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Latest On Jonathan Lucroy’s Market

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JULY 28, 7:11pm: The Mets are believed to be “behind” other organizations in pursuit of Lucroy, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. But it’s still a “fluid” pursuit for one of the best-available players this summer.

Heyman adds that there’s a mystery team involved. There’s another layer of intrigue here, perhaps, as that could be another report on a solitary, unidentified trying organization — or it may represent the second such unknown entrant to the sweepstakes. (See Crasnick’s report referenced below.)

4:29pm: The Brewers have “re-engaged” with the Mets on Lucroy after New York’s initial offer was reportedly deemed light, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). That doesn’t mean that the sides are anywhere close to a deal, he cautions, but it seems at least that there’s more to discuss.

3:35pm: Crasnick now tweets that the Astros aren’t believed to be in play for Lucroy, with a source telling him that Houston’s interest was previously overstated.

JULY 27, 7:35pm: The Indians have spoken to the Brewers about both Lucroy and left-handed reliever Will Smith, according to Crasnick (on Twitter). A left-handed reliever has long been said to be one of Cleveland’s top priorities, so the addition of Smith to talks is natural and one that we’ve speculated upon in the past. The 27-year-old Smith was in the mix to be Milwaukee’s closer but suffered a freak knee injury in Spring Training and missed upwards of two months due to a partially torn LCL. He somewhat improbably avoided surgery and is back in the Milwaukee ’pen, with a 3.72 ERA and an 18-to-8 K/BB ratio in 19 1/3 innings. Smith took his game from solid relief arm to lights-out lefty last season when he posted a 2.70 ERA with 12.9 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings and is controllable through 2019.

6:10pm: The Brewers’ trade talks surrounding catcher Jonathan Lucroy are picking up, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (links to Twitter). The Indians, Rangers, Mets, Astros and Red Sox have all been mentioned in connection with Lucroy, Crasnick notes, and offers being made by other clubs have become more serious recently. Crasnick adds that the the ever-popular “mystery team” may have entered the mix as well.

While that typically leads to a large amount of speculation, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports may have quickly shed some light on the matter, reporting that the Tigers are a somewhat surprising new entrant into the Lucroy market. He hypothesizes that Detroit could offer James McCann to the Brewers in a similar manner to the Mets’ reported offer of Travis d’Arnaud, though Milwaukee will want more than that in exchange. The Brewers, per Rosenthal, are seeking high-end prospects back in addition to any catcher that is offered in exchange for Lucroy.

While there’s a common belief that Lucroy will indeed be traded prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline, Rosenthal writes that the Mets feel that Milwaukee is “overreaching” in its asks for Lucroy, while AL West contenders like the Astros and Rangers are more focused on adding pitching depth than a catcher at this time. Houston is also looking at other backstops, he notes, so it’s not a guarantee that even if they move for a catcher, Lucroy would be the target. Meanwhile, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets that the Rangers have yet to show serious interest in Lucroy and consider adding a catcher to be a “luxury” at this point, as pitching depth remains their primary focus. Those tweets came prior to Texas’ acquisition of Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez from the Braves, but one would assume that those two arms alone have not ended the Rangers’ search for pitching upgrade.

Lucroy, who turned 30 last month, is hitting .301/.362/.486 with 13 homers, 16 doubles and three triples on the season while playing excellent defense. He’s earning a modest $4MM salary in 2016 (of which about $1.46MM remains), and his contract contains an exceptionally affordable $5.25MM club option for the 2017 campaign.

Trade Market For Corner Outfielders

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The quiet nature of this month means that there are plenty of corner options still available, and there’s been no shortage of clubs linked to help in left field and right field. The Indians, Dodgers, Cubs, Orioles, Mariners, Giants and Nationals have all been connected to outfielders in some capacity, and others figure to be exploring the market more quietly as well. Here’s a rundown of some of the available options…

Top Rentals

Josh Reddick: Extension talks between Reddick and the A’s haven’t progressed, with Oakland seeking a three-year pact and Reddick looking for four. His season has been shortened by a fractured thumb, but Reddick is slashing a very solid .300/.375/.443 with seven homers in 258 plate appearances. He’s walked nearly as many times (28) as he’s struck out (33) and is earning an affordable $6.575MM in his final year before hitting the open market. The A’s have been winning quite a bit since the All-Star break (9-4), but they’re still 11 games back in the division and 9.5 games back from a Wild Card spot, making Reddick seem like a good bet to be moved by always-active president of baseball ops Billy Beane.

