Mariners, Astros Swap Kendall Graveman For Abraham Toro In Four-Player Trade
In a rare and rather stunning swap between a pair of division rivals who are both in contention, the Mariners have traded closer Kendall Graveman and recently designated-for-assignment righty Rafael Montero to the Astros in exchange for young infielder Abraham Toro and veteran righty Joe Smith, according to both clubs. The trade is even more eye-opening when considering that the two clubs are gearing up to play each other in the second game of a three-game set tonight.
Trading Graveman at all registers as a moderate surprise, given the Mariners’ recent climb in the standings and stated desire to improve the 2021 roster. To see him traded to the division-leading Astros while the two squads are playing one another is downright jarring. That said, Graveman is a free agent at season’s end, and in Toro, the Mariners are acquiring five seasons of control over an infielder who has been considered one of Houston’s more promising young prospects for the past few years.
In speaking to the media about the trade, Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto plainly acknowledged that as a standalone transaction, it’s a head-scratching move. But Dipoto also emphasized some patience, suggesting this move is but one of a sequence of trades designed to improve the Mariners’ chances both in 2021 and over the long-term down the road (Twitter thread via MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). Dipoto suggested a subsequent trade or trades could come together as soon as tonight or in the coming days, but it seems as though this is but one of a series of moves for which the Mariners are angling; time will tell just how the moves look when judged in their totality.
Toro, 24, hasn’t yet pieced things together in limited big league action, but he’s decimated Triple-A pitching (.392/.497/.600 in 33 games) and posted strong numbers in pitcher-friendly Double-A settings (.282/.369/.468 in 148 games). The switch-hitting Toro provides the Mariners with a possible long-term option at third base, but he’s also logged considerable time at second base — another area where the Mariners have been known to be seeking help. That long-term fit isn’t likely to matter much to the clubhouse, however, and Divish rather unsurprisingly tweets that the decision to trade Graveman to their top division rival was not well-received among Seattle players.
That’s understandable on Seattle’s end, given just how dominant Graveman has become since transitioning to the bullpen late in the 2020 season. The former Athletics starter has bounced back from an injury-lost 2019 season to emerge as one of the American League’s more effective relievers. In 33 innings this season, Graveman has pitched to a 0.82 ERA with a 28.1 percent strikeout rate, a 6.6 walk rate and a 53.9 percent ground-ball rate. Dating back to his shift to the bullpen in 2020, he’s compiled 43 innings of 1.47 ERA ball.
Graveman is likely all the more appealing to the luxury-conscious Astros because of his affordable salary. He’s playing on a one-year, $1.25MM contract. Incentives have already boosted that base salary by $400K, and the contract overall contains a total of $3MM in reachable incentives. That said, $1.5MM of those are tied up in games finished, and manager Dusty Baker has already indicated that Ryan Pressly is likely to continue as his closer. Graveman could still collect six more stray games finished to reach his first of three would-be $500K bonuses tied to games finished, but it’s unlikely he reaches the 30 and 40 games finished needed to unlock the next pair of $500K bonuses. In all, the contract will likely top out paying him somewhere in the range of $2.65MM based on incentives tied to days on the roster, games finished and total innings pitched.
Montero’s inclusion in the trade is likely a pure accounting measure. The combined salaries of Montero and Graveman ought to clock in somewhere in the same ballpark as Smith’s $4MM salary and luxury-tax hit, though depending on the status of Graveman’s incentives, the Astros could come out either a bit ahead or a bit behind where they were previously projected.
Montero opened the season as the closer in Seattle but struggled early and has been mired in a catastrophic slump of late, yielding 16 runs in his past 11 innings. The ‘Stros may have their own ideas on how to help a reliever who was quite good with the Rangers in 2019-20 right the ship, but Montero’s inclusion doesn’t appear to be a key part of the swap. At best he’s a roll of the dice, and at worst he’s a financial counterweight who could be cut loose quickly if his struggles persist.
