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Braves Among Teams Interested In White Sox Relievers

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There are “numerous teams,” including the Braves, interested in members of the White Sox bullpen, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets. Closer Alex Colome and setup man Aaron Bummer are unsurprisingly drawing plenty of attention. Beyond those two, lefty Jace Fry and resurgent righty Evan Marshall stand out as Sox relievers who could have trade value to the Braves and others. However, Levine reported Monday that Chicago’s not inclined to deal Bummer or Fry.

Levine also relayed Monday that the White Sox, despite their dismal record, aren’t motivated to sell before the July 31 deadline. But unless Chicago’s highly confident it’s going to contend next season, there’s a legitimate case for it to part with Colome. The soon-to-be 31-year-old is only under control through 2020, when he’ll earn an arbitration raise over his $7.325MM salary, and currently looks like a strong candidate for regression.

The right-handed Colome has pitched to a sterling 2.33 ERA with 21 saves on 22 tries in 38 2/3 innings this season. He has been the beneficiary of a .153 batting average on balls in play and an 82.7 percent strand out, however, and has seen his strikeout rate plummet. After fanning upward of 9.5 batters per nine last season, Colome’s K/9 has shrunk to 6.98. He’s also giving up more hard contact and less soft contact than ever, per FanGraphs, and Statcast shows a 102-point gap between the .228 weighted on-base average Colome has allowed and his expected wOBA of .330.

“Bummer” may be what opposing hitters have muttered this year when the left-handed Bummer has come out of Chicago’s bullpen. The 25-year-old Bummer is similar to Colome in that he’s getting by with help from a low BABIP (.213), an ERA that’s significantly better than his FIP and a sizable wOBA/xwOBA gap. Having said that, Bummer’s 1.73 ERA, 3.17 FIP and .262 xwOBA (compared to a .232 wOBA) are all easily above average. While Bummer’s not a strikeout-heavy pitcher, having notched 8.67 against 2.72 walks per nine, he has stymied lefty and righty hitters alike with his remarkable ability to induce ground balls. At 68.5 percent, Bummer trails only longtime grounder master Zack Britton among relievers.

Incidentally, Luke Jackson – one of the Braves’ best relievers – happens to be right behind Bummer on the grounder leaderboard. Jackson’s success is one of the reasons the Braves hold a healthy advantage in the National League East, but their bullpen has been fairly shaky. Aside from Jackson, Anthony Swarzak, Sean Newcomb and the currently injured Jacob Webb, no one from their ’pen has prevented runs at an especially excellent rate. The Braves have been in the market for late-game help as a result, and could wind up swinging a deal with the White Sox to bolster their relief corps.

Rays Interested In Jesus Aguilar

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The Rays, continuing their search for a right-handed slugger, have shown interest in Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar, Mark Feinsand and Juan Toribio of MLB.com report. Tampa Bay was previously connected to other notable right-handed hitters in the Rangers’ Hunter Pence and the Tigers’ Nicholas Castellanos (links: 1, 2).

Unlike Texas and Detroit, Milwaukee doesn’t look like a potential seller going into the July 31 trade deadline. The Brewers are a game back of wild-card position and two behind the first-place Cubs in the National League Central. As such, it’s far from a sure thing the Brewers will trade Aguilar. If they do, it would have to benefit them immediately, per Feinsand and Toribio.

Considering Aguilar hasn’t been the integral piece of the Brewers’ roster that he was during a division-winning 2018, he does look more expendable now than he did at the outset of the season. Aguilar slashed .274/.352/.539 with 35 home runs over 566 plate appearances last year to serve as one of the majors’ fiercest sluggers. That production now looks like a distant memory.

So far this season, Aguilar has hit a meek .230/.328/.385 with eight HRs and a massive drop in ISO (from .264 to .155). The 29-year-old has raked in July (.342/.395/.684 in 43 PA), but it’s the sole month in which Aguilar has registered above-average production at the plate. He and the lefty-swinging Eric Thames, who’s having a much better season, have been platooning at first for the Brew Crew.

For all the faults in Aguilar’s bottom-line production, there are reasons for hope. For one, he remains something of a Statcast favorite. There’s a wide chasm between Aguilar’s weighted-on base average (.312) and expected wOBA (.351). He ranks in the league’s 72nd percentile in xwOBA and checks in similarly well in expected slugging percentage (65th) and exit velocity (66th). And contrary to many other power hitters, Aguilar’s not overly prone to striking out. He has fanned a reasonable 22.9 percent of the time (with a better-than-average 12.3 percent walk rate), posted a decent 11.3 percent swinging-strike rate and chased out-of-zone pitches less than most hitters.

Should the Brewers part with Aguilar, an acquiring team would be landing a player who’s cheap now and under control for a while. Aguilar, currently on a near-minimum salary, is slated to take his first of three potential arbitration trips during the upcoming offseason.

Pirates Reinstate, Suspend Keone Kela

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TUESDAY: The Pirates suspended Kela after he got into an altercation with Hector Morales, their director of cultural readiness and peak performance coach, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets.

MONDAY: The Pirates announced today that they have reinstated righty Keone Kela from the 60-day injured list. He’ll move directly onto the suspended list, however, with the team also announcing a two-game suspension for an unstated violation of the Uniform Player’s Contract.

The UPC (see it here) allows clubs to “suspend the Player without salary for a period not exceeding thirty days” upon a “violation by the Player of any regulation or other provision of this contract.” Written notice must be given to the player and the MLB Players Association.

It’s rather unusual to see such team-issued discipline, even if it is contemplated by contract. In some cases, collectively bargained agreements vest sole disciplinary authority for certain matters in the commissioner’s office. The Joint Drug Agreement, for instance, specifically forbids “any adverse action pursuant to a Uniform Player’s Contract” owing to violations of the terms of that agreement.

There’s no indication as of yet as to what led to Kela’s suspension. Neither is it evident whether he will attempt to challenge it in any way.

Kela, 26, has missed much of the season with shoulder issues. He carried a 4.63 ERA with 11 strikeouts and four walks through 11 2/3 innings before hitting the shelf. Kela had been expected to function as a key late-inning arm for the Bucs. He turned in a strong run last year after being acquired at the trade deadline.

It’s not clear whether there’s any realistic chance that Kela could be dealt, but it’s at least hypothetically possible — especially if he’s able to show good health upon his return and the Pirates decide to move some assets. Kela is earning $3.175MM this year and comes with another season of arbitration eligibility.

Cardinals Eyeing Lefty Relievers

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The Cardinals haven’t been as frequently mentioned on the rumor circuit as some of their NL Central counterparts, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been sitting idly by. In an appearance on Dan McLaughlin’s podcast (audio link), president of baseball operations John Mozeliak made clear that in an ideal world, he’d add at least one reliever — likely a southpaw — to his current bullpen blend.

“We’re pretty comfortable with [the bullpen],” said Mozeliak, “but as we enter the trading deadline, I think we would look to see if there’s an upgrade on the left side of the bullpen to complement [Andrew] Miller. It’s not something that we feel like if we don’t do, we have failed, it’s just something we’re exploring.”

While that isn’t exactly a declaration of aggressive buying, left-handed relief does indeed look to be an area of need in St. Louis, where Miller is the only stable option the Cards have had for much of season. Beyond Miller, who has rebounded from a slow start to the season, the only other southpaws to log innings in the Cardinals’ bullpen have been Tyler Webb, Genesis Cabrera and Chasen Shreve, who was designated for assignment earlier today.

There are plenty of lefties whose names have been bandied about the market, including Will Smith, Tony Watson, Jake Diekman and Roenis Elias. What’s not clear, though, is whether the Cardinals will be after that group. Beyond the fact that the surging Giants are no longer locks to sell off their rental assets, Mozeliak expressed an interest in perhaps pursuing some less-obvious trade candidates who offer greater flexibility over a longer term.

“…I think the key thing for us, when you’re looking at bullpen help right now, would be to try to acquire people also with options so you have some flexibility,” Mozeliak said. “We are getting to a point now where our hands are a bit tied in some areas, so to try to create a little flexibility would make sense.”

Those types aren’t generally headline-grabbers, but most rebuilding clubs have at least one reliever who could fit the bill. Speculatively speaking, Baltimore’s Paul Fry, Miami’s Jarlin Garcia and Toronto’s Tim Mayza are a few such arms who could be looked at more as flexible depth options than late-inning staples. That might sound uninspiring to onlookers, but it’s also true that with the elimination of this year’s August trade waiver period, having additional depth on hand is more important than ever. Clubs can no longer turn to the waiver market next month in order to add help as injuries arise, so having a stock of optionable arms in the upper minors is paramount.

It’s certainly not out of the question that the Cards could add a high-profile arm while still deepening the fringes of their 40-man roster with some optionable ’pen pieces. The Cards could also trim from the edges of their own 40-man — say, by dealing impending free agent Michael Wacha to a team in need of a fifth starter — either adding a bullpen piece in that kind of deal or using the newly vacated spot to add someone who, unlike Wacha, can be shuttled back and forth between Memphis and St. Louis.

