The trade deadline is a little more that 24 hours away, and teams are making moves.
The pretenders are trying to rid themselves of high priced veterans so that they can start over.
The contenders are looking for the final piece that will set them up for a long playoff run.
Now that Oswalt has been dealt, it seems as if it is time to make a move for one of the three big sluggers that might be available.
Yesterday, the talk was all about the Chicago White Sox acquiring Adam Dunn…
10:54am CDT – Bob Nightengale of USA Today says the White Sox are now apparently working with the Astros on a deal for right-hander Brett Myers.
Myers is a guy that I thought the San Diego Padres would go after but I haven’t heard a single thing on that front. However, we didn’t know that the Padres had gotten in late for Roy Oswalt after the deal to the Phillies had already been announced. You just never know who’s really in or out on these deals.
10:53am CDT – While Rosenthal originally said that the “Yankees out on Adam Dunn” was a warning to the Nationals, he says that other sources tell him that the Yankees are indeed out on Dunn.
10:45am CDT – The New York Yankees aren’t “out” on Adam Dunn after all. There were several reports late yesterday that the Yankees no longer had interest in the first baseman but Ken Rosenthal said it was a “stop messing around” warning to the Nationals.
10:38am CDT – Ken Rosenthal reports that the Diamondbacks are reluctant to move reliever Aaron Heilman. Rosenthal says there’s also interest in Chad Qualls and Adam LaRoche who could both be moved after the Adam Dunn trade is completed.
10:25am CDT – SI.com’s Jon Heyman seems to contradict Peter Gammons. Gammons tweeted that the Nationals weren’t that excited about Edwin Jackson while Heyman says the Nationals “love him.”
10:16am CDT – Ken Rosenthal says the Nationals are shopping Adam Dunn to other clubs as well. Rosenthal says the Nationals want to know if they can do better than Edwin Jackson.
10:14am CDT – ESPN’s Jayson Stark reports that the White Sox are on the verge of landing Diamondbacks’ right-hander Edwin Jackson and admits that Adam Dunn could be in the plans as well.
10:04am CDT – Joe Cowley reports that the Hudson for Edwin Jackson trade is on hold. I imagine they White Sox and Nationals are working out the particulars to send Adam Dunn to Chicago.
10:02am CDT – Rosenthal tweets that the deal is in the hands of the Washington Nationals.
10:00am CDT – Ken Rosenthal checks in on the White Sox, Diamondbacks trade and says that it could now be a three-way deal with Adam Dunn going to Chicago and Edwin Jackson going to the Nationals.
However, Peter Gammons tweeted that the Nationals weren’t that interested in Jackson so I’m not sure where this stands at this point.
9:51am CDT – Hold everything, folks. According to White Sox beat writer Joe Cowley, the talks between the Diamondbacks and White Sox have been put on hold and apparently Sox general manager Ken Williams has an even bigger deal that’s being worked out. Cowley says, if complete, the Jackson deal is off.
9:28am CDT – According to Bob Nightengale from USA Today, officials from both the White Sox and Diamondbacks say they are close to a deal that would send Edwin Jackson to the White Sox.
If this deal goes through, watch and see if the Sox don’t turn and send Jackson to the Nationals for Adam Dunn.
8:47am CDT – MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reports that the holdup on the deal that would send Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to the Los Angeles Dodgers is the amount of money the Cubs are willing to send to cover the two contracts.
7:44am CDT – I forgot to mention the Minnesota Twins acquiring Matt Capps from the Nationals for catching prospect Wilson Ramos. Capps will be the new closer for the Twins.
7:35am CDT – SI.com’s Jon Heyman reports that the White Sox are close to a deal for Edwin Jackson. Heyman says the Sox will probably send Daniel Hudson plus one other prospect to Arizona.
If this deal gets done, it could mean that Jackson will then be on his way to the Nationals for Adam Dunn. We’ll have to wait and see.
