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FanGraphs | Jake Mailhot: Would you look at that: Josh Donaldson, at a relatively cheap one-year, $23 million contract, has basically put up a Vintage Season, putting up exit velocities reminiscent of his peak, and swinging at fewer pitches out of the zone than he has in years. The Braves should be very, very pleased, and other teams should be eyeing this future free agent in 2020.
Baseball Prospectus | Matthew Trueblood ($): There are teams that are sellers, of course, but not every team needs to be engaged in a fire sale. The Diamondbacks don’t need to tear down, but they could definitely shop Eduardo Escobar. The Marlins have some good, young pitchers, but they should ship out Caleb Smith. And, the Royals should 100% look to field offers for Whit Merrifield.
The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): The Diamondbacks signaled that there was basically no point in buying this trade deadline, which makes no sense! Winning has a long-term affect on the health of a franchise, in a good way, and we’ve seen that in the short-term with the Padres and Phillies, for example. Not only, but there are pitfalls to selling. If you end up not getting a solid return, it was a totally wasted opportunity, and what if your “losing” projections were completely wrong? Then the other team yields the benefit of your good players while you merely finish a few games out.