Carlos Beltran: The Yankees already sold one free-agent-to-be in Aroldis Chapman, and Beltran makes sense as a trade candidate in a similar vein. He’s hitting .305/.347/.548 with 21 home runs on the year and is in the final season of a three-year, $45MM deal. Beltran’s glove has deteriorated substantially, but an American League club could certainly benefit from adding him to split time between right field and DH.

Steve Pearce: Pearce is absolutely mashing (.312/.384/.528) on a one-year, $4.75MM deal for a selling Rays club. He’s extremely likely to be traded in the coming days and, as a bonus, can handle first base and second base as well. Pearce probably doesn’t get the fanfare he deserves, but he’s batted .271/.347/.502 in 932 PAs dating back to 2014.

Signed Through 2017

Jay Bruce: Not only is Bruce in the midst of a brilliant rebound, he’s arguably the hottest hitter in Major League Baseball. Bruce has homered in five straight games, one being a multi-homer showing, and he’s hitting .271/.323/.572 with 25 homers overall. His $13MM option for next season looks perfectly reasonable even if his defense has taken a step back following 2014 knee surgery. The rebuilding Reds seem likely to move him within the next few days barring a somewhat surprising lack of genuine interest.

Carlos Gonzalez: CarGo has been the subject of trade rumors for the better part of three years thanks to his excellent play and the Rockies’ perennial status as also-rans in the NL West. His increasing proximity to free agency, however, makes it seem more plausible that Gonzalez would be traded than it has in years past. His .317/.370/.544 slash line is inflated somewhat by Coors Field, but even when adjusted for park and league, it translates to about 25 percent above the league-average hitter. He’s not the base-stealing threat he once was, but Gonzalez doesn’t hurt a team on the basepaths and still provides an above-average glove in right field.

Melky Cabrera: There’s a perception that Cabrera could be included in the “big contract” section below, but he’s hitting .293/.338/.453 since June 1 of last season and is past the halfway point in his deal. He doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of defensive value, but Cabrera is a solid bat that isn’t outrageously priced. If the Sox are willing to listen on short-term assets — and it sounds like they are — then there’s no reason to think Cabrera couldn’t go help deepen a contending club’s lineup.

Controllable Assets

Kole Calhoun (Angels), Robbie Grossman (Twins), Khris Davis (Athletics), Brett Gardner (Yankees), Brandon Guyer (Rays), Desmond Jennings (Rays)

  • Calhoun’s inclusion is a stretch, but there’s no doubt teams are at least checking in with the Halos on their quietly excellent and perpetually underrated right fielder. Calhoun is hitting .283/.364/.431 with 10 homers and 31 total extra-base hits to go along with solid right field defense. He’s under control through 2019 as a Super Two player, and I’d imagine he would have to net the Angels multiple high-end pieces (likely MLB-ready arms) for an offer to even merit consideration.
  • It’s not all that clear that the Twins or A’s would listen on Grossman and Davis, as each is highly controllable (Grossman for four more years, Davis for three) and producing at the plate. Grossman’s ridiculous 17.6 percent walk rate has seemingly materialized out of thin air and resulted in a .274/.405/.441 line through 227 PAs since inking a minors deal with the Twins in May. Davis mashed his 24th and 25th homers last night despite playing half his games at O.Co Coliseum. He’s OBP challenged, as always, and strikes out a fair amount, but that power is tantalizing.
  • Gardner would represent a different type of trade than Chapman or Beltran for the Yankees, as he’s controlled for two years beyond this (with an option for a third season) at a reasonable rate and is still productive. Moving Gardner is seemingly the type of trade the Yankees are looking to avoid, as they’re not entering a complete rebuild. Still, he’s been speculated upon since the offseason and should draw interest.
  • The Rays are getting more hits on their pitchers, but clubs in need of a right-handed outfield bat could look to Tampa Bay as well. Neither Guyer nor Jennings is as productive as Pearce, but Guyer is controllable and handles left-handed pitching quite well. Jennings’ top prospect star has faded and he’s no longer even looking like an everyday option following a series of knee injuries, but perhaps a change of scenery (and escaping Tropicana Field’s turf) could help his cause.