Oscar Mercado Has Helped Rescue Indians’ Season

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Cleveland came into 2019 as a three-time defending AL Central champion, but the club looked as if it was relinquishing its status as a powerhouse over the first couple months of the season. Owing partially to serious injuries or illnesses to starters Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger, the Indians were a somewhat unthinkable 26-27 after a loss in Boston on May 27. At that point, 10 games back of the emergent Twins in their division, the Indians appeared to be on their way to serving as trade deadline sellers.

On May 14, two weeks before the Indians sunk below .500, they promoted outfielder Oscar Mercado from Triple-A Columbus. Now, over two months later, Mercado’s call-up stands out as a development that has helped key a turnaround. Even though they’re still without Kluber and Carrasco, the Indians have rallied to 58-41, two games up on the AL’s No. 1 wild-card spot and a surmountable three behind the Twins – whom they play 10 more times.

The 24-year-old Mercado is among the reasons there’s now a legitimate battle in the AL Central. He’s just under a year from joining the Indians, with the club having acquired him at last July’s trade deadline from the Cardinals. Mercado was then a solid prospect who was fresh off an effective Triple-A run with the Redbirds. His numbers declined when he transferred to the Tribe’s top affiliate after the trade, but Mercado came back with a vengeance this season. Before his promotion, Mercado slashed .294/.396/.496 (130 wRC+) with 15 extra-base hits (10 doubles, four home runs and a triple) and 14 stolen bases in 140 plate appearances.

When they summoned Mercado for his first big league experience, the Indians likely would have been thrilled with playable production – let alone above-average numbers. So far, they’ve gotten the latter. Across 230 trips to the plate, Mercado has batted .297/.350/.488 (117 wRC+), swatted eight homers with a respectable .191 ISO, and swiped nine bags on 11 tries. He has also essentially been a scratch defender in center, albeit over a small sample size, with 1 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-1.5 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Back when Mercado joined the Indians, they were still clinging to hope that slumping veteran Leonys Martin would rebound. Martin, returning from the life-threatening bacterial infection he suffered in 2018, was the Indians’ Opening Day center fielder and their go-to choice there over the season’s first couple months. Finally, on June 22, the Indians decided Martin’s rope had run out. They designated him for assignment after Martin hit .199/.276/.343 (61 wRC+) with minus-0.6 fWAR in 264 trips to the plate.

The cutting of Martin, who’s now playing in Japan, officially opened the door for Mercado to assume the outfield’s most important position. Aside from a couple days in which Greg Allen has started at the position, it has belonged to Mercado almost exclusively. Overall, Mercado has been remarkably consistent. His wRC+ by month: 119 in May, 118 in June, 114 in July. The righty’s wRC+ against same-handed pitchers: 119. His wRC+ against lefties: 115.

If you’re looking for negatives, it’s obvious there is some good fortune propping up Mercado’s output. Although Mercado’s one of the game’s fastest players, a .335 batting average on balls in play could be difficult to uphold. And while Mercado’s only striking out at a 17.6 percent clip, he’s walking just 5.6 percent of the time. Statcast, meanwhile, paints somewhat of a bleak picture in regards to his production, placing Mercado in the league’s 39th percentile or worse in expected weighted on-base average (.322, compared to a .357 real wOBA), expected slugging percentage, exit velocity and hard-hit rate.

Even if Mercado regresses toward his xwOBA as the season moves along, he’d still qualify as an easy upgrade over Martin, who posted a .270 wOBA before the Tribe cut him. Thanks in part to what Mercado has done so far, the Indians’ outfield hasn’t been the massive question mark it was at the outset of the season. The Indians, set to begin life without Michael Brantley then, ran out an Opening Day outfield of Martin, Jake Bauers in left and Tyler Naquin in right. They’re now going with Mercado, a Bauers/Jordan Luplow platoon in left and Naquin at his season-opening spot on a regular basis.

Bauers has recently put up much better offensive totals than he did during a disastrous May; the righty-swinging Luplow has been a force against lefties throughout 2019; and Naquin has come back well from a pair of lost seasons at the MLB level. However, of the Indians’ main outfielders, it’s Mercado who has been their best. The rookie has played an important role in saving Cleveland’s season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dodgers Outright Rocky Gale

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The Dodgers have outrighted catcher Rocky Gale off the 40-man roster, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. The move drops the club’s 40-man roster to a total of 38 players.

