Prospect News: Moore Lies Beneath, Look To The Sellers

This time of year, I tend to comb the org charts for teams who are likely to sell, seeking anyone with a pulse who might inherit some playing time. I’m not sure I can do that this season because it’s a unique landscape. I mean, how many sellers exist today? There’s only five teams with fewer than 40 wins: Los Angeles of Anaheim (36), Colorado (38), Kansas City (38), New York (38) and San Francisco (38).

That’s a good thing for the health of the game, of course, and it’s interesting given the league office’s increasingly public push for a salary cap. 

Cincinnati, Boston, Detroit and the Athletics all have 41 wins. Baltimore has 42 and Toronto has 43. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of these teams hold onto their rosters. The Reds just got Hunter Greene and Elly De La Cruz back. Boston is 8-and-2 over its last ten games and has hot-seat reasons to fight to the final bell. Detroit is 7-3 over its last ten and holds the biggest potential deadline domino in recent memory with Tarik Skubal. Baltimore has its own hot-seat reasons to hang in there, and Toronto was just in the World Series last year. Heck, they were a bounce or two away from winning the thing. 

Minnesota is being circled by pundits as a potential seller, but they’re just two games under .500 at 45-47, which means they’re just three games behind the division-leading White Sox. The Twins would have the best or second best arm on the market in Joe Ryan, but his salary is just $6.1 million this year with a $13 million option for 2027. It’s tough to get equal return for a player with that much surplus value, especially when you’ve already stuffed your 40-man roster timeline thanks to last year’s firesale. With one of the league’s worst bullpens, Minnesota has a case to be a buyer. They don’t actually have much to sell if that’s their preference. OF Trevor Larnach’s been hot and could make sense for several clubs. Byron Buxton could bring back a haul, but he’s hurt and doesn’t want to move, in more ways than one, given the lingering hip soreness. Perhaps someone would want Bailey Ober, but he’s probably got more value as an innings-eater on a decent team than he’d bring back via trade. The club just recalled OF Alan Roden to take Buxton’s spot while he’s on the mend. In 19 Triple-A games since returning from his own injury, Roden drew 14 walks against 14 strikeouts and slashed .294/.422/.618 with six home runs. The organizational strategy of stacking a bunch of high-minors bats to slowly sort has paid quick dividends in terms of depth. 

If you’re an extreme optimist, you can squint and think the Giants and Mets could maybe make their front offices think twice about trading from the present to enhance the future with a crazy enough run between now and the deadline. I guess I’m not an optimist. The Giants have a lot of pieces they could sell: 3B Matt Chapman, SS Willy Adames, SP Logan Webb, 2B Luis Arraez, SP Robbie Ray, and even 1B Rafael Devers. One issue there is the team has money to spend, and free agents have repeatedly decided against signing with San Francisco. We also don’t have enough experience with a Buster Posey front office to make many predictions. OF Jonah Cox has played two games at second base, for what it’s Werth. He’d be a quick pick-up if Arraez or an outfielder got traded. 

The Mets have seemingly been seeding the soil for a SS Francisco Lindor trade by planting stories about a fractured clubhouse. He’d be a huge name, but he’d also add about $34 million in payroll over the next five and a half seasons. He’s also been struggling this season whenever he’s been healthy enough to play, posting a career-worst 85 wRC+ through 32 games. Could be a chance for a team with deep-pockets to buy a superstar on a dip. Could be a fast way to burn through some cash on a 32-year-old’s declining years. 

Other Mets likely on the move: 2B Jorge Polanco, SP Freddy Peralta and LHP Sean Manaea. Maybe Marcus Semien and Luis Robert as well, although both guys are injured at the moment, and Semien’s contract is under water. Peralta is the only guy who should command something like a premium prospect in return. If the rotation clears out, we might see RHP Jack Wenninger, who could be useful in just about any sized league during this time of poverty on the pitching side. SS Ronny Mauricio should get another look if the middle infield opens up, and I think he remains intriguing enough to warrant a flier. 

For the Angels, I’d expect to see 3B Christian Moore after the trade deadline, but I expected to see him before the trade deadline as well. Tough to suss what’s going on out there. Jorge Soler could be traded, so maybe that’s Moore’s spot. I’m also keeping an eye on OF Raudi Rodriguez here. I think he might hit big league pitching right away if given the chance. He’s having an excellent season (144 wRC+) in Double-A despite skipping High-A entirely. 

The Royals should make space for utility man Tyler Tolbert. Perhaps in center field, where they’ve been playing Lane Thomas, or in right field, where they’ve been playing Kameron Misner. Nick Loftin should be playing every day as well wherever they’re starting Josh Rojas in a given game. OF Matthew Lugo has had another solid season in Triple-A and might get a corner outfield shot sooner than later, though I wouldn’t be rushing out to add him. On the pitching side, the whole staff could be traded, but I don’t think that will happen because Kansas City has vanishingly few healthy starting pitchers waiting in the wings. 

Thanks for reading!