{"id":29447,"date":"2025-07-28T13:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/29447\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T13:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:18:08","slug":"in-looking-to-add-a-top-reliever-at-the-trade-deadline-contenders-face-a-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/29447\/","title":{"rendered":"In looking to add a top reliever at the trade deadline, contenders face a conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the conundrum for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and all the other contenders with at least a passing interest in adding a top reliever:<\/p>\n

Do you overpay for an elite, controllable late-inning weapon such as the Athletics\u2019 Mason Miller, Cleveland Guardians\u2019 Emmanuel Clase or Minnesota Twins\u2019 Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax?<\/p>\n

Or, for maybe 30 percent of the price, do you acquire the St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Ryan Helsley as a rental?<\/p>\n

Many teams would prefer Helsley, who is not quite what he was last season when he won the Trevor Hoffman Award as the best reliever in the National League, but is still pretty darned good.<\/p>\n

Relievers are so volatile, so prone to fluctuate from season to season, even month to month, additional years of club control matter less than they do with more stable performers.<\/p>\n

The teams peddling those pitchers, of course, see it differently, valuing them as long-term assets in trade discussions and asking for big returns.<\/p>\n

The deadline is Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. And the game of chicken, particularly in the bullpen market, is on.<\/p>\n

Will the Dodgers, who placed five prospects in Keith Law\u2019s latest top 60<\/a>, leverage their deep farm system for a Clase or Duran when they spent more than $100 million on their \u2019pen last offseason precisely to avoid making an uncomfortable trade?<\/p>\n

Will the Blue Jays take the plunge to address their most glaring need in what is shaping up to be a special season? How about the Detroit Tigers, whose bullpen ranks 28th in strikeout rate? The New York Yankees, who face the potential losses of Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in free agency? The Philadelphia Phillies, who still need help after signing free agent David Robertson?<\/p>\n

The only other potential free-agent closers known to be available are the San Diego Padres\u2019 Robert Suarez, who leads the majors in saves and is expected to decline a pair of $8 million options at the end of the season; the Atlanta Braves\u2019 Raisel Iglesias, whose results are poor even though his strikeout and walk rates are similar to what they were the past two years; and the Washington Nationals\u2019 Kyle Finnegan, who has a declining strikeout rate and 4.50 ERA.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Los Angeles Angels will trade Kenley Jansen if owner Arte Moreno figures out his team isn\u2019t winning the World Series. And perhaps some team will jump for the Baltimore Orioles\u2019 Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez, who is more of a setup type.<\/p>\n

Helsley and Suarez are probably the only short-term, difference-making closers. Predictably, teams seeking late-inning help are complaining that the prices for the long-term options are exorbitant. What else would they be with the deadline still days away?<\/p>\n

Where this all gets interesting is in the final 24 to 48 hours, when teams realize they might get shut out. The sellers prey on the buyers\u2019 panic. And even some buyers who pride themselves on discipline and efficiency turn somewhat irrational.<\/p>\n

The controllable options, at least, are plentiful.<\/p>\n

Miller is under club control for four additional seasons through arbitration. Clase is under contract for three more. Duran and Jax have two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, Pittsburgh Pirates closer David Bednar and setup man Dennis Santana one.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays closer Pete Fairbanks also comes with one year of additional control, through a $7 million club option. And the Rockies, finally awake, are talking seriously with clubs about three controllable relievers \u2014 Jake Bird (three additional years), Victor Vodnik (four) and Seth Halvorsen (five).<\/p>\n

Not all of those relievers will change teams. The perception within the industry is that the Guardians and Twins will not move one or more of their top relievers unless they win the deal. As The Athletic\u2019s Andy McCullough writes<\/a>, the Guardians can be such a difficult trade partner; some other front offices refer to them as \u201cThe Cleveland Grind Machine.\u201d The Twins, Pirates and Rockies are not exactly known for their deal-making prowess.<\/p>\n

That said, those clubs have every right to set high prices on their relievers, anticipating a buyer or two might turn desperate. The Phillies\u2019 Dave Dombrowski might be so inclined. Even the Dodgers\u2019 Andrew Friedman, who hates overpaying at the deadline, might need to go against his instincts. His position-player roster is the oldest in the majors.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 bullpen, beset by injuries and underperformance, entered Sunday having allowed the seventh-highest OPS in the majors, and the highest of any contender. The return of Blake Treinen will help. Tanner Scott and Michael Kopech are expected back in August, Brusdar Graterol possibly in September. And with the return of left-hander Blake Snell looming, the Dodgers also hold the option of moving one of their current starters, most likely Dustin May, to the bullpen.<\/p>\n

All that, of course, is subject to change, and likely will change for a team that struggles to keep its pitchers healthy. The Dodgers succeeded in the past by acquiring lesser-known relievers such as Adam Kolarek, Chris Martin and Ryan Brasier during the season, then getting the most out of them. But they also were burned in some of those deals \u2014 Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields, Oneil Cruz for Tony Watson and arguably, even Zach McKinstry for Martin.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays are another team fully aware that with relievers, it\u2019s buyer beware. During the offseason, they signed free agent Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million contract and Yimi Garcia to a two-year, $15 million deal. Hoffman has a 4.78 ERA and has allowed 10 homers, one more than in his two previous seasons combined. Garcia has had three injuries this season, the latest being ulnar nerve symptoms in his right elbow.<\/p>\n

Even with Hoffman\u2019s inconsistency and Garcia\u2019s continuing absence, the Blue Jays own the best record in the majors. They probably need to add two relievers to maximize their chances of winning their first World Series since 1993 \u2014 an outcome that team president Mark Shapiro, in the last year of his contract, surely desires.<\/p>\n

Just as there is risk in acquiring relievers, there also is risk in playing it too safe. The Boston Red Sox did just that at last year\u2019s deadline, and their trades for two journeymen, Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims, proved detrimental. So, if the Dodgers, Blue Jays or Tigers get too cute, that also could bite them.<\/p>\n

When a deadline trade for a reliever works, the price is almost incidental. The Chicago Cubs do not regret giving up Gleyber Torres as part of a package for Aroldis Chapman in 2016. Nor do the Texas Rangers regret giving up Cole Ragans for Chapman in 2023.<\/p>\n

Those were steep costs for a World Series title, and both times Chapman was a rental. The controllable relievers who are currently available are not as accomplished as Chapman, but one could provide the same type of impact this season and possibly beyond.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tempting proposition. Particularly when there are only so many quality rentals to go around.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Jhoan Duran: Matt Krohn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s the conundrum for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and all the other contenders with at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-29447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}