Series Thread: There's no place like home: Rangers host A's 7/25-7/27

[darrylgann]

Interesting game Tuesday with Sonny Gray pitching. Wouldn't necessarily give up on him as a trade piece. Very bad year but may just need a change of scenery. Wouldn't give up too much.

 

[Bmurph]

Full article:
Here are seven teams that have what it takes to pull off a Chris Sale trade

Here are seven teams that have what it takes to pull off a Chris Sale trade

Using the Hamels trade at the 2015 deadline, here are the clubs with necessary assets

Texas Rangers

The White Sox figure to demand Nomar Mazara in a Chris Sale trade with the Rangers. USATSI

The Rangers have been connected to Sale more than any other team, so of course we had to include them. It's pretty amazing that they have the prospect firepower to trade for Hamels last year and possibly trade for Sale this year.

Here's a package:

• Two of OF Nomar Mazara, IF Jurickson Profar, and 3B Joey Gallo
• RHP Luis Ortiz (No. 61 on MLB.com's most recent top 100)
• RHP Mike Matuella
• RHP Luke Jackson

The ChiSox would not be wrong to ask for all three of Mazara, Profar, and Gallo. I just have a hard time thinking the Rangers would part with all three, even for someone as good as Sale. Two of the three with Ortiz as the third piece will have to do.

Matuella recently returned from Tommy John surgery and Jackson is an MLB-ready arm who can step right into Chicago's staff. This deal would be about getting two of Mazara, Profar, and Gallo for the White Sox. They're the headliners.

Not sure if they get it done with that list minus Mazara, but JD has made things happen before

 

[darrylgann]

Full article:
Here are seven teams that have what it takes to pull off a Chris Sale trade

Here are seven teams that have what it takes to pull off a Chris Sale trade

Using the Hamels trade at the 2015 deadline, here are the clubs with necessary assets

Texas Rangers
View attachment 140823
The White Sox figure to demand Nomar Mazara in a Chris Sale trade with the Rangers. USATSI

The Rangers have been connected to Sale more than any other team, so of course we had to include them. It's pretty amazing that they have the prospect firepower to trade for Hamels last year and possibly trade for Sale this year.

Here's a package:

• 
  
  
  • Two of OF Nomar Mazara, IF Jurickson Profar, and 3B Joey Gallo
  • RHP Luis Ortiz (No. 61 on MLB.com's most recent top 100)
  • RHP Mike Matuella
  • RHP Luke Jackson

The ChiSox would not be wrong to ask for all three of Mazara, Profar, and Gallo. I just have a hard time thinking the Rangers would part with all three, even for someone as good as Sale. Two of the three with Ortiz as the third piece will have to do.

Matuella recently returned from Tommy John surgery and Jackson is an MLB-ready arm who can step right into Chicago's staff. This deal would be about getting two of Mazara, Profar, and Gallo for the White Sox. They're the headliners.

Not sure if they get it done with that list minus Mazara, but JD has made things happen before

Matuella is out again for the year

 

[Bmurph]

Matuella is out again for the year

Yeah I thought that about that too, which is why I thought that list including Jackson as well, wouldn't get it done without Mazara

 

[Bmurph]

Cubs, Yankees reportedly have Chapman trade in place that could be completed soon
Shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres could be involved

• by R.J. Anderson
• @r_j_anderson
• 21m ago

The Yankees had been rumored to be nearing an Aroldis Chapman trade all day on Sunday, and now it looks like the finish line is in sight. According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees appear to be working with the Cubs on a deal that would involve shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres.

Heyman's tweet comes on the heels of another that confirms Torres' inclusion in a forthcoming trade -- apparently one involving Chapman, should the two sides finalize their agreement:


Chapman, a free agent at season's end, has pitched well since returning from a suspension stemming from firing his gun following an argument with his child's mother. In 31 games, he's posted a 2.01 ERA and 5.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's also notched 20 saves and nearly 13 strikeouts per nine innings.

Torres, 19, is hitting .275/.359/.433 in High-A. He was recently ranked the 27th best prospect by Baseball America and the 34th best prospect by Baseball Prospectus. It's unclear who else the Cubs might be sending to the Bronx, but Torres seems like a good start to the Yankees' rebuild.

We will have more on this story as it develops.

 

[darrylgann]

Cubs, Yankees reportedly have Chapman trade in place that could be completed soon
Shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres could be involved

• by R.J. Anderson
• @r_j_anderson
• 21m ago

The Yankees had been rumored to be nearing an Aroldis Chapman trade all day on Sunday, and now it looks like the finish line is in sight. According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees appear to be working with the Cubs on a deal that would involve shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres.

