00:00Well, we've reached that point where LiarsPoker has to kind of come to an end.
00:05I'm doing this roughly 28 hours before the trade deadline, 6 p.m. on Thursday.
00:15You know, can't listen to any more complaints.
00:17There's not enough sellers.
00:20The prices are too high.
00:21That would be Economics 101.
00:23Too little supply.
00:25Too much demand.
00:26Am I a buyer?
00:27Am I a seller?
00:28Am I both?
00:29Am I neither?
00:30We're kind of getting to the point of you can't do that anymore.
00:34At 6 o'clock Thursday night, that's the last chance that teams have to improve this roster or future rosters if you're a seller right now.
00:43And so you've got to get to it.
00:45There's obviously been several trades already of some prominence.
00:49Both New York teams have been involved.
00:50I expect they're going to continue to be involved.
00:52So I figured I'd play a little game right now of what would make this extra spicy.
00:59At this point, I reached out to a lot of people over the last 24, 48 hours.
01:04And the game I'm going to play is if more than one, so two or more people, mention the guy's name as they think he could be gotten.
01:11He's available in some way.
01:13I'm going to mention him.
01:14I'm going to try for my aggregator friends to say that does not mean these players will be traded.
01:20It's only that they're being discussed out there.
01:23And the first name I'm going to use is Mason Miller, who would really shake up the market.
01:27We've talked about the high-end relief market and how many teams are in it, including both the Mets and the Yankees.
01:34And perhaps at this point, the two teams' most prominent, Dodgers, Phillies, the Tigers want relievers.
01:40I mean, pretty much any contender.
01:42The Mariners want it.
01:44Miller is a guy, he averages 101.2 miles per hour with his fastball.
01:50He's hit 104.1, the highest in the sport, a bunch of times this year.
01:5425 of the 31 hardest-thrown pitches this season were thrown by Mason Miller.
02:03The A's are in a situation where, you know, they're playing for the future, playing for Las Vegas.
02:10Does he actually get out in the market?
02:12The one thing I've heard is it's going to take a top 25 in the sport prospect as the front of a package.
02:17That does not feel to me like something the Yankees or Mets would do for a relief pitcher.
02:22Would anyone do it for a relief pitcher, even a guy who averages 101-plus?
02:28Maybe.
02:29Everyone's out there looking for it, so who knows.
02:31A second name I want to highlight, Stephen Kwan.
02:34There is a desperation for bats in this market.
02:38Historically, the Guardians are a team that gathers information at this time of year on its most interesting players
02:44and then trades them in December when perhaps there's more teams involved and they know fully about your system.
02:51They know about what they're willing to do.
02:54It often frustrates teams.
02:57But Kwan has been asked about so much in this marketplace.
03:01Again, Dodgers and Phillies are there, the Padres very much.
03:04And we'll get to them in a second and their intensity on this issue.
03:07I just want to throw in a side note here.
03:10As I was texting and calling around over these past few days, I realized the Dodgers are kind of the Mike Myers from Halloween of Major League Baseball now.
03:21They're just lurking out there ready to do something in the minds of every other team pretty much.
03:27I guess this is what happens when you take your payroll over $400 million, when you're willing to pay $160 million plus minimum in luxury tax,
03:37more if they start doing things at this trade deadline.
03:40And when you have a deep farm system, even after everything they've done over the last few years and winning two recent championships, including last year,
03:47I can't tell you how many people told me they think that the Dodgers will end up with Miller, Kwan,
03:54or some combination of both, or a high-end reliever and a bat, for sure.
03:58They're just that kind of team now.
04:00I would say the second most common thing, just because of his history, is you know Dave Dombrowski is getting a high-end relief pitcher.
04:07That's why he got mentioned in the Mason Miller thing, and I think you'll hear him involved in everything,
04:13like the Minnesota guys, Joan Duran and Griffin Jacks.
04:16If they move, Cleveland moves Kate Smith.
04:18I've heard the Phillies are definitely on David Bednar.
04:21Ryan Helsley's out there.
04:22So those are the guys that have come up most often associated with all teams that want relief pitching.
04:29The third one is Dylan Cease.
04:31His name has come up quite a bit recently, and I really want to make this about somebody else who the industry talks about a lot,
04:39which is A.J. Preller, who heads baseball operations with the Padres.
04:43A.J. is a very active, aggressive head of baseball operations,
04:49but over the years, he's made a lot of trades.
04:53So that's emptied out a lot of the farm system.
04:56He worked when he built the payroll under Peter Seidler was the owner.
05:01The beloved owner, he died in November 2023.
05:04The people who have taken over aren't that interested in spending that level of money.
05:08So if Preller's going to get active and he wants to be active in this market, he's got to get creative.
05:15And so, you know, does that mean trading Cease, who's not having a great year but has big stuff and durability?
05:21One name that came up, Robert Suarez, their closer, he controls two options for $8 million after this season.
05:30They have to be decided on simultaneously.
05:32He'll almost certainly go in the free agent market if he's not hurt.
