Outside The Confines: The deadline is coming…

Who will buy, who will sell?

The countdown to the trade deadline is officially in the single-digit number of days, so don’t be surprised if the next eight days are a whirlwind of updates on that front. Who will buy? Who will sell? For many teams that question is still up in the air, but baseball front offices are going to need to make up their minds pretty soon, because the clock is literally ticking.

For now, we’ve got a selection of news bites from around baseball, some about the deadline, but others just about baseball in general, something to keep you plugged in to what’s going on around the league.

Let’s get right into it!

• Michael Rosen explains what is making Gleyber Torres so annoying. Specifically for pitchers.
• Jay Jaffe looks at the worst defense among the contending teams.
• Brent Maguire reports that the Rockies have made a record-setting signing bonus for a high school player.
• Jesse Rogers wonders if recent wins might turn the Red Sox into deadline buyers.
• With the Orioles poised to be sellers, Ryan Phillips offers four potential trade destinations for Charlie Morton.
• This is nuts.

• Jay Jaffe and Michael Baumann take a point/counterpoint to whether or not the Diamondbacks should be sellers at the deadline. Jaffe explains why he thinks Arizona should sell, while Baumann digs his heels in and suggests they might even want to buy.
• One dark horse candidate for all the major season awards. (MLB)
• Apparently Rafael Devers can play first base. (ESPN)
• Mariners prospect Kade Anderson admitted he didn’t know where Seattle was when he was selected. Story by Karl Rasmussen.
• This will be a very interesting story to follow.

• Davy Andrews looks at Jose Herrera’s love of the bunt.
• The MLB dot com staff give an overview of Rich Hill’s long and storied career.
• Jim Bowden assesses which front offices are under the most pressure at the trade deadline. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Blake Silverman explains why Paul Skenes is having a career start like no other.
• Sure, okay.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.