fbpx
Skip to main content

Updated David Price Rumors as Trade Deadline Nears

The idea of the Chicago Cubs trading for Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price didn’t make much sense in the first place. Why would they send Jeff Samardzija packing, only to give up prospects for a player in Price who will earn about $20 million next season and will hit free agency soon? 

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale pretty much quieted all rumors linking Price to the Cubs.

Rumors of top arms heading to Chicago will continue to persist simply because Chicago has three of the top five position player prospects in baseball. Newly acquired Addison Russell joins Kris Bryant and Javier Baez as three Cubs prospects ranked in Baseball America’s top seven. 

At some point, Chicago will have to flip one of these infielders for a young arm. But it’s safe to say this won’t happen until the offseason.

As it relates to the Rays, they are now 4.5 games out of the final American League wildcard spot and just 7.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East. Fresh off a nine game winning streak, which was snapped on Sunday, Tampa Bay appears to be in the playoff race right now. The likelihood of it trading Price isn’t too high at this point.

That leads us to question why the Rays would even consider sending Price to the Seattle Mariners, who have been been reported to be a potential landing spot for his services. After all, the two are neck and neck in the AL playoff race right now. In a vacuum the likes of pitching prospects Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, one of whom would have to be moved in a potential Price deal, makes sense for Tampa Bay. In addition to this, it was seen scouting the Mariners last week.

The Milwaukee Brewers have reportedly kicked the tires on Price. But as Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal suggests, Milwaukee doesn’t possess the necessary top prospects to get a deal done and would have a hard time keeping Price past the 2015 season. 

The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals have also been linked to Price in recent weeks.

Tampa Bay’s success over the next three days or so could very well determine whether it moves Price prior to the deadline on Thursday. Interestingly enough, the Rays take on Milwaukee in a three-game series this week.

Photo: ESPN

Mentioned in this article:

More About: