Trade Tiers + Boston streaking

00:00:00
Speaker 1: They are willing to trade a Corner outfielder Jared Duran William Brady, but they're not going to do it just for the sake of doing it.

00:00:15
Speaker 2: At Corner is powered by Next Playgrounds. Don't just play video games, play them actively. I just made that slogan enough, but it's true. It's a very very active console and platform. Go check it out anyway. Trade deadline tears put out there by the athletic so let's run through them, and let's start with could be parentheses, should be aggressive buyers, Detroit Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Cubs. And if you're listening to the pod version of this, I'm not going to point out all of the needs they placed there. You should just watch the clip on YouTube later on. But from what you're looking at on the screen, what stands out the most crats? Where do you see one of those needs definitely being filled? And do you have a name in mind?

00:00:59
Speaker 3: Everybody wanting relief pitching, So we can't even talk about relief pitching with any of these teams because they all need it. To me, I don't feel like the Phillies leave the trade deadline without an outfielder. I feel like there's somebody out there that they could possibly overpay for. Luise Robert obviously has been swung around there. They are looking for somebody to be able to hit right handed pitching. So he's not hitting any pitching right now, but there's intrigue for athleticism there. I just you'd have to convince. You have a harder time convincing me that Dave Dombrowski doesn't do something. Is it a superstar outfit or I doubt it. So that's why I would lean to not towards Luis Robert. But Dave Dombrowski's getting something in the outfield.

00:01:51
Speaker 2: I think you could say that about their relief pitching. I would be shocked and floored if they don't get themselves a high leverage reliever.

00:01:58
Speaker 4: But you're saying that's obvious.

00:02:00
Speaker 3: It's everybody. Everybody needed. Everybody in that list there, everybody needed a relief pitcher. Are you saying who's gonna get the highest end relief pitcher? I mean, look, Dave Dombrowski did not go and get Tanner Scott he was available. He did not go and get Kirby Yates. He was available. He did not. I don't know how much. Blake Trenton actually cared like there was guys that were available in the offseason, he did not go get them. So is he gonna get the most high end star. I don't know, but I do know that he's going to fill that outfield role and relief pitching. Somebody's gonna pay a premium for anybody you get, even some middle tier relief pitchers, because everybody on that list needs somebody, and all those teams want to win and are built to win this year.

00:02:48
Speaker 2: My point is they lost Alvarado for the playoffs, so they're gonna hop to fill that. Boyd, they didn't know that going into the season. I mean unless they were following him around watching what he was putting into his body. But anyway, Age, I actually think that's a good move for them if they can't get someone that's more of a proven bat this year. Luise Robert is going to be a scrap he pick up for the Phillies, and you know he's gonna play good defense and run the base as well. Maybe he finds himself. It's not like he's forty five years old.

00:03:18
Speaker 5: He couldn't. He's definitely a change of scenery guy, and I would encourage someone to try that with him. But then also I thought like guy like Alloy Jimenez was a change of scenery guy, and he's in Triple A barely playing, so Jo al Mancatta, I thought when he changed scenery would be great, but he hasn't hardly played this year. So I just don't know. I don't know. I want Louise Robert to go to a place where he gets an opportunity to win and see what he can do. But I just don't know what you can get for him. That's the biggest problem. I just don't know.

00:03:46
Speaker 2: Let's go to Tier two typical buyers. These are all teams that absolutely will be shopping, just like the tier above them, Blue Jays, Astros, Mets, Brewers, Mariners.

00:03:59
Speaker 4: Pick something for one of them.

00:04:00
Speaker 5: Aj Uh to me, the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays to me, they needed just a pitcher, relief or starter. And then the Mets. Centerfield is the one position in their field when you look at the offense doesn't match up with the rest of the team. So but Luise Roberts to them, I don't know who. The question is who What center fielder is out there that teams will trade there isn't any who Cedric Cedric, Yeah, I mean, but if you look at his numbers, he's kind of he's kind of a little bit this year. He got off to a great story, he's kind of ratcheted down. So, uh yeah, I guess again, like some of these are all wishes and dreams and hopes and all that. But the problem is the teams that are sellers just don't have the pieces that these teams need. There's only so many of them to go around. I mean, the more important part is if you go to the aggressive sellers. All right, let's look at those guys. Colorado who they they're not trading their center fielder. They love him, Brent Doyle, right, they're not trading him. He'd be a nice fit.

