MLB All Trade Value Team

The trade deadline is on Wednesday so over the next 72 hours I’m sure we will hear every possible rumor about who is going where and for what. I know for me this is one of my favorite times a year especially when idiot callers make ludicrous proposals to sport radio shows. “Hey Mike, can we deal Ivan Nova, Chris Stewart, and David Adams to the Marlins for Giancarlo Stanton?” Yea of course Paul from the Bronx let’s get right on that. So to honor this special time of year I decided to do something well, special.I have stated here many times that I am an avid reader of Bill Simmons’ work first as the Sports Guy and now throughout Grantland. For years Simmons would do an NBA trade value column (usually in multiple parts with thousands of words). Now with Grantland this process has seeped over to the NFL and MLB with Bill Barnwell and Jonah Keri taking the honors. In fact Barnwell just did an updated NFL version; here are part 1 and part 2 for your reading pleasure. When they do this column they go through the whole league ranking the top 50 players. For me, I don’t have the time, resources, or dedication to take on such a task. So I’m going to shorten down the process a bit and just split it up by position.I will give one player (though I will discuss and list out others who fell just short) for each position on the field who I feel is the most valuable commodity. For your guidance I’ll also provide age and contract situation of the selected player. Because keep in mind this is not an exercise of “who is the best player?” This is living in 2013 baseball with all the contracts tied to a player that they are in real life, which complicates things. You’ll see what I mean when I go through my list. So without further ado, let’s get started. First with the backstop. CATCHERBuster Posey. Age 26. Contract: 9 Years $167 running through 2021 + 2022 option Buster Posey represents everythingthat we hope our superstars are likeThere are some positions where I thought long and hard about which names should be up here. For others it was pretty simple. Take catcher for instance. If I were doing a top 50 trade value list, despite his contract Posey would for sure be top 10 if not higher. This is due to the fact that he is a catcher and when you look into it, the contract isn’t that bad. He wasn’t signed as a 30 year old so a good portion of this deal will be during his prime. It ends with an option year to give the Giants flexibility. And most importantly, the contract has done nothing to stop Posey’s hard work. Think about this for a second. This is Posey’s fourth full season. In that time he has a Rookie of the Year, two titles, and an MVP. He is a family man who doesn’t get caught up in the notoriety of being one the best players in the game. He is what every kid dreams of being; the face of a franchise and of the game. Kind of sounds like someone us New Yorkers grew to love, eh? It doesn’t get much more valuable than that.BEST OF THE REST:1. Matt Wieters2. Carlos Santana3. Yadier Molina1ST BASEPaul Goldschmidt. Age 25. Contract: 5 Years $32 million running through 2018 + 2019 optionPop quiz, who is second in baseball at first base in WAR? Well considering who I have here I guess I gave it away. It is Mr. Goldschmidt. This was one of the tougher positions to pick a clear #1 guy. On one hand you have the home run leader and story of the 2013 season in Chris Davis. He is still just 27 years but is one year away from hitting the open market and cashing in on a big deal. Something the other guy I was possibly considering has already done, Joey Votto. While Votto may be the one first baseman I’d want the rest of this year and even through the next year or two, that isn’t what this list is trying to do. With Goldschmidt you have someone four years younger than Votto, two than Davis. He is locked up on a team friendly deal through 2017 with options in 2018 & 2019. And he is just now putting the pieces together. With enormous power in an age where hitting 35-40 home runs is like hitting 50 10-15 years ago, Goldschmidt is already one of the best players in the game. I don’t think the casual fan has yet jumped on board his train, but give it a year or two; they’ll be searching around for tickets.BEST OF THE REST:1. Joey Votto2. Chris Davis 3. Edwin Encarnacion 2ND BASEJason Kipnis. Age 26. Free agent after 2017.Again like first base, Kipnis is not the best player at this position. In fact, he’s not the second best player; Cano and Pedroia are better right now. The problem for those two is Cano is on the verge of being $180 million or so richer which cuts into his value. Pedroia did just sign a very nice deal for