MLB trade rumors: Latest news, buzz as deadline approaches
Major League Baseball is nearing the trade deadline. Teams have until Monday to either acquire players to boost their rosters for the stretch run or trade away veterans in preparation for the future.
One of the biggest trades of this cycle occurred on Sunday morning, when the Indians announced that they had traded for Yankees reliever Andrew Miller. In return, New York received four players, including minor league outfielder Clint Frazier and pitcher Justus Sheffield.
Plenty of big names are expected to be involved in trades, and the transactions have started to come through. The Cubs dangled their young prospects as bait to acquire flamethrowing pitcher Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees, who could keep selling as they fall behind in the AL East race.
Some of the more recognizable names rumored to be on the trade block include Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Jay Bruce.
Follow this page to remain up-to-date on the latest rumors from around the league.
Saturday (all times Eastern)
12:40 a.m.
• The Brewers are talking to the Padres about Derek Norris after trading Jonathan Lucroy. (Scott Miller, Bleacher Report)
Midnight
• The Indians have landed Jonathan Lucroy in a trade with the Brewers in exchange for catchig prospect Francisco Mejia, Yu-Cheng Chang and Greg Allen. He must now approve the trade, and medicals must go through. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Cleveland will send four players to Milwaukee. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Detroit has discussed Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson and Angels pitcher Hector Santiago. (Jon Morosi, Fox Sports)
11 p.m.
• The Rangers and Phillies are “unlikely” to reach an agreement on a Vince Velasquez deal, with Philadelphia asking for two young hitters. (Jim Salisbury, CSN Philly)
8:40 p.m.
• The Orioles are “taking a hard look” at Red Sox pitcher Wade Miley. (Jon Heyman, Today’s Knuckleball)
• A mystery team is in on Jonathan Lucroy. (Jon Heyman, Today’s Knuckleball)
7:40 p.m.
• Jonathan Lucroy has been called into the clubhouse by manager Craig Counsell. (BrewCrewBlue)
• The Yankees’ asking price for Carlos Beltran is “beyond the reach” of some rival executives. They are listening to offers. (Buster Olney, ESPN)
• The Braves and Padres have completed the Matt Kemp deal. (David O’Brien, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• San Diego will send $10-12 million to Atlanta in the Kemp deal (Dennis Lin, San Diego Union-Tribune)
7 p.m.
• Kemp to the Braves is now “very close.” The Padres would send cash considerations to the Braves. (Joel Sherman, New York Post)
6 p.m.
• There is no deal in place yet for Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, as the Mets, Indians and Rangers pursue him. (Jon Heyman, Today’s Knuckleball)
• The Indians are front-runners for Lucroy. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Matt Kemp to the Braves for Hector Olivera is “getting closer.” (Joel Sherman, New York Post)
• Houston is in the mix for one of the Rays’ available starting pitchers. (Jim Bowden, ESPN)
4 p.m.
• The Padres are looking to unload outfielder Matt Kemp and are willing to pay a large portion of his remaining salary to do it. The Braves are among a pair of teams discussing a deal with San Diego. (Jim Bowden, ESPN)
3 p.m.
• The Pirates have sent close Mark Melancon to the Nationals in exchange for reliever Felipe Rivero and minor league pitching prospect Taylor Hearn. Melancon will take over the closing job from Jonathan Paplebon. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• The Mets are now including rookie outfielder Brandon Nimmo in their offer for Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Lucroy is not in the Brewers lineup for their Saturday night game. (Jon Heyman, Today’s Knuckleball)
• Royals acquire Billy Burns from the Athletics in exchange for Brett Eibner, who had recently been optioned to Triple A to make room for the return of Lorenzo Cain off the DL. (Team announcement)
2 p.m.
• Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone and Fernando Abad have been placed on the trading block by the Twins. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• Mets growing increasingly confident that they will be able to put a deal togethr for Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy. (Buster Olney, ESPN)
1 p.m.
• Yankeesare fielding offers for catcher Brian McCann, with the Rangers and Braves believed to be interested in dealing for the veteran. (Jon Heyman, FanRag)
• The Mets and Rangers have shown interest in Jay Bruce as the deadline approaches. Rangers remain focused on acquiring pitching for the final stretch of the season. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN
11 a.m.
• The Royals are willing to hear offers for pitcher Edinson Volquez (Buster Olney, ESPN)
• Rangers and Padres are having some discussion over a deal for San Diego catcher Derek Norris. (Buster Olney, ESPN)
10 a.m.
• The Reds and Dodgers are said to be discussing a blockbuster trade that would bring Jay Bruce to Los Angeles. The teams are looking for a third partner to complete the deal and are said yo have discussed an option which would have sent Yasiel Puig to the mystery team. (Jayson Stark, ESPN/ Jeff Passan, Yahoo)
Friday (all times Eastern)
5:30 p.m.
• The Jays, Dodgers and Astros are showing interest in A’s lefthander Rich Hill. Those teams are negotiating two-tiered trade structures where they would send Oakland a major prospect if Hill makes 10 starts for them. Hill is currently battling a serious blister issue. (Peter Gammons, MLB)
• The Rangers are seriously interested in Phillies righthander Vince Velasquez, but a deal is unlikely. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• The Angels have drawn a lot of interest in righthander Cam Bedrosian, but view him as a future closer. (Gammons)
4 p.m.
