Good looks to Ironman for reminding me to make this. Only a couple weeks away so try to keep the trade chatter in here.
The second half hasn't begun yet, but the Atlanta Braves made a trade Wednesday to try to stay atop their NL East perch.
The Braves acquired shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who has 17 home runs at the All-Star break, on Wednesday in a five-player trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Gonzalez
Atlanta sent shortstop Yunel Escobar and left-handed pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes to Toronto and received Gonzalez and two minor leaguers (shortstop Tyler Pastornicky and pitcher Tim Collins).
"This trade improves our club for the second half of the season," Braves general manager Frank Wren said in a statement. "We have been looking at ways to strengthen our club offensively and Alex Gonzalez is a proven veteran player who gives us added power. He is a winner and a solid offensive presence in the lineup as well as a quality defensive shortstop."
The Braves currently hold a four-game lead over the second-place New York Mets. The two-time defending NL champion Philadelphia Phillies are in third place, 4½ games behind Atlanta.
Gonzalez, 33, is batting .259 and had 50 RBIs for the Blue Jays. His 43 extra-base hits at the break were tied for fifth-most in the American League.
In 12 major league seasons, Gonzalez has 131 home runs. He is a career .248 hitter.
The 27-year-old Escobar is a career .291 hitter but is struggling this season with a .238 average. Last season, he hit .299 in 141 games, achieving career bests in home runs (14) and RBIs (76).
Reyes, 25, appeared in just one game for the Braves this season. In 41 career appearances (37 starts) he is 5-15 with a 6.40 ERA.
Pastornicky, 20, has a .258 average, six home runs and 35 RBIs for the Jays' Class-A Dunedin club this season. Collins, also 20, has a 2.51 ERA in 35 appearances for Toronto's Double-A team in New Hampshire.
http://[h3][/h3][h3]Ross could move within NL East[/h3]
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[h5]Cody Ross | Marlins [/h5]
We asked Tuesday whether the Marlins, 10 games out of first place at the All-Star break, will be serious about making deals leading up to the July 31 deadline.
One possible move could take place with a division foe. Our Buster Olney reports via Twitter that the Braves continue to have interest in outfielder Cody Ross.
Marlins president Larry Beinfest told the Sun-Sentinel over the weekend that he was unsure whether the Marlins could make a move that would improve them for 2011 without giving up on the rest of 2010.
The Braves have been sluggish offensively and would like to add an outfield bat with Nate McLouth on the disabled list. While the power numbers for Ross (7 homers) have taken a dip, he would still be a solid fit in Atlanta.
http://[h3]Brewers want pitchers for Hart[/h3]
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[h5]Corey Hart | Brewers
We mentioned last week that http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/mil/milwaukee-brewersMilwaukee Brewers outfielder http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=5973Corey Hart has had a strong season and is drawing trade interest from more than one club. It might actually be an ideal time to deal the slugger, from Milwaukee's standpoint, because it's certainly a sell-high scenario.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reportd via Twitter that the Giants have asked for Jonathan Sanchez or Madison Bumgarner in exchange for Hart, but GM Brian Sabean is not eager to trade either pitcher.
Hart is not a free agent until after 2011, so the price may be steep.
Hart knows he is on the block but told USA Today that he has no desire to move. "It's tough," Hart says. "I've been in Milwaukee, the organization, for 10 years, so I want to stay. I told them that. But I know the rumors are out there. I'm hearing two or three a day. I just try not to think about it."
Brewers GM Doug Melvin said Tuesday that he was not close to any deal.
http://[h3]Sticking with Joba[/h3]
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[h5]Joba Chamberlain | Yankees
The Yankees nearly made a big splash over the weekend, but a deal with the Mariners for Cliff Lee fell apart and the left-hander ended up in Texas. Could the Yankees now be looking for relief help after Joba Chamberlain had another forgettable outing Saturday night?
Yankees manager Joe Girardi insists that he plans to stick with Chamberlain as his set-up man after Joba served up a grand slam to Jose Lopez of the Mariners. Chamberlain has had five outings in which he gave up three or more runs.
For now, Girardi does not have a viable candidate to serve as the bridge to Mariano Rivera. Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News wrote earlier this week that Jonathan Albaladejo has had outstanding season as the closer for Triple-A Scranton, giving the Yankees "something to consider" after the All-Star break.
