MLB transfer deadline in sight: White Sox scout candidates, Mason Miller’s value and more

By Ken Rosenthal, Patrick Mooney and Katie Woo

MLB Trade Deadline Watch is a collection of news and notes from our team of reporters consisting of Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal.

The White Sox have assigned top scouts in recent weeks to focus on the farm systems of the Padres, Dodgers and Mariners, according to sources with knowledge of the scouts’ activities. All three of those clubs have shown interest in several White Sox players, but they are far from the only ones talking to Chicago about potential transfers.

Still, the White Sox’s scouting efforts could be an indication of how they will approach the deadline. If they rely on field scouts, that means they’re likely looking for talent with great ability. The Padres, Dodgers and Mariners all have those types of players in significant quantities.

As previously reported, White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet is a target of the Padres. Reliever Michael Kopech and outfielder Tommy Pham are among the other possible candidates, and Padres GM AJ Preller remains aggressive in the talks — or is it impatient?

The Dodgers also like Crochet and center fielder Luis Robert Jr., major league sources said. The Mariners, whose combined outfield OPS ranks 23rd in the major leagues, could certainly use Robert. But if Robert doesn’t get going, the White Sox fear they’ll be selling him for a low price if they trade him at the deadline.

Robert, who turns 27 on Aug. 3, missed nearly two months with a strained right hip flexor. Through Sunday, he had only a .191 batting average and .265 on-base percentage since his return. His seven home runs boosted his OPS to .737, but he was inconsistent and not a game-changer.

That could all change in the next month, but Roberts’ frequent injuries, low walk rate and high strikeout rate are causing concern for interested clubs.

Teams will likely want to see more before giving up what the White Sox want for a player who hit 38 home runs and stole 20 bases last season. Robert is due the remainder of his salary of $12.5 million in 2024 and $15 million in 2025. His contract also includes club options worth $20 million for 2026 and 2027.

Will AJ Preller sign the Padres’ top talent?

While some people in the game are speculating that Preller is trying to bolster his roster to save his job, the question is what would be the difference between this supposedly desperate version of Preller and his normal behavior as GM.

A litmus test for Preller will be whether he trades Leodalis De Vries, a 17-year-old shortstop the Padres signed from the Dominican Republic last January for $4.2 million.

De Vries and catcher Ethan Salas are considered almost untouchable like no other player in the Padres’ system. The Padres tell clubs they don’t want to trade them. But in the case of De Vries, is it possible that Preller is only taking this stance to whet the appetite of interested clubs? As Preller has shown before, no promising player is off limits to him if he can sign the right player.

In his second professional game, 17-year-old Leodalis DeVries quickly collects first places:
✔️ 1 billion
✔️ SB
✔️ 2B@Padres | @Storm_Baseball pic.twitter.com/9Xj0C7riri

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) 24 April 2024

Juan Soto was one example. To get him, Preller parted ways with left-hander MacKenzie Gore and outfielder James Wood, among others. Dylan Cease was another hot target. Preller was initially reluctant to include right-hander Drew Thorpe in the deal, according to a source briefed on the talks, but eventually relented.

As things stand, no player of the caliber of Soto or Cease will likely be available at the deadline. The Padres have other interesting players, including left-hander Robby Snelling and right-handers Dylan Lesko and Adam Mazur. But Preller is working under new bosses following the death of late Padres owner Peter Seidler. How that affects his demeanor remains to be seen.

Possible targets for starting pitchers are dwindling

What were the consequences of Patrick Sandoval of the Angels and Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett of the Marlins all being on the injured list over the weekend?

The demand for starting pitchers will almost certainly exceed the supply, so teams will have to find internal solutions.

The Guardians, for example, are discussing how best to keep their pitchers healthy and productive while also developing creative options in their own system, according to sources briefed on their deliberations.

That’s not to say the Guardians will give up on adding a starter. But even if they do, they’ll need extra help. Right-hander Gavin Williams, who has missed the entire season with elbow inflammation, is expected back next week. Left-hander Joey Cantillo, a prospect who recently returned from a left hamstring strain, is pitching at Triple-A.

While the Guardians are doing strong work with Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively, the return to form of fellow right-hander Triston McKenzie could be a crucial development.

