How about another Rays pitcher?

[UMFan83]

Why don't we throw in a Jeff Baker and see if they'll throw in Longoria?

[Little Slide Rooter]

B2B should probably do a bit of research on our farm system so that next time he comes up with a trade proposal for a useful player(s) he can offer guys that might be of some value to the other team as opposed to guys who would be throw ins at best, especially when dealing with a team that's a hell of a lot closer to being a contender than we are.

[Guest]

B2B should probably do a bit of research on our farm system so that next time he comes up with a trade proposal for a useful player(s) he can offer guys that might be of some value to the other team as opposed to guys who would be throw ins at best, especially when dealing with a team that's a hell of a lot closer to being a contender than we are.

 

 

Even "throw-ins at best" is almost generous. I'm not sure Colvin or LaHair have any legitimate value. Barney is a decent throw-in, I guess.

[davell]

Even my offer probably isn't nearly enough the more I think about it. Especially with what we gave up for Garza. Davis alone could take McNutt and Viiters plus a Clevenger type guy. I wasn't aware Upton as valuable as he is honestly. My guess is it's going to take a Brett Jackson type guy to get him, which we won't do, but someone else may.

[TruffleShuffle]

He's fallen off a little from dominance a while back and is coming off TJ surgery.

 

he didn't have TJS.

 

broxton would be a decent buy-low candidate if (a) he's healthy and (b) he doesn't show up with the physique of a manatee.

[toonsterwu]

The Rays will be able to make their rotation even scarier by adding 22-year-old Matt Moore to it.  Tampa Bay also has righty Alex Cobb and lefty Alex Torres ready for the majors.  The Rays could parlay their pitching depth into offense by trading Cobb, Torres, Jeff Niemann or Wade Davis if need be.

 

Shields would be my top choice. Well, Price, Hellickson, or Moore would, but I'd take any one of these guys. I wish that we could find the factory that keeps churning these guys out.

 

Anyway, would a package built around Soto and some prospects be reasonable, assuming we're comfortable with a Castillo/Clevenger tandem? Maybe Geo, 2 major league ready guys(J. Jax, LeMahieu, Russell, Colvin, Barney, Dolis etc) and 1- 2 lower level guys and get a prospect or 2 kicked in from them? Just going off the Garza template but using Geo instead of a top prospect but better big league ready players than Fuld and Chirinos.

 

Shields arguably has as much value as, if not more than, Garza did last year (3 more years of cost-control, albeit, expensive cost-control, weak FA market for pitching, and coming off a strong season). I'd love to go after Shields (although I feel like he'll regress a bit), but I think the price is going to be too costly. Also, I don't see them doing a deal for someone like Soto, who could get costly as well. They really liked Chirinos last year, and by most accounts, still do (had a fairly solid minor league season after the first month). You'd likely have to offer them at least one of our top 3 or 4 guys (from that BJax/Szczur/McNutt trio perhaps), and a lot more.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Rays will be able to make their rotation even scarier by adding 22-year-old Matt Moore to it.  Tampa Bay also has righty Alex Cobb and lefty Alex Torres ready for the majors.  The Rays could parlay their pitching depth into offense by trading Cobb, Torres, Jeff Niemann or Wade Davis if need be.

 

Shields would be my top choice. Well, Price, Hellickson, or Moore would, but I'd take any one of these guys. I wish that we could find the factory that keeps churning these guys out.

 

Anyway, would a package built around Soto and some prospects be reasonable, assuming we're comfortable with a Castillo/Clevenger tandem? Maybe Geo, 2 major league ready guys(J. Jax, LeMahieu, Russell, Colvin, Barney, Dolis etc) and 1- 2 lower level guys and get a prospect or 2 kicked in from them? Just going off the Garza template but using Geo instead of a top prospect but better big league ready players than Fuld and Chirinos.

 

Shields arguably has as much value as, if not more than, Garza did last year (3 more years of cost-control, albeit, expensive cost-control, weak FA market for pitching, and coming off a strong season). I'd love to go after Shields (although I feel like he'll regress a bit), but I think the price is going to be too costly. Also, I don't see them doing a deal for someone like Soto, who could get costly as well. They really liked Chirinos last year, and by most accounts, still do (had a fairly solid minor league season after the first month). You'd likely have to offer them at least one of our top 3 or 4 guys (from that BJax/Szczur/McNutt trio perhaps), and a lot more.

 

Wouldn't want to move Jax. McNutt since he's the closest thing resembling front end pitchingtalent in our system, although it's too early to tell with Wells and Maples, and Whitenack was looking like he'd have a breakout, but now he's been set back for who knows how long. The boat on J Jax as anything more than a throw in has probably sailed, and I don't know if Rhee really built his value back up this past season.

