as most vets are and he’s up for free agency next year so he has value for this deadline more then next one.

·      Cliff Lee- I don’t think he will be but it would make sense.  If it happens its going to be for a boat load of prospects and that’s the only way I see him, or Utley for that matter, going anywhere.

5)                   Chicago Cubs-

·      Scott Feldman- Not a young guy but having a good year and could have some value.  He’s only signed through the year so he won’t bring as much in return as others but since this is a rebuilding team they just need young pieces.

·      Alfonso Soriano- every year they try and every year they fail.  Bad contract and declining skills make it a tough sell, also there’s that full no trades clause in his contract so that makes trades difficult.

·      Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg- they’re relief pitchers and not the best kind of ones.  Rebuilding team that doesn’t have need for them so they’ll try and get some low level or high risk high/medium reward guys.

That pretty much sums up the sellers; there could be more as time goes on.  Padres, Rockies, A’s, Pirates, Brewers and Indians are just a few teams that could end up in the mix if things go south for them.  Next time I’ll take a look at the opposite end and look at the buyers, which may be much harder than trying to find the sellers.