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Youth movement: Youngsters may be on the move
- Updated: November 21, 2016
Five of the six finalists for the Most Valuable Player Awards were guys who played in 2016 at age 26 or younger. And spoiler alert: None of them are going to be traded this winter.
But in a game that, as evidenced by that finalist field, increasingly revolves around young and controllable talent, there are actually several other young bodies who do have the potential to be dealt.
Here are some young guys — all of whom will be south of 27 on Opening Day 2017 — who qualify as trade possibilities.
Jurickson Profar, Rangers
He’ll be 24 on Opening Day, he’s versatile and Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels calls him a “winning piece.” It’s a piece Daniels would be reluctant to part with, and maybe his uninspiring slash (.239/.321/.338) in 90 games in the bigs this past season limits his trade value.
But every scout in baseball knows of Profar’s talent, and his ’16 ought to be graded on a curve, anyway, given that he missed two full seasons of development due to shoulder issues. Most likely, the Rangers keep him, but Profar doesn’t have a set role in their infield (he currently shapes up as a super-utility sort) and, with three years of contractual control remaining, he could be used as an attractive chip in a deal for a starting arm, especially if the buying team is simultaneously trying to reload and compete.
Yasiel Puig, Dodgers
He was on this list a year ago, and here we are again. You can pretty much copy-and-paste last year’s outlook right here. Puig is still young (he turns 26 next month) and enticing enough to generate trade interest despite the injury absences, the performance lag and the occasional distractions. The Dodgers love the way he responded to his brief Triple-A demotion in ’16, and his bat showed improvement down the stretch for a Dodgers team that greatly needed impact against left-handed pitching.
Because of that last element (Puig had a respectable .784 OPS against lefties), Puig is probably more likely to stay put than to move. But if the Dodgers do make a play for one of the big commodities in this trade market, Puig’s is a name that will be mentioned.
Marcell Ozuna, Marlins
Another guy who generated a lot of trade chatter — but not an actual trade — a year ago. Unlike Puig, Ozuna, who turned 26 earlier this month, …
