Got MLB questions? We have answers
Second-half intrigue involves Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers and trade possibilities
The All- Star pageantry is over, actors Jamie Foxx and Charlie Sheen have gone back to Hollywood for their next party, Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer left San Diego with a large carry-on, and it’s back to reality.
Major League Baseball’s second half begins Friday with a beauty, a potential World Series preview with the Texas Rangers playing the Chicago Cubs in an afternoon start at Wrigley Field.
There are only two games all day that don’t involve a first-place team or serious contender. Yes, we’re talking about you, the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, and you, the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves.
It’s time to separate fact from fiction, with five questions inquiring baseball fans need to ponder. There’s no better place to start than the one team providing two vastly different narratives.
Will the New York Yankees really sell off players at the trade deadline?
Winners of 27 World Series ti- tles, the New York Yankees haven’t been deadline dumpers since 1989, when they were 33-35 and 61⁄ games back in the Ameri2 can League East, and sent Rickey Henderson to the Oakland Athletics for pitchers Greg Cadaret and Eric Plunk and outfielder Luis Polonia.
Well, more than a quarter-century later, it’s time for the Yankees to do it again. General manager Brian Cashman knows it. Manager Joe Girardi knows it. Even the players themselves know it.
They are 44-44, 71⁄ games 2
back in the AL East, trailing the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays. Considering the Yankees are 6-15 against the trio, it’s no wonder Baseball Prospectus gives them only a 5.1% chance of reaching the postseason.
It’s just a matter of convincing owner Hal Steinbrenner and President Randy Levine that the team is nothing more than a mediocre collection of overpriced talent and that they can jumpstart their rebuilding process by checking their text messages often this month.
Barring a huge hot streak, closer Aroldis Chapman will be dealt, most likely to the Washington Nationals, Cubs or San Francisco Giants. He’s a free agent at the season’s conclusion, and the Yankees can actually get more for him now than they dealt to the Reds to acquire him. If someone is willing to pay the hefty price, Andrew Miller will be gone, too. He is under contract through 2018 and could be a closer for 29 other teams in baseball. Right fielder-DH Carlos Beltran’s value has never been higher, and he could be a perfect fit, too, for the Cleveland Indians or someone else needing a little extra punch.
Have the dominant Cubs been derailed?
The Cubs were never going to win 130 games, go all Golden State Warriors on us or have the National League Central race locked up by the trade deadline.
They might have to wait all the way until Labor Day.
The Cubs have dropped 16 of their last 21 games and are one game below .500 since their 25-6 start, but there is no panic. It perhaps simply was a matter of being complacent, as several Cubs suggested during the All- Star break, and the rotation’s 3-10 record and 6.04 ERA over the final 21 games was a back-breaker.
All they need is a breather, having played 25 consecutive games without a day off, and 23 of their last 33 games on the road, before the All- Star break. They’ll get it now. They won’t have to board another flight until Aug. 4, and for the next 35 days, only six nights will be spent sleeping in hotel rooms. They’ll also have Dexter Fowler, their All-Star center fielder and leadoff hitter, back after being out since June 19 with a strained hamstring.
Yet this sour stretch did leave the front office with bit of a queasy stomach. The perfect antacid would be acquiring another closer to supplement Hector Rondon or perhaps two pieces for the back end of the bullpen. A year ago, the Cubs acquired Trevor Cahill and Clayton Richard. This year, they have their sights on something much bigger.
Cubs President Theo Epstein will spend more time talking to Cashman than his own family over the next 2 1⁄2 weeks. Epstein tells everyone who will listen that he won’t trade power hitter Kyle Schwarber, but what if the Yankees offer Chapman and Miller? You don’t think Epstein would go for the jugular? Watch out.
Could the Los Angeles Dodgers trade away their prized prospects in an effort to catch the Giants?
Negative, ghost rider. There might be some unhappy folks in the Dodgers camp, including some who are writing the checks, but the club plans to ride this out. Now, if you’re talking about right fielder Yasiel Puig, that’s a different story. The Dodgers finally are making him available in trade talks with the hope of getting anything back in value.
The Dodgers are 6 1⁄2 games behind the Giants, and never in franchise history have they reached the postseason when trailing by more than five games. Yet if the season ended today, they would seize the top wildcard spot and have Clayton Kershaw healthy and starting in the do-or-die game.
Will All-Stars Jay Bruce and Jonathan Lucroy be traded?
Let’s put it this way: If they still are with their teams on the evening of Aug. 1, something has gone dreadfully wrong. The Reds have been trying to trade Bruce for a year, and the Brewers have made Lucroy available since the winter. It’s simply been a matter of seeing who blinks first and gets their asking price.
The biggest obstacle is that both players are cornerstones to vast rebuilding projects. The Brewers, who also are letting teams know that veteran outfielder Ryan Braun and closer Jeremy Jeffress are available for the right price, realize that Lucroy will easily bring in the biggest haul. He’s a fabulous catcher who’s hitting .304 with 11 homers and 42 RBI, with a salary of $4.25 million this year and a $5.25 million club option in 2017. The Rangers badly want him, but they think they’re bidding against themselves and worry about the adjustment of learning a new starting rotation on the fly.
The Reds thought they had Bruce dealt in spring training in a three-way deal with the Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels, with Bruce heading to Toronto, but one of the prospects in the deal flunked his physical. It might have been a blessing for the Reds. Bruce had a terrific first half, hitting .267 with 18 homers and 63 RBI, and his $12.5 million salary this year and $13 million option next year no longer look like deterrents. He could be headed anywhere from Cleveland to San Francisco to Kansas City.
Will the Orioles hang on in the AL East?
Sorry, but the Orioles can’t sur- vive a full season without pitching help.
Manager Buck Showalter and his staff know it, and even the players are pleading with the front office for help, thinking it would be a shame to waste this celebrated offense.
Really, it’s a miracle the Orioles are still in first place with a starting rotation that ranks third worst in baseball, pitching the fewest innings of any group of starters.
Yet unless pitching coach Dave Wallace can talk his great friend, Sandy Koufax, out of retirement, they have no chance.
They’re desperate for help and simply don’t have the prospects to lure Rich Hill from Oakland or Jake Odorizzi from the Tampa Bay Rays. The Orioles can’t rely on Zach Britton and Brad Brach to rescue the rotation every single night.
The Red Sox will run away with this division. They have easily been the most aggressive team on the trade market, pulling off the latest move Thursday with the acquisition of All- Star pitcher Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres.
Enjoy the rest of your summer, and considering there hasn’t been a World Series title to celebrate in Wrigleyville since 1908, Washington since 1924 and Cleveland since 1948, and never in the state of Texas, we could be in for one doozy of a fall.