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Five contenders with gaping holes remaining after the MLB trade deadline - ESPN

Five contenders with gaping holes remaining after the MLB trade deadline - ESPN

Five contenders with gaping holes remaining after the MLB trade deadline - ESPN
Aug 05, 2022 1 min, 43 secs

We'll use some basic criteria: If a contending team has a position group that has performed, according bWAR, at least a half-standard deviation below average, and projects to continue at that level for the rest of the season, they might be on this list.

Positional rankings are listed for each spot: season to date and forecasted, based on baseball-reference.com's WAR for season-to-date production and FanGraphs' rest-of-season forecasts.

Problem position: Second base (19th season to date, 28th rest of season).

There is no position at which the White Sox needed more of an upgrade than second base, where their rest-of-season projection is 1.6 standard deviations below average.

That's because Chicago's other option at second is utility player Leury Garcia, who has had a dreadful season.

Their bar for upgrading second base, especially on days that Harrison is out of the lineup, is quite low.

Problem position: First base (19th season to date, 22nd rest of season).

Problem position: Center field (15th season to date, 18th rest of season).

They rank 17th in bWAR in center this season, but that's misleading.

Again, the Astros are so good overall they can afford to juggle options for the rest of the season and still win the AL West going away.

Problem position: Catcher (27th season to date; 19th rest of season).

They also rank 29th in catcher OPS, just behind Houston, and just ahead of the Cardinals?

Overall, the Mets project to rank 20th in catcher WAR the rest of the season.

In the absence of a deadline upgrade at catcher, the Mets' best chance for better production at the position might be if Alvarez forces Eppler's hand by getting real hot, real soon.

Problem position: Shortstop (29th season to date, 25th rest of season).

While this was being written, news dropped that Philadelphia had released Didi Gregorius -- its most oft-used shortstop this season.

The Phillies rank 29th in bWAR at shortstop with Gregorius, Bryson Stott and Johan Camargo combining to produce minus-0.4 wins.

They are 29th with a .570 OPS at the position, and 22nd defensively, according to FanGraphs

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