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Originally Posted by Duvalier
Tough to see Huntington and Nutting paying a steep price in salary...though either of the two players mentioned puts them that much closer to a real playoff contender, I'd probably rather go with Rios.
It will be interesting to see how much they believe in Taillon and Polanco, as Taillon is about a year away from likely joining the rotation and Polanco who is still a few years away from making it to Pittsburgh looks like he has a higher ceiling than Marte, who has been great for the Pirates thus far. At this point I don't know how much you can trust Stanton to stay healthy to make the deal worthwhile.
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Miami is in no hurry to trade Stanton because he is under club control for years and its still early in the season so teams aren't desperate enough yet. He is going to probably get in the $7 million a year neighborhood next year in arbitration if he stays relatively healthy so it isnt like the Pirates are gonna get him past this year at 500k. IMO the Pirates should try to acquire 2nd tier vets like Rios and see how much of his salary the Sox will pay to make him go away. LA has to be desperate to dump Ethier with Puig looking so good though for them it is similar to Miami's situation timing-wise as everyone knows when Kemp comes back they dont have enough space for everyone and NOONE is taking Crawford. As other teams fade guys will become available near the deadline and as long as they don't overpay in prospects they should add payroll to make a run at a suspect NL this year. St Louis is solid as are the Reds and the Braves look good but the Nat'ls and Giants are both mediocre, its hard to believe in AZ or Col, the Phils are done and who else is there?
Locke is going to regress to the mean as he is outperforming his best minor league seasons, the bullpen will probably also regress somewhat as they get used more. Their older pitchers are dinged up. They are gonna need more offense and it can be had if they are just willing to pay some salary. Even a Josh Willingham will probably be available and his contract is very favorable at 7 million signed through next season. Morneau may be available as a relatively cheap 1/2 season rental. I don't know if Milwaukee would be a trading partner in division and he would cost a good prospect but Aoki would be a perfect addition to the lineup. Speed and OBP and a decent enough OF, makes peanuts and is old enough not be considered prime prospect. As a leadoff hitter he'd instantly make that lineup better.