Playing Fact or Fiction with All of MLB's Hottest Week 15 Buzz, Rumors
Trade season is upon us, and while the Boston Red Sox have been the most aggressive team thus far, swinging deals for a starting pitcher (Drew Pomeranz) and reliever (Brad Ziegler) in recent weeks, the rest of baseball is sure to catch up in no time.
After all, the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline will be here before you know it. Considering how quickly the All-Star break seemed to arrive, the 11 shopping days that teams have left will pass in the blink of an eye.
That doesn't leave much time to answer some burning questions.
Is a top prospect really untouchable? Will a recent trade preclude a contender from swinging another deal? Will an internal power struggle cost a team the chance to retool on the fly?
We'll hit on all that and more in this week's edition of fact or fiction.
Fact: Jeremy Hellickson's Next Start Won't Be for Philadelphia
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With Drew Pomeranz already traded and Oakland's Rich Hill dealing with injuries, Philadelphia's Jeremy Hellickson might be the top starting pitcher currently on the market. The 29-year-old shut down Miami on Wednesday, scattering five hits over eight innings of one-run ball while striking out eight batters.
As ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports, Philadelphia isn't looking for a massive return in a potential deal:
"Other clubs say the Phillies are looking for a return similar to what they got for Jonathan Papelbon last season: a young pitcher or two with a live arm and upside but not a top-ranked prospect. Hellickson has about $3 million left on his contract, and the Phillies could use that as a bargaining chip: Take less money, give up a better player -- or vice-versa.
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Both Miami (obviously) and Baltimore (per CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury) were scouting Hellickson in his latest outing, with Salisbury adding that the Orioles and Phillies have already had discussions about a potential deal.
Whether it's in Baltimore, Miami or another team, Hellickson's time in Philadelphia is just about up.
Fiction: Trading for Montgomery Takes Cubs out of Chapman/Miller Sweepstakes
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Chicago traded for the left-handed reliever it needed on Wednesday—it just wasn't the southpaw anyone expected the National League Central leaders to acquire.
With the Cubs adding Mike Montgomery (and minor league pitcher Jordan Pries) from Seattle in exchange for first base prospect Dan Vogelbach and pitching prospect Paul Blackburn, it'd be easy to say Chicago no longer has a need for the pair of electric southpaws in New York, Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller.
After all, Montgomery has been outstanding in relief this season, pitching to a 2.15 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 44 strikeouts over 50.1 innings of work. He's also under team control through the 2021 season, making him far more than a short-term rental.
But that's not the case.
“We’ll still be in on those guys [Chapman and Miller],” Theo Epstein, the Cubs' president of baseball operations, told the Chicago Sun-Times' Gordon Wittenmyer, adding that Montgomery was in a "different bucket" than his more experienced—and well-known—counterparts.
While Vogelbach and/or Blackburn could have been part of a bigger package for one of the Yankees relievers, the Cubs certainly have more than enough intriguing young assets to satisfy New York's asking price—assuming the Yankees do ultimately decide to sell.
Fiction: Boston Needs to Add Another Reliever
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With Brendan Hall of ESPN.com reporting Koji Uehara (right pectoral strain) had joined Craig Kimbrel (left knee surgery) and Junichi Tazawa (right shoulder impingement) on the disabled list—and only Tazawa expected back anytime soon—a case could be made that Boston needs to add another reliever to the mix.
And if there's one thing this year's trade market looks to be deep in, it's relief pitching.
But the Red Sox have enough in-house quality options to fill the void until their injured arms return. Brad Ziegler is more than capable of holding things down in the ninth inning, while the combination of Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree and Robbie Ross Jr. can bridge the gap between the day's starter and Ziegler.
Besides, if Drew Pomeranz's first start in a Red Sox uniform is an indication of things to come (3 IP, 8 H, 2 HR, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K), Boston is going to need its trade chips to add yet another starter to its rotation.
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Fact: Joey Gallo Is Not Untouchable in Texas
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A consensus top-20 prospect for two years running (and a top-100 prospect for three years), it has long been thought that Joey Gallo and his mammoth power would be off-limits in trade discussions for the Texas Rangers.
Sources recently told Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan that Gallo could be part of a deal for Tampa Bay starters Matt Moore or Jake Odorizzi, while ESPN's Buster Olney says that rival evaluators believe the Rangers' apparent lack of interest in trading Gallo is nothing but "a smokescreen."
Here's more proof that Gallo isn't as untouchable as we once believed: Jurickson Profar, and not Gallo, is slated to get the bulk of the at-bats vacated by Prince Fielder, who could potentially be facing season-ending neck surgery, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.
Put all that together, and it certainly seems like the fans, not the franchise, believe Gallo is too valuable to be used as a trade chip.
Fact: Shortsighted Ownership Will Cost Yankees a Chance at a Brighter Future
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Only two people in the state of New York truly believe the Yankees are serious contenders this season—team owner Hal Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine.
"All the talk of buying or selling is speculation at this point," Levine told ESPN.com's Wallace Matthews. "There's two weeks to go, and at that time we'll make a decision. You can't make any decisions until you have specific transactions in front of you," he said, adding, "We believe in this team."
Granted, Levine has to say that, if for no other reason than to placate the team's corporate sponsors and partners who spent lavishly with the expectation that their brands would get playoff baseball exposure on national television.
But it flies in the face of what general manager Brian Cashman and his staff know is best for the team's long-term future—and that's to sell.
A source tells Matthews that not only does Cashman want to trade the team's pending free agents—Carlos Beltran, Aroldis Chapman, Ivan Nova and Mark Teixeira—but Jacoby Ellsbury, Nathan Eovaldi, Brian McCann and others as well.
Reliever Andrew Miller, whose name has been a fixture on the rumor mill in recent weeks, would be the team's most valuable trade chip to play. While Cashman isn't as intent on dealing him away as other players, Matthews hears that the Yankees would be "willing to listen [to offers]" for him.
Yet with the team's hot start to the season's second half, winning four of six games against Baltimore and Boston, coupled with Levine and Steinbrenner not wanting to give up on the chance to bring in postseason dollars, it sure looks like the Yankees won't be selling come the trade deadline.
That's a mistake the team will regret for years to come...or at least until they spend nearly a half-billion dollars to sign Bryce Harper as a free agent in 2018.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs and are current through games of July 20. All contract information courtesy of Cot's Contracts (via Baseball Prospectus).
Hit me up on Twitter to talk all things baseball: @RickWeinerBR.
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