With less than 48 hours remaining for teams to make a trade, talks are beginning to heat up. Jon Lester's potential destination has been narrowed down to eight teams and the Cleveland Indians are looking to trade two of their starting players.
Last week it was rumored that the Indians were willing and prepared to trade shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and starting pitcher Justin Masterson. This week it appears to be a fact, according to ESPN's Buster Olney, as the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays are believed to be interested in Cabrera while Masterson's fate is not so clear. The right-hander had an impressive season last year going 14-10 with a 3.45 ERA in 32 games, but in 2014 he's just 4-6 with a 5.51 ERA in 19 starts.
For both the Giants and Blue Jays, Cabrera will likely be moved to second base where he's also capable of playing. The Giants have Brandon Crawford at shortstop and the Blue Jays have Jose Reyes and their primary issues have been at second base. The Giants lost Marco Scutaro to injury and his prospect fill-in Joe Panik did not play well before he suffered an injury himself, and now they're experimenting with Dan Uggla, who shouldn't last too long. The Blue Jays have Ryan Goins at second base who debuted late last year, but he's batting only .212 this season with the team in a tight race in the AL East. Trading Cabrera would give the Indians the ability to call up top prospect Francisco Lindor to finish out the season at shortstop.
And now to Jon Lester, the most prized player in the trade market. According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, Lester has eight possible destinations, including the Dodgers, Cardinals, Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, and Pirates. It would be in Boston's best interest to ship the left-hander to the National League so they don't have to face him. Sure they probably have everything they need to know about him in scouting reports, but it's not worth risking. The fact that the Orioles and Blue Jays - divisional opponents - are involved in the talks is puzzling, but general manager Ben Cherington is likely doing his due diligence on the matter.
Based on previous rumors, it's likely the Dodgers and Cardinals are the front-runners for Lester. They have the most appealing prospects/players to offer and they're both in the National League. The Dodgers previously conducted business with the Red Sox two seasons ago when they acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett in a mega-trade that helped the Red Sox clear salary. Los Angeles holds some valuable prospects and the Red Sox expressed interest in Matt Kemp, but it's likely going to take serious negotiations because Lester is a free agent at the end of the season and the Dodgers won't give up much for a two-month rental on Lester. The Cardinals also have a number of prospects/productive players to offer, but again, they'll want a financial commitment from Lester if they were to give up anything serious (as they mentioned to the Rays about David Price as well).
The MLB is operating at a 24/7 schedule right now as they're dealing with the trade deadline, so take a look at ESPN's MLB Rumors page to keep up with the latest news.
