Rain Delay Read - Two Pitching Trade Desires

There is nothing worse than waiting all day for a baseball game, especially a game that features the return of Giancarlo Stanton, and then having the game on a rain delay. Enough with the rain already! When did New York become part of a rain forest? Instead of sitting here stewing, I figured I would give my two cents on which two pitchers I would target to get the rotation over the hump for a deep run into the post season.

Granted, there are internal possibilities on the horizon. Eventually, Luis Severino will be back and Jordan Montgomery seems to be on track to return in July. There is no way you can count on these two pitchers having any kind of productivity this season. If it happens, super. But that is in a perfect world. The world is imperfect and the New York Yankees seem to need at least one stud in the rotation. Think Justin Verlander joining the Astros or something like that.

Here are two thoughts on pitchers I would target for trade to boost the Yankees' rotation:

1. Matthew Boyd - Detroit Tigers. Boyd is making $2.6 million for a team going nowhere. He is 28-years-old and having a career season. Granted, he has never been this good before. But his numbers are sterling. With a FIP of 3.06, a K/9 rate of 11.4 and a BB/9 rate of 1.7. He is 28 years old and controllable until 2023. And he made 31 starts last year and is on his way to doing the same thing this year. The only blemish on his record is his homer per nine rate of 1.1 and he is pretty much a five-inning pitcher.

The other thing I look at is that, for his career, Boyd has held the Red Sox to a .738 OPS and held the Tampa Bay Rays to a .606 OPS (small sample size alert). He has faced the Red Sox five times and the Rays three times.

Why is this trade desirable for the Tigers? First, any saved money for the Tigers is saved money. Secondly, the Tigers cannot hit. They are next to last in Batting Average and On Base Percentage and last in the AL in Slugging Percentage. A trade for Clint Frazier and a lower grade prospect immediately makes Frazier the best hitter on their team. Plus, he is cheap.

2. Stephen Strasburg - Washington Nationals.  The Nationals may believe they have a shot in the NL East or for the wildcard. But I do not see it. They had an opportunity to gain a ton for Bryce Harper last year and missed the boat. The combination of Max Scherzer and Strasburg are incredibly expensive. But the reason I bypass Scherzer is that he is older by four years and is owed $42 million each year for the next couple of years. Holy cow!

There are some questions about Strasburg. He has not made 30 starts since 2014. But he has won 64% of his starts over his career and has struck out more than ten batters per nine for six straight seasons. He is not cheap either. He is making $38 million this season and can opt out at the end of the season. But he goes down to $15 million for the next two seasons (if he doesn't opt out) and then $45 million in the final year of the deal. It is a weird contract. With Scott Boras as his agent, the possibility of an opt out is strong.

Depending on how much the Nats kick in to Strasburg's contract, I would think that Frazier and, say Thairo Estrada could get it done. Estrada might be particularly attractive because Brian Dozier is bumping up to the 32-33-year-old Robbie Alomar second base wall. He could complete a terrific infield for the Nats.

Those are my two cents. Looking at all the teams in the bottoms of standings, these two pitchers, Stephen Strasburg and Matthew Boyd, seem the most interesting when it comes to putting the Yankees' rotation over the top and at least able to compete against the best teams in the American League.

Trade Deadline a Quandry for Some

There was finally a big trade today in baseball as the Angels acquired Dan Haran for Joe Saunders and two minor league players (one of them a real good one). The Angels are close enough (six games behind) to Texas to still consider themselves contenders but are far enough back and not playing particularly well. This trade works out well for them in either case as they will have Haran to anchor their rotation for two more years and Saunders was a liability. But for other teams like the Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers and Rockies, serious thought has to be given if any short term trades will be worth the cost.

The Dodgers are six out and have lost six of their last ten. Their bullpen was falling apart until they brought up Kenley Jansen who has blown away four batters in two perfect innings and recorded his first save on Sunday. Jansen seems to preclude an need for a trade for bullpen help. They could use another bat, but is it worth any prospects when they might not have a realistic chance to get back into the race? That's a tough question. The same goes for the Rockies who are seven games back. The wild card for both of those teams is that the Padres are in uncharted waters. Nobody expected them to be this good for this long and everyone has waited for them to fall back to the pack. It hasn't happened yet. The Fan is no different than them as the Padres just don't seem good enough on paper to win the division. But there they are.

And what of the Mets? Seriously, it seems the Mets chances of getting back into the NL East race are remote. They are 2-9 in their last 11 games and they have all those players back they've been pining for. So is it a waste of any talent to bring in a short term fix at this point? Consider that the Mets are just as far away from first place in the NL East as the Brewers are in the NL Central. Does anyone think that the Brewers should be going out and getting help for the pennant race? Not exactly. The Mets have two teams on top of them and the Marlins who are in a virtual tie for third. They are done this season and only the pressure of the New York state of mind would make them act differently than that fact.

The same can be said for the Red Sox. They have dug themselves a really deep hole. Their entire outfield is a mess. Okajima, who for years has been untouchable, has an ERA near six and losing Pedroia has really hurt. Not only do the Red Sox have to consider with the depth of their problems whether it's worth it to take on salary, dump prospects and continue to act like they are a factor in the AL East race. They are eight back of the Yankees and five back of the Rays. Again, the pressure they've created themselves with the Nation and the winning expectation might cause them to pull triggers on trades that might be moot.

With today's economy affecting baseball, teams need to think long and hard about giving away young talent for the quick fix. The Angels could afford Haran and have the luxury of his services for two more seasons, so his addition gives them a boost this year (though it may be too little, too late) but also a better chance at contending the next two season. That's a different kettle of fish than going after Adam Dunn or other rentals.