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The NL Central teams are mostly been beating up on each other. The difference between the first place team and the last place team is 5.5 games. No other division has a smaller spread between the first and second place teams!
STL has a winning record against the other NL divisions and against the AL, but is in third place (middle of the pack) in the NL Central.
Ongoing reminder that it takes two willing teams to made a trade. One never cuts it.
The Giants and Marlins are the only teams in the National League not within five games of a playoff spot.
That could make it hard for teams to add before the trade deadline. pic.twitter.com/5i9MXaoJVq
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) June 23, 2019
The NL Central is the outlier at this point, as the there are clear-cut leaders in every other division. All it will take is for one NL Central team to go on a hot streak in August/September, and they can wrap up a post season berth.
With such few sellers, what a prime time to be one of the few sellers. If a team is only 5 games out and they take a realistic look at themselves and determine that even if they did sneak into the playoffs, they weren’t going to go far anyway, they may want to see what young talent they could receive in trade. Besides, you never can tell about the team chemistry factor. Maybe a team deals away a 2 or 3 veterans only to discover a new and improved team spirit as a result. In the Cardinals case, this could be the perfect time to unload a couple vets and not have to eat nearly as much $ as they normally would have had to gulp down, thus freeing up cash for next year.
Pugs, you can learn from the infamous White Sox “White Flag trade” how not to become a seller while still in contention. Most fans do not want to see their team give up.
Thanks Brian!
In our case, not sure it would be a case of throwing in the 2019 towel by unloading players such as Carpenter and Fowler. I would much rather see the Cards trotting youngsters such as Edman out there for the rest of the year than some of our underachieving vets.
As I have said before the NL Central is going to be decided by the front offices.
The Cubs have already made their big move by getting Kimbrel. From what I understand he will be activated by the end of this week. I also expect Epstein to get another bullpen arm before July 31 and if they also get Morrow back they could have a dynamic bullpen. They key for them will be if their starting pitching will hold up.
The Brewers are basically winning like they did last year. They are riding the wave of Yelich and Hader while also getting a huge year from Moustakas. Their rotation is a mess though. They will either get another starter or try to reinforce the bullpen or both.
We all know about the Cardinals. I heard Mo on MLB radio yesterday and he confirmed what I suspected when asked about how he was going to try to improve the team. He said that he didn’t anticipate any offensive additions because there is no place to put them and he said that LH relief would be an area to keep any eye on. I hope they also add a starter. Also, when asked about a possible Ozuna extension Mo replied that he would worry about that at the end of the year. I have never gotten the impression the Cardinals had any interest in extending Ozuna and I still believe they are correct on that despite the numbers he is putting up. We don’t need to be locked into another long term contract that we will regret.
I wouldn’t sleep on the Reds and Pirates either, especially the Reds. I think the Reds are a dangerous team and they have a more aggressive front office than the Pirates have so watch for them to do something.
I wouldn’t mind seeing them flip Wong for a SP.
As much as Wong is an asset on defense, Edman might be a near match in total value so he could be a good candidate to trade. Could be a piece in a Bumgarner trade or something like that, although he’ll cost a bit this year and next.
As bad as the “big three” have been playing lately I think it would be humorous if the Reds or Pirates snuck in and won the division. It would serve the other three right for dorking around.
The Cubs will probably end up winning the division with a 81-81 record. It is also very possible that there is no wild card team from the NLC.
Does anyone even want to win this division? It looks like first team to 85 wins will get it. The question is it worth it to spend a bunch of resources to back into the playoffs only to get swept by the Dodgers or Braves?
At the start of the season, many thought that 3 playoff teams would be emerging from the NL Central at regular season’s end. But here just past the halfway mark, the smart money says no wild cards will be representing this mediocre collection of 5 teams. Cincy could very easily win this division. I think all NL Central inhabitants will now be buyers. It’s going to be a great year to be a basement dweller (other than the NL Central) as the trading deadline approaches.
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