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Dodgers Designate Sergio Romo

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The Dodgers have designated righty Sergio Romo for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot was needed for the team’s activation of lefty Grant Dayton.

Romo, 34, moved south to Los Angeles over the winter after a nine-year run with the Giants. But things have not gone quite as hoped with the team he grew up rooting for.

Over 25 innings, Romo has coughed up 17 earned runs. While he’s generating plenty of strikeouts — 11.2 K/9 on a robust 14.8% swinging-strike rate — the veteran has also surrendered a dozen walks and seven home runs.

With only a $3MM salary, it’s conceivable another organization could take on some or all of his contract. Romo has mostly been outstanding over his MLB career, and still seems to carry most of the skills that have driven a lifetime 2.77 ERA. Whether or not a trade can be worked out, Romo figures to represent an interesting bounceback candidate for one of the many teams currently jockeying to add relief arms at the trade deadline.

For the Dodgers, it’s possible to see this decision as further indication that the team is lining up to grab a premium relief arm at the deadline. Whether or not that occurs, though, the talent-rich organization obviously felt good about the rest of its pen mix — particularly with the emergence of Brandon Morrow.

Rays Release Danny Farquhar

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The Rays have released righty Danny Farquhar, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He had previously been outrighted off of the 40-man roster and was pitching at Triple-A Durham.

Farquhar, 30, turned in a strong 2016 season with Tampa Bay, although he was quite prone to the long ball. But he stumbled in his first 35 frames in the current campaign. While Farquhar reversed the dinger problems, he allowed 5.7 free passes per nine while recording only 8.5 K/9 after topping eleven per nine in the prior year.

That said, there were reasons to hope for improvement. In particular, Farquhar was still getting swings and misses on over 14% of his pitches. But he went on to allow three earned runs and three walks over his four appearances at Durham.

The Rays are looking for relief options, but evidently felt Farquhar wasn’t a possible solution. In a move that likely holds at least some connection to today’s decision, the team just picked up Chaz Roe — who carries a generally similar profile — to stash at Triple-A. Other organizations, though, may still see the potential in Farquhar, who has at times been quite effective at the game’s highest level.

Rangers Designate Pete Kozma For Assignment

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The Rangers announced that they’ve activated Keone Kela from the disabled list and designated infielder Pete Kozma for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster.

The 29-year-old Kozma has appeared in 39 games between the Yankees and Rangers this year — his first big league action since the 2015 season in St. Louis. His offensive struggles have continued, though, as he’s batted a combined .111/.200/.178 through 51 plate appearances between those two clubs (41 with Texas). Kozma has always been a glove-first player, but teams have had a hard time justifying carrying his bat on the Major League roster (with the exception of the 2013 Cardinals).

In parts of six Major League seasons between the Cards, Yankees and Rangers, Kozma is a .212/.282/.285 hitter through 740 plate appearances.

2017-18 Qualifying Offer Expected To Be Worth Roughly $18MM

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Major League teams have been informed that the 2017-18 qualifying offer will be in the range of $18MM, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). More specifically, Olney notes that the exact value could end up being $18.1MM.

That figure would represent a $900K spike from last year’s $17.2MM qualifying offer value and, paired with changes to the qualifying offer system, would make it more difficult to extend such an offer to borderline free agents. The QO is calculated each year by determining the mean salary of the league’s top 125 players.

Under the 2012-16 collective bargaining agreement, any player who rejects a qualifying offer would then cost a new team its top unprotected draft pick upon signing. (The first 10 selections of the draft were protected on a yearly basis.) The team that lost the free agent would then receive a compensatory pick immediately following the first round.

The QO system has changed under the 2017-21 CBA, however, as the new default rule calls for the compensatory pick to land after the completion of Competitive Balance Round B. However, there are two exemptions to the rule:

  • If the team that lost said free agent paid the luxury tax in the preceding season, its compensation pick would fall in the after the completion of the draft’s fourth round.
  • Conversely, if the team that lost said free agent received revenue sharing in the preceding season and saw the free agent sign a contract worth a guaranteed $50MM or more, the compensation pick would be moved to the end of the first round.

