Random trade speculation

[Bertz]

45 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

You guys think the Angels view Ballesteros as a true catching option ?

No way to say, but I feel like the arrow on his defense is pointing up this year.  Not way up, but up. 

- Subjective but I thought he looked perfectly ordinary in ST, and was really good at challenging

- Craig and Tommy started trusting him to play behind the plate shortly before they sent him down, which is not proof of anything but we know they're pretty finicky about catcher defense.   Especially the soft factors we can't measure

- His defensive metrics from behind the plate are average in a tiny sample

- His defensive stats at AAA via BaseballProspectus paint the picture of something like a -5 defensive catcher.  Definitionally below average but hardly to a noteworthy degree

I don't think there's really anything Ive seen that indicates he can't catch.  A lot of people simply can't get over the weight IMO.

[We Got The Whole 9]

57 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

You guys think the Angels view Ballesteros as a true catching option ?

I don't think any team does

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Dfan25 said:

I think the Cubs will end up trading for   Gausman 

With that said I think Detmers is number # 1 on their board. Could be very important againts a team like the Phillies in a short series 

Solid prediction.

[Hunter]

6 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

And you fly the right state flag.

[Rcal10]

3 hours ago, Bertz said:

I don't think teams have that level of recency bias

I also think recency bias is why all of a sudden people don’t want to trade Ayers but are all willing to trade Mo. If the Angels want Ayers and not Mo, trade Ayers. I have no issue with that. I also have no issue if Mo is the guy traded.  I just glad Ayers is peaking now giving the cubs another asset to trade. If they came out of this deadline with Hancock for Shaw+, Detmers for Ayers+ and Alcantara for a pen arm (and all the + players were not top 15 in the system) I would consider the TDL a huge win. And they would have a good rotation in place for next year. 

[Dfan25]

5 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I also think recency bias is why all of a sudden people don’t want to trade Ayers but are all willing to trade Mo. If the Angels want Ayers and not Mo, trade Ayers. I have no issue with that. I also have no issue if Mo is the guy traded.  I just glad Ayers is peaking now giving the cubs another asset to trade. If they came out of this deadline with Hancock for Shaw+, Detmers for Ayers+ and Alcantara for a pen arm (and all the + players were not top 15 in the system) I would consider the TDL a huge win. And they would have a good rotation in place for next year. 

Yeah  I have no problem with dealing Mo or Ayers . With that said extremely unlikely they will be able to trade for 2 SP . They will have trouble getting one as it is .

 

Edit : I guess if the Mariners don’t ask for much else after Shaw , perhaps it could happen . 

Edited 18 hours ago by Dfan25

[Rcal10]

16 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

Yeah  I have no problem with dealing Mo or Ayers . With that said extremely unlikely they will be able to trade for 2 SP . They will have trouble getting one as it is .

 

Edit : I guess if the Mariners don’t ask for much else after Shaw , perhaps it could happen . 

I don’t think it will happen either. I am just saying if the Angels really liked Ayers and they would trade Detmers for him I would do it. Same with Shaw/Hancock. Next year they would have Brown, Detmers, Cabrera, Steele, Hancock. Then maybe Boyd stays for a year. They may also have Wiggins coming and Horton back. Maybe they wouldn’t have to get a FA starter so they can sign Seiya again. 

[Bertz]

So this is probably about going back to Iowa, but given the time of year just gonna throw it out there

[Adipost]

The Cubs are going to be facing Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler in a 3 game series.  Acquiring a mediocre starter for a top 10 prospect and Shaw is a waste of assets.  Either get a guy who can go pitch for pitch with those 2 or don’t even bother.

[Bertz]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7466928/2026/07/24/one-player-traded-mlb-deadline-2026/

From the Athletic one player from each team who will be gone by the deadline

- For the Cubs Alcantara is listed, which feels right.  Even if he's not in the "big" deal he's probably going somewhere

- Reid Detmers listed for the Angels, yet more smoke they're actually willing to sell

[731.4life]

41 minutes ago, Adipost said:

The Cubs are going to be facing Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler in a 3 game series.  Acquiring a mediocre starter for a top 10 prospect and Shaw is a waste of assets.  Either get a guy who can go pitch for pitch with those 2 or don’t even bother.

Thank you, it's something I've said in the past few days that the Cubs doesn't have the playmakers to match the postseason teams. But you better be careful because the analytic nerds will probably come after you.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by 731.4life

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

1 hour ago, Adipost said:

The Cubs are going to be facing Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler in a 3 game series.  Acquiring a mediocre starter for a top 10 prospect and Shaw is a waste of assets.  Either get a guy who can go pitch for pitch with those 2 or don’t even bother.

At the rate the Tigers are going, they aren't going to trade Skubal. And there's no one else available that can pitch with Sanchez and Wheeler.

[squally1313]

9 hours ago, Adipost said:

The Cubs are going to be facing Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler in a 3 game series.  Acquiring a mediocre starter for a top 10 prospect and Shaw is a waste of assets.  Either get a guy who can go pitch for pitch with those 2 or don’t even bother.

The Phillies have the 27th best offense in baseball. We have 46 points more OPS as a team. Why do we have to have a clearly superior offense and also equivalent pitching. 

[Geographyhater8888]

10 hours ago, Adipost said:

The Cubs are going to be facing Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler in a 3 game series.  Acquiring a mediocre starter for a top 10 prospect and Shaw is a waste of assets.  Either get a guy who can go pitch for pitch with those 2 or don’t even bother.

Their defense sucks. The Cubs have roughly equal defensive run value to the other 5 teams with an above average run value combined. The Phillies and Cubs have the exact same team ERA despite a 12 war gap in pitching.

Imanaga, Rea and Peterson can’t be trusted, someone of Boyd’s caliber is enough to effectively limit runs and go toe to toe with one of those starting pitchers. . 
 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Geographyhater8888

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

The Phillies have the 27th best offense in baseball. We have 46 points more OPS as a team. Why do we have to have a clearly superior offense and also equivalent pitching. 

They are also very bad against left handed pitching. Detmers would be the perfect guy to get for that series. Boyd, Detmers and Shota would cause problems for the Phillies. I also believe the Cubs hit Sanchez pretty hard earlier this year and he wears down late in the season. So I wouldn’t be so sure the Cubs can’t beat the Phillies.