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Red Sox Tried To Acquire Wade Davis From Royals

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Before Boston acquired reliever Tyler Thornburg from Milwaukee on Tuesday, the Red Sox made a run at then-Kansas City closer Wade Davis, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI. Corner infielder Travis Shaw was the major league headliner the Red Sox surrendered for Thornburg, but he wasn’t enticing enough to the Royals in a Davis deal, a source told Bradford. The Royals instead preferred now-former Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler, whom they acquired for Davis in a one-for-one swap on Wednesday.

[RELATED: Thornburg, MLBTR contributor Burke Badenhop chat about the trade]

Landing Davis would have given the Red Sox two of the majors’ most proven closers in him and Craig Kimbrel, though the former has more setup experience and likely would have served in that role in Boston. Davis has been dominant since 2014, his first year as a full-time reliever, but picking up him instead of Thornburg would have put a greater dent in the payroll of a Red Sox franchise that’s trying to stay under the $195MM luxury-tax threshold. The 31-year-old Davis would have cost the team $10MM in 2017, the last season of his contract, while Thornburg is set to rake in a much more modest salary (an estimated $2.2MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) in his age-28 campaign. Thornburg is controllable through 2019 via arbitration and could potentially give the Red Sox a top-caliber setup man over the next three seasons. While he doesn’t have Davis’ track record, Thornburg is nonetheless coming off a breakout year, having recorded a 2.15 ERA, 12.09 K/9 and 3.36 BB/9 across a career-high 67 innings.

As is often the cases with pitchers, both relievers carry health risks: Davis was on the disabled twice last season because of forearm and flexor strains, and the Brewers shut down Thornburg early in 2014 on account of a UCL injury that nearly led to Tommy John surgery.

Meanwhile, that the Royals went for the upside play in Soler over Shaw is understandable. The soon-to-be 25-year-old Soler’s also younger (2017 will be Shaw’s age-27 season), though he comes with less control. Shaw won’t be a free agent until after the 2021 season, and he has two pre-arbitration years remaining, whereas Soler can hit the open market at the end of the 2020 campaign. He can also opt into arbitration beginning next winter, which seems likely if he comes closer to realizing his vast potential. For now, though, the Cuba native is due a modest $15MM over the remainder of the nine-year, $30MM contract he signed with the Cubs in 2012.

AL Notes: Holliday, Chapman, Royals, Sox

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The newest member of the Yankees’ lineup, outfielder/designated hitter Matt Holliday, clearly didn’t enjoy his 93-game stint with the Athletics in 2009. Included in the one-year, $13MM deal Holliday signed with New York is the ability to block a trade to one team – the A’s – tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Acquiring Holliday from the Rockies in November 2008 cost the A’s reliever Huston Street and, more painfully, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. Former big-time first base prospect Brett Wallace headlined the package the A’s received from St. Louis for Holliday in July 2009, but Wallace never played a game for Oakland. The A’s dealt him to Toronto for now-former big league outfielder Michael Taylor (not to be confused with the member of the Nationals) the next offseason.

More from the American League:

  • One of Holliday’s new teammates, closer Aroldis Chapman, also has a unique no-trade clause in the record-breaking contract he signed with the Yankees on Wednesday. Chapman can block a deal to Oakland and all other West Coast-based teams (Twitter link), and he explained his reasoning to ESPN’s Marly Rivera. “I just didn’t want to go that far from my family. I did have the opportunity to stay here near my house (in Florida, playing with the Miami Marlins) but no, I leaned more towards (going to) New York,” said Chapman.
  • The Royals have expressed interest in free agent reliever Greg Holland, per FanRag’s Jon Heyman, who adds that he’ll likely end up out of their price range (Twitter link). Of course, the Royals organization is the only one Holland has been a member of to this point. A 10th-round pick in 2007, Holland made his major league debut in 2010 and soon turned into one of the majors’ premier relievers. Unfortunately, the two-time All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery in October 2015 – shortly before the Royals won their first World Series since 1985 – and missed their playoff run that year and all of last season as a result.
  • In their discussions that led to the Chris Sale trade, the White Sox pressed the Red Sox to include top third base prospect Rafael Devers in a potential package, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). Unwilling to move Devers, Boston compromised by including both right-hander Victor Diaz and outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe. The 20-year-old Devers is MLB.com’s 20th-ranked prospect, while Baseball America placed him 41st on its midseason list.

Blue Jays Rumors: Encarnacion, Catchers, Bullpen

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The latest on Toronto:

  • The Blue Jays continue to monitor and stay in touch with free agent first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Encarnacion’s preference is to re-sign with the Jays, but he’s talking less with them than he is with other teams, per Heyman. Notably, Toronto general manager Ross Atkins expressed pessimism Wednesday about re-upping Encarnacion. While the 33-year-old’s market has seemingly shrunk in the past week, agent Paul Kinzer isn’t worried that Encarnacion will have difficulty securing a sizable contract – whether with the Jays or another team. “Not only is he the best player in this class, he’s one of the best in baseball,” Kinzer told Heyman. “We’re going to be fine. He and I are patient. He’s good” (Twitter links here).
  • Having lost left-handed setup man Brett Cecil to the Cardinals, the Blue Jays are on the hunt for a southpaw reliever, leading to interest in Jerry Blevins, Mike Dunn and Javier Lopez, report Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi. However, the contracts given to Cecil (four years, $30.5MM) and fellow lefty Marc Rzepczynski (two years, $11MM) have perhaps driven up the prices for Blevins, Dunn and Lopez, meaning the Jays could scour the trade market for a cheaper option than free agency offers, Nicholson-Smith and Davidi observe.
  • Along with Chris Iannetta, fellow free agent catchers Bobby Wilson and Geovany Soto are on Toronto’s radar, write Nicholson-Smith and Davidi. The Blue Jays are looking for someone to back up Russell Martin, whose 2016 reserves – Josh Thole and Dioner Navarro – are also on the open market.

Rockies Looking To Acquire Pitching

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With Ian Desmond now in Colorado and free agent slugger Mark Trumbo a candidate to join him, the Rockies may soon have a surplus of quality position players. Center fielder Charlie Blackmon’s name was already in the rumor mill before the Rockies agreed to a five-year, $70MM deal with Desmond on Wednesday, so the odds of the team moving him have perhaps increased since. General manager Jeff Bridich responded to that Wednesday, telling reporters – including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post – that the Rockies “have not had any intention of trading” Blackmon. At the same time, he didn’t rule it out.

“As I’ve said before, we’re just going to keep our ears open and eyes open,” said Bridich. “That’s just part of the business.”

If the Rockies do deal Blackmon, odds are they’ll try to acquire starting pitching in return – especially if they sign Trumbo. Picking him up would likely push Desmond from first base to an outfield that, in addition to Blackmon, currently includes Carlos Gonzalez, David Dahl and Gerardo Parra. But Colorado fully intends to play Desmond at first, sources told Saunders, which could certainly affect both Trumbo and Blackmon. Regardless, the Rockies are indeed searching for a high-end starter, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), and acquiring a major rotation piece would have to come via trade thanks to the weakness of this year’s free agent class. One front-line starter in whom the Rockies have interest is Toronto right-hander Marcus Stroman, but the Blue Jays are unwilling to swap him for Blackmon, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network (Twitter link).

Although the Blue Jays are in need of outfield help, something Blackmon would certainly provide, their reluctance to part with Stroman isn’t particularly surprising. After all, Stroman exceeded the 200-inning barrier and posted a 60.1 percent ground-ball rate in 2016, and ERA estimators like FIP (3.71), xFIP (3.41) and SIERA (3.62) indicated that he deserved better than his 4.37 ERA. Moreover, the 25-year-old Stroman is far younger than Blackmon, 30, and is under team control for longer. Stroman is set to make his first of four possible trips through arbitration this offseason, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $3.5MM award. Blackmon, meanwhile, is two years from free agency and will make an estimated $9MM in 2017 after slashing .324/.381/.552 with 29 home runs and 17 stolen bases in 641 plate appearances last season.

Whether or not the Rockies land another starter, Bridich reiterated Wednesday that they’re pushing to improve their bullpen, which was among the majors’ worst last season. With their top southpaw from 2016, Boone Logan, now on the open market, the Rockies have turned some of their attention to fellow left-handed free agent reliever Mike Dunn (via Thomas Harding of MLB.com).

“We’ve looked at just about every free-agent reliever, and with him being in the National League, we’ve seen him a number of times and there’s some level of familiarity there,” Bridich said of the longtime Marlin. “And he’s still available. He’s somebody, to a certain degree, we’re paying attention to.”

The Rockies are also in on right-hander Brad Ziegler, with Bridich telling Harding, “He’s certainly a good pitcher, and with how many times we’ve seen him and faced him, we feel like we know him real well.” 

As Bridich pointed out, the Rockies are familiar with Ziegler, who was with the NL West rival Diamondbacks from 2010 until they traded him to Boston last July. Given his grounder-heavy ways (a 66.3 percent rate over 596 2/3 career innings), the 37-year-old Ziegler would seemingly be a solid fit at home run-happy Coors Field. He also has experience as a closer, having amassed 52 saves over the past two seasons, and would be a strong bet to serve in that role with the Rockies.

Rangers, Pirates Interested In Tyson Ross

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The Padres non-tendered Tyson Ross last week in lieu of paying the injured right-hander an estimated $9.6MM via arbitration in 2017. Now a free agent, Ross is looking for similar money – $9MM to $11MM – on a one-year deal, and that likely doesn’t include incentives, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).

Having already added ex-Padre Andrew Cashner to their rotation this offseason, the Rangers have “done significant homework” on Ross, sources told Grant (via Twitter). A healthy Ross would fill out Texas’ rotation on paper, giving the reigning American League West champions a group consisting of him, Cashner, Martin Perez, Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels.

Like Darvish and Hamels, Ross has front-line ability, having logged a 3.03 ERA, 9.35 K/9, 3.58 BB/9 and 59.2 percent ground-ball rate in 391 2/3 innings from 2014-15. However, the soon-to-be 30-year-old spun only 5 1/3 frames last season – all of which came on opening day – because of shoulder issues. Ross underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in October, and the expectation is that he’ll recover sometime between February and April.

Along with the Rangers, the Pirates have shown interest in Ross, reports Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). While Ross would give the Pirates and ballyhooed pitching coach Ray Searage an interesting reclamation project, his health troubles could make his asking price problematic for the low-payroll franchise. Nevertheless, with Ivan Nova perhaps set to leave Pittsburgh as a free agent and 2016 innings leader Jeff Locke now a Marlin after the Pirates non-tendered him, the club has obvious holes in its rotation. Clearly cognizant of that, the Pirates have checked in on a few other starters – including Doug Fister, Jorge De La Rosa, Derek Holland and the Rays’ Jake Odorizzi –  at this week’s winter meetings.

Outfield Trade Notes: Bruce, Hamilton, Jankowski

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It’s well known that the Mets would like to make a trade, particularly a trade involving Jay Bruce, since the team currently has an abundance of outfielders. But the Mets are adamant that they receive a player in return who will help them, rather than just a fringe prospect and relief from Bruce’s 2017 salary, Newsday’s Marc Carig writes. “It does put you in a different situation, and it affects other clubs’ expectations and it affects our expectations,” says GM Sandy Alderson. “But it only takes interest by two or three teams in a player to overcome all of that. That’s why we don’t jump at the first opportunity.” The Mets have received trade offers for Bruce, Carig writes, but they’ve mostly been proposals for salary dumps. Here are a couple more quick trade notes involving outfielders.

  • Before acquiring Adam Eaton, the Nationals spoke to the Reds about a trade involving center fielder Billy Hamilton, ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes. The Nats came away feeling, though, that the Reds are in no rush to make a deal. As we noted yesterday, the Reds believe Hamilton hasn’t peaked yet and would have a hard time replacing his defense. For the Nats, a Hamilton trade surely wouldn’t have been the blockbuster deal the Eaton one was — Hamilton’s speed obviously is spectacular, but his struggles to hit surely would have limited his value. He also has only three years of control remaining, compared to Eaton’s five.
  • Manager Andy Green confirms that other teams have contacted the Padres about outfielder Travis Jankowski, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America tweets. We noted yesterday that the Rangers had asked about Jankowski, with some writers speculating about a deal involving Jankowski and infielder Hanser Alberto. Since then, the Rangers have re-signed Carlos Gomez, which makes their need for outfield help less acute. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson tweeted today, though, that while the Rangers anticipated Gomez would play center field for them, they were still looking for center field help. So perhaps Jankowski could still be a fit in Texas, albeit a somewhat more speculative one. The Rays could also be a fit for Jankowski, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.

Mariners Designate Richie Shaffer For Assignment

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The Mariners have announced that they’ve designated infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer for assignment. The move clears roster space for incoming starting pitcher Chris Heston, who was acquired in a trade with the Giants that is now official.

The Mariners acquired Shaffer (along with Taylor Motter) in a small deal with the Rays last month. The 25-year-old Shaffer was the 25th overall pick in the draft in 2012. He’s spent parts of the past two seasons in the big leagues, batting .213/.310/.410 in 142 plate appearances. He was unimpressive in a larger sample this year at Triple-A Durham, batting .227/.329/.367 in 496 trips to the plate. He had a strong year on the farm in 2015, swatting 26 homers, and he’s capable of playing first base, third base or right field, so it’s not impossible a team could take a chance on him as a waiver claim.

Pirates, Nationals Discussed McCutchen Trade That Involved Giolito, Dunning

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Before the Nationals acquired Adam Eaton from the White Sox, the Pirates nearly traded Andrew McCutchen to Washington for Lucas Giolito, Dane Dunning and a third player, Jon Heyman of FanRag writes (Twitter links). The Pirates now expect to keep McCutchen, who will be at PirateFest in Pittsburgh Saturday. They will also move McCutchen from center field to a corner outfield spot.