the Red Sox (8 years/$110 million) and actually may help the Yankees a bit decreasing Cano’s asking price. But $110 million is $110 million. The difference for Kipnis is he can still play four more years after this before the Indians have to commit any long term money to him as he will not be a free agent until after 2017. This is Kipnis’ second full season and he is making strong strides after his already promising rookie campaign. He has seen his WAR jump from 3.1 in 2012 to 3.8 WAR now. Also his average, on base, and slugging have all increased considerably. He is a star on the rise and will be cheap or relatively cheap going forward for the Indians. A much needed asset for a team trying to win a title for the first time in 60 years. BEST OF THE REST:1. Robinson Cano2. Dustin Pedroia 3. Matt Carpenter3RD BASEMiguel Cabrera. Age 30. Contract: 8 years $152.5 million running through 2015 Miguel Cabrera is just on a differentlevel than anyone else right nowI’m not kidding when I say I stared a blank screen on 3rd base for a good 25-30 minutes before typing anything. Then when I did type something it was just these two sentences because I still haven’t decided who it should be. So I’m coming back to this, finishing out the rest of the team and doing it last. I settled on (settle is really the wrong word but I’ll just go with it) Miguel Cabrera for one simple reason: he is on a different level than anyone else at this position right now. Are Manny Machado and Evan Longoria cheaper? Yes. Are Manny Machado and Evan Longoria younger? Yes. Are Manny Machado and Evan Longoria top defenders? Yes. But are Manny Machado and Evan Longoria the type of producers that Miggy are? No…they are not. Somehow the defending MVP and Triple Crown winner is better this year than last. Despite getting banged up a bit now, he is never hurt (major plus over Longoria). He is also as much a proven commodity as you can get (major plus over Machado). Because as much as we like to think Machado is proven, he still has played just over 150 games in the big leagues; that’s not even a full season. I think Machado is and will be a perennial superstar for years to come. But do I know that for absolute certainty? No I don’t, and no one can. What I do know is for the next three years Cabrera will be the best or one of the best players in the game. And for some time after, he will still be pretty darn gone good. I’ll just have to “settle” for that.BEST OF THE REST:1. Manny Machado2. Evan Longoria 3. David WrightSHORTSTOPJean Segura. Age 23. Free agent after 2018.This is not your 1990’s collection of shortstops. The age of Jeter, A-Rod, Nomar, and Tejada…those are gone. That’s not to say Segura (or Everth Cabrera, Starlin Castro, and Troy Tulowitzki) aren’t good players, because they are. But of all the positions right now, the long shot for an MVP for the foreseeable future (or at least if/when Machado moves over to the position) is shortstop. Segura you might remember came over from the Angels in the Zach Greinke trade; boy I’m sure the Angels would like a do-over with that one huh. After a decent 2012 Segura has really blossomed in 2013. He leads all shortstops in average, is third in on base, and is second in slugging. He’s already a double-double guy (11 homers 30 stolen bases) while playing on a below average team. If the pieces start to file in around Segura with the Brewers things might start to really click for this young star.BEST OF THE REST:1. Starlin Castro2. Troy Tulowitzki3. Everth CabreraOUTFIELDMike Trout. Age 21. Free agent after 2017.What can be said about Mike Trout? When a prospect comes up people love to oversell him and compare him to the moon. Many more times than not that player fails to come close to delivering on that promise. But when that player meets and even exceeds expectations, well that is why we love sports. To see the best of the best do more than we ever thought possible on the field is just astonishing. We’ve seen it with LeBron in basketball and we are seeing it with Trout in baseball. It took being in a tough division and having one of the best right-handed hitters in baseball history hit for the Triple Crown to keep him from winning the MVP his rookie year. He took the league by storm and is already regularly being compared to likes of Mickey Mantle without anyone batting an eye. He is far and away the most valuable commodity in baseball. And yet…the Angels suck. Just shows the difference between valuable in baseball and basketball/football.OUTFIELDAndrew McCutchen. Age 26. Contract: 6 years $51.5 million running through 2017 + 2018 option The Pirates put their eggs in theAndrew McCutchen basket andthey are