July 31, 2025 • 14 mins
With the MLB trade deadline coming up at 6pm on Thursday, how aggressive should Scott Harris be, despite adding some fringe bullpen contributors already?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've been talking about the Major League Baseball trade deadline,
and for good reason, in case you missed it, Joan
Duran or Duran goes from Minnesota to Philadelphia. In return,
Minnesota gets Eduardo Tayit, who's an eighteen year old catcher,
and Mick Abel, who's a right handed pitcher. Able becomes
(00:23):
Minnesota's number six prospect. Tayit becomes Minnesota's number four prospect.
They were lower than that in the Philly organization, but
that's what Minnesota gets. So is it fair to say
they received two of Philadelphia's top ten prospects. Yeah, I
(00:45):
think that's fair to say. Immediately, I think of the
Tigers for a guy like Duran, who's a lights out guy,
twenty seven, a free agent after twenty twenty twenty seven,
all right, so you'd have him for a couple of seasons,
(01:07):
all right. In other words, this is not a rental.
Would you have surrendered to top ten prospects. Let's just
look at a right handed pitcher and a young catcher
in Detroit system. Let's use the Aroon Loronzo and we'll
(01:29):
use Jaden Hamm. I don't know if that's would have
gotten it done. I'm trying to match it. Okay, it's
not a perfect science here. Would you have surrendered those
two guys for this elite closer? Yes or no. It's
not that hard of a question. Of course you've done it.
I think most people would. Yeah. Again, I don't. I'm
(01:51):
not saying that's what was offered. I'm saying if you
took what the Phillies gave Minnesota by position and roughly rankings,
top ten guys. These guys I just mentioned as Detroit
for Detroit are top ten guys. Theronzo's at double A.
People in Grand Rapids have seen him at West Michigan.
(02:11):
Ham's a right handed pitcher. He's at a ball. He's
twenty two. Let me stress. Durant's twenty seven, so still
in his prime. And duran is a guy who still
is would be under contract for the next couple of years.
He's going to be I know a J. Hinch doesn't
(02:33):
like the word closer. I get all that he's going
to be though. He's going to be your go to
guy at the end of every season. Okay, twenty three
saves a year ago from Minnesota twenty seven the year
before fourteen. This year he's got an era of two.
(02:55):
I've said this before though that doesn't always matter with
bullpen guys. Look at his whip. It's one to one
strikeout to walk and strikeouts per nine. Last year eleven
strikeouts per nine very good. Year before twelve strikeouts per
(03:17):
nine excellent. The year before that twelve strikeouts per nine.
Is this what you need? Absolutely? Fifty three punch outs
this year in forty nine innings. Again, just twenty seven,
So it's not like he's got a lot of wear
and tear in his arm. He's never thrown more than
(03:37):
sixty seven innings in the year. So there's one. Ryan
Helsley is an elite in today's game, an elite closer
as well. He went from Saint Louis to the Mets.
Now people talk all the time about you know, oh,
(03:58):
you don't want to trade within the division. You know,
they're not in the same division. Mets are in the East,
Saint Louis is in the central. But Saint Louis was
trying to figure out whether or not they were going
to be a playoff team. And recently they've hit some skids.
They've lost two in a row, I think, and they're
(04:22):
a negative and run differential. They might be a team
that you know, figured obviously they're they're a team that's
figured we're not going to make it. My point is
Saint Louis would have had to go through the wild card.