The same is largely true of Smith, who opted out of the 2020 season after signing a two-year deal in Houston and has been clobbered for a 7.48 ERA in 21 2/3 innings this year. Some of that has been attributable to a sky-high .413 batting average on balls in play, but Smith is sporting a career-low strikeout rate, a grounder rate that’s well off his peak levels and has also been quite homer-prone. As with Houston and Montero, perhaps the Mariners have an idea or two about how to get the veteran righty back on track, but the trade is much more about Graveman and Toro than about the struggling relievers accompanying those two players.
Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times first tweeted that Toro and a reliever were going to the Mariners in exchange for two players. MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart provided the full context on the trade.
Yankees Activate Aaron Judge
The Yankees have reinstated Aaron Judge and Kyle Higashioka from the Covid-19-related injured list, per a club announcement. They’ve also added recent trade acquisition Clay Holmes to the active roster. In a series of corresponding moves, the Yankees placed righty Yoendrys Gomez on the Covid list, optioned outfielder Estevan Florial and righty Albert Abreu to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and transferred right-hander Michael King to the 60-day injured list.
Judge returns to the Yankees’ lineup batting second and will hope to help spur a rally in the standings for a Yankees club that currently trails the Red Sox by nine and a half games. The Yankees are a much more-manageable three and a half games out of the second Wild Card spot in the American League. The 29-year-old Judge has had another excellent season when he’s been on the field, batting .282/.375/.526 with 21 home runs in 360 trips to the plate.
Higashioka, meanwhile, has given the Yankees some power and a strong walk rate in a limited role as a backup. His .196/.278/.433 slash doesn’t exactly jump out, but he has more pop and a better walk rate than most reserve catchers you’ll find around the league.
King’s transfer to the 60-day IL rules him out until early September. He went on the 10-day IL back on July 8, and his 60-day minimum stay on the IL is retroactive to the date of the initial placement. In 48 1/3 innings this season, King has pitched to a 3.72 ERA with a 47-to-21 K/BB ratio.
Mets Select Jerad Eickhoff, Designate Roel Ramirez
The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve re-signed Jerad Eickhoff and selected him to the Major League roster. Right-hander Roel Ramirez has been designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster. Eickhoff is in line to start tonight’s game against the Braves.
It’s been a tumultuous year for Eickhoff with the Mets. He’s been designated for assignment twice and elected free agency both times — only to quickly re-sign a new deal with the Mets and return to the MLB roster. Tonight will mark his third stint and fourth start of the season with the Mets. To this point, he’s given then 16 1/3 innings of 4.96 ERA ball with nine strikeouts and five walks. Given the Mets’ current search for rotation options and the looming return of Carlos Carrasco, it’s possible this will be another short stint for Eickhoff.
Speaking of short stints, the 26-year-old Ramirez was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals just six days ago. He made only one appearance with Triple-A Syracuse, yielding a pair of runs in an inning of work. He was a depth pickup for the Mets but will now likely hit waivers again within the next week following today’s DFA (if he’s not traded prior to Friday’s deadline).
Rockies Release Matt Adams
The Rockies announced Tuesday that they’ve released veteran first baseman Matt Adams. His spot on the roster will go to infielder Rio Ruiz, who has been recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque.
Adams, 32, appeared in 22 games with the Rox but was deployed largely as a pinch-hitter. He’s posted a .167/.250/.194 batting line in 40 plate appearances this season and had accumulated just five plate appearances since coming off the injured list 17 days ago.
Adams slugged 20 home runs with the 2019 Nationals but did so with a .226 batting average and a .276 on-base percentage. His last season of above-average overall production came back in 2018, when he slashed .239/.309/.477 with a career-high 21 homers. Overall, Adams is a .258/.306/.463 hitter in more than 2600 Major League plate appearances. Nearly all the damage he’s done has come against right-handed pitching, as lefties have carved him up to the tune of a .210/.241/.378 slash line.
Ruiz, 27, was a waiver pickup out of the Orioles organization in late May. Baltimore designated him for assignment after he’d struggled to a .220/.292/.380 batting line across multiple auditions from 2019-21. While he obviously wasn’t able to establish himself with the O’s, Ruiz has batted .314/.375/.523 (118 wRC+) in a hitter-friendly Albuquerque setting. The Rockies are surely encouraged by a tiny 14.1 percent strikeout rate in that time and will give him a look moving forward.
Adams’ release figures to be the first of multiple personnel changes on the Rockies’ roster this week. Colorado is widely expected to trade away some impending free agents, with Jon Gray, Trevor Story, Mychal Givens, C.J. Cron and Daniel Bard among the possible trade candidates on the roster.
Stephen Strasburg To Undergo Thoracic Outlet Surgery
Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg will undergo surgery to alleviate neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, manager Dave Martinez announced to reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman). The procedure will end his season, and the Nationals’ hope is that he can be ready for the start of the 2022 campaign. Martinez’s announcement was a bit more specific than most announcements on TOS surgery, but for those wondering, “neurogenic” thoracic outlet syndrome is the most common of three variations of the ailment, per the Mayo Clinic.
It’s yet another health setback for one of the game’s most talented but also most oft-injured pitchers. Strasburg’s 2020 season also ended with surgery — that one to alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome — and he’ll now head into the 2022 campaign with just 26 2/3 innings under his belt since signing a franchise-record seven-year, $245MM contract as a free agent in the 2019-20 offseason.
Thoracic outlet surgery is more ominous than the more-common Tommy John surgery, as pitchers generally have a much worse track record in returning from TOS operations. That said, Strasburg need look no further than D-backs righty Merrill Kelly to find a recent example of a pitcher who has come back from a TOS procedure as good as ever (arguably better, in Kelly’s case). Former Royals/Padres/Mets righty (and current Rangers GM) Chris Young also attributed TOS surgery to saving his career. Other success stories include former Cardinals hurlers Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia.
On the other side of the coin, TOS has proven quite difficult to bounce back from for a number of pitchers around the league. Matt Harvey is the most well-known example, but we’ve also seen thoracic outlet syndrome derail the careers of Tyson Ross, Phil Hughes and Nate Karns, among many others. Chris Archer‘s return from thoracic outlet surgery in 2021 hasn’t gone well, as he pitched just 4 1/3 innings for the Rays before going down with a forearm issue.
Every case is unique to the pitcher in question, of course, so historical precedent only tells us so much. Strasburg is still signed another five years, so the Nats will need to hold out particularly strong hope that he’s able to work back from this and return to something approximating his prior levels of performance. He and Patrick Corbin are both locked into hefty salaries in 2022, and the Nats will also have Joe Ross, Austin Voth, Erick Fedde and Paolo Espino as in-house rotation options. Still, Max Scherzer is set to reach free agency this winter — and could be traded this week — and Strasburg’s health is again up in the air; long-term starting pitching help seems likely to be a focal point for the Nationals both this winter and in the hours leading up to Friday afternoon’s trade deadline.
Max Scherzer Open To Waiving No-Trade Rights
3:45pm: Scherzer would not approve a trade to the Mets, reports SNY’s Andy Martino, nor would the Nationals be open to trading Scherzer to the current NL East leaders.
8:41am: If Scherzer is to waive his no-trade clause, the right-hander “strongly prefers the West Coast,” a source tells MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. This would naturally favor the Giants, Padres, and Dodgers, while such AL West clubs as the Angels, Athletics, or Mariners couldn’t be ruled out.
July 27, 7:34am: The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has some details on Scherzer’s complex contract situation, as Scherzer’s deal contains a lot of deferred money. The roughly $11.8MM remaining of Scherzer’s $35MM salary for 2021 is entirely deferred until 2028, so a new team wouldn’t have to pay that money out for seven years. However, Scherzer’s luxury tax number would be around the $10MM mark, which is certainly a factor for teams trying to avoid a tax payment. Scherzer has another $7.5MM in signing bonus money due this September, but Rosenthal notes that this bonus payment “is solely the Nationals’ obligation.”
