If only it were so simple. You have teams vying for postseason spots and possible success after those spots are secured. You have other teams, not in those situations, but hoping to leverage the assets they have to get there in some indefinite future scenario. We call the first group buyers and the latter sellers. All we have to do is bring them together.
If only it were so simple.
In recent weeks, we've started to zero in on baseball's coming trade deadline. First, we slotted teams by their buy-sell-hold status. Then we compiled a long list of possible in-season trade candidates, sorted by the general cost of doing business. Great. It's a start. Now let's take another step and try to bring these two together.
What are the needs of the buying teams? Which players fit those needs? There are many factors, including contract status, payroll flexibility, depth of minor league talent, specificity of the need to be filled, health of the applicable players, what the opposing general managers had for breakfast -- the list is truly inexhaustible. But let's wade in anyway.
Note: It has been a few weeks since we last slotted teams by their buy-hold-sell status. Even 11 weeks into the season, it's a list that ebbs and flows with each day's results. So this list is a mere snapshot -- these are the teams that, per my system of rating teams, are currently in either buy or hold mode. Conveniently, that works out to 15 teams. However, let's face it, some of those hold teams are going to slip and move into sell mode.
So think of it like this: If these teams were to buy, here's what they'd need, and here is whom they might target. If your team isn't listed, that's because, per my system, they figure to be in sell mode.
Needs: infield corners, top-of-the-rotation starter, bullpen depth
Fits: Yonder Alonso, Eduardo Nunez, Jose Quintana, Jason Vargas, Pat Neshek
It doesn't look like any true top-of-the-rotation starter is likely to be moved at the deadline, so the focus goes to guys such as Quintana and Vargas, who at least can imitate an ace for stretches. Vargas has done a good impression of an ace all season, and he's in a walk year, making him a less expensive acquisition than Quintana, who has a plum of a multi-year deal on the books. Chances are, the Yankees will hope for internal solutions at the corners, with the preference at first base being that Greg Bird simply starts to hit. At third, Gleyber Torres would have been a popular option at the hot corner before his season ended prematurely because of Tommy John surgery. Now, any outside acquisition would probably have to be an upgrade going forward on what the Yankees might get by sticking with Chase Headley.