00:04:57
Speaker 3: They're not trading anybody. Rockies aren't trade anybody.

00:05:00
Speaker 5: Baltimore, Okay, fine, Pittsburgh, they're not trading O'Neil Cruz. He's their centerfielder. Miami, I don't even know who their centerfielder is, so they're not trading him. In Washington, who's their centerfielder. They're not trading him either, because I don't know who it is off the top of my head.

00:05:12
Speaker 4: Mullins is the one.

00:05:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, and Robert. Mullins and Robert are the two center fielders. And then you go relievers, any relievers. Bird maybe in Colorado.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, he just had a stinker the other day and that kind of derailed his stuff. To me, on that list, it's the Mariners. First base is open. Guess who's south of you in Arizona, Josh Naylor. This is their chance. This is like chance number five to add to this team. Jerry Depoto loves to trade dudes, and he would love to have some cash from the ownership, but clearly that doesn't happen. Josh Naylor. Mariners have been looking for that first base bat. Maybe he's the guy.

00:05:59
Speaker 2: Tier three trending to the by side, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco. Two catchers listed on that list.

00:06:12
Speaker 5: Padres catcher for me is the biggest hole on that whole list because they don't starting pitching. You just don't know who's coming back when. So to me, the Padres have been looking for a catcher feels like forever, right. They keep every year it's like, oh we got a catcher. We got a new catcher. We got a new catcher, we got a new catcher. Can they go out and get that catcher that can be there for three or four years and make their pitchers feel comfortable. That's the biggest Maybe Sean Murphy grip fit great there, He would fit great in San Diego. But can they afford him?

00:06:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you have you would they would? I mean who knows? But I was looking at and now, oh the Red Sox. Yeah, the Red Sox. They're three, there are three options. I think it might be a mute point. I feel like they might roll back to being a five hundred deam by the time they get to the trade deadline and not really do a whole lot.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: All right, let's show Tier four. This is where I find discrepancies. Really, can we actually do Tier four and five? The rest of them don't matter as much, but Tier four and five because the other ones are for sellers. You've got the tailors, meaning they could buy and sell the Cardinals, the Braves, the Twins and the Rangers, and then their Tier five is trending on this cell side, and that's the Rays, the Diamondbacks, the Guardians and the Royals. Now, for me, guys, it's really hard to see the Braves buying at this point, it's for me hard to see the Royals selling yet. I think the Royals are still going to make a play for.

00:07:44
Speaker 4: A little bit here.

00:07:45
Speaker 2: You can jump pretty quickly back into the American League wildcard race with a good week or two.

00:07:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, the the Rays aren't going to sell. The Rays are going to try and add, you know. They they'll try and add a cheap piece for me, or to a bullpen, a starter or whatever it is. They'll find somebody out there and they'll try and do. That's what the Rays do. Arizona's gonna have to sell because the division they're in. Cleveland's gonna have to sell. They're so far out. Atlanta's not buying. I don't know why they would think they're buying. Trust me, they talk to enough people in Atlanta. They they don't think. They don't just have enough pieces. There's too many guys out for them. Minnesota, Yeah, we'll see Texas. Sat. Louis is the interesting one here because what are they gonna do because Hellsley, who we talked about a lot in the offseason, getting traded if they fall out of it. But he goes Sunny Gray is not going so don't even bring him up because he's he said, I'm not being traded, but they have some other pieces that could bring back some stuff for them. So Saint Louis is the interesting team on this.

00:08:37
Speaker 2: For me, I'll give you their schedule on our way out here. Second half of the season leading up to the deadline. They've got three in Arizona, then they have three at Colorado. This is for the Cardinals, then they go home. Their home stand has the Padres in town for four and the Marlins in town for four leading up to that deadline. That's what they have before July thirty first, which is a Thursday, and they're off that day.

00:09:05
Speaker 5: The Padres series is where it's at for the Cardinals. They should hope if they win four said, they win four out of six at minimum in Arizona and Colorado, then they go home play the Padres. That's going to be the buy or sell sweepstakes. Whoever wins that series might be the buyer and whoever loses it might be the seller.