Gale, 31, went 2-for-15 in a brief stint with the Dodgers earlier this season but has spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he’s batted .250/.303/.370 in 109 plate appearances. He’s spent the season as the primary backup to top catching prospect Will Smith in Triple-A, but the recent promotion of fellow top catching prospect Keibert Ruiz to Oklahoma City has further reduced Gale’s role on the roster.

Gale has appeared in 22 big league games between the Padres and Dodgers, though he’s received just 37 plate appearances in that time (and hit .108/.108/.189). The former ninth-round pick is a lifetime .277/.315/.359 in parts of nine Triple-A seasons.

Poll: Trading Felipe Vazquez

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Losers of eight of 10 since the All-Star break, the Pirates’ already slim playoff hopes have taken a beating over the past week-plus. At 46-53, they’re six games out of a wild-card spot and 7 1/2 behind the National Central-leading Cubs. Only three NL teams have worse records than the Pirates, who will have to jump seven clubs in order to earn a playoff position. It’s probably safe to say they’re going to extend their postseason drought to four years in 2019.

This happens to be the fourth season in Pittsburgh for reliever Felipe Vazquez, though he’s obviously not to blame for the team’s ongoing struggles. In fact, since the Pirates acquired the flamethrowing left-hander from the Nationals in a deal for veteran reliever Mark Melancon in July 2016, Vazquez has evolved into one of the majors’ premier late-game options. Vazquez was downright exceptional over the previous two seasons, but this may go down as his best campaign to date. The 28-year-old has pitched to a dominant 1.91 ERA/2.02 FIP with 14.03 K/9 against 2.34 BB/9 in 42 1/3 innings, adding 21 saves on 22 tries for good measure.

Considering Vazquez’s brilliance, not to mention the Pirates’ woes, there is a case they should consider parting with him before the July 31 deadline. The fact that Vazquez is controllable over the next few seasons for team-friendly salaries would help enable the Pirates to land an enormous return for him. The club shrewdly signed the strikeout artist formerly known as Felipe Rivero to a four-year, $22MM extension months before the 2018 season. He’s under wraps through at least 2021 as a result, though the way his career’s going, it looks like a sure thing right now that his employer will exercise $10MM club options in 2022 and ’23. Granted, those decisions are a long distance off, and considering the volatility of relievers, Vazquez could turn into a pumpkin by then. Perhaps that’s another reason to sell high on Vazquez now. But general manager Neal Huntington doesn’t seem to agree. Huntington has shot down the possibility of a Vazquez trade twice this month, noting both times that he expects the two-time All-Star to be indispensable to the Pirates’ next playoff team.

“Our expectation and anticipation is that Felipe will be closing out playoff games, be it this year or in the future with us,” Huntington said on July 1.

Unlike back then, the Pirates’ season now looks as if it’s close to flatlining. Nevertheless, Huntington remains steadfast in his desire to keep Vazquez, having said this past weekend that “we always have to entertain ways to make this organization — and ideally this current club — better. Sometimes you make the future clubs better, but we fully anticipate Felipe will be closing the next playoff games that we’re a part of.”

It certainly wouldn’t be indefensible on Pittsburgh’s part to retain Vazquez, who’s magnificent and affordable (all the more important for a low-spending franchise). On the other hand, Vazquez would probably be the best relief trade chip in the game if the Pirates were to shop him over the next week. What should they do?

(Poll link for app users)

Mariners Place Dee Gordon On IL, Designate Parker Markel For Assignment

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6:25pm: Manager Scott Servais told reporters that Gordon will be out at least a couple of weeks (Twitter link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). An MRI revealed a strain that is worse than a typical Grade 1 strain but not quite a Grade 2 strain.

4:55pm: The Mariners announced on Tuesday that they’ve placed infielder Dee Gordon on the 10-day injured list due to a left quad strain and selected the contract of infielder Tim Lopes from Triple-A Tacoma. In a corresponding 40-man move, right-hander Parker Markel was designated for assignment.

The injury to Gordon makes the already-difficult task of trading him now all the more problematic. Gordon was already a tough sell, given a lackluster .280/.306/.367 batting line and a hefty $19.3MM still owed to him between now and the end of the 2020 season. Add in a quadriceps injury for a player whose entire game is built on speed, and it’s difficult to see much in the way of legitimate interest in Gordon formulating.

Perhaps a contending club would actually be intrigued by the possibility of carrying Gordon on the IL into September, when rosters expand to 28 players, but for that to even be realistic, the Mariners would need to include a substantial amount of cash to offset his remaining salary.