Reserves/Fourth Outfielders

Jarrod Dyson (Royals), Jimmy Paredes/Cody Asche (Phillies), Jeff Francoeur (Braves), Nori Aoki (Mariners), Avisail Garcia (White Sox), Daniel Nava (Angels), Rickie Weeks (D-backs)

  • The Braves don’t want to move Francoeur unless they get a legitimate prospect in return, which seems unlikely, but GM John Coppolella did pull a real prospect out of Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez. Garcia has once again proven underwhelming for the White Sox, who one has to imagine will simply give up the ghost on him at some point. The same could be said for Asche in Philadelphia. Dyson’s glove and wheels make him an intriguing long-term bench option, but his affordable remaining control might just mean Kansas City holds onto him.

Big Contracts

Ryan Braun (Brewers), Matt Kemp (Padres), Jacoby Ellsbury (Yankees), Yasmany Tomas (D-backs), Nick Markakis (Braves)

  • Braun is still an elite bat, but interest in him is apparently minimal due to the fact that he’s just in the first season a five-year, $105MM contract extension. That type of cash is difficult for any team to absorb at any time but especially midseason. The Brewers are reportedly more concerned with getting good talent in return than getting salary relief, so the possibility of a salary dump needn’t be entertained.
  • The other names on this list simply haven’t performed well enough to make a trade seem reasonable. Tomas is hitting for power this season but still showing poor plate discipline and playing sub-par defense. That’s doubly true for Kemp, who has one of the lowest OBPs of any qualified hitter and still has gobs of cash left on his deal — though he is slugging .488 and has swatted 23 long balls. Ellsbury has $84.57MM remaining on his deal after this season, which figures to be a non-starter in any talks. Markakis could be moved if the Braves eat some of the $22MM he’s owed after the season, but it’s been years since he showed any kind of power, and his average/OBP have dipped this year, too.

Injured

Jon Jay (Padres), Peter Bourjos (Phillies)

  • Jay was shaping up to be one of San Diego’s best trade chips before a fractured forearm suffered on a hit-by-pitch shelved him for more than a month. He’ll be back in August and should draw interest as a trade candidate, though he might not make it through waivers. Bourjos was a man on fire for about six weeks leading up to the All-Star break and has long had a brilliant defensive reputation. He hit the DL today after crashing into the outfield wall while making a running catcher and subsequently injuring his shoulder, but a contending club looking for some speed and defense in a fourth outfielder could benefit from adding the fleet-footed Bourjos in August once he’s healthy.

Giants Activate Joe Panik, Designate Grant Green

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The Giants have designated infielder Grant Green, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area was among those to tweet. His roster spot was needed for fellow infielder Joe Panik, who was activated from the DL.

[Related: Updated Giants Depth Chart]

Green, 28, has produced at a .251/.286/.339 clip over 350 MLB plate appearances in parts of four seasons. The former Angels and Athletics prospect was always considered a bat-first player, and has a sturdy track record of hitting in the minors. But Green comes with a lightly-regarded glove and his home run pop has dissipated in the upper minors. It remains to be seen whether he’ll ever earn a full shot a steady MLB job.

San Francisco will certainly be glad to welcome back Panik, who missed a month with concussion symptoms. He hasn’t produce at anything close to his rate from a year ago, but Panik still carries a league-average hitting line in 2016 to go with a quality glove at second. Plus, he has probably been a bit unlucky with a .266 BABIP, so there’s reason for the Giants to expect that he’ll be even more useful down the stretch than he was in the first half.

