Starting rotation options available now

[mul21]

10 minutes ago, Karsten said:

I would look into Trevor Bauer. It would only cost money, not prospects. He hasn't been quite as good this year as he was the last couple though. The off the field stuff appears to be in the past.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Trevor Bauer is a serial abuser who can't get a sniff of interest from any MLB team despite every organization being desperate for pitching.  This is a good thing.

Separately, Trevor Bauer is 34 years old and putting up pedestrian numbers in Japan, whatever mental image you have of his potential that you'd be willing to put up with his odious off-field stuff, is long gone.

[Derwood]

Trevor Bauer also spends all day on Twitter crying about how no one will sign him.

[Rcal10]

32 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Fine. I am so bored at work and this week is fake anyways. Teams with less than 5% chance of making the playoffs:

• Orioles (1.8%)
  • Eflin - FA after this year, like $10m left. Elite in 2023, very solid in 2024, a very slow start coming off a minor injury in 2025. 
  • Charlie Morton - FA after this year, like $10m left. Basically looked like the pitcher version of Justin Turner to start the year, but has turned it around a little bit. Actually didn't realize he got pulled from the rotation so his game log being filled with 1-3 earned runs is not nearly as impressive, but a 3.98 ERA in 20 innings in May.
  • Sugano - FA after this year, like $8m left. Strikes out and walks absolutely no one, a very luck driven 3.23 ERA on the year but the advanced numbers have him as a low to mid 4 guy. 
• White Sox (0%) - To their credit all their pitchers currently have tons of control, so no obvious choices here. Adrian Houser if things get real desperate. 
• Athletics (2.5%)
  • Severino - Just signed a two year deal with a player option, has been very good but can't see them bailing this early on a big signing. 
  • Jeffrey Springs - $6m left this year, $10m next year, team option for 2027. Historically very effectively when he actually pitches, this year (basically a Boyd type), this year mediocre with a lot of innings. Seems like a perfect A, so probably not available. 
• Angels (0%)
  • Tyler Anderson - Owed $10m this year, FA after that. Not good, will soak up innings. 
  • Kikuchi - Just signed a 3/$63m deal so can't see him being available. 
  • Hendricks - I mean....maybe???
• Nationals (0%)
  • Trevor Williams - Somehow also signed for next year still but basically Colin Rea with a little more upside. 
  • Gore - Covered elsewhere. Pay for him. 
  • Soroka - A little more interesting, but it's just been too long since he was good.
• Marlins (0%)
  • Alcantara - Covered elsewhere. 
  • Cal Quantrill - Will eat up innings and not much else.
• Pirates (0.1%)
  • Keller - Not going to be available.
  • Heaney - FA after this year, cheap, will eat innings, go get him.
• Rockies (0%)
  • Kyle Freeland - There's enough there to be interested but the Rockies are so weird trying to trade with them seems pointless. 

lol I once again got bored halfway through. Bolded the names I want to save everyone the time. 

Why is Keller not going to be available? 

[squally1313]

26 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Why is Keller not going to be available? 

I just can't imagine they'd give up on him with 3.5 years left on his deal. The actual cash spend went up this year (and goes up slightly going forward), but $15m AAV is really good value for a pitcher as good as Keller. LIke, giving up an established starter with 3.5 years of team control for a AAA outfielder ready to step into their major league line up helps them....in what competitive time frame?

[mul21]

6 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I just can't imagine they'd give up on him with 3.5 years left on his deal. The actual cash spend went up this year (and goes up slightly going forward), but $15m AAV is really good value for a pitcher as good as Keller. LIke, giving up an established starter with 3.5 years of team control for a AAA outfielder ready to step into their major league line up helps them....in what competitive time frame?

This was my thinking on why a deal for Skenes involving Horton is unlikely.  It gives them one extra year of control over a really good pitcher but does that really do anything for them? Seems like Wiggins would be a more likely candidate for them in a Skenes deal.

[JBears79]

Trevor Bauer is a piece of horsefeathers. There is a reason no one will touch him with a 10 foot pole. 

[Rcal10]

20 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I just can't imagine they'd give up on him with 3.5 years left on his deal. The actual cash spend went up this year (and goes up slightly going forward), but $15m AAV is really good value for a pitcher as good as Keller. LIke, giving up an established starter with 3.5 years of team control for a AAA outfielder ready to step into their major league line up helps them....in what competitive time frame?

They have some pitching coming up. And it is the Pirates. If people are going to discuss Gore and I even saw Lodolo mentioned, so why not Keller? What the rest of baseball considers value the Pirates may not. $15M is a lot for them. As Jason said, trying to figure out who will be available is a fools game. Amy pitcher on a non contending team “could” be possible. 

[Tryptamine]

It puzzles me that people seem to think choking a woman unconscious,  consensual or not, was Bauer's first ****** action. He has basically been despised by the league since he was drafted. His teammates have hated him.

[Rcal10]

17 minutes ago, mul21 said:

This was my thinking on why a deal for Skenes involving Horton is unlikely.  It gives them one extra year of control over a really good pitcher but does that really do anything for them? Seems like Wiggins would be a more likely candidate for them in a Skenes deal.

Walk me through why the Pirates would want Wiggins instead of Horton? I don’t see that argument. For that mattter, they may want both. But if only one I would think they would take the better prospect. I don’t think Horton, Shaw, Ballesteros and a young prospect gets it done anyway. I especially don’t think taking Wiggins instrwsd if Horton makes it more likely. 

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

It puzzles me that people seem to think choking a woman unconscious,  consensual or not, was Bauer's first ****** action. He has basically been despised by the league since he was drafted. His teammates have hated him.

It is a crazy thought. I don’t want anything to do with Bauer. 

