Our Best "Touchable" Trade Bait is.........

[crawjo]

Anyway, I agree with the OP. Ortiz is our best trade chip. I do not think other teams will see him as "scraps." I think if packaged with the right secondary pieces you could potentially get a nice haul for him. And it makes sense based on who is on the major league roster right now and who is on their way. In three years, I can see where Henderson, Westburg, and Holliday are all playing. But Ortiz? It's hard to see a path for him other than a devastating injury or massive stock drop by Holliday or Henderson. 

[RVAOsFan]

I think Elias is going to go out and get us some pitching at the deadline.  I predict a rental starter and a bullpen arm, maybe 2 but I think he will try and fill that hole internally.

I think the org is deep enough that the guys we trade will not need to be top 10 prospects to bring us back a quality rental pitcher or two.

[Fiver6565]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Obviously there is a human element, but I don’t think the world will end for any of these guys if someone they’ve known in the minors for 2-4 years gets traded.   

No one is saying the world's going to end either.  Its an unusual amount of talk about how close those three are there. More than you usually hear, more than you heard with Ortiz got called up, etc.

Regardless of the reason I think those three are locked onto the team for the next few/several years.  Trades will happen but they won't involve those three.

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, deward said:

Guys in the middle of most top 100 prospect lists are scraps now? Then scraps got Houston Verlander, Cole, and Greinke. Guys on big contracts don't usually require more than that kind of prospect capital. An ace with multiple years left on their first contract? Sure, that's going to cost and arm and a leg, but who's trading that away?  

I think you missed the point of the post about being cocky.  

But, fine, I'll play along.

You tell me where Norby and Ortiz fit in behind Holliday, Henderson, Westburg, and Mayo.  I'd rather trade those two and get back some pitching and keep the rest.  

That's the thing about this thread, none of these guys should be "untouchable" for the right price.  Yeah, it'd have to be a hell of a haul for me to want to trade some of these guys but the flip side seems to be this OH wet dream of making these fantasy lineups in which all of these guys are panning out and somehow on the roster by 2025.  

There's not going to be room for everyone.  And yet, some of you guys are all attached to OMG ORTIZ AND NORBY HOW COULD YOU CALL THEM SCRAPS?  The emotional attachment to some of these prospects and the fear of trading them is hysterical.  I said it the other day, everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.  Everyone here wants to trade for a frontline starter, but no one wants to part with prospects.  

 

[Hank Scorpio]

9 minutes ago, crawjo said:

Awfully tough to trade arguably the best hitter on the team right now in the middle of a pennant race. You almost never see that happen. In the offseason, it's definitely a possibility. But to make the trade now would be very risky. 

I think Hays isn't quite the guy he's showed as in the first half based on his historical performance.

.387 babip... 

He's valuable, for sure. But he could likely be backfilled fairly easily & could net us quite a return, especially when packaged with a few of those 2nd tier prospects. I have no idea what the industry thinks of him, obviously... but I think we would be selling high.

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I think Hays isn't quite the guy he's showed as in the first half based on his historical performance.

.387 babip... 

He's valuable, for sure. But he could likely be backfilled fairly easily & could net us quite a return, especially when packaged with a few of those 2nd tier prospects. I have no idea what the industry thinks of him, obviously... but I think we would be selling high.

I bet that the industry knows what a babip is.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

4 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I think Hays isn't quite the guy he's showed as in the first half based on his historical performance.

.387 babip... 

He's valuable, for sure. But he could likely be backfilled fairly easily & could net us quite a return, especially when packaged with a few of those 2nd tier prospects. I have no idea what the industry thinks of him, obviously... but I think we would be selling high.

If the goal is making the playoffs this season then trading Hays isn't a good idea even if there are prospects who will eventually be better players than Hays ever was lying in wait.

This off-season I'm going to be surprised if a veteran player like Hays or Santander isn't moved to make room for the logjam of talent ready to graduate the farm system over the next year.

[PsychoBird68]

I can't see how we could replace Hays unless I'm missing something because I don't believe we have any right hand hitting outfielders with his skill set in our system

8 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I think Hays isn't quite the guy he's showed as in the first half based on his historical performance.

.387 babip... 

He's valuable, for sure. But he could likely be backfilled fairly easily & could net us quite a return, especially when packaged with a few of those 2nd tier prospects. I have no idea what the industry thinks of him, obviously... but I think we would be selling high.

