Bullpen Trade Deadline

Part 4

LAB REPORTS

By: The Lab

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Part 4

Sellers
ATH
Hogan Harris 29 (2Y) Stays
Justin Sterner 29 (2Y) Stays
Mark Leiter Jr. 35 (FA) Traded

They have hit the skids hard lately and moved from up in the air to selling. As with most of the teams expected to be sellers they have a lot of young bullpen arms that would a take a great offer to move. Mark Leiter Jr is the old man in the bullpen and the upcoming FA so he will certainly be shopped. Historically he is a low leverage guy so but he should be on the move. Sterner is a couple years from arbitration so I doubt he is moved but he is on the older side. Harris also has a couple years left but as a LHP I'm sure teams will ask about him. He has decent value and but I would think they keep him since the team seems close to breaking through. Harris would likely not close if traded.

CIN
Emilio Pagán 35 (1Y Player) Stays
Tejay Antone 32 (1Y) Stays
Caleb Ferguson 29 (FA) Traded
Brock Burke 30 (FA) Traded
Pierce Johnson 35 (1Y) Traded
Sam Moll 34 (1Y) Stays Traded
Tony Santillan 29 (2Y) Stays

Similar to the Athletics they were in the mix but have turned into sellers. The difference is they were expected to be better and have a lot of veterans who could be on the move. I say Santillan stays due to his current injury and I think they end up keeping Antone as well. Pagan will be on the fence due to being hurt but if he has a good month teams will be checking in. He likely would not close elsewhere and I think they end up keeping him while he opts in for another season. Ferguson Burke and Moll are all LHP who have all been decent. Ferguson gets traded every year and I think this year will be no different. I also think Burke will be on the move. Moll has the worst stuff of the group so I think he ends up staying. Pierce Johnson has been hurt but is back now and could fill the low leverage RHP role for a team. He has been traded before and since he has a very dominant curve ball I think he will be on the move again. There is a chance they get hot and these guys end up staying but this team really should be selling after another disappointing year thus far.

Up in the Air
WSN
Justin Lawrence 31 (2Y) Stays
Richard Lovelady 30 (2Y) Stays

Weird team here as they are over .500 but they have the worst bullpen is the game. Lawrence and Lovelady were both guys DFA'd who they have added. Neither is getting traded but I had to list somebody. Lovelady is hurt as well. I wouldn't expect them to buy right now but if they get hot over the next couple weeks it would be great to see them bring in a closer. Devin Williams makes sense to me since he has some control and they have the ability to take on his salary. This would also be a team were some of the mid level guys could close. Soto, Pagan, Harris all would be in the mix at closer here. At this point any moves they make to improve the bullpen would be huge but I don't expect anything splashy.

CWS
Seranthony Domínguez 31 (2Y Buyout Y2) Traded
Sean Newcomb 33 (FA) Stays
Jordan Hicks 29 (1Y) Stays
Trevor Richards 33 (FA) Stays

No one had them leading the AL Central to this point but not sure how much buying or selling they will do. Newcomb and Richards have been good but to this point in their careers they have been low leverage guys more likely to be DFA'd than traded. They could listen to offers but I doubt they get much for either and expect both guys to stay. Hicks hasn't been bad and might bring something back if traded. I think they will shop him but he likely stays. Domínguez has been awful but maybe they would be willing to move him. A lateral deal would make sense. Think something like to PIT for Dennis Santana. Both struggling guys who just need a new home and don't have huge contracts. I do think it will be very tough to trade him though but I'll say they pull it off. They could use any high leverage arm or closer. They weren't expect to be good so most of the bullpen guys coming into the year were just low leverage castoffs or young drafted players. Lateral moves here make the most sense over a big splashy trade.

Buyers
*Every team needs bullpen help. It might not be a priority but they all should be checking in with teams selling.

NYY
I think we can all agree they need to add a bullpen piece but the question is how many. The fan base wants them to rebuild the whole bullpen which they pretty much did last year and we are now back to square one. I doubt they replace Bednar at closer since I can't see BOS trading them Chapman and they arent bringing back High Lev Dev who wouldn't close over Bednar. They have made trades with PIT (Soto makes sense) and COL as recently as last year so maybe they try again. With Carlos Lagrange hurt that might force their hand to make a couple moves. Anyway at this point they will be buying and the question is how many new faces will we see.

SEA: They have four very good guys and Brash who will likely be back around the deadline. After that they could use some help. In addition to Brash on the IL they have Vargas who was good last year so that could be another guy to help. I wouldn't expect any major moves but a low leverage guy or two that fills out the bullpen would help. As the note says every team could improve the bullpen but if the IL guys come back they are going to be in pretty good position.

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