McKenzie, who started just four times last season because of an elbow sprain, seems more comfortable throwing hard again. In his last three outings, he has shown improved average fastball velocity, jumping from 92.5 mph to 94.3 mph to 95 mph. The trick for him now is regaining his control and looking more like the pitcher he was in 2022, when he had a 2.96 ERA in 191 1/3 innings.

Kyle Hendricks’ moment of full circle

Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks will reach 10 years of major league service time and receive full non-transfer protection on Wednesday. Those 10-and-5 rights – 10 years in the major leagues and the last five consecutive seasons with the same team – represent a full-circle moment for one of the most significant pitchers in franchise history.

Kyle Hendricks pitches in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. (Gene J. Puskar/Pool Photo via USA Today)

At the 2012 trade deadline, Hendricks was finally traded to the Cubs after Ryan Dempster used his trade-prevention power to block a deal with the Braves. The rejected trade would have given the Cubs Randall Delgado, a pitcher they wouldn’t have started in a Game 7, a task Hendricks quietly completed during the 2016 World Series.

With Dempster’s hopes of joining the Dodgers fading and Atlanta no longer an option, the Cubs went to business with the Rangers, making the trade that selling teams dream of every summer.

Hendricks wasn’t the top prospect in the deal — third baseman Christian Villanueva had a higher profile at the time — but an outside source familiar with the Texas farm system recommended the finesse pitcher from Dartmouth. That scouting tip on Hendricks, combined with Dempster’s thinking, helped transform Chicago’s rebuild.

This time of year, managers are glued to their phones, constantly trying to gauge transfer deadlines while simultaneously preparing for the draft. Scouts track players for years, gathering information bit by bit, hoping their voices will be heard when it’s time to make those last-minute decisions. Sophisticated computer programs can predict future value. But some of it is just random.

“Another stroke of luck,” said Hendricks, the last player left from the Cubs’ 2016 championship team. “That’s the way every road goes. You don’t get to this level without luck, so a lot of things just worked out in my favor because I was in the right place at the right time.”

Of all the Ivy League athletes who made it to Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA and NHL, the Dartmouth graduate is said to have earned the most money ($84.8 million) through his professional contracts as a player, according to research and sources. The closest comparable player would probably be Ryan Fitzpatrick, the former NFL quarterback from Harvard, who earned about $82 million during his playing career, according to Spotrac.

Hendricks has also produced more WAR (21.9, according to Baseball-Reference) than any other Ivy League player during MLB’s draft era (since 1965). That group includes two players-turned-executives who could shake up this year’s trade deadline: Rangers general manager Chris Young (Princeton) and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow (Yale).

A’s closer Mason Miller will be one of the most coveted pitchers this deadline. He will also come with a high price tag that was exponentially high in late April and is unlikely to go down this July. Top-tier relievers are often the most coveted trade items for contending teams, and there is arguably no better reliever in baseball this year than Miller. His 101-mph four-seamer has blown batters away all season and given him the highest chase rate (39.7 percent), whiff percentage (42.4 percent) and strikeout percentage (46.5 percent) in the league.

Linking rival teams to Miller is the obvious move. With five weeks to go before the trade deadline, there are only a handful of teams other than the A’s (White Sox, Marlins and Rockies) that are considered true sellers. In theory, Oakland should take advantage of a market that clearly favors the seller. There’s no scenario where Miller isn’t traded at the deadline, right?

Not quite. Some industry sources believe Oakland’s asking price for Miller is too high and that the 25-year-old will remain in the Bay Area this season.

“I don’t think they’re going to trade him,” a league source said. “He’s too high-end a guy.”

Oakland’s position is based on the fact that Miller still has full control of the team. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until 2026. Free agency is barred until 2030. Trading for Miller would buy a team one of the best relief arms in baseball, as well as five and a half years of control. That essentially gives the A’s the ability to dictate their price — and that price will be nothing short of aggressive, if not unreasonable.

“(Oakland) is going to ask for way too much,” the source said. “It’s going to be absurd. They have too much control over him. There aren’t many star players right now who are super controllable. It would have to be an insanely good package.”

“Never say never, but he’s so controllable and such an important part of their team. I think they would be blown away.”

(Top photo of Garrett Crochet: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)