A couple of weeks ago, Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon sought out his general manager after batting practice.
In a trade market with few obvious sellers — in the middling National League, all but three teams entered the break within four games of a playoff spot — the best players on non-contending teams often hear their names amid the chatter on social media. McMahon, the Rockies’ lone All-Star representative and a plus defender at third base in the midst of his best offensive season, was not immune.
His buddies would send him the rumors. His family had questions, too. McMahon and his wife welcomed their first child in February, adding to the logistical complications should they need to move in the middle of the season. The scuttlebutt became difficult to block out.
“My wife was like, ‘Hey, look, my mom and my aunts are sending me this stuff, do I need to be ready to pack up the house?'” McMahon recalled to FOX Sports earlier this week. “I was like, ‘Hey, I’ll just go talk to Bill.”
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That would be Bill Schmidt, the Rockies general manager and the man who could provide him the straightest answer.
“I just went up to him and was like, ‘Hey, man, what do you got? Talk to me,'” McMahon said. “Him and I have, it’s kind of like a father-son relationship, so I’m not afraid to go ask him tough questions.”
What he received was assurance.
Schmidt, who signed McMahon to a six-year extension before the 2022 season and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar to a seven-year extension before this year, told McMahon that he still likes those two manning the left side of the infield and plans to keep them.
“I’m staying a Rockie,” McMahon said. “We had a good talk, so I’m going to be staying in Denver, which I’m excited about.”
That same peace of mind is not the norm for All-Stars on losing teams as the deadline approaches, particularly for the elite pitchers capable of overhauling a contender’s October staff.
That’s why breakout Athletics closer Mason Miller, among others, was peppered with questions about his future throughout this week in Arlington.
“Pretty much any setting there’s a new group of media, it comes up,” Miller told FOX Sports.
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Can that get exhausting?
“I think it’s just the same answer, you know?” he continued. “It is what it is. It’s out of our hands. We just have to adapt to the circumstances, but that’s kind of the game we play, and I think that’s what makes the great players great, is their ability to adapt — within the game, outside the game, everything.”
On Tuesday, Miller struck out both Shohei Ohtani and Trea Turner in a scoreless inning in his first career All-Star appearance, reaching back for a 103.6 mph fastball in the process. It was the type of performance that left contenders salivating, dreaming of adding an arm like his for the stretch run.
The 25-year-old closer has been able to ignore the rumor mill better than many.
“I’m not a huge social media guy,” Miller said, “so, not a big deal for me.”
After this year in Oakland, the Athletics plan to spend the next three or four seasons in Sacramento. A’s owner John Fisher is still in the process of lining up financing for a new stadium with the hopes of moving the team to Las Vegas in 2028 or 2029.
Miller, who won’t be a free agent until 2030, will be under team control throughout that time.
Needless to say, acquiring his services will take a haul. The same goes for the fellow 25-year-old flamethrower who preceded Miller in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Both Miller, the reliever with the highest strikeout rate in Major League Baseball this year, and Garrett Crochet, the starter with the highest strikeout rate in MLB this year, are among the most coveted players who could be available for the right price later this month.
Crochet, whose final year of arbitration isn’t until 2026, is the South Siders’ prized asset, a crown jewel capable of overhauling the White Sox’s farm system should the worst team in baseball decide to deal him at the deadline.
When the year began, that wasn’t so clear.
Entering spring, Crochet didn’t know if he’d even get the chance to start, let alone if he’d begin the season with the major-league club. All 72 of his appearances entering the year had come in relief. Now, he’s an All-Star, MLB’s strikeout leader and, in a couple of weeks, possibly the most talented player who’ll be switching uniforms.
“It’s a huge compliment to even be considered in that conversation,” Crochet said this week. “But at the same time, I have to be where my feet are and just keep performing.”
Crochet leads all pitchers in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement and is showing no signs of slowing down, logging a 1.61 ERA in 13 starts since the beginning of May. Still, one factor could complicate the market for the 2020 first-round pick, who underwent Tommy John surgery two years ago.
For the rest of the year, every pitch Crochet throws will send him further into uncharted territory.
He has already thrown nearly twice as many innings as he had in any previous season, even going back to his time in college at Tennessee. While there’s no set plan for how he’ll be handled the rest of the year, Crochet has made it known that his preference is to stay on a five-day routine. The White Sox attempted to ease his workload heading into the break, limiting him to two innings last Friday. He struck out four of the six batters he faced.
On Tuesday, he added a scoreless inning in his first career All-Star appearance.
Two innings prior, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal did the same.
Another first-time All-Star starring for a team currently on the outside of the playoff picture, Skubal will be a fascinating name to track leading up to the deadline, even if the odds of the Tigers dealing their Cy Young contender are slim. At 27, he has established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball and, like Crochet, is under team control for another two years after this one. If the Tigers don’t get a massive, franchise-altering offer, there’s no rush to move him.
The Orioles, Dodgers, Brewers, Guardians, Twins and Padres are among the many contenders that could use another elite arm in the rotation, though it would take some hefty prospect capital to acquire a player of Skubal or Crochet’s caliber. There will be no shortage of teams interested.
Skubal, like so many other pitchers in his position, tries not to put much value into the deadline chatter.
“I have no say in it,” he said, “so what’s the point?”
He can’t control the rumors, but he can control how he handles them. So, if he sees his name brought up on his phone, he’ll swipe to something else. If he hears his name on the television, he’ll flip the channel.
It’s pretty easy, according to the Detroit lefty, who’ll take a 10-3 record and an American League-leading 2.41 ERA into the second half.
“It crossing your mind can sometimes deter what you’re trying to do,” Skubal said. “But you just can’t let it get to you. Then, just keep doing your job. My job is to go out there and put my team in a position to win.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, L.A. Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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