Offseason MLB Trade Ideas Based on Latest Week 26 News, Rumors and Speculation
Being mentioned in trade rumors, much less traded from one team to another, can be a deflating experience for a player. On one hand, it's disheartening to think your current team no longer wants you around. On the other, it's flattering to know another team thinks you can help it win.
Yet when you get past the emotions and bruised egos, switching teams can sometimes be a blessing, as the legendary Joe Garagiola once noted: "Being traded is like celebrating your 100th birthday. It might not be the happiest occasion in the world, but consider the alternative."
For the players involved in the trades that follow, the alternative isn't something any of them should be interested in exploring. Instead, it's a fresh start with a new club, a chance to prove their doubters wrong and—if everything goes right—potentially set themselves up for a bigger payday down the road.
Keep in mind these proposed deals are only ideas and pure speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there's no indication any of them have actually been discussed.
Ryan Howard Gets Traded to the Rays
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Philadelphia Gets: OF Joey Rickard
Tampa Bay Gets: 1B Ryan Howard and $35 million
At first glance, Ryan Howard would seem an odd fit in Tampa Bay with James Loney and Richie Shaffer splitting time at first base and a slew of candidates to rotate through the designated hitter spot. There's also the matter of fitting his $25 million salary into one of baseball's smallest payrolls.
But with Philadelphia picking up all the money left on his deal (including a $10 million buyout of his 2017 team option) and the Rays potentially losing both Asdrubal Cabrera and John Jaso as free agents, it becomes easier to envision the veteran slugger in a Rays uniform.
And it's not as if Tampa Bay couldn't use Howard's production. The veteran slugger would lead the 2015 Rays in home runs (23) and RBI (77), while his 53 extra-base hits would put him only one behind Evan Longoria for the team lead.
It's why people like CBS Sports' Jon Heyman continue to believe Howard would be a good addition for a team like the Rays, a club he believes Howard would happily accept a trade to since he has a house in nearby Clearwater.
Even after picking up all the money left on his deal, Philadelphia still isn't going to get a legitimate prospect back in return.
But they get a semi-intriguing player in Joey Rickard, a speedy 24-year-old outfielder with minimal power but who has hit for average and shown exemplary on-base skills over parts of four minor league seasons, hitting .283 with a .390 OBP.
Even if Rickard never amounts to anything other than organizational depth and paying Howard to play elsewhere is a painful pill to swallow, it's a move worth making, allowing the Phillies to finally see what Darin Ruf is capable of as their everyday first baseman.
Adam Lind Gets Traded to the Mariners
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Milwaukee Gets: LHP Jake Brentz and C Tyler Marlette
Seattle Gets: 1B/DH Adam Lind
Seattle figures to go with a platoon at first base once again in 2016, but it shouldn't be the combination of Logan Morrison and Jesus Montero, which has produced, well...that hasn't really produced at all.
Instead, the Mariners should be looking to add a left-handed bat it can pair with Mark Trumbo, whose horrid defense should find him nowhere near the Safeco Field outfield in 2016 unless he's signing autographs for fans before the game begins.
Enter Adam Lind, who has crushed right-handed pitching to the tune of a .298/.390/.518 slash line with 44 extra-base hits (20 home runs) and 76 RBI this season. Given his production, the $8 million team option on his deal for 2016 is a bargain and a salary the Mariners can absorb without much of an issue.
Keeping a veteran like Lind around, who is entering the last year of his contract, doesn't make much sense for a Brewers club that began the rebuilding process earlier this year, especially when trading him would bring back a pair of intriguing youngsters to add to a steadily improving farm system.
Still a work in progress at the plate and behind it, 22-year-old Tyler Marlette could be the long-term replacement for Jonathan Lucroy behind the plate that Milwaukee simply doesn't have in its system.
Acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline in the Mark Lowe trade, Jake Brentz is years away from potentially contributing in the big leagues, as he's only two years into his transition from high school outfielder to professional pitcher.
But the 21-year-old has a live fastball that sits in the low to mid-90s, while his secondary offerings have looked like plus pitches at times. A lefty who can (potentially) dial his heater up into the mid- to upper 90s is a lefty worth taking a chance on.
