At this point in the baseball calendar, when we near the annual non-waiver trade deadline, there’s always player movement.
While most executives expect to hear the applause of their respective fans when they add to a contending team, the Chicago Cubs executives knew their deal for closer Aroldis Chapman might not net that reaction.
The Cubs, of course, weren’t the only team trying to navigate this July’s trade market. Who were those others clubs?
August might be the most important month on the baseball calendar. A hot-or-cold streak can improve—or destroy—a team’s playoff chances, while it also represents the last opportunity for teams to bring in reinforcements from outside their organization.
But before we get fully engrossed in the upcoming trade deadline madness—the non-waiver trade deadline arrives Monday, in case you missed it—let’s take a look back at July with the latest edition of Bleacher Report’s Team of the Month.
As has been the case all season, the rules remain the same: We’ve picked 10 players—one per position, including a designated hitter and starting pitcher—who have put together noteworthy performances over the past 31 days.
While there’s a healthy dose of veterans on this month’s club, a handful of hotshot youngsters forced their way into the conversation as well.
Who stood out as July’s best of the best? Let’s take a look.
Any list that ranks the top available players at the trade deadline must first be qualified by its criteria.
Simply being among the most talented players available won’t put a guy on the list. There are a few exceptions, though, where a player’s otherworldly talent is enough reason to rank among the 10 best available.
Still, in compiling the following list of players, not only were their 2016 seasons taken into account, but also the value and duration of their contracts. A player signed beyond 2016 has a higher value than a rental of equal talent preparing to hit free agency after this season.
If a player is one of the few available at his position, that also increases his value. Supply and demand applies to the trade market as much as our economy.
So who are the best available players as we approach the Aug. 1 trade deadline?
When it comes to sluggers, there’s been no match for Boston Red Sox designated hitter and first baseman David Ortiz in 2016.
Big Papi leads all big leaguers in slugging percentage, doubles, extra-base hits and Isolated Power (ISO). It’s that final category that carries the most significance in this debate.
When it comes to judging power, there’s no better stat for doing so than ISO. Just consider how FanGraphs defines it: “Isolated Power (ISO) is a measure of a hitter’s raw power and tells you how often a player hits for extra bases.”
According to FanGraphs, the average MLB player clocks in with an ISO of .140, and a mark of .250 is considered “excellent.” On this list, everyone has an ISO of .278 or higher.
Using ISO as our measuring stick, let’s take a look at the mashers who join Ortiz in the rankings of the top power hitters of 2016.
We are now just one week away from the 2016 MLB trade deadline, and the rumor mill is in full swing as all 30 teams decide what to do ahead of the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline.
With four of the top six teams in our rankings from a week ago posting a losing record last week, there was plenty of shuffling among the league’s top teams in this week’s MLB power rankings.
So as contenders look to solidify their roster for a pennant push and rebuilding teams look to maximize their trade chips, what follows is an updated look at how all 30 teams stack up around the league.
One thing remains true: These rankings are a fluid process, with teams moving up or down based on where they ranked the previous week. If a club keeps winning, it will keep climbing—it’s as simple as that.
In due time, we’ll find out if any of the players on this week’s All-Dud team will one day have a chance of joining Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza in the hallowed halls of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. With the way this group swung the bat and threw the ball this week, the odds aren’t in their favor.
From seasoned veterans to up-and-coming youngsters, a variety of players have gotten off to truly horrendous second-half starts. We’ll take a look at the worst of the worst—one player at each position, including designated hitter—on the pages that follow.
So grab your Pepto-Bismol and strap yourself in—a bumpy ride awaits.
With more than two months of games left to be played, the playoff picture is far from decided.
But when the field is set for October’s MLB Playoffs, we may look back at the end of July as an ultimate determinant in which teams earned the right to vie for a World Series.
Among them quite possibly could be the news this week that Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw may need back surgery. There isn’t a pitcher in MLB who has had a better season and no arm more important to a team’s success.
Which teams got more positive news that could help alter various playoff races?
With the All-Star break behind us and the trade deadline rapidly approaching, it figures to be a busy couple of weeks around the MLB landscape.
This week’s power rankings reflect just one series’ worth of games, so there wasn’t as much shuffling as usual. It was still a terrific few days for individual pitching performances, though.
Matt Shoemaker, Adam Wainwright and Jacob deGrom each threw complete-game shutouts, and 11 other pitchers turned in at least six shutout innings in their first starts of the second half.
Even in a short week, one thing remains true: These rankings are a fluid process, with teams moving up or down based on where they ranked the previous week. If a club keeps winning, it will keep climbing—it’s as simple as that.
It doesn’t seem possible, but we’re closer to the end of baseball’s regular season than we are the beginning. With the All-Star Game behind us, the second half of the regular season has officially gotten underway.
For some players, like Detroit’s Ian Kinsler and San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner, they’ve been able to pick up where they left off before the pause in regular-season action. For others, well, they’re making their first—or in some cases, a repeat—appearance on our All-Dud team.
Granted, this past week was a short one, but those games count—and our All-Dud squad needs to be filled. Taking traditional and advanced statistics (mainly FanGraphs’ weighted runs created plus metric) into consideration, here’s a look at the players unlucky enough to make this week’s cut.
The trade market opened in earnest Thursday when the Boston Red Sox acquired left-handed starter Drew Pomeranz.
It marked the beginning of what should be a competitive July trade season with several teams remaining in the playoff hunt.
While the Pomeranz trade affects the American League East race, this week featured a slew of storylines that could impact the postseason hopes of several organizations.
Want a look into how this week may have shaped October baseball?