2021-22 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings
It’s time for a fresh installment of our 2021-22 MLB Free Agents Power Rankings, where we rank players by their potential earning power should they reach the open market as scheduled. For this exercise, I’m setting aside the uncertainty of the collective bargaining agreement expiring on December 1st. For the full list of free agents, click here.
1. Corey Seager. Seager suffered a broken hand after getting hit by a pitch in mid-May, and seems likely to return around early July. It will be interesting to see how Seager hits once he returns. In 169 plate appearances to start the season, he sits at a 122 wRC+. That’s strong work, but perhaps a bit short of Seager’s own standards, as he entered the season with a career mark of 130.
2. Carlos Correa. Correa is raking this season, with a 147 wRC+ that ranks second only to Xander Bogaerts among shortstops. He’s also managed to play in all but three of the Astros’ games and hasn’t been on the IL since late in the 2019 season. I debated Correa vs. Trevor Story back in mid-April…but can Correa move past Seager? Correa’s Statcast hitting numbers are strong this year, and he even ranks fifth among shortstops in Outs Above Average on defense. Plus, Correa is not set to turn 27 until September.
3. Kris Bryant. Bryant is having a monster season, posting a 160 wRC+ that ranks second among all free agents (assuming the Astros pick up Yuli Gurriel‘s option). Bryant is on pace for a six or seven WAR season. That’s on par with the production of the first three years of his career, which netted him the 2016 NL MVP award. Though Bryant once looked like an obvious trade candidate, the Cubs are currently clinging to first place in the NL Central. FanGraphs puts their playoff odds at about 40%. If that holds for the next month, trading Bryant won’t be a viable option for GM Jed Hoyer. In that case, Bryant’s final overture from the Cubs may come in the form of a qualifying offer after the season.
4. Trevor Bauer. After the season, Bauer must decide whether to opt out of the remaining two years and $62MM on his contract with the Dodgers (causing a large chunk of his ’21 salary to be deferred) or potentially opting out of only the 2023 season, leaving just $17MM on the table. Bauer’s calculus may be changing in light of MLB’s impending crackdown on the use of foreign substances. Through Bauer’s first 12 starts, his four-seam fastball had 2,840 RPM at a velocity of 93.8 mph. But on June 6th in Atlanta, Bauer’s spin rate dropped to 2,612 while staying at virtually the same velocity.
Will Bauer continue to post Cy Young level numbers for the remainder of the season if MLB’s sticky stuff rules are fully enforced? If he slips – even if it has nothing to do with foreign substances or spin rate – the perception might be enough to prevent him from opting out.
5. Trevor Story. Story owns just an 89 wRC+ through 50 games; he hasn’t had a stretch this bad since 2017. Plus, he hit the IL with right elbow inflammation in late May. He’s expected to be activated today, and has plenty of time to right the ship before the Rockies most likely trade him in July.
6. Freddie Freeman. In 2018, a season in which Freeman finished fourth in the NL MVP voting, he had a 58-game stretch during which he posted a .780 OPS, which is a bit worse than what he’s done this year. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about with the reigning NL MVP, even with a wRC+ all the way down to 111. But the timing isn’t great for Freeman, who turns 32 in September and may have to be content getting a bit past Paul Goldschmidt‘s five-year, $130MM deal.
7. Kevin Gausman. Gausman has sustained his strikeout rate from last year, improved his control, and has benefitted from a 7.1% home run per flyball rate and .212 BABIP. Since joining the Giants in 2020, Gausman has a 2.29 ERA in 137 1/3 innings. Maybe his skills are more indicative of a 3.00 ERA, but that’s still top shelf work that may put him in the $100MM discussion. Gausman bet on himself this year by accepting the Giants’ qualifying offer, and that decision is looking prudent so far.
8. Javier Baez. It’s tough to predict how the market will treat Baez. The Cubs’ 28-year-old shortstop continues to do things you’ve never seen before on a baseball field, but he also owns a .240/.276/.480 swing-for-the-fences batting line with a 36.7 K%. With potentially nine starting shortstops on the free agent market this winter, teams will have options.
9. Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has thrown four clunkers in his last seven starts, sending his ERA from 2.09 to 3.66. Overall, though, I don’t think his skills have changed. The 33-year-old should still be able to land a three-year deal at a premium salary, even if he limits his potential destinations.
