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MLB‘s August 1 non-waiver trade deadline is quickly approaching, and the rumor mill is churning. 

The first blockbuster move of the season was officially completed Monday with the Chicago Cubs’ announcement that they had acquired New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in exchange for prospects.

Monday’s move may start a chain reaction of other deals, especially in the National League, as teams look to keep pace with the Cubs.

Here’s a look around the league at some of the latest rumors and reports.

Chris Sale, White Sox

Despite his team-imposed suspension for a clubhouse outburst, Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale remains the hottest name on the trade market.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports broke down the market for Sale on Monday, naming Boston Red Sox prospects Yoan Moncada and Andrew Benintendi as well as Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Julio Urias as potential young stars who could help pry Sale from Chicago. 

Many teams will likely view the asking price as exorbitant, but Sale’s value is sky-high thanks to his team-friendly contract, which goes through the 2019 season. According to Spotrac, Sale is set to earn $39.5 million from 2017 through 2019, a bargain rate for a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. 

Wade Davis, Royals

The defending champion Kansas City Royals, who are struggling to stay above .500, are reportedly willing to listen to offers for closer Wade Davis. However, the asking price will be steep, according to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark:

Passan added that the Royals are specifically interested in Washington Nationals prospect Lucas Giolito, one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. 

Davis is under contract through the 2017 season, so it’s reasonable to expect a more enticing package than the New York Yankees received for Aroldis Chapman, who will be a free agent after the 2016 campaign. 

However, the Royals may have a hard time drumming up enough interest in Davis to drive the asking price that high.

One of the teams interested in obtaining Chapman was the Cleveland Indians, but the Royals are unlikely to entertain the idea of shipping Davis within the division. That may leave the Nationals as one of the only viable trade partners, decreasing their incentive to offer a top-flight prospect. 

Edinson Volquez, Royals

Another potential casualty of the Royals’ disappointing season is Edinson Volquez, who is under contract through the 2017 season.

According to Spotrac, Volquez‘s contract has a $3 million buyout option at the end of the 2016 season, so a team could view him as a rental if it’s willing to buy him out at the season’s end. 

ESPN The Magazine‘s Buster Olney reported that the market for Volquez has at least one suitor:

Volquez originally broke into the big leagues with the Texas Rangers in 2005 before being shipped to the Cincinnati Reds in the deal that brought Josh Hamilton to Texas. 

After a rough start to the season, Volquez has shown signs of settling down in recent weeks. Over his past five starts, he’s posted a 2.84 ERA.

Hector Santiago, Angels

On Monday, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reported that the Los Angeles Angels are listening to offers for lefty starter Hector Santiago.

Santiago, who was selected to his first All-Star Game in 2015, is in the midst of a disappointing season with a career-worst 4.38 ERA but has been regaining his All-Star form in recent weeks. 

In his past seven starts, Santiago is 5-0 with a 2.28 ERA.

Due to his recent hot streak and track record of success, the asking price for Santiago could be steep. 

Santiago is earning just $5 million this season, according to Spotrac, and will likely see only a marginal bump in salary in 2017, his final season of arbitration before he hits the free-agent market for the first time in 2018.

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Trade season is officially upon us, and with less than a week to go until baseball’s August 1 non-waiver trade deadline arrives, things are sure to pick up.

We’ve already seen one big trade go down this week, with the Chicago Cubs acquiring closer Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees for a package that included the team’s top prospect, shortstop Gleyber Torres.

If you’re receiving MLB trade rumor notifications on B/R’s Team Stream app, then you’ve already heard the news from Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that the San Diego Padres have agreed to send outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a Single-A prospect. If you’re not, well, what are you waiting for?

What follows are trade ideas based on the latest chatter from the rumor mill. Some of these we touched upon briefly on Monday, while others haven’t yet been explored. 

Keep in mind that these proposed deals are pure speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there’s no indication that any of them have actually been discussed.

