It's an off day, and the trade deadline will be approaching soon, so let's talk hot stove.
My trade targets, giving reasonable consideration to the expected ask and not wanting to break the bank (or trash a weak farm system that the front office is still trying to restock):
These are rentals and shouldn't break the bank but do address a current weakness.
- Andrew Chafin, LH reliever, Tigers, rental, $6.5 million in '22
- Trey Mancini, 1B/OF, Orioles, rental, $7.5 million in '22
- Brandon Drury, IF/OF, Reds, rental, $900k in '22
- Jose Quintana, LHP, Pirates, rental, $2 million in '22 (starter, but maybe used as long reliever?)
Here are several big names that could make sense depending on the deal:
- Erik Hosmer, 1B, Padres. Signed through '25, but if Click sees the end of Gurriel's prime days maybe SD will eat a bunch of the salary to help address some of their cap space.
- Wilson Contreras, C, Cubs, rental, $9.5 million in '22. Maybe the rental will devalue the ask, but one proposition I saw had a package of Pedro Leon, Forrest Whitley, Alex Santos and Cristian Gonzalez. Whitley is probably out of that equation now with yet another injury, but it still seems too steep for a rental. I'm not even sure Dusty would play Contreras that much at catcher, so it's definitely too much for a DH.
- Josh Bell, 1B/DH, Nationals, rental, $10 million in '22. The Astros cost would have to be cheap in my opinion, because we assume Brantley and Alvarez will be healthy and swinging the lumber into the fall as DH options. Bell only plays 1B, which would free Gurriel up to also contribute at 2B or 3B as needed, but this move seems like a bad fit by itself.
- Whit Merrifield, 2B/OF, Royals, $7 million with buyout of $500k in '25. Having a bad year, not a position of need, and would cost. But, I've always like the guy so there's that.