These Five Teams Are in Limbo Approaching the Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is a wonderful time for baseball fans. It’s when the best of the best can load up for the next two months plus, and the worst of the worst can sell off their worthy pieces for the future. But there are always a couple of teams stuck in buyer-seller purgatory.

Whether it’s young teams that are a step ahead of their rebuild or older teams trying to squeeze out one last run before full-on regression, these teams are in tough spots when it comes to what to do at the trade deadline when it comes to making the best moves for this season and the future.

So who are these teams this year and what should they do?

Detroit Tigers

A week before the All-Star break, the Tigers were almost locked into selling. But since then, they’ve gone on a heater to move them to only 5.5 games back of the Wild Card.

The hitting has turned a corner, finally, and the team is getting sources of offense from unexpected places like Ryan Vilade and Justyn-Henry Malloy. And the pitching has kept on course as it has all year, giving the Tigers a formidable shot at that last spot in the playoffs.

All of that in addition to Kerry Carpenter’s looming return to boost the lineup even more.

So, Detroit is in a good spot to, at least, contend for that last spot and justify a purchase of another bat or two at the deadline. Still, the best possible option for them is to sell.

They can try to get rid of their expiring deals in Mark Canha, Carson Kelly, Gio Urshela and Andrew Chafin for flier prospects that could be of good use to the team down the road.

The two big trade pieces for the Tigers are Jack Flaherty and Tarik Skubal. Skubal seems out of the question unless a Juan Soto-esque package comes their way.

Flaherty is the most interesting option and a very possible trade chip. He’s pitched at an All-Star level this year, and cashing in on a one-year prove-it contract can be very beneficial. He will get Detroit the most in return – probably a prospect who is near MLB-ready and can slot into the organization’s top 10.

I’d say the Tigers are probable sellers here.

San Francisco Giants

The Giants are in this spot almost every year it seems.

Just 5.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot, they can convince themselves they’re on both sides of the deadline spectrum.

With the play of breakout star Heliot Ramos and the consistency of LaMonte Wade Jr., I can totally see them pushing some of their chips into the middle. Plus, the Giants are in a little bit of a Scott Boras stranglehold. Both Matt Chapman and Blake Snell have player options after this year, and they could both opt out and leave Giants fans wishing for Arson Judge.

So for the Giants, this is one of their best shots to go for it. They also just got Robbie Ray back into the rotation and are awaiting Alex Cobb’s imminent return. So, their rotation is formidable enough to pitch down the stretch and into the playoffs with a three-headed monster of Logan Webb and the aforementioned Snell and Ray.

The issue is, do the Giants want to mortgage the future for perhaps just one year of certain guys?

Probably not.

Moreover, they don’t have much to sell if they decide to hop into the seller’s market. Unless they throw in the towel and trade Chapman and Snell (which they certainly could), their best pieces might be Cobb, Wade, and an aging and underperforming Michael Conforto.

Conforto isn’t bringing much back in a trade. Cobb is a good piece, but how much are you getting for a 36-year-old pitcher who hasn’t tossed a game all year?

Wade could be moved as he heads into an arbitration year. But, if the Giants are only going to trade one piece at the deadline, it probably shouldn’t be the clubhouse leader in batting average and on-base percentage.

So, I would assume the Giants stand pat and see where this aging core can take them.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds are in completely a different predicament than the Giants. They have a lot of young talent, helping them get to 4.5 games back of the Wild Card. And I don’t see them really trading any of that young talent.

The infusion of Rece Hinds to help All-Star Elly De La Cruz has been an incredible power upgrade to an already pretty deadly lineup. The Reds will also get Matt McLain back from the 60-day IL and T.J. Friedl from the 10-day to strengthen that lineup even more.

Their pitching staff is just as young, with budding star and ace Hunter Greene accompanied by solid starters Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo. With this talented of a team, the playoffs are more than within reach for Cincy fans.

So, what’s the problem?

Overcrowding.

The Reds have an influx of stud infielders on the roster already, and not all of them can play at the same time. That’s not even looking at their top prospects list and seeing several of their top prospects are infielders.

With De La Cruz and Jeimer Candelario locked into the left side of the infield and Spencer Steer manning first base while Christian Encarnacion-Strand is on the IL, there aren’t many spots open for these prospects. A trade of an infielder, like Jonathan India, could open up a spot for some more young guys.

And if the Reds are open to trading India, they should be open to unloading their pending FAs. Frankie Montas has value as a No. 4 or 5 starter on a contending team. Lucas Sims has value as a reliever. So does Buck Farmer.

To conservatively sell at the deadline because the Reds are a year ahead of where they’re supposed to be is not a bad thing, and that’s where I see the Reds heading.

Texas Rangers

The All-Star hosts are fighting to keep their season alive after their World Series hangover in the first half. They’ve somehow clawed themselves to 2.5 back of the AL West and five back of the final Wild Card spot.

We know the talent the Rangers possess. They boast a half-a-billion-dollar infield in Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, former top prospects in Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford and former Cy Young winners in Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

And that’s just the surface level of talent on this team. Nathan Eovaldi has pitched well this season, with Michael Lorenzen and Andrew Heaney a good one-two punch behind him. The offense still holds Home Run Derby participant Adolis Garcia, consistently good Nathaniel Lowe and breakout third basemen Josh Smith.

And they’re still awaiting the return of deGrom and Josh Jung to make this team even more dangerous. This team, on paper, is a World Series contender.

I mean for god sake, THEY WON IT LAST YEAR!

The predicament they find themselves in is potentially losing a lot of these guys for nothing.

Scherzer is gone after this year, and Eovaldi has a vesting player option. Remember those two guys I said were a good one-two punch? Both pending free agents themselves.

Two of the Rangers’ best bullpen arms, José Leclerc and closer Kirby Yates, are both FAs after this season. That’s a lot to let go (and get nothing in return) for a possible non-playoff team.

I’ve bounced back and forth between thinking the Rangers should sell or buy multiple times, but I think the best course of action is to sell off most of these pieces. Their prospect pool is good enough so that one lost season after a World Series can be salvaged.

An influx of prospects can also help with that. You know how to get more of those? Trades!

Boston Red Sox

Are the Red Sox back???

Boston seems to be back to its old winning ways, and the front office recently rewarded manager Alex Cora for just that by giving him a three-year extension. As for the roster, some old, familiar faces are still there, but young kids have burst onto the scene to get this team a game out of the Wild Card.

Rafael Devers is the star of this team, and rightfully so, but All-Star Game MVP Jarren Duran might have a case to steal that title. A breakout campaign for the former top prospect has helped the team surge to an early playoff window. A very unexpected playoff window but a playoff window nonetheless.

A comeback year from former Cardinal Tyler O’Neill and great seasons from rookie Wilyer Abreu and sophomore Masataka Yoshida have also helped. And the Red Sox are still awaiting backup in young first basemen Triston Casas. Combine that with Tanner Houck’s breakout, and this Red Sox team is very close to being right back into the dance.

They should buy, right?

Not necessarily.

So they should sell?

Also no.

This team has expiring deals they can deal if they want to: Kenley Jansen, Nick Pivetta, and O’Neill just to name a few. Yet, to deplete this roster of its pending FAs would be foolish when this team has gotten this far.

This team, at its core, is working because of young players and the vets. Pivetta is Houck protection. Jansen is Cam Booser protection. O’Neill is Duran protection.

At the same time, it would also be foolish for the Red Sox to use their near-MLB-ready prospects in deals for two-and-a-half-month rentals.

This team is primed for a good year and an even better future. Perhaps their best move is to be very quiet this deadline.