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Two key pieces of the World Series champions won’t be going anywhere in 2016. The Kansas City Royals announced on Thursday that they picked up the options for Wade Davis and Alcides Escobar next season.

Davis will earn $8 million, while Escobar‘s contract will pay him $5.25 million.

Keeping both players on the roster was a no-brainer for the Royals. Davis and Escobar have been integral to the team’s success over the last two years, and neither player will have an exorbitant salary for 2016. Davis in particular is a steal, coming in at under $10 million.

The 30-year-old was arguably the best setup man in MLB until he had to fill in for injured closer Greg Holland. Davis saved 17 games in 2015 and recorded a 0.94 earned run average and 2.29 FIP, per Baseball-Reference.com.

As Fox Sports’ C.J. Nitkowski noted, Davis has performed even better in the postseason over the course of his career:

Escobar, meanwhile, hit .257 with three home runs, 47 RBI and 17 stolen bases. He earned MVP honors in the 2015 American League Championship Series after going 11-for-23 with five RBI and six runs scored against the Toronto Blue Jays.

While not a consistent threat offensively over the years, Escobar‘s defense and work on the basepaths helped him remain a fixture in the Royals batting order.

Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore likely only needed seconds before deciding to lock up Davis and Escobar for 2016.

Now, he can focus more of his efforts on holding on to Ben Zobrist, Johnny Cueto and Alex Gordon, who declined his player option and will thus become a free agent, per Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star.

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To examine the data, skim over the analytics and listen to the brains that have firmly entrenched themselves in every single major league front office, clutch does not exist.

It is not tangible. It is not readily quantifiable. Players do not perform better, over time, in certain situations. Other players do not fold, over time, in the same ones.

“Clutch” does not exist.

But then there are the Kansas City Royals, a team that has come from behind to win seven postseason games this October, and over the last two postseasons one that has used that improbable and usually ineffective strategy to earn 10 of their 21 total playoff victories. The Royals have a patent on late-inning heroics lately, from their dominant bullpen throwing up zero after zero to their defense saving hides to the offense finding ways to take extra bases and plate winning runs.

That was the formula they again used Halloween night to come back from a two-run deficit, taking Game 4 of the World Series 5-3 over the New York Mets at Citi Field. The win gave the Royals a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, with all three victories being pulled out after they had fallen behind.

Comeback Kids did it again! Royals’ 7th come-from-behind postseason win. #TakeTheCrown #Royals pic.twitter.com/tEbQqJdl65

— Jason Lamb (@jasonlambkc) November 1, 2015

“That’s just what our team does. We feel like if we can keep the game close, we’re going to find a way to win it,” Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters in his postgame press conference. “Our bullpen is so dynamic, they give us a chance to win those type of games.

“It’s a team that just looks for a little crack. If we find a little crack, they’re going to make something happen. It’s amazing how they do that. And they do that in a number of ways.”

That they do.

Years of living at or near the bottom of the major league standings earned the Royals a flood of high draft picks. And because they had little to play for when they did find themselves with a bona fide major league star, they were able to trade him for young players they deemed future stars.

Now, many of those players are the core of this dynamic Royals roster. While it might not be consistently capable of shutting down opponents with starting pitching or thumping them with overwhelming power, it plays the best defense of any team in the sport while not striking out and pitching with uncanny deft out of the bullpen.

The bullpen is the highlight of the list. Often a mistakenly overlooked part of many clubs, the Royals paid special attention to their group and built it to throw hard and with an ability to strand runners. Over the last two seasons combined, only the Pittsburgh Pirates have a better bullpen ERA and left-on-base rate than Kansas City, according to Fangraphs.

And now, a year after posting a 2.74 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 62.1 playoff innings, Kansas City’s relievers have a 2.76 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 58.2 innings while the only soft spot has been them allowing nine home runs, though they have gone through the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays, the two top power-hitting teams in the majors based on home runs.