00:09:22
Speaker 3: That's good. I like that.

00:09:25
Speaker 2: The thing that's funny is so many teams say, oh, let's see what the next two weeks look like. Realistically, most teams are going to play five hundredition be in a very similar spot. You might have one team going to run one way or another, but most teams are still going to have question marks heading into that trade deadline period. But it does mean that we likely won't have a ton of activity until closer to the deadline, because if you're a team looking for assets and you think you're going to get a better one from a team on the edge of buying or selling, you're going to wait to see if that asset is available, if it's the best one that helps you. Robert Murray might be able to explain that even easier than I just did.

00:10:00
Speaker 4: We'll talk to him coming up in a moment.

00:10:01
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00:10:23
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00:10:38
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00:10:44
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00:11:57
Speaker 4: Red Sox are the hottest team coming out of the break. They've won ten games in a row.

00:12:01
Speaker 2: Some of that was against the soft schedule, but then heading into the break, they sweeped the Rays in four games. Rays had been playing really good ball for a while. They win three of those matchups by one run. What is your thoughts on this current Red Sox team? Do you think they'll keep this up in the second half?

00:12:17
Speaker 1: The Red Sox might be good and that would make some people look smart because in March, when I was covering the Mets for Newsday and we were doing our season predictions.

00:12:26
Speaker 5: I picked the.

00:12:26
Speaker 1: Red Sox to win the ale least, so I think at this point, winners of ten in a row, they're three back of the Blue Jays. I probably got to stick with that prediction, right, but the division is right there for the taking. The Blue Jays aren't that scary, the Yankees aren't that scary, and maybe they don't see the Red Sox are scary either, And that's a reasonable take. But they've won ten in a row. We're going to learn a lot about the Red Sox in the first week and a half coming out of the break because they're going to play the three first place National League teams Cubs, Philly and then home to host the Dodgers, which should be a lot of fun. So it's gonna be a very interesting and eventful two weeks leading up to the trade deadline, for sure.

00:13:10
Speaker 3: What is a successful trip or a group of series out of those three series?

00:13:16
Speaker 1: Is it?

00:13:17
Speaker 3: Hey, if they win one of those three series but they don't get swept, is that successful? Because they're a young team, it feels like they have like some built in excuses Bregman's coming back. What's successful?

00:13:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you can manage even a winning record in those nine games and go five and four. I think they'd sign up for that in a heartbeat. Even four and five a losing record a little bit. They're probably still holding a playoff spot at the end of it, going into a series with the Twins, which is their last one before the deadline. So four and five, eh, five and four for sure, and you know, we'll see what they're made oft of. As you said, they have a lot of young players, so the range of potential outcomes is wider than normal, not only for these week, this week and a half, but the next two and a half months. So you know, we'll see what those guys got.

00:14:14
Speaker 5: Tim. I'm gonna I'm doing the Red Sox game on Saturday in Chicago, So yeah, I saw the pitching matchups and it's Gilito on Friday, who's been pitching unbelievably well since he came back, and then Brian bao Is on Saturday against Semonaga. What a great pitching matchup two months ago you might not have said that, maybe on one side, but not the other. What have these two guys done to make them so valuable and just so awesome for the Red Sox.

00:14:37
Speaker 1: It's It's been fascinating to see because when I showed up in early June, neither guy was very good. Giolito looked terrible. He had a you know, like a six and a half ra and seven start since returning from the injured list, and now he has a point seven ray in half it doesn't start, So it's been a pretty remarkable turnaround both guys. It's a little different for it is all goes back to a bullpen session in early June at Yankee Stadium when he locked in on some what Andrew Bailey, the Pigeon coach, called biomech callouts, so basically they're you know, they're they're they're they're high tech guys looking at the super slow mo video made some recommendations to Gilido and got him back to his delivery and his mechanics from when he was quite good in really early early this decade through you know, the first half of twenty twenty three, even got him back to where he was, and he said, this is the most locked in he has ever felt in his major league career as far as being able to make adjustments inning to inning or even at bat to at bat, pitch to pitch with BeO. It's a little different because we might just be seeing the growth of a young guy who may or may have been rushed to the majors a couple of years ago, did a lot of learning at the game's highest level, which is not easy to do, took his lumps, for sure, and now is starting to pitch like the top prospect the Mets, the Mets, the Red Sox thought they had a couple of years ago. And you know, is he going to be normally a low three z E A guy? I don't know, But in a half of a season, which isn't that small of a sample anymore, that's where he's at. And over the past month plus he's been even better than that. So uh, you know, Beto's just getting better as opposed to throwing it back to when he was better like Dildoz.

