The faster the MLB trade rumors heat up, the more difficult it is to keep on top of all the speculation.
Nearly every team in baseball has been speculated to have their hand in at least one deal or so, making the whole situation as cloudy as the murky depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
But trade rumors are simply that—rumors.
Let’s take a look at the latest in the crazy world of speculative trade talk, and where certain players could wind up at the July 31st deadline.
The Nationals haven’t liked the offers they’ve gotten for 1B/OF Adam Dunn and think the team will not be trading the veteran power hitter, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com.
The Nationals preference seems to be to sign an extension with Adam Dunn instead of trading him. The two sides haven’t been even close to one though so the Nationals have explored the possibility of trading him.
Even if it becomes clear that an extension becomes impossible, the Nats seem to be thinking that they might as well hold on to the type-A free agent and take the two first round draft picks if they fail to sign him.
The Yankees have been connected to Dunn for a couple of days now, but as far as we know the two sides have not met to discuss a deal.
The only thing concrete that we know is that the Yankees would like to have Dunn, but who wouldn’t?
If the Yankees do acquire Dunn, expect a deal to get done quickly a la the Bobby Abreu deal in 2006. What Brian Cashman and the Yankees did there was wait patiently for the market to develop on Abreu and once they decided that they liked the asking price, they came out of nowhere to make an offer that closed the deal.
With that thinking in mind, this news is hard to gauge. The Nationals GM Mike Rizzo may just be pandering in an attempt to get better offers, or he may really be willing to hang on to Dunn and try to resign him this offseason.
If he’s just pandering, that could mean the Yankees may be able to work out a deal in the future, but if he’s really willing to hold on to him than they are unlikely to blow the Nats away with a deal that could pry Dunn away.
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As the second half of the MLB season begins, the top teams will undoubtedly be looking for potential additions to bolster their roster heading into the final stretch of the regular season and then the postseason.
The New York Yankees currently have the best record in baseball at 56-32.
The other division leaders in the American League are the surging Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers, who already added a quality piece in Cliff Lee.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves lead in the East, while the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds hold slim division leads in the West and Central, respectively.
With four of the six division leaders leading by two games or less and no team in any division ahead by more than five games, late summer trades will make the difference between playing postseason baseball and watching on TV.
Here is a list of 10 players the division leaders should consider picking up before a rival team does.
The trade rumors regarding Adam Dunn are beginning to heat up.
Although Washington Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo has steadfastly claimed that he will only trade Dunn if he receives the most exceptional of offers, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that Dunn is beginning to grow frustrated with the pace of negotiations on a contract extension.
Further, as the Nationals fall further and further behind in the NL East—they’re currently 13.5 games back—buying is no longer an option, and refusing to sell a player who will become an A-list free agent at the end of the season may be foolish.
If I may editorialize for a moment, as a Phillies’ fan I would love to see Dunn go, but as a baseball fan, I am excited about Washington’s potential in the coming years with a Zimmerman-Dunn-Willingham-Harper nucleus and a Strasburg-Whomever-Whomever rotation.
Nevertheless, here is a look at the top six landing spots for Adam Dunn in 2010, should the Nationals decide to trade him.
The boys of summer are taking their annual break in sunny southern California—Anaheim to be exact.
They’ll laugh with other big league players they don’t often get the chance to converse with. They’ll have their laughs, their deep conversations, and ability to forget about the chase for the playoffs, if only for a few days.
Those that aren’t taking part in the festivities in Anaheim get a much needed break to lick their wounds and heal-up from injuries that kept them from performing to their highest abilities.
What the All-Star break also signifies is a two week point before baseball’s trading deadline.
A big name has already moved to a new home and several others are yet to make a move. There are teams that need to make a splash to stay in the race, and others that need to free-up salaries and rebuild for another race.
Here are 10 names that will be moved and where they’re new predicted homes will be.
Ah, the Major League Baseball All-Star break.
It marks the Show’s midway point even though most teams have played 88 contests, which is seven past the actual hump in the 162-game slate.
Regardless, the breather in the figurative middle of the season means it’s time for every club to take stock of the first half and decide what the modified plan of attack will be for the last three months.
More specifically, it’s about time to decide whether you’re a buyer or a seller.
To be or not to be…a contender.
For some, that’s easier said than done.
For the San Francisco Giants, it’s an especially tenuous time because the squad is obviously a contender in the National League West and the Wild Card.
As flawed as the team may be, nobody else in either race can claim to be running on all cylinders.
That generally means general manager Brian Sabean would be looking for shiny toys to shore up the roster.
Namely, a big bat.
The perception of San Francisco is that it’s all pitch and no hit. In reality, the pitching hasn’t been as good as its reputation, and the hitting hasn’t been as bad.
