The Rangers have struck a deal to add righty Miguel Gonzalez from the White Sox, as Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun first reported (Twitter link). Per the report, the Orioles were also attempting to bring back the veteran starter, but weren’t willing to meet the asking price. Infielder Ti’Quan Forbes will go to Chicago in return. The Rangers have designated righty Anthony Bass to open a roster spot.
Though Texas isn’t exactly in prime position to snag a Wild Card berth — the team entered play today three games out and dropped its contest — it seems the club is at least interested in keeping that possibility open. Gonzalez will help bolster a rotation that no longer features Yu Darvish and has seen numerous other pitchers struggle. If they can crack the postseason, the Rangers will be able to utilize Gonzalez on their roster.
The White Sox have been quite aggressive in moving veterans, and Gonzalez now becomes the latest to go. The 33-year-old has been a steady presence since coming to Chicago after a four-year run in Baltimore. He’s earning $5.9MM this year — about $1MM of which remains to be paid — and will be a free agent at season’s end.
On the season, Gonzalez owns a 4.30 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 to go with a 38.1% groundball rate over 127 2/3 innings. He has been quite good since returning from a mid-summer DL stint, spinning 49 frames of 2.94 ERA ball — albeit still with just 35 strikeouts against 19 walks.
Despite the underwhelming peripherals, Gonzalez has typically managed to limit hard contact and suppress batting average on balls in play; opposing hitters carry a .278 BABIP against him over his six-year career. He doesn’t work with much velocity, but mixes five pitches and has managed to post a lifetime 3.88 ERA over 843 MLB frames.
Forbes only just turned 21 and was a second-round pick in 2014. But he has not really shown much yet as a professional. While playing mostly at third base this season, which he has split between the Class A and High-A levels, Forbes carries a meager .234/.281/.344 batting line with 11 home runs through 517 plate appearances.
The 29-year-old Bass has seen action in six MLB campaigns, but was bombed in two appearances this year with Texas. He has pitched to a 4.17 ERA in 84 1/3 Triple-A innings, though, with 10.2 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
When this popped up on my phone, I only saw “Miguel” and my first thought was Miguel Cabrera lol
weird
basically the same thing as Nick Martinez
Miguel Gonzalez has a sub-4 career ERA, a 106 ERA+ and was effective in both of his playoff starts. I like Nick Martinez for what he is. But he’s not on Gonzalez’s level.
This is a nice pickup IMO for the Rangers. A Hamels, Cashner, Gonzalez, Perez, Griffin/Martinez rotation is much better than one with both Griffin and Martinez in it. This improves what remote chances they have left of competing for one of those wild card spots, and they didn’t have to give up much to acquire him.
I completely agree
Makes no sense. If they had any intention of playing for a Wild Card at all they would have just kept Darvish.
Finally. Gonzalez has been excellent since the All-Star break. Nice to see that the Orioles were involved at some point too. I’m not expecting much return, but a little competition never hurts!
It must be a contract year, otherwise gonzo is at best a swing man!
He’s a career 3.88 ERA starter. Not really a “swing man” He’s a #3 or #4 stater IMO.
low level prospect?
Angels need to claim Anthony Bass and pair him with Mike Trout out in Right Field
Also bring back Tim Salmon – Fishes in the Outfield!
Ti’Quan is a great name.
My opinion of this trade revolves entirely around what JD gave up. Surely he couldn’t have overpaid here, right?
Of course he did
Maybe but I couldn’t care less about Forbes. He has potential but dude has been completely stalled in A ball for three seasons
Answer this question who was more likely to help the Rangers in 2018 and beyond: Gonzalez or Forbes?
Ti’quan Forbes a good return for the White Sox in this situation. Their rebuild is going great
Agreed. There was no point in keeping Miguel on the roster, so they did a good job getting whatever they could get. Ti’Quan hasn’t done much of anything so far, but he’s still young, and there’s a lot of talent there.
I just looked at a couple scouting reports and watched a couple quick videos on him, and he looks like a very solid athlete with a nice, quick swing that generates nice line-drive pop. I’m actually really surprised that he hasn’t been able to produce much better results at the lower levels with that swing. I’m not expecting much of anything from him going forward, but it’s a solid upside pickup.
This is an absolute nothing prospect. Hope this puts an end to all the moronic Jays fans who were expecting anything more than a .650 opsing minor leaguer for Estrada.
