Any more moves before end of August?

[Madhawk23]

Now that we had a successful west coast road trip, does anyone see any possibilities that we make any final moves before the 8/31 waiver wire/postseason roster deadline? Are there any other CF's out there worth pursuing that could spell Broxton from time to time - or was Granderson the only possibility at that position? Any surprise moves out there for the Crew?

[brewmann04]

I really only think you see some call ups no more move IMO

[JohnBriggs12]

Now that we had a successful west coast road trip, does anyone see any possibilities that we make any final moves before the 8/31 waiver wire/postseason roster deadline? Are there any other CF's out there worth pursuing that could spell Broxton from time to time - or was Granderson the only possibility at that position? Any surprise moves out there for the Crew?

 

Denard Span is still out there. Is he worth pursuing? He comes with a significant contract through 2018 so unless the Giants picked up a lot of salary, he wouldn't cost anything of significance. He's not the player he once was, but at 33 he should have a little left in a more hitter friendly environment and his defensive regression shouldn't be as noticeable in a smaller park.

[KeithStone53151]

Now that we had a successful west coast road trip, does anyone see any possibilities that we make any final moves before the 8/31 waiver wire/postseason roster deadline? Are there any other CF's out there worth pursuing that could spell Broxton from time to time - or was Granderson the only possibility at that position? Any surprise moves out there for the Crew?

 

Denard Span is still out there. Is he worth pursuing? He comes with a significant contract through 2018 so unless the Giants picked up a lot of salary, he wouldn't cost anything of significance. He's not the player he once was, but at 33 he should have a little left in a more hitter friendly environment and his defensive regression shouldn't be as noticeable in a smaller park.

 

Are you still on the "Walker is going to get flipped at the deadline" line of thinking? I don't see a spot for someone like span on our active roster. Which position player would we get rid of to create a spot? Sogard? He's been better lately and his versatility is valuable. The only potential move I could see is for an upgrade in the bullpen(probably a lefty), cutting a Torres/Drake/Hughes. I don't think it happens at this point. I think this is the roster we roll with in September. We have a ton of valuable pieces coming up with September callups which will surely help down the stretch.

[JosephC]

Denard Span would be a downgrade from Broxton. Mediocre OBP (.317) and an awful -24 DRS (also negative UZR/150). Also is due a minimum of 9 million in 2018 and at least a 4 million dollar buyout in 2019.

 

I don't think there is another bat out there worth going after.

 

Pirate reliever Juan Nicasio would probably be my top candidate. Downside is that he is a free agent as year's end so the Brewers would probably be trading something away for about 12 innings of work. He'll only scheduled to make about 600k for the final month. Righties slashing .238/.316/.402/.718 off of him, lefties are only at .202/.248/.242/.490. At home he's posted a 2.87 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, on the road he has a 2.83 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. BABIP number is reasonable. Only concern moving forward is that his HR/FB percentage is 7.8% which is really low, so there would probably be some upward movement of the ERA when moving into Miller Park. But even so, his xFIP is 3.65 which is still a very respectable number. I wouldn't be willing to pay more than one fringe prospect for him because it's probably only for 12 innings of work and if there are just 2 bad innings scattered in those 12 then he probably doesn't make any difference in wins/losses down the stretch.

[And That]

Pirate reliever Juan Nicasio would probably be my top candidate.

Yep. Nicasio and/or some of the other relievers still out there could make some sense if the price is right. Like you said, the Brewers would trading for somewhere between 10-20 innings of Nicasio, which even though they may be high leverage innings, should not be worth a ton in prospect value. There might be some market for Nicasio though, so the Pirates may be able to leverage something better than they maybe should get. This is also assuming that Nicasio cleared waivers.

 

MLBTR posted a nice review of the guys still out there. In addition to Nicasio, guys such as Craig Stammen, Clayton Richard (as a reliever), Derek Holland (as a reliever), and Drew Storen could be fits as well.

[JohnBriggs12]

How about Matt Joyce? He'd be a nice veteran LH bat on days when Braun rests and a big LH bench threat late in games. He would free up Perez to play more in CF.

[pacopete4]

Please Juan Nicasio. What a get he would be and we could finally ditch either Torres or Drake.

[Madhawk23]

Great call on someone like Nicasio. I just don't trust Barnes enough these days to feel real comfortable when he comes into a 7th inning close game situation. It would be great to add another high leverage relief arm before the 8/31 deadline, and someone that could rotate in with Swarzak to keep him a bit more fresh down the stretch run here.

[KeithStone53151]

Are we sure the Pirates are willing to punt on the season at this point? They aren't THAT far out of the chase. And like you all have stated, they'd get next to nothing in prospect value in return and still have to pay someone else a league minimum salary to fill the roster space. I like the idea, just not sure the Pirates would go for it.

[pacopete4]

Are we sure the Pirates are willing to punt on the season at this point? They aren't THAT far out of the chase. And like you all have stated, they'd get next to nothing in prospect value in return and still have to pay someone else a league minimum salary to fill the roster space. I like the idea, just not sure the Pirates would go for it.

 

7 games for a chance at the division leaping over three teams to do so is pretty much out of it. The Brewers have a chance to basically knock the Cardinals out of it by beating them twice Tues and Weds of this week. Let the games begin!

[patrickgpe]

id love to somehow get a new 7th inning guy since Barnes cannot be trusted any longer.

[MadThinker88]

Are we sure the Pirates are willing to punt on the season at this point? They aren't THAT far out of the chase. And like you all have stated, they'd get next to nothing in prospect value in return and still have to pay someone else a league minimum salary to fill the roster space. I like the idea, just not sure the Pirates would go for it.