The Mets are, even though they're leading their division by
a half game, you don't win that division. Obviously you're
going through a wild card. So there are somewhat some
(04:46):
comparables there. You're fighting to a certain extent with another
team for that type of position. Saint Louis gives up
their best bullpen guy Helsilely to the Mets in return
three players, Okay, Jesu's Baiez, who was the Mets' eighth
best prospect and becomes Saint Louis's sixth. Nate Dome, who
(05:08):
was Saint Louis's fifteen is now Saint Louis's fifteenth best prospect,
and frank Elis Salt who is who was the mets
fourteenth best prospect. So there are three top fifteen prospects,
all right, an infielder and a couple of pitchers. Do
(05:29):
I want to play the game of going to Detroit
and figuring out whether or not they you know, is
it the same positions. Is it the same situations? It's
hard to say. Would you have given up three top
fifteen prospects for Ryan Helsley? A guy who is lights
(05:53):
out is exactly what you need at the back end
of your bullpen. He's not a whole lot dis similar
other than you know, some of the obviouses. Would you
have given up a guy like what Detroit would would
have equivalent to that? For a guy like Ryan Helsley
(06:13):
who's got a great reputation's thirty one, I get that,
all right, but he's got swinging miss stuff. Forty nine
saves a year ago, twenty one saves this year. The
whip is a little higher at one four the eras
at three. The two time All Star still has a
(06:36):
strikeout per nine. That's what you want to look at
at the back end of your bullpit. Every single year
over the last four seasons double digits, including four years ago,
he was thirteen strikeouts per nine. Back to back years
thirteen strikeouts per nine, the last two years ten strikeouts
per nine. Would you have given up three top fifteen
(06:58):
prospects for Ryan Helsley? I think that's a steep price
for a thirty one year old. I think that's a
steep price. I would have a hard time pulling the
trigger there. But this is why I always say this.
This is where a lot of teams who are viewed
as spending teams can do just that. They can surrender
(07:23):
these types of assets because of their willingness to spend money.
So there you go, and Helpsley's converted twenty one to
twenty six. The Mets feel like they've got their guy
all right. Cool, everybody wanted a Uhenio Suarez here, JEF.
(07:43):
The Tigers need a starting pitcher, they need a reliever,
and they need a right handed bat. Well, the starting
pitcher is Chris Paddock, the bullpen guy is Rafael Montero,
and the right handed bat is TBD. If at all
everybody thought it was gonna be Suarez. Thirty six home runs,
(08:05):
eight ninety eight ops, not good defensively, a lot of
strikeouts one hundred and fifteen, but the power is real,
without question, shep he wants to come home. He wants
to be part of Detroit. You know what he Elsey
said at the All Star break, Seattle feels like home.
So we'll have to wait and see. So I know,
(08:27):
we get caught up in that emotional part. He wants
to be here. Oh, like you just found a puppy
in the back of a trash bin. This is it.
Suarez goes back to Seattle, who traded him two years
ago to Arizona for three players. Tyler Locklear, who would
(08:51):
be played some time in the majors, but Seattle's number
nine prospect, Hunter Cranton, Seattle's number sixteen prospect, and Juan Bergos,
Seattle's seventeenth prospect. So again, if you want to play
the game, and I don't know if you want to,
(09:13):
but if you want to play the game about the
Tigers prospects, all right, are you really willing to surrender
that type of capital? Nine, sixteen, and seventeen. Again, may
not always be apples to apples. I'm trying to give
you an idea, all right. Nine As of late, Max
(09:37):
Anderson a second baseman, he's a double A sixteen, Joseph
Montalvo seventeen, Dylan Smith, who you've seen a little bit
right handed pitcher, triple A and a cup of coffee
here in Detroit. Any of those three for those three guys.
Knowing that Suarez at his age thirty four, I believe
(10:01):
and can be a free agent at the end of
the year. Would you surrender that much on Tobles a
double a pitcher, Dylan Smith? Can he stick and stay?
Is he a bullpen guy in the future because they start,
they draft him as a starter out of Alabama and
now he's a they've moved him to the bullpen. A
lot of pictures within the system, man, not many bats
(10:24):
like this that can help you right now. I mean eventually,
of course, you're hoping that. You know guys like Kevin McGonagall,
who's right to the top MLB prospect in the miners
because he's an elite hitter. That's great. Can't wait to
see him. Not saying you touch him. I'm talking about
this type of power right here, which is something I
(10:47):
think many people feel like the Tigers need. Unless you
feel like this four game winning streak, they have turned
it around and you feel good enough about their power.
Would you have done that deal so like the Duran
deal I would done. Might have cost you a little
bit more because Minnesota trading for within the division, they
probably want to put the screws to you. They've traded
(11:07):
within the division plenty, all right, I mean, hell, they
just made a trade within the division from Minnesota with
Chris Paddock and Randy Dobnack. Detroit made a deal with
them before I was there in Minnesota. Michael Fulmer walked
from the Tigers clubhouse to the Minnesota clubhouse. So the
Durant thing I definitely would have done. The Helsley thing
(11:28):
I would not have done based on you know, if
you're using prospects, the Suarez deal would be a tough
one to swallow for me. I'm not going to lie
to you. I don't think Dylan Smith long term is
going to be this lights out closer the second coming
of Willie Hernandez. I don't know much about Joseph Montalvo,
(11:49):
but I know they like Max Anderson, second Baseman. I've
seen Second Basement associated with a lot of young Tiger prospects.