The arms have still been excellent, but the sharp edge that both the rotation and bullpen began the year with has disappeared. Walks and sloppy innings have replaced it.
Meanwhile, the offense has been anemic, but the emergence of Aubrey Huff (.295/.384/.544 and 17 HR), Buster Posey (.350/.389/.569 and 7 HR in 137 AB), Andres Torres (.281/.378/.483 and 17 SB), and the steadying presence of Freddy Sanchez (.285/.348/.360) have given los Gigantes a solid quartet of contributors.
What’s more, Buster and Franchez didn’t join the lads until late May, whereas Torres spent most of April in a platoon before running away with a regular spot in the lineup.
That putrid smell wafting from the bats should smell a lot sweeter as those three pile up the PT.
Finally, the overdue trade of Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers has allowed Posey to assume the catcher-of-the-future mantle. Consequently, Gerald Demp the Third no longer needs to jam up the works at first base.
With the kid behind the dish, it’s opened up more playing time for first baseman Travis Ishikawa (.354/.394/.538 and 15 RBI in 65 AB), outfielder Pat Burrell (.286/.365/.484 and 5 HR in 91 AB), and outfielder Nate Schierholtz.
Nate the Great’s been struggling of late at the plate (take that, Dr. Seuss) so his numbers won’t blow your skirt up, but his fleet feet and cannon arm are large assets even when his bat goes limp.
Plus, he hadn’t been seeing regular plate appearances so don’t judge the 26-year-old too harshly.
Ultimately, jettisoning Big Money has created some semblance of consistency in manager Bruce Bochy’s game of musical lineup cards, and the early returns have been promising.
Since the Molina trade on July 1, the Orange and Black has seen its runs-scored per at-bat jump to 0.18—San Francisco had registered a 0.12 R/AB from April through June. That’s about a 50 percent hop.
Granted, the post-trade sample size of 11 games is quite small and eight of the contests came against the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals (two of the less impressive pitching staffs in the National League).
But it bears mentioning nonetheless, especially because the Gents were matched up with Ubaldo Jimenez (whom they roughed up) and Stephen Strasburg (whom they did not) for two of those 11.
Translation: there’s reason to believe the Giant offense will continue to improve on the season’s back slope, just as there is to believe the pitching will rediscover its April/May rhythm.
Nevertheless, trade rumors are very much driven by public perception.
As mentioned, that means the winds have been blowing whispers of San Francisco sniffing around lumber at various times.
Names like Prince Fielder and Corey Hart of the Brew Crew have been most frequent, but the Nats’ Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham have surfaced, as have the Kansas City Royals’ David DeJesus and Jose Guillen .
The two Royals could probably be acquired on the cheap, so I wouldn’t necessarily be against either addition.
DeJesus is steady across the board, but not spectacular in any facet; plus, he’s 30. Guillen is one-dimensional and 34—enough said.
So the asking price shouldn’t be prohibitive. The problem is that, while neither would be too expensive, neither would be an emphatic upgrade.
Which begs the question, why insert another body into an already crowded outfield situation?
Depth is fine, but only if it doesn’t cost a genuine prospect.
On the other hand, the remaining blips on the rumor radar—Dunn, Fielder, Hart, and Willingham—would all be considerable improvements. Each one would also cost an arm and a leg.
The snag here comes in two flavors of budgetary inefficiency.
Mr. Sunglasses at Night or Willingham would immediately become the best outfielder in Orange and Black, unless Huff plans to make this a yearlong renaissance. Unfortunately, the brass would be walking right into a nightmare:
—Check the links, both players are having career years, so SF would be buying high on both players. That’s no bueno.
—Hart enjoys the protection of Fielder and another beast in Ryan Braun. Willingham has Dunn and dazzler Ryan Zimmerman to do the heavy-lifting. They’d be moving from third fiddle to first (or very close to it) as a Giant.
—Miller Park is a band box and Nationals Park has to be a better offensive yard than AT&T Park just because of the scalding D.C. summers. The deep alleys of the City’s jewel and the heavy Bay Area air crush all newcomers holding a bat.
To me, that list screams bad ending to a bad beginning.
On the other hand, the two bigger fellas would require the Price-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named and would be short-term solutions.
Thankfully, Adam Dunn seems like a non-starter, because he’s a free agent following 2010.
The Prince would be a slightly longer rental, since he hits the market following 2011, but who really cares?
The Burly Brewer is represented by a coprophagous (which is a fancy way of saying “s***-eating,” so it should be more popular) insect that will DEFINITELY have his young lefty slugger in the free agent waters following the expiration of his current deal.
There’s also this suspicious little home/away split in almost the exact same number of plate appearances: .275/.414/.544 with 12 HR at home vs. .256/.387/.445 with 8 HR on the road.