The penalties that a club pays upon signing a player that rejected a QO have changed as well:

  • Any team that paid the luxury tax in the preceding season will forfeit its second- and fifth-highest draft selections in next year’s draft as well as $1MM of its international bonus pool in the upcoming period.
  • A team that did not exceed the luxury tax threshold but contributes to revenue sharing would forfeit its second-highesr draft pick as well as $500K of its upcoming international bonus pool.
  • A team that didn’t exceed the luxury tax and also received revenue sharing in the preceding season would forfeit only its third-highest pick in the next year’s draft.

The newly bargained agreement also stipulates that a player may receive a qualifying offer once and only once in his career, so any player that has previously received the QO is exempt, regardless of whether he accepted or rejected his first QO. Players that were traded or signed midseason also remain exempt from receiving a qualifying offer.

The increasing size of the qualifying offer will likely further limit the number of players that receive such an offer this winter, though there are certainly still a number of candidates. Yu Darvish is the easiest call among impending free agents (assuming he isn’t traded), while others such as Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Greg Holland all stand out as logical candidates (once Holland turns down his $15MM player option). Depending on the way in which their season finishes, players like Masahiro Tanaka and Jay Bruce could also emerge as considerations (though Bruce could well be traded, thus negating the issue).

Brewers Have Interest In Justin Verlander

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The Brewers have interest in Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander, reports Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter links). Milwaukee has been linked on multiple occasions to rotation pieces that it can control beyond the 2017 season, though there’s yet to be much of a serious connection to the longtime Detroit ace. Notably, Fenech adds that the Cubs are still monitoring Verlander and further reports that while the Astros have interest, their involvement in talks “has been minimal.”

Milwaukee is currently trailing the division-rival Pirates in today’s game and has seen its lead on the NL Central dwindle to 1.5 games with both the Cubs and Pirates on winning streaks. The Brewers have had a top-heavy rotation for much of the season, and that only became a truer statement when Chase Anderson, their second-best starter in 2017, landed on the disabled list with an oblique strain that is likely to sideline him into the month of August.

The obstacles standing in the way of a Verlander trade (to any club) are notable. Verlander is owed about $67MM through the end of the 2019 season and has a full no-trade clause that allows him to veto any trade scenario with which the Tigers approach him. He’s also in the midst of one of his worst big league seasons, although he’s been sharper over his past three outings, which may at least present scouts with some confidence that he’s rounding into form.

Whether that’s enough of a sample to convince any team — let alone a fairly low-payroll club like the Brewers — to take on a significant chunk of his remaining contract remains to be seen. The Tigers are reportedly willing to include “some” cash in a trade to help enhance the return they’d get, but they’d likely have to pay down a major chunk of the contract in order to both find a taker and receive meaningful prospects in return. The Brewers have a fairly clean slate when it comes to their long-term payroll outlook, with only Ryan Braun and Eric Thames on guaranteed contracts beyond the current season, but they do have quite a few important players up for arbitration raises this winter (including Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson, Jonathan Villar, Hernan Perez and Carlos Torres).

While it’s certainly possible that there’s some gamesmanship at play here — it’d behoove the Tigers to play up the interest of two closely competing division rivals, after all — the Brewers have been linked to controllable rotation help frequently enough that it’d almost be a surprise if they didn’t check in on the Verlander market and gauge the asking price. As for the Cubs, they’ve already acquired Jose Quintana from the White Sox, but there have been indications since that time that they’re still on the lookout for pitching help, and for a team with considerable payroll capacity and questions in their long-term rotation, the notion of acquiring Verlander and having some of his $28MM salary in 2018-19 offset undoubtedly holds appeal.

The Astros were said, as of this morning, to still be in the market for Verlander, though there have also been reports that talks between Houston and Oakland regarding Sonny Gray have begun to intensify. The Brewers and Astros have both also been linked to Tigers lefty Justin Wilson, meanwhile, as each team looks to upgrade its bullpen.

Pitching Market Rumors: Ramos, Wilson, Lynn, Reed

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With David Phelps now officially a Seattle Mariner, the Marlins could look to make AJ Ramos the next piece they deal. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that while the Fish had about 10 teams express interest in Phelps, they currently have three teams expressing serious interest in Ramos. One of those clubs appears to be the Rays, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Tampa Bay is among the clubs with interest in the Miami closer. Ramos has also been linked to the Rockies, and was previously linked to the Yankees and Nationals before each of those clubs acquired two relievers in a single trade. (Though the New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets that the Yankees never had any interest in him.)

Some more rumblings pertaining to the pitching market…

  • While the Nationals are in on Tigers left-hander Justin Wilson, they won’t part with top prospects Victor Robles, Juan Soto or Erick Fedde in a trade to acquire him, tweets MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal. Per Rosenthal, the Red Sox, Dodgers and Astros are all still in the mix for Wilson. Heyman tweets that the Rays are still looking at Wilson, to whom they were linked earlier this week, but at this point it seems that other teams are likelier to land him. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi, meanwhile, adds the Brewers to the substantial group of teams looking into Wilson (Twitter link).
  • USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the Royals are closely monitoring Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn to see if St. Louis makes him available between now and the deadline. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported earlier today that the Royals are looking around for not one but two rental starters to try to make one last run with their current core, and as a free agent at season’s end, Lynn would fit that mold. If the Royals are indeed watching, they probably didn’t mind what they saw today when Lynn tossed six innings of one-run ball against the Mets, though he did allow his 21st homer of the season, which is already far and away a career-high.
  • Newsday’s Marc Carig and ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick both hear that Addison Reed is drawing the most interest among Mets trade chips, though Carig notes that there’s nothing close to being completed at this time (Twitter links). The rumor circuit on Reed has been surprisingly quiet, though he’s been linked to the Yankees and Red Sox thus far. The 28-year-old Reed has tossed 45 excellent innings out of the New York bullpen, averaging 9.4 K/9 against a ridiculous 1.00 BB/9 with a 38.8 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 2.40 ERA. He’s logged a 2.02 ERA in 138 innings as a Met and is earning $7.8MM this season.

Mariners Acquire David Phelps

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12:02pm: The trade is now official, as the Marlins and Mariners have announced the swap.

10:40am: The Mariners and Marlins have reportedly agreed to a trade that will send right-handed setup man David Phelps from Miami to Seattle in exchange for a package of four prospects. Center field prospect Brayan Hernandez is the headliner, while the other names in the deal reportedly include right-handers Brandon Miller, Pablo Lopez and Lukas Schiraldi.

David Phelps | Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Seattle has been playing well of late, getting back to the .500 mark and drawing within 1.5 games of an American League Wild Card spot. However, the Mariners are also 15.5 games back from the Astros in the AL West, which has reportedly led them to look for assets that can be controlled beyond the current season, as their best playoff hope in 2017 is a one-game playoff.

[Related: Updated Seattle Mariners and Miami Marlins depth charts]

The 30-year-old Phelps fits the bill, in that sense, as he’s controlled through the 2018 campaign via arbitration. He’s earning $4.6MM in 2017, with about $1.86MM of that sum yet owed to him through season’s end.

The former Yankee initially went to Miami alongside Martin Prado as part of the trade that sent Nathan Eovaldi to New York. After spending much of his career as a starter and long reliever, Phelps’ career took off with a 2016 move to a late-inning role. The righty’s velocity ticked from the low 90s to an average in the 93-94 mph range, and he’s dramatically upped his strikeout rate while pitching in a setup capacity.