We have no right hand hitting outfielders in our system with Hays' skill set to replace him....

 

[25 Nuggets]

51 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree. Outside of Adley, Gunnar, Holliday everyone can be considered. 

This board is funny. It’s like the fat girl that lost a bunch of weight and came back for senior year looking amazing and gets cocky all of a sudden. All of a sudden you guys act like we’ve got all these untouchable pieces and that if any team wants to deal with us they can take our Norby/Ortiz scraps. 

I floated Mayo's name as a trade candidate and was met with negativity.  But he is a guy that can get you a controllable TOR/Cy Young candidate pitcher.  I guess he would be my highest "touchable" then.  He's probably a top 25 prospect in next year's rankings.

[clapdiddy]

3 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

If the goal is making the playoffs this season then trading Hays isn't a good idea even if there are prospects who will eventually be better players than Hays ever was lying in wait.

This off-season I'm going to be surprised if a veteran player like Hays or Santander isn't moved to make room for the logjam of talent ready to graduate the farm system over the next year.

I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck, but do you think Cowser's output could equal what Hays has done up to this point?    He might not hit for as high of an average, but I'd bet for a better OBP with maybe slightly less SLG%.    If you could turn Hays into a pitcher who will be around for a couple of years, it may be worth it...and I don't think the output from LF would suffer that much...if at all.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, 25 Nuggets said:

I floated Mayo's name as a trade candidate and was met with negativity.  But he is a guy that can get you a controllable TOR/Cy Young candidate pitcher.  I guess he would be my highest "touchable" then.  He's probably a top 25 prospect in next year's rankings.

I'd float Mayo's name as a trade candidate and not give a **** if anyone stepped to me with negativity.  

People get confused easily.  I'm not saying I'd actively shop Mayo, but if someone called with a whopper of a deal I'd listen.  I wouldn't, like, slam the phone down if someone brought his name up.

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

No one is saying the world's going to end either.  Its an unusual amount of talk about how close those three are there. More than you usually hear, more than you heard with Ortiz got called up, etc.

Regardless of the reason I think those three are locked onto the team for the next few/several years.  Trades will happen but they won't involve those three.

Honestly, Cowser and Gunnar played all of one game together in the minors.  By the time Cowser got to Delmarva, Gunnar was at Aberdeen.   By the time he got to Aberdeen, Gunnar was at Bowie.  By the time Cowser was at Bowie, Gunnar was at Norfolk.   Cowser and Gunnar played together one game after Cowser reached Norfolk, and then Gunnar was promoted to the majors.   

Cowser also didn’t play with Westburg until last August 30 when he reached Norfolk.   They played together for a month last September and then three months this season. Not a ton of time.  

The two who did play together a lot in the minors were Gunnar and Westburg.  They played together at all four levels of the minors in 2021-22, though Westburg was promoted ahead of Gunnar twice in 2021 by a few weeks, and then Gunnar was in the majors in September 2022 abd three months this year without Westburg. 

So, these aren’t exactly lifelong friendships we’re talking about.  


 

[25 Nuggets]

15 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I bet that the industry knows what a babip is.  

I think it's a rare flightless bird from Indonesia somewhere

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 

So, these aren’t exactly lifelong friendships we’re talking about.  


 

You mean they're not besties?!  Awww Frobby, how could you!!!!

[DocJJ]

2 hours ago, doccat said:

I thought about starting a similar thread…

IMO-

 

Untouchable: Holliday, Mayo, Grayson Rodriguez

Borderline untouchable: Kjerstad, Cowser

Tradeable for a good return: Norby, Prieto, Ortiz, Mountcastle, Stowers, Hall

I'd put Westburg in the Borderline Untouchable category- he will hit pretty well and he can play a lot of positions.  That's a great guy to have on a roster.  I'd have to really be wowed by the return.

Rutchman is untouchable.  Good young defensive catcher who can hit (and from both sides of the plate?).  That's just not replaceable. 

I don't think Hall will ever have enough control/command to succeed.  And his mysterious drop in fastball velocity this year is truly alarming.  But we'd be selling low if we parted with him now...   

I'd also put Basallo in as Untouchable: good young catcher who can hit.  That's proving incredibly difficult to find these days....