BOLDLY Predicting the MLB Trade Deadline: American League East

The July 31^st trading deadline is fast approaching here for the 2018 MLB season, so let’s take the chance to post a few bold predictions for every team in the American League East before the deadline next Tuesday. Enjoy, and leave your comments and thoughts below in the comments section.

The Baltimore Orioles will likely be looking to trade one or all of Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman and Jonathan Schoop. The Orioles are officially open for business, which became evident with the trades of Manny Machado and Zach Britton to the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees respectively. I know saying that trading all three of these players isn’t exactly bold, but this is the Baltimore Orioles we are talking about. With their lack of presence on the international market and with them being sticklers in the medical department, nothing is a given with this team any longer.

The Boston Red Sox could likely use a second baseman and could be interested in Scooter Gennett. This just sounds like a move that the Boston Red Sox would make, thus sacrificing what little is left in the farm system that has been gutted by GM Dave Dombrowski. Gennett would make less than $3 million (prorated) this season and comes with one final year of arbitration before becoming a free agent before the 2020 season. The Red Sox may also look to bolster their pen a bit, but not with a big name and more likely with a minor trade like a trade for Joakim Soria of the Chicago White Sox than for a Keone Kela of the Texas Rangers, for an example.

The New York Yankees will acquire Kyle Gibson from the Minnesota Twins. We had a source contact us and tell us that the team was linked to him, which does not mean that they will necessarily acquire him despite what many took that to believe when we reported it on Twitter, and this guy has been good to us in the past. We knew about Curtis Granderson signing with the Mets before anyone else because of him, and he told us he was hearing “rumblings” about Giancarlo Stanton before he was traded, but he had already been acquired by the time I checked my direct messages on Twitter. Gibson is not the sexiest name out there, but he comes with team control and an affordable price tag both in terms of prospects and dollars. Plus, he has to be better than Luis Cessa minus his last two starts. He just has to be.

EDIT: Happ is a Yankee

The Tampa Bay Rays will trade Chris Archer, Wilson Ramos, and Sergio Romo. The team will not trade Blake Snell, sorry Yankees fans. The Rays have already begun unloading talent with trades for Matt Andriese and Nathan Eovaldi and their GM will not stop there. You have to wonder though if Romo will be traded with the intent of using him in the bullpen or at third base going forward. I kid, but with the Rays you never freaking know for sure what they are going to do anymore. Not that this is a bad thing either, I am just saying in general. Ramos will likely not be dealt until August due to his injury and will have to clear waivers to do so, but ultimately, I can see him being dealt to a contender later this season.

The Toronto Blue Jays will trade Josh Donaldson, JA Happ (written before he was sent to the Yankees), Yangervis Solarte, and Curtis Granderson. Truth be told I had this post typed out previous to its release today as I have been working on it all week and I had Seung-hwan Oh traded as well, but not to the Colorado Rockies. I had him going to the Atlanta Braves so it’s a good thing I could delete that and didn’t have to admit to being wrong again, right? Also, I realize that Donaldson is injured and will likely not be traded until sometime in August, assuming he clears waivers. There are many teams that could be interested in help on the left side of the infield and in the outfield leading to both Solarte and Granderson being dealt, Solarte likely to a National League team and Granderson likely to an American League team that could also play him at designated hitter from time-to-time.

Disclaimer: BOLD predictions are meant to be BOLD for a reason. Keep that in mind before directing hate mail towards me or any of my writers on the blog or on Twitter. Thanks in advance.