On Saturday, the relievers gave the Royals five innings of one-run production. And closer Wade Davis, arguably the best reliever in the sport with his major league-leading 0.97 ERA over the last two seasons, threw two innings to close out the Mets and put the Royals on the brink of the World Series title that escaped them last fall.

“He’s the best,” Royals left fielder Alex Gordon told MLB Network after the game. “He’s been doing it for two years, and he just steps up in big situations and gets it done. He did it again tonight.”

But a team needs to score to come from behind to win, and in the fateful three-run eighth inning that led them to the victory, the Royals drew two walks and did not strike out once. They capitalized on a fielding error and got a couple of singles to plate their runs before handing the ball to Davis for a second inning.

During the regular season, the Royals were the only major league team not to strike out 1,000 times, and they also had the second-fewest walks in the majors. And with the game on the line, they continued to do what they typically do well and they stepped up a part of their game they typically do not rely on.

“But the most important thing is they put the ball in play,” Yost told reporters. “They make things happen by putting the ball in play, and it’s just a phenomenal group.”

Most of what the Royals do can be measured, quantified. It has a number that correlates to their success. We know why and how they win. We know where they succeed and fail.

But what they seem to do during the postseason, that is a little less certain. They win when you do not expect them to win. They force you to never give up on them because recent history tells us we’d be stupid to do such a thing, and time after time they prove the faith to be justified.

They show that maybe “clutch” actually does exist.

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The veneer of invincibility that struck fear and intimidation into so many opponents has faded, and it has been replaced by a sense, real or perceived, of vulnerability.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to lose the advantage.

The Kansas City Royals bullpen, specifically the once-dominant three at the back end, is now vulnerable. This was the group that virtually carried the Royals into the World Series last season, making it tolerable for the team to have a rotation that pumped fear into the hearts of no postseason opponent.

That was left to the three-headed relief monster of seventh-inning guy Kelvin Herrera, setup man Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland. But over this second half of the season, there have been chinks in what was once viewed as an impenetrable part of the team, and that could have devastating effects on the Royals’ run at another American League pennant.

The problem came to light once again Friday night when Holland allowed two runs to the Detroit Tigers in the 12th inning, blowing his fifth save and pumping his ERA to 6.00 over his last 14 appearances (12 innings).

The #Royals appear to have a closer issue.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) September 19, 2015

“I’ve never not trusted you,” Royals manager Ned Yost said he told Holland last week, per Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star. “I’m not going to start now.”

That was before Holland’s fastball velocity was in the 80s and he walked a guy, allowed a hit and threw a wild pitch while saving a game against the Cleveland Indians last Tuesday. That prompted a slightly different tune.

“Being fair, Holly’s velocity has dropped,” Yost told reporters. “But he’s always been a guy who has done it. Until he proves he can’t do it, he’s going to get the opportunity to do it. He’s earned it, over the years.”

But…

“If it gets to be an issue, we’ll evaluate it,” Yost added. “It hasn’t become an issue yet. People want to get nervous because he’s throwing 90 or 91 mph. That’s fine. But right now, it really hasn’t become an issue. If it does, we’ll evaluate it.”

Holland threw a clean inning two days later for his 32nd save, but then came Friday’s debacle in which he issued a bases-loaded walk and the walk-off hit. That obviously brought on questions about Holland’s role, ones Yost was not willing to answer.

Yost, as a manager with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Royals, has always been loyal to his players and will fiercely defend them to the media when they are struggling. He proved that to be true again after Holland’s showing against the Tigers.

“I’m done talking about Greg right now,” Yost snapped at reporters, choosing not to address the elephant tucked into the corner of the manager’s office. “I’m done talking about Greg tonight.”

If Yost is done using him at any point, the Royals have an excellent replacement.