Royals Place Luke Hochevar On 15-Day DL

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TODAY: Though he’ll head in for a second opinion, skipper Ned Yost said that surgery is likely, Dodd tweets.

YESTERDAY: The Royals have placed reliever Luke Hochevar on the 15-day DL, per a team announcement. The team says that he is showing symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome, including numbness in his fingers, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports (Twitter links). Righty Brooks Pounders has been recalled to take Hochevar’s place on the active roster.

[Related: Updated Royals Depth Chart]

That’s highly unfortunate news for the 32-year-old, who has come back already from Tommy John surgery, which caused him to miss all of 2014. And it’s a blow for a Kansas City organization that could have used Hochevar down the stretch — or turned him into a decent prospect return in a trade.

Though he is only working to a 3.86 ERA on the year, Hochevar has punched out 9.6 and walked only 2.2 batters per nine. He’s still bringing a mid-90s fastball and generating a strong 13.4% swinging strike rate. While he doesn’t generate grounders like he used to and has been a bit homer-prone (1.45 per nine), Hochevar looked like a nice trade chip for K.C.

While it’s not yet known whether the Royals will sell, or where exactly they’d draw the line, Hochevar would have rated as a prime asset to move because of his contract. He’s earning a reasonable $5.5MM this year and seemed likely to turn down his side of a $7MM mutual option (which comes with a $500K buyout).

Now, it not only seems unlikely that Hochevar will be traded, but his entire career path is uncertain. There are a range of outcomes for a player who is diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome — which, it must be stressed, hasn’t yet been determined — but it’s unquestionably a significant malady with which to contend.

Heyman’s Latest: Sale, Cashner, Royals, Brewers, Giants, Mariners, Nats

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Even though the Yankees made a forward-looking move by trading Aroldis Chapman for Adam Warren and three young prospects (highlighted by high-ceiling shortstop Gleyber Torres), they’ve at least placed a call to the White Sox to inquire on Chris Sale, writes Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports in his latest Inside Baseball column. GM Brian Cashman wouldn’t comment on Sale when asked, telling Heyman only that the Yankees call on virtually every player that’s available as a matter of due diligence. Heyman writes that there’s speculation among other clubs that the Yanks could make a legitimate run at Sale, possibly including Torres in the package, but there’s no indication yet to support that talk.

A few more highlights from the lengthy column…

  • The Astros called the Padres to inquire on Andrew Cashner but told San Diego about 48 hours later that they were no longer interested. Whether it’s because of the asking price or another reason isn’t entirely clear. Heyman adds that, unsurprisingly, Colby Rasmus won’t be getting another qualifying offer from the Astros this year after he accepted the QO last November and has underperformed in 2016.
  • The Royals will wait until the very last minute to decide if they’re going to sell off veteran pieces. Edinson Volquez, Kendrys Morales and Luke Hochevar — each of whom has a mutual option on his contract but is likely to hit the open market following the season — are among the team’s candidates to be traded if the Royals do sell. Interestingly, he also notes that there’s a belief that Kansas City will let Alcides Escobar go and replace him with Raul Mondesi Jr. I’d personally wonder if, even though he hasn’t performed well at the plate whatsoever, the Royals could generate some trade interest (either now or after the season) due to the $6.5MM club option ($500K buyout) on Escobar’s contract.
  • Angels GM Billy Eppler will at least listen to offers on both Hector Santiago and Matt Shoemaker, though each is controllable beyond this season (Shoemaker for another four years, Santiago through 2017), so there’s no definitive urge to move either. Yunel Escobar and Joe Smith are both trade candidates for the Halos as well, as has been noted frequently over the past couple of weeks.
  • The Brewers weren’t impressed at all by the Mets’ offer for Jonathan Lucroy, which centered around Travis d’Arnaud. Heyman cites Brewers sources as saying they’ve been offered better catchers than d’Arnaud and still passed on moving Lucroy just yet. Right-hander Junior Guerra, who is having a surprisingly strong season as a 31-year-old rookie, has generated some trade interest, but Heyman says there’s been little chatter on Chris Carter. It also seems that Ryan Braun isn’t being talked about much at this stage.
  • The Giants are interested in Minnesota’s Eduardo Nunez, who has also recently been connected to the Indians. The Twins figure to be wide open to trade scenarios in the coming days, and Nunez would give the Giants some cover at third base, shortstop, second base and in left field. Similarly, the Giants have a bit of interest in Alex Guerrero, who was released by the Dodgers earlier this year. However, Heyman points out that catcher Miguel Olivo, who is being sued by Guerrero after biting off a piece of Guerrero’s ear in a dugout altercation with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2015, is playing for San Francisco’s Triple-A affiliate.
  • The Cubs and Rangers have both called the Mariners about Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, but Seattle hasn’t shown any inclination toward moving either pitcher. Wade Miley is more likely to be moved, and Heyman adds that the Mariners are still open to adding some pieces for 2016 and have checked into Angels righty Joe Smith, whom GM Jerry Dipoto signed while serving as GM in Anaheim.
  • The Nationals turned down proposals centered around both Lucas Giolito and Joe Ross when negotiating with the Yankees about Aroldis Chapman. From there, the Yankees shifted to younger players and asked for a four-prospect package centered around pitching — though it’s not clear just who New York was targeting.  Washington never got close on a Chapman trade despite quite a bit of talk with the Yankees, per Heyman.