 

Very Good question.

 

Here are 2 more questions:

1) Are we sure this guy has passed thru waivers unclaimed already? If not, I doubt he would get thru.

2) Even if the Pirates are willing to punt the season at this point, why would deal away Juan Nicasio? He seems like a key in their bullpen and someone that they would be trying to retain for next year & beyond...

[KeithStone53151]

Are we sure the Pirates are willing to punt on the season at this point? They aren't THAT far out of the chase. And like you all have stated, they'd get next to nothing in prospect value in return and still have to pay someone else a league minimum salary to fill the roster space. I like the idea, just not sure the Pirates would go for it.

 

7 games for a chance at the division leaping over three teams to do so is pretty much out of it. The Brewers have a chance to basically knock the Cardinals out of it by beating them twice Tues and Weds of this week. Let the games begin!

 

They have a chance to gain ground directly here by sweeping the Cubs. Here's hoping.

 

I guess if I was the Pirates, I wouldn't want to trade a guy away for a small amount of salary savings and a nobody. Especially if I was one stretch of 8 wins in 10 games away from being in the hunt again. It's different for the mets who owe walker considerable $$ and had 0 chance at the playoffs. They also have guys they can give a look at 2b. At the point, the pirates can wait 3 days and give a look to any bullpen arms they want to give a shot to.

[JosephC]

Pirate reliever Juan Nicasio would probably be my top candidate.

Yep. Nicasio and/or some of the other relievers still out there could make some sense if the price is right. Like you said, the Brewers would trading for somewhere between 10-20 innings of Nicasio, which even though they may be high leverage innings, should not be worth a ton in prospect value. There might be some market for Nicasio though, so the Pirates may be able to leverage something better than they maybe should get. This is also assuming that Nicasio cleared waivers.

 

MLBTR posted a nice review of the guys still out there. In addition to Nicasio, guys such as Craig Stammen, Clayton Richard (as a reliever), Derek Holland (as a reliever), and Drew Storen could be fits as well.

 

That MLB Trade Rumors column was where I initially got the idea for Nicasio.

 

The other pitchers they had listed scare me. Just not a fan of Richard and Holland at this point. While Stearns picked Feliz this off-season, I really wanted Storen so I've been following him. Storen got off to a good start statistically, but his peripherals weren't very good and it started catching up to him in July and he's really crashed in August. I want no part of him now. Stammen is really hard to judge. Love that fact that he has a 2.55 road ERA (4.36 in San Diego), but his BABIP is a pretty low .265 but his HR/FB% is a terrible 21.8%. It all comes out to a FIP of 4.64 but a xFIP of 3.80 and who know what to think of that going forward? Although I would say it's probably not even appropriate at this point to try to figure out any type of projections since we are only talking about 1 month-plus...maybe somewhere between 12-20 innings of work. Just about anybody could get hot or go cold over such a short time-frame. Even with the short timeframe I think Stearns might improve the team's chances slightly with another bullpen acquisition. If the price was low on Stammen I would be interested.

[Austin Tatious]

I haven't checked on his velocity, but Barnes looks like he has lost movement. I wouldn't use him in a leverage situation unless I absolutely had to. The Brewers are probably a reliever away unless they want to use someone from the system.

[adambr2]

Nicasio was placed on outright waivers today, meaning that whoever claims him simply gets him for free just by paying his remaining salary. These are non -revocable type waivers, so the Pirates cannot pull him back if claimed.

 

NL teams will get the first crack. I doubt he makes it past the Cardinals.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/pirates-place-juan-nicasio-on-outright-waivers.html?fv-home=true&post-id=101551

[MadThinker88]

Nicasio was placed on outright waivers today, meaning that whoever claims him simply gets him for free just by paying his remaining salary. These are non -revocable type waivers, so the Pirates cannot pull him back if claimed.

 

NL teams will get the first crack. I doubt he makes it past the Cardinals.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/pirates-place-juan-nicasio-on-outright-waivers.html?fv-home=true&post-id=101551

 

Interesting. Thanks for the update.

I agree he is most likely claimed before the Brewers get a chance: Mets (to continue building 2018 pen, note getting AJ Ramos. The 600k is a fraction of what they saved with Bruce & Granderson this month), Marlins & Cards all make sense.

[JohnBriggs12]

I haven't checked on his velocity, but Barnes looks like he has lost movement. I wouldn't use him in a leverage situation unless I absolutely had to. The Brewers are probably a reliever away unless they want to use someone from the system.

 

When Barnes first arrived last year he featured a plus fastball and a devastating slider. He's more or less ditched the slider in favor of a cutter. I don't think he's really mastered a cutter to the point where he's consistent enough with it and doesn't command the fastball well enough to get ahead of hitters and use the slider as a put away pitch.

[Greenleaf1]

A man can always hope for Justin Verlander....

[pacopete4]

A man can always hope for Justin Verlander....

 

Is he that stud centerfielder we've been hoping for?

[reillymcshane]

A man can always hope for Justin Verlander....

Reports indicate Verlander isn't going anywhere.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/tigers-do-not-expect-to-trade-justin-verlander-by-end-of-august.html

[shanedog19]

Who will be the winner of the Nicasio waiver claim? I would think he would be picked up by a contending team.

[adambr2]

Who will be the winner of the Nicasio waiver claim? I would think he would be picked up by a contending team.

 

It's got to be the Marlins or Cardinals. I'd be elated if he made it to us.

[KeithStone53151]

Yeah the Marlins would surely get him. Here's hoping though. Swap out nicasio for one of our lousy 3.