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Trade Rumors Front Office Chat

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Atros Fan

2:53

Click supposedly can spend money for a significant addition. If the Astros could get everyone healthy (especially relief pitchers) I think catcher is their weak link. Maldanado hitting .175 and consistently throwing the ball into the outfield will be a major negative in the playoffs. What would the Astros have to give up to get Wilson Contreras from the Cubs? Are there any other catcher upgrades available?

Steve Adams

2:57

Yeah, catcher is a need for them. I'd say center field too, as I'm not a huge Straw guy, but he's been hitting since mid-May, and the 12% walk rate he's sporting during his hot streak is impressive.

Contreras should be available, but probably for a pretty high price. The nice thing for the Astros is that the Cubs might be willing to take lower-level pieces since we don't quite know the extent of their stepback.

Other catchers out there: Jacob Stallings (Pittsburgh), probably Gary Sanchez (though he's not going to make you feel better with his defense).

I could see the Reds moving Tucker Barnhart since Tyler Stephenson is up and hitting quite well.

2:58

Barnhart's making $3.75MM and has a $7.5MM club option that I doubt Cincinnati wants to exercise, so I actually should probably be giving more thought to him as a trade candidate in general. Hmm. Glad you asked this question, ha.

Samuel

2:58

Who do the Mets pick up as rental starters?

Steve Adams

3:00

No real crystal ball here, but the obvious names out there include Michael Pineda, Zach Davies, Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson. Maybe Andrew Heaney if the Angels go that route

Ryan S.

3:00

Cost of Gibson and Gallo for the Cardinal's. I'm not trading Gorman or Liberatore for either one. Neither is worth it. Is there still a package Texas would take? If not, I say play the season out or look elsewhere

Steve Adams

3:03

Generally speaking, "I'm not giving up any of my team's top two prospects" isn't a good way to start building a combo package for two of the more desirable trade commodities on the market, haha. There's probably a volume-based package that makes the Rangers think, even without one of those two, but I would have to imagine the Rangers insisting on one of them (or I guess Dylan Carlson) if they were going to part with Gibson and Gallo in the same deal.

3:04

If you wanted to get more creative, I suppose Texas would probably have interest in Dakota Hudson as a 2022 rotation option, but every team is going to be asking about Gallo and especially Gibson. The price tag is going to be high, and they'll be up against some very strong offers from other teams.

Randall Gilmore

3:05

Reds' fan admission as a disclaimer: I am in the minority position of saying the Reds were not totally irresponsible in the salary dump trade of Iglesias (even with their bullpen implosion) and non-tendering Bradley, as well as in allowing Farmer to be their everyday shortstop. I have watched nearly all of their games this season and had injuries not befallen Lorenzen, Sims and Antone, their bullpen would not be the second-worst in all of baseball. And Semien was the only shortstop they could have signed who would have been a significant upgrade over what Farmer has brought to the position. (They were sometimes linked to re-signing Galvis or going after Andrelton Simmons). The money they saved can now be used, should they survive the next seven games with the Brewers, to address the bullpen or upgrade shortstop for the rest of the season via the trade market. Your rebuttal? (kindly, with civility):)

Steve Adams

3:09

I would counter with the fact that they didn't get any better by trading Iglesias and non-tendering Bradley. They became actively worse, and Krall spoke openly of reallocating those resources but ultimately never did. I think that's pretty rough on fans.

Your points on injuries are certainly valid, but it's also true that they could've kept Iglesias and Bradley, and a healthy trio of Lorenzen/Sims/Antone would then give them one of the best bullpens in baseball. If they need to go out and spend to get a reliever now -- which they should -- it just looks like a failure in process from the very beginning.

At shortstop, there were probably some names on the trade market we don't and won't ever know about. It's a valid point, though, that most of the options onlookers (myself included) were saying the Reds need to target have more or less flopped in 2021.

Simmons has been awful at the plate. Didi has been hurt and has a sub-.300 OBP.

Pete

3:11

If you were Farhan Zaidi, what starting pitcher(s)—given the current standings—do you think would be available in trades at the deadline? And what might you expect the Giants would have to give up for them?

Steve Adams

3:13

Just who might be available, in general? A quick off-the-cuff list (that'll probably miss a few):

Jon Gray, Merrill Kelly, Caleb Smith, Tyler Anderson, JT Brubaker (maybe), Mitch Keller (maybe), Matthew Boyd, Jose Urena, Jose Berrios, Michael Pineda, Andrew Heaney, Kyle Gibson, Jordan Lyles, Mike Foltynewicz, Zach Davies, maybe Kwang Hyun Kim.

Those are just the guys on rebuilding clubs. We'll probably see some teams with deeper pitching move some unexpected names -- more controllable guys -- to bring in some help for other areas of need on the MLB roster.

Shouldn't say "rebuilding" clubs -- meant non-contending.

For the most part

3:15

As for what they'd have to give up, it varies significantly from pitcher to pitcher, so it's hard to give a good answer. From a big-picture standpoint, I'd be focused on pitchers they can control beyond 2021, because they could potentially lose all of Gausman, DeSclafani, Wood, Sanchez and Cueto to free agency this year -- and they're not really teeming with upper-level, immediately ready replacements.

3:16

Alrighty. I've got to wrap this up for the week. Sorry for the questions I still couldn't get to, as always. I'm on Twitter @Adams_Steve if you want to ask that way.

Thanks as always for your support. Our subscribers are awesome and it's very appreciated. Hope everyone has a fun weekend and enjoys the draft and All-Star festivities!

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