This time of year baseball starts to take center stage in the world of sports. The NBA has wrapped up it’s long season, NFL has not started to dominate the headlines, and the only sport still playing other than baseball is the WNBA. This, June and July, is also the time fans get to vote for the All-Star game and teams start to look for midseason roster moves. Let’s take a quick look at the buyers and sellers in the market this year.
Buyers: Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants
Buyers motivation this season are the close divisional races and injuries to key position players. The American League West and East along with the National League Central and West are all close. As in most years, pitchers and power will be the premium in the market. Look for these teams to be very creative in their moves. None of theses teams can absorb too much salary and may not be looking to lose top prospects either.
Sellers: New York Mets, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins
Desperation and money fuel the sellers in this year’s trade market as always. The Dodgers for example may be willing to trade Andre Ethier and still pay the majority of his salary. The Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton, who started out the season as the top trade piece of the season, will still be a huge power pickup although his numbers have slowed down.
