Top MLB Prospects Who Could Still Be on the Move in Winter Trades
Now that it's mid-January and spring training is just about a month away, the hot stove has started to settle down, at least a little.
Sure, there's still a pair of big-name free-agent arms available in Max Scherzer and James Shields, and a trade or two tends to come to fruition every few days. But for the most part, the wave of transactions reached its peak in December.
That doesn't mean there still isn't all sorts of speculation and rampant rumors about moves that might happen, particularly on the trade front. To that end, there's never a shortage of highly regarded prospects who are mentioned as potential chips.
Like these five to follow.
Steven Moya, OF, Detroit Tigers
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Very recently, Steven Moya was listed as the Detroit Tigers' untouchable prospect, but that was mostly by default, because someone had to be chosen from their weak and shallow farm system.
That said, the 23-year-old Moya is an athletic 6'6" outfielder who does possess prodigious power—his 35 home runs led the Double-A Eastern League by, uh, a lot—and he made his major league debut last September.
In other words, Moya is an intriguing talent and not all that far off, either. Plus, Detroit's outfield is more or less set, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes: "There is no room for Steven Moya in the Detroit Tigers' outfield. Not with Yoenis Cespedes in left field, Rajai Davis and Anthony Gose in center field, and J.D. Martinez in right field."
All of which makes him the best chip Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski has left to play after already having traded away other prospects like Devon Travis, Domingo Leyba and Robbie Ray this offseason.
Detroit has been in win-now mode the past few seasons, and that will be the case again in 2015, so Moya very well could be on the move if the Tigers need to shore things up a bit more between now and Opening Day.
Marco Gonzales, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals
2 of 5A rumor made the rounds last week that the St. Louis Cardinals could be looking to snag another elite starting pitcher for their rotation, perhaps either of left-handers David Price of the Detroit Tigers or Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of Fox Sports.
The cost to acquire either pitcher would be steep, but especially so for Hamels, who is under contract for four more years at $90 million, as opposed to Price, who is in line to become a free agent after 2015.
If there's any merit to this possibility going forward, it might make sense for St. Louis to surrender a southpaw of their own in Marco Gonzales, a soon-to-be 23-year-old who was the club's first-round pick in 2013 and reached the majors last June.
"To secure Hamels," the Fox Sports report speculates, "the Cardinals likely would need to part with [Carlos] Martinez or Gonzales as well as an outfielder such as Randal Grichuk or Stephen Piscotty (the Phillies have long coveted Peter Bourjos as well, sources say)."
The Cardinals would be able to afford giving up several years of control of a young, mid-rotation arm because they have a number of other pitchers, both in the majors and minors—and they would be getting an ace-caliber back in theory, too.
Hunter Renfroe, OF, San Diego Padres
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If new San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller has made anything clear in his first offseason as the head decision-maker in a major league front office, it's that he's liable to make a trade for a big-name player at any point and without warning.
It's no wonder, then, that the Padres, after dealing for Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Derek Norris so far, have been linked to Cole Hamels, too, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:
"The Padres have managed to keep most of their highest rated prospects even after all their many trades, with the top trio of outfielder Hunter Renfroe, pitcher Matt Wisler and catcher Austin Hedges seemingly on everyone's wish list.
The Padres have won wide praise for their aggressive use of a very nice prospect stash to rebuild a lineup that needed help. But the addition of Hamels, a San Diego product, could stamp them as a potential contender, especially if, as expected, they keep top young pitchers Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner.
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While all three of Renfroe, Wisler and Hedges could be in play for Hamels—or any other potential trade target that Preller may have in mind—the one who is most likely to go might be Renfroe.
Why? Because he's a hard-hitting outfielder, and the Padres already have plenty of those, with the three named above, as well as fellow outfielders Rymer Liriano, Will Venable, Cameron Maybin and Carlos Quentin.
Something has to give on that front, and it wouldn't be surprising if it's Renfroe, 22, who hit 21 homers in his first full pro season after going 13th overall in 2013.
Henry Owens, LHP, Boston Red Sox
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While he's not considered an ace-in-the-making, Henry Owens does project to be a solid No. 3 starter or possibly a No. 2 if everything clicks. After sporting a 2.94 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 9.6 K/9 in 159.0 innings across Double-A and Triple-A in 2014, he's generally considered the top arm among the Red Sox's many pitching prospects.
That last part is why Boston could entertain the idea of swapping the 2011 first-rounder to land, say, a legitimate front-of-the-rotation arm (Hamels?) to pitch ahead of their remade five-man, which now consists of Rick Porcello, Wade Miley, Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly and Justin Masterson.
Aside from Owens, 22, the Red Sox have the following young pitchers in their system, many of whom are nearly big league ready: lefties Eduardo Rodriguez, Brian Johnson and Trey Ball, as well as right-handers Matt Barnes and Anthony Ranaudo.
"If you look past the five guys you pencil in the rotation right now," GM Ben Cherington said via Ricky Doyle of NESN, "we still feel like we have a good six or seven young pitchers beyond that who are all capable of being very good major league pitchers, and many of them major league starters in the not-so-distant future."
That makes it slightly easier to dangle Owens as bait.
Noah Syndergaard, RHP, New York Mets
5 of 5Like Steven Moya, Noah Syndergaard was just dubbed the New York Mets' most untouchable prospect, but unlike Moya, Syndergaard earns that because of his status as one of the game's very best young players.
The 22-year-old was a consensus top-20 prospect entering 2014, and although he had some struggles while pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and at a tough home park in Las Vegas, he still maintained a strikeouts-per-nine rate north of 9.0 for the fourth time in his four full pro seasons.
In fact, he whiffed 145 in 133.0 frames, both of which are career highs to date. And Syndergaard is ready to make his big league debut as soon as the Mets make the call.
So why would such a talent who also happens to be so close to the majors possibly be available via trade? For one, there's no evidence that Syndergaard actually is, but his name certainly has been floated often this winter, especially in conjunction with the Mets' search for a big-name shortstop.
There's the idea that the Colorado Rockies would want Syndergaard to be included in a package for Troy Tulowitzki, as Ken Davidoff of the New York Post points out.
And the Washington Nationals seem to be considering what to do with Ian Desmond. As Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio notes, "The Nationals are a lot closer to moving Ian Desmond to the Mets than you think."
Desmond, however, is a free agent after 2015, so it's unlikely the Mets would give up Syndergaard in that scenario.
"It’s all about the control," Davidoff writes. "If Syndergaard can be even a middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher in the major leagues, then his value over six years far surpasses that of what Desmond can provide over one year."
Statistics are accurate through the 2014 season and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.
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