MLB Trade Rumors Intensify: Royals Pitching, Buxton’s No-Trade Change & Contreras Buzz

MLB Trade Rumors Intensify: Royals Pitching, Buxton’s No-Trade Change & Contreras Buzz

Let’s do a few minutes of rumors right now. Let’s start with the Kansas City Royals who apparently are open to potentially shopping some pitching. So JJ Piccolo told the Boston Globe when asked if any in the anyone in the rotation was excluded from a potential deal. He said, “I wouldn’t say anyone is off limits. There would have to be a really big return for one starter in particular, but basically you’re seeing that the Royals could trade a pitcher for something like an outfielder. The Royals definitely still have work to do with their lineup. There are some promising parts of it as we know. Uh Bobby Wood Jr. and maybe Jack Kaggs has a little breakout. Mike Kell Garcia certainly did this past season. I do he also added that the Royals would prefer to retain Seth Luga and Michael Waka after both remained with the club beyond their initial deals. So some people are turning to guys like Chris Bouvich or even Cole Reagans. Maybe one of them will be available. Reagan’s had kind of a lost year compared to what he did the year prior. he was hurt. Let me bring up this one other tweet and then we’ll get your thoughts. So Mike Petriello put this out there and I do think it’s a good point about the state of their rotation. He goes, “I keep seeing KC going to trade starting pitching for outfielder. I’m having a tough time with that. Waka Lugo both mid-30s. Lugo was not good this past season. Cameron Noah Cameron is useful but has quote going to take a step back written all over him. Bubich Reagan’s had injuries. Can they afford a starting pitching trade?” So AJ, what do you think? I mean, I’ll just echo what Mike just said, like Petraeloo. I mean, this was exactly what I was going to say before we showed this tweet is is can they afford to trade Reagan? Can they afford to trade Abubich? Lugo and Waka are in their mid30s and then you have Noah Cameron who had a nice year, but can he do it again? And so, I don’t know if they can afford it. Can they f Why don’t they just go out and do what they did before and try to find those fringy really good players but not the superstar players and have them come in for a year or two and do what they do because they already have Salvi great great player probably going to the Hall of Fame. You have Bobby Whit, you have Mike El Garcia, you have Kegle Leon you hope takes the next step. You have the Pasquatch Vinnie Pascantino, right? Yeah, Michael Massie, who you hope has a bounceback year, doesn’t get injured in spring training and miss first month and a half and try to play catchup. I think they have the core of a team that can be decent. Can they go add to it and make it take the next level? That’s the question. Why do you have to trade? Go out and spend some money. They have money. It’s not like they spent all their money and threw it all out. They have money. Go find those guys that are a Harrison Bader type that can cover all of center field for you, right? Or someone like that that you hope has a great year and everyone else has their normal year. Some guys have bounceback years. Boom, you’re right back where you were two years ago in the playoffs and you have a chance. I’m going to say no. They can’t afford it. I mean, it was this year, last time, last year at this time, they tried to upgrade their offense. They tried to upgrade their lead off on base percentage guy and go get Jonathan India. Didn’t work out. They lost 32 starts from Brady Singer. I get it. Nobody’s, you know, everyone’s like, “Oh, his strikeout rate isn’t that great and stuff.” So, he’s just more of a contact guy. Like, for me, being with the Royals when we were successful, it was all because of defense and pitchers who threw strikes. Brady Singer’s out there for 32 starts. Does he punch out the world? No. In Kansas City, where he makes half his starts, you don’t need to punch out the world. So, to me, getting rid of another starter that’s two in two years, I get it. Reagan’s only had 13 starts, but this is a guy who I think only had 60ome innings and he almost had 100 strikeouts. So, I don’t see them being able to afford getting rid of him unless you are talking about a mega aircraft carrier outfielder that’s going to step in and really change this lineup. Are they going to trade with the Minnesota Twins for Byron Buckton? Are they gonna trade? Are they gonna take on this mega outfielder type of contract that would make up for losing Reagan’s and what he could do if he has another Sai Young I think he was fourth in the Sai Young two years ago type of year? Like I no I don’t think they can afford it. Okay. Well, you brought it up. I’ll make the easy transition right now. Let’s just go right to Buckton for our next little rumor thing. We can bring up Steven from Hammer Territories tweet. Very interesting note he said from Jeff Passen this morning reporting that Byron Bucking is willing to wave his no trade clause for Atlanta among other places and he’s from Georgia so that makes some sense. People have pointed to him there and remember not so long ago he said he was not going to wave his no trade clause. Then the Twins decided they weren’t going to sell and they were instead