John, Trade Verdugo? Red Sox don’t have anybody to replace him. Rafaela is still in AA, Bleis just had shoulder surgery, Duvall & Kike are both free agents, that leaves Yoshida, Duran, Refsnyder. Have you seen the free agent OF available next year, not a single player even close to what Verdugo brings. I think Verdugo is much more an extension candidate than a trade chip. And if Paxton continues to pitch well he might be as well, Bloom doesn’t seem to mind signing previously injured players. I like the Seward trade chip idea though, especially if the Mariners continue to struggle.

Good pod! Agree the Salvy part of that trade rumor makes no sense, like how you broke that down as a game of "telephone." Just a few things - the Royals' championship core was in contention afterwards - they were in the WC spot at the trade deadline in 2017 (and collapsed right after that), that's why they didn't trade those guys (they later resigned Moustakas and traded him to Milwaukee for Jorge Lopez and Brett Phillips). Also it's "Pi-CO-lo", not "Pi-cuh-LO."

Reds need pitching They need to trade Barrero in any trade to get a quality starter and long relief