This is part of the reason of my frustration. This
is why you have prospects, folks, because they're not all
making it. I hate to tell you this, they're not
(12:10):
all making it. I know we follow mcgonagal, Clark, Rayner, Versenno.
It's because it's their top four prospects. But when I
bring up guys like Chris Rodriguez and I bring up
Max Anderson, and I bring up Jayden hamm or I
bring up Owen Hall or Josh Randall. You're like, what
(12:30):
Josh Randall he playing the NBA. Those are the types
of names that we're not totally familiar with. We don't
know how good they're going to be. You know how
good these dudes are. You know, these guys can help
you win. Obviously the Tigers feel like Rafail Montero can
(12:51):
help them win, Chris Pattick can help them win. We
warned you this because it was written, but it was
glossed over. We almost go over it as quickly as
possible because we want to get to the meat of
what else might be there. And that are the names
of certain players who are available. But what many people
(13:13):
said was they're not going to do anything really dynamic.
It's not going to be earth shattering, it's not going
to create MLB dot com headlines. And that's what they've
done so far. Doesn't mean they're done, but so far.
If at the end of the trade deadline, your team
(13:35):
gets Chris Paddock and Rafael Montero, the masses, not that
you use the masses as a barometer to do your job.
As the president of Baseball Operations in Scott Harris. But
the masses are going to be pissed because while the
Yankees are grabbing, Ryan McMahon and other teams are showing
(13:57):
what they need. And I warned you this last week
and I did it. I think on Monday or on Tuesday,
I should say other teams are in on this stuff.
I mean, all these other teams have needs too. The
Cubs are going to be in on certain guys. I
don't know if the Pirates will deal with the Cubs
within the division, but if you don't think they're kicking
the tires on a guy like David Budnar, they need Backham,
(14:18):
Bullpen Holp, Texas wants it, Toronto wants it. These other teams,
they've got some guys. Jordan Romano is there, and yet
what happens. Let's go out and get Joan Duran
We've been talking about the Major League Baseball trade deadline,
and for good reason, in case you missed it, Joan
Duran or Duran goes from Minnesota to Philadelphia. In return,
Minnesota gets Eduardo Tayit, who's an eighteen year old catcher,
and Mick Abel, who's a right handed pitcher. Able becomes
(00:23):
Minnesota's number six prospect. Tayit becomes Minnesota's number four prospect.
They were lower than that in the Philly organization, but
that's what Minnesota gets. So is it fair to say
they received two of Philadelphia's top ten prospects. Yeah, I
(00:45):
think that's fair to say. Immediately, I think of the
Tigers for a guy like Duran, who's a lights out guy,
twenty seven, a free agent after twenty twenty twenty seven,
all right, so you'd have him for a couple of seasons,
(01:07):
all right. In other words, this is not a rental.
Would you have surrendered to top ten prospects. Let's just
look at a right handed pitcher and a young catcher
in Detroit system. Let's use the Aroon Loronzo and we'll
(01:29):
use Jaden Hamm. I don't know if that's would have
gotten it done. I'm trying to match it. Okay, it's
not a perfect science here. Would you have surrendered those
two guys for this elite closer? Yes or no. It's
not that hard of a question. Of course you've done it.
I think most people would. Yeah. Again, I don't. I'm
(01:51):
not saying that's what was offered. I'm saying if you
took what the Phillies gave Minnesota by position and roughly rankings,
top ten guys. These guys I just mentioned as Detroit
for Detroit are top ten guys. Theronzo's at double A.
People in Grand Rapids have seen him at West Michigan.
(02:11):
Ham's a right handed pitcher. He's at a ball. He's
twenty two. Let me stress. Durant's twenty seven, so still
in his prime. And duran is a guy who still
is would be under contract for the next couple of years.
He's going to be I know a J. Hinch doesn't
(02:33):
like the word closer. I get all that he's going
to be though. He's going to be your go to
guy at the end of every season. Okay, twenty three
saves a year ago from Minnesota twenty seven the year
before fourteen. This year he's got an era of two.