July 26: Nationals ace Max Scherzer has been one of the most intriguing trade candidates in baseball as the Nationals have slid down the standings following a scorching month of June, but a trade surrounding him is also complicated for myriad reasons. He’s being paid $35MM in 2021 and has more than $100MM in deferred money still owed to him from 2022-28. The Nationals, historically, do not operate as sellers under general manager Mike Rizzo. Scherzer has full no-trade protection as a 10-and-5 player (10 years of MLB service, the past five with the same team). Additionally, agent Scott Boras has previously suggested that Scherzer would require some type of incentive (e.g. a contract extension) in order to waive those rights.
It would seem that at least one of those major hurdles, however, is surmountable. Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports (via Twitter) that Scherzer is open to being traded and would not invoke his 10-and-5 rights for the sole purpose of remaining with the Nationals. However, Scherzer could use that full no-trade protection as a way to have a say in his ultimate destination if the Nats are presented with offers from multiple clubs.
It’s not yet clear whether the Nationals are going to legitimately make Scherzer available, although a weekend sweep at the hands of a 34-64 Orioles club couldn’t have helped convince Rizzo and his staff that the Nats need to operate as a buyer. Rizzo said just under a week ago that he was approaching the deadline with a both a “buy” and “sell” mindset, remaining open to all possibilities depending on how his team played. The implication was that with a strong showing, the Nats would act as they tend to do under Rizzo: make at least incremental upgrades in an effort to push toward the postseason.
That hasn’t happened, however. The Nats are 1-4 since those comments from Rizzo, including the sweep in Baltimore, and the fact that the Nationals had to slow Stephen Strasburg‘s throwing program down once again only adds another negative element to the equation. Washington now finds itself eight games below .500, seven and a half back of the division lead and 11 out in the Wild Card hunt. The generally feeble nature of the NL East and the top-heavy trio of contenders in the NL West mean that the only path for an NL East club to reach the postseason is likely via a division title. FanGraphs gives the Nats a 1.4 percent chance of making the playoffs; PECOTA is only marginally better, at an even 2.0 percent.
If the Nats do indeed make Scherzer available, he’d (obviously) be the best starting pitcher on a market that is lacking in impact arms. The three-time Cy Young winner and eight-time All-Star, who turns 37 tomorrow, has pitched to a 2.83 ERA with a brilliant 35.1 percent strikeout rate and a 6.1 percent walk rate in 105 innings this season. He’s had one astonishing meltdown that the Padres and Daniel Camarena will never forget, wherein Scherzer allowed 12 percent of the runs he’s yielded all season on one pitch to a just-called-up relief pitcher. Outside of that night, Scherzer has allowed 26 runs in 101 1/3 innings of work (2.31 ERA). He’s held opponents to two or fewer runs in 14 of his 18 starts.
It’s also worth noting that Scherzer had his Saturday start against the Orioles scratched due to discomfort in his right triceps. The injury popped up when he was taking batting practice, not pitching and Scherzer has already said publicly that he plans to make his next start. He underwent an MRI that came back clean, and (via MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman), manager Dave Martinez said Scherzer’s bullpen session today went as planned. Assuming he feels fine tomorrow, he’d be in line to start Thursday’s game for the Nationals — their final game prior to Friday afternoon’s trade deadline.
Twins Place Taylor Rogers On Injured List
July 27: The Twins announced that Rogers has been placed on the 10-day IL with a left middle finger sprain. Right-hander Beau Burrows is up from Triple-A St. Paul to take his spot on the active roster.
While players on the injured list can technically still be moved, this would seem to all but ensure that Rogers won’t be traded prior to Friday’s deadline.
July 26, 11:55pm: Rogers will undergo imaging on his hand tomorrow to determine the extent of the issue, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (Twitter link via Helfand).
10:47pm: Twins closer Taylor Rogers exited Monday night’s game against the Tigers with a sprained middle finger on his pitching hand, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Rogers threw five pitches, missing his spot badly on the fourth offering and checking his left hand. His fifth pitch then sailed a few feet wide of the strike zone, at which point Rogers called to the dugout and quickly departed with the training staff.