Jonathan Papelbon Gets Traded to the Diamondbacks
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Arizona Gets: CL Jonathan Papelbon and $11 million
Washington Gets: A player to be named later
If Jonathan Papelbon's days in Washington weren't numbered before, they are now that he decided to attack Bryce Harper in the Nationals dugout this past weekend. While the Nats may ultimately have to release him, general manager Mike Rizzo will certainly work the phones trying to trade him.
Arizona wants to add an experienced closer, and while Papelbon pales in comparison to Cincinnati's Aroldis Chapman, whom the Diamondbacks unsuccessfully pursued at the nonwaiver trade deadline, he remains one of baseball's better ninth-inning options.
Among the 24 relievers with at least 40 innings pitched in the ninth this season, Papelbon sits tied with Miami's A.J. Ramos for the ninth-lowest ERA (2.20) and WHIP (1.041) while pitching to the fourth-highest strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.13).
The chance to add a closer of that caliber, even one with all of Papelbon's baggage, at a bargain price may simply be too tempting for the D-backs to pass up. For the Nationals, the chance to get back anything for the hot-headed veteran has to be viewed as a small victory.
Besides, the entertainment value of a Papelbon vs. Harper ninth-inning showdown at some point in 2016 is simply too high for this deal not to happen.
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Julio Teheran Gets Traded to the Red Sox
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Atlanta Gets: OF Jackie Bradley Jr., IF Brock Holt and LHP Henry Owens
Boston Gets: RHP Julio Teheran
While most of the baseball world expects Boston to find the ace of its rotation via free agency, what if the opportunity to trade for that player became available?
It's something that wasn't lost on the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman, who includes players like Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt, Joe Kelly and Henry Owens as potential trade chips for the Red Sox to play this offseason.
All three of those players would make an awful lot of sense for an Atlanta club with its eye on 2017, when the gates to the team's shiny new playground, SunTrust Park, will officially open. And it just so happens the Braves have an ace who's sure to interest Boston in Julio Teheran.
As the July 31 trade deadline neared, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan tweeted the Braves were listening to offers for the 24-year-old righty, while CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reported a few weeks later the Braves would continue listening on Teheran this winter.
Due only $28.6 million through 2019 (and with a $12 million team option for 2020) as part of an extension he signed while Frank Wren, Boston's current senior vice president of baseball operations, was Atlanta's general manager, adding the 24-year-old would leave Boston with plenty of financial flexibility.
Teheran hasn't had a good season by any measure, posting career highs in ERA (4.16), FIP (4.50), WHIP (1.32) and walks per nine innings (3.3). But his velocity hasn't dropped, which would lead to speculation about a potential injury, and a change of scenery might be what he needs to get back on track.
Atlanta winds up with their starting left fielder of the present (and future) in Bradley Jr., who would push veteran Michael Bourn into a fourth outfielder role, another young arm with upside to plug into its rotation in Owens and Holt, who could split time with Jace Peterson at second base.
Leonys Martin Gets Traded to the Giants
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San Francisco Gets: CF Leonys Martin
Texas Gets: RHP Martin Agosta
Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal isn't wrong when he says Texas needs to begin clearing up its glut of left-handed bats, but it's hard to envision a scenario where the Rangers would trade Mitch Moreland or find a trade partner willing to take on Shin-Soo Choo's contract even with his second-half resurgence.
But the Rangers can make a smaller move, one that finds them sending a disappointing—but talented—outfielder, Leonys Martin, to San Francisco in exchange for a disappointing—but talented—pitching prospect, Martin Agosta.
Martin, 27, has struggled mightily at the plate in 2015, hitting only .220 with a .578 OPS over 94 games, but he remains a plus defender in center field, one with the speed to cause problems when he does manage to get on base.
That defense would come in handy on a team that saw its center fielders grade out as the worst defenders in baseball, per FanGraphs' advanced metrics, with a minus-18.9 UZR/150 and minus-25 DRS.
At the very least, he'd give the Giants a quality insurance policy (defensively at least) for when incumbent center fielder Angel Pagan lands on the disabled list, which has become an annual rite of passage for the 34-year-old.
A second-round pick for the Giants in the 2012 draft, Agosta, 24, has pitched to a 4.24 ERA and 1.37 WHIP across parts of four minor league seasons, never advancing past High-A San Jose. But he knows how to miss bats, with 297 strikeouts over 261.1 career innings, and a change of scenery could be what he needs to take the next step in his development.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs and are current through September 28. All contract information courtesy of Cot's Contracts (via Baseball Prospectus).
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