05:36And San Diego had three all-star pitchers this year, relievers, and Adrian Morihone and Jason Adam, too.
05:43So they're maybe one of the teams that can trade from the depth of their farm system.
05:48Who knows that, you know, the one thing you hear over and over about Preller is he wants to get either Kwon or Boston's Jaron Duran to kind of add to his outfield, which has been short a bat and a player.
06:02He'd love for it to be a lockdown defender like one of those.
06:05Fallback position seems to be Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox.
06:08But the Phillies and Mets are there.
06:10The Mets are very, apparently, very interested in Robert Jr. if he gets moved in this marketplace.
06:16So that would be interesting.
06:17Number four, Shane Bieber of the Guardians.
06:21I'm going to talk a lot here about two former Cy Young Award winners.
06:25Usually you would hear Cy Young Award winners.
06:27Those are guys who really spice up the market.
06:30But Bieber hasn't pitched in the major leagues this year.
06:33He underwent Tommy John surgery early last season.
06:37He made a rehab start of four innings.
06:39The numbers were good on Wednesday.
06:42And the market is such that maybe the Guardians can actually make a trade for him.
06:49The one thing to remember, he controls his own $16 million option for next year.
06:55There's a $4 million buyout.
06:56So if he gets re-injured, he'll just pick up the $16 million.
06:59Acquiring team would be on the hook.
07:01And if he pitches well, he'll likely opt out.
07:03So that's not an easy player to trade.
07:05How do you trade that?
07:06Is it a two-year guy?
07:07If it's a two-year guy, is it a booby trap?
07:10Is it just this?
07:11Is he still a Cy Young Award-level pitcher?
07:14The Guardians kind of showed what kind of thing is possible here.
07:18Last year, they signed as a free agent, Matt Boyd, who had him pitched all year coming off of Tommy John surgery.
07:23They signed him in late June.
07:25He didn't pitch until August.
07:26And then he pitched really well for them, helping them to and in the playoffs.
07:31And he set himself up for a really nice payday in the offseason with the Cubs.
07:35The other one they did like this, Alex Cobb had hip surgery.
07:39Then he had some arm issues.
07:40He hadn't pitched at all for the Giants at this time last year.
07:44And he got traded from the Giants to the Guardians.
07:48And he made a couple of starts.
07:52I think three major league starts, two playoff starts.
07:54It didn't go very well.
07:55So you can see how doing this doesn't work.
07:57The other Cy Young Award winner to talk about is Sandy Alcantara.
08:01Look, his name has been out there all year.
08:03He seemed on March 1st, say, the most obvious guy to get traded.
08:07And he's pitched very poorly most of this season.
08:09But not his last two starts.
08:1112 innings, one earner and run.
08:13And he's looked a lot more like 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara.
08:19You know, the problem is he's still sitting with a 636 ERA.
08:22That's the largest in the sport for anyone who's qualified.
08:26But by the way, Arizona's Zach Gallin, 560, is 2.
08:30He's likely to get traded.
08:31And Cease is 8th, 479, and he might get traded.
08:34Alcantara owed about $6 million the rest of this year.
08:37$17 next year.
08:3921 club option with $2 million buyout in 2027.
08:44You know, will the Marlins only do this if he gets treated like a Cy Young Award winner?
08:48Who would treat him like that in, you know, when most of the season hasn't gone well?
08:53But the hunger for starting pitching is such that his name's certainly out there.
08:57And I'll throw in one other name that got mentioned by an executive.
09:00Pablo Lopez hasn't pitched since June with a shoulder injury.
09:03He probably won't pitch before September 1st.
09:06But he's Pablo Lopez.
09:07He's really good.
09:08If you think he's actually coming back from this injury,
09:11he makes about $7 million more this year and has two years at $43 million left after the season.
09:16Would the Twins trade him at a moment where it's questionable what they might get back?
09:22Would somebody jump in with real questions about what they'd get back, you know,
09:27the rest of this season at the least with a good amount of money owned in the future?
09:31Last name I'm going to mention as we head towards the deadline.
09:33Mackenzie Gore of the Nationals.
09:36The prominent starting pitcher with control years who's having an excellent season mentioned most often
09:41is Minnesota's Joe Ryan.
09:43Got it? Understand it?
09:44I think the Twins are getting lots of hits on Joe Ryan.
09:47What makes Mackenzie Gore somewhat interesting and even similar is like Ryan,
09:52he made the All-Star game for the first time this year.
09:55And like Ryan, he can't be a free agent until after 2027.
09:59You get a couple of more seasons with him.
10:01What's confusing here a little bit is the Nationals firing Mike Rizzo,
10:06their head of baseball operations.
10:07And Mike DiBartolo is in charge of baseball operations for the Nationals right now.
10:12This is a huge decision for the near future of the Nationals.
10:17Is ownership of the Washington team actually going to let an interim GM make that kind of big scope decision?
10:25It's part of the intrigue as we head towards 6 p.m. Thursday.
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