coming away big winnersWith the Pirates on the verge of doing something they haven’t done since I learned to speak, it appears that Andrew McCutchen’s national appeal is about to explode. Yes in the baseball community, even with casual fans, we know how good he is. But the general public won’t immediately think of him when starting to list the best players in the game. Well that he is and he is the one guy the Pirates committed to when they began building a winner. And luckily for them, they committed when they had control because McCutchen has perhaps the most team friendly contract in the sport. He has five years and $58.7 million remaining on his contract. If that deal evaporated and he hit the open market, this is not an exaggeration by any means…his contract would quadruple. You let franchises like the Dodgers, Red Sox, or Yankees get a hold of this player in this position with his makeup? The sky is limit. The Pirates have the perfect building block, much like the Giants, which is why it looks like FINALLY they have a winner in Pittsburgh.OUTFIELDBryce Harper. Age 20. Free agent after 2017  Despite injuries and some inconsistent play this season you’d be hard-pressed to find any player in the game the Nationals would even pick up the phone about to hear in a deal for Harper. Playing right field now keep in mind as a high schooler this kid was a catcher. Just think about that. The type of power he has with his speed, as a catcher? If he stuck there he’d be the most valuable commodity in the game. But with the Nationals (smartly) shifting him to the outfield he drops a tick or two; but that’s all. On the cover of SI basically at 13 he had superstar written all over him at birth. He might not be there yet but keep in mind that after a big win he can’t even legally go out and celebrate with a beer. He is 20 years old! Think what you were doing at age 19/20. Well Harper was playing in the playoffs and now having the burden of being one of the co-faces of a franchise. Think your history final was that big of a deal now in your junior year in college? I didn’t think so.BEST OF THE REST:1. Giancarlo Stanton2. Yasiel Puig3. Carlos Gonzalez4. Adam Jones 5. Yoenis CespedesSTARTING PITCHERMatt Harvey. Age 24. Free agent after 2018The next big thing is here for the Mets and that's why hope is starting to grow in FlushingDon’t ever call me an un-objective observer ever again alright? This hurts a little bit inside; I’m not going to lie. Of all the pitchers in baseball and the most valuable one is a Met? It’s true. If I were the Wilpons and the Tigers called offering Verlander for Harvey I take the deepest of breathes and say no. If the Dodgers called offering up Kershaw, I pour cold water on myself, cringe, and squeak out a no as I hang up the phone. He is that good, he is that young, he is that cheap and he has that IT factor. Just take the All Star Game for example. Pitching in front of his home fans (despite not many of them knowing what he looks like) with the whole world watching he went up against this murderer’s row: Trout, Cano, Cabrera, Davis, Bautista. Giving up a first pitch double to Trout then drilling Cano on the second pitch of that at bat; he was staring at that aforementioned threesome with nowhere to turn. What did Harvey do? Strikeout, fly out, strikeout; inning over. I know that is a ridiculously small sample size to point to but as much as other sports belittle their All Star Games, baseball has a real game with real pressure. Which is why it wasn’t a shock to see Trevor Hoffman and Joe Nathan blow saves in the past; or to see Mariano Rivera go his career without allowing a run in said games. Harvey showed what he was made of that night and that is only the beginning. It’s just a matter of time before he throws a no hitter, or wins a Cy Young, or (if the Mets give him some support) is putting up 0 after 0 in the playoffs. BEST OF THE REST:1. Stephen Strasburg2. Yu Darvish3. Clayton Kershaw4. David Price5. Chris SaleThere is my list of the most valuable commodities in baseball. Let me just do a little self reflection that only one Yankee was amongst this group, and just barely…sigh. Now let the debate begin.
Source:http://busdriversroute.blogspot.com/2013/07/mlb-all-trade-value-team.html

MLB All Trade Value Team Images

MLB Trade Rumors: Updating All 30 Teams' Biggest Needs Post All-Star ...
(350 x 178 - 42.25 KB - jpeg)

DETROIT, MI - APRIL 10: Wilson Betemit #24 of the Kansas City Royals ...
(650 x 440 - 110.93 KB - jpeg)

MLB Trade Deadline: 5 Infielders Teams Should Target
(640 x 360 - 22.28 KB - jpeg)

... his trade value and decreased the chance of him being traded
(650 x 440 - 36.77 KB - jpeg)