The Giants designated infielder Bill Hall for assignment to open a roster spot for newly-acquired Carlos Beltran, tweets Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Hall, 31, hit .158/.220/.211 in 41 plate appearances for the Giants, playing mostly second base. He'd been released by the Astros previously after signing a $3MM contract in December.
The Indians announced they've designated outfielder Travis Buck for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot for new acquisition Kosuke Fukudome.
Buck, 27, hit .228/.275/.342 in 160 plate appearances for the Indians, playing both outfield corners. Buck had signed a minor league deal with the Tribe in December.
After snagging Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran, Mets GM Sandy Alderson is probably done dealing this month. He told reporters he doesn't expect more trades "unless something extraordinary comes up," as he's reluctant to make it tougher on the current club. So, those hoping to pluck Chris Capuano, Tim Byrdak, or Jason Isringhausen can probably stand down.
The Giants have the worst offense of any National League contender, so GM Brian Sabean pounced on the best hitter available. The Mets officially announced today they've traded right fielder Carlos Beltran and cash considerations to San Francisco for pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. Reportedly, the Mets are sending $4MM to the Giants in the trade.
Beltran (pictured) is hitting .289/.391/.513 with 15 home runs in 419 plate appearances, in what has already become his healthiest season since 2008. Signed by the Mets to a seven-year, $119MM free agent contract before the 2005 season, Beltran's agent Scott Boras negotiated a clause preventing his team from offering arbitration at the deal's conclusion. Such an offer was no sure thing anyway, with Beltran earning $18.5MM this year. About $6.5MM of that remains, of which the Mets are assuming $4MM. Since Beltran has 10-and-5 rights, the trade took 24 hours to become official. The Braves, Red Sox, Pirates, Rangers, Indians, and Phillies had also been involved in trade talks for Beltran.
Wheeler was a big price to pay for two months of Beltran's services. The Giants' sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft, the hard-throwing righty has a 10.0 K/9 in High-A ball this year. The consensus among Keith Law, Baseball America, and Kevin Goldstein is that Wheeler is among the top 36 prospects in the game.
Tim Brown first reported the deal, with Buster Olney and Joel Sherman adding details.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
The latest on the Red Sox, who have the best record in the American League…
The Cardinals are focusing on middle infield help, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. While it'd be nice to add a shortstop after shoring up their pitching yesterday, there's not much out there.
THURSDAY, 7:20am: The Phillies loved what they saw scouting Quentin, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today, but the White Sox plan to keep him.
WEDNESDAY, 9:15pm: The Phillies, who saw Carlos Beltran leave the NL East today, are interested in Carlos Quentin, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The possibility of Quentin going to Philadelphia "was talked about" a week or so ago, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).
The Phillies have scouted Quentin and it’s worth noting that the White Sox have been scouting Atlanta's system in anticipation of a possible deal involving the 28-year-old right fielder. He has a .265/.356/.516 line with 20 homers this year and earns $5.05MM. He'll earn a raise in 2012, when he's arbitration eligible for the final time.
11:02am: A Cubs source told ESPN's Jim Bowden the prospects are outfielder Abner Abreu and reliever Carlton Smith (Twitter link).
10:30am: Hoynes tweets that the Indians are paying $775K of Fukudome's remaining salary, which would leave about $3.9MM for the Cubs.
9:35am: The prospects the Indians are sending are "one upper level, one lower level," tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He says one is a pitcher and the other is a position player.
9:13am: The Cubs will receive two prospects for Fukudome, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney, and a deal is likely to be done by today's game at 1:10pm central time. Olney adds that the Cubs are picking up more than half of the $4.7MM owed to Fukudome, while SI's Jon Heyman tweets that they'll pay the "vast majority." Jayson Stark tweets that the only hangup is determining minor perks for Fukudome in exchange for waiving his no-trade clause, and Jon Paul Morosi notes that the Indians are indeed on the outfielder's 15-team no-trade list.