10. Max Scherzer. Scherzer turns 37 in July, and will be highly sought-after if the Nationals are willing to trade him this summer. Normally a pitcher at Scherzer’s age has little chance at a three-year deal, but so far he has a 2.22 ERA, 36.1 K%, and 5.2 BB%. I think someone might spring for the third year.
Honorable mentions
Nick Castellanos, J.D. Martinez, Mark Canha, Brandon Crawford, Chris Taylor, Marcus Semien, Buster Posey, Starling Marte, Craig Kimbrel, Lance Lynn, Carlos Rodon, Robbie Ray, and Marcus Stroman are among those having big years, though if we set the bar for the top ten at $100MM they’ll have a hard time getting there.
A couple of Mets, Michael Conforto, and Noah Syndergaard, have been bumped from the top ten. Conforto has failed to hit for power thus far, while Syndergaard had a setback in his rehab from Tommy John surgery. Dylan Bundy also fell off the list, as he’s given up 23 runs in his last 21 innings. There are others who fall somewhere in-between, having a solid but not spectacular year, like Anthony Rizzo, Avisail Garcia, Zack Greinke, Anthony DeSclafani, and Wade Miley.
An Underrated Reliever Who Could Find Himself On The Trade Market
Still amidst a multi-year rebuild, the Orioles are one of a handful of teams around the league certain to trade players off the big league roster in advance of the July 30 deadline. Much of the discussion about the club in the coming weeks figures to revolve around the potential availability of staff ace John Means and first baseman Trey Mancini, with good reason. But there’s a lower-profile Oriole whose excellent performance should draw plenty of attention from contenders: lefty reliever Paul Fry.
A former 17th-round pick of the Mariners, Fry was traded to Baltimore for international signing bonus space back in 2017. He made his MLB debut the following year. While Fry began as a rather nondescript middle reliever, he’s quietly been lights-out for the past two seasons. Since the start of 2020, Fry has pitched to a 2.22 ERA that ranks twelfth among big league relievers (minimum 40 innings).
Relievers can sometimes fluke their way into strong ERA’s given their generally small sample workloads, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with Fry. He’s among the top 25 bullpen arms in strikeout rate (33%), strikeout/walk rate differential (22.9 percentage points), SIERA (2.98) and ground ball rate (55.3%) over the last two years. Quite simply, he’s done almost everything teams want from a pitcher. He’s shown the ability to both miss bats and keep the ball on the ground, so it’s no surprise he continues to post scoreless innings. His 10.1% walk rate, while slightly worse than league average, is far from disastrous.
Fry was very good in 2020, and he’s seemingly taken his game to another level this season. Fry’s punching out hitters at a career-best 36.7% rate this year, helping him pitch to a 1.99 ERA across 22 2/3 frames. He’s averaging a career-high 93.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball, which is missing bats at an elite level. And Fry’s been equally dominant against hitters from both sides of the plate, holding left-handed and right-handed batters alike to a sub-.500 OPS.
That level of on-field dominance is interesting enough, but Fry’s contractual status makes him all the more appealing a trade target. He’s making just more than the league minimum salary this season and comes with three additional years of team control via arbitration. Even the lowest-payroll contenders would have no issue adding Fry to the books; the same is true of big-market teams seemingly set on staying underneath the luxury tax threshold (i.e. Astros, Red Sox and Yankees).
While that level of production and cost control certainly appeals to the Orioles as well, Baltimore figures to at least entertain offers on Fry. They’re not going to contend this season, and it’d be a stretch to envision them hanging around the postseason picture in 2022. The performance of relief pitchers can be volatile, and the late-blooming Fry will be 29 years old by deadline day. It’d make sense for the Orioles to move him to a more immediate contender if they’re offered high-end prospect talent to continue to stockpile the farm system. Contending clubs are seemingly always on the lookout for relief help at the deadline, so there should be no shortage of teams in touch with the Orioles about one of the game’s most underrated arms in the coming weeks.
Cardinals Have Been In Contact With Shelby Miller
The Cardinals have reached out to free agent Shelby Miller about a potential reunion, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). St. Louis is looking to add depth at Triple-A Memphis, per Goold. It’s not a foregone conclusion a deal will get done, though, as Goold adds the Cardinals believe at least other team is interested in the right-hander.
Miller began his career with the Cardinals as a first-round draft pick in 2009. He broke into the majors as a 21-year-old in 2012 and found quite a bit of success in St. Louis. Miller worked to a 3.33 ERA across 370 innings with the Cards, earning a third place finish in NL Rookie of the Year Award voting in 2013. The Cardinals traded him to Atlanta after the 2014 season.
