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Padres Claim Jeff Fulchino; Designate Pat Neshek

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The Padres announced that they claimed Jeff Fulchino off of waivers from the Astros and designated right-hander Pat Neshek for assignment. Fulchino is scheduled to join the Padres in San Diego tomorrow night.

Fulchino, 31, posted a 5.18 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 4.9 BB/9 and a 37.4% ground ball rate in 33 innings for the Astros this year. The right-hander has a career ERA of 4.74 with 8.2 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 176 2/3 MLB innings since 2006 and his average fastball velocity is 93.4mph.

Neshek pitched 24 2/3 innings for the Padres after they claimed him off of waivers from the Twins in March. The side-arming 30-year-old posted a 4.01 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 8.0 BB/9 with the Padres.

Orioles Claim Pedro Strop; Gonzalez Trade Complete

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THURSDAY: The Orioles announced that they claimed Strop from the Rangers. Baltimore obtained cash in the Gonzalez deal and used it to claim Strop, according to Connolly. The Gonzalez deal is now complete.

WEDNESDAY: Right-hander Pedro Strop will go to the Orioles as the player to be named in the deal that sent Mike Gonzalez from Baltimore to Texas, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.

Strop, 26, has appeared in 11 games for Texas this season and has a 3.72 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 6.5 BB/9 in 9 2/3 innings. The Dominican Republic native has also posted a 3.59 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 47 2/3 innings of relief for the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate this season. 

In parts of three MLB seasons, Strop's average fastball has clocked in at 94.7 mph. Strop, who originally signed with the Rockies as a shortstop prospect, didn't start pitching professionally until his age-21 season.

Mets Acquire Rosario, Herrera To Complete Trade

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The Mets announced that they acquired Adrian Rosario and Danny Ray Herrera to complete the trade that sent Francisco Rodriguez and cash to Milwaukee in July. The Mets and Brewers initially agreed that two players to be named would join the Mets in the deal, which is now complete.

Rosario, a 21-year-old right-hander, spent the 2011 season at Class A. He started 14 games and worked out of the bullpen for a 4.32 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.

Herrera, a 26-year-old, left-hander, has a 3.94 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 93 2/3 innings of work for the Reds and Brewers in his four-year MLB career. He spent most of the 2011 season at Triple-A, where he posted a 2.20 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 61 1/3 innings.

MLB.com's Adam McCalvy first reported the deal (on Twitter).

Mets Links: Einhorn, Payroll, Herrera, Capuano

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Earlier today we learned that Wilpons' deal with David Einhorn is dead, so now let's recap the rest of the news surrounding the Amazins…

  • In the wake of the Einhorn non-deal, the team may now try to sell ten ownership shares for $20MM each to match the $200MM they were expected to receive from Einhorn, report Gregory Zuckerman, Matthew Futterman, and Brian Costa of The Wall Street Journal.
  • GM Sandy Alderson indicated to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York that the team's payroll will go down next year. "[The] fact is, even at $100 million or $110 million, we're still in the upper echelon of payrolls," said Alderson. The Mets started the year with a payroll of about $140MM.
  • Rubin reports (via Twitter) that lefty reliever Danny Ray  Herrera was on the list of players the team chose from to complete the Francisco Rodriguez trade. The Mets have two players to be named later coming from the Brewers, though the identities of both are still unknown.
  • "If there's something like that out there, that would be great," said Chris Capuano to Rubin when asked about signing a multi-year deal as a starting pitcher after the season. "If it's a one-year deal or something, at this point in my career I'm excited to have the opportunity to go out there as a starting pitcher. I’m not as concerned with the contracts and everything else. As long as I have an option next year to start, I"ll be happy." Capuano has a 4.38 ERA in 26 starts this year.

Olney On Gonzalez, Darvish, White Sox

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Mark Teixeira told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that new Rangers reliever Mike Gonzalez has improved over the course of the season and now looks like a different pitcher than he did early on. Here’s Olney’s latest, including a note on Gonzalez…

  • The Rangers may have obtained Gonzalez at the right time, Olney writes. Great left-handed hitters such as Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano and Adrian Gonzalez will figure prominently into the playoffs and the Rangers’ newest reliever can help limit their impact late in games.
  • One MLB official told Olney that Yu Darvish will sign with an MLB team this winter. Earlier this morning, I listed the teams that have been publicly linked to the Japanese right-hander.
  • MLB executives are coming to believe that White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf won’t retain both GM Kenny Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen in 2012, according to Olney. Alternatively, Reinsdorf could replace both and hire former White Sox skipper Tony La Russa to manage and promote assistant GM Rick Hahn to run baseball operations.

