beckdawg
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With the trade of Shark/Hammel most of the sexy pieces are gone. However, Valbuena and some of the relievers are potentially available. In particular, the cubs have a boat load of relievers in AAA that are very good. Vizcaino likely will be on the MLB roster next year as well as guys like Armando Rivero, Zac Rosscup, Marcus Hatley, and Blake Parker have been particular filthy in AAA. All have 12.24 k/9 or higher with ERA's of 2.84 or lower. Zac Rosscup is a lefty so that could make one of Russell and Wright available(likely Russell as he's making more). The rest are all righties. I've heard some speculation that Strop might be available given he's already making $1.325 mil and is headed for arbitration 2. I'd also expect them to attempt to trade Schierholtz and Villianueva though I don't know if they will have any luck.
As for potential returns, Angels just traded Zach Borenstein(#9 prospect 45 grade) and Joey Krehbiel(not in their top 10) for Joe Thatcher and Tony Campana. Thatcher is a lefty it's likely what you'd expect out of Russell give or take. Valbuena I have no real idea how to value because I'm not sure how other teams view him. But conservatively, if a LOOGY gets you a top 10 prospect of 45 grade I think you could expect similar for Valbuena.
Cubs also have their international FA slots to add in as sweetners though the Brewers and the Yankees are likely the only two who have went over who would care about adding players since the Red Sox and Rays are out of the race. There's a lot of playoff teams hurting at 2B so Valbuena and Barney may have some desire. The only other 2Bs I can think of on the market are Aaron Hill, Utley and Zobrist.
I'm curious how desperate some of the teams get for pitching. By trading away both their pieces early and to the same team cubs have created an artificial demand with there being lack luster options out there. The yankees just lost Sabathia and are reeling 3.5 games out of the wild card. KC is 1.5 out. Pittsburgh is 1.5 out. Seattle is barely holding on. Toronto is 1 out in the WC and .5 game out in the division. If any more of these teams have an injury Jackson might hilariously become a trade piece just to be a 4/5th starter and maybe get a team into the playoffs. If you look at the Yanks in particular they have Tanaka and Kuroda followed by Vidal Nuno(5.42 ERA), David Phelps(4.26), and Chase Whitley(5.28). Suddenly Jackson's 4.99 ERA doesn't seem *that* bad. In theory, the add someone like Jackson and a second pitcher they could slot in as a #3. They clearly need at least 2 pitchers and it's tough to see that many out there. Price is but they don't have that sort of clout. Cliff Lee might be out there but we've not heard much on him. Justin Masterson might be out there. I highly doubt anyone would give up more than a Black level player for Jackson and probably not that much with him sitting at a 5 ERA. But, he's got maybe 5 starts until the deadline and if he pitches well who knows. For example, if he pitches 5 games with 6 innings and 2 earned that will drop him down to a 4.5 ERA. The cubs have cincy, atl, dbacks, san diego, colorado and the cards prior to the deadline. Pads, cards, braves, reds and dbacks are all in the bottom 12 in runs/game. So, it's not *that* crazy to suggest he could have a nice little run of starts.
As for potential returns, Angels just traded Zach Borenstein(#9 prospect 45 grade) and Joey Krehbiel(not in their top 10) for Joe Thatcher and Tony Campana. Thatcher is a lefty it's likely what you'd expect out of Russell give or take. Valbuena I have no real idea how to value because I'm not sure how other teams view him. But conservatively, if a LOOGY gets you a top 10 prospect of 45 grade I think you could expect similar for Valbuena.
Cubs also have their international FA slots to add in as sweetners though the Brewers and the Yankees are likely the only two who have went over who would care about adding players since the Red Sox and Rays are out of the race. There's a lot of playoff teams hurting at 2B so Valbuena and Barney may have some desire. The only other 2Bs I can think of on the market are Aaron Hill, Utley and Zobrist.
I'm curious how desperate some of the teams get for pitching. By trading away both their pieces early and to the same team cubs have created an artificial demand with there being lack luster options out there. The yankees just lost Sabathia and are reeling 3.5 games out of the wild card. KC is 1.5 out. Pittsburgh is 1.5 out. Seattle is barely holding on. Toronto is 1 out in the WC and .5 game out in the division. If any more of these teams have an injury Jackson might hilariously become a trade piece just to be a 4/5th starter and maybe get a team into the playoffs. If you look at the Yanks in particular they have Tanaka and Kuroda followed by Vidal Nuno(5.42 ERA), David Phelps(4.26), and Chase Whitley(5.28). Suddenly Jackson's 4.99 ERA doesn't seem *that* bad. In theory, the add someone like Jackson and a second pitcher they could slot in as a #3. They clearly need at least 2 pitchers and it's tough to see that many out there. Price is but they don't have that sort of clout. Cliff Lee might be out there but we've not heard much on him. Justin Masterson might be out there. I highly doubt anyone would give up more than a Black level player for Jackson and probably not that much with him sitting at a 5 ERA. But, he's got maybe 5 starts until the deadline and if he pitches well who knows. For example, if he pitches 5 games with 6 innings and 2 earned that will drop him down to a 4.5 ERA. The cubs have cincy, atl, dbacks, san diego, colorado and the cards prior to the deadline. Pads, cards, braves, reds and dbacks are all in the bottom 12 in runs/game. So, it's not *that* crazy to suggest he could have a nice little run of starts.