the owners weren’t going to sell. said they were going to sell half the team and all of a sudden there could be some second thoughts here. So the article from passen says willing to wave his no trade clause not just for Atlanta which puts them in an interesting position. So yeah, maybe Kansas City for Byron Buckton. That would be cool. Again, he’s got to prove anything, AJ. But I mean, that would be a big, sure, somewhat risky move because of the injury history, but if you get the version of Bucks from this past season, that’s an impact. True, but he’s not going to Kansas City. They’re not going to want to trade him inside the division. Not happen. So, it’s cool, Scott, that you come up with these crazy ideas that are never going to happen. I like it. That was Kratz’s idea. That was well Kratz got both you guys crazy ideas that are never going to happen. I like it. But I will say this. Atlanta what? You pair him with Michael Harris and Ronald Akunia and Alb’s and Riley and Murphy and Baldwin and Olsen. You got some you got something brewing Atlanta. Um and you throw in Pablo Lopez just for fun. Why not? I mean if we’re going crazy let’s get crazy here. So, and they can just send Shawn Murphy back to the Twins and they Murphy and the Twins say, “Hey, we got a catcher.” So, I don’t know. Um, but let’s get crazy. No, I love this. Byron Bucks, if he can stay healthy anywhere he goes, this was like the Dylan Case rumors, the Sunny Gray to Atlanta, because there’s so many people that grew up Braves fans, me included, because of Superstation TBS. And that was where every kid in the South grew up watching the team because there was no Rays. There was no Marlins. There was nothing except for the Atlanta Braves. And we all wanted to play there. I got to do it. And if you get the opportunity to do it, it was a great organization. And it’s not going to happen because I think Byron Bucks is going to stay there. And I I I commend him for that. But I mean, I think he would wave his no trade clause if it came to that. I think there is one thing that Scott said was, “Oh, if he stays healthy, like are teams willing to take that risk?” Of the teams that are willing to spend $15 million on an on outfielder and the teams that are willing to give up prospects for it, all of them are willing to take the risk. Even if you get one good year out of the three, like there’s, you know, he he keeps having injury concerns and all this stuff. If you get one good year, he is a organizational season changing type of player. Every team, every team that has a chance should be in on Byron Buckton. And I will agree with you that if you get one good year out of the three, the rest of the contract is worth it. He’s not getting paid a ton of money in Major League Baseball standards. He’s not. 15 a year. 15 a year. one season with that that he puts together like that is is worth in today’s game 50 million bucks. It is. That’s how it’s looked at. You insert that into a lineup. You insert that defense into your starting rotation. I mean, I get it. Like every every team would want that. There’s there’s not a team that’s sitting there going like think about the Blue Jays. They have Daltton Vo in center field, platinum glove winner. How good would he be in left field with with the added power and defense that that would add with Bucks in center field? You talk about the Phillies, obviously they have center field options open. You talk about the Yankees, they wouldn’t have to sign Cody Bellinger for as much as they’re going to sign Cody Bellinger or take a guess on if Dominguez is going to play well. Every team would want Byron Buckton, even with the quote injury risk. KP, the website is chubbieshshorts.com. The brand is Chubbies, but it’s not just shorts. Yeah, don’t be fooled by the website’s name. This is a one-stop shop for all things that I love. Swimming trunks, golf polos, and even flannels. It fits me perfectly. One-stop shop is the place to go. Yes, sir. KP, I’ve been wearing their flannel over shirt. It’s like my favorite flannel and your softest sweater. Having a little baby. It’s the best of both worlds. classic flannel look with the warmth of a fleece. And we know it’s that time of year to pull that off. The Chubbies flannel overshirt. It feels like your favorite flannel, but with the warmth of a cozy sweater. And for a limited time, Chubbies is giving our listeners 20% off your purchase at Chubbies with the promo code fall at checkout. But if it’s Black Friday, skip the code. Take advantage of an even bigger markdown during their exclusive Black Friday sale. Just head to chubbiesshorts.com and make sure to support the show by telling them that foul territory sent you. What about Wilson Contrarus for teams now that the Cardinals have kind of declared that it is cell mode for some of these vets. Where? Give Give me a team. There are teams that can use a first base. Give me Give me a team. Give me a team. Kevin Carmier. What? Why am I Kevin Carm? I know what team because he came out and said teams have called and I want to know what team. So what team? Scott, come on. Play follow along, Scott. Keep up. Okay, hold on. Hold on. And then we’ll show Katie’s tweets. What about the Mets if they don’t bring back Pete Alonzo? Well, I mean, if they don’t bring back Pete Allonzo, here’s my