5:16pm: Both clubs have announced the deal, making it official.
2:26pm: The Rays and Marlins have reportedly agreed to a trade that will send shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria from Miami to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league outfielder Braxton Lee and minor league right-hander Ethan Clark. The Rays will take on all of Hechavarria’s remaining salary.
Hechavarria, 27, has been out for more than a month due to a strained oblique muscle but is ready to return to the field. While he doesn’t bring much to the table from an offensive standpoint, he’ll dramatically improve the Rays’ infield defense whenever he’s on the field. The Rays have relied primarily upon Tim Beckham and Daniel Robertson at shortstop in 2017 due to the fact that projected starter Matt Duffy has missed the entire year to date with a heel injury that recently required minor surgery.
From 2015-16, Hechavarria posted excellent defensive marks at shortstop, grading out at +18 Defensive Runs Saved and a +24.1 Ultimate Zone Rating. However, while that superlative glovework was paired with a respectable .281/.315/.374 batting line in 2015, Hechavarria has slashed just .241/.283/.319 in 614 trips to the dish since that time. He’s also earning $4.35MM this season, which was reportedly the Marlins’ primary motivation for finding a trading partner.
The Rays will control Hechavarria for one more season via the arbitration process, if they’re so inclined. Retaining him would mean giving him a raise on that $4.35MM salary in arbitration, though his injury and lack of production at the plate will likely limit the size of the raise to a fairly nominal amount.
Exactly how Hechavarria fits into the mix for the Rays remains to be seen. While he looks like the clear favorite to play shortstop on an everyday basis for the time being, Tampa Bay will need to decide what to do with the combination of Backham, Robertson and, when he returns from the disabled list, Brad Miller — the latter of whom was the primary second baseman prior to getting injured. One of Beckham or Robertson seems likely to be sent out — Beckham is out of options, so Robertson seems likelier — but the eventual returns of Miller and Duffy will further crowd the infield mix.
As for the players that Miami will receive in return, neither Lee nor Clark entered the season rated among Tampa Bay’s top 30 prospects. Lee, a 12th-round pick out of the University of Mississippi back in 2014, is hitting .318/.387/.391 through 296 plate appearances in Double-A this season, although it’s his second season at that level and he’ll turn 24 in August, so he’s not especially young relative to the competition that he’s facing. That production has been buoyed by a .397 BABIP, though, and Clark has never shown any power, with just two homers in his pro career.
Clark, meanwhile, has a 3.11 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 39.9 percent ground-ball rate in 55 innings at Class-A Bowling Green. The former 15th-round pick (Crowder College, 2015) is 22 years of age, so he’s not young for the Class-A Midwest League, either.
For the Marlins, the move boils down to primarily a salary dump, as they’ll save $2.33MM by moving Hechavarria and the entirety of his contract. The trade likely opens up an everyday role for 25-year-old JT Riddle to attempt to establish himself as Miami’s new long-term shortstop, though Riddle has been mired in a dreadful slump at the plate and is currently batting just .230/.251/.354 with three homers, nine doubles and a triple through 173 big league plate appearances.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald first reported that Hechavarria was on the trade block, and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports added that he was likely to be traded in the very near future (via Twitter). ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that the Rays had made significant strides in getting a deal worked out (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweeted that the Rays were the front-runners. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted that Lee and Clark were involved in talks, and Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald broke the news (on Twitter) that the deal was done.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Thanks Hech. Good luck in TB.
That escalated quickly. Who knew Hechavarria was even on the block?
Ha
Lol, well done
Thank god it’s over this’ll save the writers on here 5 hours a day lol
Exactly, for the life of God, the most anticipated trade in recent memory is now complete! Coming soon…..how he is adapting to new team n city….stay tuned for more Adeiny watch, live as it happens….
that’s there job guys. just keep that in mind. they take time out of there day to write these articles. 🙂
Love their work, in my top 3 apps, just playful ribbin….like teasin ur brother, keep up the good, insightful writing!
I’m with LA Sam. Funny how long it took the Marlins to trade Hech… and how many articles readers like me clicked on obsessively in pursuit of closure.
Braxton Lee didn’t get the “hugline treatment” even though his game was ongoing as the trade was completed.
He was tossed for arguing a dropped fly ball call.
(He had the ball for long enough, but it fell out of his glove before the transfer. Lee and his managers were both tossed in the fourth.)
Honestly thought the Dodgers were going to get Braxton Lee for Cody Bellinger. I guess we’ll see if they made the right call 4-6 years from now. Best of luck to Braxton
Oh boy. It appears to be a buyers market this year on position players
There’s no market for shortstops who don’t come with several years of control.
Apparently there is, because this trade just happened.
For a couple of fringe prospects
$50 bucks or 50 cents you still bought something.
Show time!
Good upgrade in terms of fielding, but a dip in terms of hitting. I wonder if instead of taking Beckham’s spot, Beckham will be moved to 2B and Robertson sent back to Triple A.