Dating back to Opening Day 2016, Phelps has worked to a 2.69 ERA with 11.1 K/9, 4.0 BB/9 and a 46.4 percent ground-ball rate through 133 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate is “down” in 2017, but he’s still averaging 9.8 punchouts per nine innings pitched. His arm will be a boost to a Mariners relief corps that currently ranks 13th in baseball with a 4.05 ERA but carries more troubling marks in both FIP (4.44) and xFIP (4.45). Those ERA alternatives come in at 25th and 21st in baseball, respectively, indicating that the Mariners are perhaps fortunate to have gotten the results they have out of their bullpen to date. (Then again, Seattle boasts a superlative defense, particularly in the outfield, so perhaps it should be expected that their pitchers would outperform fielding-independent metrics.)

The Seattle ’pen is currently anchored by sophomore closer Edwin Diaz, who has been inconsistent in 2017 but can overpower opposing lineups with a triple-digit fastball and one of baseball’s best strikeout rates. Nick Vincent has also been brilliant in Seattle, working to a 2.04 ERA in 39 2/3 innings, while southpaw James Pazos has averaged nearly 11 strikeouts per nine innings en route to a 3.68 ERA. Former Mariners closer Steve Cishek represents another right-handed option, but health has been an issue for him in recent years as his numbers have declined.

Beyond that, Seattle has seen some of its anticipated setup men, particularly right-hander Dan Altavilla, take a step back in 2017. Phelps figures to pick up some of that slack and will join Diaz, Vincent, Pazos, Cishek, Tony Zych and Marc Rzepczynski in the Mariner bullpen.

Hernandez is the big get for the Marlins in the deal. The 19-year-old ranked as one of the 10 best international free agents in the 2014-15 crop and inked a $1.85MM bonus with Seattle at the time. Hernandez split the 2016 season between the Dominican Summer League and the Rookie-level Arizona League, hitting a combined .278/.325/.425, and he’s off to a .252/.306/.408 start with the Mariners’ short-season Class-A affiliate.

Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com rank Hernandez as Seattle’ No. 6 prospect, noting that he flashes all five tools but is still projection over performance at the moment. He received 60 grades on his speed and arm from Callis and Mayo with a 55 on his glove, and their report notes that his overall offensive development will determine if he can reach his ceiling as an everyday center fielder. Baseball America rated him 16th among Seattle farmhands this past winter, agreeing that the defensive tools are impressive and praising his “solid, consistent contact” but also questioning his ability to generate power now or in the future.

The 22-year-old Miller has spent the season with the Mariners’ Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League, working to a 3.65 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 46.8 percent ground-ball rat in 101 innings/18 starts at that level. Callis and Mayo list his heater at 90-93 mph with good command of the pitch and give him credit for a plus slider, though reports indicate that he lacks an average third offering and could be destined for a bullpen role. He ranked 16th among Mariners prospects, per MLB.com, while BA pegged him 25th among Seattle prospects this offseason. Both reports tout his fastball’s exceptional spin rate. If all breaks right, Miller could pan out as a back-of-the-rotation starter.

Lopez is a 21-year-old starter that has spent the year in Class-A Advanced. While his 5.02 ERA through 100 innings doesn’t look appealing, he’s posted an excellent 89-to-13 K/BB ratio with a 49 percent ground-ball rate, creating some optimism that he’s been hit with some poor luck. (A .341 BABIP lends further credence to that notion.) MLB.com placed him 22nd in Seattle’s system and gave him three average offerings (fastball, curveball, changeup) but no plus pitch. He was 31st on BA’s offseason rankings, and their report notes that he has a 2014 Tommy John surgery in his history but is a “supreme strike-thrower” with impressive ground-ball tendencies.

Schiraldi comes from good baseball genes, as his father, Calvin, played in the Majors for parts of eight seasons with the Mets, Red Sox, Padres, Cubs and Rangers. The younger Schiraldi didn’t crack any Mariners top prospect rankings but has a gaudy 15.2 K/9 rate in 37 1/3 innings of work at Class-A Advanced. However, he’s also not particularly young for the level at 23 years of age, and he’s worked to a 4.58 ERA with a 6.5 BB/9 rate.