Heyman's tweet comes on the heels of another that confirms Torres' inclusion in a forthcoming trade -- apparently one involving Chapman, should the two sides finalize their agreement:


Chapman, a free agent at season's end, has pitched well since returning from a suspension stemming from firing his gun following an argument with his child's mother. In 31 games, he's posted a 2.01 ERA and 5.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's also notched 20 saves and nearly 13 strikeouts per nine innings.

Torres, 19, is hitting .275/.359/.433 in High-A. He was recently ranked the 27th best prospect by Baseball America and the 34th best prospect by Baseball Prospectus. It's unclear who else the Cubs might be sending to the Bronx, but Torres seems like a good start to the Yankees' rebuild.

We will have more on this story as it develops.

If the Cubs don't make it to the World Series and win it this year the whole city will crumble. They are all in is an understatement.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

If the Cubs don't make it to the World Series and win it this year the whole city will crumble. They are all in is an understatement.

They seem to have a deep farm system when you consider all the young players they called up and Kyle Schwarber and a number of decent players down on the farm. Not sure how their pitching is in the minors but they have much of their pitching thru FA and trades.

 

[saddles]

I wondered about him when I heard KC could be sellers.

 

[romeo212000]

I wondered about him when I heard KC could be sellers.

Depending on the cost, we could do worse.

 

[saddles]

It is humorous to listen to fans calling local radio stations talking trades. A year ago everyone was wanting to trade Profar for just about anything and now a lot of them would rather keep Profar over Gallo. It sure doesn't take much to change how people feel. Gallo was an OPS over .900 and yet some fans have put him below Profar because Profar has had some success here already. I wonder what Joey would have had to do to keep from dropping in those fans estimations.

 

[Kelleyman]

It is humorous to listen to fans calling local radio stations talking trades. A year ago everyone was wanting to trade Profar for just about anything and now a lot of them would rather keep Profar over Gallo. It sure doesn't take much to change how people feel. Gallo was an OPS over .900 and yet some fans have put him below Profar because Profar has had some success here already. I wonder what Joey would have had to do to keep from dropping in those fans estimations.

I for one do not want to give up Gallo. His trade value has dropped and it is laughable what it will take to get Sale. Things have to go right for Rangers to get to WS whether they get Sale or not. We just need a serviceable #4 SP.

 

[saddles]

If only the Rangers had not went on that good September run under Bogar in 2014. lol

 

[romeo212000]

It is humorous to listen to fans calling local radio stations talking trades. A year ago everyone was wanting to trade Profar for just about anything and now a lot of them would rather keep Profar over Gallo. It sure doesn't take much to change how people feel. Gallo was an OPS over .900 and yet some fans have put him below Profar because Profar has had some success here already. I wonder what Joey would have had to do to keep from dropping in those fans estimations.

The average fan is extremely uninformed and ignorant. It's one of the things that make this board so refreshing and unique.

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

Depending on the cost, we could do worse.[/QUOTE

When was this? Out of town and almost went to game this last weekend

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers Interested In Edinson Volquez

By Mark Polishuk | July 24, 2016 at 8:41pm CDT

The Rangers are interested in a reunion with Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Volquez actually started against Texas today, holding the Rangers to one run over six innings to earn a no-decision in what ended up as a 2-1 Rangers victory. As Grant noted, “the entire Rangers inner circle of front office personnel was on hand to see” Volquez pitch.

Texas been looking far and wide for rotation upgrades before the deadline, including checking in on such major names as Chris Sale and the Rays’ collection of starters (Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Matt Moore and Drew Smyly). Those pitchers, however, are all controllable and thus have high asking prices. Between the high prospect cost and the injuries plaguing the Texas rotation, GM Jon Daniels admitted that his team may shift its mindset to consider short-term additions.

“I think that’s the only thing that’s really changed is that I was hoping we wouldn’t have to consider rentals,” Daniels said. “I think if we had a healthy rotation, we’d only be looking at guys who are controllable past this season. [Rentals] would not be our preference, but we’ve got to be open.”

Volquez would fit the bill as such a rental pitcher. Volquez is in the final year of a two-year contract that paid him $17MM in guaranteed salary, plus there is a $10MM mutual option on his services for 2017 that can be bought out for $3MM. (Incidentally, Volquez also gets a $500K assignment bonus in the event of a trade.) He would obviously come at a much lower cost than Sale or any of the Rays pitchers, though the Royals are still undecided about selling at the deadline or making another postseason push. Grant reports that at least 20 teams had scouts watching the Rangers/Royals series, which is no surprise given that both teams could be such big players before August 1.