(02:55):
I've said this before though that doesn't always matter with
bullpen guys. Look at his whip. It's one to one
strikeout to walk and strikeouts per nine. Last year eleven
strikeouts per nine very good. Year before twelve strikeouts per
(03:17):
nine excellent. The year before that twelve strikeouts per nine.
Is this what you need? Absolutely? Fifty three punch outs
this year in forty nine innings. Again, just twenty seven,
So it's not like he's got a lot of wear
and tear in his arm. He's never thrown more than
(03:37):
sixty seven innings in the year. So there's one. Ryan
Helsley is an elite in today's game, an elite closer
as well. He went from Saint Louis to the Mets.
Now people talk all the time about you know, oh,
(03:58):
you don't want to trade within the division. You know,
they're not in the same division. Mets are in the East,
Saint Louis is in the central. But Saint Louis was
trying to figure out whether or not they were going
to be a playoff team. And recently they've hit some skids.
They've lost two in a row, I think, and they're
(04:22):
a negative and run differential. They might be a team
that you know, figured obviously they're they're a team that's
figured we're not going to make it. My point is
Saint Louis would have had to go through the wild card.
The Mets are, even though they're leading their division by
a half game, you don't win that division. Obviously you're
going through a wild card. So there are somewhat some
(04:46):
comparables there. You're fighting to a certain extent with another
team for that type of position. Saint Louis gives up
their best bullpen guy Helsilely to the Mets in return
three players, Okay, Jesu's Baiez, who was the Mets' eighth
best prospect and becomes Saint Louis's sixth. Nate Dome, who
(05:08):
was Saint Louis's fifteen is now Saint Louis's fifteenth best prospect,
and frank Elis Salt who is who was the mets
fourteenth best prospect. So there are three top fifteen prospects,
all right, an infielder and a couple of pitchers. Do
(05:29):
I want to play the game of going to Detroit
and figuring out whether or not they you know, is
it the same positions. Is it the same situations? It's
hard to say. Would you have given up three top
fifteen prospects for Ryan Helsley? A guy who is lights
(05:53):
out is exactly what you need at the back end
of your bullpen. He's not a whole lot dis similar
other than you know, some of the obviouses. Would you
have given up a guy like what Detroit would would
have equivalent to that? For a guy like Ryan Helsley
(06:13):
who's got a great reputation's thirty one, I get that,
all right, but he's got swinging miss stuff. Forty nine
saves a year ago, twenty one saves this year. The
whip is a little higher at one four the eras
at three. The two time All Star still has a
(06:36):
strikeout per nine. That's what you want to look at
at the back end of your bullpit. Every single year
over the last four seasons double digits, including four years ago,
he was thirteen strikeouts per nine. Back to back years
thirteen strikeouts per nine, the last two years ten strikeouts
per nine. Would you have given up three top fifteen
(06:58):
prospects for Ryan Helsley? I think that's a steep price
for a thirty one year old. I think that's a
steep price. I would have a hard time pulling the
trigger there. But this is why I always say this.
This is where a lot of teams who are viewed
as spending teams can do just that. They can surrender
(07:23):
these types of assets because of their willingness to spend money.
So there you go, and Helpsley's converted twenty one to
twenty six. The Mets feel like they've got their guy
all right. Cool, everybody wanted a Uhenio Suarez here, JEF.
(07:43):
The Tigers need a starting pitcher, they need a reliever,
and they need a right handed bat. Well, the starting
pitcher is Chris Paddock, the bullpen guy is Rafael Montero,
and the right handed bat is TBD. If at all
everybody thought it was gonna be Suarez. Thirty six home runs,
(08:05):
eight ninety eight ops, not good defensively, a lot of
strikeouts one hundred and fifteen, but the power is real,
without question, shep he wants to come home. He wants
to be part of Detroit. You know what he Elsey
said at the All Star break, Seattle feels like home.
So we'll have to wait and see. So I know,
(08:27):
we get caught up in that emotional part. He wants
to be here. Oh, like you just found a puppy
in the back of a trash bin. This is it.