A dip on hitting? He’s a better career hitter than Robertson who is a starter right now? Just say that’s who we are replacing and you add better defense and a little better bat and you’re already a plus in this trade. He’s better than what we have now at very little cost. Don’t see how this could go wrong
Already said Beckham will be new 2b and either featherston or Robertson to AAA and Hech is better than both of them so
Exactly, I’m a happy man after this trade!
Ditto!
Where are you getting Hechavarria being a better career hitter than Robertson? Robertson has an 86 wRC+ this year. Hechavarria’s career high in any season is an 87 wRC+ and he is sitting at 74 wRC+ this year and 70 wRC+ for his career.
I do agree that he should represent an upgrade over the likes of Featherston and Martinez as a UTIF who can truly handle SS. However, once the Rays start getting some of their MIF back from injury, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing Hech mostly playing SS against LHP and as a late inning defensive replacement.
I totally couldn’t disagree with you more. Maybe when Duffy comes back but they are talking they are hopeful he’ll be back sometime this year but we don’t even know that. Im young but I’m old school I don’t look at all those stupid overanalyzed numbers I know Robertson this year has consistently hit around .220 and hech hits better than .220 Idc if he walks more or whatever the hell that stats mean I don’t really care. Hech is a better hitter if he gets more hits. This new stat era is ridiculous just like all the older veterans say.
The way our assistant gm talked about hech they said he was too good to pass up and they weren’t even looking for a ss. He’s been the 4th best defensive ss in the game the past 4 years. Gold glove caliber. Why would you not want that everyday
How you look at the numbers doesn’t matter, how Cash looks at the numbers does, however.
Because any benefit you receive from his glove is then given back plus more from his bat. You may think that hitting the occasional single makes someone a good hitter, but most others understand that not making outs and hitting with more power is better.
Okay well not everyone is a power hitter and not everyone needs to be. We don’t need A hitters 1-9 those lineups don’t exist. Every team has a hit down, defense way up kinda guy. You don’t give it back with the bat because there’s 8 other guys who hit. A lazer shot to ss you want a better hitter right then or fielder because there’s no one else to pick him up it’s his play and he’s almost gold glove worthy so no I don’t care how he hits I want him fielding that grounder none of the other Rays can consistently. So his bat is forgiven
Good trade TB gave up very little and Miami just lost an asset
Oh my bad forgot about his contract
That’s not really expensive in today’s MLB though.
finally
Considering the Rays are eating the rest of his salary, its not a bad return. Lee looks like a 4th OF with good speed off the bench. The other kid is far away but has solid enough numbers. He’s at least a name to watch.
Yeah, the first domino falling for a franchise returning to championship glory rofl
FYI on the speed of Lee (23yo) – he is 12 and 10 in SB attempts this season after 13 and 10 last year.
The 10 CS this year in second most in the Southern League (behind 19yo Ronald Acuna, who has a much better success percentage), while the 10 last season put him in the Top-5 caughts. Overall the League average is at a 66% success rate on steals in 2017, so he seems to be a below average SB threat. That isn’t to say he has no speed, but he doesn’t look to be a runner despite TB seemingly trying to make him into one.
Instead his value seems to come almost exclusively from his CF Def, which simple numbers indicate is superb
Lee definitely has value defensively. Has a cannon for an arm
Sounds like he is a little better baserunning than Dee Gordon though
Was that meant sarcastically, or did you really hear that somewhere from someone?
It was meant sarcastically…as a Marlins fan, I can tell you…Dee Gordon is the worst baserunner I’ve ever seen in my life
It’s 2 mil. That’s chump change when people are getting 50 million plus for all defense play these days. Miami just totally botched this one
Adeiny is not a great hitter, but the Rays didn’t give up a lot for a guy that will play for them everyday from now, besides he can always improve offensively, if his OBP is around 310 he will be an acceptable shortstop, not a bad trade by the Rays.
It’s SHOWTIME tampa!!!
It’s showtime when we get some good bullpen help lol
I’m ok with the move if the Rays are good with the $$. The Rays haven’t had defensive stability at SS since Escobar left and Bartlett before him. Move Beckham to second and don’t let Miller back on the infield unless it’s first base.
Disappointed the Rays didn’t get a bullpen arm in the deal.
Hopefully we do before the deadline, and a lefty at that. Alvarado isn’t getting the job done and he is the only lefty we have.
Cedeno will be back early August so they may try to hold out and acquire a better righty to help out Diaz and hunter and then welcome cedeno back
Yeah. I feel like if we could go out and snatch up Diekman, that’d be really cool. I have no idea what it’d take to get him, but he’d be a great addition to our pen and is a lefty. I like Hunter, but I feel like Diaz is not reliable. I’d keep Diaz over Farquhar though honestly. But a Cedeno, Diekman, Hunter, Colome, and even when Boxberger is back, that’d be a nice pen…
With Boxberger coming back too, they could help. I’d like to see the Rays pursue somebody like Deikman. Adding a good lefty to Colome, Hunter, Cedeno, Boxberger could be really pretty nice!