This time of season, any injury to a prominent player on a non-contending club is of note. Rogers is hardly considered a lock to be traded — he’s controlled through the 2022 season via arbitration — but the Twins have already begun to turn their eye toward 2022 and beyond, trading Nelson Cruz to the Rays last week. Rogers, Jose Berrios and Michael Pineda are among the team’s other trade candidates, though any sort of IL trip for Rogers would likely preempt a trade.
It’s been another strong season for Rogers, a former 11th-round pick who has gone from minor league starter, to solid middle reliever, to an All-Star reliever in recent years. Rogers debuted with the Twins in 2016 and quickly settled in as a solid arm, but his career took off upon adding a slider to his arsenal in midway through the 2018 campaign. Over the past four seasons, Rogers has pitched to a 2.91 ERA with an excellent 31.2 percent strikeout rate against a tiny 4.9 percent walk rate. This year’s 35.5 percent strikeout rate is a career-high.
Hard-throwing lefties who miss bats and limit walks at premium rates are hard to come by — particularly when they can keep both righties and lefties in check, as Rogers can. The Twins aren’t punting on their 2022 season by any means, but it’s feasible that other clubs could put together a strong enough package that they’d be tempted to part ways with Rogers. He’s playing on a $6MM salary and ought to see a nice raise via arbitration this winter, so a trade could bring in some near-MLB help and save the team some money to spend in free agency over the winter.
It remains to be seen whether Rogers will ultimately require an IL stint, but the mention of a sprain indicates some form of ligament stretching/tearing in Rogers’ finger, which is rather ominous. Every situation is unique, of course, but Cleveland righty Aaron Civale exited a June outing under similar circumstances and has yet to return to the mound.
Brewers Interested In Trevor Story, Josh Donaldson, Kyle Gibson
The Brewers are looking to add to their NL Central-leading roster, and are considering some big names. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links) reports that Milwaukee has shown interest in Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson and Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, and The Athletic’s Levi Weaver tweets that Rangers right-hander Kyle Gibson is also on the Brewers’ radar.
Brewers GM Matt Arnold indicated this past weekend that the team would look into adding some hitting help, as the Brew Crew has managed their success despite middling numbers in most major offensive categories. Of course, Milwaukee has already made two notable trades to land hitters, obtaining Rowdy Tellez from the Blue Jays earlier this month and landing Willy Adames as part of a four-player deal with the Rays way back in May. Tellez has looked great in his brief (30 plate appearances) since joining the team, while Adames has been nothing less than spectacular in hitting .294/.388/.537 over 232 PA.
Adames would seemingly be locked in at the everyday shortstop, though adding Story could create an interesting dilemma about who plays the position. Both players are strong defenders, and since Kolten Wong is one of the game’s better defensive second basemen, third base would be the most obvious landing spot for either Adames or Story. Such contenders as the White Sox and Padres were known to be considering Story at other positions, and it could be that Milwaukee was another one of the teams thinking of a creative use of Story’s ability.
Of course, just acquiring an actual third baseman like Donaldson would be a cleaner way of upgrading the hot corner, though that trade would offer another of complications. Story is a free agent after the season, while Donaldson is guaranteed at least $50MM through the end of the 2023 (with a club option for 2024 that would add another $8MM to the ledger). Donaldson would also be owed a $2MM bonus in the event of a trade, and it isn’t known if the Brewers are one of the clubs on Donaldson’s five-team no-trade list.
Donaldson also turns 36 in December, making him a riskier proposition for such a long-term deal even though he is still delivering big production in his age-35 season. The Brewers already have big money committed to Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, and Yelich has been hampered by injury over the last seasons while Cain has had two injury-plagued years sandwiched around his decision to opt out of most of the 2020 campaign.
It would stand to reason that the Twins would at least listen to offers involving getting a mid-30’s player off their own books. That said, Minnesota doesn’t have much future money committed, and the Twins are reportedly not looking to move players controlled beyond this season since the team is planning to bounce back and contend again in 2022.
