18 potential starting pitchers available at the deadline (MLBTR article)

[mmc]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/05/18-potential-starting-pitcher-trade-targets-this-summer.html

We're off to a great start and this could very well be the year we start buying.  Not sure who I would target, but we'll likely be looking for another starter.  These are the the 18 they list:

Frankie Montas

Luis Castillo

Marcus Stroman

Yu Darvish

Blake Snell

Tyler Mahle

Mike Minor

Zack Greinke

Brad Keller

Kyle Hendricks

Drew Smyly

Wade Miley

Martin Perez

Jose Quintana

Michael Pineda

Jordan Lyles

Patrick Corbin

Stephen Strasburg

[Stradling]

I absolutely think this is the year they buy. 

[Torridd]

Stroman?

[tdawg87]

The Reds should already be trying to sell.

[Pancake Bear]

Not convinced SP is where we should be upgrading. We won't need more than 4 starters in the playoffs, and our top four are pretty good right now. Top quality starters cost a lot, and Im just not convinced it's our biggest need. I want to see where we are closer to the deadline.

Biggest need imo is bolstering the pen. Iglesias is legit, and Loup and Tepera are solid. After that it's a whole lot of maybe. We're going to need more. Maybe some guys step up and the pen isn't an issue, but I feel a lot more confident in our top four SP than our pen finishing out games in the playoffs at the moment. Lorenzen (and others) could pitch out of the pen for sure, but which position will cost more to acquire?

The lineup is solid, but while we're kinda taking a plug and play approach to the middle infield, I'd feel a lot better with a more clear everyday starter in one of those spots. 

Obviously injuries and how guys adjust down the stretch will dictate a lot about how we approach the deadline if we're still playing well, but if we're in basically the same position at the deadline that we are now, I'd be buying bullpen help and a SP upgrade. 

[Angels 1961]

Ortega has been outstanding and Mayers of late also has looked good. I think they need another OF.

[Erstad Grit]

Nice not to see our guys on the list

[Pancake Bear]

19 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

Ortega has been outstanding and Mayers of late also has looked good. I think they need another OF.

You forgot the /s.

[Second Base]

This is the best pitching staff the Angels have had since what, 2014? You can never have enough pitching, but that refers to depth. When you're talking about acquiring one of these guys, you're talking about bouncing someone from the rotation. We've got four very solid starting pitchers, one top prospect getting his feet wet, and a final spot open for competition. 

Unless there's an injury, there's no reason to spend what little prospect surplus the Angels have, on over priced arms that are close to free agency. 

[Warfarin]

8 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

Not convinced SP is where we should be upgrading. We won't need more than 4 starters in the playoffs, and our top four are pretty good right now. Top quality starters cost a lot, and Im just not convinced it's our biggest need. I want to see where we are closer to the deadline.

Biggest need imo is bolstering the pen. Iglesias is legit, and Loup and Tepera are solid. After that it's a whole lot of maybe. We're going to need more. Maybe some guys step up and the pen isn't an issue, but I feel a lot more confident in our top four SP than our pen finishing out games in the playoffs at the moment. Lorenzen (and others) could pitch out of the pen for sure, but which position will cost more to acquire?

The lineup is solid, but while we're kinda taking a plug and play approach to the middle infield, I'd feel a lot better with a more clear everyday starter in one of those spots. 

Obviously injuries and how guys adjust down the stretch will dictate a lot about how we approach the deadline if we're still playing well, but if we're in basically the same position at the deadline that we are now, I'd be buying bullpen help and a SP upgrade. 

I am reluctant to dip into our prospect pool, at least for now.  Our farm system is improving, but it's not great and I'm reluctant to dip into it.

I do think there are certain areas we can target for a fairly low prospect cost - relief help, bench help, etc.  We don't need a closer, but another solid set-up man could be of value in the playoffs, and certainly a 4th OF would be as well too.  Those should be fairly "cheap" to acquire via trade.

A SP that would make a difference (i.e a #2 SP), however, would cost a ton, and I don't think we are in position to make that kind of move.  Same goes for Boegarts, although the interesting thing about him is that I think most contenders are set at SS, so perhaps he might not be as expensive to acquire as one would think.

[totdprods]

It’s early. Rotation might be just fine come July, and maybe we need another OF or 2B/SS. An injury could force a need at C, 1B, or CP. 

Personally I think the Padres are interesting because if everyone is healthy, they literally don’t have rotation spots for everyone. Darvish could be a salary dump, it would be very cool to see him and Ohtani together, and I think he has enough left to be effective still with occasional big moments.

Edited May 7, 2022 by totdprods

[Jason]

8 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

Not convinced SP is where we should be upgrading. We won't need more than 4 starters in the playoffs, and our top four are pretty good right now. Top quality starters cost a lot, and Im just not convinced it's our biggest need. I want to see where we are closer to the deadline.

Biggest need imo is bolstering the pen. Iglesias is legit, and Loup and Tepera are solid. After that it's a whole lot of maybe. We're going to need more. Maybe some guys step up and the pen isn't an issue, but I feel a lot more confident in our top four SP than our pen finishing out games in the playoffs at the moment. Lorenzen (and others) could pitch out of the pen for sure, but which position will cost more to acquire?