Ultimately, the Marlins will secure four players in exchange for a year and a half of a quality setup man while also saving a bit of cash for the remainder of the 2017 season. While it’s tempting to look at the sheer volume of players and wonder how this will impact the market for other relievers — especially those that are controlled beyond the 2017 season, such as Brad Hand and Zach Britton — it’s also worth emphasizing that Seattle’s farm system is generally regarded as weak. That bit of context should absolutely be considered when debating the value of other relief arms, and it seems unlikely that the volume of the Phelps deal “raises the bar” for other relievers throughout the league.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand first reported that the Mariners were in talks to acquire a reliever and that Phelps was the target. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi termed the deal “fairly close,” and Yahoo’s Jeff Passan pushed it further to “imminent.” FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted that the trade was indeed finalized, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that Seattle was sending multiple minor leaguers to Miami. Passan and Heyman added a bit more detail on the return (Twitter links), with Passan ultimately reporting Hernandez as the headliner. Sherman broke news of the other three players in the deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

David Phelps Trade To Mariners Reportedly “Imminent”

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9:52am: Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the trade is at the finish line, and a deal is “imminent.” MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports that the Marlins are seeking a pair of quality prospects in exchange for Phelps (Twitter links). Fellow right-hander AJ Ramos is not a part of this trade and is being discussed with multiple other teams, Frisaro adds.

9:12am: MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that the two sides are actually “fairly close” to completing a trade that would send Phelps to Seattle.

8:56am: FOX’s Ken Rosenthal also hears the two sides are talking but says there’s no match to this point, as the Marlins don’t love the Mariners’ minor league system (Twitter link).

8:48am: The two sides are indeed discussing a possible Phelps swap, Feinsand tweets. Nothing between the two sides is done just yet, as talks are apparently ongoing.

Phelps, 30, would give Seattle a setup arm that can be controlled through the 2018 season. He’s earning $4.6MM this season on the heels of a breakout 2016 campaign and has worked to an impressive 2.69 ERA with 11.1 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 through 133 2/3 innings dating back to Opening Day 2016. Phelps also has a 46.4 percent ground-ball rate in that time, which checks in a couple of percentage points above the league average, and he’s working with a career-best 94.4 mph average fastball velocity in 2017 as well.

July 20, 1:02am: Seattle “had been working on” a scenario involving David Phelps of the Marlins, Feinsand tweets, though it’s not yet clear if he’s the player that is currently nearing a uniform swap.

July 19, 12:37am: The Mariners are closing in on a trade to pick up a relief arm, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). It’s unclear at this point just who could be heading to Seattle, or even whether it’s a significant trade.

With a victory today, the M’s have pulled back to .500 and are firmly in the Wild Card hunt — though the AL West is still a one-horse race. While the club arguably is most in need of rotation upgrades, rare is the team that couldn’t improve by adding another piece to the bullpen.

In Seattle’s case, the current unit has produced middle-of-the pack overall results (4.07 collective ERA), though the metrics suggest that the true performance hasn’t been quite that good overall. Closer Edwin Diaz has had his peaks and valleys, though he has been firmly on the upswing during a dominant July. Indeed, that holds true of the entire relief corps.

The youthful Diaz could be bumped into a roving role if GM Jerry Dipoto aimed big. Setup man Nick Vincent has been the team’s best reliever, but perhaps could stand to be paired with another quality late-inning arm in front of Diaz. It’s conceivable that a big lefty would make sense. Southpaws James Pazos and Marc Rzepczynski have generated good results in the earned run department, but the former has been knocked around of late and the latter has increasingly shown worrying control issues.

Or, of course, the M’s could simply be bolstering their depth with a relatively insignificant addition. Given Dipoto’s sometimes frenzied trading history, it’s anyone’s guess just what this apparently pending transaction might represent.