Giolito and Dunning, of course, formed two-thirds of the White Sox’ return for Eaton, with another pitcher, Reynaldo Lopez, also heading Chicago’s way. The possibility of the Pirates dealing McCutchen to the Nationals had loomed for the past several weeks, although it became clear yesterday that the Nationals would not trade top outfield prospect Victor Robles for McCutchen or anyone else who wasn’t Chris Sale, who the Nats had just lost out on. It’s unclear whether Robles’ absence from the deal was the reason the McCutchen trade never happened, however.

 

Latest On Jose Quintana’s Market

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8:34pm: The Astros did, in fact, talk to the White Sox about Quintana, but have found the White Sox’ price to be too steep, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle writes. Kaplan notes that it’s unclear whether the Astros would have to give up Bregman to get Quintana, but notes that he doesn’t want to part with players who could help the Astros next season. “We’re just not prepared to trade away players that are core to our production in 2017, and those are sometimes the players that are required to get these deals done,” says GM Jeff Luhnow.

The Braves also asked about Quintana and thought the White Sox’ price was too high, writes David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The problem seems to be that the Braves don’t feel Quintana is as valuable as Sale was, even though Quintana is controllable for an extra year. “We don’t have needs in starting pitching,” says GM John Coppolella. “Do we want a No. 1 starter, is Chris Sale a No. 1 starter? Yes. Do we want Jose Quintana? I don’t think Jose Quintana is Chris Sale.”

8:51am: A day after trading Chris Sale to the Red Sox, the White Sox are now “in serious talks” with multiple teams about their other star left-hander Jose Quintana, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link).  The Astros and Nationals are two of the clubs involved in discussions.

The Astros were rumored to have interest in Sale, but Houston’s refusal to include Alex Bregman in any trade likely removed them from the bidding, given how Chicago was looking for only elite prospects for Sale (like maybe the game’s best prospect in Yoan Moncada).  The White Sox undoubtedly want quite a bit for Quintana as well, though their demands could be closer to the Astros’ comfort zone.

Houston has heavily bolstered its lineup this offseason with the additions of Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Josh Reddick, though Charlie Morton has been the only new face brought into a rotation that fell short of expectations in 2016.  The Astros have been creatively both shopping starters (Mike Fiers and Collin McHugh) while also looking at upgrades; in particular, Houston has often been linked to the Rays’ pitchers in trade talks, even dating back to last summer’s trade deadline.

The Nationals’ interest in Quintana is a bit harder to gauge.  While Nightengale and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman have both reported that the Nats were in on Quintana, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes have reported that Washington was only specifically interested in Sale, not in any other starting pitchers.  While the Nationals have a very good rotation already, Quintana (and his team-friendly contract that is extendable through 2020) could still be an upgrade.  Stephen Strasburg can opt out of his deal after the 2019 season, Gio Gonzalez is only controllable via a club option through 2018 and the Nats might simply see Quintana as a more proven commodity than youngster Joe Ross.  In fact, a controllable young starter like Ross would be a potential fit for a Quintana trade package.

While often overshadowed by Sale in Chicago, Quintana has rather quietly been a very durable and effective pitcher over his five years with the White Sox.  Quintana has a 3.41 ERA, 3.20 K/BB rate, 7.4 K/9 over 951 career innings, and over the last four seasons, he has generated 18.2 fWAR and averaged 204 innings per year.  An early-career extension has made Quintana even more of a valuable commodity, as he is owed just $14.35MM through 2018, plus $10.5MM club options for both 2019 and 2020 (with $1MM buyouts in each year).

Latest On The Cubs’ Bullpen

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The Cubs have already added Wade Davis and Brian Duensing to their bullpen, but they’re still trying to add depth, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. Ideally, they’d like to add another lefty, and they’ve been in touch with Travis Wood about returning.

But Wood’s agent, Darek Braunecker, says his client has attracted interest from seven NL teams, as ESPN’s Jesse Rogers noted today. Those clubs value Wood’s versatility and hitting ability (Wood has a career .182/.208/.314 line, strong for a pitcher), and Wood would also like another shot at starting, a chance he’s unlikely to get with the Cubs. So a return to Chicago is far from a certainty.

Another possibility for a left-handed addition to the Cubs’ bullpen is Jerry Blevins, who posted a 2.79 ERA, 11.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 42 innings in a specialist role for the Mets last season, Wittenmyer writes. And the Cubs remain interested in righty Greg Holland, the former Royals closer who’s returning from Tommy John surgery and should be fully healthy for Spring Training. The team could also consider adding a bullpen piece in tomorrow’s Rule 5 Draft.

In the meantime, the Cubs’ addition of Davis will bump Hector Rondon back into a setup role, even though Rondon has had success as a closer in parts of each of the last three seasons. Manager Joe Maddon, though, says Rondon understands the move.

“He understands Wade being there,” says Maddon. “He was great. I told him how much I respect him. And he’s all about the team. It’s just one of those things.”

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