The Rangers have acquired INF/OF Nick Solak from Tampa for righty Peter Fairbanks, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
Solak, 24, has slugged 17 homers for Triple-A Durham so far this season, though his .266/.353/.485 line checks in just 11 percent above the league average in the rocket-powered International League. The utility man sits at #93 on FanGraphs’ latest update of the game’s top prospects, with the site especially lauding his makeup, versatility, and power/speed combo. An addition to the 40-man roster would have been necessary for the former Yankee farmhand this offseason, and with the club already possessing of Joey Wendle, rookie-of-the-year candidate Brandon Lowe, Christian Arroyo, Willy Adames, Daniel Robertson, Matt Duffy, Mike Brosseau, Yandy Diaz, and up-and-comer Vidal Brujan in roles that would mirror Solak’s eventual place on the roster, a move did seem prudent.
Fairbanks, 25, brought his super-charged fastball to Arlington for the first time this season. The 6’6 righty struggled big-time with command in his short Ranger stint, walking seven in just 8 2/3 IP, to go with four homers allowed, but did flash world-beating stuff over that span (15 K, 97.2 MPH average fastball velocity). The two-time Tommy John survivor has logged just 43 minor-league innings since a transition to the bullpen in 2017, a sample which hasn’t held back plaudits from evaluators around the game. FanGraphs describes the flame-thrower as an “impact relief piece,” grading his fastball/slider combo as one of the best for burgeoning relief prospects across the minors.
Fairbanks’ll head to Triple-A Durham, per Topkin, where he’ll bolster an already-staunch register of high-leverage pieces in the Tampa ’pen. Even without effective seasons from lynchpins Diego Castillo and Jose Alvarado, the Tampa ’pen reigns FIP-supreme in MLB this season, with an AL-best 45.5% grounder rate.
The assignment for Solak is as-yet unclear, but he’d seem to represent a perfect right-side complement to Nomar Mazara, Shin-Soo Choo, or Asdrubal Cabrera, all of whom have slumped badly against southpaws this season. Rougned Odor, he of the dreadful 63 wRC+, has actually been far better against same-side hurlers this season, so perhaps the club pans to slot in Solak full-time at the keystone in his place.
Rays have a serious ammount of infield depth. still though, think they could have gotten someone better for solak.
I agree questionable return for someone who’s on a top 100 list
While I agree with this statement, have u ever noticed Tampa doesn’t trade with anyone unless they come out better than before? I mean there has to be more to the story here because Tampa doesn’t lose trades.
They ended up DFAing a key piece in the Span/Colome trade and Zunino has been a complete disaster at the plate, while Mallex Smith has been solid after being recalled from an early demotion.
Every team loses trades. Tampa rarely takes huge risks, but teams with low budgets rarely do.
They’ve been shopping Solak for awhile now. You think there were better trade options on the table that they turned down?
Where did you see they were shopping Solak??
He was part of the offer for Edwin E to Seattle.
Rays prefer defense in all of their position players so the Rays also have K. Wong not mentioned above & the emergence of Mike B. definitely led to this trade happening. You need a guy with a great pitch or high heat to be a very effective relief pitcher so this guy has one of those.
Wow, this isnt great for tampa imo. Fairbanks doesnt do anything for me
Throws 95-100 mph and has a good slide piece. Not sure what you’re looking for in a relief guy. His ceiling is well above average.
velocity or not, he’s never preformed in the minors or majors. just throwing fast doesnt make you a good pitcher.
40-6 k/bb in 26 innings with only 1 HR
It’s a fairly impressive with that stuff
He went from single-A to the majors. What do you want from the guy? Rays are great at developing pitching and Solak was blocked by years of infielders and rays need RP. Why not take a chance on a guy you’re gonna lose anyways in the rule 5
Back in the day, there was a saying that if the Braves wanted to trade a pitcher, buyer beware. It feels like a current equivalent is that if Tampa Bay wants to acquire one of your pitchers, maybe look a little closer before you trade him away.
I wouldn’t say that. Rays just always look for some kind of bargain they can possibly control for years since everyone with a brain cell knows they won’t pay market value (or close to it) for anyone and are always looking for the cheapest way to acquire talent.
Both of them have the same amount of control… this isn’t it
He possesses high heat & any established reliever will cost you some high end prospects to acquire. Give this trade time to see if Fairbanks develops as hoped (Rays see a high ceiling here).
I guess this was because he would be unprotected for the Rule 5? I think his glove is poor, but he’s a very good hitter. Seems like the Rays got a little worse side of this deal.
Rays have a ton of organizational depth that they cant protect, but Solak has gotta get you something better than Fairbanks, no? Heck, the Yankees would take Solak back if you dont want him. He’s a solid prospect
???
If the Rays offered him as part of the Edwin E trade offer one would think they were also listening/shopping him around.
So where were the Yanks in all of this?
Not biting?
Not offering a pitcher that the Rays liked?
Fairbanks has a high heater & the Rays were looking for one to acquire for a mid level prospect price.
Rangers were willing to Let’s make a deal & the trade happened.
I will give this trade a year or two & then judge it.
They have a lot of mid level prospects that they can’t all protect.
For those bringing it up, this didn’t help the off-season 40 man roster crunch since Fairbanks is already on the 40. If anything, it made it worse. Head scratcher for the Rays, even with their infield depth. Is his glove really that bad?
His glove is thatttt bad and the Rays infield depth is kinda unreal at this point
but why did the rangers trade for him they Odor at 2nd and a crowded outfield is there another trade in the work
they can do to bench Odor for a bit (or send him down for that matter)
Odor!!?? They guy who’s not hitting his weight?
