FanPost

A Few Trade Deadline Deals that could make some sense

Over the past week, I have been taking the ever changing rumors and posting potential trades in the comment sections of the respective news articles. After mulling over those, and thinking of a few modifications, I have come up with the following scenarios. Now, one thing that often gets lost this time of year is that one deal usually opens up the door for another deal and so on and so forth. I based many of my projections on that statement.

Trade #1: Burnett to the Yanks

After the New York Yankees lost Tanaka to an injury, their already damaged rotation became a whole lot worse. Currently, they stand with the newly acquired Brandon McCarthy, David Phelps, Veteran Hiroki Kuroda and rookies Shane Greene and Chase Whitley. Now, Whitley is by no means ready to start at the big league level, therefore, the Yankees could use a rental top to middle of the order starter to slot between Kuroda and Phelps. I believe that the best players currently on the market who can fill this role are: A.J. Burnett and Ian Kennedy. Both these guys are in that second tier behind the Hammels, Lee, Price tier, but above the Kendrick, Correia, Peavy tier. I believe that Kennedy would be much more expensive to acquire than Burnett. There are many other teams that covet Kennedy and the Padres are in no way shape or form just trying to dump him, so in comes Burnett. The only team that has expressed interest in Burnett is Pittsburgh. At this point, Philly is essentially just trying to do a complete overhaul and dump everybody, regardless of what they get. The whole goal there is, or at least it should be, to rebuild the farm system. I can't see Burnett commanding that much in return with his remaining $8,000,000 on the year and his vesting option. Without ANY salary taken on by the Phillies, the return would simply be a middle teir pitching prospect such as Taylor Garrison or Nik Turley. However, if the Phillies ate at least half of his remaining salary for 2014, then I can see Tyler Austin being included in the deal. The latter would make the most sense. At this point, the season is lost for Philadelphia. Why does salary for this year matter at all? They can stick Turley or Garrison in their higher minors and prepare them to come up at some point next year and they can stick Tyler Austin in left to replace the ever-struggling Domonic Brown, who could be transferred to the bench until some kind of deal is made. Yankees would also be benefiting from acquiring a new starter to stick in the top-middle of their rotation for this season relatively cheaply. In regards to Burnett's partial no trade clause, why would he decline a trade to the Yankees, it's the second best possible option for him. He enters a familiar environment relatively close to his home in Baltimore and has a chance to compete for a ring in a city that he had won one before. He also will be able to travel to Baltimore on road games, due to the fact that he would be within the division with Baltimore.

Trade #2: Change of scenery swap:

In the first scenario, I hinted that a deal involving Dom Brown could make some sense for the right deal. There is another guy with comparable numbers and a comparable story across the country playing in left field. His name is Dustin Ackley. Both formerly had been highly regarded prospects in their respective organizations, showed signs of promise, but haven't done much since. While it doesn't seem to be a very productive move for either side at first glance, it could turn out to be a much-needed wake up call to both players. While Dom Brown has impressive power potential, which could make him a possible 30 HR guy, Ackley has a decent mix of power which could make him a 12 Home Run guy and speed which could make him a 20 stolen base guy. Domonic Brown straight up for Dustin Ackley could be just the change of scenery swap that is needed for both guys.

Trade #3: Harang to Seattle

Remaining in Seattle, we have all heard that there is potential for a trade to be done involving the surplus of bullpen arms in Seattle in exchange for Starting Pitching. There are plenty of teams that need some pen arms such as Detroit or Los Angeles, being the obvious ones., but what about Atlanta. They have Craig Kimbrel and Shae Simmons, but other than that, there isn't much going on there, meanwhile, they have a surplus of MLB ready starters looming in AAA. I believe that the most valuable trade piece that the Braves have is Starting Pitcher Aaron Harang. He has just under $500,000 left on his contract and he could net the Braves Brandon Mauer and a Player to be Named Later. At first, I was considering Dom Leone, however, that would be much to steep of a price for Harang. Mauer has a lot of potential to be a great late inning bullpenner, and the Braves can get a second base prospect as the PTBNL. Harang on the other hand can function as a sufficient 4th starter for the young Seattle rotation and won't cost them an arm and a leg.