Wade Davis is arguably the best reliever in baseball this season. He leads all qualified arms with a 0.88 ERA, is second with a 91.1 percent strand rate and is eighth in FanGraphs wins above replacement, although he is only that low in the strikeout-centric formula because his 10.22 strikeouts per nine innings rank 37th in the majors among relievers.

Davis, an All-Star this year and owner of a 0.63 ERA in 14.1 postseason innings last year, also has not allowed an earned run in his last 14 outings. He’s struck out 17 in that span.

For now, Holland’s role remains the same. But he is far from the closer he was over the past two seasons, when he saved 93 games with a 1.32 ERA, 1.59 FIP and 13.4 strikeouts per nine innings with an average fastball velocity of 96 mph, according to Baseball Info Solutions (h/t FanGraphs). During last postseason, Holland was absolutely filthy, allowing one run in 11 innings and striking out 15 hitters.

This year, Holland’s velocity has dropped to under 94 mph and even further down as of late. He has a 3.83 ERA and is striking out 9.9 hitters per nine. His strikeout-to-walk ratio has dropped dramatically to a career-low 1.88 from 5.08 over the previous two seasons.

Holland is not alone in these struggles, though. Herrera, a dominant bullpen arm at times in his career, was great in 2014. He had a 1.41 ERA and in the playoffs allowed three runs in 15 innings (1.80 ERA) and struck out 16.

He started out this year in the same form. In his first 55.1 innings, Herrera had a 1.95 ERA, and opponents hit .181 against him. But in his last 10 outings, starting on Aug. 22, the 25-year-old right-hander has a 7.71 ERA with eight earned runs allowed in 9.1 innings. The majority of that damage came in back-to-back outings on Sept. 11 and 14 when he surrendered three earned runs in each, but since then, Herrera has had consecutive scoreless innings without allowing a run, though he did give up a hit and a walk Friday.

Whatever happens between now and Game 1 of the American League Division Series for the Royals, the fact is that the bullpen’s immaculate facade has cracked, aside from Davis. Holland and Herrera have had their skin pulled back, and instead of robotic parts, there are human ones.

That is enough to strip the Royals of their intimidation factor in October. And unless their questionable starting pitching steps up next month or both relievers return to last season’s form, that could be enough to cost the team late-inning losses when it can least afford them.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Wade Davis recently set a franchise record by recording 25 consecutive scoreless appearances, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Following a pair of scoreless innings against the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, his Royals record now stands at 27 straight appearances, covering 26.2 innings. Davis has pitched exactly one inning in all but one of those games, having thrown two-thirds of a frame July 31 against the Minnesota Twins.

Sporting a 0.75 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and 90:21 K:BB through 60.1 innings this season, Davis is having one of the finest seasons for a relief pitcher in major-league history. He didn’t allow an extra-base hit until his 44th appearance of the year, which came in the aforementioned game against the Twins on July 31.

Having still allowed just two extra-base hits (both doubles) all season, Davis has held opponents to a minuscule .010 isolated slugging (ISO) mark, which is calculated by slugging percentage (.149) minus batting average (.139).

According to Baseball-Reference’s play index (via ESPN.com), only one qualified pitcher since 1957 has held his opponents to a lower ISO over the course of a full season. Doing the honors was Frank Williams, who gave up just one extra-base hit over 52.1 innings for the San Francisco Giants in 1986, good for a .006 opponents’ ISO.

Among pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings, Davis leads the majors in opponents’ slugging percentage (.139), while ranking second in opponents’ batting average (.139) and ninth in opponents’ on-base percentage (.227). His 2.5 WAR ranks third, behind only New York Yankees rookie reliever Dellin Betances‘ 2.7 and Tampa Bay Rays closer Jake McGee’s 2.6.

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Most teams are paying their big-name starting pitchers a fortune to provide 200 innings this season. But for a few of those pitchers, their performance is crippling teams that hope to contend, and that brings their job security into question.

Some of these pitchers have long track records that afford them a longer leash. They may not lose their jobs based on a bad first month, but if the struggles continue into June, teams may begin looking for alternatives.