Players Traded In September

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Let's face it – September trades are generally more complicated and less significant than the deals we see most months of the year. Players traded in September can help their teams reach the playoffs, but they can't play in postseason games. Here's a look at some current MLB players who have been involved in September trades since 2000:

  • Octavio Dotel, 2010 - Dotel, a veteran of midseason trades, pitched 5 1/3 innings for Colorado after they acquired him from the Dodgers in September.
  • Willie Bloomquist, 2010 - Bloomquist played three positions for the Reds last September, contributing five singles and a walk in 18 plate appearances.
  • Micah Owings, 2008 - The Reds acquired Owings in the Adam Dunn deal, but he didn't pitch particularly well with Cincinnati. He does own an .808 OPS in 72 plate appearances for the Reds, though.
  • Sean Rodriguez, 2009 - Rodriguez, the player to be named in the Scott Kazmir deal, has a .218/.311/.354 line with the Rays as a utility player this year.
  • George Kottaras, 2006 - The Padres sent Kottaras to Boston for David Wells five years ago this month.
  • Jason Frasor, 2002 - Frasor hadn't appeared in an MLB game when the Tigers sent him to the Dodgers in 2002.

No Deal Between Einhorn, Mets

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The Mets announced that they were unable to reach a deal with David Eihhorn, who had agreed to buy a minority share of the club from the Wilpon family. The Mets say they decided to explore other options instead of extending Einhorn's exclusive negotiating period.

The team announced that they have the capital to cover losses in 2011 and are "under no financial pressure to do a deal on any particular schedule." Chairman and CEO Fred Wilpon says the Mets will engage with other possible buyers, including some who have already been approved by MLB.

Eihnorn issued a statement in which he says the Mets wanted to change their initial agreement substantially, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork. "The extensive nature of changes that were proposed to me at the last minute has made a successful transaction impossible," Einhorn said. 

The Mets agreed to sell a minority share of the team to Einhorn in May. They would have obtained $200MM for 30-35% of the team.

September Trades

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It's officially September, but the trading season isn't necessarily over. Here's what you need to know about dealmaking after August.

Trading in September is a lot like trading in August. Players who have cleared waivers can be traded to any team, but players who have been pulled back from waivers can't be traded. However, to be eligible for postseason play "a player must be on the Active Roster, Disabled List, Bereavement List, or Suspended List of that club as of midnight EDT on August 31 of that year," as Keith Law explains in this ESPN article. Because of that rule, most deals occur before September. 

Trades do happen in September, since acquisitions can help teams reach the playoffs. For example, the Phillies famously traded for Sparky Lyle in September of 1980. Lyle was a major contributor for the '80 Phillies team, even though he wasn't able to play in the postseason en route to the team's first World Series title.

Lots of PTBNLs are determined in September, too. For example, the Angels traded Sean Rodriguez to the Rays to complete the Scott Kazmir trade two Septembers ago.

A version of this post was originally published in 2009.

List Of Teams Interested In Yu Darvish

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Yu Darvish apparently intends to pitch in the Major Leagues next year and it would be surprising if he doesn't draw interest from ten-plus teams. The 25-year-old right-hander has a 1.54 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 175 innings this season. Those numbers are typical for Davish, who entered the season with a 1.81 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in four years with the Nippon Ham Fighters. 

Here's a list of which teams have been linked to Darvish in the last calendar year:

  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is in Japan and saw Darvish pitch, according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun.
  • The Nationals maintain interest.
  • The Yankees have scouted him heavily.
  • Rangers GM Jon Daniels watched Darvish in June.
  • The Orioles had interest last offseason.
  • The Red Sox have been linked to Darvish.
  • The Rays watched Darvish about a year ago.

At this point, we don't know whether the clubs above were simply being diligent or whether they intend to make serious bids for Darvish. This list can't be considered comprehensive because other teams have likely been covert about their interest. What we can say at this point is that Darvish would be a welcome commodity in a starting pitching market that's light on top-of-the-rotation pitchers.

Red Sox Acquire Conor Jackson

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The Red Sox acquired Conor Jackson from the Athletics for Jason Rice, the teams announced. Oakland sent cash to Boston in the deal and the Red Sox transferred right-hander Bobby Jenks to the 60-day disabled list to create 40-man roster space for Jackson.

Jackson, 29, can fill in at the corner positions for the Red Sox and provide a right-handed bat off of the bench. He has a .249/.315/.342 line in 368 plate appearances this year and boasts a career line of .286/.384/.441 against left-handers. The 2003 first rounder was a key contributor for the D'Backs from 2006-08, but his offensive production has fallen off since. Jackson earns $3.2MM this season before hitting free agency.

Rice posted a 3.69 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 85 1/3 innings of relief for Boston's Triple-A affiliate this year. In 256 career minor league appearances, most of which have come out of the bullpen, the 25-year-old has a 3.91 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9. The White Sox selected him in the 11th round of the 2005 draft. MLB.com's Jane Lee first reported the move.

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