The hot stove is on fire today as the Braves and Phillies are stepping up their pursuit of a right handed bat. The Braves are rumored to be close to a deal and the Phils have been talking to the Royals about Melky Cabrera. But that may all have just changed thanks to Ed Wade and Buster Olney.
It turns out that Wade is more inclined to trade the “untouchable” Hunter Pence than we first thought. according to Olney, some execs expect Pence to be traded. If this is the case, expect the Phillies and Braves to get into a bidding war for Pence. The asking price will be high, but Pence is easily better than Carlos Beltran and more than a rental player.
So is it possible? Absolutely. Will it happen? Who knows.
Ruben Amaro is under a self-imposed gag order until the trade deadline has passed or we acquire a player, whichever comes first. I’d bet my bank account that he’s at least called Ed Wade about Pence in the past 24 hours. He’s probably also been talking to San Diego, New York, Kansas City, and Chicago in the past 24 hours.
How does the deal happen? The Astros will ask for Dom Brown. RAJ will laugh uncontrollably while secretly considering it. The fact is a Pence for brown trade straight-up is something that needs to be considered. That deal is highly unlikely, however.
Short of Brown, the Astros will likely want Jared Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, or both. If both are included that would probably be the entire deal, which would be a deal worth considering. Only including one of those two would mean that an additional two or three prospects would need to be included. One would likely be Trevor May or Jonathan Pettibone, who, along with Cosart, make up 3/4 of our “Baby Aces.” Look for a AAA reliever such as Justin DeFratus or a lower-level position player to round out the deal.
Sebastian Valle, the Phillies only real catching prospect, is probably one of the few off-limits players.
People will argue that Cosart, Singleton, May, and Pettibone are to valuable to be traded away. I would argue that while not all four together are expendable, two of them are. Singleton especially is blocked by Ryan Howard and will only make it to the majors with a team or position change. All four, however, are nothing more than prospects right now. They’re highly rated, but could amount to nothing in the show.
The only other issue would be Pence’s salary and the luxury tax. If I recall correctly, the Phils claim to have about $3 million to play with. Pence is due about $3.8 million for the rest of the season, and that extra $800,000 or so could be found.
I say go for it.
Gay Sports Guy 