Marlins Reinstate Dee Gordon

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The Marlins announced today that they’ve activated Dee Gordon from the restricted list and designated infielder Don Kelly for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 25- and 40-man rosters.

[Related: Updated Miami Marlins Depth Chart]

Gordon has been out since April due to an 80-game suspension that stemmed from a failed PED test. The 28-year-old batted .266/.289/.340 with six stolen bases through his first 21 games of the season before being hit with a suspension that comes on the heels of a five-year, $50MM contract extension this past offseason. He’ll presumably reclaim his spot at or near the top of the Miami lineup, and his return figures to cut into the playing time for Derek Dietrich, who has slashed .272/.363/.393 this season in Gordon’s stead while seeing the lion’s share of the playing time at second base. Gordon, of course, will serve as a major boost to manager Don Mattingly’s lineup if he can replicate his 2014-15 form, which saw him bat .311/.342/.398 with an MLB-leading 122 stolen bases in that time.

Via Uninterrupted, Gordon has issued a new video apology to his fans and to the Marlins organization for his suspension. “I made a mistake, man, but just like in this game you’ve got to learn, come back and be stronger and better,” said Gordon during his three-minute video. “…You’ve got to hold yourself accountable for your standards of living and training. I didn’t hold myself accountable for any of that. I thought I would never, being the smallest guy, I would never fail a drug test. I didn’t pay attention at all. I didn’t meet the standards. That’s my fault and no one else’s.”

Kelly, 36, batted .148/.200/.296 with a pair of triples in 30 plate appearances for the Marlins following his brief call-up earlier this month. He stepped into the big league picture when Justin Bour landed on the disabled list with an ankle sprain. Bour remains on the shelf for the time being, so it’s feasible that the left-handed-hitting Dietrich could slide over to first base and platoon there with Chris Johnson in place of Bour. He’ll move around the diamond a fair amount once Bour is healthy in an attempt to keep his bat in the lineup.

Royals Attempting To Package Ian Kennedy With Wade Davis In Trades

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The Royals are looking to capitalize on the demand for Wade Davis by attempting to package Ian Kennedy’s contract with him in trade talks, reports Yahoo’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). Passan notes that the Dodgers are one team with noted interest in Davis that could afford to take on the remainder of Kennedy’s enormous contract. Joel Sherman of the New York Post hears the same as Passan — that the Royals are trying to attach Kennedy’s onerous financial commitment to Davis in trade talks — though he gets the sense that the Dodgers wouldn’t be willing to take on that type of money to get their hands on Davis (links to Twitter).