Miller’s career has gone off track over the past few years, thanks to a combination of injuries and underperformance. He only managed an 8.59 ERA/6.27 SIERA in 44 innings with the 2019 Rangers. Miller opted out of the 2020 season before signing a minor league deal with the Cubs this past winter. Selected to the big league roster in April, he pitched two innings of relief for Chicago, allowing seven runs on as many hits with five walks. The Cubs designated Miller for assignment late last month and released him shortly after he cleared waivers.
In spite of those struggles, there’d be little downside for the Cardinals or any other club in adding Miller on a minor league deal. He could offer depth for either the rotation or the long relief group. Miller impressed over 10 1/3 frames with the Cubs Triple-A affiliate in Iowa earlier this season, allowing two earned runs with 15 strikeouts and six walks. He also averaged a decent 93.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball in his brief MLB time, suggesting his arm strength hasn’t disappeared despite his recent series of injuries.
Marlins Notes: Benintendi, Berti, Contreras, Anderson, Sanchez
Adam Duvall, whom the Marlins signed to a one-year, $5MM deal on February 9, has slotted in as Miami’s primary right fielder this season. Evidently, the front office also discussed the possibility of filling that position via a trade for then-Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi. In early February (presumably before signing Duvall), the Marlins discussed a potential three-team deal, also involving Boston and the Padres, that would’ve sent Benintendi to Miami, report Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Utilityman Jon Berti would have gone to San Diego had that deal been finalized, per Jackson and Mish, but the Marlins eventually backed out of the arrangement. Benintendi, whom the Red Sox wound up trading to the Royals instead, has hit a solid .284/.342/.412 in Kansas City. Duvall, on the other hand, is off to a poor .207/.254/.410 start. Given those respective performances, it’s easy to conclude in retrospect the Marlins should’ve pushed harder for Benintendi, although it’s impossible to malign the front office without knowing precisely who else the club would’ve had to part with to push those talks over the finish line.
More out of Miami:
- Jackson and Mish also shed some light on another set of Marlins offseason trade discussions: their previously-reported pursuit of Cubs catcher Willson Contreras. Any deal sending Contreras to Miami likely would’ve sent Jorge Alfaro the other way, with prospects Peyton Burdick and Zach McCambley among the other players who might’ve gone to Chicago. Ultimately, the Cubs held onto Contreras, who has a .245/.341/.435 line for the current NL Central leaders.
- Turning to players who are on the roster, Jackson and Mish report that injured third baseman Brian Anderson looks likely to avoid surgery. Placed on the injured list late last month because of a left shoulder subluxation, Anderson has progressed to taking on range of motion drills and could return before the end of June. One of Miami’s best players between 2018-20, Anderson has come out of the gates a little slower in 2021, hitting .250/.316/.371 over his first 136 plate appearances.
- Miami has been without prized righty Sixto Sánchez all season on account of shoulder problems. Sánchez’s throwing program was shut down last week after he suffered a setback, although general manager Kim Ng tells reporters (including Mish) that issue was unrelated to Sánchez’s initial inflammation. Rather, the flamethrowing 22-year-old is now suffering from bursitis. It’s still not clear when the Marlins can expect Sánchez back, a disappointing development after he began his MLB career with 39 innings of 3.46 ERA/4.18 SIERA ball in 2020.
Rockies Activate Trevor Story
The Rockies have reinstated shortstop Trevor Story from the 10-day injured list in advance of tonight’s game against the Marlins. He’s back in the starting lineup, hitting fourth in the order. Infielder Alan Trejo was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to create active roster space. Story has been out since May 28 due to right elbow inflammation.
The Rockies are surely happy to welcome their best player back into the fold, but the bigger focus for the out-of-contention club is on Story’s impending free agency. The 28-year-old is among the top players scheduled to hit the open market in a few months. It certainly looks as if Story won’t wind up re-signing with the Rockies, making him one of the more likely players in the game to change teams this summer. MLBTR’s Steve Adams placed Story second among the league’s top trade candidates last week, only behind teammate Jon Gray.
It hasn’t been a banner season to this point for Story. He was off to just a .255/.322/.424 start before going on the IL. Regardless, there’ll be plenty of interest from contenders as the deadline approaches thanks to his strong track record. Between 2018-20, he hit an impressive .292/.355/.545 with 83 homers in 1571 plate appearances.
