MLB Rumors: Reds promote shortstop Noelvi Marte to Triple-A
What a season this has been for the Cincinnati Reds. Despite their 12-game winning streak coming to an end this weekend, Cincy still has plenty to look forward to, including the future promotion of top prospect Noelvi Marte.
On Sunday, the Reds announced they were moving Marte to Triple-A. Considered the No. 2 prospect behind Elly De La Cruz, Marte has the potential to play shortstop long-term for the organization, and he's just one step away from making his major league debut.
Marte was part of a 2022 trade deadline deal with the Seattle Mariners in which the Reds swapped Luis Castillo for the young infielder, and so far, the club seems pleased with what they've seen from him.
Marte's raw power and natural instincts will take him far in his career as long as he can keep up the production and continue to hustle. In an injury-shortened season, the 21-year-old has hit .278 and recorded eight homers along with 25 RBIs this year.
MLB Rumors: Yankees, Cardinals can fill each other's needs at trade deadline
"Without Aaron Judge" has been the sad, pitiful narrative of this offensively lost New York Yankees team in 2023, and if they don't want to throw their season away, they will make some key changes at the trade deadline.
One move could see them do business with the St. Louis Cardinals, who are also going through a stinker of a season. St. Louis needs pitching depth. New York needs a decent hitter (or two). Theoretically, these two teams could plug each other's holes fairly easily come August.
Bleacher Report's Zachary Rymer proposed a trade in which the Cardinals send Paul DeJong and Alec Burleson to the Yankees in return for three top pitching prospects. Specifically, the Cardinals would get Will Warren, Richard Fitts, and Randy Vasquez.
Rymer writes of the Yankees' tradable prospects:
These three right-handers are the Yankees' No. 7, No. 8 and No. 12 prospects, respectively, and each can currently be found pitching in the upper levels of the minors. As they're presumably uninterested in a protracted rebuild, that could matter to the Cardinals.
Going after solid but not star hitting power like DeJong and Burleson could feel like sticking a slippery band-aid on New York's offensive issues; however, the truth is that the Yankees can't afford much more.
By comparison, Cardinals' Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, and Dylan Carlson boast more impressive resumes, but acquiring those guys would likely require a haul of young pitching talent — talent New York doesn't exactly have or may not be willing to give up.
Both teams could come away from this somewhat low-stakes trade satisfied with their returns and may find the spark they need to keep their respective seasons alive.
MLB Rumors: A Pirates' Andrew McCutchen trade is possible but unlikely
A day after Bryan Reynolds and the Pittsburgh Pirates just struck the biggest deal in Pirates franchise history, a report has come out regarding a potential trade involving Andrew McCutchen.
The longtime Pirate has just been linked to a move to the Texas Rangers. It doesn't seem like Pittsburgh is ready to sell Cutch just yet, though.
McCutchen, a five-time All-Star, reunited with the Pirates this past offseason after five years bouncing around different teams; in 2023, he has enjoyed a surprisingly productive year, hitting .271 with nine homers and 24 RBIs.
With the Pirates in fourth place in the NL Central and perhaps prepared to sell at the deadline, McCutchen becomes a rather intriguing piece who could command quite the haul for Pittsburgh.
It should be noted that any Cutch trade is unlikely to happen, as Pirates beat writer Jason Mackey states. According to Mackey's intel, McCutchen is a Pirate "for as long as he wants" and the player himself has since expressed that he doesn't want to play anywhere else.
FanSided's Robert Murray also suggested that a trade, at this juncture, likely will not happen.