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Archives for July 2023

Giants Have Shown Interest In Paul DeJong, Nicky Lopez

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The Giants are known to be in search of middle infield help. Two names under consideration: Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong and Royals second baseman Nicky Lopez, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

DeJong seems very likely to be dealt within the next few days. The Cards are preparing to move a number of short-term pieces as they regroup for 2024. DeJong is in the final guaranteed season of his contract; the club holds a $12.5MM option for next season but seems unlikely to exercise it.

After a pair of dismal offensive seasons, DeJong has had something of a return to form in 2023. The right-handed hitter owns a .237/.303/.422 line over 297 plate appearances. He’s striking out at a lofty 29% clip but has connected on 13 home runs in roughly half a season of playing time.

That’s exactly league average offense by measure of wRC+. The scope of the production could lend itself particularly well to more matchup usage. DeJong entered play tonight hitting only .227/.279/.411 against same-handed pitching, but he’s teed off on lefties at a .274/.378/.468 clip.

The Giants are as aggressive as any team in leveraging platoon matchups. They haven’t had to do so at shortstop in recent years. Brandon Crawford has had a hold on the everyday job there. Yet the lefty-swinging Crawford is hitting only .207/.285/.333 in 65 contests this season. He’s not hitting well against pitchers of either handedness. He also landed on the injured list with left knee inflammation 10 days ago, his second IL stint of the year.

Crawford joined Thairo Estrada on the shelf. San Francisco’s second baseman has been down for three weeks after breaking his hand on a hit-by-pitch. Estrada recently began baseball activities and could make it back before too long, but the Giants are presently relying on a rookie rotation of Brett Wisely, Marco Luciano and Casey Schmitt up the middle without much success.

DeJong would bring above-average shortstop defense and some pop against left-handed pitching. Lopez would strictly be a defensive target. The lefty-swinging infielder hasn’t hit a home run in two years and carries a .223/.292/.276 batting line since the start of 2022. Yet he has drawn strong marks for his second base defense and is capable of manning shortstop or third base effectively as well.

Lopez would be easier to accommodate financially. The 28-year-old is playing this season on a $3.7MM arbitration salary, around $1.3MM of which is still to be paid out. He’s controllable for another two years after this but seems to be trending towards a non-tender. DeJong is making $9MM this year and still due around $3.2MM in salary, plus a $2MM buyout on next year’s option.

Both Kansas City and St. Louis have alternatives who could take on a larger middle infield role if they were to push across a deal with San Francisco. The Royals have already curtailed Lopez’s playing time in favor of a longer look at Michael Massey. DeJong is playing every day in St. Louis, but the Cards have Tommy Edman as a potential immediate replacement and top shortstop prospect Masyn Winn in Triple-A.

St. Louis also has depth on the other side of the second base bag. Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman are quality bat-first second basemen with extended control windows. With that middle infield strength in mind, Feinsand writes that St. Louis has also gotten interest from various clubs (not necessarily San Francisco) on Donovan and Edman.

Of course, the asking price on Edman or Donovan would be far higher. They’re a lot less likely to move than DeJong. Not only do they have extended control windows (Edman through 2025, Donovan past ’28), neither is fully healthy right now.

Edman is on the injured list with wrist inflammation. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat relayed this afternoon (on Twitter) that he’ll begin a minor league rehab stint over the weekend. Donovan is healthy enough to hit but playing through a flexor tendon injury in his right arm. He’s unable to throw and relegated to DH duty for now. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote earlier in the week that Donovan was hoping to avoid surgery and return to defensive work at some point this season. Even if that proves to be the case, he wouldn’t be a middle infield option for anyone in the immediate future.

Orioles Interested In Michael Lorenzen

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The Orioles are among the teams eyeing Tigers’ starter Michael Lorenzen, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). They join the Astros and Rays as clubs reportedly in the mix for the Detroit righty.

Just as Lorenzen is a sensible target for Houston and Tampa Bay, the fit for Baltimore is straightforward. Lorenzen seems highly likely to move before next Tuesday’s deadline. He’s an impending free agent on a Detroit club that fell 11 games below .500 upon getting swept in a doubleheader against the Angels today.

The first-time All-Star is having arguably the best season of his career. It’s his second straight season as a full-time starter. After posting league average numbers in 18 starts for the Angels last year, the 31-year-old has been a mid-rotation caliber arm this season. Even following a five-inning, three-run performance against the Halos this afternoon, he carries a 3.58 ERA across 105 2/3 frames.

Lorenzen’s underlying marks aren’t quite that strong, largely because he’s not missing a ton of bats. His 19.9% strikeout rate is a couple points below league average, while his 42.5% grounder percentage is right around par. The nine-year MLB veteran has walked only 6.5% of opponents, though, a notable improvement on last year’s 10.7% figure. He’s mixing five pitches with some amount of regularity and hasn’t had any platoon concerns.

That production makes him a logical target for win-now teams seeking rotation help. The Orioles certainly qualify. Baltimore  has the best record in the American League at 62-40. They’re up a game and a half (three in the loss column) on Tampa Bay for the AL East lead. The rebuild is over, and while there’s still some question about how aggressively the O’s will push chips in, they could make a competitive offer for Lorenzen without subtracting from the top of the farm system.