Justin Wilson would be a nice add for them, I can see them winning the al east if they don’t sell on archer or cobb
I like that. Wilson could be another good reliever to go after.
Couldn’t agree more. I would’ve rather thrown in one bigger name prospect and gotten back Ramos or bearclaw and some money.
Good
I would have been so pissed if he became a padre
Right.. they are good as is.
Better than y’all offensively
I can’t tell if this is a joke or you’re trolling or just completely uninformed. Either way the Padres are nowhere near as good as the Rays offensively. The Rays average 1.3 more runs/game and have an OPS+ 32 points higher.
The rays are scrubs with the dbag for a manager and that ugly park
I cannot wait for the expos to come back
Come again? You guys are last in BA and on top of that the Rays are second in HRs…
What does that make your team? Agree about the manager though lol.
A Pads fan dissing the Rays? The only advantage they have over the Rays is the park. The Trop stinks but why the hate for Cash?
I think Cash is inexperienced. He seems to put some bad matchups late in the game. But that’s expected of a first time manager IMO. Down the road who knows how good he will be… I would’ve liked to see the Rays put Charlie Montoyo in the skipper’s office, but Cash should be a better manager soon!
Because he’s terrible
Cash tends to put his players into situations thay they aren’t prepared for in the hope yhat it’ll help their confidence. Problem is that it’s costing yhem several games so far. His bullpen mgmt stinks.
Agree Raysdaze… haven’t been to thrilled by his management. I’m still holding onto a sliver of hope, but that’s about it haha
Why do the Rays need Adeiny Hechavarria? Maybe the Rays want more offense than what Alcides Escobar and Jose Inglesias will provide but, with Zack Cozart seems like a much better option.
Price difference I’d imagine. It probably would’ve cost a bit more than these two prospects to land Cozart.
They get a good defensive player who in under contract at a reasonable price through the 2018 season. Cozart is a rental for just a few months and they would have had to give up real prospects to get him.
The Rays got Hechavarria for a couple of non-prospects, but picked up all of his salary. That’s a win for both teams. The Marlins, who are hemorrhaging cash, will get a $2 million break and the Rays will get a good defensive utility man.
Well, it’s been real having such a great defensive SS again. Thanks for the memories and the excitement, Hech. Another salary dump of a small amount of money…what a surprise. At least we get Rays baseball down here too, so I can watch Lomo have a good year, and still get to see Hech make some amazing plays at SS….
Meanwhile, we don’t have a SS now lol. Maybe they throw Dee Gordon out there and hope it works. If it did, maybe they could raise his value, and finally get rid of him
Sucks for Bex. IMO, he’s been a very pleasant surprise (see: Duffy, Matt) SS so far this year with everyday playing time. Maybe Miller’s worse off than expected? Regardless sucks for Bex to be short side platoon at 2nd when he’s been a relatively solid offensive and defensive producer this year.
Once Beckham comes back from injury, I don’t think this move affects the amount of playing time Beckham sees. I’m guessing the Rays will play Hech at SS and Bex at 2B against LHP and Bex at SS and Robertson at 2B against RHP. Once Miller returns, Robertson will get sent down and Miller will take his place at 2B against RHP.
Looks like a fair deal. A couple of middling prospects for a guy who’s a scratch above replacement level at the Major League level, and without much more room for growth.
Feels like this trade informally kicks off the trade season, that’s probably the biggest takeaway.
Is he going to the stone crabs first Steve?
Wrong Matt Duffy linked.
“That production has been buoyed by a .397 BABIP, though, and Clark has never shown any power, with just two homers in his pro career.”
It should read Lee… not Clark.
“and Clark has never shown any power, with just two homers in his pro career.”
Id consider 2 homers for a pitcher definite power production.
The Rays with 1/2 of their starting team including the entire middle defense on the DL as one of the best teams in the AL vs. the Tigers with all their star players in the lineup as the worst record in the AL.
The Rays look like they need a LHP or two in the pen or in the rotation.
What will the Rays OF alignment be when Kevin Kiermaier and Colby Rasmus return?
The Rays should call the Padres if they want to address that LHP vacancy in the pen or in the rotation. Ryan Buchter, Brad Hand and Clayton Richard could all help them stay in the race. Richard being the cheapest/most cost effective solution, could continue to start or come out of the pen, depending on what need is more warranted.
The Rays taking a page out of Toronto’s book. A younger Tulo, all defense with a limited bat! Maybe a change of scenery will help Adeiny out offensive wise.
Despite the fact that Matt Duffy has been out of commission the entire year, I still think the Rays got the better end of that deal with SF. Matt Moore just isn’t getting in done for the Giants.
Rays should have sent Moore to LA along with Archer for Cody Bellinger and Clayton Keyshawn
So it was minor league player for minor league players.