RosterResource Chat – 7/30/26

Jason Martinez: Welcome to the last RosterResource chat before the 2026 trade deadline! As of today, I would confidently declare that we have 7 sellers (ATH, CIN, COL, KCR, LAA, NYM, SFG) and maybe 5-6 still on the fence that can go either way. That means we have a lot of buyers, mostly in need of pitching, and not a lot of options. Still, I’d expect an eventful next 5 days.

Here we go …

Phillip Denny: Is Mookie/Tucker/Teo batting 6-7-8 an indictment on each of those guys’ struggles this year, or just a reflection of the insane length of the Dodgers lineup?

Jon Becker: More the former than the latter, at least for Mookie and Tucker. Hernández was probably always bound to hit no higher than sixth in a full-strength lineup if everyone was performing roughly as expected, but Mookie and Tucker were supposed to be middle of the lineup mainstays, and outside of that little hot streak Mookie had a week or two ago, it just hasn’t panned out that way. Of course, a lot of time for them to get going and neither of them has to carry the offense, as evidenced by them hitting lower in the lineup and the Dodgers continuing to win.

opifijikl: you all spend a lot of time updating injury statuses and such. Are the Red Sox less reliable than the average team? And why?

Jason Martinez: It doesn’t seem that way to me. Seems like a very common thing these days. Red Sox have a few big names (Crochet/Anthony) in that boat and then the latest Curtis Mead reporting makes it seem like it’s a Red Sox thing. But it happens a lot.

Teams/players can be purposely vague or overly optimistic. But the reality is that MRIs and x-rays don’t always tell the whole story right away. Elbows/shoulders are always going to have some level of wear and tear so those aren’t always clean. The severity isn’t always clear. And then the recovery process isn’t always linear. And not always comparable to other cases.

Anyways, that’s just what I’ve observed from 16 years of doing this. It’s probably why “no timetable for return” is what I list as the status of most players on our Injury Report. Unless someone gives a timetable with a high level of confidence, it’s just a guess.

Zachary Bergman: Is Arizona’s 2027 closer on the roster currently. If so, who is it?

Jon Becker: Not on the active roster, as much as I think Juan Morillo has the stuff for the job. I think Justin Martinez, who’s working his way back from Tommy John and should be back before the year ends, will close next year. Potential for a sneaky-good bullpen with Martinez, Morrillo, and Brandyn Garcia at the back end, though they’ll need to find a lot of depth with Loáisiga, Sewald, Clarke, Thompson, and Puk all hitting FA.

GatorKen: Which bullpen arms on the selling teams stand to see an upgrade in saves and or holds?  Natera, Anthone, Huoscar?

Jason Martinez: Nothing too exciting. Tejay Antone could be the Reds’ closer after Pagan is traded. Juan Mejia and Victor Vodnik would probably be top options for saves after the Rockies traded Senzatela/Romano.

Phil: Can you review for us how the option timing rule works? My understanding is that Cheng could have been called up to replace Mead even though he’d just been sent down, but since Sogard was recalled instead, does Cheng have to wait out the full time, or can he and Sogard still be swapped? (Another typical Monasterio game last night–almost blew the game with an error and then won it with a home run.) Thanks.

Jon Becker: Yep! So, if you’re optioned to the minors, you must be down for 10 days (if you’re a position player) or 15 days (if you’re a pitcher) before being recalled again. BUT, if you’re replacing an injured or traded player, you can come back up sooner. You can also be added as the 27th man for a doubleheader before the 10/15 days, and being returned from being the 27th man doesn’t restart the clock. But it’s not “transferrable,” so to speak, between players. So in choosing Sogard to replace Mead on the roster instead of Cheng, Cheng still has to be down the full ten days unless someone else gets hurt.

Broken Bat: Do either Hoffman or Weaver get traded and be one #1 closers by trade deadline?

Jason Martinez: Both have a chance to be traded. But as non-rentals, the asking price will be high. Most playoff contenders have reliable closers who are pretty much locked in. Either would close for the Pirates or Marlins. And probably the Diamondbacks. Maybe the Cubs, at least until Palencia is back and proves he’s back to 2025 form. Some of the fringier playoff contenders (WSN, STL) aren’t likely to go all in for an expensive reliever.

Christopher: Where do the Yanks turn for C if Jeffers is off the mkt? Stephenson?  Its crazy theyre in this position since theyve traded away about 10 catchers in the last 5 yrs.