While the asking price on Davis, in terms of prospects, has been said to be exceptionally high — Kansas City has reportedly targeted Lucas Giolito in exchange for him, and the Arodis Chapman package reportedly wouldn’t have been enough for Davis — absorbing Kennedy’s staggering contract would dramatically reduce the prospect capital required for any team to add Davis to its bullpen. Kennedy signed one of the most stunning and widely panned contracts of the offseason, securing a five-year $70MM contract that included an opt-out clause after the second year. He’s owed $2.7MM for the remainder of this season and a total of $65.2MM through the end of his deal in 2020. Kennedy could technically opt out after the 2017 season, in which case he’d “only” be owed $22.2MM through the end of next season, but based on his performance this year, that seems unlikely.

The 31-year-old Kennedy (32 in December) has pitched to a 4.41 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a career-low 33.2 percent ground-ball rate in 2016. His 26 home runs allowed are the most in the league, and the dramatic spike he saw in his homer-to-flyball ratio last season hasn’t regressed whatsoever, still sitting at 17.3 percent. Given the increase of fly-balls he’s seen this year, that has made him even more homer-prone than he was in 2015 and resulted in a dismal 2.05 HR/9 rate. The Royals’ signing of Kennedy was a contributor to their franchise-record payroll this season, and the hefty financial commitment they made to him in the long term could impact the team’s ability to retain stars such as Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Davis — each of whom is a free agent following the 2017 season.

Of course, it could be a tough pill to swallow for the Dodgers to take an asset with as much trade value as Davis possesses and leverage him as a means of shedding payroll. The Royals could reasonably ask for a greater package than the one the Cubs surrendered for Chapman — Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford — given the extra year of control over Davis at a reasonable rate. However, the possibility also exists that Kansas City is trying to capitalize in fear of a potential decline or injury.

Davis has already missed time this season with a forearm strain, and while his ERA rests at an immaculate 1.60, the rest of his stats are far less encouraging. Davis’s strikeout rate has dipped from 13.6 K/9 in 2014 and 10.4 K/9 in to 2015 to a more mortal 8.6 K/9 in 2016. He’s also averaging four walks per nine innings this year — a noted increase over the 2.8 BB/9 he logged from 2014-15 — and has seen his fastball dip from an average of 95.8 mph in 2014-15 to 94.9 mph in 2016. Davis’ bottom-line results, of course, remain tantalizing, and his track record is among the best in the game. Nonetheless, there are at least some red flags that could give potential trade partners cause for concern, especially if they’re being asked to take on a contract as unappealing as Kennedy’s in conjunction with Davis himself.

Orioles “Trying Hard” To Land Andrew Cashner

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The Orioles are “trying hard” to get right-hander Andrew Cashner from the Padres in trade talks, per FOX’s Ken Rosenthal (links to Twitter), though Baltimore isn’t necessarily considered the favorite. The Marlins and Rangers are both still in on Cashner, he notes, and others recently linked to the free-agent-to-be include the Blue Jays and Giants. While MLB.com’s Jon Morosi recently reported that San Diego was making progress on a Cashner trade, Rosenthal feels that Cashner talks could stretch into Monday.

As Rosenthal points out, the Orioles and Padres had extensive talks regarding Melvin Upton Jr., so the O’s are likely already familiar with the players from their minor league ranks that are most coveted by the Padres. Likewise, San Diego is familiar with the players that the Orioles would be reluctant to surrender, though given the meager return on Upton and the fairly significant demand for Cashner, it’s safe to assume that Cashner talks would feature more highly regarded names than Upton talks. (Reportedly, the Padres sought lefty Garrett Cleavinger and righty Jhon Peluffo in Upton negotiations.)

Baltimore looked perilously thin in the rotation entering the season, and the need to augment the rotation has become even clearer as the season has worn on. Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman are the only two regular members of the Orioles’ rotation that have managed an ERA south of 5.00. Yovani Gallardo’s 5.37 ERA ranks third among Orioles that have made five or more starts. Aside from the work turned in by Tillman and Gausman, Baltimore has received a collective 5.93 ERA in the starts made by Gallardo, Ubaldo Jimenez, Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright, Vance Worley and Dylan Bundy. The final member of that group has at least looked solid over his past two starts, but Bundy pitched a combined 67 professional innings from 2012-15 due to injuries and is already at 52 innings pitched in 2016, making it virtually impossible for the Orioles to entrust him with a starter’s workload down the stretch.

