Specific Trade Ideas

[Roll Tide]

9 minutes ago, interloper said:

Absolutely not. Kjerstad is untouchable for me, even in a nonsense Ohtani scenario, much less one for Stroman. 

I think so too….plus both are rentals

[Sydnor]

7 hours ago, interloper said:

Absolutely not. Kjerstad is untouchable for me, even in a nonsense Ohtani scenario, much less one for Stroman. 

Completely untouchable? What if Kim Ng called and said we’ll trade Luzardo for Kjerstad and Norby? I don’t think Miami has any interest in trading Luzardo, just trying to get a feel for whether there’s a deal where you would move him.

[24fps]

21 minutes ago, Sydnor said:

Completely untouchable? What if Kim Ng called and said we’ll trade Luzardo for Kjerstad and Norby? I don’t think Miami has any interest in trading Luzardo, just trying to get a feel for whether there’s a deal where you would move him.

Yeah. Trading for pitching is the world Elias chose and created and has to live with at least in the near term. If Miami is offering Luzardo you listen, period. 

[OriolesMagic83]

39 minutes ago, Sydnor said:

Completely untouchable? What if Kim Ng called and said we’ll trade Luzardo for Kjerstad and Norby? I don’t think Miami has any interest in trading Luzardo, just trying to get a feel for whether there’s a deal where you would move him.

Make it Eury Perez instead of Luzardo and I'm on board.

[FlipTheBird]

15 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

Would you do this ?

 

Baltimore Orioles

RECEIVE

Marcus Stroman, SP

Cody Bellinger, OF/1B

Chicago Cubs

RECEIVE

Heston Kjerstad, OF/1B

The #36 prospect in all of baseball (according to MLB Pipeline), Heston Kjerstad, is putting together another remarkable season in the minors. With a slash of .327/.415/.564 in 110 ABs, Kjerstad is tearing up Triple-A Norfolk. On the season, he is hitting .316/.396/.571/141 wRC+ with 16 HRs and 37 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A. Given that the Orioles have two other top 100 prospects that can play in the outfield, losing Kjerstad wouldn't be a critical blow for a team that now boasts the best farm in baseball, including a remarkable eight top 100 prospects.

The Cubs are the people that wouldn’t do that. Stroman and Bellinger are arguably the best *separate* (as Ohtani is basically both) SP rental and position player rentals on the market this summer.

You aren’t getting both of the Cubs major trade chips for one 24-year-old OF prospect, no matter how successful Heston’s 2023 has been. He could be the centerpiece, but there’d have to be other parts to get the Cubs to pay attention.

[Roll Tide]

3 hours ago, FlipTheBird said:

The Cubs are the people that wouldn’t do that. Stroman and Bellinger are arguably the best *separate* (as Ohtani is basically both) SP rental and position player rentals on the market this summer.

You aren’t getting both of the Cubs major trade chips for one 24-year-old OF prospect, no matter how successful Heston’s 2023 has been. He could be the centerpiece, but there’d have to be other parts to get the Cubs to pay attention.

True …Kjerstad is probably top 20 in the next rankings …..maybe higher. In another thread a writer is suggesting a SS prospect from the Red Sox for Othani. Honestly, I would trade him if they are as sure about him as we are Kjerstad. I think Kjerstad is top 20 going into next season….maybe higher. If the Cubs got 1 sure thing out of a trade of these 2 guys for 2 months before free agency it’s probably a win. The value is far above a comp pick …if that even exists now. Let’s see … 5 years of a pretty high odds guys or a bunch of quantity. I know what I’d want as their GM. The Machado trade netted Kremer and little else. I’m sure they will ask for more an perhaps Elias throws them some filler. Me, I’m hoping we don’t trade our guys that look like can’t miss guys. 

[24fps]

Just remember that if the O's somehow actually do trade for Othani, Hyde will still sit him twice a week so everybody else can get AB's and stay "fresh". 

[FlipTheBird]

58 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

True …Kjerstad is probably top 20 in the next rankings …..maybe higher. In another thread a writer is suggesting a SS prospect from the Red Sox for Othani. Honestly, I would trade him if they are as sure about him as we are Kjerstad. I think Kjerstad is top 20 going into next season….maybe higher. If the Cubs got 1 sure thing out of a trade of these 2 guys for 2 months before free agency it’s probably a win. The value is far above a comp pick …if that even exists now. Let’s see … 5 years of a pretty high odds guys or a bunch of quantity. I know what I’d want as their GM. The Machado trade netted Kremer and little else. I’m sure they will ask for more a perhaps Elias throws them some filler. Me, I’m hoping we don’t trade our guys that look like can’t miss guys. 

Even if Kjerstad enters next year as a Top 20, he’s a then 25-year-old outfielder with limited to no major league experience that proves he’s a can’t miss. He could get one of these guys. Not both.

[Bemorewins]

3 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

Even if Kjerstad enters next year as a Top 20, he’s a then 25-year-old outfielder with limited to no major league experience that proves he’s a can’t miss. He could get one of these guys. Not both.

I disagree with some of this. There is no way the expiring contract of Cody Bellinger could get you a prospect as good as Kjerstad. Nor do I think that Stroman could as well on his own. Neither Bellinger nor Stroman are elite players in and of themselves. They are good but not great.

Now both of them together is unfair value on the other side as Kjerstad is not worth both of those good rental players together. So, you would have to add to the trade if you wanted to acquire both.

