MLB Trade Rumors: Yu Darvish market still hazy

MLB Trade Rumors: Yu Darvish could have pitched his last game for the Texas Rangers last night, as rumors continue to swirl around the free-agent-to-be righthander. Jon Heyman, though, says execs are split on whether the Rangers will deal Darvish or not.

Last night’s defeat hurts the “hold” cause, since the Rangers are now 4.5 games back in the Wild Card race, and have to jump four teams to get to WC2. But as everyone has noted for some time, the Rangers would really like to bring back Darvish, even if it means letting him test the free agent market in the offseason.

Of course, the Rangers supposedly aren’t willing to go as rich as the 7 year, $175 million deal Stephen Strasburg got from the Nationals, and it seems likely Darvish will have an offer better than that, so even if they really want him back, if they aren’t willing to pay him what he almost certainly will get this offseason, why hold on and hope for the sake of hoping?

In any case, Heyman has the Dodgers and the Yankees as the two leading candidates to trade for Yu. Neither team is on Yu’s no-trade list, so that simplify things. One has to think that the Rangers would want either righthanded pitcher Walker Buehler or outfielder Alex Verdugo from the Dodgers, with the thought that either player could contribute in 2018, when the team seems to be planning on trying to contend. From the Yankees, Gleyber Torres, who was acquired from the Cubs in the Aroldis Chapman trade last summer, would be the top choice...Torres is an infielder a few years away, but he’s also someone who could be the centerpiece of a deal for a controllable starting pitcher this winter.

So...we’re still where we have been for a while. The Rangers are on the fringes of the race, and don’t want to sell if they have a chance of making the playoffs, and don’t really want to move Yu anyway unless they get a big time return.

Heyman also mentions Jonathan Lucroy and Adrian Beltre, noting that Lucroy is likely gone if the Rangers can find someone who will give them something for him, and Beltre isn’t likely going anywhere.

So...we’re basically in the same place, information-wise, as we have been.

Four days to the deadline.