Will Dodgers Pay Price to Win it All?
By Charles Jay
David Price may have been in uniform, but he was not one of the people who was scheduled to play in the All-Star Game, and that is because he made a start on Sunday for the Tampa Bay Rays (+3500 in baseball futures betting to win the AL pennant). That could be one of the last appearances he makes for the club, if what many Vietbet customers think is going to take place indeed does.
Price leads the major leagues in strikeouts, and he is also a very expensive proposition. Reportedly he is set to make $20 million next year, which will be the last under his current Tampa Bay contract, and it is the feeling among most baseball bettors that the best time to get value for him would be right now, before the July 31 trade deadline.
The thing about trading big-name players these days is that there is a limited market, because not only does a team have to find a trade partner that is willing to take on the salary, but in the case of the Rays and similar teams, there has to be a collection of prospects that would be attractive to get in return. One thing would appear certain – as time progresses, Tampa Bay will have less in the way of leverage.
Can the Los Angeles Dodgers (+270 at Vietbet to win the National League crown) be a possible buyer? They have the highest payroll in the major leagues – $229 million, which is $32 million more than the Yankees – and there is little doubt that they are willing to spend whatever is necessary to buy a pennant.
They are generally recognized to have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, if not the best, and that is what can be expected when you have Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke heading things up. They have also gotten a nice comeback season from Josh Beckett, and Hyun-jin Ryu and Dan Haren have been solid.
But this is a team in a dogfight for a division title. They went into the break a game ahead of the San Francisco Giants (+600 in baseball futures odds to win NL laurels), having come from 9.5 games back on June 8. They know that the Giants will get warm again, and no team ever pays $229 million for talent so they can get to a one-off wild card game.
Beckett is on the disabled list with a hip injury, and you’ve got to wonder whether this is going to continue to be a concern. And the Dodgers probably wouldn’t mind upgrading from Haren at the tail end of the rotation. You’d have to believe they would entertain putting together an attractive package for Price, which would make them very hard to beat over the last two months of the season, with three Cy Young winners who are in good form.
Everyone else is looking up toward the Oakland Athletics and their $82 million payroll, which has produced the best record in baseball. The A’s made their own “big deal” by grabbing Jeff Samardzija (who would have been in the All-Star Game) and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs, beefing up their rotation to a considerable extent. And they are currently the +450 favorites at Vietbet to win the World Series.
But they are only a game and a half ahead of the Los Angeles Angels, who are reportedly in the market to trade for Huston Street, the San Diego reliever who is a part of the NL All-Star team. They’re armed with some cash, so don’t expect them to roll over.
This will become very interesting.
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