Not many sellers with deadline approaching
With the Aug. 1 trade deadline five weeks away, 21 teams went into the weekend within five games of a playoff berth.
Four of those teams had losing records. The list doesn’t include the Padres, who were 5½ out in the wild-card race and certainly won’t give up on their season given their expensive roster.
Or the Mets, a built-to-win team that has struggled but isn’t likely to cash out. It’s hard to imagine owner Steve Cohen admitting defeat after approving a record payroll.
With so few teams in a place to be committed sellers, this trade deadline could be defined by how many times playoff contenders can match up with each other to make mutual improvements.
To use the Red Sox as an example, they could trade Adam Duvall knowing
Jarren Duran can step into center field. The Brewers, Guardians, Marlins, Mariners, and Twins all need offensive help.
Duvall has played almost every day since coming off the injured list. Several executives from other teams believe the Red Sox are hoping he will get hot and become tradeable. Otherwise, what would be the point of decreasing Duran’s playing time at a time he was emerging as a valuable player?
The other interesting aspect of the deadline will be which teams follow the blueprint of Baltimore general manager
Mike Elias from last season.
Elias traded All-Star closer Jorge Lopez to the Twins on Aug. 2, getting back four prospects. The Orioles were 52-51 at the time and 2½ games out of a wildcard spot.
The trade angered Orioles fans and players at the time, but it paid off. Yennier Cano is now a dominant setup man for the Orioles and 22-year-old
Juan Lopez has pitched well in Single A. Baltimore is in second place in the AL East.
The Twins didn’t make the playoffs and Jorge Lopez had a 5.00 earned run average over 29 games and blew four saves before going on the injured list with mental health issues.
The Pirates are similar to the 2022 Orioles. Ben Cherington has done well building the talent base to feed what could be a multiyear window of contention. Team president Travis Williams said that ownership will allow Cherington “to do what he needs to do” to make the postseason.
The next few weeks will determine Cherington’s path. But his play could be to become a seller with the idea of making a more realistic run next season once Oneil Cruz is healthy and Henry Davis is established.
The Cubs (Marcus Stroman, Cody Bellinger), Guardians (Shane Bieber), Tigers (Eduardo Rodriguez, Michael Lorenzen), Mariners (Paul Sewald), and Red Sox (Duvall, Justin Turner, maybe others) are all teams that could ignore the false allure of the wild-card standings and take advantage of the market to trade veterans and set up the future.