Gibson is himself controlled through 2022, but at a modest $8MM price tag for next year plus the remainder (roughly $3.2MM) of his 2021 salary. While every team wants as much pitching as possible, Gibson might be something of a luxury for a Brewers team that has gotten great-to-solid results from its rotation. Milwaukee could see adding Gibson as a way of limiting innings for everyone to keep the rotation fresh for the postseason, and to add further length and depth to the bullpen. However, there are many other teams with more pressing pitching needs looking at Gibson, so it remains to be seen if the Brew Crew would be willing or able to outbid the field for the veteran righty.
Tigers Activate Michael Fulmer, Designate Ian Krol For Assignment
The Tigers announced Tuesday that right-hander Michael Fulmer has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Lefty Ian Krol was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster.
Fulmer hit the injured list late last month with what the team termed a cervical spine strain. His return comes just days before the trade deadline, so it’s possible he won’t have enough time to convince other clubs of his health, but prior to his injury Fulmer looked like one of the more obvious trade candidates around the league.
The now-28-year-old righty was acquired from the Mets in the 2015 Yoenis Cespedes blockbuster and promptly won American League Rookie of the Year honors as a member of the Tigers’ rotation in 2016. That season saw the righty pitch 159 innings of 3.06 ERA ball over the life of 26 starts. He struck out 20.4 percent of opponents along the way, posted a very strong 6.5 percent walk rate and an above-average 48.9 percent grounder rate.
Fulmer looked like the next in a long line of quality arms that had helped the Tigers to perennial contender status earlier in the decade, but injuries have largely derailed that outlook. He’s undergone ulnar nerve transposition surgery and Tommy John surgery since that Rookie of the Year campaign and has pitched a total of just 200 innings since Opening Day 2018 — including 40 frames this year.
After seeing diminished output as a starting pitcher, Fulmer reinvented himself in the bullpen this season. He’s been hammered for a 4.97 ERA in his handful of starts this season but had pitched to a 3.62 ERA with a sizable 29.7 percent strikeout rate and just a 5.1 percent walk rate out of the ‘pen. That bullpen ERA was sitting at 2.73 prior to his final outing prior to landing on the IL, when he served up three runs in an inning of work before alerting the team of the injury.
Fulmer is earning a reasonable $3.1MM salary this year and is controlled into the 2022 season via arbitration. That could pique the interest of contending clubs, but the extra year of control also means the Tigers needn’t simply accept the best offer that comes their way after he’s had maybe one or two innings to showcase his health. Fulmer could reestablish himself in the season’s final months and be shopped this winter, and it’s also possible that the Tigers could decide to hang onto him into next year as they look to field a more competitive club.
Krol, 30, returned to the Majors for his first look since 2018. He tossed 4 2/3 innings out of the Detroit bullpen and held opponents to a pair of runs on four hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts in that time. He’d been on a nice run in Triple-A prior to his call-up and has a pair of quality big league seasons under his belt, but consistency has been hard for him to come by; he carries a 4.48 ERA in 194 2/3 Major League innings and has on three occasions posted single-season ERAs of 4.96 or higher. The Tigers can trade him in the next couple days if they find a suitor — otherwise Krol will be placed on outright waivers or released.
Marlins Designate Luis Madero For Assignment
The Marlins have designated righty Luis Madero for assignment, as The Miami Herald’s David Wilson was among to report. First baseman Lewin Diaz has been called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
This is already the third time Miami has DFA’ed Madero since the start of May, though amidst the roster maneuvering, the right-hander did make his Major League debut. Madero has tossed four innings over three games for the Marlins, with one disastrous outing (five runs in one inning against the Diamondbacks on May 11) accounting for his 11.25 ERA.
Beginning his career as a 17-year-old in Arizona’s farm system in 2014, Madero pitched for the D’Backs, Angels, and was briefly in the Giants organization before joining the Marlins on a minor league deal last winter. Starting 92 of his 110 career games in the minors, Madero has a 4.34 ERA and 20.73% strikeout rate over an even 500 minor league innings.