Teams have needs. The Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays in the AL East. The White Sox, Twins, and Tigers in the AL Central. The Rangers and Angels in the AL West. The Braves, Phillies, and Mets in the NL East. The Cardinals and Reds in the NL Central. The Padres, Giants, Dodgers, and Rockies in the NL West.
Teams have needs, but some are too protective of their best prospects to ship them for a deadline deal.
The MLB-controlled Rangers weren’t. They dealt Justin Smoak for Cliff Lee.
The Angels tip-toed around the issue somewhat by sending Joe Saunders, Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez, and Tyler Skaggs to Arizona to acquire Dan Haren. What the Angels didn’t do was trade any of their prospects listed by Baseball America as some of the Top 100 in the nation: C Hank Conger, OF Mike Trout, or OF Peter Bourjos.
Among the remaining teams contending for a divisional title or a wild-card berth, many have similar prospects they are highly hesitant to deal.
Some are still pure prospects, and some have already cracked the majors for a prolonged cup of coffee, but they are all highly touted by their current ownership and highly coveted by the competition.
Here are some of the top prospects around who might be so protected by their current teams they’ll block a major deadline deal.