This trade wouldn't be good for either team IMO. The Cubs would be better off selling them separately and the Orioles do not need Bellinger IMO. Yes he is better than some of our current OF but when Mullins eventually returns, you. would have a serious logjam. Plus I don't want to give up a prospect in Kjerstad who may be our best hitter on the team for years to come. He is a special hitting talent and projects to be a true middle of the order hitter. That is worth more to us, then what Bellinger and/or Stroman could give us for 2 months.

[G54377]

On 7/20/2023 at 11:16 PM, bpilktree said:

With Mullins out longer then expected how about Randall Girchuk and Brent Suter for Prieto and Ryan Watson.  Girchuk would give us a guy that can play center and corner outfield with nice power bat.  Suter would give us a solid lefty out of the pen.  

I want to revisit this because this really feels like a key trade we can make without giving up any "real" significant assets. In addition to Girchuk crushing lefties, I just looked and Girchuk also has a career 1084 OPS at Camden Yards. Sure, some of that has to do with the (former) short porch and our own crappy pitching. Nevertheless, we could probably make trade without giving up any propsect in our top 10.

[Number5]

1 hour ago, 24fps said:

Just remember that if the O's somehow actually do trade for Othani, Hyde will still sit him twice a week so everybody else can get AB's and stay "fresh". 

While I doubt this and Ohtani is an improvement over any of our hitters, the fact is he would not be replacing the weakest hitters in our lineup.  When Adley isn't catching, Ohtani would be replacing Adley, not McCann.  He wouldn't be replacing our backup center-fielders or middle infielders.  They would still be taking turns in the lineup.  His 1.000 OPS would be replacing guys with .750-.800, not the .600 guys.  Improvement, yes, but not as dramatic as some may believe.  Additionally, his blister situation reduces his pitching value.  Perhaps not career-wise, but we're only talking about the next 2 months.  I think these factors have to be weighed seriously before offering up a handful of really good prospects to get the guy.  I think the proposals we are seeing would be terrible moves.  Offering value that is clearly better than the value of the comp pick the Angels would receive if Ohtani walks makes sense, but going crazy with an overkill offer doesn't, IMO.

[24fps]

13 minutes ago, Number5 said:

While I doubt this and Ohtani is an improvement over any of our hitters, the fact is he would not be replacing the weakest hitters in our lineup.  When Adley isn't catching, Ohtani would be replacing Adley, not McCann.  He wouldn't be replacing our backup center-fielders or middle infielders.  They would still be taking turns in the lineup.  His 1.000 OPS would be replacing guys with .750-.800, not the .600 guys.  Improvement, yes, but not as dramatic as some may believe.  Additionally, his blister situation reduces his pitching value.  Perhaps not career-wise, but we're only talking about the next 2 months.  I think these factors have to be weighed seriously before offering up a handful of really good prospects to get the guy.  I think the proposals we are seeing would be terrible moves.  Offering value that is clearly better than the value of the comp pick the Angels would receive if Ohtani walks makes sense, but going crazy with an overkill offer doesn't, IMO.

My post was intended to be humorous (sort of), but of course you are absolutely not wrong to look at it critically anyway.  The proposals we are seeing from the national pundits especially have absolutely nothing to do with the game the Orioles ought to be playing which is to focus on improving pitching and to stay aware of what they should be spending, not what they could theoretically afford.

[Frobby]

21 hours ago, interloper said:

Absolutely not. Kjerstad is untouchable for me, even in a nonsense Ohtani scenario, much less one for Stroman. 

This whole “untouchable” concept is a bad one IMO.  Every single player in the org can be had for the right price.  And anyway, Kjerstad would be pretty far down in the pecking order of guys I’d hate to trade.   

[Bemorewins]

46 minutes ago, Number5 said:

While I doubt this and Ohtani is an improvement over any of our hitters, the fact is he would not be replacing the weakest hitters in our lineup.  When Adley isn't catching, Ohtani would be replacing Adley, not McCann.  He wouldn't be replacing our backup center-fielders or middle infielders.  They would still be taking turns in the lineup.  His 1.000 OPS would be replacing guys with .750-.800, not the .600 guys.  Improvement, yes, but not as dramatic as some may believe.  Additionally, his blister situation reduces his pitching value.  Perhaps not career-wise, but we're only talking about the next 2 months.  I think these factors have to be weighed seriously before offering up a handful of really good prospects to get the guy.  I think the proposals we are seeing would be terrible moves.  Offering value that is clearly better than the value of the comp pick the Angels would receive if Ohtani walks makes sense, but going crazy with an overkill offer doesn't, IMO.

I'm not really an advocate of trading for Ohtani. But you are selling his batting abilities short IMO. He is BY FAR and I mean a good margin BETTER than any hitter we have (Adley or not). His OPS is closer to 1.100. He has more home runs than our top TWO GUYS COMBINED.

Yes the blister situation is a concern and it will probably lower his trade value as it has clearly effected his pitching results. But his hitting ALONE is enough to give us a tremendous boost.

[Number5]

1 minute ago, Bemorewins said:

I'm not really an advocate of trading for Ohtani. But you are selling his batting abilities short IMO. He is BY FAR and I mean a good margin BETTER than any hitter we have (Adley or not). His OPS is closer to 1.100. He has more home runs than our top TWO GUYS COMBINED.

Yes the blister situation is a concern and it will probably lower his trade value as it has clearly effected his pitching results. But his hitting ALONE is enough to give us a tremendous boost.

There is a huge difference between not realizing how great of a player Ohtani is and suggesting that saying that giving up massive value in prospects for two months of his services is foolhardy.