6:41PM: The two teams have officially announced the trade. Jefry Rodriguez will move to the Indians’ 60-day injured list to create roster space. The Rays will get $250K in international bonus funds, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets.
5:16PM: The Indians have acquired right-hander Hunter Wood and infielder Christian Arroyo from the Rays in exchange for minor league outfielder Ruben Cardenas and some international signing money. Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown (Twitter link) was the first to report that Wood was being dealt to Cleveland, while Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter) added the other particulars of the swap.
Wood, who turns 26 next month, has a 2.48 ERA, 7.4 K/9, and 3.43 K/BB rate over 29 innings for the Rays this season. ERA predictors such as FIP (4.19), xFIP (5.10) and SIERA (4.52) are much less impressed with Wood’s work, perhaps due to his lack of strikeouts and large amount of fly balls generated, as Wood has only a 29.4% grounder rate. On the plus side, Wood is allowing less hard contract and issuing fewer walks than he did in his 2018 rookie season. While not a premium reliever, he’ll add even more depth to a Tribe bullpen that is already one of the game’s best.
As a young arm controlled through the 2024 season, Wood isn’t an insubstantial piece for the Rays to be giving up, particularly to a Cleveland team who is currently battling Tampa for a wild card position. Still, the Rays had to open up a 40-man roster spot for the newly-acquired Eric Sogard, and Wood wasn’t a critical member of the relief corps. The righty was one of several members of the Tampa-to-Durham taxi squad over the last two seasons, as the Rays frequently shuffled pitchers back and forth between the majors and Triple-A.
Sogard’s arrival makes Arroyo even more expendable, as Arroyo already wasn’t going to be a factor for Tampa until mid-August due to a 60-day injured list placement due to forearm tendinitis. It wasn’t long ago that Arroyo was ranked as one of the more highly-touted prospects in the sport — MLB.com ranked Arroyo within their top-90 prospect list every year from 2016-18, topping out at 81st prior to the 2018 season.
Originally drafted 25th overall by the Giants in 2013, Arroyo was the centerpiece of the prospect package sent from San Francisco to Tampa in the 2017-18 offseason for Evan Longoria. Unfortunately for Arroyo and the Rays, his two seasons at Tropicana Field have been plagued with injuries, and he has appeared in just 16 games in a Rays uniform. Arroyo is still only 24, and with only 251 career MLB plate appearances to go on, there’s still plenty of time for him to realize his potential.
Arroyo has played mostly second and third base in recent seasons after beginning his pro career as a shortstop, so the Indians have some flexibility in how they choose to deploy Arroyo at the big league level. It could be that the Tribe simply uses Arroyo as a multi-position player, or they could direct him more specifically towards second base (if Jason Kipnis’ club option isn’t exercised for 2020, as expected), third base (if Jose Ramirez is moved back to second base to replace Kipnis) or potentially even shortstop, if Cleveland explores the big splash that would be a Francisco Lindor trade in the offseason.
Cardenas was a 16th-round pick for the Tribe in the 2018 draft. The Cal State Fullerton product wasn’t ranked by MLB.com as a top-30 prospect in Cleveland’s system, though Cardenas is off to a nice start in his pro career, hitting .292/.366/.469 with 10 homers over 524 plate appearances. He has spent all of this season at the Indians’ A-ball affiliate in Lake County.
Ok then
Weird. Seems like the Rays kind of guy. Indians are winning the central. Francona will squeak out a few games they shouldn’t win, because he’s a great manager.
No way, just no way. The twins will make several moves at the trade deadline and they should bolster their roster easily
LOLOL The Twins have already said they won’t do much. Getting Romo isn’t a big deal. Indians will overtake the Twins in 2 weeks or less. All the predictive analytics confirm this.
predictive analytics also didnt predict it to be this close from the start of the season.
The twins have a bunch of guys having their best years. That tends to even out. Kluber & Bauer are excellent and the Indians have the best two players.
Predictive analytics also think Hillary is the President.
Not sure Twins make several moves but I agree they will make a couple moves to help their pitching staff ..
its gonna be a close race and i cant decide on either the twins or indians
Then let me help you with your decision. Indians win division. 🙂
Why?
this is a weird day of trades
Why?
Rays could use Bauer and could give them also Kipnis future replacement.
They aren’t getting Bauer.
one major piece goes for not one, but two PTBNL, another to the Mets, and now this head scratcher. very odd overall.