• The Indians, Giants and Nationals are looking at Pirates closer Mark Melancon. The Pirates are looking for an MLB-level reliever and prospects in return. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• The Braves discussed Jonathan Lucroy with the Brewers, but nothing materialized to date. (Rosenthal)
• There are multiple teams waiting to hear back on their Lucroy offers. (Buster Olney, ESPN)
• The Mets have shown interest in Reds outfielder Jay Bruce. (Olney)
• The Mariners have inquired about Reds shortstop Zack Cozart in addition to Jay Bruce. (Jayson Stark, ESPN)
• The Braves have been close to dealing reliever Jim Johnson “for days” and are getting closer to dealing him. (Chris Cotillo, SB Nation)
• The Yankees would not deal Andrew Miller for Nationals prospect Lucas Giolito straight up. (Jon Heyman, Today’s Knuckleball)
• It is now looking doubtful that the Rays move Chris Archer. Other possible trade candidates include Matt Moore, Jake Odorizzi and Drew Smyly. (Joel Sherman, New York Post)
• The White Sox are listening to offers for Chris Sale but the price tag may be too high for any deal to be made. (Joel Sherman, New York Post)
2 p.m.
• The Nationals would be willing to complete a one-for-one trade of pitcher Lucas Giolito for Andrew Miller. (Jon Morosi, Fox Sports)
• Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said pitcher Taijuan Walker will not be traded. “We’re not currently discussing Taijuan (Walker) with anybody. He’ll stay right where he is.” (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• The Mets could also be interested in Pirates reliever Mark Melancon. (Chris Cotillo, SB Nation)
• The Mets and Cardinals are still focused on acquiring bullpen help. (Chris Cotillo, SB Nation)
• The Brewers are evaluating all their offers for catcher Jonathan Lucroy after asking all interested teams to submit their offers yesterday. The Mets were among the several teams to make an offer. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Lucroy could block a trade to the Indians, Nationals, Mariners, Tigers, Angels, Twins, Athletics and Padres. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• The Blue Jays are evaluating their options for acquiring a starting pitcher and have looked at Jeremy Hellickson, Rich Hill and all the Rays’ pitchers. Toronto has also been looking at relievers. (Chris Cotillo, SB Nation)
• Twins pitcher Brandon Kintzler has attracted trade interest from teams interested in relievers. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• The White Sox would ask the Rangers for Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara in exchange for Chris Sale if the two teams were to put together a deal. The Rangers have been the team most aggressively pursuing Sale. (Bob Nightengale, USA Today)
• The Rangers, Orioles, Nationals and Marlins all sent scouts to observe Sale’s last start. (Jayson Stark, ESPN)
• The Mets and Pirates have discussed bringing Jon Niese back to New York, though the Mets aren’t actively searching for a starting pitcher. (Chris Cotillo, SB Nation)
Noon
• The Nationals are in talks with the Pirates about acquiring reliever Mark Melancon and with the Royals about Wade Davis. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Multiple teams are inquiring about Melancon. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
11:00 a.m.
• The complete Padres-Marlins deal sends Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea and Tayron Guerrero to Miami in exchange for Jarred Cosart, Carter Capps, Josh Naylor and Luis Castillo. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Two MLB executives think Phillies pitcher Jeremy Hellickson would be a good fit for the Giants. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• The Giants are no longer trying to trade for Rays utility man Steve Pearce after acquiring Eduardo Nuñez, but the Indians and other teams are still asking about Pearce. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• The Mets are also interested in Pearce, but the asking price for him might be too high. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• Pearce and Matt Moore are the players most likely to be traded out of Tampa Bay. (Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports)
• The Orioles have inquired with the Rays about using Erasmo Ramirez as a starter. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN)
• The Mariners are considered likely to trade Wade Miley, but will likely retain Taijuan Walker and James Paxton. (Jon Heyman, FanRag)
• Edwin Jackson is considered an under-the-radar trade candidate. (Jon Morosi, Fox Sports)
• The Indians could pursue a deal for Yankees pitcher Andrew Miller or Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy. (Buster Olney, ESPN)
• The Tigers are no longer pursing Lucroy. (Jayson Stark, ESPN)
• The Nationals, Cardinals, Indians, Rangers and Giants are all in on Miller. (Jon Heyman, FanRag)
8 a.m.
• The Padres have agreed to trade pitchers Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea to the Marlins. (Barry Jackson, Miami Herald)
• The Marlins are sending first baseman prospect Josh Naylor to San Diego in return for Cashner and Rea. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• The Cashner deal will likely have a ripple effect that will trigger additional imminent trades. (Jon Morosi, Fox Sports)
• Team executives are skeptical that the White Sox trade pitcher Chris Sale, but one general manager said on Thursday that he now thinks a trade is possible because Chicago has started responding to teams inquiring about Sale, though they remain unsure they will get their desired return. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• The Giants acquired Twins infielder Eduardo Nuñez in exchange for lefthander Adalberto Mejia. (Team announcement)
• The Padres have received interest on centerfielder Jon Jay, who will be on the DL with a broken right forearm until early- to mid-August. (Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports)
• Mariners pitcher Taijuan Walker has drawn strong interest from teams, and will be scouted on Friday at Wrigley field. (Bob Nightengale, USA Today)
• The Rockies have discussed trading pitcher Boone Logan to the Blue Jays. (Jon Morosi, Fox Sports)