00:16:46
Speaker 3: And these pitchers are doing this with way below average defense behind them. They've given up the second most unearned runs of any team, and the other team is obviously the Colorado Rockies, who had were just in Fenwain at twenty one wins. Does their biomechanical lab have any flow issues with or figuring out how to biomechanically have their fielders feel the ball any better.

00:17:14
Speaker 1: It's so interesting because on the whole the defenses is not great and the airs of air and the unearned runs are a disaster, and then on an individual basis they are nasty at some spots. Saddan Rafaela amazing at center field. Will you or Bray great? In right field? Duran pretty good and left. I think a big part of improving the defense comes up the middle in the infield, and it's been the defense has been better as the Red Sox stuff played better in recent weeks. Funny how that works, right. Christian Campbell, who shot through the miners and opened the season as the second basement, got a big contract right off the bat was really bad base for a couple of months, and then they sent him down to Triple A and now they have Marcela Meyer then and my Ier is much more sound defensively, can play anywhere in the infield, and if he is the most days second baseman the rest of the way, they'll be much better off defensively at shortstop. Trevor Story. You know, I didn't see Trevor Story early in the season when he was playing regularly for the first time in really a couple of years after some brutal injury luck. But to hear him describe it, to hear Alex Cory describe it, being in the flow of a season for the first time in a while has allowed him to play better defense and have that, you know, almost stylish free form flow at shortstop. So up the middle defensively, they're looking a lot better. So I would expect the defense the rest of the way to be better than what it was early in the season.

00:18:55
Speaker 3: Would you expect them to tray from any of their big leaguers because the other part of it is they also have all of Raffie Dever's money that they could put towards somebody else. So is there Duran obviously is there, But there's some big league talent on the field that's young, and people are like, well, you always trade young talent.

00:19:17
Speaker 1: Sure, they are willing to trade a corner outfielder Jared Duran, Willi or Bray you, but they're not going to do it just for the sake of doing it and alleviating what some might view, including myself, as a glut of outfielders or a log jam in the outfield right now on a short term basis two and a half months this season. They are comfortable having those four guys Roman, Anthony, Jared Duran, Saddan Rafaela, Willi or braw and just rotating them as necessary. But if some team comes along and says, hey, here's a proposal that will make your major league team immediately better for your playoff race, we'll take Duran. The Red Sox are gonna jump on that if it's a good deal. So those guys are available, yes, do I expect it a trade to happen in the next two weeks. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's certainly possible. The Red Sox are willing to listen.

00:20:17
Speaker 5: It just surprises me that they would make trade from one of their strengths, but I guess that's what you have to do as a team. Would they trade? I mean, Duran seems to be the name we keep possibly.

00:20:27
Speaker 3: Hearing over and over and over again.

00:20:29
Speaker 5: Did he piss somebody off in Boston? Because I thought they loved him in Boston? Why? Why is it him? Why is it? I mean, they can't move your Sheeta. Obviously, we haven't even mentioned they're not gonna trade Anthony, right, But why is it Duran. I thought people in Boston loved Duran.

00:20:43
Speaker 1: Dude. Duran is very popular among fans. He is the on When MLBY came out with their list of most popular jerseys of the first half a few days ago, Duran was the only Red Sox player on it. Fans love him largely. He was amazing last year, not as good this year. But if you look at the outfield picture right now for the Red Sox, Roman Anthony's not going anywhere. We know that, Raphaela not going anywhere. We know that, and that leads two guys their corner outfielders, Duran and the Bray, And both of those guys are sort of in the same bucket as far as yeah, they can be had if you're willing to pay up as another team. A Brave's a little cheaper, more years of team control, gold glove right fielder, So maybe that makes him more desirable to keep and more or more difficult to pry away from the Red Sox, which leaves Durant, who's still a few years away from free agency himself, still a very good player himself, all that stuff. But if you look at it that way, that's why Duran would be the odd man out. Even if you know both corner outfielders or either corner outfielder theoretically could could be dealt in the right trade.