[Sammy Sofa]

Not going to argue with any of you about a fair offer for Davis and Upton, but it would save a lot of money for the Rays since Upton is way too expensive for his production (nice way of saying he has had 3 consecutive bad years with the exception of SB) and Barney would look like an All Star next to their other shortstops. LaHair could be a cheap option as a DH or bat off the bench and Davis is replaceable in their rotation.

 

THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER.

[sneakypower]

McNutt, Vitters and Barney is probably more like a real offer (for Davis/Cobb/Torres).

i'd do it, but the Rays are probably intelligent enough to realize how useless Vitters is

[Little Slide Rooter]

Problem is, we have like 5 guys who would be worth building a package around: Castro, Cashner, Jackson, Szczur, and McNutt. Even McNutt and Szczur are questionabl enough that we'd have to include some more decent guys in any big deal centered around them. The other 3 are too valuable to us to trade.

 

However, if we could find a team willing to deal in quantity, we have several guys who could be intriguing to other teams, such as Lake, Vitters, Struck, J Jax, LeMahieu, Searle, Flaherty, Colvin, Gonzalez, Dolis, Beliveau, Rhee, Ha, Rusin, Castillo, Barney, Carpenter, Russell, Watkins to name a few. Even guys like Coleman, Wells, DeWitt, and Campana. However, none of these guys alone is going to entice teams to give up close to top talent, so we'd likely have to offer 3-5 of these guys just to get our foot in the door. Of course, we do have a lot of up and comers in the lower levels as well, so we might be able to give up several of these guys and not crush the system long term.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Problem is, we have like 5 guys who would be worth building a package around: Castro, Cashner, Jackson, Szczur, and McNutt. Even McNutt and Szczur are questionabl enough that we'd have to include some more decent guys in any big deal centered around them. The other 3 are too valuable to us to trade.

 

However, if we could find a team willing to deal in quantity, we have several guys who could be intriguing to other teams, such as Lake, Vitters, Struck, J Jax, LeMahieu, Searle, Flaherty, Colvin, Gonzalez, Dolis, Beliveau, Rhee, Ha, Rusin, Castillo, Barney, Carpenter, Russell, Watkins to name a few. Even guys like Coleman, Wells, DeWitt, and Campana. However, none of these guys alone is going to entice teams to give up close to top talent, so we'd likely have to offer 3-5 of these guys just to get our foot in the door. Of course, we do have a lot of up and comers in the lower levels as well, so we might be able to give up several of these guys and not crush the system long term.

 

Well the big advantage I think I see is that this year's top prospect (Jackson) is a much more reliable and less overhyped prospect than Archer last year. If Archer + a pure upside/low level guy like Lee + possible bit/role players was enough to get a stout, healthy, young talent like Garza then I'm not too worried about the Cubs' ability to make a trade if they see it. The thing about the Cubs' quantity is that relative to most farm systems it's also quality...In the next few years I think we'll see quite a few former Cub prospects turned bit/role players in the MLB.

 

Also, don't underrate Randy Wells as a trade chip. He's capable of being a high quality 4th starter on a very good team, which has solid value. Look at how quickly everyone got onto the Doug Fister wagon...Wells has a similar style and stuff, and there's the hope that team's that saw Fister think an in-shape healthy Wells is capable of being surprisingly good (as he was the first two years in the majors). Hell, I think the Cubs should be one of those teams...He's not someone you can trade straight up for a more premium talent, but if he was then he'd be a premium himself (which isn't something they should look to give up). He's someone who can be a significant piece in a trade IMO. He's a proven, cheap, MLB SP talent...even coming off his worst season he finished really strong...

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Rays are open to trading Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis to improve the offense. They're also looking to deal Reid Brignac and upgrade their catching.

 

Hmm...any chance we could get Brignac and 1 or those pitchers for Soto and 1 more piece? Maybe even Byrd? Perhaps see what else we could get if we expended the deal to include Marmol? I know Brignac hasn't had a ton of big league success, but much like Stewart, I'd love to give him a shot especially at 2nd.

[Post Count Padder]

The Rays are open to trading Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis to improve the offense. They're also looking to deal Reid Brignac and upgrade their catching.

 

Hmm...any chance we could get Brignac and 1 or those pitchers for Soto and 1 more piece? Maybe even Byrd? Perhaps see what else we could get if we expended the deal to include Marmol? I know Brignac hasn't had a ton of big league success, but much like Stewart, I'd love to give him a shot especially at 2nd.

Well they are looking at free agent outfielders and Byrd would fit into their budget. I don't really want Brignac, but some kinda deal with Byrd and a couple prospects for Davis would be cool.