MLB Rumors: Tigers fire their fall guy and what Mets can expect for Freddy Peralta

With just a couple of weeks until the MLB All-Star Game and less than a month until the trade deadline, the rumor mill is buzzing. MLB fans are eagerly waiting to find out if stars like Tarik Skubal and Joe Ryan will be traded, and whether disappointing would-be contenders like the Toronto Blue Jays and the San Diego Padres will decide to sell or not.

With that in mind, let’s dive into the latest MLB rumors on this fine Tuesday evening.

Tigers make Joey Cora their fall guy amid brutal season

The Detroit Tigers are a bit of a mess. Even after back-to-back series wins, the Tigers are still 10 games under .500, holding the third-worst record in an impossibly weak American League. They’d like to be in contention, and are technically still in the Wild Card race because of how bad the AL is, but they’ve played poorly. Rather than make a drastic change in response to how this season has gone, though, they made Joey Cora, their former third-base coach, their fall guy.

I’m not going to say this wasn’t justified; Cora has a reputation for being an extremely aggressive third -base coach, sometimes to a fault. The Tigers have been burned by some of his aggressive sends on numerous occasions. Still, is firing a third-base coach really going to change anything?

While sure, his over-aggressiveness ran them into some unwanted outs at times, it isn’t Cora’s fault that this team has struggled to score runs with any consistency this year. It isn’t Cora’s fault that the team imploded when Skubal was on the IL. It isn’t Cora’s fault that the bullpen has underperformed. It isn’t Cora’s fault that the lineup is too lefty-heavy.

He’s an easy person to blame when things go south, and again, I don’t blame the Tigers for firing him, but this isn’t a needle-moving trade. This isn’t the firing of the GM or even the manager. More will have to be done for serious changes to take place.

Mets will get a little less for Freddy Peralta than what they gave up to get him

A small silver lining to what’s been a brutal year for the New York Mets has always been that they could trade veterans for prospects to help give a farm system that’s taken a hit this season a needed boost. Freddy Peralta was always seen as the best of that veteran bunch, but after another shaky outing on Monday in which he couldn’t complete five innings, he continues to have the worst season of his career. The right-hander has a 4.68 ERA while posting a career-low 22 percent strikeout rate.

As bad as he’s been, fortunately, the Mets should be able to still trade him for something meaningful, based on what Will Sammon had to say for The Athletic ($).

“Multiple scouts and executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak freely on the topic said the Mets should end up doing fine on a return for Peralta. It’s unlikely they’ll score the equivalent of what they shipped to the Milwaukee Brewers over the winter for Peralta: pitcher Brandon Sproat and infielder Jett Williams, two top-100 prospects. But they should do OK,” Sammon wrote.

They probably won’t get two top-100 prospects in return, which is what they gave up to acquire Peralta, but landing one doesn’t appear to be out of the question. And that makes sense: As underwhelming as Peralta has been, his track record speaks for itself. He is still a battle-tested, durable starter who, more often than not, will put his team in positions to win every fifth day no matter the opponent. Even if he doesn’t give consistent length, he can provide tons of value, especially when considering he’s making just $8 million this season.

He hasn’t pitched well, and Skubal will generate more buzz, but factors like Peralta’s salary, the fact that the league does not have many expected sellers and a much lower prospect cost could lead to the Mets getting a better return than pessimistic fans might be expecting. That, in a brutal year, is a positive development.

Yankees, Phillies expected to be in Tarik Skubal chase

Whenever Skubal’s name is mentioned in trade rumors, the same teams pop up. The Los Angeles Dodgers are always seen as favorites, with teams like the Brewers, Rays and even Braves in the mix too due to the packages they can offer. Jon Heyman of the New York Post says that every contender is expected to be in on Skubal in the likely event that he’s traded, but he specifically highlighted two teams in particular: the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees.

Those fits make sense to varying degrees. The Phillies are a team built around its starting pitching, with Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo among the best starters in the sport. But Aaron Nola has had another down year, while Andrew Painter struggled to the point where he was sent down to Triple-A. It’d make sense for this team to add a starter. I don’t know if they’ll necessarily trade for a guy like Skubal when they have other needs to address and a limited farm system, but a rotation featuring Skubal, Sanchez, Wheeler and Luzardo would be tough for even the Dodgers to beat.

The Yankees are another team that might pursue starting pitching, as Carlos Rodon just joined Max Fried and Clarke Schmidt on the IL. Again, I don’t know if Skubal will be the top priority given their other needs and the likelihood that all three of those injured starters will be back well before postseason time, but it’d make sense for the Yankees to go all-in. There isn’t a more impactful move than trading for arguably the best pitcher in the world, and pairing Skubal with Cam Schlittler, Fried and Gerrit Cole in a postseason rotation would make them very difficult to defeat.

I don’t know if either team should be considered among the favorites to actually land Skubal, but the fact that Heyman linked them means that perhaps they’ll be more involved than some might’ve expected.

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