00:22:00
Speaker 5: Tim, I'm assuming I know you watch the All Star Game. We love the swing off. You tweeted out, Peter Alonzo can quit the derby, but the derby can't quit Pete Alonzo. What did you mean by this? Because Peter Alonzo was in the swing off didn't even get the swing. How cool would it have been if he would have got a chance.

00:22:15
Speaker 1: It would have been awesome. For the record, I tweeted that when Peter Alonzo was gonna bat, I really thought he was gonna have a chance to walk it off there. But it was so funny, it was perfect. Here's a guy who made the derby a piece, a major piece of his baseball identity, and this year he says, I'm gonna take the year off, and he did, and he didn't do the home run derby, and then lo and behold, All Star Game is tied and apparently includes a swing off in that scenario, now, which was electric, by the way, a lot of fun So I thought it would have been perfect if Miranda had figured out how to hit one home run in his in his chance there and giving Alonzo a chance to walk it off would have been really funny. But so it goes.

00:23:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, not the best choice. Maybe to go with Jonathan Ronda. No offense to him, great hitter this year, but.

00:23:15
Speaker 5: No offense Jonathan I mean Sky keep his pott, dude.

00:23:19
Speaker 4: I mean okay, timpacked.

00:23:23
Speaker 2: Tim one home run to win you a game in a derby in this derby form, you you want no, no, we're not picking anyone. Do you want Jonathan Ronda, Byron Buxton or Bobby Witt because the rules, according to the manager, even though these weren't the official rules, were that they wanted to use guys that were still playing in the game.

00:23:42
Speaker 5: How would you.

00:23:44
Speaker 1: I'd probably have to go Buxton of those three, but in two not Randa, right, thank you, thank you, With apologies to Randa. But it killed the dream for Pete Alonzo. I think one of those other two gus at least one more or Homer, and that would have kept that thing rolling with Pete. But anyway, he was locked in the batting cage.

00:24:08
Speaker 4: He was he was, Yeah, we mentioned it earlier.

00:24:10
Speaker 2: He had a great line about how he's like, yeah, now, I know how closers feel when you're going into warm up and then you don't get used.

00:24:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, crat Tim, that's very That's very Because Jazz Chisholm was locked into the batting cage by the American League team so he wouldn't come out to the derby.

00:24:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, fair, fair is fair, I joked. I joked before watching.

00:24:29
Speaker 4: The derby at home.

00:24:30
Speaker 1: I wasn't in uh Atlanta this week, but before Jazz came up and he's you know, he's sort of odd, you know, odd duffling in the home run derby, I said, imagine if he just hits three home runs, and then he did, it was like, oh no, oh, no, poor guy.

00:24:49
Speaker 5: Anybody that hit zero. There has to have been somebody that hit zero at some point in this thing, right.

00:24:53
Speaker 4: I think there has been.

00:24:55
Speaker 1: I don't remember Robinson to know when his first year was really bad and the year that they did the international based country representatives Tulowitzki, Jason Bay. I think representing Canada that year was not good. I don't know if he had zero, but it was.

00:25:14
Speaker 4: I got names for you guys. Guys.

00:25:16
Speaker 2: We have a lot of AI bots that help us with this stuff nowadays.

00:25:19
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:25:20
Speaker 2: Notable examples of players that have failed to hit any home runs in a derby Yasiel Pueeg in twenty fourteen, Mike Piazza twice, Gary Gaetti also one time, and in the nineteen ninety home run derby, five out of eight participants went home lists.

00:25:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, but that was a different They did it different than those I know. It was like it got like.

00:25:43
Speaker 3: Many ches or something.

00:25:45
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:25:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, but there's Troy glaus Chef in ninety six, Bret Boon brandon ingj in two thousand and nine, Greg Vonn in ninety six, Howard Johnson, Chris Sabo ninety one, Coyetti was in eighty nine. So we've got a lot, a lot of shutouts. So Jazz was not the worst, but in modern times it was very memorable.

00:26:03
Speaker 4: His B swing was not his A swing. Anyway, We gotta go Tim. This was great, good chat.

00:26:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely