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Royals Acquire Daniel Nava

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The Royals have acquired outfielder Daniel Nava from the Angels for a player to be named later or cash, the club announced. Nava will head to Triple-A Omaha.

Nava, 33, has spent the last month at the highest level of the minors after previously losing his roster spot with the Halos. He posted a meager .235/.309/.303 batting line over 136 plate appearances at the major league level, battling injuries along the way.

Things have pointed up since Nava reported to Triple-A, though, as Nava has compiled a .333/.390/.427 slash in 105 trips to the plate. That looks more like the peak 2013 big league numbers that Nava posted with the Red Sox.

While a return to his brief but plenty useful career-best campaign would be a lot to ask for, Kansas City is surely hopeful that Nava can provide a solid bench bat once rosters expand in a few days. The switch hitter has traditionally fared much better against right-handed pitching, so he’d most likely be utilized from the left side almost exclusively.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/29/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (except where otherwise noted):

  • The Braves have released backstop George Kottaras, who’ll re-enter the open market not long after he left it to join the Atlanta organization. Kottaras, 33, has only been at Triple-A Gwinnett for about six weeks, but his .196/.328/.294 batting line over 61 plate appearances wasn’t enough to warrant a lengthier stint. The veteran has seen action in seven major league campaigns, posting a useful .215/.326/.411 overall slash in 858 trips to the plate, but he hasn’t seen substantial time at the game’s highest level since 2013.
  • Outfielder Chris Dickerson has signed on with the Orioles on a minor league deal after sitting out the entire season to date. As Dan Connolly of Baltimore Baseball reports, the O’s seem to be looking for another possible major league piece from an unlikely place with this signing. Dickerson, 34, is still working back from shoulder surgery and hasn’t seen the majors since 2014. But he was hitting well before his injury last year, and VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette suggested that he could move into a “fifth outfielder” role at the major league level.
  • The Cubs have cut ties with left-handed reliever C.J. Riefenhauser, per Badler. The 26-year-oldhad briefly reached the majors in each of the last two years. But he was having trouble at the Triple-A level with the Chicago organization, compiling a 4.55 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 over 27 2/3 innings.
  • Left-hander Jason Gurka has been released by the Rockies. He was bombed in brief stints at the majors in each of the last two seasons. But the results were much more promising at Triple-A, where Gurka had a solid campaign in 2015 and was largely lights out this year. In his 21 1/3 innings, he racked up 31 strikeouts against just six walks and permitted only four earned runs.

Gerrit Cole Placed On DL Due To Elbow Inflammation

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The Pirates announced that ace Gerrit Cole has been placed on the disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 25, with “posterior inflammation of the right elbow.” Left-hander Steven Brault is up from Triple-A Indianapolis and will assume Cole’s spot in the rotation against the Cubs tonight.

[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates depth chart]

This will be the second DL stint of the season for Cole, who missed just over a month earlier this summer when he was diagnosed with a strained right triceps. The fourth-place finisher in last year’s National League Cy Young voting, Cole hasn’t looked like himself since being activated from that initial trip to the disabled list, pitching to a 4.73 ERA and yielding 57 hits in 45 2/3 innings. Overall, he’s posted a 3.55 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 46.1 percent ground-ball rate in 114 innings. All of those rates have gone the wrong direction from last season’s masterful numbers, though there’s been very little loss of velocity for Cole.

Brault, 24, will join the Bucs for the second time this season. Originally acquired from the Orioles in the 2015 Travis Snider trade, Brault allowed four earned runs in 10 innings across a pair of starts earlier this season and has enjoyed a solid season at the Triple-A level as well. In 75 1/3 minor league innings this year, Brault has recorded a 3.70 ERA with a career-best 10.3 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 to go along with a 41.5 percent ground-ball rate.

The loss of Cole is a tough break for a Pirates team that is presently just a half-game back from the Cardinals in the race for the second National League Wild Card spot. However, the struggles of Pittsburgh’s ace over the past several weeks have arguably been more detrimental, and if a short-term layoff allows him to right the ship prior to a theoretical postseason run, the club could come out ahead in the long haul.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Ivan Nova

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We typically think of trade deadline winners and losers being teams, not players, but if September goes as August has, there will have been few bigger trade deadline winners than Ivan Nova. The righty spent years on the fringes of the Yankees’ rotation, but now could hit the open market as a hot commodity after what could turn out to have been a very useful makeover in the Pirates organization.

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at San Francisco GiantsIn 97 1/3 innings with the Yankees this season, little went right for Nova. He posted a 4.90 ERA, with a reasonable 6.9 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 but with a stratospheric 1.8 HR/9, and he made only 15 starts while also pitching six times out of the bullpen. He then headed to Pittsburgh in a little-noticed August 1 deal for two players to be named.

Nova figured to perform better with the Pirates, since he was moving to the more pitcher-friendly league and since it’s considerably easier to limit home runs at PNC Park than it is in Yankee Stadium. A.J. Burnett finished his career as a minor hero in Pittsburgh after an uneven tenure in New York, and Nova seemed likely to benefit from the same team change.

The Pirates organization’s reputation for fixing pitchers also figured to help Nova. That reputation has taken a bit of a hit this year with the struggles of Jon Niese, Francisco Liriano and others, but the past successes of J.A. Happ, Edinson Volquez, Mark Melancon, Liriano and Burnett all made Nova’s move look promising.

Since the deal, Nova has greatly exceeded expectations, posting a 2.87 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and only one walk in 31 1/3 innings. It appears the Pirates have helped Nova throw more strikes, and he’s done so with gusto, perhaps in part because he doesn’t have to worry as much about the ball flying out of the stadium if he makes a mistake. Nova’s performance since joining the Pirates looks likely to dramatically improve his standing in the coming offseason.

Of course, it’s still just 31 1/3 innings. There’s time for Nova to falter, and even if he doesn’t, teams perhaps will think twice before making a significant commitment this winter based on only two months of data. But Nova seems likely to benefit from the precedent Happ established last year.

Like Nova, Happ was a fringe starter who joined the Pirates on a forgettable deadline deal and immediately morphed into a completely different pitcher, posting a 1.89 ERA, 9.8 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh. Better still, he signed with the Blue Jays for three years and $36MM last offseason and continued to perform well with his new team, posting a 3.19 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 155 1/3 innings so far with the Jays. A number of other pitchers who’ve righted their ships in Pittsburgh have enjoyed varying degrees of success elsewhere as well, including Volquez, Jason Grilli, Jeanmar Gomez and Vance Worley. This winter, then, teams will have reason to gamble that Nova will continue to contribute, particularly since he’s only 29.

The next month will be crucial for Nova, and there will be a wide range of possibilities for him in the offseason depending on how he pitches the rest of the year. It might turn out that his first five starts with the Pirates were partially a fluke. This wouldn’t be the first strong, but inconsequential, month he’s ever had — for example, from April 20 through May 19 of this season, he posted a 2.49 ERA while only walking two batters in 25 1/3 innings. But another good month would go a long way toward convincing potential suitors that Nova is for real. If he does continue to pitch well, Nova and his representatives at the Legacy Agency will surely point to Happ’s performance as evidence that small samples can matter. Rich Hill’s performance this year after a handful of outstanding starts with the Red Sox last season will be a good data point for them as well.