Diamondbacks Part Ways With Hitting Coaches Darnell Coles And Eric Hinske
5:05 pm: General manager Mike Hazen reiterated the organization’s faith in Lovullo, telling Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link) he “still (feels) like Torey is the right person to lead these guys and to right this ship and get us back to where we need to go.”
4:13 pm: The Diamondbacks announced this afternoon they’ve parted ways with hitting coach Darnell Coles and assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske. To replace them, the club has promoted Rick Short, who had been hitting coach with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, and run production coordinator Drew Hedman. Short and Hedman will serve as co-hitting coaches.
Coles and Hinske were both hired during the 2018-19 offseason. In each of the two-plus seasons since, the D-Backs have run out a below-average offense. Obviously, it’s difficult to tell what extent the blame for that should fall on the coaching staff versus the players, but the organization evidently decided it was time to bring in a pair of new voices.
Given how disastrous this season has been, it’s not hard to see why the club is shaking things up. The Diamondbacks have the league’s worst record at 20-43, and they’re currently amidst a nineteen-game road losing streak, a mark that’s three games shy of an all-time record. The lineup isn’t the only reason for that level of futility, but it hasn’t been a strength either. Diamondbacks hitters have a cumulative .238/.312/.394 slash line, excluding pitchers. The resulting 94 wRC+ places them just twenty-second among the league’s thirty clubs in park-adjusted offense.
Short, who appeared in eleven MLB games as a player with the 2005 Nationals, has spent the past decade in the Arizona organization as a scout and minor league coach. Hedman, who had previously coached at the amateur level, was hired by the D-Backs as a scout in 2018. He was promoted to run production coordinator the following year. David Laurila of FanGraphs examined Hedman’s rapid rise last April.
The firing of Coles and Hinske will only heighten speculation about the future of manager Torey Lovullo. The fifth-year skipper is in the final year of his current contract, and the team’s dreadful performance over the past two seasons has led some fans to suggest Lovullo’s job might be in jeopardy. The front office has continued to stick by him, with CEO Derrick Hall telling reporters last month Lovullo was “not the problem” with the organization (via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). The team’s tailspin has only intensified since then, however.
White Sox Place Nick Madrigal On 60-Day Injured List, Select Brian Goodwin
The White Sox announced that second baseman Nick Madrigal is going on the 60-day injured list with a proximal tear of his right hamstring. Outfielder Brian Goodwin has been selected to the active and 40-man rosters in his place. Season-ending surgery is a possibility for Madrigal, general manager Rick Hahn tells reporters (including James Fegan of the Athletic). Madrigal has a complete tear of one hamstring tendon and a partial tear in another, per Hahn, who says the club will decide on a course of action for his rehab in about a week.
Madrigal left last night’s game after coming up lame while running to first base on a grounder. While there’s obviously still hope he can avoid surgery and make it back this season, his immediate placement on the 60-day IL demonstrates that even the best-case scenario involves a months-long absence. He won’t be eligible to return until the second week of August, and the Sox surely wouldn’t have placed Madrigal directly on the 60-day IL if there were any chance he’d be able to recover any sooner than that.
A former top five draft pick and well-regarded (if a bit divisive) prospect, Madrigal has begun his major league career in strong fashion. The diminutive infielder made his MLB debut last July, and he’s proven a highly productive player from that point forward. Madrigal has picked up 324 plate appearances over the past two years and combined to hit .317/.358/.406 (116 wRC+).
Madrigal’s quite an outlier in the modern game, which has skewed toward a three true outcomes style of play. The 24-year-old hits for virtually no power and rarely walks, but he’s one of the game’s preeminent contact hitters. His 7.9% strikeout rate this season is the second-lowest out of 142 qualified hitters (only Kevin Newman punches out less often), while his 91.8% contact rate leads that group. Overall, Madrigal’s atypical approach has paid off, as he’s hit for a high enough batting average to be a strong offensive player despite the lack of power.
He becomes the third young White Sox regular to require a lengthy IL stint. Left fielder Eloy Jiménez hasn’t played this season after straining a pectoral in Spring Training. His initial diagnosis called for a four-to-five month absence, so it’s possible he’ll return at some point in August or September. Center fielder Luis Robert went on the IL in early May due to a hip flexor strain. Robert’s injury shut him down from all baseball activities for three-to-four months, so it’s still not clear if he’ll be able to make it back this season.
