Ranking the Top Stars Still Available at the 2017 MLB Trade Deadline
The July 31 MLB trade deadline is careening toward us like a Statcast-busting Aaron Judge home run. Buyers and sellers are working the phones, and the balance of power is about to shift in both leagues.
While we wait, let's rank the top six stars remaining on the board.
A few points of clarification before we dive in:
- "Star" is a nebulous term, but we're focusing on players with multiple awards and/or All-Star appearances on their resumes.
- To warrant inclusion, a player needs to be on a team that's in or heavily leaning toward "sell" mode and be featured in recent, credible rumors.
- Rankings are based partly on pedigree, but also how much the star in question could help a contender down the stretch.
No. 6: Jay Bruce, RF, New York Mets
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A three-time All-Star and two-time top-10 National League MVP finisher, Jay Bruce has clubbed 25 home runs for the New York Mets, who are going nowhere in the NL East.
As a result, he might be on the move at the deadline for the second year in a row.
Last season, the Cincinnati Reds—who originally drafted Bruce in 2005—dealt him to the Mets for two minor league prospects, Dilson Herrera and Max Wotell. If he's moved again, the 30-year-old impending free agent will be ready, per Mark Fischer of NJ.com:
"In all honestly, there's not as much emotion tagged to it anymore. When I was with the Reds, they were the team that I was drafted by and they kind of raised me as a baseball player. I did a lot of winning with them. When I was getting traded, it was a little bit more emotional because it's all I've known and what I considered home, but at the same time, I was a little older and I really wanted the opportunity to win."
He could soon get that chance with yet another club.
No. 5: Johnny Cueto, RHP, San Francisco Giants
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The San Francisco Giants are mired in a disastrous season, and Johnny Cueto hasn't been faring much better.
The 31-year-old right-hander owns an unsightly 4.59 ERA and is on the disabled list with multiple finger blisters.
At the same time, Cueto is a two-time All-Star who finished sixth in NL Cy Young Award balloting last year, and he eclipsed 200 innings in each of the last three seasons. Add his 41.2 career postseason innings, and he's a prize that should interest many contenders.
Hence a report from ESPN.com's Buster Olney that the Giants are "open to talking about" a Cueto deal.
One other wrinkle: Cueto has an opt-out built into his contract after this season, meaning he could be a rental or could stick with the club that acquires him for another four years and $80 million-plus.
No. 4: Justin Verlander, RHP, Detroit Tigers
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As with Cueto and the Giants, the results haven't been there for Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in 2017.
Detroit is nine games under .500 and virtually sunk in the American League Central. Verlander, meanwhile, is 5-7 with a 4.50 ERA. He's also owed $56 million over the next two seasons with a $22 million vesting option for 2020.
Still, the 34-year-old former AL Cy Young Award and MVP winner could be a fit for a number of teams, as Ryan Fagan of Sporting News noted, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs.
Despite his ho-hum results, Verlander's velocity is actually up compared to last season, per Brooks Baseball. There's undeniably fuel left in the tank.
Whether a swap happens will likely depend on the Tigers' demands and their willingness to eat some salary.
No. 3: Sonny Gray, RHP, Oakland Athletics
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The Oakland Athletics look like the trade deadline's most obvious sellers, and Sonny Gray is their shiniest chip.
The 27-year-old right-hander has a 3.43 ERA through 97 innings, and he has shown flashes of the guy who was an All-Star and top-three Cy Young Award vote-getter in 2015.
That means suitors are lining up, including the New York Yankees, who are "making progress" on a deal to acquire Gray and first baseman Yonder Alonso, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
No matter what, Gray—who won't reach free agency until 2020—will be donning different laundry come August. Bank on it.
No. 2: Yu Darvish, RHP, Texas Rangers
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At 49-51, the Texas Rangers are technically alive in the AL wild-card shuffle. As Bleacher Report's Danny Knobler recently argued, though, now is the time for Texas to sell high on ace Yu Darvish.
Darvish, an impending free agent, has set himself up for a massive offseason payday by staying healthy and posting a 3.44 ERA with 143 strikeouts in 133.1 innings.
"Every team in baseball would want Yu Darvish," said Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. "That's easy. Whether it happens or not, I just can't speculate. It's a fact we would be better with him, as would 29 other teams."
The four-time All-Star almost surely won't be in Arlington next year. So why not ship him to the Dodgers or another prospect-rich contender now?
No. 1: Giancarlo Stanton, RF, Miami Marlins
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The Miami Marlins are mired in dysfunction. What else is new?
It's been another losing season in South Beach, overshadowed by the impending sale of the team by polarizing owner Jeffrey Loria.
On top of that, the Fish could trade slugger and franchise cornerstone Giancarlo Stanton, with the Yankees among the interested parties, per FanRag Sports' Jon Heyman.
Any deal for Stanton would be complicated. He's locked into a contract that will cost about $300 million through 2028, assuming he doesn't opt out after the 2020 season. And despite his prodigious fence-clearing abilities, he has a checkered injury history.
That said, we're talking about a generational talent with face-of-MLB credentials just entering his prime at age 27.
Trade bait like that doesn't get dangled often.
All statistics current as of Tuesday and courtesy of Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted.