Jon Becker: I can’t remember another deadline with this many seemingly-available catchers, even if not all of them end up traded.  Stephenson is the likeliest to move since he’s a rental on a team that should be selling, maybe the Rangers move someone like Wynns or Díaz to give O’Hoppe a shot on the MLB roster, Mets have Alvarez/Torrens, and Passan floated this morning that the Cubs are making Carson Kelly available in the right deal. There’s also the shoot-for-the-stars options like Adley and Hunter Goodman.

drplantwrench: noted angels fan here, i think the Silseth/O’Hoppe trade for Arredondo is pretty meh for both sides, in that Silseth was solid but inconsistent and Logan was the worst catcher baseball for Arredondo who seems to be a lotto ticket at best.  Am i deluding myself?

Jason Martinez: I think the Angels had already determined that they would be going in another direction at catcher in 2027. While I think the Rangers are a good landing spot for O’Hoppe — they could pair him with Danny Jansen in 2027 and hope a change of scenery can help — and Silseth has been pretty reliable and has 4 more years of club control, I think it’s an understandable trade. A good middle reliever has more value on a contender. Now they’re calling up Luke Murphy, who has dominated in the minors this season.

Getting a prospect they really like (Arredondo) for that duo seems like a win to me.

g4: I’ve been slow to accept the pennant-winning Jays as sellers, but that day is here. Feels like Hoffman could end up a beast for some playoff team. Is a couple of 40 FVs enough?

Jon Becker: That sounds about right, assuming the new team eats the full contract (which is really a totally fine contract). The peripherals have been a lot better than the run prevention all season and he’s been great at the run prevention part, too, this month. But despite the uptick in performance it just feels like he’s more valuable to another team than he is to the Blue Jays because there’d be no more optics of “guy who blew Game 7 and then lost the closer job the next year.” Teams don’t really operate based on feel, though, so I don’t want to sound as if a trade is totally happening, either.

mike sixel: The Twins have three catchers and Gray on their roster, and I’m supposed to believe they are all in and buying? WTF is the owner smoking.

Jason Martinez: Even if they’re buying, there’s also a chance they move Ryan Jeffers if some team meets their asking price. He’d be a rental and still has a lot of trade value. In that case, they need to hold on to Alex Jackson because he’s out of options and can’t be sent back to the minors without clearing waivers.

Calling up Walker Jenkins could be the most impactful move they make. But they don’t have to do that yet. My guess is that they’ll see how the trade deadline shakes out and then add Jenkins as the final chance to spark the team around mid-August.

drplantwrench: Neto for Arrias, who says no?

Jon Becker: Ooh now this is a fun 1-for-1 idea. I have a hard time imagining the Angels would say no to this (even though you’re putting all your eggs in one basket), so the question is if the Red Sox would. My guess is they would say no, because Arias is pretty darn close to the majors and I’d have to think more teams view Neto as a 2B or 3B long-term than a shortstop, so trading your shortstop of the future for Neto doesn’t feel quite right to me.

Christopher: What kind of player would the Yanks have to give up for Morejon? Trade Values only shows him with about 8m in remaining excess value (I assume they wouldnt pay the frieght for MM even if he were available)

Jason Martinez: Morejon is one of the best lefty relievers in the game. He’s capable of pitching multiple innings and has been healthy for the past few years. My guess is he’ll get a Tanner Scott type of contract in the offseason. If the Padres were sellers, I don’t think it would require a Top 100 prospect. Maybe someone right outside the top 100 (Hess, Cunningham, Spencer Jones) because they’d pretty much have to trade him and would have less leverage. But the reality is that the Padres aren’t sellers because they’re 1.5 games behind both the 2nd and 3rd WC spots and have too much invested in the roster to sell. That doesn’t mean they definitely wouldn’t trade him, but the asking price would be crazy high (Lagrange, Rodriguez, or Kilby).

davinholo: Thoughts on the types of moves we see the Jays make? Feels like we will see some selling and buying as they have a lot of money coming off the books next season.

Jon Becker: A lot of different degrees of selling that they can do. Have to think that Varsho and Gausman are out the door, as is Springer if they find a match to a team he’s willing to waive his 10/5 rights to go to. Bieber is an interesting case coming off that horrendous start; I don’t think he’d bring much of anything back but maybe they want salary relief. As for longer term, I’ve read a lot about Hoffman/Rogers being out there but the rest of their bigger contracts are too large to have any real value anyway. So my best guess is that the 2027 Blue Jays don’t look too far off from the 2026 club.

chiefnocahoma: How do you feel the Braves are going to handle Austin Riley for the remainder of the season? More bench time in favor of playing Dubon at 3B with Yas/White platooning in LF?

Jason Martinez: This is going to be very interesting because Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim are both close to returning from the IL and I’m not quite sure what the corresponding roster moves would be.

Maybe they find trades for Joey Bart and/or Kim. They could just send Jim Jarvis to AAA. He’s cooled off as of late. I think they’d rather have 3 catchers on the roster but I think they also like having Mateo and White available off the bench.

