Three Under The Radar Trades That Could Make All The Difference
With the trade deadline looming tomorrow, trying to predict the upcoming moves your favorite teams will make can be fun, but also extremely frustrating to fans. We all know the Braves and Red Sox need an established closer, the Brewers and Twins need quality starters and the Rays need a difference-maker on offense. So, what are they waiting for?
For the most part, we know who should be the buyers and sellers. The “no-doubt” names we expect to be traded included Marcus Stroman, who was traded to the Mets on Sunday night, as well as Mike Minor, and practically anyone under Jerry Dipoto’s control in Seattle.
Speculation on address changes for players like Madison Bumgardner, Felipe Velasquez, and Kirby Yates will likely extend to the very end of the deadline (remember the Verlander saga in 2017?) but will they actually be traded?
As passionate fans, we like to speculate on all the high-profile players our teams need to pursue to push us into contention. GMs know that “lesser names” and other “under-the-radar” moves are equally important to a team’s success during the stretch run. Here are 3 potential deals that might not get a lot of attention at the water cooler on Thursday morning but just may help your team reached the playoffs, and beyond.
Amir Garrett to the Yankees
The one thing we know for sure is the Yankees and Brian Cashman will be extremely busy this week. Many trade prognosticators have put starting pitchers like Stroman, Minor, and Boyd in pinstripes. The Yankees have the depth in their system to pursue any of these pitchers and all would provide a nice boost to the current squad of starters in the Bronx. However, I’m here to tell you why they should continue to drive the price up for these players but quietly make a deal for Amir Garrett.
Why Amir Garrett, you ask. Let’s start with a trivia question.
Is Yankee Stadium pitcher-friendly or batter-friendly? If you guessed batter-friendly, you picture the short porch in right field and all the cans of corn that seem to drift into the stands. You would also be mistaken. Yankee Stadium actually slightly favors pitchers this season. So, if you’re going to add a starting pitcher, it would make sense to add a southpaw to encourage an opponents right-handed lineup. In that regard, Amir is achieving a sub-.200 batting average against righties. Wouldn’t that play well at home in October?
He’s also been both a starter and reliever for the Reds so his versatility could be a difference-maker (see 2018 Josh Hader) if Luis Severino can come back healthy. Now that CC Sabathia is also on the IL, making a move for a quality arm is even more imperative. He has a team-friendly contract and another year of control before arbitration so that’s a bonus too. It would still require a nice return package to land Garrett but might not be as expensive as a Stroman/Minor/Boyd trade. Cashman also has recent history with Reds GM Nick Krall, making the offseason deal involving Sonny Gray. That deal has certainly worked well for the Reds this season so why not think these two can shake hands again this week.
Freddy Galvis to the Brewers
If you roam the streets of Milwaukee and ask fans what the Brewers need to add, 10 of 10 will answer ‘PITCHING’…and they wouldn’t be wrong.
David Stearns most certainly has a long list of pitching options to consider over the next few days and an aggressive shopping spree for mound help is just what the Brewers fans are begging for.
In addition to the well-documented pitching needs, adding a solid, top-of-the-lineup bat in Freddy Galvis (OPS of .738) could also prove to be a low-key move for the Crew that pays off big.
The switch hitter has primarily played SS the past 2 years in Toronto but also has prior experience at 2B, 3B and OF. A virtual iron man, Galvis has played in 150+ games the past 4 seasons and on pace to make it 5 in 2019. Orlando Arcia isn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball (OPS of .662) and Tyler Saladino, despite a couple big hits last week, is hitting far below the Mendoza Line (.133) in his time with the club.
With 19 remaining games left against their chief rivals in the Cardinals and Cubs, adding a player of Galvis’ versatility would provide, at minimum, much needed depth and may even allow Craig Counsell to stretch out the lineup by sliding him into the starting SS position.
With the growing speculation of moving Mike Moustakas, and his $11M contract in 2020, for pitching help, bringing in Galvis, with another year of control at a modest $5.5M, is also a fiscally prudent move for the low-budget team. If another team beats them to the punch for Galvis, Nick Ahmed or Brandon Crawford could be two other names that fill this need.
Ivan Nova to the Cardinals
I’ll go out on a limb in my final “below-the-radar” trade,: Ivan Nova to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Yes, you read that right. The journeyman pitcher who hasn’t held an end-of-season sub-4.00 ERA since the 2013 is a good fit for the Cardinals. Why? One set of complementary stats jump out here: The Cardinals field the #1 team defense in the league (fielding percentage of .989) and run out a pair of the top 10 ranked starting pitchers across MLB in ground ball outs (Dakota Hudson at #4 and Miles Mikolas at #6). Guess who is also in that top 10? You guessed it, Ivan Nova at #9.
Playing to their strengths, adding Nova would be a subtle move that could pay huge dividends for the Cardinals. Nova won’t rack up a lot of K’s (K/9 of 5.8) but doesn’t walk many batters (BB/9 of 2.3) either and with a top defense behind him, Nova should keep the Cardinals in the game before handing it off to a solid bullpen.
At worst, the Cardinals would need to pick up the balance of his $8.5 M contract, as Nova is set to become a free agent at seasons end, but the cost to obtain him in prospects should be relatively minimal. This most certainly isn’t a deal that Cardinals fans would get excited over but seems like a low-risk, high-reward move that could pay for itself in spades.
Predicting moves at the trade deadline is not an exact science for anyone, but it’s fun to try…
-Derek Favret