Volquez is also something of a known commodity in Texas, having been originally signed by the Rangers as an 18-year-old amateur free agent in 2001 and breaking into the bigs with them from 2005-07. Now 33 years old, Volquez has had his share of ups and downs over his 12 years in the bigs, though he experienced a bit of a career revival with the Pirates in 2014 as one of the many success stories of pitching coach Ray Searage. Volquez turned that bounce-back year into his current deal with the Royals, and the righty was a big part of Kansas City’s World Series championship team in 2015.

This season hasn’t gone quite as smoothy for Volquez, as he has only a 4.56 ERA over 124 1/3 innings even after today’s strong outing. ERA indicators show that his ERA is roughly a half-run higher than it should be, and Volquez is providing his usual contribution of generating ground balls (53.4% grounder rate) while not missing many bats (6.92 K/9). Volquez also averaged 186 innings per season from 2012-15, so his durability would bring much-needed stability to the thinned-out Texas rotation.

 

[Bmurph]

8:06pm: There hasn’t been any talk of a contract extension between Chapman and the Cubs, Heyman reports (Twitter link). The trade is “looking likelier” but still not finalized, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets. Torres is one of “multiple” Cubs pieces that have been agreed upon as part of the deal.

 

[saddles]

When was this? Out of town and almost went to game this last weekend

This evening.

 

[Kelleyman]

If only the Rangers had not went on that good September run under Bogar in 2014. lol

Yeah we were hoping to at least pull one of the SS in they draft. One thing I hate about Astros, their tanking on purpose. I have been watching his status regularly. Very curious about their recent signing. Kind of similar to to Rangers with our MIF trio

 

[saddles]

Rangers Interested In Edinson Volquez

By Mark Polishuk | July 24, 2016 at 8:41pm CDT

The Rangers are interested in a reunion with Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Volquez actually started against Texas today, holding the Rangers to one run over six innings to earn a no-decision in what ended up as a 2-1 Rangers victory. As Grant noted, “the entire Rangers inner circle of front office personnel was on hand to see” Volquez pitch.

Texas been looking far and wide for rotation upgrades before the deadline, including checking in on such major names as Chris Sale and the Rays’ collection of starters (Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Matt Moore and Drew Smyly). Those pitchers, however, are all controllable and thus have high asking prices. Between the high prospect cost and the injuries plaguing the Texas rotation, GM Jon Daniels admitted that his team may shift its mindset to consider short-term additions.

“I think that’s the only thing that’s really changed is that I was hoping we wouldn’t have to consider rentals,” Daniels said. “I think if we had a healthy rotation, we’d only be looking at guys who are controllable past this season. [Rentals] would not be our preference, but we’ve got to be open.”

Volquez would fit the bill as such a rental pitcher. Volquez is in the final year of a two-year contract that paid him $17MM in guaranteed salary, plus there is a $10MM mutual option on his services for 2017 that can be bought out for $3MM. (Incidentally, Volquez also gets a $500K assignment bonus in the event of a trade.) He would obviously come at a much lower cost than Sale or any of the Rays pitchers, though the Royals are still undecided about selling at the deadline or making another postseason push. Grant reports that at least 20 teams had scouts watching the Rangers/Royals series, which is no surprise given that both teams could be such big players before August 1.

Volquez is also something of a known commodity in Texas, having been originally signed by the Rangers as an 18-year-old amateur free agent in 2001 and breaking into the bigs with them from 2005-07. Now 33 years old, Volquez has had his share of ups and downs over his 12 years in the bigs, though he experienced a bit of a career revival with the Pirates in 2014 as one of the many success stories of pitching coach Ray Searage. Volquez turned that bounce-back year into his current deal with the Royals, and the righty was a big part of Kansas City’s World Series championship team in 2015.

This season hasn’t gone quite as smoothy for Volquez, as he has only a 4.56 ERA over 124 1/3 innings even after today’s strong outing. ERA indicators show that his ERA is roughly a half-run higher than it should be, and Volquez is providing his usual contribution of generating ground balls (53.4% grounder rate) while not missing many bats (6.92 K/9). Volquez also averaged 186 innings per season from 2012-15, so his durability would bring much-needed stability to the thinned-out Texas rotation.

I would think he would come at a reasonable cost.