Got Sogard today so don’t expect kipnis
Interesante
Soooo a team desperate for pitching trades one of their above average pitcher to add another infielder which they have about 30 of. 100% set up for further moves
please reread the whole article… nothing about your post makes sense
Trading wood to add sogard to the roster makes no sense to you?
Wood isn’t above average though.
So, I am thinking about applying for the just opened position for a new plumber at Progressive Field. With Hunter Wood and Mike Clevenger on the same club, there will be some clogged drains in that ball park.
OK, that bad line is out of the way, this is a bit of a headscratcher. Is Otero not going to be healthy enough to pitch again this year? I guess he’d be an upgrade over AJ Cole, so Cole might be getting DFA’d, since he doesn’t have any options.
Lol
Most anyone would be an upgrade over Cole. Plus they’d probably work faster.
I just recently discovered Buckethead’s music, on one of my newer choices of a Pandora channel. That guy can wield an ax!
I get a reliever, but why Arroyo? That’s 2 guys Cleveland needs to fit on a roster w/o vacancies unless the next trade opens up those slots.
Have Ramirez and Lindor at the Positions that Arroyo plays and have Chang in Minors.
This might allow them to include Yu Chang in a deal.
That’s the first thing I thought of.
Or Arroyo.
Or he’s depth they can stash at the minor league level. He was a top prospect once. Never know
3 counting Salazar this week
At least Arroyo is on the 60 day IL and won’t need a spot yet.
And Rodriguez was bumped to the 60 day IL as well which opened a slot on the 40 for Wood.
Arroyo is on the 60 day IL
Probably, Cleveland acquired Arroyo and could trade him to another team. What about if he becomes the next second once Jason Kipnis leaves in free agency. I think Kipnis is a free agent after the season. Hopefully, Arroyo can show why he was a top prospect and become great with the Cleveland Indians.
Kipnis is a FA at the end of this year, and while he has been hitting a bit more in the last month, it is certainly not enough to justify a 16.5 mil salary. He has a 2.5 mil buy out.
Yeah, Kipnis’ option won’t be picked up even if he finishes in the top 5 for MVP. His buyout is the bargain of the century based on his performance during the extension. We will take our chances on these guys, and the sky is the limit
Wood is allowing less hard contact, not contract.
I really like it for Cleveland. Two young controllable guys – Wood can sit in the bullpen and also be the new spot starter so they never have to run Plutko out there again. Arroyo is a former stud prospect who either takes over 2B next year once Kipnis finally is gone, or plays 3B if JRam moves back to 2B. Or possibly is just a utility guy which is fine too.
Nice, nice deal for CLE and only give up a guy that’s at least 3 or 4 years away and not even a Top 30 prospect.
Obvious Cleveland fan lol. Wood is okay but his numbers are far worse than his ERA and Arroyo can not hit and he was #81 best in baseball at his highest. Wouldn’t call that a stud
With 6500+ players in MiLB then being #81 is pretty damn good.
As a Giants fan, I long thought Arroyo was overrated as a prospect, especially with the way the game has changed to focus on power. He’s a good contact hitter, but is never going to hit with a lot of pop.
Cardenas, like Terrin Vavra of the Rockies, is a college kid doing well against younger/lower level competition. Most of those guys flame out at high A or AA when they start playing against kids their own age..
OTOH, Wood and Arroyo don’t equal much, guys fighting for the 26th spot next year, with some practical uses this year. And Cardenas is a RH hitter, something the Rays are pretty short on.
The International money might be the most significant factor here. The Rays have mined the area pretty well lately.
this is a really puzzling move. i get dealing arroyo, but wood fits TB well and the return is miniscule. Rays 40 man management recently has been suspect at besy.
Outlying numbers are far worse than surface and would be out of options next year as will Arroyo and there are guys ahead of them.
I’m not mad about this trade…low risk. But is cheap owner taking a Baltimore approach to international spending now? This is the 3rd transaction that sent pool money. If it’s just a down year in the international market, then fine. But I just don’t trust mr cry for me I fly coach. And Cleveland has struck gold to many times internationally, with 3 prospects about to make some noise going forward from 2 years ago
if anything, it forces them to take a quantity-over-“quality” approach which is actually tge best way to play the international market. you could offer 51 guys 100,000 for the money jasson dominguez was given, and in the end youd probably make out much better. only big bonus guys that pan out are ones with pro experience, and those are few and far between.
They’ve also signed over 50 July 2 International free agents the last 2 seasons resulting in a glut of players at the lowest levels of the system.