Teams will be eager to believe the story Nova will be telling, too, because so little good pitching will be available on the open market. In a free agent market that will be highlighted by pitchers with serious question marks related to age or performance (the key names include Hill, Andrew Cashner, Bartolo Colon, Jeremy Hellickson and Doug Fister), a pitcher who might be the next Happ would stand out in a big way. The fact that the Pirates can’t tag Nova with a qualifying offer will only help his value as well. Volquez got two years and $20MM from the Royals prior to the 2015 season, but if Nova continues to pitch well, he seems likely to get significantly more, given that he’s been better than Volquez was with the Bucs and given the weakness of the market. A three-year deal a long the lines of the one Happ received looks like a real possibility if he can repeat his August excellence. It looks relatively likely, then, that Nova’s performance since the trade will have more than doubled the payday he’ll ultimately receive.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hisashi Iwakuma’s 2017 Option Likely To Vest

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Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma quietly surpassed 162 innings last week in a start against the Yankees, meaning he has now crossed the minimum innings threshold for his 2017 club option to vest at $14MM. However, MLBTR has learned that Iwakuma’s contract also stipulates that he must finish the season without incurring a specific injury, so while he’s now likely to see his option vest, the 2017 salary is not quite guaranteed just yet.

The specific nature of the injury that Iwakuma must avoid remains unknown, though concerns about his health submarined what would’ve been a three-year, $45MM contract with the Dodgers this past offseason. (He instead re-signed in Seattle on a one-year, $12MM deal with a pair of options for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.) The 35-year-old has avoided the disabled list entirely this season, however, so he’s certainly in the clear at the moment. In fact, not only has Iwakuma avoided the disabled list, he’s been far and away the healthiest member of the Seattle rotation. No other Mariners starter is within 40 innings of Iwakuma’s 163 frames, as each of Felix Hernandez, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton and Nate Karns has spent time on the disabled list. In his 163 innings, Iwakuma has pitched to a solid 3.81 ERA, though a number of his secondary statistics have trended in the wrong direction, including his strikeout rate (6.5 K/9), walk rate (2.0 BB/9), ground-ball rate (39.8 percent) and average fastball velocity (87.8 mph).

Iwakuma’s innings count for the remainder of the season is worth keeping an eye on as well, as his volume of innings in 2016 could impact his contract status for 2018. Assuming his 2017 option ends up vesting, Iwakuma’s 2018 option will vest at $15MM if he is able to throw a combined 324 innings between 2016-17. As it stands, he needs 161 innings next year to lock in that $15MM payday in 2018, though every inning he tosses in the final stages of the 2016 season will bring him a small step closer to that goal.

Iwakuma’s contract also contains plenty of incentives for the 2016 season, and he’s already begun reaching them. He took home $500K for reaching the 150-inning mark and is owed an additional $500K for every 10th inning he pitches after that mark, up to 190 innings. In other words, he’s already earned $1MM worth of incentives and could push that up to a total of $2.5MM if he throws another 27 innings, which looks quite likely. Those incentives will not be a part of his contract in 2017-18 if those options vest (though they would be in the event that his options fail to vest, and the club exercises the option anyway).

Orioles Option T.J. McFarland, Designate Julio Borbon For Assignment

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AUG. 29: The Orioles announced today that McFarland has been optioned to Triple-A, meaning he’s been placed on the 40-man roster once again. It’s a fairly rare procedure, but McFarland had to technically be designated for assignment in order to clear optional waivers. Players that have options remaining but made their big league debut more than three years ago must first clear optional waivers before going to a minor league affiliate.

MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko wrote this morning that McFarland would likely be placed on optional waivers, but Borbon’s DFA is a traditional one. The team is hoping he’ll clear waivers and accept an outright assignment.

AUG. 28: The Orioles have designated left-hander T.J. McFarland and outfielder Julio Borbon for assignment, per a club announcement. They’ve also confirmed the signing of right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter and recalled fellow righty Oliver Drake from Triple-A Norfolk.

McFarland still has minor league options remaining, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets, but that didn’t stop the Orioles from designating him. The 27-year-old has endured a season to forget, having logged a 6.93 ERA, 2.55 K/9 and 3.65 BB/9 in 24 2/3 innings despite a 60.2 percent ground-ball rate. From 2013-15, McFarland amassed 105 appearances and compiled a 3.89 ERA, 6.12 K/9, 3.06 BB/9 and 60.8 percent grounder rate across 173 2/3 frames.

Borbon, 30, has spent most of the year with Double-A Bowie and has racked up just 15 major league plate appearances as a result. Those were the first trips to the plate in the majors since 2013 for Borbon, who has mostly been at the Triple-A level over the past couple years. Borbon has hit .273/.318/.347 with eight home runs and 47 steals in 878 major league PAs.

Which Of These Free Agents Will Get Four-Year Deals?

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Last offseason, 14 players received free agent contracts of four or more years, excluding international signings.  Some of the borderline guys, like Ben Zobrist and Darren O’Day, successfully obtained the guaranteed fourth year.  Others, such as Yoenis Cespedes and Daniel Murphy, were not able to get there, at least at an acceptable salary.  This winter, Cespedes and elite relievers Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen seem locks for four-plus years.  Everyone else, not so much.  Here are 13 cases to consider, and vote on:

  • Edwin Encarnacion, 34 years old in January.  Encarnacion is having a great season, sitting second in MLB with 36 home runs.  He’s hit 34+ home runs in each of the last five seasons.  His market will likely be limited to the American League, though there is precedent with Nelson Cruz’s four-year, $57MM deal.  Encarnacion is facing a lawsuit alleging he knowingly infected a woman with multiple STDs in February.
  • Ian Desmond, 31 in September.  Desmond has reinvented himself as the Rangers’ center fielder, though he has struggled offensively this month.
  • Jose Bautista, 36 in October.  Bautista recently finished his second DL stint of the year, and his production has been down this season.  He’s the oldest player in this poll.
  • Mark Trumbo, 31 in January.  Trumbo leads MLB with 40 home runs, but he also sports a .317 on-base percentage and has struggled on defense.
  • Wilson Ramos, turned 29 this month.  The Nationals’ catcher has age on his side, and is in the midst of a breakout season.
  • Justin Turner, 32 in November.  Zobrist signed his deal heading into his age-35 season, so surely his contract will be considered a precedent by Turner’s agent.  Turner has set a career-high with 24 home runs already, and is headed toward a career best in games played.
  • Neil Walker, 31 in September.  After being traded to the Mets in December, Walker is having the best season of his career.  Chase Headley’s four-year, $52MM deal with the Yankees in December 2014 suggests Walker can reach the same term.
  • Dexter Fowler, 31 in March.  Fowler ranks eighth in the NL with a .389 OBP, though a June hamstring injury may keep him shy of 130 games played for the third time in the last four years.
  • Michael Saunders, 30 in November.  Like Desmond, Saunders has re-established himself but scuffled in August.  As with a few others on this list, Saunders’ injury history will give teams pause.
  • Josh Reddick, 30 in February.  Reddick once seemed like a lock for four years, but he missed time earlier this year due to a broken thumb and has been terrible since joining the Dodgers in a deadline deal.  It’s fair to question whether four years will be on the table for him.
  • Mark Melancon, 32 in March.  Though not as dominant with strikeouts as Chapman and Jansen, Melancon has a 1.75 ERA in 272 innings since 2013, and he’s been great for the Nationals.  His agent will at least aim for four years.
  • Jeremy Hellickson, 30 in April.  Hellickson is one of the best free agent starters available this winter, and the weak market and his relative youth could theoretically push him to a four-year deal.
  • Ivan Nova, 30 in January.  Nova is a long shot for four years, but he’s been great since coming over to the Pirates, and teams can act irrationally in free agency.

Your turn: which of these free agents will get four or more years?  Check all that apply, and click here to view the results.  Those using our app or Safari on their cell phone can click here for the poll.

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Drew Stubbs Rejects Outright Assignment From Rangers

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The Rangers announced this afternoon that outfielder Drew Stubbs has rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A following his recent DFA. The 31-year-old has been placed on irrevocable waivers and will be a free agent if he clears. The timing of the move should give Stubbs the opportunity to latch on with a team in advance of Sept. 1, so he could potentially sign with a new team and remain postseason-eligible.

