It is late July and the eyes of the baseball world are focused on Detroit and Anaheim. Not because either team is headed for October glory but because those two squads hold the most interesting trade chips on the market.
Over the next three days we will see of John Mozeliak purges the roster and begins anew. On Wednesday he gave us signs that might be in store.
First he cut Minasian mistake Alek Manoah.
Then he traded Minasian draft pick Chase Silseth and Minasian trade acquisition Logan O’Hoppe to Texas for a 19 year old who was on nobody’s radar. Here’s a little video of the kid.
Shipping out 4 years of Silseth and 2 of O’Hoppe is not something the Angels of old would do. While not a big trade, this possible shift in organizational philosophy has people wondering if a full scale rebuild is coming.
Like this:
The thing about doing Weekend Links this time of year is that anything I post will likely be obsolete at some point this weekend if not in the hours between writing and publishing this piece.
Here’s my recap of the Angels trade rumors and assets as of yesterday (today as I type this).
I’ve had a lot of fun with the trade deadline stuff.
Detmers to the Cubs for our next great catcher and a solid infielder?
The Cubs are a fairly new entrant into the Detmers sweepstakes. We have already known about the White Sox. Which trade package do you prefer?
Yes, Turk’s Teeth is a great muse. Soriano to Milwaukee for the catcher we need?
You’d expect the Detmers to the Cubs piece to get solid traffic and it did. But I was shocked the Soriano to Milwaukee piece got a lot more eyeballs than my Neto to Boston or Neto to Tampa Bay pieces.
We’ve justifiably ripped Neto quite a bit for his defense and K’s on the board. There are reasons to think he will not net a huge return. But this trade market also kind of sucks. There’s no real big name on the offensive side. Which means, Zach Neto is likely the best bat on the trading block.
A purge in baseball comes with new talent and fresh faces. And so it goes in Anaheim. Out with the Silseth, in with the Murphy. The kid has been on fire lately.
Many of you might remember Murphy was my draft crush that year. Vandy was just so stacked and he mowed through the SEC. He struggled for years in the minors but finally put it together this season. I am excited to see the kid.
And one more good thing from the farm. This kid might be good.
From around baseball:
There’s more information on Walter here. Fortunately for him and the Dodgers, fraud is apparently legal now. He’ll either skate on the charges or be elected.
Out with Skubal (?) in with top prospect Max Clark. Detroit is interesting in two ways this weekend.
Enjoy your weekend and update the comments as rumors and signings break. I will say Logan O’Hoppe is a great guy and I wish him well (but also hope he does not Napoli us). He is the Angels