Trade Chatter: Iglesias, Reds, Royals, Asdrubal, Mariners, Dodgers, Astros

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Though Raisel Iglesias’ name has somewhat frequently been mentioned on the rumor circuit, Reds general manager Dick Williams tells Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’s not marketing his closer to other teams. That doesn’t mean that Williams won’t listen to offers on the 27-year-old, but the GM’s comments suggest that a trade isn’t especially likely “[I]f somebody really gave you an opportunity to improve your franchise, you’d have to consider it,” said Williams of listening to offers on Iglesias. “But I really like a lot of the pieces we have, and I see us not that far from being competitive if we can get some of these young pitchers to turn the corner. If I were to trade him, you’d want something back that could help us real soon.”

Some more trade chatter to kick off Thursday morning…

  • From that same piece, Williams tells Buchanan that he’s more open-minded when it comes to dealing impending free agents such as Zack Cozart, Drew Storen and recently injured Scott Feldman. The knee injury that landed Feldman on the disabled list seems particularly unfortunate, as Buchanan reports that the Reds had received trade interest in Feldman prior to that issue. His timetable for a return isn’t yet known. There’s technically time for him to be activated before the deadline if it proves to be short-term in nature, though one can imagine that most interested parties would prefer to see him make a start before moving forward with a trade. Buchanan also speculates on the possibility of a Tony Cingrani trade, noting that he’s pitching well and controlled for two more seasons, while Cincinnati has quite a few younger arms it’d like to take a look at in the ’pen.
  • The Royals are once again struggling, having dropped seven of their past 10 games, but ESPN’s Buster Olney hears that they’re not deviating from their course as deadline buyers. Kansas City has been hopeful of adding two “cost-efficient” starting pitchers and are also looking into adding a reliever. It’d take a total collapse between now and the deadline for the Royals to change course and sell off their impending free agents, Olney adds.
  • Olney also tweets that the Mets would improve their chances of finding a trade partner for Asdrubal Cabrera by playing him at third base. Rival evaluators are hopeful of seeing him at that position before making a determination, per Olney, and it now appears likely that the Mets will accommodate them. Newsday’s Marc Carig reports that Cabrera is set to begin taking grounders at the hot corner, and manager Terry Collins confirmed as much to Carig’s colleague, David Lennon (Twitter link).
  • The Mariners “appear willing” to trade outfield prospect Tyler O’Neill this summer, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. The 22-year-old O’Neill entered the season ranked among the game’s 50 or so best prospects on several notable lists (Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus) but got off to a poor start to the season in Triple-A. He’s recovered with a 1.127 OPS over his past 26 games to bring his batting line back up to a respectable .241/.326/.462, but Dutton notes that the emergence of Mitch Haniger and Ben Gamel has the M’s more open to a deal. Despite the presence of that duo, however, Seattle hasn’t shown an inclination to deal top organizational prospect Kyle Lewis.
  • ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick writes that the Dodgers and Astros have put themselves in such strong position that neither strongly needs to make a move prior to the trade deadline. However, both Dodgers president Andrew Friedman and Astros GM Jeff Luhnow are viewed as extremely opportunistic types and figure to look at ways to upgrade their roster anyhow. Crasnick classifies the Dodgers’ interest in Orioles closer Zach Britton as “legitimate” but notes that they’re a bit cautious due to his 2017 forearm issues. Ken Rosenthal wrote yesterday that L.A. is reluctant to part with prospects Alex Verdugo and Walker Buehler in trades, and Crasnick echoes that statement while also adding righty Yadier Alvarez to the list. While the three aren’t quite “untouchable,” none of the three seems especially likely to go. As for the Astros, they’ll continue looking for a starter that could join the playoff rotation behind Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers, though they, too, could look instead to a late-inning lefty like Britton or Detroit’s Justin Wilson.

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