On Saturday the Tampa Bay Rays traded Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar to the Oakland Athletics, but prior to that deal they were considering another option. In Colorado, the Rockies are looking to add depth to their starting rotation, which had the second-worst ERA in the league last season.
According to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Rays discussed a three-team trade with the Washington Nationals and New York Mets. The completion of the deal would have sent Nationals' shortstop Ian Desmond to the Mets, Zobrist and Escobar to the Nationals, and two of the Mets' top prospects to the Rays. However, the talks fell through and the Rays sent their middle infielders to the A's in exchange for catcher John Jaso and two prospects.
Rosenthal noted the talks "fizzled" because the Mets "balked" at the Rays' price for Desmond, which was two of New York's three top prospects, including pitcher Noah Syndergaard. Desmond is entering his contract year and if he turned down a five-year, $90 million contract from the Nationals last offseason, the Mets were probably not very confident he would sign an extension with them. After that, the Mets made another attempt to strike a deal with Tampa Bay.
New York tried to acquire Zobrist in a separate deal with the Rays, but sources said Tampa Bay still wanted two top prospects and the Mets said no. Zobrist is also entering his contract year and will earn $7.5 million in 2015. He would have been a good acquisition for New York since he can play second base, shortstop and all the outfield positions. The team seems to be lacking confidence in their current shortstop, 23-year-old Wilmer Flores, since they've explored trades for the Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki and now Desmond and Zobrist.
Speaking of the Rockies, they're trying to add a right-hander to their starting rotation, and according to FOX Sports' Jon Morosi, they're currently talking to free-agent starter Ryan Vogelsong. The 37-year-old spent the last four seasons with the San Francisco Giants and amassed a 39-38 record with a 3.78 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 129 games (110 starts). Aside from his injury plagued 2013 season - during which he posted a 5.73 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 19 starts - Vogelsong has made a nice comeback for himself after four years away from the MLB from 2007-2010.
The right-hander also owns impressive career postseason numbers in two World Series runs with the Giants. He's 3-0 in eight games (seven starts) with a 2.92 ERA and 1.30 WHIP and boasts the second-best ERA (1.19) in history through his first five postseason starts.
Colorado's starting rotation has a lot of young arms and could use an experienced veteran.