Maybe the Yankees could consider a deal for Kevin Gregg now that the Blue Jays appear to be in selling mode.
[h5]Buster Olney[/h5]
Will the Yankees deal?
http://[h3]Bautista on the block[/h3]
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[h5]Jose Bautista | Blue Jays
The Blue Jays managed to stay in contention in the AL East for a few months, but reality finally has set in. Our Buster Olney wrote in Tuesday's blog that the Jays could be looking to unload some of their veterans.
The Jays have a number of players with at least some market value, including Jose Bautista, who leads the major leagues with 24 homers and earned a trip to the All-Star Game.
"I'll be a professional and go wherever I end up going and do the same thing I'm doing now," Bautista told USA Today.
Olney says a perfect fit for Bautista would be in the Bronx, where he could provide protection in case of an injury to Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
Bautista's relatively modest salary of $2.4 million this season makes him even more attractive.
http://[h3]The market for relievers[/h3]
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[h5]Trade Market for Relievers
[color=#999999][img]http://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/leagues/lrg/trans/mlb.gif[/img][/color] [/h5]
[h5]Potential trade-available relievers[/h5]
Bobby Jenks, White Sox- Kevin Gregg, Blue Jays
- David Aardsma, Mariners
- Matt Lindstrom, Astros
- Heath Bell, Padres
- Matt Capps, Nationals
- Octavio Dotel, Pirates
- Brandon League, Mariners
- Will Ohman, Orioles
- Chad Qualls, Diamondbacks
- Scott Downs, Blue Jays
- Kerry Wood, Indians
- Aaron Heilman, Diamondbacks
- Jason Frasor, Blue Jays
- Carlos Villanueva, Brewers
- Mike Gonzalez, Orioles
- Kyle Farnsworth, Royals
- Todd Coffey, Brewers
- Leo Nunez, Marlins
Every summer contending clubs seek out help in their bullpen, and every year, it seems, more and more teams are staying in the hunt too long to part with their arms -- until now.
Among clubs that figure to start selling soon are the Astros, Mariners, Indians, Orioles, Royals and, soon, the White Sox, barring a miraculous next week or so.
The Diamondbacks have already started to move pieces, and right-handers Chad Qualls and Aaron Heilman could be next.
The Toronto Blue Jays may be the most intriguing of the group of potential sellers, as they are playing solid baseball and have hinted at being buyers despite being the fourth-best team in their division. Not only might Kevin Gregg become available if the Jays falter over the next month, but Scott Downs could also generate interest.
The Padres are in it today, but if they start to fade quickly, Bell is probably bait. Seattle's Aardsma and the Nationals' Capps could also serve as upgrades in the bullpen of a contending team should Seattle and Washington become convinced they aren't in it.
The question will be: What will these clubs demand in return?
The draft occasionally has a few potential late-season call-up types, but this year may not bare such fruit, according to ESPN Insider's Keith Law, who answered such a question in his chat Friday.
"Not for me," Law said. "Best bet would probably be Kevin Munson at JMU, but he doesn't have [Drew] Storen's ridiculous command."
Scott Boras speaks glowingly about his clients, which is what he should do. It's his job. And if he didn't suggest that Prince Fielder is worth every bit as much or more than Mark Teixeira, as the agent did in an interview with Tom Haudricourt on Monday, he wouldn't be doing his job.
This is what Boras said:
"When you have a player that performs like Mark Teixeira, you have to look at Prince Fielder's performance in comparison. You want to know the value of a player? Take a look at it.
"Prince is a home run hitter. He's 70 home runs ahead of Teixeira at that point [of his career]. Prince has much more power. This is how you [gauge] performance and age and production. You have to ask in the marketplace how many players can do this?"
But there are executives and scouts whose job descriptions are to evaluate players for a possible acquisition, and many of them have a completely different view of Fielder. As in, 180-degree different.
Boras casts Fielder as a 26-year-old who will threaten home run records someday. But he should know that many talent evaluators see Fielder as a player with all kinds of red flags -- such as his size, his defensive play and what they see as his long-term value.
"On a short-term contract, yeah, I'd look at him," one GM said. "Three years. But I'd really worry about whether his body will hold up over the course of anything longer than that."
Another GM said, "His body scares me."