7:31am CDT – The Chicago White Sox could still be after Adam Dunn but doing so in a roundabout way. The Sox have contacted the Arizona Diamondbacks about right-hander Edwin Jackson. SI.com’s Jon Heyman says the Sox, if they land Jackson, could then flip him to the Nationals in return for Dunn.
7:26am CDT – The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired outfielder Scott Podsednik from the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday, but it looks like they’re not done dealing. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Dodgers and Cubs are discussing a deal that would send left-hander Ted Lilly and infielder Ryan Theriot to Los Angeles. It’s not known whether the deal is close at this point.
With just over 24 hours to go before Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, there are still plenty of rumors that are flying around. There are still names out there that are available and teams that still need to make a move.
We saw a lot of late movement yesterday as both the Rangers and the Padres both made trades to strengthen their ball clubs.
The Padres acquired shortstop Miguel Tejada from Baltimore for a minor league pitcher and the Rangers landed Florida Marlins infielder Jorge Cantu while optioning struggling first baseman Chris Davis to Triple-A.
We’ll keep track of all the movers and shakers today as there are sure to be even bigger trades made today.
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It’s become a rite of summer. If a major league team has an available player at the trade deadline, he’ll be connected to the Yankees somehow, whether he makes sense for New York or not.
So it comes as no surprise that the Yankees have been connected to just about every available player at this year’s trade deadline. They’ve made known offers for Cliff Lee and Dan Haren and have made inquiries about several other players they view as upgrades.
One player that hasn’t been overwhelmingly rumored to be a Yankee target is Washington first baseman Adam Dunn. Aside from a few Buster Olney tweets, Dunn-to-New York rumors have been nearly nonexistent.
Dunn is in the last year of a two-year contract and will be a free agent at year’s end. The Nationals have expressed interest in resigning the prodigious slugger, but with less than three days before the trade deadline, they’ve yet to offer him an extension.
With each day, it looks less and less likely that the Nationals and Dunn will eventually come to terms on an extension. Because of this supposed impasse, it makes sense for Washington to get player value for him now rather than lose him for nothing but draft picks in the offseason.
Dunn’s bat would obviously play well in any Major League lineup, but the Yankees have the opening and opportunity to acquire the perennial 40-homer Dunn.
For all intents and purposes, Nick Johnson is gone for the season. In his absence, the Yankees have been using a combination of Juan Miranda and Marcus Thames in the DH spot, occasionally giving their regulars a half-day as the designated hitter.
Thames and Miranda are better suited as bench players at this point in their respective careers, and using Alex Rodriguez or Jorge Posada in the DH role means that Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli are getting more at bats than they should.
Acquiring Adam Dunn would make the league’s best offense even more formidable and give the lineup a more consistent look. He’s hit 40 home runs in four of the past five seasons, and hasn’t hit less than 38 since 2003. He consistently posts high on-base percentages, and when kept out of the field, he becomes even more valuable to his team.
I’m not overly familiar with the Nationals farm system, so I can’t accurately assume what type of package they’d want in return for Dunn. Washington GM Mike Rizzo has said that it would take an overwhelming offer to pry Dunn away, but that was before his team fell 15 games back in the National League East.
The Yankees certainly have the pieces to make a deal for Dunn, and GM Brian Cashman has shown a willingness to include just about any prospect in the right deal. Dunn isn’t the type of player that would require the Yankees to part ways with uber-prospect Jesus Montero or even his second-fiddle Austin Romine.
The Yankees have a stable full of low-ceiling, high-probability arms sitting in Triple-A and Double-A and could start their offer with a pitcher along the lines of Ivan Nova, Zach McAllister or Hector Noesi.
The Yankees could continue to build a package around one of those pitchers by adding a hitter like someone along the lines of SS Eduardo Nunez (AAA) 3B Brandon Laird (AA) or 2B David Adams (AA), all of whom are enjoying nice seasons for their respective teams.
