Starting Pitching and 2B Targets Through Trade

[Wally West]

Which players on our major and minor league team would be in play in order to fill team needs at 2B, and starting pitching? I take it the only untouchables on our major league staff would be Bautista, Lawrie, Encarnacion and Morrow and in our minor league system the Lansing Big 3, Travis d'Arnaud, Robert Osuna and DJ Davis (Osuna and Davis depending on who you ask). The thing that AA has to decide is, is he ready to take that next step in the future of our team? Not everyone in our major and minor league system can be considered "core players". Some of these guys eventually have to go. Now there are a few teams out there that have some very interesting starting pitchers and 2B out there that could be in play through trade this offseason if AA continues his path of resisting signing impactful free agents which he deems "expensive". Let's take a look excluding the teams in our division. Red = Edited In Trade Targets

Starting Pitching
Cleveland - Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez
Detroit Tigers - Rick Porcello, Drew Smyly
Minnesota - Scott Diamond
La Angels - Garrett Richards
Oakland - Brett Anderson, AJ Griffin, Dan Straily
Seattle - Jason Vargas, Hishashi Iwakuma, Blake Beavan
Texas - Alex Ogando, Martin Perez, Justin Grimm
Atlanta - Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, Jair Jurrjens
Miami Marlins - Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle
New York Mets - Jonathan Niese
Philadelphia Phillies - Cliff Lee
Washington Nationals - John Lannan
Chicago Cubs - Jeff Samardzija
Houston Astros - Bud Norris
Milwaukee Brewers - Wily Peralta, Tyler Thornburg, MIchael Fiers, Marco Estrada
Pittsburgh Pirates - Wandy Rodriguez
St. Louis Cardinals - Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly, Jaime Garcia
Arizona Diamondbacks - Ian Kennedy, Trevor Cahill, Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Pat Corbin, Josh Collmenter
Colorado Rockies - Jhoulys Chacin, Drew Pomeranz, Guillermo Moscoso
Los Angeles Dodgers - Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano

2nd Baseman
Chicago White Sox - Gordon Beckham
Cleveland Indians - Brent Lillibridge
Detroit Tigers - Ryan Raburn
Kansas City Royals - Johnny Giovatella, Christian Colon
Minnesota Twins - Trevor Plouffe, Alexi Casilla
Los Angeles Angels - Howie Kendrick, Maicer Izturis
Oakland Athletics - Jemile Weeks, Cliff Pennington
Seattle Mariners - Chone Figgins, Carlos Triunfel
Texas Rangers - Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus
Atlanta Braves - Dan Uggla, Martin Prado, Tyler Pastornicky
Miami Marlins - Emilio Bonifacio
New York Mets - Daniel Murphy, Justin Turner
Philadelphia Phillies - Freddy Galvis
Washington Nationals - Danny Espinosa, Steve Lombardozzi
Chicago Cubs - Darwin Barney
Cincinnati Reds - Didi Gregorius
Houston Astros - Jose Altuve, Jed Lowrie, Tyler Greene, Scott Moore
Pittsburgh Pirates - Neil Walker, Clint Barmes
St. Louis Cardinals - Daniel Descalso, Rafael Furcal, Pete Kozma
Arizona Diamondbacks - Cody Ransom, Willie Bloomquist, Jacob Elmore
Colorado Rockies - Josh Rutledge, Chris Nelson, Eric Young Jr
Los Angeles Dodgers - Dee Gordon, Mark Ellis, Alex Castellanos, Juan Uribe
San Diego Padres - Everth Cabrera, Alexi Amarista, Jedd Gyorko
San Francisco Giants - Joaquin Arias, Brett Pill

Which guys on the list are you intrigued by/want AA to target? Am I forgetting anyone? Let me start off by saying that I absolutely would love for AA to acquire a guy like Trevor Bauer. His value is beginning to plummet as there are reports in Arizona that management/players aren't to thrilled by his sense of entitlement. He may be just another understood player like Lawrie, Rasmus and Escobar and would love to hear what kind of package excluding the guys I mentioned above that would be untouchable in order to acquire Trevor Bauer. I also like AJ Griffin, Dan Straily, Jeff Samardzija, Tyler Thornburg, Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly and Tyler Skaggs. The Texas Rangers have a really interesting dilemna heading into the offseason about what they're going to do with Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus and Jurickson Profar and there are bound to be teams calling them this offseason asking of their availability. I wonder what kind of package it would take to lure Ian Kinsler to Toronto but I definitely wouldn't overpay just to acquire him. I also like Dan Uggla, Emilio Bonifacio, Dee Gordon, and Everth Cabrera. Who do you like like/want AA to target? Let's discuss.