Some of these pitchers will turn it around and finish just fine, but others will either be demoted, traded or pushed to the bullpen.

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The Kansas City Royals finally got their ace, acquiring right-handed pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for prospects Wil Myers, Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and Patrick Leonard. Although Shields was the centerpiece of the deal for the Royals, it’s Davis who could provide the most long-term value. 

The Royals have been widely criticized by those who believe they severely overpaid. Baseball America listed Myers, Montgomery and Odorizzi among the team’s top-five 2012 prospects. 

In his analysis of the deal, ESPN.com’s Keith Law crushed Kansas City GM Dayton Moore, stating, “The deal reeks of a GM feeling pressure to improve short-term performance to keep his job.”

Although the Royals hope to win now, the true impact of the trade may not be fully known for years. However, it may not end up as slanted as some believe. Davis has the kind of talent and opportunity that could change opinions.

Shields has been one of the most consistent starters in baseball over the past six seasons. During that time he’s averaged nearly 14 wins and 221.2 innings per year. His presence will undoubtedly help a Royals rotation that hasn’t had a pitcher win more than 12 games since Zack Greinke won 16 in 2009.

Despite his pedigree, Royals fans shouldn’t expect Shields to have a long tenure in Kansas City. He has a maximum of two years and $21 million left on his current deal. An extension seems unlikely given the Royals’ finances.

Greinke, who is listed by Baseball Reference as having the closest similarity score to Shields, just signed a six-year, $147 million contract. This suggests that Shields might expect a good chunk of change once he becomes a free agent if he continues pitching even close to his current level.

It’s hard to imagine the Royals being a major player on Shields if he sought a contract of any significance. They’ve been at or near the bottom of annual MLB payrolls for more than a decade, according to StevetheUmp.com (stats obtained through the Associated Press).

Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reported that owner David Glass is being maxed out this season by pushing the team’s entire payroll to $80 million. Financial flexibility does not appear to be on the horizon.

The key to the trade may very well be Davis. He is relatively cheap and appears to have recently turned the corner in becoming an above-average pitcher.

The 27-year-old was a mediocre starter for Tampa Bay in 2010-2011. Although he had a combined 23 wins, his 4.27 ERA and 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings were nothing special.

Davis seems to have found himself in 2012. Because of a stacked starting rotation, the Rays pitched him exclusively in relief. He went 3-0 in 54 games with a 2.43 ERA. More impressive were his 11.1 strikeouts versus 6.1 hits allowed per nine innings.

Davis throws a fastball, slider, curve and changeup. His 2012 average fastball velocity spiked to a career-high 93.7 mph according to FanGraphs.com.

Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star reported that Davis believes his improvement was because of a change in approach. The Royals’ new hurler explained, “I learned to put my foot on the gas pedal from the get-go rather than working into a rhythm.”

Despite his new-found success as a reliever, Davis will be a starter for the Royals. According to Grathoff, his new pitching coach, Dave Eiland, believes he is more than up to the task. Because of what he learned in the bullpen last season.

“He’s a big guy with some power. He needs to go out there and put the foot on the accelerator from the first pitch on. He has the ability to do that. He needs to come right at hitters because he can control any lineup in baseball with that stuff.”

If Davis carries his success as a reliever back to the rotation, the Royals will have a steal. He is due to make just $7.6 million over the remaining two years of his current contract. After that, the team holds annual team options that could keep him in Kansas City for an additional three seasons for a combined $25 million. Compared to the contract just signed by Greinke, such numbers seem very reasonable.

Count ESPN.com’s Buster Olney among those who believe Davis is the key to the trade. Speaking about Davis’ development, he said, “The Royals now become a place of opportunity, to apply all that he learned about himself last summer.”

The Royals may have given up a lot of young talent, but they got back the same in Davis. If he continues to develop he will wind up being the team’s key to this deal and potentially provide the long-term impact pitcher they have wanted for so long.