An AL talent evaluator said, "When you start thinking about signing a player to a six- or seven-year deal, you don't want to be thinking about having that guy as a designated hitter over the second half of the contract."
An AL GM said, "I think everybody learned from the Carlos Lee contract [six years, $100 million] where the body is a factor."
Teixeira has not had a good season offensively -- so far, he is hitting a career-low .254 -- but every day, his defensive play helps the Yankees. He is exceptional at digging balls out of the dirt, extending for throws to first base; he makes plays that few first basemen make. The Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Nationals and Orioles aggressively pursued him as a free agent partly with the knowledge that Teixeira would continue to be at least a good first baseman through the duration of his contract.
There is no such thought with Fielder. Quite simply, he is viewed as one of the worst first basemen in the majors, even at his young age. Said one advance scout: "He doesn't get to a lot, and he is one of the worst at digging the ball out. He doesn't help the other infielders."
As we have learned, all it takes is one aggressive bidder to create a monumental contract. Maybe some owner shares Boras' vision of Fielder right now.
But keep in mind that Fielder will be a free agent at the same time as Adrian Gonzalez, a player whose skills and body are viewed as a plus, and Albert Pujols, who has merely been the best player in baseball. None of that will help Fielder's market value.
Fielder's best chance to help realize Boras' place in the market is to undergo an immediate and dramatic physical transformation. He needs to improve his body in the same way that Ryan Howard did. The Phillies first baseman worked like crazy on his conditioning and gave evaluators a reason to think he could remain productive throughout a long-term deal, and he was rewarded with a five-year, $125 million contract.
In Boras' conversations with the Brewers, he has made it clear that he expects to get more for Fielder than the seven years and $169 million owed to Howard at the outset of this season.
But that almost certainly won't happen -- not even close, in fact -- unless Fielder starts to look and move very differently from the outset of spring training in 2011.
[h3]Notables[/h3]
Adam Dunn will be eligible for free agency in the fall, and he won't get anything close to what Teixeira got, either. But because of his continued home run production, he has set himself up well for a nice free-agent payoff this fall -- or maybe this summer, if the Nationals move quickly.
Getty ImagesAdam Dunn may be losing patience with the Nationals.
But Dunn's patience with the Nationals over their talks for a long-term contract is evaporating, increasing the likelihood that he could be the highest-profile slugger moved between now and the July 31 trade deadline. Dunn might be ready to move on because of what he perceives to be a lack of urgency from the team in working out a new deal. He does not feel that the Nats have the same amount of interest as he has in working out a contract.
The Nationals are fast approaching fish-or-cut-bait time with the slugger, who is fast approaching his seventh consecutive season with 38 or more homers. At a time when power is becoming scarcer in the game, his value would appear to be high in the forthcoming free-agent market -- if the Nationals don't move fast.
The Nationals have had conversations with other teams about possible deals involving Dunn, and it figures they will trade him if they don't work out a contract extension in the days ahead. The White Sox are among the interested teams.
• Contractual options could be a significant factor for the Toronto Blue Jays as they assess the trade value of some of their veterans. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez is having a solid season for the Jays doing what he usually does when he's healthy, playing good defense and hitting some homers; Gonzalez's numbers so far are .259 and 17 homers.
Jack Wilson received a two-year, $10 million deal last year.
Similarly, closer Kevin Gregg -- who is healthy again, is having a good season and continues to be a clubhouse leader -- could interest teams in a trade, partly because of his contractual option. At a time when relievers such as Brandon Lyon are getting three-year, $15 million deals, the Jays hold a 2011 option on Gregg for $4.5 million; this becomes part of his trade value.
The Jays will weigh the value of draft-pick compensation that they could get for their veterans as well. Veteran reliever Scott Downs is one of the more attractive relievers in the trade market, in part because he will be a Type A free agent, which means that if the team that keeps him offers him arbitration in the fall and he signs elsewhere, he would be worth two draft picks. Catcher John Buck is a Type B free agent, reliever Jason Frasor is a Type B and Gregg figures to be a Type B.
If any of those players generates offers for second-line, mediocre prospects, the Blue Jays may be more inclined to just keep the players and angle for the draft-pick compensation, in the belief that their access to high-end talent will be improved if they take chances on high-ceiling players in the draft.