The Indians are still working on other things, tweets Olney. Bastian expects a push for another outfielder.
8:57am: The Indians are in serious talks for Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The deal is "very close to happening," tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. With Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore on the DL, the Tribe has a clear need for outfield help.
Fukudome, 34, is hitting .273/.374/.369 in 345 plate appearances for the Cubs this year. Throughout his Cubs career, Fukudome has been able to draw walks but has shown limited power. Though his right field defense drew praise initially, he's been below-average per UZR over the last few years. Since Fukudome is owed almost $4.7MM for the balance of the season, the Cubs will likely have to kick in money to make a deal happen. He cannot be offered arbitration after the season, so draft pick compensation is not a factor. Fukudome has a limited no-trade clause, which MLB.com's Jordan Bastian thinks he may have waived to come to the Indians (Twitter link).
Lost in all the excitement, opinion and analysis following today's Carlos Beltran trade is just how rare it is for a player having a season as strong as Beltran's to be dealt. Since 1980, there have been 1,371 outfielder seasons that qualified for the batting title. Ranked by OPS+, Beltran's 151 mark ranks 99th out of all of them – and second among outfielders traded mid-season.
So the Mets' trading stance – holding out for top-tier talent and eventually getting Zack Wheeler – makes a great deal of sense. But it is also worth exploring: has the acquisition of outfield offense near the caliber of Beltran been a difference-maker for teams?
The only outfielder with a higher OPS+ to be traded mid-year since 1980 was Gary Sheffield. He posted a 155 OPS+ for the Marlins and Dodgers during a 1998 season that ranks 77th among outfield offensive seasons since 1980.
The deal isn't overly illustrative of what Beltran can provide for a number of reasons. For one thing, Sheffield was traded much earlier in the season – May 14 – and to a team that wasn't looking to win that season (trading Mike Piazza in the deal is a reliable indicator of that). Sheffield went on to make the All-Star team for Los Angeles, providing 3.0 wins above replacement, even with an awful glove that made him a more one-dimensional player than Beltran. To be sure, Sheffield wasn't a candidate to play center field. But with alternatives like a young Roger Cedeno and Todd Hollandsworth, Sheffield was certainly a difference-maker for the Dodgers, even if they finished the season with a mediocre 83-79 record.
Next on the list, appearing at 133rd among offensive outfield seasons since 1980, is the trade of Rickey Henderson on July 31, 1993. The Oakland Athletics, looking to rebuild, sent the 34-year-old Henderson to Toronto for elite pitching prospect Steve Karsay and toolsy outfielder Jose Herrera. According to Baseball America, Herrera was the 97th best prospect in baseball prior to the 1994 season; Karsay ranked 12th overall.
It is no surprise that Sandy Alderson, the current Mets General Manager, wanted a similar return to the one obtained by then-Oakland GM… Sandy Alderson. Henderson, for his part, slumped badly after the trade. He'd put up a 182 OPS+ with Oakland, but that dropped to just 83 with Toronto. Still, Henderson and the Jays went on to win a World Series. It is hard not to consider Henderson a difference-maker, especially since the other Toronto left fielders were Darnell Coles, Rob Butler, Willie Canate and Turner Ward.
The only other offensive outfield season in the top 200 since 1980 from a player traded in-season came from Brian Giles, whose 145 OPS+ ranked 161 in 2003. The Giles difference-maker portion of the deal is hard to evaluate – he went from a Pirates team out of the race to a Padres team out of the race. But the return is noteworthy – a young, hard-throwing lefty named Oliver Perez, a young, power-hitting outfielder named Jason Bay, and minor leaguer Cory Stewart.
In short, it is easy to see that any contender who suggested Beltran wasn't worth much was just posturing. Outfielders who hit like Carlos Beltran simply aren't available in many midseason trades.
Congratulations to Ervin Santana, who threw the third no-hitter of the season this afternoon. Santana joins Francisco Liriano and Justin Verlander on this year’s list of pitchers to author a no-no. Here are the latest links from around MLB…
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