A package with one of those pitchers, one of those hitters and maybe another low-level prospect or two would be comparable to what Dunn was traded for the last time he found himself on the block.
Many Yankee fans find themselves overly attached to prospects within the farm system, but part of a prospect’s value is that he can be used to acquire a player that more readily impacts the major league team.
The Yankees have done a good job in the past five years developing depth at multiple positions so that they can deal for a player like Adam Dunn and not completely decimate the farm system.
Do the Yankees need Adam Dunn? Almost certainly not—they have the majors’ highest scoring offense, and that has carried them to the major’s best record over the first four months.
But adding a bat of Dunn’s caliber to an already potent lineup would undoubtedly add some serious pop and would limit the number of plate appearances that inferior hitters would otherwise see.
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As the trade deadline approaches, it is becoming apparent that Adam Dunn has a better chance to be traded by July 31st then to remain a long-term part of the Washington Nationals.
Rumors abound that Dunn is perturbed at the Nationals’ perceived lack of urgency in getting a contract extension completed .
Also, during the second inning of Saturday’s game with the Milwaukee Brewers went upstairs and had an on-air visit with Brewers’ radio man Bob Uecker.
Nationals’ manager Jim Riggleman told reporters that he didn’t want to hear about it, and Dunn said on Monday that “I could care less if I get in trouble for going up and seeing my guy after he had heart surgery. I’ll pay my fine.”
It doesn’t sound like things are too copacetic between the team and the first baseman, at least for the moment.
Okay, so the chances of Dunn resigning with the Nationals seem unlikely, leaving the team with two options. They can either trade him between now and Saturday, or allow him to leave this winter as a free agent and get two additional draft pick in next summer’s amateur draft.
But really, the Nationals can’t afford to let their highest profile hitter walk away, and get back a couple of players who may—or may not—turn into major league players in, oh, I don’t know, four or five years.
No, they need player(s) who can make an immediate contribution.
But is Edwin Jackson that player?
General Manager Mike Rizzo has made it clear for some time that he is a fan of the 27-year-old Jackson, and rumors have swirled on Monday that a three-way trade involving the Diamondbacks, White Sox and Nationals could bring Jackson to Washington in exchange for Dunn.
It is difficult to determine what a premier slugger is worth in exchange for two months of playing time. The Rangers gave up four minor leaguers to get Cliff Lee for two months, so you would think that Dunn would have similar value.
Teams however, are unwilling these days to trade away their best prospects for a rental hitter. If the rumors are to be believed, Dunn’s value is a couple of good—but not great—minor leaguers.
So is a Dunn for Jackson swap a good deal for the Nationals?
Jackson was a sixth-round pick of the Dodgers in 2001 and since 2006 has spent time with the Dodgers, Tampa Bay, Detroit and the Diamondbacks.
His first season as a full-time starter—with Tampa in 2007—was a disaster as Jackson went 5-15, 5.76. He blossomed the next season though, going 14-11, 4.42. He was at his best in 2009 with the Tigers, garnering a record of 13-9, 3.62.
His numbers with Arizona this season haven’t been as good (6-9, 5.01) but his internal numbers match his career marks (9.3/4.0/7.0) so his difficult year may be the product of playing with a bad team, or a run of bad luck, or both.
Jackson has a 95 mph fastball along with a good slider and change. His fastball, though, doesn’t have particularly good movement at times, leading to a higher-than-normal ERA for a pitcher of his caliber. He also walks too many batters.
But he’s just 27 and would be an excellent addition to the Nationals’ growing-by-the-day pitching staff.
Come 2011, the Nationals’ rotation could include Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Jackson, Cuban defector Yuneski Maya and Jason Marquis, with Chien-Ming Wang, John Lannan, Scott Olsen, Ross Detwiler all fighting to gain a rotation spot as well.
Pretty good, I’d say.