question. Hold on. I’ve got more for you. Okay, go ahead. Red Sox, we don’t know what this is going to look like. Okay, but you’re going to keep relying on him. He hasn’t been healthy for them. Okay, keep going. So far, he named two teams that might have a position for him. The Yankees don’t have a first base. They do. His name is Ben Rice because he’s not a catcher. What about the Washington Nationals? Wilson Contrus is not waving his no trade to go to the Washington Nationals. New regime. They’re into winning now. He’s older. He’s older than the manager, the hitting coach, the pitching coach, and the GM combined. There there’s probably five to seven teams. That’s true. There’s probably five to seven teams that could use a first base upgrade. You don’t think so? Padres’s. Okay. Padre is a good one. Padre is not going to happen. They don’t have the So, here’s my question. Here’s my question to you, AJ. Is he worth let’s say I mean the Cardinals have been into buying down these contracts. He’s essentially making about 17 or 18 million. If is he worth 10 million a year for the next let’s see that would be two seasons if somebody buys down if somebody buys down basically half of what he’s what he’s going to get in 26 and 27. Is he worth that? Yeah. If you want to give up the prospect capital, which everyone knows in baseball today, prospect capital is worth more than the actual dollars that you’re paying a player according to some GMs and some front offices. So for $10 million a year, I mean, listen, his last three years, we’ll go since he went to St. Louis, he got 826 OPS, 848, 791, 123 ops plus, 138 OPS+, 123 OPS+ as a first baseman/catcher. We all know he’s not a catcher, so he’s a first baseman/DH. Are those numbers that you can say for $10 million a year? Absolutely. Are you willing to pay the prospect capital to get them down to $10 million a year? That’s a question everything has to every GM and front office has to ask. But I will say this, Mets, if they don’t sign contras, he’d fit nicely. Uh Red Sox, as you said, Scott, if they don’t figure out what to do with Castas, I feel like they’re going to give him another year and see what happens. Yes, he’d fit nicely. Yeah. Other than that, where where do we go? Where do we go? And he’s and also he has a full no trade. So he’s gonna want to go to a team that’s gonna win. He’s not going to the Dodgers. Padres’s possib Brewers. Would he go to the Brewers though? With his brother? Yeah, I think he would love to play with his bro. I Here’s my thing with this and we’ll show you. But the Brewers aren’t going to do that, Scott. The Brewers aren’t going to do that. They’re not. Why? Because he’s he’s getting paid if they get him to buy money down. and they’re they’re not going to want to give up the prospects that it’s going to take to get him to buy the money down. I don’t know. I think they would give up the prospects. Also, I don’t know how much he’s going to command. I I think that the Cardinals are super motivated to move Gray, which they just did. Aronado, which I think is going to be very difficult at this point. They might just have to do a buyout there. And then Contraras, who is a tradable asset, but I think the key for the Cardinals right now is they do want to clear some money and they truly want to get the youth movement and the rebuild going. So, I think they’re pretty motivated as long as Wilson’s into it. Let’s show the Katy tweets just to give more context here of why we’re bringing it up now. Because you got to remember that the Cardinals didn’t have the okay from these guys what about a year ago or at least not a very firm okay when they spoke to them after not making the playoffs in 2024. It sounded like Contrarus Gray both said no and Aronado was very picky and didn’t end up getting moved. So Katie said is open to trade offers and has become more willing to wave that no trade clause over the last few weeks. And so she wrote an article about how that fits into the picture for what they’re doing heading into the winter meetings. And then the follow-up tweet from Katie said, “This will not necessarily change the team’s order of operations, but they’re open to shopping Contraras. The top priority again remains trading Nolan Aronado and one of their lefty hitters with uh Lars Nupar along with Brendan Donovan continuing to gauge interest from rival clubs. I think they’re going to be pretty motivated to try and trade Wilson Contraras. I mean, the next What do we got there? The next Cardinals playoff team probably doesn’t have Contras under contract, right, AJ? No. But what I mean, listen, the Cardinals have a bunch of the same guys. They’ve got to mix it up. New Bar, Donovan, all those guys. They’re all like they’re all like lefty hitters that are pretty good, but haven’t proved a whole lot yet. I mean, there’s a Ferg what’s the Ferguson. Uh Berles, Burles, sorry. And they they got to make some decisions. And that’s why they got Heim Bloom in there to make these tough decisions. And I feel so bad for Heim Bloom. I can’t wait to get him on in the winter meetings because Heim’s coming on with us. Um that he he goes to Boston. I got to trade Mookie Bats. Oh no. And then he goes to St. Louis. He’s like, I got to trade Sunny Gray. I got to trade Wilson. And I got to try to wait trade uh