How do you know when to fold em’? Many people who love to gamble do not know the answer to this question. Coincidentally, some professional Major League general managers also don’t know the answer to this question. General managers do not like to wave the white flag too early in the season, while others wait until it is too late to do anything productive at the trade deadline. Even though we are only in the month of May, there are some teams teetering on the brink of folding em’ right now.
Houston Astros
As with each season, the Astros are on the top of this list and it comes as no surprise to anyone. Houston has a ton of talent in its farm system and they could be closing in on ‘the future.’ George Springer has already been promoted to the Majors, but he is not the only answer to the Astros problems right now.
Springer is hitting only .185 in his first 16 games with no home runs. He has just two extra-base hits. One player will not make the difference between perennial loser and contender, but Houston has quite a few impact players on the brink of the big leagues.
One of those players is Jon Singleton, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Hunter Pence trade in 2011. Singleton is playing for Oklahoma City of the Pacific Coast League at the Triple-A level. He is hitting .291 with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs through 29 games. It seems as though Singleton is almost ready for the show.
Can guys like Springer and Singleton help the Astros turn into contenders? Absolutely, but not this season. Houston is already sitting at 10-21, good for nine games behind the leader in the AL West and we are in the first full week of May.
So, when will it be time for the Astros to wave the white flag and look towards the future, which they have been doing for quite some time now. In all honesty, if things get worse in May, the Astros could be ready to blow things up well before the deadline. This means calling on the likes of Singleton, right handed pitcher Mike Foltynewicz and outfielder Domingo Santana prior to roster expansion in September.
Houston could also deal some arms from the big-league club for lower-tiered prospects at the deadline. Those arms include veterans Chad Qualls and Jerome Williams should they pitch well and garner interest from contending teams.
Time to fold em = NOW
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are 14-17, but are just 2.5 games out of first in the tightly contested AL East. If injuries had not taken its toll on Toronto in the opening month of the season, it is quite possible that the Blue Jays could be in first place right now. Instead, they find themselves in the basement of the East yet again.
Toronto has four players on the disabled list, two of them on the 60-day D.L. Those four players are Adam Lind (15), Maicer Izturis (60), Brandon Morrow (60) and Casey Janssen (15).
The Blue Jays do not have the pitching to compete in the AL East this year, despite the fact that they promoted prospect Marcus Stroman to bolster their bullpen.
As a team, the Blue Jays are hitting a respectable .254, good for 12th in the Majors and eighth in the American League. On the mound, the Blue Jays have a team ERA of 4.65, which is 12-best in the AL. The bullpen has already blown six saves. The pitching staff has allowed just 24 home runs.
Despite all of this, the Blue Jays are holding strong in the East, but do not seem to have the firepower on the mound or at the plate to finish higher than fourth in the division standings.
Outside of Stroman, the Blue Jays do not have another impact arm at the upper levels of the organization ready to help at the big-league level.
If the Blue Jays need to wave the white flag, they have plenty of pieces worth trading. This includes catchers Josh Thole and Erik Kratz, outfielder Jose Bautista, infielder Jose Reyes and pitchers Sergio Santos, Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey.
Time to fold me = Too soon to tell
Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona is luck to be just ONLY 10.5 games out of first in the NL West. Their dismal start to the season should have them at least 13 games out of first. They have a record of 11-23, good for worst in the NL by mere percentage points.
The Diamondbacks are sticking with manager Kirk Gibson for the time being, but the leash is very short for Gibson and general manager Kevin Towers.
Is Arizona ready to wave the white flag? They absolutely should be. This team is downright awful. They opened the season on a 4-14 clip that saw many fans calling for the general manager to be fired.
There are not many attractive options on the roster for contending teams to trade for outside of Addison Reed, Joe Thatcher and Brad Ziegler on the mound and maybe Martin Prado in the field. Paul Goldschmidt, Miguel Montero and Gerardo Parra are the untouchables on the trade market this year.
Arizona has two relievers in Triple-A Reno who could help the bullpen this season in Kevin Munson and Evan Marshall, but there aren’t many other top prospects ready to help Arizona this season.
Triple-A shortstop Nick Ahmed is ready for the big leagues defensively, but not offensively. He could be the team’s starting shortstop in 2015 or 2016. He could make a nice bench piece this season. If the DBacks fall out of contention by the end of May, Ahmed could be inserted into the big-league lineup to learn on the fly.
Time to fold em = NOW
Chicago Cubs
Chicago is 11-18 and 8.5 games out of first in the NL Central. No team in the Central is less than five games out of first thanks to the hot start by the Milwaukee Brewers, which will not continue.
The Cubs have plenty of interesting prospects at the big-league level and waiting in the wings, but they do not have the pieces to win this year.
First-year manager Rick Renteria will struggle in his first season at the helm of the club, but should not be held accountable for their losing season.
Their pitching staff is nothing to write home about and who knows if Jeff Samardzija will even be with the club when the trade deadline arrives.
Outside of Shark, the Cubs do not have many attractive pieces to trade away at the deadline this year. They might be able to get something for Edwin Jackson, John Baker and Ryan Kalish.
Despite his struggles at Tripe-A Iowa, shortstop Javier Baez could be called upon if the team continues to struggle. The Cubs could also promote outfielder Jorge Soler to see what he can do at the Major League level.
Time to fold em = NOW
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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Jim is the creator and editor of At the Dish, Cinn City Sports, Life with Tony and Enzo and owner of JAVFreelancing. He coached baseball for five years, three at his former high school (Holy Cross in Delran, NJ) and two at prominent Division III program Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He has worked for the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ; Metro Networks in Bala Cynwyd, PA; and was the play-by-play announcer for the Camden Riversharks of the Independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball for two seasons (2007-2008) on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM, the student-run radio station at Rowan University. Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and minor in Journalism from Rowan University in 2008. While in school he was the Assistant Sports Director at WGLS for two years and the Sports Director for one year. He also covered the football, baseball, softball and both basketball teams for the school newspaper 'The Whit.' Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife Nicole, sons Tony and Enzo and dog Phoebe. He can be reached at jimvassallo@mlbdrafts.com.
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