Reports this afternoon suggest that a possible trade for Edwin Jackson would send prospects, and not Adam Dunn, to Arizona.
We’ll know in a few days, but regardless, starting pitching won’t be one of the Nationals’ problems next season.
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Kansas City Royals outfielder David DeJesus was one of the hottest names on the rumor sheets over the last several weeks.
There were at least five teams that were in the chase to land him, but according to several beat writers, the Royals were asking far too much for teams to give up.
Well, it seems like the Royals are regretting that now as DeJesus will land on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained thumb, which will keep him out past the non-waiver trade deadline next Saturday.
Not to say that a waiver wire deal can’t be completed once he’s healthy and ready to return to the team, but he’s going to need to prove that he can be 100 percent healthy before teams jump back in the race.
One thing is for sure at this point: The Royals won’t get anywhere near what they had been demanding after DeJesus does return from his disabled list stint.
Next to the Royals outfielder, there are several rumors to update, so let’s get to them.
The San Francisco Giants enter the last week before the Major League Baseball trade deadline three games behind the San Diego Padres in the National League West. The Giants have so far won on the heels of their tremendous starting rotation, but there are other pieces needed if the Giants are to return to the postseason. Those pieces? Bats.
The Giants are 10th in the National League in runs scored but still have won eight of their last 10. Now is the time for the Giants to get the big piece at the plate that will help them get over their offensive inconsistencies and put pressure on the front-running Padres.
The question of whether Adam Dunn would look good in a White Sox uniform should not be the main debate right now.
As a player who has mainly worn a reddish color everywhere he’s been, some might wonder if the grey and black would fit him. That’s something that everyone needs to accept due to the good chances of him going to Chicago.
The main question that White Sox fans should be asking themselves is whether Dunn could be a potential run producer and a hitter who can keep the middle of the lineup busy with his power.
While there might be a lot of fans not wanting Adam Dunn on the south side, there’s still a good amount of reasons as to why Dunn could fit in and help the Sox protect first place in the AL Central.
As a hardcore White Sox fan, I’ve always liked Dunn’s attitude towards baseball. His powerful swing and aggressiveness has put him on top of many strong hitters in the league.
Dunn, being a career .251 hitter, has not impressed in that category, yet his 338 home runs in less than 10 full seasons has increased his value, and many teams around the league are trying to snatch him up.
White Sox general manager Kenny Williams—known for his aggressive approach when it comes to trading for players—has put Dunn as the No. 1 player to grab on his list due to a major concern at the designated hitter spot.
The DH position—which has been shared by Andruw Jones and Mark Kotsay, two players that hadn’t produced well for the White Sox this far into the season—is looking for a new filler, and Dunn might be the best solution.
It all sounds like an overall great solution and somehow the White Sox could become 10 times better, but lets face it, there will be some key players from the team that would have to go.
Gordon Beckham, Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin, Dayan Viciedo, and Daniel Hudson are all possible stars that could be dealt in order to achieve the goal that the White Sox are looking for.
Both Beckham and Quentin could be a great add to the Nationals since they are in need of more power in the outfield and a young star like Beckham at second.
Another possible combination that could be on the move is a mix of Viciedo and Hudson, two great prospects that would hurt the Sox in the future, but would almost certainly make it possible for Dunn to come to Chicago.
The trade talks are heating up, and before the end of the trade deadline, I strongly believe Adam Dunn will find his way to Chicago, and become a member of the White Sox.
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With only 10 days remaining to the 2010 MLB trade deadline, teams pursuing big bats are starting to scramble.
The Chicago White Sox are reportedly pressuring the Milwaukee Brewers to accelerate a deal for slugging first baseman Prince Fielder.
The San Francisco Giants, hotly pursuing the surprising San Diego Padres, are also seeking an impact bat, and they’re casting a wide net stretching from Wisconsin to Texas to Kansas to Florida.
All across the majors teams and their fans are starting to feel the tension.
