MLBTR Live Chat

Mark P

• A bit of a later start than usual for the Weekend Chat, but never late than never?  Let’s get rolling….

Just curious

• Are the Phillies in on Skubal

Mark P

• I’d be surprised if they weren’t.  The question is if Philly has enough to win a bidding war, given the Phillies’ thin farm system.

Logan Webb

• Would you trade me? What kind of a return would I bring back to SF?

Mark P

• Webb would bring back a huge trade return, but he’s also just about the last of the SF cornerstone types I’d move.  If the Giants dealt Webb, that’s a “blow it all up” trade, rather than just some kind of reload for 2027 or a strategic salary dump.
• It’s difficult, since the way the Giants are presently constructed, I’m not sure they can contend again over the rest of Webb’s contract (which runs through 2028).

Jason

• What do you see Brewers doing at the deadline?

Mark P

• Third base help, bullpen help, and maybe a starting pitching.  Milwaukee has plenty of rotation candidates if everyone is healthy, but getting an innings-eater type would provide a nice security blanket.

B-Wild

• What teams talking about buying do you think should be sellers?

Mark P

• Probably because I just finished writing a post about Mike Elias’ media conference, but the Orioles seem like they’ll likely be selling rather than buying.  Obviously it’s the AL and almost everyone is basically “still in the race,” but the O’s need to have a lot of things turned around in short order for me to think they’ve got a legit chance to be a wild card team

Mercer

• do you think Randy Arozerana is getting traded at the trade deadline

Mark P

• Not a chance.  Seattle wants to add a RHH, not subtract such a bat from their lineup

Johnny L

• Assuming Murakami is healthy, would you prefer Rice over him by a wide margin or are they close?

Mark P

• If you’re talking big picture, I prefer Rice because he’s arb-controlled through 2030 and Murakami is a free agent after 2027.  In terms of pure ability, I think I’ll still lean towards Rice just because I’ve seen a bit more of what he can do

Put Me In Coach

• Who’s better, the Cubs or the White Sox?

Mark P

• Which team do you think is better? Cubs (48.8% | 305 votes) White Sox (51.1% | 319 votes) Total Votes: 624

MAYS

• All Star voting has become a joke.  It’s NL real All Stars vs hapless Blue Jays.  How do we fix this?

Mark P

• My guess is that at least a few of the Jays players will sit out the ASG for rest purposes.  But there’s really not much the league can do to prevent such lopsided vote totals, and after all these decades, head-scratching All-Star votes are part of the experience

Tim

• The angels have been a mess for years. Only constant is moreno. Time for him to let baseball people make the decisions? Or sell?

Mark P

• In theory, Moreno would realize he’s the main problem and finally let Mozeliak (or whoever the next GM is) have free reign on baseball operations.In theory.

Jays

• What has happened to Vlads power & do we use Nimmala to upgrade the rotation? He could headline for Skubal?

Mark P

• In April, Guerrero wasn’t hitting for power but was still getting hits and getting on base.  But, Guerrero has been one of the worst hitters in baseball for almost two months now, and it’s hard to fathom.  He just isn’t getting the ball in the air whatsoever, and my armchair observation is that he’s making the problem worse by really pressing at the plate.As for a Nimmala trade, it’s getting to the point where the Jays shouldn’t be thinking about buying at the deadline at all (and certainly not to that blockbuster level)

Curious George

• Do the Jays become deadline sellers?

Smalls

• Why can’t the Jays win?

JeffyM

• The Blue Jays have lost 6 in a row, but are still in the wild card hunt.  Should they load up and shop Pinango, Valenzuela, McAdoo, Keys etc.  Or retool for next year and trade off Varsho, Gausman, Springer etc?

Tim

• jays are in big trouble. In deference to scherzers phenomenal career, he’s done . Bieber hasn’t shown anything. Guerrero hasn’t produced. What do they do?

Mark P

• As these comments and others suggest, not a great stretch of baseball here in Toronto.Again, the weak AL has kept the Blue Jays still in the playoff race.  At this point, however, it looks like they’re playing for a wild card at best since New York and Tampa seemingly have the top two AL East spots locked up.  So their buying may be limited at the deadline, despite their all-in approach
• And yeah, selling at the deadline can’t be ruled out.  Should that occur, the impending free agents like Varsho/Springer/Bieber/Gausman may all be on the block.  The position players probably moreso than the starters, maybe just be dint of the fact that the Jays need some measure of arms just to finish out the schedule (and Gausman is someone the Jays probably would like to re-sign).

