The Padres appear to be at the forefront of talks involving Korean free-agent CF Jung Hoo Lee, and Lee especially makes sense now that the Padres have a couple new holes in their outfield.
The Giants are another team interested in Lee. They are aiming for Shohei Ohtani first, but if they don’t get him they’ll look at Lee as well as Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman.
The market continues to be held up by Ohtani — again, it’s not his fault, although LeBron James’ “The Decision” was more fun — and the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Cubs and incumbent Angels are the known players. There was some more lobby buzz that Toronto has a good shot but that probably isn’t worth much.
The Mets and Yankees continue to be at the forefront of Yoshinobu Yamamoto talks, but it’s a big field.
The Dylan Cease trade talks appear to have hit a slight pause as they await the Yamamoto losers to join the derby. The Orioles, with many prospects, make sense.
Rival teams see more evidence the Brewers may seriously entertain trading Corbin Burnes, but they haven’t been a team to consider rebuilding, to their credit.
Tyler Glasnow continues to get a lot of trade hits, from the Dodgers, Cubs and others.
The Marlins are at least listening on their plethora of young starters, including Jesus Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and others.
Even after signing Jeimer Candelario for $45 million over three years, the Reds don’t seem to want to trade Jonathan India, who is liked for his leadership. They are, however, stacked with infielders (though he could switch to left field).
Interesting that Eduardo Rodriguez got another 10-team no-trade clause from Arizona after he used they very clause to block the Dodgers at the deadline. LA didn’t pursue E-Rod this time.