Can our team acquire the bat we need without selling the farm? Can we win the division or the wild card without it? What if our rivals get the one we’re after?
As we count down to another trade deadline, clicking refresh repeatedly and watching that scroll bar relentlessly, let’s take a look at the Top 10 Power Hitters That Could Be Traded.
Last night, news broke that the Philadelphia Phillies were working on a major deal for a front-line starter.
While there were names thrown around, eventually it was learned that they were working extensively with Houston for right-hander Roy Oswalt. While a deal wasn’t imminent, the two sides have continued talks into Wednesday afternoon.
While that seems to have cooled from last night, another rumor has made its way to the top of the list, and it’s the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers trying to negotiate a deal that would send Prince Fielder to Chicago.
If that is the player the White Sox are after, it would effectively end any chase they had for Nationals’ first baseman Adam Dunn.
Prince Fielder’s potential landing spot isn’t the only hot rumor out there. There are several names being thrown around.
So, without further ado, let’s get to what else is on the MLB rumor sheets.
Several sources (Fox’s Ken Rosenthal and the Chicago Sun Times’ Joe Cowley) say the White Sox are working hard to pry Adam Dunn away from the Washington Nationals, but aren’t having much success due to the Nationals’ exorbitant asking price. Reportedly, the Nats want Carlos Quentin or Gordon Beckham, both of whom the ChiSox are understandably reluctant to trade away.
However, the White Sox have apparently offered up just about anyone else in their farm system, including 1B/3B Dayan Viciedo and RHP Daniel Hudson.
If the Nats could get both Viciedo and Hudson straight up for Dunn, it’s a trade the Nationals should make.
We all know Dunn can hit a ton, but his defense is widely regarded as terrible. Also, he’s now 30 years old, and given his size (he’s listed at 6’6″ and 285 lbs), he’s not a player I would expect to age well.
Dunn is expensive already, and after the season he’s having, it’s certain the Nationals will have to pony up far more than the $12 million they are paying him this year to keep him. Meanwhile, the Nationals are going nowhere (they’re 14.5 back in the NL East and in last place), so it’s not like Dunn is doing a whole lot for the team right now.
Dunn is also redundant. He and LF Josh Willingham are roughly the same age (Willingham is nine months older) and have almost identical skill sets. Dunn is the better player, but that means he will bring considerably more in trade. In addition, Willingham is cheaper (he’s only making $4.6 million this year and will make considerably less than Dunn next season, no matter what kind of a raise Willingham receives).
Viciedo and Hudson are Grade-A prospects.
Dayan Viciedo is a 21-year-old Cuban defector who looks extremely promising. After 44 major league at-bats this year, he’s hitting .295 with a .773 OPS, after posting an .855 OPS in 238 ABs at AAA Charlotte. He doesn’t walk much, but he can clearly hit and he has adapted very quickly in only his second season playing professionally in the U.S.
The biggest question with Viciedo is whether he’s really only 21-years-old, since he’s already listed as 5’11″ and 240 lbs, and historically it’s been difficult to verify if Cuban defectors are as young as they claim to be.
Twenty-three year old Dan Hudson also looks extremely close. He went 11-4 at AAA Charlotte this year with a 3.47 ERA and great strikeout to walk ratios. Hudson is 1-0 with a 5.06 ERA after two major league starts this month.
I like Viciedo as the center piece of an Adam Dunn trade better than Hudson, mainly because of the greater likelihood a pitcher has of getting hurt before he develops into a star. If the White Sox won’t part with both Viciedo and Hudson, then a trade for Viciedo and two solid Grade-B prospects for Dunn would still make sense for the Nationals.
Even if the Nationals continue to wildly overvalue Dunn, there is nothing stopping them from trying to bring him back to D.C. this coming off-season as a free agent after his current two-year contract has expired. In the meantime, the Nationals could sure use the infusion of premium young talent they’d receive by trading Dunn to the White Sox right now.
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