Andrus could leave next year,Cabrera and so on could be gone to.
Odor is a non factor at this point. I’d imagine Texas is looking for a way out of that.
Jeez I would’ve been happy if Tigers traded Castellanos for this guy
Castellanos isn’t worth that much
Yikes
Yikes what??? Castellanos isn’t worth a top 250 prospect. Really… this shouldn’t be a surprise.
I wish the Rays would have traded someone else, but sure like another young arm under control that throws 99 mph.
Like Daniel Robertson. I think that he must have something special besides his poor bat and erratic defense. Keeps getting second third and fourth chance’s with the Rays. We already know Robertson’s upside or lack of one.
You probably wouldn’t have gotten anything of value for Robertson
So I’ll be the only one who likes the trade for the Rays. Power arms aren’t that common, and can be developed, especially with Kyle Snyder as your pitching coach.
Solak plays hard, will play anywhere, and has some definitive juice in that bat. But he’s wretched defensively, and has a ceiling no higher than the 25th (26th next year) guy on your roster. Actually, there’s lots of Nick Solak-s around, including his Bulls teammate Wong.
wong’s trade value is a curious case
Whatever the issue is (beyond sub-par defense), it must be common knowledge within the industry. He was left out there in Rule 5 last winter without a nibble. Wong’s a Solak clone (besides the obvious LH-RH thing); same skill set, maybe a slightly better hit tool, and at least a willingness to play CF.. But there might be more going on.
And unless your in Denver or Oakland, nobody pays much attention to your defense; they think the shifting hides all your sins. And they may be right.
Solak wasn’t rule 5 eligible last year. He was drafted & signed in 2016 as a 19+ year old. 2019 would be the 4th rule 5 draft since his signing and therefore the first he would be eligible for.
I was indicating that about Wong, not Solak.
I thing Wong’s trade value is extremely low
Think
Just like when Cashman trades a guy, if the Rays trade a guy they are probably getting the better end of the deal.
Solak always had the rep as bad defensively.
If you say so. Solak has a good chance to start as a 2b or OF because of the bat. Fairbanks has solid potential but as a reliever his impact is limited. A few years from now I doubt there’s many complaints from either side unless Solak turns into an all star.
This trade as a strong vote of confidence for Rays prospect 2B Vidal Brujan who’s tearing up class AA.
Oh mercy, you can’t compare Solak to Brujan, whose a potential top-of-order bat to ball skills guy with exceptional speed. They just need to get him off 2B, where he’s not contender-status , to CF, where everybody seems to agree he’d flourish.
That kid looks good. I didn’t know much about him prior to this year but from what I’ve seen and heard, he looks like a great future lead-off hitter and I think his power is still going to come. He’ll probably be a top-15 prospect by this time next year.
Edit: Talking about Vidal Brujan here.
This is going to look like a steal for TEX down the road a bit. Solak is going to be an All-Star and foundational piece for Texas. Kid can rake, get on base, play all over the field, and has high-level leadership and clubhouse presence, by all accounts.
All accounts I’ve read have said “will likely crack MLB”, which is good! Would love to see the accounts you’re reading…
Fangraphs, top TB prospect list this both year and last year; read their blurbs on him.
2B was clogged in the Rays system, which is why Brujan started the season in A ball.
Rangers going to see him come up September or earlier!!!
Is this foretelling of what the market for relievers is going to be?
If so, this is good news for a Seattle team dangling Elias and possibly both Tui and Adams.
Hopefully good news for Texas dangling Minor. It’ll take a big offer to convince JD but this might signal that a sellers market is forming this season.
Rays are wylin out on this one, what a terrible idea. Texas won big.
If you really want a big arm, Minaya was just DFA’d and he’s not gonna cost a top prospect
Tigers gotta be looking at this and wondering what they could get for Joe Jimenez. I mean, Solak isn’t anything special but he has the look of a guy who will develop into a solid utility guy and who knows what more he has.
A rare questionable move from the Rays (at least lately)
You either do it now for a power arm when the bullpen needs help badly or lose him for nothing in the rule 5. Not very questionable especially when defense is probably the Rays #1 priority on position players
I’m still looking at this trade as a result of Brujan’s strong numbers since his promotion to class AA.
Should have traded Wendle and Robertson in the off-season. Could have kept Burke maybe. Solak looks like a faster less powerful version of Uggla.
The Rays FO has earned the benefit of the doubt with me when it comes to trades. They obviously see something in this pitcher that they like. Tyler Glasnow wasn’t putting up good numbers at all and look what they turned him into before he got injured? This guy is 6’6” with a blazing fastball and high strikeout %. He has the tools, so maybe they see something they can “fix“. Admittedly, the trade was a bit of a head scratcher at first glance, but so was the Diaz for Bauers deal, and they proved me wrong once again on that one. From strictly a “need” perspective, they are flush with middle infielders and they desperately need bullpen help. I’ll just hope they know something I don’t (once again)
Rays FO Eric Neander has the best insight on Ballplayers talent level! He’s right 4 out of every 5 trades. I’ll pass to criticize early..
I think in the long run, both teams will come out on top. Peter Fairbanks is going to be a weapon in the bullpen. Rangers are trying to add more talent in their farm system. We have no talent in triple A, just double a and below. So it will be years before we see them. I could see the rangers putting nick at 3rd in triple A or Eli white. But we will find out later on I guess