Frank is Someone Else

• Does Milwaukee do a little bit of selling?

Mark P

• Can’t be ruled out, but certainly not to any great extent. The Brewers are hungry to get over the top and finally win a pennant.

Re: Nats

• Is $36M over 3 years fair for a Foster Griffin extension?

Mark P

• The advanced metrics suggest that Griffin has been a little lucky this year, but 3/$36MM would still count as a sweetheart extension.  Griffin has lined himself up for a significantly larger payday in free agency this winter.

Gaurds

• Can we survive without Jose until August? Been playing w fire lately

Mark P

• All the Guardians have to do is stay over .500 and they’ll stay in great shape in this weak AL

Tom

• Would the Brewers ever trade Jesus Made in a potential Skubal trade?

Mark P

• No way Milwaukee trades such an elite prospect for a rental player, even Skubal

ChrisW

• What do you think the Padres do? They are sort of an enigma in my view right now

Mark P

• Barring a complete and total collapse in July, the Padres will be buyers with the obvious need of LF, 1B/DH, probably 2B, and the rotation
• Now, that’s a lot of boxes to be checked for a team that will be playing for a wild card at best.  But the Padres are in no position to go into sell mode now, and who knows what kind of wild plans Preller might be cooking up

Stephen

• How quickly do you think the Mets can retool after the upcoming sell off with such a lackluster free agency class the next few years?

Mark P

• As much as New York fans are down on Stearns at the moment, he has a long history of building good teams without free agency.  The Brewers were built by trades, drafting, and player development, and only occasional modest dips into the open market.
• Granted, several of Stearns’ trades with the Mets haven’t worked out.  But taking a step back in free agency regardless of the state of the market might be a wiser move for the Mets anyway if they choose to retrench for a year

Alexander Hamilton

• I knew there would be some regression and injuries happen but Atlanta has shown their lack of depth. Anything they could do or is it pray and wait time?

Mel is 100

• Questions about the Jays could likewise be asked about the Braves. They sure don’t seem like the third best MLB club. Any hope for a turnaround other than counting on better performance?

Mark P

• I mean, the Braves have 10 more wins than the Jays, and have been a markedly better team in basically all areas all season.AA will certainly be active at the deadline in addressing needs (SS, outfield, bullpen, probably the rotation), and Atlanta just has too much talent to entirely fade away.  Their rough stretch isn’t helped by the Phillies or even the Marlins getting this hot and tightening up the NL East race, but there’s no reason to panic in Atlanta just yet

2nd best Nationals fan

• Speaking of Griffen, the Nats are a potential fringe playoff team that would need to do massive deals for SP to legitimately contend, do you see them moving Griffen at the deadline for someone with more control?

Mark P

• The Nationals keep surprising me, but I do think they’ll eventually fall out of the race and turn towards selling.  When and if that happens, Griffin will be a very interesting trade chip.
• As disappointed as Nats fans might be by this development, this was the expected outcome when Griffin was signed.  Since Griffin is on pace to land a better trade return than expected, that’s a nice bit of business for the Nats

Walter

• Jo Adell or Soler the RH power bat for the Guardians .

Mark P

• Neither is hitting all that well, and Soler is probably too pricey for Cleveland’s liking.

Braxton Ashcraft

• Say you were wrong on me please

Mark P

• Longtime Weekend Chat regulars, help me out….have I ever had any kind of hot take on Braxton Ashcraft?  I don’t recall ever expressing an opinion on him one way or the other, haha.My stance at the moment?  He’s pitching great!

Pirates

• Can we right the ship or are we selling at deadline

Mark P

• Pittsburgh’s only true issue is the bullpen.  If they add a couple of good relievers and Cruz/Horwitz are back pretty quickly after the ASB, that might be all it takes to really get this team on track.

Mets

• I Believe they shouldn’t trade Luke weaver

Mark P

• This is a fair take.  Weaver’s been really good, and the Mets probably expect to reload and contend again in 2027, so they’ll need bullpen help.That said, the Mets should be open to all offers and possibilities at the deadline.  If another team steps up with an interesting enough offer, the Mets shouldn’t balk, especially given the volatility of relief pitching

Traveling

• Im going to Wrigley tomorrow for the first time, any advise?

Mark P

• Get there early and take their guided ballpark tour.  And, if this isn’t part of the tour itself, take the full stroll around the entire ballpark, walking the streets of Wrigleyville.  There’s a ton of fun stuff to do on a trip to Wrigley Field before even getting around to the experience of actually watching the game.

