There are reportedly some shortstops to be had ahead of Monday’s MLB trade deadline if teams make the right offer.
ESPN’s Buster Olney and Jeff Passan reported Sunday that the Boston Red Sox remain “the biggest threat to land one of” the potentially available shortstops of Zach Neto, Otto Lopez or “even” CJ Abrams.
Passan noted “the Red Sox have the pieces for any of them, and teams are hoping to be the beneficiary of Boston’s aggressiveness. Because all are excellent and controllable for multiple years, though, the asks are exorbitant.”
Corey Seager may be available as well, as Passan reported the Texas Rangers could offer the veteran shortstop or pitcher Jacob deGrom even though the latter has a no-trade clause that could “complicate matters.”
Abrams and Seager would be significant additions for any team in need of a shortstop, Boston or otherwise.
The former made the second All-Star Game of his career this season and is slashing .290/.366/.559 with 28 home runs, 85 RBI and 19 stolen bases for the Washington Nationals. He leads the league in RBI and is impacting the game in a number of ways this season at just 25 years old.
He is also under team control through the 2028 campaign and would be far more than a rental, which means the Red Sox or others will surely have to pay up.
As for Seager, his loaded resume includes two World Series titles, two World Series MVP awards, three Silver Sluggers, a Rookie of the Year and five All-Star Game nods. Yet he has been nowhere near as effective as Abrams this season and is slashing .192/.301/.383 with 10 home runs and 25 RBI.
Elsewhere, Passan and Olney reported the Los Angeles Angels could offer pitchers Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano outside of Neto.
At 43-69, the Angels should be in full-on sell mode.
Nobody in the American or National League has a worse record, and they are a number of steps away from being competitive. Getting as many young assets in return for their players as possible is their best path forward, and an aggressive approach at the deadline could help them accomplish just that.
Now the trick is convincing either the Red Sox or a team such as the Chicago Cubs or Philadelphia Phillies that needs pitching to pay up for what they are offering.
And a potential bidding war would help in those efforts.
