Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic write that the Nationals have heard from more than 15 teams with interest. ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that executives from multiple front offices expect a Gore transaction to occur in the coming days. ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel wrote earlier this week that the Nats had a high asking price, as you’d expect from a mid-rotation starter who has two affordable seasons of club control.
Gore, who turns 27 in February, picked up the ball 30 times this year and posted an earned run average of 4.17. That’s not all that impressive overall, but he showed the talent that once made him the third overall pick. Gore’s first half was excellent: 110 1/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball with a 30.4% strikeout rate. Things unraveled along the way. He was tagged for a 6.75 ERA in 11 starts after the All-Star Break. His strikeout percentage plummeted 10 points as the whiff of his curveball and slider dropped. Gore struggled throwing strikes and ended up on the injured list twice. He missed the first few weeks of September due to shoulder inflammation, then was scratched in his last start due to an ankle injury.
It is unlikely that the ankle will be a problem in the future. The shoulder might raise a bit more alarm, but his speed wasn’t affected much when he returned. His fastball averaged 94.8 MPH in September, only marginally below 95.3 MPH for the season. Gore’s scattershot command and the inconsistency from start to start are the bigger questions. Still, there will be plenty of interest in a left-hander with upside who pitched as a #2 starter through the first three months of the season.
Gore was ranked as MLBTR’s top trade candidate entering the offseason. That reflected both his value and the likelihood that he would be on his way. It doesn’t appear the Nationals will emerge from their rebuild. They fired GM Mike Rizzo midseason and are starting over with president of baseball operations Paul Toboni. Gore is two seasons removed from free agency. The Nats almost certainly won’t be competitive next season and face an uphill battle to make the playoffs in 2027, making it hard to imagine Gore staying in DC past next year’s deadline at the latest.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Gore at a salary of $4.7 million in his penultimate year of arbitration. This is unlikely to rise beyond $8-10 million by 2027. An acquisition team would get two years of mid-rotation arm for a total of about $12-15 million. That’s a bargain, even if Gore never reaches another level, but there are certainly clubs that think they can achieve a better season than he has shown so far.
The Padres reportedly made their strongest attempt to bring back Gore just before last summer’s deadline. They still need controllable starting pitching, though a deal could be tough to make after they move the top spot Leo De Vries to the A’s for Mason Miller instead of. The Cubs were also linked to Gore at the deadline and remain in the hunt for a high-end starter.
The Giants, Yankees, Tigers, Red Sox and Rangers could all pursue a top trade deal. The rotation isn’t necessarily a necessity for the Mariners, but they are in win-now mode and have the kind of farm system that allows them to jump on any available trade candidate. The Orioles and Mets are also chasing rotation, but a huge trade with the Nationals could be complicated. The O’s and Nats have long had a contentious relationship tied to their decade-plus dispute over TV rights, while the Mets face the challenge of pulling off a trade within the division.
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