According to some, the Padres may be the frontrunners, but Atlanta Braves are not letting up yet.
Things are moving quickly in the trade market tonight, and the San Diego Padres appear to be the most aggressive team now as the deadline approaches. That said, the Atlanta Braves aren’t allowing them to compete for the biggest pitching prize alone.
Padres appear to be frontrunners for Mike Clevinger, but source said the Braves also remain in the mix.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 30, 2020
Multiple sources are acknowledging the Padres interest — suggesting even that they have been involved in discussions with Cleveland for at least a week now — though, the above tweet is the only source mentioning the Braves this prominently.
Padres have been working on trying to get Clevinger for a week now. San Diego has the young players to get it done, but word is the Padres seem intent on keeping Trent Grisham and Jake Cronenworth. Clevinger, as said earlier, appears likely to be dealt somewhere now.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 30, 2020
This is an interesting tweet for multiple reasons:
- The first point is that Mike Clevinger is ‘gone’ – likely never pitching for Cleveland again. This is still pretty surprising, though may be an indication of discontent with the pitcher after his COVID-19-risking outing with Zach Plesac some weeks ago.
- The second is that Cronenworth is the Pads’ 17th-ranked prospect… not one of their top ten prospects.
- Trent Grisham, for his part, is their current major league CF — hitting .239 and OPSing close to .800 (below average for their starting lineup).
- We don’t know what others might be included, and certainly this pair would not be enough for Clevinger by themselves, but it’s hard to imagine that a deal for this level of a pitcher would be held up for reasons involving a prospect of that level.
The Padres have already added Trevor Rosenthal and are said to be pursuing a catcher from Seattle, so clearly this is a San Diego club on a spending spree… and that’s going to be tough to out-bid.
Oh… and obviously things are changing quickly:
It's not official, but the #Padres are getting #Mariners catcher Austin Nola.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 31, 2020
Still, if the Atlanta Braves are to compete deep into the post-season, a pitcher like Clevinger would be a huge asset — and one that comes with multiple years of team control as well. Such pitchers don’t grow on trees, and thus this indicates the Atlanta interest.
Never mind that a 10-0 lead is quickly evaporating as we speak.
UPDATE: Padres now out?? Braves in the thick of it?
A mystery team has improved their offer, which is now better than the #Padres, for Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 31, 2020
Cleveland is definitely trading Mike Clevinger by tomorrow's deadline, but it's still unknown where he's going, with teams still upping their offers. They have requested players physicals from at least two teams, but NOT the #Padres, who appear no longer to be the favorites.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 31, 2020
Two executives believe the Braves are making an aggressive play for Clevinger, which would make sense given @BNightengale’s report that the Padres are no longer viewed as favorites.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 31, 2020
MONDAY LUNCHTIME UPDATE – PADRES WIN.
The #Padres also are getting outfielder Greg Allen and player to be named in the trade with Mike Clevinger, while sending outfielder Josh Naylor, pitchers Cal Quantrill and Joey Cantillo, catcher Austin Hedges, and shortstops Gabriel Arias and Owen Miller to Cleveland.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 31, 2020
We’ll stop there… but the trade deadline just leaped into a higher gear tonight.