In spite of those injuries, the South Siders find themselves in a good spot in the standings. At 37-24, Chicago leads the AL Central by four games over the Indians. FanGraphs gave the Sox an 83.1% chance of securing the division title entering the day. Madrigal’s injury figures to knock those odds down a bit, but their strong roster and early lead give them some breathing room.
That figures to reduce the urgency to acquire a second baseman from outside the organization, at least if further testing reveals Madrigal could return at some point late in the year. If the White Sox do wind up looking for an external upgrade, Adam Frazier (Pirates), Jonathan Schoop (Tigers) and Josh Harrison (Nationals) are among the second base-capable players who might find themselves on the market in advance of the July 30 deadline. For now, it seems Leury García and Danny Mendick are slated to man the keystone in Chicago.
Goodwin signed a minor league deal with the Sox last month. The 30-year-old has a useful .250/.317/.455 slash line in parts of five MLB seasons and is capable of playing all three outfield positions. Since joining the organization, Goodwin has put up a .244/.316/.395 mark in 95 plate appearances with Triple-A Charlotte.
Phillies Outright Brady Lail
The Phillies announced Thursday that right-hander Brady Lail has been assigned outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. That announcement indicates that he went unclaimed on waivers.
As MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki points out (via Twitter), the Phils need to make a 40-man move in order to open a spot for Adam Haseley‘s reinstatement from the restricted list by Saturday. Haseley has been on the restricted list since April 14 after stepping away from the team due to undisclosed personal matters. He returned to the organization in mid-May and had a 30-day window to get up to speed in Triple-A.
Lail, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners back on May 23 and has yet to appear in the big leagues. He tossed a scoreless frame in his organizational debut with Lehigh Valley’s IronPigs, but Lail was tagged for five runs his next time out and surrendered another two runs in his third outing with the Phillies’ top affiliate.
Lail has spent the bulk of his career with the Yankees organization but began to bounce around the league in journeyman fashion in 2019. He’s since been with the White Sox and Mariners, in addition to the Phillies. Lail has strong numbers up through the Double-A level in the minors but has been hit hard in Triple-A and in the big leagues. Through 21 MLB frames, he has an even 6.00 ERA and has surrendered seven home runs.
Tigers Outright JaCoby Jones
June 10: Jones indeed cleared waivers and has been sent outright to Triple-A Toledo, per an announcement from the Tigers. He’ll remain with the organization and collect the remainder of this year’s salary but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. As a player with three-plus years of service who has been outrighted from the 40-man roster, he’ll be able to become a free agent at season’s end (unless he’s selected back to Majors and finishes the year on their 40-man roster).
June 6: The Tigers announced they’re selecting the contract of right-hander Jason Foley from Triple-A Toledo. To create 40-man roster space, they’re designating outfielder JaCoby Jones for assignment. Additionally, righty Michael Fulmer has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 3, with a right shoulder strain. As expected, José Ureña has been reinstated from the IL to take Fulmer’s place on the active roster.
Jones’ designation registers as something of a surprise. Acquired from the Pirates at the 2015 trade deadline in exchange for Joakim Soria, Jones has appeared in the big leagues with Detroit in each of the past six seasons. He’s been a fairly regular contributor between 2018-21, starting about half the team’s games between center and left field. Altogether, Jones managed just a .219/.282/.389 (78 wRC+) mark in that time, albeit with intermittent flashes of enough power and defensive upside to keep the Detroit front office intrigued.
Across the board, advanced defensive metrics lauded Jones’ glovework between center and left field in 2018. The Tigers gambled he could play a full-time center field after that season, although the metrics all suggest he dropped off rather significantly in that regard between 2019-21. Jones has proven similarly inconsistent on the other side of the ball. Despite always-lofty strikeout rates, the right-handed hitter has occasionally shown enough thump to be a productive hitter. That was particularly true in 2020, when Jones hit .268/.333/.515 across 108 plate appearances before suffering a season-ending hand fracture.
For as strong as Jones began the 2020 season, he opened 2021 with an absolutely dismal start at the plate. He hit just .170/.210/.250 over 105 trips to the dish, leading the Tigers to demote him to Toledo. Things haven’t gotten much better with the Mud Hens, as Jones is off to a .205/.255/.364 start in the minors, where he’s struck out in 18 of his first 47 plate appearances.
