quiet trade deadline

[Danimal]

Is this the calm before the storm, or is this year's trade activity before the deadline turning into a dud?

I want to see some activity just for the sake of Big News!

[Drunken Rhino]

I want to believe it's the calm before the storm... I think a lot of GMs will think they have a shot but don't realistically and over pay for talent that won't help that much starting 2 days before the deadline.

[gws226]

It seems owners want the world for a lot of these guys on the trading block this year...... plus add in the fact that there are soo many borderline buyer/seller teams out there, that GMs are gonna probably hang on til the last possible minute before they decide they are gonna dump talent/ buy talent.


Look @ the NL East.

The team predicted to win the division is currently in last, all the teams have a .500+ record, but only 5.5 games seperate them......

my guess..... all buyers

NL West
Only 1 team @ 500
Dodgers + San Fran within 5 games of 1st.

In another division those 2 teams would be selling..... who knows what they are gonna do.

Nl Central:
Houston, rallying from a horrible start..... 1 month ago they would of been selling..... still 10 games out...... buy? sell?

Cubs- 12.5 games back.... Injury riddled staff... will they sell? Im guessing no

Milkwakuee- 14.5 games back. First chance to get .500 record in what must be 15 years. They're not selling... probably not buying either.

AL east:
toronto/ balt. both slipping..... both buying

AL: central
Detroit @ .500 theyre not selling

AL West
Oak: surging...saving managements jobs.... no money to buy, they're not selling.
texas: 49-50....... looking to dump Soriano for pitching...... is that buy or sell??

So if you really look @ it, there are only a handful of teams that are looking to sell this year.... Tampa, KC, Seattle, Pitt, Cincy, Col

with a ton of borderline teams......
Balt, Tor, Clev, Minn, Cubs, Hou, Ari, LAD, SanFran, Philly, NYM,

I bet things will remain very quiet until one of these borderline either throws their hands up, or makes a big move...... at which point it will probably spur a flurry of moves in all the tight divisions.

[perlick29]

It seems owners want the world for a lot of these guys on the trading block this year...... plus add in the fact that there are soo many borderline buyer/seller teams out there, that GMs are gonna probably hang on til the last possible minute before they decide they are gonna dump talent/ buy talent.


Look @ the NL East.

The team predicted to win the division is currently in last, all the teams have a .500+ record, but only 5.5 games seperate them......

my guess..... all buyers

NL West
Only 1 team @ 500
Dodgers + San Fran within 5 games of 1st.

In another division those 2 teams would be selling..... who knows what they are gonna do.

Nl Central:
Houston, rallying from a horrible start..... 1 month ago they would of been selling..... still 10 games out...... buy? sell?

Cubs- 12.5 games back.... Injury riddled staff... will they sell? Im guessing no

Milkwakuee- 14.5 games back. First chance to get .500 record in what must be 15 years. They're not selling... probably not buying either.

AL east:
toronto/ balt. both slipping..... both buying

AL: central
Detroit @ .500 theyre not selling

AL West
Oak: surging...saving managements jobs.... no money to buy, they're not selling.
texas: 49-50....... looking to dump Soriano for pitching...... is that buy or sell??

So if you really look @ it, there are only a handful of teams that are looking to sell this year.... Tampa, KC, Seattle, Pitt, Cincy, Col

with a ton of borderline teams......
Balt, Tor, Clev, Minn, Cubs, Hou, Ari, LAD, SanFran, Philly, NYM,

I bet things will remain very quiet until one of these borderline either throws their hands up, or makes a big move...... at which point it will probably spur a flurry of moves in all the tight divisions.

Excellent analysis. I hope to see aflurry because that's always fun and makes for good cafe discussion. Just as long as Baez doesnt move to a team where he is a setup. But the odds of that happening are so slim I'm not holding my breath.

[bleach168]

There's a ton of buyers this year. So far, I think the sellers are playing the market and shopping their guys around (i.e. Burnett).

I predict you won't see the much until the last day when there will be several blockbusters.

[nsulham]

Hell up until a few days ago Soriano wasn't even prominently involved in talks. It was just casually mentioned because he's a FA and all.

Now he's probably the biggest name out there. It doesn't take much to get a fire going.

[LooseCannon]

How much do you think Soriano moving out of Texas will hurt his value?

[BronXBombers51]

Tampa, KC, Seattle, Pitt, Cincy, Col

And how much quality can honestly be had from these 6 teams?

Danys Baez
Aubrey Huff
Mike Sweeney
Eddie Guardado
Gil Meche
Randy Winn
Jamie Moyer
Kip Wells
Mark Redman
Todd Helton
Ken Griffey Jr.
Adam Dunn
Sean Casey

Those are the names you hear but the only real big names (Griffey, Helton) have ridiculous contracts that in all probability won't be picked up. The biggest name on that list that doesn't have an outrageous contract is Dunn and nobody is even sure if Cinci wants to touch him.

Basically, there's a whole lot of nothing available. Those players can obviously help teams, but they aren't going to have nearly the impact that some of the players last year could have had (Beltran, Nomar, etc.) Gws had it right when he said there are too many buyers.

Now if there were more sellers, you'd probably already have seen Burnett, Schmidt, maybe Zito, maybe Lilly, maybe Piazza, maybe Kent, maybe Soriano, etc. traded.

[TheYanks04]

I agree. The big name players available all pretty much have big buck contracts no one wants. The big money teams are all prety much at the end of their acceptable limits (Yanks included) and are not going to add big bucks (otherwise you would have seen Griffey in NY a month ago). Add in that teams like the Yanks have no chips to sell prospect-wise (or that they are willing to sell at least).

Bottom line: the sellers have some talent but want a lot more than the buyers can either afford or are now willing to pay. I am sure someone will take Baez...but not at TBs current price. Same for Huff and Winn and Guardado. Either the price falls or the sellers hold.

No one wil take Griffey and Helton and Casey unless a lot of contract is absrbed by their current teams.

[stevethumb]

i love the soriano to the mets rumor...baseballprospectus said soriano lmilledge and cgomez were removed from tonite's game early..can anyone confirm this ?