Trade #4: Todd Cunningham to Bo Sox

Atlanta has struggled with injuries this year. Also, after dealing Aaron Harang, they may have a slight hole in their rotation. However, Boston has exactly what the Braves need. The Red Sox can send over recently designated AJ Pierzynski and pitcher Jake Peavy to Atlanta in exchange for Todd Cunningham. Boston would need to eat at least 75% of the remaining salary of the two guys for this deal to work, however, it gives the Braves a solid back stop stop gap until Gattis returns and a decent pitcher who may fare better in the National League in Peavy for a very low price. The Red Sox also luck out because they are able to acquire another young outfielder in Todd Cunnigham who they can develop as the Right Fielder while Victorino is out. It would also give them more flexibility to sell off players such as Jonny Gomes and WIll Middlebrooks due to the potentially lethal outfield of JBJ, Mookie Betts and Todd Cunningham, while moving Holt to third and Bogaerts back to his natural position at short. It also clears up a spot for Rubby De La Rosa to be up as a permanent fixture in Boston's rotation.

Trade #5: Byrd to Kansas City

This is an idea that not many people have even considered, but just think about it. Kansas City has a depressing lack of power, especially from the outfield. Nori Aoki will be a free agent at season's end, but use him as a bench player for the remainder of this year and let Byrd play in right. He has a great glove as well as tremendous power. I think that the ideal trade for Byrd would need to consist of 2 people from Kansas City: Reliever Tim Collins, and first base prospect Samir Dunez. This move helps out both teams. I already explained the Royals side, but how does it benefit the Phils. The Phillies have one of the most highly projected bullpens in the league consisting of Ken GIles, Justin De Fratus, Jake Diekman and Mario Hollands. Imagine throwing Tim Collins in the mix. That is five outstanding options in the pen. Not many people know alot about Samir Dunez. He is a 17 year old first base prospect in rookie league and probably will not be ready until AT LEAST the end of 2016. Now, that's where the Darin Ruf/John Mayberry Jr. platoon comes in. The Phillies should buy Howard out of his contract using some of the money from the TV contract that they signed last year. Mayberry and Ruf are much better first basemen than they are as outfielders and could function as stop gaps until this kid is ready to come up. By that point, Mayberry will be entering into his free agency year and Ruf will be arbitration eligible. Imagine that 2016/2017 Phillies team. Could be lethal, but they just need to manage it correctly.

Trade #6: Bonifacio to Detroit

Detroit could use a player like Bonifacio. He's a good defender, he has speed and he can lead off well all at a low rental cost. I would bet that Bonifacio can be had from Chicago for the very inexpensive price of Will Clinard. My reasoning here, is that Chicago lacks pitching prospect depth. Clinard is a middle of the pack prospect (ranking around 35 in the organization) and could become a 5th starter for the Cubs at some point in the near future. Bonifacio gives Detroit upgrades on Defense, speed, and the ability to get on base in the outfield and also has great versatility.

Trade #7: Torii Hunter to Cincy

Cincy has an outfield power outage. They have none and they need to get some if they want any chance of competing with every other team in the NL Central, I believe Torii Hunter is perfect. It would be a straight up deal involving J.J. Hoover to give the Tigers that bullpen depth that they have desired and the Reds would get to clean house before Rasiel comes up, and they get their outfield power. As much as I would love to see Papelbon in a tiger's uniform, I believe this makes more sense in the respect that hoover represents a younger arm who the tigers are looking to use as a building block. I'm not saying that the Tigers need to rebuild, but restock. This is the way to avoid going through what Philly went through the past few years. Gradually acquire younger players while you still have a winning team. For example, look at the bullpen in Detroit before Hoover. Rondon, Alberquerque, Krol and Chad Smith. Add Hoover to that equation and your set. Also, it dumps Hunter's salary off and Cincy has that new outfield pop that they have yearned for since they signed Ludwick in hopes that he was their next power bat. Finally, Bonifacio now has an open window to start.

I purposely omitted the major trades involving the following pieces due to the fact that everybody has a different idea as to whats going to happen with these players: Chase Utley, Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Ruiz, David Price, Ben Zobrist, Ian Kenndey, Cliff Lee and Cole Hammels because you can speculate all day with those guys. I will write a second installment involving other players that could find their names in trade rumors in coming weeks such as Ichiro, Jose Tabata and Juan Francisco. Please tell me what you think of these potential deals. Thanks!!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of MLBDD's writers or editors.

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