Aronado. Like what did this guy do along the way to make himself have such a tough road to hoe? Can he just get a job where they’re like spend money and make the team great again? I don’t understand. But no, he keeps getting stuck in these situations and he loves it. He’s he’s he’s really good at it. But they got to do something in St. Louis because one, the fans weren’t back there. And two, the fan, right, the team is stale. And I love Olly Marmal. He’s also going to come on the show, the Winter Rings. But you got to do something to mix it up and and change whatever the mojo, the flow, whatever you want to call it, the the the chemistry or the whatever, you know, they all call it something, but you got to you got to just blow it up and start over. I’m sorry. That’s what he’s trying to do. And Nolan Gorman fits that, too. That’s his specialty, dude. Because he came from the Rays and and he did it really well with Boston. And now the Cardinals are hoping that he can do the same thing. The Cardinals would love to be in Boston’s position in two years. You can I’ll say this. He bloom. I trust him. I trust in Hein Bloom. So, wait, let’s get back to the root of this. I’ll start with Kratz here. Do you think that Wilson Contrarus gets traded this off season? I actually think there’s a good chance he does. You don’t? I don’t. I I don’t. I just think people see the first base position as a position that they can fill. They can fill with a left fielder. Hey, we’ll play first when catching, you know, when you’re not catching. We can It It feels like teams use first base for not what it’s what it’s actually meant for. like it’s actually an important position that your three infielders throw to all the time that is a premium corner position and they see it as somebody who if I’m going to spend money like Wilson Contrarus is making or I want to see 30 home runs and and I don’t think he has that. So I I don’t think I don’t think he gets moved. I don’t He’s a very good offensive player and my thing AJ is I do think that his reputation can be questioned sometimes because he’s a hotthead on the field and that’ll at least turn off some teams that don’t know him well. I think that actually makes the No, you don’t think that matters at all? I I think I think teams use that against a team when they’re negotiating though to try to trade for him. Trust me, it’s someone that went through it as a free agent. I understand that. But if they want a player bad enough, they’ll do it. Okay. Do you think he gets traded this off season? No, I think it’s trade deadline. Oh, okay. I I was very surprised that the Cardinals paid so much for him to be a catcher. I was very surprised and it showed showed a lot to me about their evaluation and internal metrics of what because he played against them all. He was in their division. He that you could see what he was bringing to the field. So that I was very surprised about. So, I guess I’d be very surprised if he gets traded somewhere without a lot of that money getting eaten. And I don’t think the Cardinals can eat all of Aeronado’s so much. What is it? 21 million of Sunny Gays and then probably another 20 of the next two years of Wilson Contraras. Why not? Why couldn’t they do that? The The money doesn’t all get eaten in one shot, right? You pay it per year. So, for them, they’d actually be trimming payroll. They wouldn’t be adding, right? I mean, for as much as they’re paying Sunny Gray, it’s still what? Half of what they would have been paying Sunny Gray. Yes. I look at it the other way. I think they’re looking to get rid of these guys, and now’s the chance. Like, for me, guys, Wilson Wilson Contrera still can rake, right? He’s still a very good above average hitter. Um, borderline, right? I mean, what was he this year? 124, I think, OPS plus this year. Very good hitter. Where does that compare to the first baseman? It’s like it’s like saying, “Oh, you know, this catcher was a was only an league average hitting catcher.” But compared to other catchers, if you’re at league average, you’re an above average hitting catcher. So, where does where does his 128 where does it rank compared to other first baseman in the league? Is is my question. And then you’re saying, “Okay, he’s right-handed now. We’ve locked up our first base position.” I get it. He could be if there’s teams that are really into Pete Alonzo. Hey, you know what? We’ll we’ll take we’ll take the money we saved. We’ll put a little bit into Wilson Contrarus and you know, it’ll be a ser it’ll be a serviceable player at that position.

AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz and Scott Braun dive into the latest MLB rumors, starting with whether the Kansas City Royals can really afford to trade starting pitching like Cole Ragans or Kris Bubic for outfield help. The crew reacts to reports that Byron Buxton could waive his no trade clause for the Atlanta Braves and what that would mean for the Minnesota Twins, plus they imagine fits on clubs like the Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. They also break down the trade market for Wilson Contreras as the St. Louis Cardinals consider a retool under Chaim Bloom, debating possible landing spots with the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals.

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