Bobby Cox

• Alright what would it take to move Riley? He has been bad and a terrible contract

Mark P

• Way too much money left on that deal for another team to take the plunge, and the Braves probably aren’t keen on eating much of it just to accommodate a swap.  Things have gotten really rough for Riley and there’s no easy fix apparent

Machiavelli

• What do you make of the Astros position right now? Do you think a buyer’s position is reasonable?

Mark P

• The Astros have done well to get themselves almost back on top the AL West (uh, with the caveat that nobody in the division has a winning record).  They’re definitely lining up as deadline buyers, and bolstering the outfield and the rotation seem like needs
• As The Athletic’s Chandler Rome noted this weekend, however, the Astros may not have the resources (financial or prospect depth) to fully address both needs

The Only Marlins Fan

• Any word on what the Marlins may add at the deadline?

Mark P

• Corner infield offense, first and foremost.  More power in general, and another starter to bolster the back end of the rotation
• How aggressive Miami will be in going after these needs remain to be seen.  And, some level of buying and selling might go on here, continuing the Marlins’ attempt to become Rays 2.0

How rare?

• How many times has a team gone 162 with only 5 starters? Asking for the guardians haha

Mark P

• The Mariners came pretty close to this a couple of years ago, with six pitchers making 161 starts and Jhonathan Diaz “starting” once as an opener

White Sox division winners?

• On paper right now they have the best offense and pitching in the division.  Can they keep it up the rest of the season?

Mark P

• Cleveland has better pitching than the Sox, in my view.  So Chicago will need some deadline help on the pitching front.But after three months, I think the White Sox may be legit.  It helps that they’re in such a weak division and maybe a weak league overall, but from what I’ve seen, it wouldn’t be entirely absurd to see them reach the playoffs

Chris

• Joe Ryan gets traded, right? I just don’t think his value can gtlet much higher

Mark P

• Minnesota’s another team still on the fringes of contention due to AL parity, but they’ll at least be open to hearing offers for Ryan.  If a team makes a Godfather offer, he’ll go.  If not, the Twins might hang on until the offseason to open up the bidding to the entire league (though on a limited clock since the lockout begins in early December)

Dodgers 58

• The Mariners in 2003 used only 5 starters.

Mark P

• Good call!

Eduardo

• If Arizona sells at the deadline, how far do you think they’d go in that direction? Carroll is under team control through ‘31, and you’ve gotta believe they can build a winner around him, but it seems like the roster is stuck and the pitching depth is zilch. My question: what should AZ do? Thanks.

Mark P

• As a longtime believer in the Diamondbacks being better than their results would indicate, I still feel like this team isn’t THAT far off?  Perhaps this is a foolish take on my part, but their position-player base is still strong.The pitching, of course, is a big issue.  I don’t know if it’s personnel or bad luck with injuries, or if they need some management overhaul in terms of another new pitching coach (or “director pitching” for oversight or something).Selling at the deadline, in this case, becomes tricky since they don’t have a ton of rentals with great appeal.  Sewald or Clarke could be moved to teams in need of relievers, but Soroka is hurt and E-Rod probably is still too pricey for most teams.

  I also don’t think the D’Backs will sell unless they absolutely have to.  This is a team that was expecting to and preparing to win in 2026, so they’d have to be very far back of the wild card chase to have any real sells.

Guest

• Phillies have needed a right handed bat with some pop for four years now. Would the Orioles, do Taylor Ward for Dante Nori?

Mark P

• That might be an interesting fit for both sides, though Nori isn’t exactly doing well at Double-A

Pirate Parrot

• Should we attempt to extend Lowe before he becomes a FA?

Mark P

• Probably unlikely with Lowe this close to free agency, and how the Pirates would have to overpay to keep him off the market.  And we know how the Pirates feel about spending money.One possible caveat….the impending lockout.  If Lowe has any reservations about free agency with a work stoppage looming, that could make him more amenable to an extension now.  If he’s liking how things are going in Pittsburgh and if the Pirates make a fair offer, who knows, crazier things have happened.
• Had to take a timeout from the chat due to this Buddy Kennedy trade, so it’s probably time to wrap this one a little earlier than usual.  Late start, early ending….way to please the readers, Mark.  
• Thanks for all the questions and comments, and the Weekend Chat will return in July.If you’re interested in more baseball Q&A, one of the many benefits of our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription is the exclusive weekly live chats. The more limited field means you’re about 10 times more likely to get a question answered, as opposed to battling for space with hundreds of other questions in today’s chat. For more on our memberships, check out this link:https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/membership?ref=chat-6-28-26