[baulderdash77]

I think we roll with Escobar and Hech at SS and 2B and just focus on pitching.

[mikero]

In terms of SP, the guy that interests me most is Trevor Rosenthal. He doesn't have the pedigree of some other pitching prospects, but has a big arm and throws mid 90s with a hard slider. I'm guessing the Cards would be looking for MI help though.

I think Escobar and Hech end up starting, but I wouldn't mind adding a guy like Lombardozzi to be a utility man / insurance policy.

[LBJSeizedMyID]

The Jays are going to have to make a big move this year so think Dan Haren or Zack Greinke are the ones they should be focused on with Marcum, Sanchez and Dempster as plan B.

Otherwise I did list a couple of pitchers the Jays could be able to pry away in another thread - Trevor Cahill or Brett Anderson. Arizona has a need at shortstop and SP to spare, and Escobar's cheap contract could be enticing enough for the A's.

Another team that comes to mind is the Detroit Tigers who could part with someone like Smyly or Porcello.

I'm fine going cheap at second base and would put a plus contact hitter/high OBP guy. Someone like Marco Scutaro or if you want to go young someone like Jacob Elmore, Stephen Lombardozzi or Alexi Amarista.

I'd be disappointed if the Jays rolled both Hechavarria and Escobar out there next year. Clearly they have an asset which should be able to net them a decent SP.

[Wally West]

In terms of SP, the guy that interests me most is Trevor Rosenthal. He doesn't have the pedigree of some other pitching prospects, but has a big arm and throws mid 90s with a hard slider. I'm guessing the Cards would be looking for MI help though.

Yeah I like Trevor Rosenthal alot. Would love to hear what it would take to acquire a guy like him. I take it the asking price would be quite high but not as high as his sparing mate Shelby Miller. Joe Kelly is probably the least expensive of the 3 but is due for a regression next season as it's his sophomore year.

[BigLeagueChew]

With Lind, and Rasmus struggling from the left side of the plate, we need a left handed bat. I'd love to get Utley from Philly, although not likely, he's a FA in 2014 and can hit lefties well.

[StringerBell]

Realistically, would love to see them go after Neise and Murphy from the Mets. Both are AA guys(Murphy has three more years of control, Niese is signed through 2016) and kills two birds with one stone. Murphys bat(.766 OPS) plays well at the bottom of the order and Niese is a solid #3 starter.

Only question is, what would the damage be?

[satyr9]

Well if MIA is really putting J.Johnson on the market, he'd be my big target. The injury stuff is scary, but he's a true frontline guy you might get for less than frontline prices because of it (although the extension you'd dole out with it would probably be pretty scary).

ATL has a boatload of excess pitching (seriously, that's 5 guys and doesn't count Medlen and Minor nor Hudson and Maholm who pitched for them this year), but I don't see any of it coming cheap.

I'd include D.Hudson on your ARI list as he'll be on offer long before Skaggs or Cahill or Bauer.

B.Anderson as an injury guy you risk for upside is intriguing, but finding fair value would be tough. Anderson/Weeks is one of the few trades I can see getting you both holes in a way I'd like. Hanson/Prado would've been another, but Prado will be ATL's everyday 3B next year and while there've been rumours about Uggla's days being numbered, they'll need a replacement line up before that happens.

The rest of the 2B, there's nothing too interesting to me unless PHI wants to walk away from Utley's deal (and we discover 15mil under the sofa cushions). Other than that, if LAD wants to unload M.Ellis for nothing I'd take him for a year to delay a decision on Hech and Escobar (they'll get so hosed on value trading Escobar this offseason, although if they do I'll understand why).

I would like a guy like Izturis (who I thought was UFA) to replace Vizquel. More ABs, lots of defensive replacement alternatives and mediocre/average enough to play everyday during injuries and not make you gag, but based on the rest of this list he's likely to get paid to start at one of his positions somewhere else 'cause the leagu is razor thin at MI these days.

I know it's not popular, but if KJ could be had for 1 more year and cheaper, I'm not sure he wouldn't be that bad an option. He had a brutal year, but I'd say the chances of his outperforming 90% of the OP list next year is pretty strong.