MLB Trade Deadline Notes: Braves, Angels, Blue Jays, Giants, Athletics

A quick collection of things I’ve heard from sources around the league today...

Braves making Garcia available; Teheran deal less likely

It’s well-documented that the Braves are likely to be both buyers and sellers in advance of the 31st, with controllable starters as the likely target if they do buy. If they do sell, however, their plan is a little more clear.

Lefty Jaime Garcia could move as a rental piece for a club, and his market is picking up after a strong start Sunday (7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 7 K). He has about six clubs with strong interest in him, according to a major-league source.

A source characterized the chance of a trade involving Julio Teheran as unlikely, though it makes sense for Atlanta considering the lack of options actually available on the market. With Jose Quintana already dealt, the controllable market looks a lot like Sonny Gray and a ton of question marks. Teheran, still just 26, is controlled through 2020 and the Braves would be selling low on him now.

Matt Adams is also likely to stay put, as ESPN’s Buster Olney reported today. Among the players who could go, other than Garcia: pending free agents Brandon Phillips and Jason Motte.

Maybin injury doesn’t have immediate impact for Angels

The Angels are still one of about six teams sitting right on the buy/sell fence, along with the Braves, Cardinals, Pirates, Mariners and Rangers. A source characterized things as “a little early” for the Halos to make that call at this point.

Outfielder Cameron Maybin will be out 2-4 weeks, but the Angels’ deadline plans aren’t immediately impacted by that news. Instead, they’ll look at their play over the next week, in which they play the Nationals, Red Sox and Indians, as the determining factor for their deadline salary.

If they do sell, the likely trade chips: Maybin, Yunel Escobar, David Hernandez, Bud Norris and Yusmeiro Petit. Not Mike Trout.

Blue Jays still not sold on shopping controllable veterans

No surprise here, but Toronto would need to be “completely overwhelmed” to deal controllable pieces, according to a source connected to the team. That means Josh Donaldson, Marcus Stroman, Roberto Osuna and others are likely not going anywhere.

The Jays still are planning on contending in 2018, so any overwhelming offer for those guys would need to include major-league talent, or high-end Triple-A players. That’s a big ask this time of year.

Toronto could still deal its rentals, with Marco Estrada, Francisco Liriano and Joe Smith among the candidates. Two teams linked to Estrada, according to a source, are the Royals and Rangers.

Texas is on the fence at the moment but could add a rental for the stretch run. The Royals are known to be on a few rental types, with Estrada joining Lance Lynn and Jaime Garcia on their wish list.

Giants, A’s look to be preparing for trades

Both Bay Area teams made pickups that sure look trade-related on Wednesday: the Athletics agreed to a minor-league deal with Chris Carter while the Giants (kinda/sorta/probably, but not if you ask him for tampering reasons) came to terms with old friend Pablo Sandoval.

Carter is an option to take over at first for the A’s when they trade Yonder Alonso and Sandoval is a third base option to take over for Eduardo Nunez in San Francisco. Both Alonso and Nunez are all but assured of being moved before the end of the month. Tonight’s moves make that even more likely.

By the way, if a Sonny Gray trade was close, he wouldn’t have started today. So it appears nothing imminent on that front.

Fence-sitters could shake up trade market late

There’s an interesting dichotomy in this year’s trade market, with some teams (the White Sox, A’s, Nationals, D-Backs, Cubs and Yankees, clearly) ready to make deals and a bunch of others still unclear of their deadline plans with about 11 days to go. Here’s where we currently stand:

Buyers (13): BOS, TB, NYY, KC, MIN, CLE, HOU, WSH, CHC, MIL, LAD, ARZ, COL

Sellers (11): TOR, BAL, DET, CWS, OAK, MIA, PHI, NYM, CIN, SD, SF

TBD (6): TEX, SEA, LAA, ATL, PIT, STL

Some of these teams could flip-flop depending on how they play in the next couple weeks, with the Royals and Orioles being prime candidates to do so. Seattle at this point looks like a buyer, with Atlanta doing a bit of both and Pittsburgh likely selling. The Rangers, Angels and Cardinals really could go either way.

Some of the big-name players who could enter the market if the fence-sitters fall onto the sell side of things: Yu Darvish, Jurickson Profar, Jonathan Lucroy, Andrew Cashner, Bud Norris, Gerrit Cole, Felipe Rivero, Tony Watson, David Freese, Josh Harrison, Lance Lynn and Seung-hwan Oh. Some of those are obviously more likely than others. Still lots of time to go.