Suarez goes back to Seattle, who traded him two years
ago to Arizona for three players. Tyler Locklear, who would
(08:51):
be played some time in the majors, but Seattle's number
nine prospect, Hunter Cranton, Seattle's number sixteen prospect, and Juan Bergos,
Seattle's seventeenth prospect. So again, if you want to play
the game, and I don't know if you want to,
(09:13):
but if you want to play the game about the
Tigers prospects, all right, are you really willing to surrender
that type of capital? Nine, sixteen, and seventeen. Again, may
not always be apples to apples. I'm trying to give
you an idea, all right. Nine As of late, Max
(09:37):
Anderson a second baseman, he's a double A sixteen, Joseph
Montalvo seventeen, Dylan Smith, who you've seen a little bit
right handed pitcher, triple A and a cup of coffee
here in Detroit. Any of those three for those three guys.
Knowing that Suarez at his age thirty four, I believe
(10:01):
and can be a free agent at the end of
the year. Would you surrender that much on Tobles a
double a pitcher, Dylan Smith? Can he stick and stay?
Is he a bullpen guy in the future because they start,
they draft him as a starter out of Alabama and
now he's a they've moved him to the bullpen. A
lot of pictures within the system, man, not many bats
(10:24):
like this that can help you right now. I mean eventually,
of course, you're hoping that. You know guys like Kevin McGonagall,
who's right to the top MLB prospect in the miners
because he's an elite hitter. That's great. Can't wait to
see him. Not saying you touch him. I'm talking about
this type of power right here, which is something I
(10:47):
think many people feel like the Tigers need. Unless you
feel like this four game winning streak, they have turned
it around and you feel good enough about their power.
Would you have done that deal so like the Duran
deal I would done. Might have cost you a little
bit more because Minnesota trading for within the division, they
probably want to put the screws to you. They've traded
(11:07):
within the division plenty, all right, I mean, hell, they
just made a trade within the division from Minnesota with
Chris Paddock and Randy Dobnack. Detroit made a deal with
them before I was there in Minnesota. Michael Fulmer walked
from the Tigers clubhouse to the Minnesota clubhouse. So the
Durant thing I definitely would have done. The Helsley thing
(11:28):
I would not have done based on you know, if
you're using prospects, the Suarez deal would be a tough
one to swallow for me. I'm not going to lie
to you. I don't think Dylan Smith long term is
going to be this lights out closer the second coming
of Willie Hernandez. I don't know much about Joseph Montalvo,
(11:49):
but I know they like Max Anderson, second Baseman. I've
seen Second Basement associated with a lot of young Tiger prospects.
This is part of the reason of my frustration. This
is why you have prospects, folks, because they're not all
making it. I hate to tell you this, they're not
(12:10):
all making it. I know we follow mcgonagal, Clark, Rayner, Versenno.
It's because it's their top four prospects. But when I
bring up guys like Chris Rodriguez and I bring up
Max Anderson, and I bring up Jayden hamm or I
bring up Owen Hall or Josh Randall. You're like, what
(12:30):
Josh Randall he playing the NBA. Those are the types
of names that we're not totally familiar with. We don't
know how good they're going to be. You know how
good these dudes are. You know, these guys can help
you win. Obviously the Tigers feel like Rafail Montero can
(12:51):
help them win, Chris Pattick can help them win. We
warned you this because it was written, but it was
glossed over. We almost go over it as quickly as
possible because we want to get to the meat of
what else might be there. And that are the names
of certain players who are available. But what many people
(13:13):
said was they're not going to do anything really dynamic.
It's not going to be earth shattering, it's not going
to create MLB dot com headlines. And that's what they've
done so far. Doesn't mean they're done, but so far.
If at the end of the trade deadline, your team
(13:35):
gets Chris Paddock and Rafael Montero, the masses, not that
you use the masses as a barometer to do your job.
As the president of Baseball Operations in Scott Harris. But
the masses are going to be pissed because while the
Yankees are grabbing, Ryan McMahon and other teams are showing
(13:57):
what they need. And I warned you this last week
and I did it. I think on Monday or on Tuesday,
I should say other teams are in on this stuff.
I mean, all these other teams have needs too. The
Cubs are going to be in on certain guys. I
don't know if the Pirates will deal with the Cubs
within the division, but if you don't think they're kicking
the tires on a guy like David Budnar, they need Backham,
(14:18):
Bullpen Holp, Texas wants it, Toronto wants it. These other teams,
they've got some guys. Jordan Romano is there, and yet
what happens. Let's go out and get Joan Duran
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