In all likelihood, to answer your question, I think Dubon is going to end up bouncing around the diamond a bit more and Riley will be out of the lineup a couple times per week if he’s not hitting. Not sure he’d end up getting benched. But maybe that’s the next step after getting dropped to 8th in the lineup in their last game.

GatorKen: How many significant trades will we see? O/U 12

Jon Becker: Depends how you define significant, but I think there’ll be a lot more than 12 such players moved. Some of them will get packaged together but, for example, the Mets alone have Peralta, Holmes, and Weaver, and the Angels have Neto, Detmers, and Soriano. Not all six of those guys will get moved necessarily but that’s a half-dozen right there before you get into other sellers.

springer: Who would you expect to replace Luis Garcia as the Nats’ 1B if he gets traded?

Jason Martinez: It would probably be Abimelec Ortiz’s turn. At least vs RHP. He’s having a good season in AAA. Good BB/K numbers with some pop. Chaparro and maybe even Brady House (he’s been taking 1B reps) would play vs LHP and then maybe Yohandy Morales gets a look in September. I believe he’s on the IL right now.

bosoxforlife: The complete collapse of the Blue Jays has been a huge surprise. The equally surprising collapse of Vlad Guerrero, Jr.’s power has to cast a pall over Rogers Centre that reaches Vancouver. If, as you say, the 2027 Jays look a lot like the 2026 Jays how are they going to even be competitive?

Jon Becker: A lot of it has to come from internal improvements, which is a very unsexy answer, I know. But between Vlad and Giménez and Kirk, they’ve got a lot of big money tied up in players who just haven’t performed this year, not to mention the injured Berríos and Santander. Rogers Corp has as much money as any ownership group so maybe they decide they want to keep spending their way out of trouble but a lot of it rests on their high-priced players and better injury luck.

JayGray007: Anecdotally this feels true but I’m curious of your thoughts.   Is it hard to trade / trade for catchers mid season?   It seems like an extremely difficult ask of a catcher to learn an entirely new pitching staff in the middle of a playoff race.

Jason Martinez: Teams definitely place a high value on it. And it seems like it would be challenging. But with all the technology and resources available — and the fact that most big league catchers already have to be smart, confident, and good at communicating — it’s not impossible. Just a lot of work.

But when we’re talking about guys like Goodman and Jeffers, they’re good enough hitters that they’ll probably DH a lot and won’t have to take on a full load as a new team’s starting catcher. So I don’t think teams are going to back away from those two because of any concerns with learning a new pitching staff.

rickdugo3000: Crazy to think an Eyanson, Mayer, Narvaez for Goodman, Senzatela deal makes a ton of sense for both sides?

Jon Becker: This feels pretty light for the Red Sox to give up. Eyanson is awesome (we’ve got him 27th on our updated top prospects list) but as a guy whose breaking stuff grades out better than his fastball, I’m skeptical he’d work out very well at Coors. And I don’t want to be too pessimistic on Mayer/Narváez based on 2026 alone but they’re definitely both arrow-down guys, Mayer especially. He’s been horrid against non-fastballs.

Zachary Bergman: What does Perdro Rameriz’s playing time look like ROS and next year?

Jason Martinez: ROS, it will be performance-based. And he just went 14-for-30 during an 8-game hitting streak that just ended. So he’s going to continue to start at least a few times per week. Cubs have been good about giving their regulars a day off because they trust Conforto and Ramirez in the lineup.

As for 2027, I think his ability to play corner OF might be a factor in determining their offseason plan. He could be valuable in the same role (2B/3B/DH) but he’d have a clearer path for playing time if he could also play LF. And if they think he could play an adequate LF and believe in his bat, it could play a factor in whether they re-sign Happ and/or Suzuki. My guess is that he’ll be a very popular trade candidate.

mike sixel: If the Twins don’t deal Jeffers, they deal Caratini, right?

Jon Becker: I don’t view this as a given. Jeffers is a free agent at the end of the year and I think they gave Caratini two-years with the idea they could well be out of Jeffers’ price range in free agency and wanted to have a starting catcher ready to go, and I don’t think that’s changed. Alex Jackson being back in the majors and hitting well does complicate things but he and Caratini can both play 1B.

ankoalec: Do you know if the (reported) impending Max Clark call-up is related to somebody being sent down and is more of a promotion for Clark, or was he simply the next man up after Vierling left the game yesterday and the latter is heading for the IL?

Jason Martinez: In either case, prospects like Max Clark aren’t normally called up as temporary fill-ins. If Vierling doesn’t require an IL stint, my guess is that James Outman is DFAd. And if Vierling goes to the IL, Outman would be moved to the bench. My expectation is that Clark will get some runway as the starting CF and should keep the job unless he struggles badly for a few weeks.

Jason Martinez: That will do it for today. Enjoy the next 5 days of trade rumors and actual trades. And then all of the corresponding roster moves that will follow. I know we will.