The lineup is solid, but while we're kinda taking a plug and play approach to the middle infield, I'd feel a lot better with a more clear everyday starter in one of those spots. 

Obviously injuries and how guys adjust down the stretch will dictate a lot about how we approach the deadline if we're still playing well, but if we're in basically the same position at the deadline that we are now, I'd be buying bullpen help and a SP upgrade. 

I agree with this. I have to assume injuries will happen. Whether it’s SP, relief, or position player it’s best to upgrade the team whenever possible. I don’t think “too much pitching” there’s a thing, especially with this club

[Warfarin]

4 minutes ago, totdprods said:

It’s early. Rotation might be just fine come July, and maybe we need another OF or 2B/SS. An injury could force a need at C, 1B, or CP. 

Personally I think the Padres are interesting because if everyone is healthy, they literally don’t have rotation spots for everyone. Darvish could be a salary dump, it would be very cool to see him and Ohtani together, and I think he has enough left to be effective still with occasional big moments.

Yes - agreed.  A lot can happen in the next 2.5 months, and our needs could drastically change in that time.  

For now, it's best to just sit back and enjoy one of the best starts in team history.

[totdprods]

Yup. Stassi could break a leg or something and we’d need a Willson Contreras real fast. 

Adding a strong SP still makes the most sense to playoff-proof the team, but if someone like Detmers hits his stride or Suarez gets it together that could become moot, both in terms of frontline potential and dependable back of rotation. 

And a good crop of new prospects are breaking out. Don’t want to move any of them too quick and lose the next Clevinger.

Edited May 7, 2022 by totdprods

[Warfarin]

Just now, totdprods said:

Yup. Stassi could break a leg or something and we’d need a Willson Contreras real fast. 

Adding a strong SP still makes the most sense to playoff-proof the team, but if someone like Detmers hits his stride or Suarez gets it together that could become moot, both in terms of frontline potential and dependable back of rotation. 

And a good crop of new prospects are breaking out. Don’t want to move any of them too quick and lose the next Clevinger.

The AA rotation is something to behold.  A lot of 2021 draftees who are just dominating.  Just so awesome to see.

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

The AA rotation is something to behold.  A lot of 2021 draftees who are just dominating.  Just so awesome to see.

Reminding me of the Braves farm a few years back. They had a good young rotation in the majors and I think both AAA and AA had good young arms across *every spot in the rotation* posting sub-4 ERAs and solid peripherals. 

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

Reminding me of the Braves farm a few years back. They had a good young rotation in the majors and I think both AAA and AA had good young arms across *every spot in the rotation* posting sub-4 ERAs and solid peripherals. 

Perhaps not a coincidence, as we are now being run by one of the key guys involved in helping develop that farm system.

[Second Base]

If the Angels need a catcher and they bypass Thaiss, I'd lose it. 

[Stradling]

5 minutes ago, Second Base said:

If the Angels need a catcher and they bypass Thaiss, I'd lose it. 

I fully expect this to happen. How many teams with playoff aspirations have a catcher on the roster that has caught less than 600 innings (not games) in the last 6 seasons?  

[DMVol]

18 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I fully expect this to happen. How many teams with playoff aspirations have a catcher on the roster that has caught less than 600 innings (not games) in the last 6 seasons?  

We would probably get by with Wallach in the short term….

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, DMVol said:

We would probably get by with Wallach in the short term….

If this team continues to play well up to the deadline I fully expect them to push all in.  Pushing all in means getting a legit back up catcher (Maldonado type of catch and throw) another arm or two, and a 4th outfielder (Tommy Pham). 

[Warfarin]

31 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I fully expect this to happen. How many teams with playoff aspirations have a catcher on the roster that has caught less than 600 innings (not games) in the last 6 seasons?  

Yes, agreed.  Some of the best teams in terms of catching talent are very, very slow and methodical with their catcher development (i.e., the catchers are graduated from each level at very slow rates).  The reason is there are so many nuances involved in catching that there is no short cut in having them take tons, and tons, and tons of reps.

Thaiss needs to spend the entire year in AAA focusing on catching.  I know he was a catcher in college, but all catchers need tons of reps to focus on how to handle different pitchers, call games, etc etc.  It takes a LOT of work.

[Stradling]

Not to mention when they bring in the larger bases that’ll probably bring back the stolen base. When that happens a shift will happen at the catching position. Another shift will occur if the electronic strike zone happens. 

[floplag]

The problem with a lot of those is that the teams in question are going to tie bad contracts to them more than asking for good prospects.
The Reds want to jettison Moustakis, and he has absolutely no place to play here and has WAY too much left on that deal. 
The Padres are likely to want to move Myers with Hosmer having a bit of resurgence so far this season, which might make some sense to us as he have a 4th need and hes in the final years. Plus they are going to be more willing to move an SP as they have a glut of them as opposed to the Reds just dumping money. 
I was a bit surprised to see Stroman on that list, hes been really hot and cold so far with some really good starts and a couple really bad ones.  His K/BB ration is still there as is the ground ball rate.  Cant imagine them punting on this already, hes deal isnt that bad and unusually get cheaper more than more expensive... still though i wonder if they wouldnt want to tie another contract like Heyward.
The good news is that none of these likely cost anything significant in terms of prospects, but more money, which might be a non starter. 

[failos]

Greinke would be a great pickup