With the trade deadline looming at 6 pm tonight, that's taking precedence over our usual looks at the biggest performances and waiver-wire targets from today's action.
We had a bunch of trades go down Monday, and we're expecting even more to come today, with a bunch of legitimate superstars still lingering on the market. So that's what we're focusing on today. First, a recap of the trades that went down Monday with all the Fantasy implications therein, and then with a look at the five biggest questions remaining before the deadline.
Biggest deadline questions
So, what's left? There are still plenty of big names whose status remains to be determined at today's deadline. Let's go through the five biggest questions we're hoping to get answers to today:
1. Does Tarik Skubal get moved?
Ultimately, this one only matters so much for Fantasy: Skubal is gonna be an ace anywhere he pitches. If he lands in, say, Baltimore, maybe he gets an extra win or two he wouldn't have had with Detroit otherwise, but that might be the difference between the No. 1 SP the rest of the way and No. 2. The stakes from our perspective are simply not that high.
But we're still talking about one of the best pitchers in baseball, under club control for several more years at the age of 27, who might be moved to a contender at the deadline, and that's something every baseball fan is going to be keeping a close eye on. I still don't quite get the Tigers thinking in making him available – his value may never be higher, but this is a team that is close enough to competing that I just can't see the point in taking a step backward for 2024 and possibly 2025. This is the kind of pitching you build around.
2. Does Luis Robert get moved?
On the other hand, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that the White Sox may not move Robert. Sure, he's got several years left on his contract, but does anyone see a path to the White Sox contending within the next two or three years? Robert is going to be close to 30 the next time the White Sox might even sniff .500, so even though his value is hardly at its highest right now – he is hitting just .210/.282/.440 right now – it still makes sense to try to get what you can for him now and go all-in on this rebuild. They didn't get a ton in the way of impact, or projectable talent in their Fedde/Pham trade Monday, and keeping Robert tied to this awful roster doesn't make much sense.
Robert might be the player with the most to gain from the deadline because the White Sox are truly a historically bad offense right now. If he lands somewhere like Philadelphia or with the Mets it could lead to a significant boost in value. Let's hope the White Sox do the right thing.
3. What does Garrett Crochet's usage look like the rest of the way?
Moving Crochet makes a lot of sense, too, though the White Sox and competing teams are surely having trouble figuring out how to value Crochet. He's pitched like an ace for much of the season, but he also has just two years left of club control and has already thrown 50 more innings than any season dating back to at least college. Crochet has made it clear that he intends to remain a starter the rest of the way, but has also apparently made it known that if any acquiring team intends to trade for him with the hope of having him pitch into the postseason, they will have to give him some kind of long-term commitment before he will do so.
It's a tough situation all around, and Fantasy players have the same concerns. Crochet hasn't thrown more than four innings in a start since June, and it's fair to wonder if he's going to have his workload limited down the stretch one way or another. He is trying to capitalize on his breakout, and we'd love to see him remain a starter the rest of the way. But will any team give up what the White Sox are surely asking for? And if not, will the White Sox respond by further limiting his innings, or possibly even shutting him down?
There's no way I could drop Crochet right now; he's pitched like an ace for too long for that. But there's a very real chance his value completely tanks in Fantasy after the deadline. Accounting for that is incredibly tough, but I do think you should at least be considering a trade of Crochet if you have him right now.
4. Did Mason Miller's injury kill his market?
Miller fractured the pinky in his non-pitching hand just a week before the deadline, and it's not clear how long he is expected to remain out. But he has plenty of appeal in the trade market beyond the next two months, seeing as Miller still has five seasons of club control left and might be able to transition back to the rotation after his breakout as one of the game's best closers. The Dodgers have shown interest in Miller, according to reports, and the Yankees have been linked to him, as well. We'd love to see a legitimate contender go out and get Miller, who has just 15 saves despite being utterly dominant in the ninth inning so far.
5. Which other closers might be moved?
Here are the incumbent closers who seem most likely to be moved before the deadline: Tanner Scott, Pete Fairbanks, Chad Green, Luis Garcia, and Kirby Yates. There might be a few I'm missing but those seem to be the most obvious names, with the Dodgers, Yankees, Orioles, and Cubs seeming like the most likely teams to go out and aggressively add a high-end, high-leverage reliever (a classification that does not include every one of the closers listed earlier, to be clear). There are typically so many moving parts in bullpen trades that it doesn't make a ton of sense to try to predict who will or won't be moved ahead of time, but if you've been relying on Scott or Yates, especially, you probably need to be thinking about how you're going to replace their saves if they do get moved. John Brebbia, Ben Joyce, and Tyler Ferguson are reasonable names to speculate on based on moves that have already gone down, while David Robertson, Anthony Bender, and Andrew Nardi could become viable options by tomorrow morning.
