Jed Hoyer a contract extension<\/a>, the Chicago Cubs effectively reduced the pressure on him at the deadline, at least as far as his job security was concerned.<\/p>\nPittsburgh Pirates GM Ben Cherington, on the other hand, remains in limbo, and not without reason. Hoyer\u2019s team is well-positioned for a playoff berth. Cherington\u2019s is headed for a sixth straight losing season.<\/p>\n
The question is how owner Bob Nutting will evaluate Cherington\u2019s performance at the deadline and beyond.<\/p>\n
If Nutting judges Cherington partly on how the Pirates finish, a sell-off involving Bednar, Mitch Keller and others likely would make the team even less competitive, damaging the GM\u2019s standing.<\/p>\n
But if Cherington takes a passive approach, declining to leverage his ample supply of pitchers to acquire impact hitters, Nutting could fire him for a different reason \u2014 failing to put the team in better position for 2026.<\/p>\n
History suggests that treading lightly could be the wrong play. In 2019, then Pirates-GM Neal Huntington moved rentals Corey Dickerson and Jordan Lyles at the deadline but held on to several rentals and valuable veterans. The Pirates were 47-61, compared to 44-62 now. Nutting fired Huntington after that season.<\/p>\n
The situation is awkward, to say the least. Whatever path Cherington chooses, he might be doomed.<\/p>\n
The Chicago White Sox believe they would look ridiculous accepting a mid-tier prospect for a player as talented as center fielder Luis Robert Jr. Their stance is that if they don\u2019t land at least one of a trade partner\u2019s top 10 prospects for Robert, they will pick up his $20 million option.<\/p>\n
Teams\u2019 top 10 lists vary in quality, but no matter. The prospective suitors, which include the Padres, Phillies and New York Mets, evidently believe the White Sox are bluffing.<\/p>\n
With only $20.6 million committed to their 2026 payroll, the White Sox certainly could absorb Robert at his option price. But this is a player who appeared in more than 100 games only once in his first four full seasons. He is at 86, with 55 games remaining.<\/p>\n
So far, so good, but a player who is injured as often as Robert typically doesn\u2019t warrant a $20 million investment. And if the White Sox decline to trade Robert, who\u2019s to say he won\u2019t shut down the first time he feels a twinge after the deadline, effectively forcing their hand on the option?<\/p>\n
The White Sox, then, are in something of a no-win position. Trade Robert for the mid-tier prospect teams are offering, and feel short-changed if he returns to the player he was in 2023. Keep him and exercise the option, and assume the risk he will again miss significant time. Keep him and decline the option, and receive nothing in return when he departs as a free agent.<\/p>\n
The best guess is that in the end, they take what they can get.<\/p>\n
Four trade candidates started Monday, with mixed results. The Miami Marlins\u2019 Edward Cabrera was the only one to produce a quality start. The Pirates\u2019 Keller lasted only two innings. The Orioles\u2019 Zach Eflin and Athletics\u2019 JP Sears failed to complete five.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s slate of games includes two starters who could be moved \u2014 the Orioles\u2019 Charlie Morton and the Washington Nationals\u2019 Mike Soroka.<\/p>\n
As of late Monday night, the Orioles\u2019 plan was to pitch Morton in their 12:35 ET start against the Toronto Blue Jays unless talks in the morning got hot. The Nationals were taking the same approach with the less coveted Soroka.<\/p>\n
Morton, 41, has a 3.80 ERA in his last 11 starts. That ERA was even lower before he allowed seven runs to the Rays in his first start after the break. But he rebounded from that game to hold the Guardians to three runs in 6 2\/3 innings last Thursday.<\/p>\n
Among the Marlins in play: Right-handed reliever Anthony Bender, who is earning $1.42 million and under club control through arbitration for two additional seasons.<\/p>\n
Bender, 30, throws 45 percent sweepers, 27 percent sinkers and 22 percent sliders, according to Statcast. He entered Monday with a 1.83 ERA in 44 1\/3 innings, but an expected 3.48 ERA that was nearly twice as high.<\/p>\n
His strikeout rate had dropped from 25.9 percent last season to 19.9 percent in this one. His lofty ground-ball rate also had dipped slightly, from 51.7 to 50.4 percent. But the San Diego Padres, among other clubs, were considering him.<\/p>\n
And finally, the New York Yankees, in doing their background work on third baseman Ryan McMahon, checked with some of his former teammates with the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n
One of those former teammates was the player whose release effectively created the opening for McMahon \u2014 DJ LeMahieu. The two played together in Colorado in 2017-18, and LeMahieu gave the Yankees a strong recommendation.<\/p>\n
LeMahieu, 37, plans to wait until the trade deadline passes before signing with another team. He didn\u2019t want to join a club and then suddenly find his spot in jeopardy if his new team acquired another player.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Will Sammon, Zack Meisel and Stephen J. Nesbitt contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n(Photo of Steven Kwan: Nick Cammett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing from major-league sources with less than three full days until the conclusion of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":101212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1274,1282,1286,4247,1266,2228,1886,62,1278,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-101211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-chicago-white-sox","9":"tag-cleveland-guardians","10":"tag-miami-marlins","11":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york-yankees","14":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-texas-rangers","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114934752408078192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}