The trade market is heating up -- the deadline just over two weeks away -- and we've already looked at the prospects with the highest trade values. But three squads that are enjoying success in the majors -- the Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals -- have very little on the farm to help swing a deal. This is obviously a problem for all three teams, as they're locked in competitive races with the likes of the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and Cincinnati Reds; if you look at that link above, almost all of those squads have the necessary prospects to help make a trade.
Let's look at the situations in Atlanta, Chicago and St. Louis more closely to see why they lack the potential trade chips.
[h3]Atlanta Braves: Imbalanced, inflexible [/h3]
The Braves don't have a particularly bad system, but it's headlined by top-of-the-line pitching prospects who aren't going anywhere. Righty Julio Teheran is in the conversation for the top right-hander in the minors and, before he got hurt, Arodys Vizcaino was close to joining the discussion as well. Along with Randall Delgado, the Braves see the trio as future rotation fixtures; with them off the table, Atlanta has few chips left. Its top position prospect, Triple-A first baseman Freddie Freeman, is lined up to assume the big-league job next year. The drop-off from there is quite deep. Toolsy shortstop Mychal Jones could generate some interest, but not the kind that is going to get anything big in return. Another long shot is once highly rated outfielder Jordan Schafer, who is doing nothing at Triple-A this year except producing ugly scouting reports; he could be an extra player in a deal with a team willing to take a chance.
As disastrous as the Mark Teixeira deal was for Atlanta -- both in terms of how much they gave the Texas Rangers to get him and what little they gained in sending him away -- one player received in the package from Anaheim is starting to create some buzz among scouts. Originally signed in 2005 by the Angels as a draft-and-follow, righty Stephen Marek has been rejuvenated as a reliever and boasts a miniscule 0.69 ERA in 37 appearances split between Double- and Triple-A. His fastball has been up to 96 mph this year and his breaking ball is a plus power pitch. He's close to the big leagues and, if the Braves don't want to bring him up, others teams might.
[h3]Chicago White Sox: Nothing left [/h3]
Chicago went from potential sellers to buyers by landing in first place at the break thanks to a 25-5 run to close out the first half; but if you believe in the White Sox, you believe in this team as it stands right now.
The White Sox had a bad system entering the year and it's gotten worse due to some poor performances. Most notably, catcher Tyler Flowers is hitting just .198 since May 1 and, according to scouts, he's making no progress in his well-below-average defense behind the plate; some talent evaluators have said he's actually gotten worse.
Getty ImagesThe Cardinals' system has Shelby Miller -- and honestly, not much else.
One player who has taken a step forward while generating considerable interest from other teams is Brent Morel, but his availability depends on the White Sox making some difficult long-term decisions. With Paul Konerko and Dayan Viciedo already big-league corner infielders, Morel is the odd man out. Two months ago, moving Konerko seemed logical; now, that's out of the question because of the White Sox's contending status. A 2011 timetable for Morel is reasonable, but that's only assuming Konerko departs via free agency this winter.
A third-round pick in 2008, Morel isn't the next big thing, but he's nearly universally seen as a solid everyday third baseman down the road. Hitting .311/.356/.431 between Double- and Triple-A, Morel is more of an average/doubles hitter than a pure power threat. Scouts also love his max-effort style on defense. The White Sox envision a future with Viciedo at first with Morel manning the hot corner, but Morel could be the only player who could garner something important down the stretch.
[h3]St. Louis Cardinals: One is untouchable, the rest are "eh"[/h3]
Entering the season, the Cardinals' system pretty much began and ended with 2009 first-round pick Shelby Miller, who for the most part has lived up to expectations by easily hitting 98 mph while striking out 72 in 52.1 innings during his full-season debut at Low-A. He's almost assuredly untouchable, but who does that leave for the Cardinals to dangle as bait? The answer is no one.
One scout who was recently assigned to watch the Cardinals' prospects and viewed the Double-A Springfield and High-A Palm Beach squads said, "I didn't write up a single position player as a future everyday big-leaguer." Things are really no different at Low-A Quad Cities, while the Triple-A Memphis roster is loaded with up-and-down types other than second baseman Daniel Descalso, who some see as a future second-division starter.
That's really the system's strength -- a Triple-A squad loaded with players who are going to make it to the big leagues, albeit in bench and middle-relief roles. That kind of assurance and closeness has some value, but not enough to make a difference for the Cardinals.