Generally speaking, Cashner has been unimpressive for the bulk of the season, posting a 4.76 ERA in 79 1/3 innings while missing time due to a hamstring strain and a neck strain. He’s rattled off three consecutive nice starts against contending teams, however, yielding five runs with a 23-to-3 K/BB ratio over his past 17 2/3 innings.

Cardinals Seeking Late-Inning Reliever On Trade Market

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The rapid decline of Trevor Rosenthal, who has now been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder injury following his season-long struggles, has the Cardinals in the market for a late-inning arm to add to their relief corps, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.

St. Louis has turned to right-hander Seung-hwan Oh, whose modest offseason signing has proven to be one of the savviest investments of the winter, to handle ninth-inning duties in Rosenthal’s stead. Oh has lived up to his “Final Boss” nickname in the Majors, pitching to a brilliant 1.72 ERA with 11.9 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 41.4 percent ground-ball rate in 52 1/3 innings. Those are dominant numbers out of the rookie relief ace, but the absence of Rosenthal’s typically high-quality innings has stretched the Cardinals a bit thin at the back of the ’pen.

Behind Oh, the Cardinals have relied heavily on Seth Maness, Tyler Lyons, Kevin Siegrist, Jonathan Broxton and Matt Bowman in the bullpen this season. Maness, though, missed more than a month with inflammation in his right elbow and has seen his average fastball velocity dip from 89.5 mph to 87.9 mph this season. Siegrist and Lyons have been outstanding from the left side, though Siegrist recently missed a couple of weeks with a bout of mono. Broxton looks more like a middle reliever than the standout closer he once was, and Bowman doesn’t miss many bats, though he’s been a ground-ball machine and has a 2.98 ERA on the year.

That collection of relief arms has delivered mostly strong results, but Oh is the only truly dominant arm of the bunch, so it’s not a surprise to see the Cardinals tied to relief help. The exact quality of the arm they’re looking for, however, isn’t entirely certain based on Heyman’s report. Heyman writes that either Angels closer Huston Street or Royals closer Wade Davis “could make sense for St. Louis” if traded, though he stops short of saying that the Cardinals have actually inquired on either arm, and there’s obviously a wide gap overall talent and 2016 performance between those two arms. The Cardinals have looked into Halos right-hander Joe Smith, he writes, and have in fact been seeking help for the back of the bullpen for some time now, as their search predates Rosenthal’s placement on the disabled list.

Of course, many Cards fans feel that the best possible upgrade the team could make to its bullpen is already in the organization. Right-hander Alex Reyes has emerged as one of the very top pitching prospects in all of baseball and opened plenty of eyes with his 100+ mph fastball in this year’s Futures Game over the All-Star break. However, Reyes’ recent results haven’t been overly encouraging, as he’s posted a 6.52 ERA in his past 29 innings (six starts) with Triple-A Memphis. He has a 5.07 ERA overall on the season and has averaged 12.9 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 in 55 innings out of the rotation since serving a 50-game suspension for a drug of abuse. Reyes’ overpowering stuff leads some to believe that he could thrive in the Majors right now in a short-relief role despite his rotation struggles in Memphis, but the Cardinals are reportedly being cautious with regards to their prized righty and may not wish to rush him to the Majors. (Reyes was pulled from his most recent start after three innings, prompting some speculation about a call-up, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Reyes’ quick hook from the game was “insurance” in the event that Lyons is unable to make a needed spot start for St. Louis on Saturday.)

If the Cardinals do ultimately feel that the trade market presents the best route to an upgrade, they’ll face plenty of competition, as the majority of contending clubs in the league are said to be eyeing upgrades for their relief corps. Within the past two or three days alone, we’ve heard the Giants, Nationals, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Indians, Rangers, Dodgers and Mets all tied to varying degrees of bullpen help, and other clubs figure to be more quietly on the lookout as well.

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