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Jonathan Papelbon finally got his wish, and has been traded to a contender: the NL East-leading Washington Nationals. Papelbon was one of three high-profile relievers under contract beyond 2015, as the assumption -- one that turned out to be correct -- was that his vesting option for 2016 would be guaranteed as part of any swap. The other two closers are Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman. While it’s unclear if the Padres will pull the trigger and ship out one of their most significant long-term offseason additions, the Reds only have Chapman left for one season, with a roster that will almost definitely take longer than that to rebuild.
Buster Olney did report that there is “no sense” of whether the Reds are committed to sending Chapman away as they did Johnny Cueto this past weekend, however. While it makes all the sense in the world to cash in this trade chip given where they are as an organization at the moment, this is the Reds we’re talking about. They’re the team who didn’t trade Cueto earlier in the season when he might have brought back more because they were afraid he’d wear a different team’s uniform at the MLB All-Star Game. This is a team that gutted their rotation before the season, forcing them to start Jason Marquis on purpose, yet didn’t fully commit to a rebuild while doing so -- holding on to Chapman, and to a lesser extent, outfielder Jay Bruce, suggests they still haven’t.
What the Reds should do isn’t necessarily what they will do, but they have three days left before the deadline passes and pushes the Chapman question aside until the winter. Obviously, they shouldn’t just give Chapman away, but if the right opportunity comes up, Cincinnati need to do what a team in their rebuilding situation should do, and send Chapman away for the next important Reds.
- The Papelbon acquisition will be controversial for some -- especially Drew Storen fans -- but there is no denying it makes the Nationals a better team.
- Remember earlier in the season when some people couldn’t wait to compare Joc Pederson to Mike Trout and Bryce Harper? His OPS has dropped roughly 100 points in the last month, and he has just one homer in July. Pederson is great, and will be great, but let’s reserve the highest of compliments for when he’s more than three months into a career.
- The Giants are reportedly making a push for Cole Hamels, which is the kind of thing that Phillies fans do not want to hear. Not because they’ll miss Hamels -- though, that’s part of it -- but because the Giants have by far the weakest farm system of anyone in the mix.
- If you were wondering why Shane Victorino’s last two seasons were so bad, well, it’s my fault. I’m responsible. Don’t worry, though, I took the proper steps to fix things while I still could.
- The Rockies are reportedly shopping Carlos Gonzalez now that they’ve already sent Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto. Nolan Arenado, who the Rockies likely want to hand that freed-up Tulo money to in the future, is not pleased about either news item.
- Speaking of the Tulowitzki trade, it’s the kind of deal that makes sense for the Rockies until you start to think about it.
- Jenrry Mejia was suspended 162 games for stanozolol use, which should sound familiar to you, because in April he received an 80-game suspension for stanozolol use. Don’t worry, in between suspensions, the Mets’ reliever threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings!
- The Royals not only brought in Cueto this past weekend, but added Ben Zobrist to the lineup by trading Sean Manaea to the A’s on Tuesday.
- Mookie Betts made a great catch, but then went over the wall and dropped the ball, turning it into a homer. He also might have suffered a concussion in the process, so nothing good came of this moment.
- The Royals may have made the play of the year. Like, that sort of thing requires choreography and movie magic, usually.
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