Stubbs has seen limited action with the Rangers and Braves this season but fairly well in that time, batting .259/.343/.414 with three homers in 67 plate appearances. While that’s a marked improvement over 2015’s ugly .195/.283/.382 slash in 140 plate appearances between the Rockies and Rangers, Stubbs’ 27 strikeouts in 2016 (40 percent of his plate appearances) remain concerning. Making consistent contact has never been his strong suit, and it’s led to some unsightly numbers at the plate throughout his career. Stubbs did enjoy an outstanding 2014 campaign, during which he batted .289/.339/.482 with 15 homers and 20 steals, but a great deal of that production looks to have been aided by Coors Field (.999 OPS at home, .616 on the road that year).

All told, Stubbs is a career .244/.314/.396 hitter that can play all three outfield positions and handles left-handed pitching quite well (.275/.349/.449). With a bit of speed and power as well as the capability of playing center field, he could make an attractive fourth or fifth outfielder for a club over the final month of the season.

Mariners Sign Al Alburquerque To Minors Deal

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Right-hander Al Alburquerque has signed a minor league contract with the Mariners, as was first reported by Triple-A broadcaster Mike Curto last week (Twitter link). The longtime Tigers reliever spent the majority of the 2016 season with the Angels but was released on Aug. 13.

Alburquerque, 30, logged a 3.80 ERA with a 26-to-13 K/BB ratio and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate in 23 2/3 innings with the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake this season. Alburquerque also tossed two innings for the Angels at the Major League level this year, allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks with a strikeout. He’s appeared in a pair of games for Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate and will hope to earn a promotion to the big league level when rosters expand on Thursday.

While Alburquerque hasn’t pitched much in the Majors this year, he was a regular contributor to the Detroit bullpen from 2011-15, continually demonstrating an ability to rack up strikeouts but also consistently showing below-average control. In 225 innings as a member of the Tigers, Alburquerque posted a very solid 3.20 ERA and averaged an impressive 11 strikeouts per nine innings, but he also averaged five walks per nine innings pitched over the life of his Tigers career. If he does end up making an appearance on the Mariners’ roster next month, Seattle will have the ability to control him through the 2017 season if desired, as he’s currently just shy of five years of big league service (a September call-up would push him over the threshold).

Mike Leake Placed On 15-Day Disabled List

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The Cardinals announced this morning that right-hander Mike Leake has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 22, due to shingles. Lefty reliever Dean Kiekhefer has been called up from Triple-A Memphis to take his spot on the roster.

Leake has been dealing with shingles for the past week or so, and manager Mike Matheny said yesterday that the team was considering a possible DL stint (via MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch). Top prospect Alex Reyes, who had been pitching out of the bullpen in his first taste of Major League action, started in Leake’s place on Saturday and could continue to get a look in that role with Leake now out until at least Sept. 6. By making the move to place Leake on the disabled list now, the Cardinals are able to add an extra arm to their bullpen now rather than waiting until rosters expand on Thursday.

Leake will join fellow righty Michael Wacha on the disabled list, meaning that the Cardinals will temporarily be reliant upon a pair of rookies — Reyes and right-hander Luke Weaver — in their rotation as they look to cling to a half-game lead over the Pirates in a competitive race for the second National League Wild Card spot. (The Marlins and Mets are each within 2.5 games of that Wild Card berth as well.) Leake had been doing some of his best work of the season prior to coming down with the virus, having rattled off three consecutive quality starts including a scoreless seven-inning gem on Aug. 21. It’s been an up and down season for the 28-year-old, who has totaled a 4.56 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 1.4 BB/9 and a 54 percent ground-ball rate in 152 innings. Lackluster ERA notwithstanding, Leake’s strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates have all improved over the 2016 season, leading to considerably more favorable reviews from ERA estimators like FIP (3.88), xFIP (3.73) and SIERA (3.87). He’s in the first season of a five-year, $80MM contract signed with St. Louis this past offseason.

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