The Tigers will now have a week to trade Jones or place him on outright waivers. Any team that claims Jones off waivers would assume the remaining portion of his $2.65MM salary (approximately $1.7MM). Given Jones’ immense struggles this season, it seems unlikely another club will put in a claim, although it’s at least possible the Tigers could agree to pay down some of that money in exchange for a prospect if a rival team has interest in acquiring Jones via a small trade.
The more probable outcome is that Jones will clear waivers and be sent outright to Toledo. As a player with between three and five years of MLB service time, Jones technically has the right to refuse a minor league assignment and elect free agency. Doing so, however, would require forfeiting the remainder of his guaranteed salary, so Jones would almost certainly accept an outright assignment and look to play his way back to Detroit at some point this season.
Foley, a 25-year-old reliever, is now in line to make his major league debut. In their writeup of the Tigers farm system, Eric Longenhagen and Kevin Goldstein of FanGraphs note that Foley works in the 96-99 MPH range with his fastball. Longenhagen and Goldstein call Foley a potential “foundational piece of the Tigers bullpen,” but note that his relatively advanced age and injury history, including a 2018 Tommy John surgery, add some risk to the profile. Foley has thrown ten innings of four-run ball with ten strikeouts and four walks at Triple-A this season, his first crack at the minors’ highest level.
Indians Trade Jake Bauers To Mariners
The Indians announced this morning that they’ve traded first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers to the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later. Cleveland designated Bauers for assignment over the weekend, clearing an avenue for Bobby Bradley to get an opportunity at first base. The Mariners designated infielder Jack Mayfield for assignment in order to open a roster spot for Bauers, according to a press release of their own.
Bauers, 25, has spent parts of three seasons at the MLB level but has yet to produce much in the big leagues. He was ranked as one of the game’s top 75 or so prospects prior to both the 2017 and 2018 seasons at Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com, but the above-average raw power and hit tool that contributed to those rankings has yet to really manifest. He’s logged 924 plate appearances between the Indians and the Rays but managed only a tepid .211/.309/.365 slash. Bauers does walk at a hearty 12 percent clip and can be deployed at any of first base, left field or right field.
It probably feels to many like Bauers should be older than 25, given the fact that his MLB debut came at the age of 22. But he’s still a relatively youthful option for the Mariners to try to catch some lightning in a bottle. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick on the Major League roster or else be once again designated for assignment. However, with the mounting injuries the Mariners are facing at first base and in the outfield, it’s not a surprise to see them bring in another option.
The Mariners are without center fielder Kyle Lewis indefinitely after the 2020 Rookie of the Year sustained another knee injury late last month. First baseman Evan White struggled again to begin the season and has now spent nearly a month on the IL with a strained hip flexor. Infield/outfield options Sam Haggerty (shoulder inflammation) and Dylan Moore (calf strain) are both on the shelf at the moment as well, with Haggerty in particular out of the picture after being shifted to the 60-day IL. Meanwhile, uber-prospect Jarred Kelenic fell into a nightmarish slump after cracking a couple of early homers to begin his MLB career. Seattle optioned him back to Triple-A Tacoma this week.
This is the third trade and fourth organization for Bauers, a 2013 seventh-round pick who has the distinction of having been involved in a pair of notable three-team swaps. He went from the Padres to the Rays in the 2014 Wil Myers/Trea Turner deal. After debuting in the Majors with the Rays in 2018, he was flipped to Cleveland in the trade in a trade that, coincidentally enough, also involved the Mariners. That deal sent Edwin Encarnacion and a Competitive Balance draft pick from Cleveland to Seattle, with the Indians netting Carlos Santana and trading Yandy Diaz and Cole Sulser to Tampa Bay.
As for the 30-year-old Mayfield, he’s now been designated for assignment by a trio of AL West teams in the past year. The Astros, who signed Mayfield as an undrafted free agent in 2013, placed him on waivers last November, and he’s since bounced to the Braves, then the Angels and then the Mariners.
Mayfield is the quintessential light-hitting utility infielder. He’s a more-than-capable defender at any of shortstop, second base or third base but has struggled considerably to handle big league pitching. He’s had 150 turns at the plate in the past three seasons combined but put together a dismal .168/.195/.259 output in that time. Mayfield does carry a much more impressive .269/.325/.475 batting line in parts of five Triple-A seasons, however, and he can be optioned both this year and next. The Mariners will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.