They may be dialing back to take fewer players and as you point out quality over quantity.
But the “cheap owner” just opened a new baseball facility in the DR,So I don’t think there will be any lessening of their interest in international talent.
Very well said. I see you know your Tribe system, too.
They signed like 20+ Latin prospects this year with bonus pool to spare. They already signed a massive number of Latin kids in the last 3 cycles. They don’t need quantity, only quality going forwards. So for next cycle $3~$4 mil for a couple of big fish and they’ll be fine.
People make a huge deal about the international signings and the money to sign them when in reality if you look back to their success rate it is incredibly low. I like that they are focusing on guys who they know what they’re going to get.
The Rays are near the top in professional scouting. They usually win these trades.
Same could be said for Cleveland.
Rays are good, but not snagging a Cory Kluber good.
Glasnow and meadows is very very close
Mercado was a PTBN trade just last year. Now look, no team is on Cleveland’s lvl in terms of scouting. Ever seen money ball?
You mean the movie about Oakland lmao
Really strange trade here. Both Tampa players are better than the one OF Cleveland sent back to them, and $250K of International money is not enough to get any remaining big names signed. Also, why is Cleveland dealing young OF depth and why is Tampa trading a Major League proven bullpen pitcher, when that is what they are looking to add to team?
The only thing that makes sense here is that Tampa has another, bigger deal in the works and they needed to clear a 40 man roster spot in order to complete it. We’ll know soon if that is the case!
Tampa just trade for Sogard and need the space on the roster.
im just genuinely shocked they couldnt find a better return for the two, as with Gibaut. (whom they claimed invited several teams to come calling) urgency or not, i think Cleveland would take fliers on both of these two any day, and im sure the Rays could’ve asked for a bit more. precursor is the only thing it could be.
Maybe loading up on a prospect to make a run at either Syndergaard or Wheeler? I mean the Nets just got their rotation replacement for a bag of balls from Toronto so now they can cash in for prospects for one of the other two.
Tampa has a glut of infield prospects. They are also facing many rule 5 decisions. This trade clears two spots and brings in a prospect that is no where near rule 5 eligible. The Indians are buying low on Arroyo. The two players can help soon. Fits both teams’ needs.
I will remind all the gleeful Indians fans on here that the rays rarely if ever lose a trade. If they made this move it is for a reason beyond what is present at the moment. I will gladly take this young prospect for a middle of the road reliever and a guy who could never seem to hit much. I am sad however that he did not work out as that serves the Longoria trade now as nothing more than a salary dump. I would be upset about this but every time I doubt the Rays they always seem to work it out better.
Lol you must not remember Mercado being a PTBN trade last year. He was in single A last year. Cleveland knows how to elevate young talent others team fail at. Woods and Arroyo will be much better players in Clev system
Last time Mercado was in Single-A ball was 2016.
But I do agree that they’re very good at developing guys they’ve traded for, some of whom the other teams weren’t high on.
Oh so Jake Bauers was better in the Cleveland system? And Yandy Diaz was better off staying in Cleveland? You must forget t or never pay attention to moves the Rays make because their whole team is built in guys other teams fail to see the talent of.
So they. never lose a trade but Arroyo’s inclusion signals a loss on the Longoria deal?
First off I said rarely if ever. Second that’s still not a loss as freeing up the salary flexibility allowed them to sign Morton and others. My point was personally I would have liked to see them get more of a return for the heart and soul of the franchise at the time. I still see it at as a net positive.
Just getting rid of longos contract with any players coming back was a win. Longo was 15% below average last year at 3b. Rays won 90 games without him. Think they did ok.
Not necessarily saying the Indians “won” (nobody knows, of course).. but the Indians also have a great track record. Nearly their entire pitching staff was acquired through trade.. Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Clevinger, Hand, Cimber, Wittgren
Yes and the Rays have a great track record as well. My point being Arroyo will not be a consistent major leaguer offensively and his defense is middling at best and Wood has peripheral numbers beyond his era that point to a low end middle relief talent. Also with the Rays it is never about the current trade but rather about the trades after that must be paid attention to.
The Rays made this deal because of Rule 5 concerns at the end of the year and 40 man concerns. Tampa’s minor league system is loaded with infielders. They also have many prospects to add to their 40 man roster in the off season or chance losng them in the rule 5 draft. Cleveland trade a prospect farther away for more immediate help. The Indians took advantage of Tampa’s situation.