Who do you trade when you are building towards winning?

[wildcard]

7 minutes ago, Philip said:

Trade from excess age, quality or quantity.

Too good trade him. Too many, trade him/them. Too old trade him. The Angels have retained Trout, paid him handsomely, and have nothing to show for it. The argument can be made that he is too good for them and should have been traded long ago. Everyone agrees that Manny was the best player on a terrible team, and should have been traded long before he was. 
Mullins is our best player, one of the best defensive CFs in baseball, and hitting well. He may be too good for us right now.

We have a surplus of outfielders right now, and several in the near wings. Santander and Mullins can be replaced for a short-term decline( your OF now includes Mckenna and Stewart, OY)but a steady future when Diaz and others arrive.

Fry is 29. Mancini is an aging first baseman/DH. if we contend next year, we have a lot of pitching to go through, and will probably be acquiring more. Next year at 30, Fry may be doing as well as he is now, but maybe not. Trade him. I’d advocate trading him even if he were 3-4 years younger, though the price would be higher. 40 good innings from a reliable left handed is far more valuable to a contender than to us.
Mancini is a 1B/DH, and we have those aplenty. 
 

Trade from excess, but remember that excess does not necessarily mean quantity.

 

You will never field a contending team with this approach.

[jamalshw]

All of this is assuming fair market value, but I would trade Galvis, Santander, Fry and Sulser. As for Mancini, as a fan, I'd love to see him stay, but I understand moving him. He's a guy that I trade provided I get a good return, I don't settle and trade him for the best the market bears, if the market doesn't bear much (as I would with the first four listed). 

As for Means and Mullins, I would need to be blown away to move them. 

[HowAboutThat]

58 minutes ago, wildcard said:

You will never field a contending team with this approach.

 

59 minutes ago, wildcard said:

You will never field a contending team with this approach.

That is exactly the approach the Rays have, and appears to be exactly what Elias is trying to do. But before he can contend, he has to establish a pipeline of surplus, which is why all his trades have focused on a return of guys who are future producers.

And it is logical and efficient as well as being relatively inexpensive.

And 

[wildcard]

17 minutes ago, Philip said:

 

That is exactly the approach the Rays have, and appears to be exactly what Elias is trying to do. But before he can contend, he has to establish a pipeline of surplus, which is why all his trades have focused on a return of guys who are future producers.

And it is logical and efficient as well as being relatively inexpensive.

And 

Oh its inexpensive.   In that post you are for  trading Mullins, Mancini and Santander.   What year are you intending to contend?

[HowAboutThat]

22 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Oh its inexpensive.   In that post you are for  trading Mullins, Mancini and Santander.   What year are you intending to contend?

You said it was not a way to field a contending team. Watching the Rays shows that it does work.

The original post is asking who we should trade, and I personally don’t care who we trade.

What I said is that you trade from your excess, which is correct, you trade a player before he gets too old which is correct, and you trade a player If he is too good for your team, which is also correct.

We will contend when Mike decides that we are able to field a team that consists of nine positive players and 13 positive pitchers. We are not there yet. I still think we can hit 70+ wins this season, And I think we can contend next season, but Mike will have to decide that.

But the process I suggested is correct, and that is what Mike is doing.

[Ruzious]

I think a tough question that hasn't been brought up might be - What do you do about a player like Mountcastle - who's probably just a 1st baseman who might be able to give you some barely adequate defense in LF?  Normally, 1B/DH types don't get you much in trade, but I think his combo of stick and youth give him significant value.  And for those reasons, I want to keep him, and hope we get lucky that someone is willing to give up a nice prospect for Mancini.  But if we're offered a potential stud pitcher or infielder for Mountcastle, I have to listen.        

[Yossarian]

Every move should be made with the goal of opening the Orioles window of contending for post season play/World Series appearances beginning in 2023.  Whatever personnel moves accomplish that could should be considered.

[Lucky_13]

4 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Always sell high on relievers. Always. 

Agreed, especially if its someone like Fry who is having a career season in an otherwise solid but not spectacular career. 

 

 

[Sports Guy]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Oh its inexpensive.   In that post you are for  trading Mullins, Mancini and Santander.   What year are you intending to contend?

The thing is, you are assuming they can’t contend if those guys are dealt.  Not everyone agrees.

You also aren’t taking into account what we get back in those deals..maybe someone can help right now.

A lot of this discussion depends on how you view the individual player and how you view the potential replacements going forward.

[HowAboutThat]

5 hours ago, wildcard said:

Tampa trades players because they have a deep farm system and can replace those players.   The O's are getting there but are not as deep yet.

You get a deep farm by having lots of meaningful prospects, and you acquire meaningful prospects By trading more advanced and developed players. Unless we can meaningfully contend with the players that we have( and we cannot) you seek to trade Current assets for future assets.

Of course you don’t trade them unless the return is worthwhile, and that is an entirely different discussion. it is ridiculous to say, “we’re not going to trade player X Because he’s too valuable to trade.”

It is, however, entirely all right to say, “we did not trade player X because we did not get a worthwhile offer.” And that remains to be seen.

But Tampa Bay trades guys like Mullins and Santander every couple of weeks, and they always win and they always have other guys coming up as replacements. And that’s what we need to do. And no extensions.

[HowAboutThat]

2 hours ago, Ruzious said:

I think a tough question that hasn't been brought up might be - What do you do about a player like Mountcastle - who's probably just a 1st baseman who might be able to give you some barely adequate defense in LF?  Normally, 1B/DH types don't get you much in trade, but I think his combo of stick and youth give him significant value.  And for those reasons, I want to keep him, and hope we get lucky that someone is willing to give up a nice prospect for Mancini.  But if we're offered a potential stud pitcher or infielder for Mountcastle, I have to listen.        

Mountcastle is a designated hitter/1st baseman guy. He represents a common type of player, a hitter with no defense. I am quite happy to keep him and trade Mancini, let Mountcastle and Stewart share duties at DH and first..

[Orioles0615]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

You will never field a contending team with this approach.

People don’t want a contending team unless it’s at Bowie 

[Ruzious]

8 minutes ago, Philip said:

Mountcastle is a designated hitter/1st baseman guy. He represents a common type of player, a hitter with no defense. I am quite happy to keep him and trade Mancini, let Mountcastle and Stewart share duties at DH and first..

I just don't want them to trade Mancini for basically nothing - which I think will probably happen.  

[Camden_yardbird]

5 hours ago, Philip said:

So? Not a reason not to trade him.

Depends, there are a lot of factors.  When does Elias think the competitive window starts, what is the return (report is the asking price is "insane", what is their internal evaluation of Diaz?

[HowAboutThat]

3 hours ago, Ruzious said:

I just don't want them to trade Mancini for basically nothing - which I think will probably happen.  

They won’t trade him for nothing.