So the club would have to mortgage the future and part with one of the rotation studs for a guy who isn’t necessarily a lock to solve its offensive woes? And who’s gonna walk after a year and a half?
No, thanks.
The Giants are most definitely contenders as MLB’s second act opens, which means extra bullpen arms and bench help will probably join the roster.
But when it comes to the big-ticket items, San Francisco should walk away.
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The All-Star game is in the books, and the National League finally managed to break their 13 year drought, thanks to a big three-run double from Braves catcher Brian McCann to give the NL a 3-1 win.
Despite the fact that the game was dominated by pitching, the game was not without its squandered scoring opportunities.
So here are the five players that were snubbed from the Midsummer Classic, and could have ultimately changed the outcome of the game.
With all the talk seemingly centered around guys like Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt, another big name that will make its rounds around the rumor sheets is current Washington Nationals’ first baseman Adam Dunn.
While Dunn has made it well known that he would rather not be traded and would like to sign a contract extension with the Nationals, the likelihood of that seems slim to none at this point.
ESPN’s Buster Olney talked about Dunn losing interest in signing an extension over the last few days and cited the fact that the Nationals have no sense of urgency to get anything done.
Not only that, but the team has already approached other teams about their interest in Dunn, so it seems the Nationals aren’t going to hang on to him past the trade deadline.
ESPN’s Buster Olney reported earlier this morning, “Nationals have had conversations with other teams about possible deals involving Dunn, and it figures they will trade him.”
So, with that being said, here are the three most likely destinations for the power hitting first baseman.
Don’t let your eyes fool you. This bum look-alike will actually be worth more this off-season than you or anyone else who reads this will make in the rest of your lifetimes. Philadelphia rightfielder Jayson Werth will command top dollar as a free agent after this season. Outside of Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford, there are no other total package outfielders available.
Werth is so valuable the Phillies are viewing him as a possible way to upgrade their team via a trade. Top prospect and heir-apparent Dominic Brown is starting to tear it up in Triple A.
Naturally, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has wondered, “What is Werth worth on the trading market?”
The Phillies want to upgrade their pitching for the stretch run. Philly is six games back of Atlanta in the NL East and trail the Mets by three for the Wild Card. While they were hit hard by injuries, the Phillies are still in it. If they make the right moves, defending their NL crown isn’t a stretch at all.
But what is Werth worth?
Werth is only a three month rental at best. Unless your name is Cliff Lee, teams are very wary about giving up a huge bounty for a rental. And Werth has competition. Washington’s Adam Dunn, also a potential rental trade candidate, is fresh off of a three-homer game and is a perennial 40 HR, 100 RBI masher.
Who is worth more?
It probably depends on what you need. Werth can do just about everything. He can hit for power. He can hit for a decent average. He can play above-average defense in right field. He can steal you a base or two.
But is he a true middle-of-the-order threat?
Dunn can’t do many of those things. But what he can do, he does very well. Dunn represents a game-changer every time he steps to the plate. While Werth will make contributions all over the place, Dunn can swing the balance of a game with one swing.
Werth is no slouch when it comes to power production. Last year he clubbed 34 HR. This year his power is back down into the mid 20’s, on pace for a 26 HR season. But how much does the feared Phillies offense protect him when they are healthy? It’s easier to see great pitches when you have Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins on your team.
Can Werth be a difference-maker with his bat on a less stellar offensive team?
Werth does have one thing going for him that Dunn does not—a proven post-season track record. He had a .309 post-season batting average in 2008 and seven home runs in the 2009 post-season. Werth seems to shine the brightest in front of the game’s brightest lights. Werth is October tested and October proven.
Dunn has never made it to the post-season.
Dunn does one thing well. He hits home runs. What happens if he doesn’t hit those home runs? Is the threat of him hitting one out good enough? Does it provide enough lineup protection to the team that acquired him to be a middle-of-the-order hitter?
So what is Werth worth? Would Dunn or Werth fetch more in a trade? What do you think? Does Werth’s all-around game best Dunns all-or-nothing, feast-or-famine bashing?
For me, my money is on the one who has shown his “Werth” in October.
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What does it mean to be a “slugger?” We all know the answer, don’t we?
Being a slugger means gripping it and ripping it. It means hitting the crap out of the ball and not even waiting around to see where it falls.
It means pointing to a spot in center field and then hitting it there. It means putting dents in signs. It means splashing down in McCovey Cove. It means hitting a ball in Cincinnati that comes to rest in Kentucky.
Being a slugger means being the most powerful, terrifying, and exhilarating species of professional athlete in all of sports.
In honor of the 2010 State Farm Home Run Derby, whose lineup was announced on Tuesday, here is the list of the Top 10 Sluggers in Baseball.