Statistics via BaseballReference

Follow @historianandrew

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When building a fantasy rotation, you’re going to need to add depth, and the more you can add, the better you’ll be. Fortunately, you can do a lot of that with pitching, and these guys are some good ones to look at. Best of all is that any or all of these guys will probably be available to you. 

Mark Buehrle, Miami Marlins

The concern here is that Buehrle’s around the plate a lot, so he does surrender a lot of hits. But that’s really the only concern here. 

The hits are more than made up for by the fact that he hardly walks anybody, so the WHIP is greatly neutralized. On top of that, he does not allow a lot of run, so the ERA will be fine. 

Buehrle is pitching on a team that will give him plenty of chances to win games, and he throws a lot of innings, never logging fewer than 200 in a full season. That’s a good way to keep your staff ERA down, as it limits the damage caused by one run. 

On top of all of that, Buehrle is now in the National League, so he now gets the benefit of facing a pitcher instead of nine professional hitters. This is a good middle of the rotation guy that will make your team very deep in pitching. 

Dixon’s Projection’s 

R.A. Dickey, New York Mets

The drawback here is the Mets are just not a very good team, so the wins aren’t likely to be high. Still, pitching in Citi Field has done good things for Dickey, who has a 3.08 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in two years as a Met.

What a guy like Dickey will do is enable you to pick up pitchers that will win a lot of games but have inflated ERA’s, like guys on the Yankees or Red Sox. Dickey will be there to provide a good balance. 

Even with the fences moving in, there is no reason to think that Citi Field won’t still be a strong pitching park. The fact is that it’s hard to hit that knuckle ball, so a spacious stadium is good for the ERA. The strikeouts won’t be great, but won’t be terrible either. 

Dixon’s Projection’s 

Wade Davis, Tampa Bay Rays

Think of this is sort of a coupling move. I previously said Dickey would be valuable because you could then go for a guy on a good team that will win games but have a higher ERA and WHIP than you would like. Davis is that guy. 

The innings will be solid, which is always good. The walk totals won’t be high, which will neutralize a lot of hits. But the Rays will win a lot of games, which means Davis will win games. That’s just as valuable as any category in fantasy baseball. 

Dixon’s Projection’s 

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Earlier this week, Joe Maddon named his starting five for the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff and Wade Davis found himself to be No. 3 on that list, in front of Jeff Niemann and Jeremy Hellickson.

The question is, does he deserve it?

If Maddon’s decision was based on spring training, Davis would find himself in the number-five slot. So far this spring, Davis has logged 9.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs and 18 hits with a 12.54 ERA. 

You compare that to Jeff Niemann, who in five innings has yet to allow an earned run on four hits. In his limited work, Niemann has certainly been more impressive.

Hellickson, who has been limited due to injury, has pitched well in the spring as well, going 2.2 innings, allowing one earned run on one hit, a home run.

I know it is only spring training, but these numbers from Davis are a bit alarming.

In yesterday’s outing, Davis allowed eight earned runs in 3.1 innings of work. Not what you want to see out of your No. 3 starter, who will be facing the likes of Clay Buchholz, the Red Sox number-three starter. This spring, Buchholz has allowed only one earned in 13 innings, considerably better than Davis. 

It makes you wonder on what Maddon was basing his decision to make Davis the number-three starter.

Did he completely throw out the spring?

I know spring training is meaningless and guys are trying to get in shape, but Davis has been consistently bad all spring long. I need to see a couple good starts out of Davis before I can call him the right man for the job.

I believe he does belong in the rotation, but not at number three. Where you pitch doesn’t really matter, but he will be facing some good pitchers, and if he constantly gets the Rays into a hole, the Rays’ offense will not always be able to pull him out. 

Check out my blog, Rays the Roof, for your daily dose of Tampa Bay Rays news and notes, as well as opinions like this one. 

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