MLB Trade Rumors: One trade each team should make
By Jason Evans
With the MLB Trade Deadline one month away, what is one trade that each team should make?
It’s that time again. No, not NBA and NHL Free Agency, though those should be plenty interesting. NFL training camps don’t begin until the end of July, so now it’s time for baseball to take center stage across the sports landscape and with that comes MLB trade rumors season.
We are one month away from baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, so it’s time for the contenders and the pretenders to separate themselves.
We’ve already seen that in the National League as the only race really looks to be the National League Central. The New York Mets will trade any of their veterans on expriring contracts, while the Marlins have already made a trade to shed money and are also for sale.
The American League is more jumbled up among the Wild Card and the divisional races.
With that in mind, it’s time to take a look at one trade each team should make before the deadline. What veteran can rebuilding teams move to help their rebuilding process? What move should a contender make to possibly push them over the top and vault them into conversation for the playoffs, and hopefully for them, a possible championship run.
As we’ve seen throughout many sports, sometimes, it’s that deadline acquisition that can help push you over the top.
So what move should each team make? We begin with the American League East.
Why the Red Sox should do this trade: Third base has been a black hole for the Red Sox all season long. Pablo Sandoval was given a big free agent contract and has been a total bust for the Red Sox ever since. He now finds himself of the disabled list. They’ve used guys like Josh Rutledge, Deven Marrero, Marco Hernandez, Brock Holt and Tzu-Wei Lin at third base. Sam Travis is up with the club, but he used to be a third baseman and isn’t an option.
If you’re going to make the playoffs, that’s not going to cut it. In this deal, they don’t have to give up a ton of prospects or a highly ranked one at that (Beeks is 27th on the MLBpipeline.com top 30) in order to get a much needed upgrade at third. Escobar will be a free agent, so it isn’t even a long term commitment
Why the Angels should do this trade: Yes, the Angels are still alive, even after losing Mike Trout to a thumb injury. However, this team has been plagued by injuries all year long. Kaleb Cowart has been a top prospect in their organization forever. It’s time to give him the third base job and see if he can handle it.
In Beeks, they get a possible starter down the road for a team that has suffered all sorts of injuries to their starting pitching all year long. Worst comes to worse, if Beeks doesn’t cut it as a starter, maybe he can be a lefty specialist and it’s one less arm the Angels have to go shopping for as they continue to build around Trout.