10:12am: Both the Brewers and Rangers have shown some degree of interest in Leake, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. It’s not clear whether either of those two clubs is the team about which thee Mariners approached Leake last night. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times further reports that Texas’ interest hinges on whether the deal Mike Minor.
While the Rangers have begun to operate as sellers, it’s also clear that Texas isn’t interested in a full-scale rebuild. President of baseball ops Jon Daniels and ownership surely want to field a competitive club as they open a new stadium next season, and while no one’s mistaking Leake for a top-of-the-rotation arm, he’d give them a stable option to take the ball every fifth day with generally competitive innings.
As for the Brewers, they’ve already picked up righty Jordan Lyles but have further rotation needs with Brandon Woodruff, Jhoulys Chacin, Jimmy Nelson and Corbin Burnes all sidelined. (Burnes has worked more in relief this season anyhow.) Chacin and Lyles will be free agents at season’s end, so there’s reason to look at adding an arm with additional control, even if the upside is limited.
6:41am: As a highly compensated member of a cellar-dwelling team, Mariners righty Mike Leake is a rather obvious trade candidate. But his full no-trade rights have complicated attempts to move him, and it has long been unclear whether a deal might be struck.
There was some anticipation that Leake could be shipped out in advance of his start last night. Indeed, as MLB.com’s Alyson Footer reports, Leake says that the Seattle front office actually brought a trade possibility to his attention before he took the ball. While details remain unclear, it seems that Leake was not the obstacle to the completion of the negotiations. Rather, the veteran righty indicates that he never heard word of a completed deal and instead made his start as scheduled.
With the trade deadline now just hours away, Leake’s assumption is that he’s staying put — though that doesn’t mean he has been given any assurances. “There’s still a possibility, I’m sure,” says Leake. “Right now, I look at it as I’m not getting traded. At this point, I think I’ll plan on being a Mariner for the rest of the year.”
The Seattle organization has spent much of the season re-shuffling its roster, finishing the work it started in the prior offseason. With intentions of a quick rebound to relevance, it’s possible to imagine Leake staying on as a member of the 2020 rotation. But he may still be dealt — if not today, then over the winter.
Leake is employed by the M’s but still being paid in part by the Cardinals, who signed him as a free agent before shipping him to Seattle. The veteran hurler is earning $16MM this year, $5MM of which is covered by the St. Louis org, and $15MM in 2020, with $4MM the responsibility of the Cards. There’s also a $5MM buyout on a 2021 mutual option.
While those hefty obligations pose a theoretical barrier to a deal, the Mariners have shown a willingness to eat salary in other recent swaps and have obviously found willing trade partners. For those contenders looking for some stability in the back end of their rotation, few hurlers come with more stamped-and-sealed credentials as Leake. With eight more starts this season, he’ll hit the 30-start mark for the eighth-straight season.
It’s not exactly an exciting profile, but Leake remains a useful pitcher. He turned in a middling performance following the pre-game distraction yesterday, surrendering 10 hits and 5 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. On the season, the 31-year-old has been about as steady as he’s always been, with a 4.40 ERA through 137 innings. His strikeout rates remain fairly pedestrian at 6.6 K/9, but Leake has never been better at limiting free passes and presently carries a league-best 1.2 BB/9 mark.
Trade could be imminent, surprised something hasn’t Leaked already.
[Downvote]
Poor. Do not comment again.
Never thought anyone would agree with clepto. Today it happened.
Cheers guys, appreciate it. Thanks for coming.
LOL!
He will be a Yankee today. It will be Cashman only move.
Hopefully it is precursors by a relatively Minor deal
Angels Receive:
SP Mike Leake
RP Roenis Elias
$5.0M Offset to Leake’s 2021 Option
Mariners Receive:
SP Trevor Cahill (31)
RHP Jose Soriano (20)
LHP Connor Higgins (22)
Mariners clear $11M of Leake’s 2020 Salary off the books adding 1 solid pitching prospect and a former college late Rd pick who could provide bullpen depth. Angels get an upgrade for 2020 stretch plus a bullpen piece into the future from the left side assuming $11M Leake is owed in 2020 plus the difference between Cahill & Leake 2019 salaries (prorated amount of $2M).
Something like that is what needs to happen. Salary coming back and something remotely helpful with it. I can’t see Seattle just paying salary for the minimal gain in prospects
Right because that’s something Dipoto has failed to do for us during his Mariners tenure, huh? lol
While Dipoto loves a good trade, there’s no way I can see him dealing with the Angels.
Well if the cardinals don’t do anything else I could actually see them taking Leake back…they are already paying for him
They won’t take him back. He not a well-liked guy.
Nah, I’d pass.
I don’t know guys…like I said the cardinals are already paying him and they desperately need an innings eater like Leake…do I think it will happen? Not really, but if all else fails he would be better than Wacha or Ponce…
What happened to Wacha? He was scary to face for a while there.
Injuries and just never developing a good third pitch other than his fastball, changeup
Seattle righthander MIke Leake has posted 9.0 fWAR, valued at $71.9 million, barely three and two-thirds years into his five-year, $80 contract. So far this season Leake has posted 1.3 fWAR, valued at $10.3 million.
With bullpens imploding from overwork, an innings-eater such as Leake is likely undervalued. The Mariners should probably hold on to Leake unless blown away with an offer.
I always wonder if teams take these numbers as literally as the guys at fangraphs who make them up do.
I could see a team like the White Sox or Pads making a play for him in the offseason but for contenders at the deadline I just don’t see it. He is not going to be a game changer and for his price he needs to be that for a contender to be interested.
Well the way things are going this trade deadline I expect the Orioles to trade for him! Then the Marlins get Robbie Ray. The Tigers decide to hold onto Boyd and Greene and the White Sox trade to get Greinke.
Leake was great last night thru 5 innings, but then imploded in the 6th. If he had a great outing into the 7th without imploding he would have been traded. I don’t see it now. Seattle will have to wait until the offseason or maybe even next July now.
Really for $11M (after the Cards are paying $5M/yr), that is about what he’s worth. He is definitely an innings eater that many teams could use, especially in Aug/Sept to save BP arms.
After Santana went two HRs over the past 2 games, and thats even with a sore elbow, I see him defnitely being moved today. But even if he doesn’t get moved, it will be a great opportunity to trade him this offseason with 2 more controllable years for cheap. Santana should easily hit 30-32 HRs this year. His UZR defense is definitely better in RF, but he was atrocious in LF and unbearable to watch over in LF. I do not understand why TB wouldn’t be all over Santana as their DH. They couldn’t afford EE, not even half his salary, and Santana only is owed about $650k the rest of 2019. TB has done nothing to stay in the game, and instead watched their commanding AL East lead slip completely away from them.
His outing last night affects his value zero. Teams know what he is and what he isn’t. He could’ve thrown a no hitter and it wouldn’t have mattered.
That is definitely a leaky Brewers rotation that needs to be plugged quickly.
IMO, if there was any possibility of him being traded at the deadline he wouldn’t have pitched last night. My prediction is he will stay a Mariner.
I still see Arizona as a good fit for him if Seattle will pay some of his remaining salary. They’ll need an innings eater if they end up trading Ray and/or Greinke today