[mul21]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Walk me through why the Pirates would want Wiggins instead of Horton? I don’t see that argument. For that mattter, they may want both. But if only one I would think they would take the better prospect. I don’t think Horton, Shaw, Ballesteros and a young prospect gets it done anyway. I especially don’t think taking Wiggins instrwsd if Horton makes it more likely. 

Skenes came up last year and will be eligible for FA after the 2029 season.  Horton, now that I'm doing the math, is likely a FA after the 2031 season, so they would get an extra 2 years of control over Skenes, but even if Wiggins is up sometime next year, he's not a FA until after the 2032 season.  For the Pirates, who refuse to spend any money, cheap control is always the end game and Wiggins gets them more of that.  They're nowhere near competing right now so longer term assets are probably better for them.

[Rcal10]

1 minute ago, mul21 said:

Skenes came up last year and will be eligible for FA after the 2029 season.  Horton, now that I'm doing the math, is likely a FA after the 2031 season, so they would get an extra 2 years of control over Skenes, but even if Wiggins is up sometime next year, he's not a FA until after the 2032 season.  For the Pirates, who refuse to spend any money, cheap control is always the end game and Wiggins gets them more of that.  They're nowhere near competing right now so longer term assets are probably better for them.

I don’t think they take a lesser prospect for an extra year of control. But, maybe🤷

[bukie]

I still have a soft spot for Pirates trades from when the Cubs fleeced them in 2003, acquiring Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill and Matt Bruback.

[Rcal10]

4 minutes ago, bukie said:

I still have a soft spot for Pirates trades from when the Cubs fleeced them in 2003, acquiring Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill and Matt Bruback.

That was a great Cubs trade. But let’s be fair, Cubs also gave up Jose Hernandez.😅

like I said about Keller, it is the Pirates, so you never know. The Ramírez trade is a perfect example. Why trade a 23 yr old 3rd baseman for unproven players. What year did they intend on contending in with that move. 

[Brian707]

2 hours ago, Karsten said:

I would look into Trevor Bauer. It would only cost money, not prospects. He hasn't been quite as good this year as he was the last couple though. The off the field stuff appears to be in the past.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

2 hours ago, Karsten said:

It can't be less likely than trading for Paul Skenes? Trying to think outside the box!

Maybe let's try getting back into the box.

[gflore34]

Baseball Tonight discussing the Pirates and trading Skenes, going back and forth about keeping him risking injury or trading him for a handful of major league ready talent.  Harold Reynolds who isn't correct about quite few things did say something right - the NL Central is winnable, there's no Dodgers or Mets to deal with so, where do the Pirates want to go?  The sad part is the Cubs could be the evil empire of the NL Central and Midwest, the only team in the NL Central capable of being so, they choose not to thereby, giving all the other teams a chance.  

[muntjack]

Here the thing about the Pirates,  which I've touched on elsewhere. They have these three arms in AAA (they just called up Ashcraft):

Bubba Chandler, 22. 12.5 K/9, 

Braxton Ashcraft, 25, 10.4 K/9

Hunter Barco, 24, 11.8 K/9, 0.8 ERA

They have the potential makings of a great rotation in the coming years.

On the position player side,  it is incredibly bleak.  

The teams match up well. 

 

[Rcal10]

6 minutes ago, muntjack said:

Here the thing about the Pirates,  which I've touched on elsewhere. They have these three arms in AAA (they just called up Ashcraft):

Bubba Chandler, 22. 12.5 K/9, 

Braxton Ashcraft, 25, 10.4 K/9

Hunter Barco, 24, 11.8 K/9, 0.8 ERA

They have the potential makings of a great rotation in the coming years.

On the position player side,  it is incredibly bleak.  

The teams match up well. 

 

They do. But to me there is no real need to trade Skenes. He is their star player and the guy the fan base can get behind. I think PR would be terrible for the Pirates if they dealt him. But, if they do decide to trade bim (which I doubt) I agree the Cubs are a good match. I think that has Jones not gotten hurt he would have been the one they would be trading. 

[Derwood]

BTW, Skenes just pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball against Arizona today

[Tryptamine]

Alcantara with yet another awful start. 

4IP 7H 6ER 4BB 0K

I legitimately would not put him in the Cub rotation even if the Marlins just gave him to the Cubs.

[Bertz]

Given the lack of goldilocks starting pitching options I wonder a bit about going nuts on a reliever.  

Like of course you absolutely have to add a SP.  But I'm wondering about a boring SP, let's say Chris Bassitt, and paired with a much more dynamic reliever like Mason Miller. 

We saw this winter that Jed thinks they're in a place where it is worth paying up for an elite reliever.  Miller/Hodge/Palencia has a chance to really shorten games.  Add Horton in short relief on top of that.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

3 hours ago, muntjack said:

Here the thing about the Pirates,  which I've touched on elsewhere. They have these three arms in AAA (they just called up Ashcraft):

Bubba Chandler, 22. 12.5 K/9, 

Braxton Ashcraft, 25, 10.4 K/9

Hunter Barco, 24, 11.8 K/9, 0.8 ERA

They have the potential makings of a great rotation in the coming years.

On the position player side,  it is incredibly bleak.  

The teams match up well. 

 

I think they match up incredibly well. It will almost certainly have to include Shaw so maybe taking on that Ke’Bryan Hayes contract in return could lessen the haul overall. He probably sucks, but he could need a change of scenery.

[gflore34]

23 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Alcantara with yet another awful start. 

4IP 7H 6ER 4BB 0K

I legitimately would not put him in the Cub rotation even if the Marlins just gave him to the Cubs.

I would. I think he's done with the Marlins and would dramatically improve as a Cub.