Lopes, 25, is in his second stint with the Seattle organization and will be making his MLB debut this time around. Seattle originally with its sixth-round pick back in 2012, but he was traded to the Blue Jays at the PTBNL in 2016’s Pat Venditte swap. Lopes landed back in Seattle as a minor league free agent this winter and is enjoying a career year in Triple-A. Through 403 trips to the plate, he’s hitting .302/.362/.480 with 10 homers, 30 doubles, two triples and 24 steals (in 33 tries). He’s not in the lineup tonight but should make his debut in the near future.

Markel, 28, made his own MLB debut earlier this season, but he didn’t find much success in his limited audition. The righty tossed 4 2/3 innings but yielded nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits, four walks and a hit batter with three punchouts. Markel has vastly more intriguing numbers in the minors, where he’s posted a 2.04 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He’s also issued 23 walks in that time (5.9 BB/9), hit two batters and tossed 11 wild pitches. Control is clearly an issue for Markel, but he’s missing bats at a level he’s never come close to previously approaching, which could prompt a different organization to take a look.

Cubs Select Tim Collins

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The Cubs announced that they’ve selected the contract of lefty reliever Tim Collins from Triple-A Iowa. Right-hander Alec Mills was optioned down to make room on the active roster. Chicago had an open spot on its 40-man roster.

Collins, 29, was with the Cubs earlier this season and tossed 7 2/3 frames. He surrendered three runs on nine hits and three walks with four strikeouts in that time before being designated for assignment last month and returning to the team’s Triple-A upon clearing outright waivers. In 27 innings with Iowa this year, Collins has a 4.67 ERA with 37 strikeouts against 16 walks. Opposing lefties have batted just .167/.268/.333 against him in 2019, althought right-handers have tagged him for a .256/.347/.537 line.

The Cubs are known to be on the hunt for additional left-handed bullpen help, and if they’re able to find an upgrade on the trade market, Collins’ latest stay with the big league club could be similarly brief. For now, he’ll at the very least give manager Joe Maddon a matchup specialist to use late in games.

Rangers Option Ronald Guzman

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First baseman Ronald Guzman has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville, the Rangers announced Tuesday. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by right-hander Pedro Payano, who’ll start tonight’s game for Texas. Logan Forsythe is getting the nod at first base for Texas tonight.

It’s undoubtedly a dejecting outcome not only for Guzman himself but also for the organization, as the team had hoped that Guzman would blossom into an everyday player after getting an extended MLB audition as a 23-year-old in 2018. Last season, Guzman’s bat was below average, but he held his own with a .235/.306/.416 batting line and 16 round-trippers in 428 plate appearances.

This year, however, Guzman’s production has gone backward, as he’s batted just .193/.282/.396 in 227 plate appearances. That said, there’s also some reason to be optimistic about a rebound. Guzman isn’t striking out at a higher clip than he did in ’18 — though his 28 percent clip is still a bit high — and his walk rate has actually improved from 7.7 percent to 11.0 percent.

Statcast indicates that his hard-hit rate has improved a bit, and Guzman has already nearly matched his 2018 total of “barreled” balls in just over half as many plate appearances as he received last year. He’s lugging around an ugly .285 weighted on-base average, but based on the quality of the contact he’s made, Statcast feels he’s been decidedly unlucky (.324 xwOBA). That, to be clear, doesn’t indicate that Guzman should be a force at the plate, but perhaps his struggles aren’t likely to continue at this great a rate.

The Rangers and Guzman will hope that a reset in a lower-pressure setting will restore his confidence and give him a needed mental break. He’s currently mired in an awful 2-for-30 slide in the month of July and hasn’t had a multi-hit game since June 25. Guzman still has a long way to go before he comes close to living up to the potential that prompted Baseball Prospectus to rank him as the game’s No 94 prospect prior to the 2018 season, but he’s yet to celebrate his 25th birthday, so there’s still plenty of time for him to turn things around.

Taking a step back, the Guzman dilemma isn’t an entirely unfamiliar problem for the Rangers. They’ve seen several young hitters — e.g. Rougned Odor, Nomar Mazara, Willie Calhoun — all struggle to varying extents, either immediately upon debuting or sputtering out after some early promise. It’s a particularly glaring issue, as one can’t help but wonder where the Rangers would be in the standings if that group of players had played up to their abilities thus far. Instead, the quartet of Guzman, Odor, Mazara and Calhoun have performed at sub-replacement level in 2019. And the Rangers, who’ve now dropped eight games in a row, look more like potential sellers than the likely buyers they appeared to be coming out of the All-Star break.

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