Just 30 minutes left for a Marco Estrada for Victor Robles swap
How good is the prospect they does anyone know ??
Not very good right now. He was a good, projectable prospect coming out of his draft class, but he hasn’t produced since then. He looks like a good athlete and has a nice swing, but it hasn’t translated yet. He’s still pretty young though, so there could be something there potentially. I wouldn’t set expectations high, but it’s about as good as Hahn could ask for in a deal for 1 month of Miguel Gonzalez.
If you google “Ti’Quan Forbes bleacher report,” they have a nice post-draft writeup on him. There are also a couple quick scouting videos on youtube if you want to see him swinging the bat and fielding a little bit.
He’s been awful. Never been higher than A ball and struggles to get his avg over .250 and OBP over .300. But he was formerly a 2nd round pick out of high school because of the raw potential he had in both the bat and field. So maybe CWS can unlock it but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Guy hasn’t shown much improvement after 4 seasons
He is a lottery ticket. There is upside but he is gonna need time
good athlete bad baseball player right now
I was wondering when slick Rick was gonna make a deal. Been a little quiet lately. I do like this trade, though. Miguel has been pitching well as of late and being a free agent at seasons end, I’m happy the Sox got something for him. Was hoping they’d move Holland as well but it’s easy to see why nobody wants him. Rangers fans, you got yourselves a good ballplayer.
Ti’Quan Forbes was always great in my 2015 OOTP. He almost always became an MVP talent.
Anything would be an upgrade over Tyson Ross! And I like Gonzalez track record as opposed to Martinez ( who wasnt that bad today, just didnt get any support ). The more depth, the better as far as im concerned.
Nice grab for the Rangers but it’s sad to have Beltre on the D.L.
Maybe Texas can offer Gonzalez a 2 year extension to fill out the rotation.
I wouldn’t mind seeing them lock up Cashner for three years at $10-13 million per and Gonzalez for two at $6 or $7 mil annually. That would leave one rotation spot to fill in the winter and enough money to go land one of the big fish.
You could do a lot worse than a rotation of Darvish/Arrieta/Cobb/Lynn, Hamels, Cashner, Perez and Gonzalez with Griffin and Martinez behind them for depth, And only one of those aging starters would be under contract for longer than three years, so you’d be able to cycle in some of the young guys as you cycled them out.
It will be interesting to see how JD tackles this rotation in the offseason. There’s a lot of work to be done. But there are a lot of good options out there, too.
Gonzalez will double his salary. At least 10M per year. He’s a quality 3.88 ERA pitcher. I’m thinking a 2 yr $25M deal or 2/20M plus incentives would work and the same goes with Cashner.
If they can’t get Darvish or Otank (if available) I would avoid Arrieta and go after Cobb or Lynn (in that order)
Hamels, Cobb/Lynn, Gonzalez, Cashner and Perez would be a respectable rotation IMO.
I don’t think he’ll command that much. He’ll be 34 in May and has pitched more like a No. 5 two of the past three years than a mid-rotation guy. He also hasn’t topped 27 starts or 160 innings since 2013. With the competition there will be on the free agent market this winter for rotation arms, I think he’ll be fortunate to get a multi-year deal and see $8 million as the ceiling for his annual earnings. We’ll see, though.
I think a deal like R.A. Dickey’s last offseason would be a good reference point for what Gonzalez can hope for/expect.
“Like a #5 starter, two of his last 3 seasons” ???
3.23 ERA, 4.91 ERA. and 3.73 ERA last season. That’s from 2014 to 2016. He’s definitely better than a 5.
This season is going to weigh far more heavily IMO than 2014 will. And since 2015, he’s a 4.33 ERA, 1.357 WHIP, 4.44 FIP guy.
Look, I like Gonzalez. I’ve always respected what he does more than most fans, who have often undervalued him as a starter and attributed his success to luck. But those same peripherals that lead folks to believe he’s a ticking time bomb will put a ceiling on his earning potential. That’s a good thing for whoever decides to sign him IMO because he’s a really solid back-end starter, who can pitch like No. 3 for stretches.
Yeah, he’s definitely a solid #4
And that makes sense for Gonzalez why?
What? WHY!? The Rangers’ season is OVER! If it weren’t, they wouldn’t have traded Darvish. Why would you trade anything of long-term value (even marginal long-term value) for a rental starter when your season is already over!?!?!? Idk who Forbes is but he easily had more value to the Rangers than ANY rental.