Detroit signed Lorenzen to an $8.5MM free agent deal. Just over $3MM of that salary is yet to be paid out. Lorenzen has already locked in an extra $250K in incentives by passing the 100-inning mark and would earn a matching amount at 125, 150, 175, 195 and 205 frames.

That’s a modest price to pay for a mid-rotation arm who’d likely step into the projected playoff rotation. Baltimore’s starting staff is its relative weak point. The O’s have an excellent offense and elite relief corps but rank 17th in MLB with a 4.52 rotation ERA.

Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells each have a sub-4.00 mark with slightly above-average strikeout/walk profiles. Kyle Gibson has offered his typically steady back-of-the-rotation innings. Dean Kremer has been a bit homer-prone en route to a fine but unexciting 4.59 ERA in 21 starts. Offseason trade pickup Cole Irvin has struggled and bounced in and out of the rotation, while top prospect Grayson Rodriguez has an ERA pushing 7.00 through his first 12 big league outings.

Red Sox Release Jake Faria

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The Red Sox have released right-hander Jake Faria, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. He had already been outrighted off the 40-man roster last week. He’ll now return to the open market entirely.

Faria pitched once for Boston this season, allowing five runs in two innings as a mop-up reliever. That marked his first big league outing in two years. Faria has otherwise spent the season with Triple-A Worcester. He’s started nine of 19 appearances there, allowing a 6.47 ERA over 55 2/3 innings. Faria has a below-average 17.5% strikeout percentage while walking 13.3% of opponents.

The 29-year-old has pitched in parts of five big league seasons. He had success as a rookie with the Rays in 2017 but has generally struggled since then. Faria owns a 4.87 ERA in 205 MLB innings and a 4.80 mark through parts of seven Triple-A campaigns.

Braves Sign Four To Minor League Deals

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The Braves recently signed four players to minor league contracts, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. Three players — relievers Seth Elledge and Danny Young and outfielder Eli White — return to the organization after being cut loose within the past few days. Atlanta also added reliever Rowan Wick, who’d been released by the Cubs last week.

Wick, 30, appeared in the majors with Chicago every season between 2019-22. He combined for a 3.66 ERA across 137 2/3 innings, missing bats at a slightly above-average rate but issuing a few more walks than ideal. The Cubs ran him through outright waivers in Spring Training and had kept him in Triple-A for the first half.

The right-hander has had a tough season at the top minor league level. He’s been tagged for more than a run per inning through 30 1/3 frames. His 24.1% strikeout percentage was fine, but he’d walked upwards of 13% of batters faced and allowed nine home runs. The Braves will take a no-risk flier on a change of scenery. Wick is making $1.55MM this season; the Cubs are on the hook for that tab, as Atlanta will only owe him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary if he spends any time on the big league roster.

Elledge has bounced between three organizations on the year. The 27-year-old righty hasn’t gotten into an MLB game this year and still awaits his first opportunity since 2021. He’d elected free agency after being outrighted by Atlanta on Tuesday but quickly circled back on a new minor league pact (a fairly common course of action for players in that situation). He has a 4.66 ERA in 36 2/3 innings over three Triple-A affiliates on the season.

Young and White recently sustained season-ending injuries while playing for Gwinnett. Atlanta released both players to clear space on the 40-man roster as a result. They’re each back in the organization — perhaps on two-year minor league pacts — to rehab from those injuries without holding spots on the 40-man.

Padres Reportedly Willing To Listen To Offers On Juan Soto; Trade Seen As Unlikely

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The Padres have signaled a willingness to hear trade offers on Juan Soto, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman writes that San Diego is also open to overtures on Blake Snell and Josh Hader, though he reiterates the Friars’ preference would be to add to the roster before next Tuesday’s deadline.

For myriad reasons, it seems very unlikely the Padres would move Soto in the coming days. They’re only a year removed from acquiring him and Josh Bell in perhaps the biggest deadline blockbuster ever, sending CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and top prospects James Wood and Robert Hassell III as part of the package to Washington. Pivoting to deal him away within a year would represent a major change in direction for a franchise that has rapidly escalated payroll and seemed hellbent on collecting as many stars as possible.

San Diego chairman Peter Seidler went on record at the start of July to say the organization wasn’t “going to reverse course” from that aggressiveness. Obviously, the Friars haven’t pulled out of their middling performance in the few weeks since then, but a Soto trade would run directly contrary to that message.

Indeed, Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote just two days ago that the Padres had been rebuffing offers on Hader and Snell. Moving Soto — who is eligible for arbitration for a season beyond this one — would require a significant change of heart. There’s been a little more chatter of late about the possibility of Hader and Snell coming available (USA Today’s Bob Nightengale also suggested as much this morning), but they’re more logical trade candidates than Soto since they’re both headed to free agency after this season.

San Diego, owner of a 49-54 record, faces a double-digit game deficit in the NL West. They’re 6.5 out of a Wild Card spot with four teams to surpass. Their place in the standings makes a run at the postseason this year unlikely, though certainly not impossible. It’s hard to envision this club kicking off any kind of longer-term retool and a Soto trade would obviously deal a huge hit to their 2024 lineup.

While Soto got off to a slow start to the season by his own huge standards, he’s looked like himself over the past few months. He owns a .286/.434/.548 line since the start of May and carries a .262/.417/.501 slash overall. There’d clearly be enormous interest if the Friars were to genuinely market the three-time All-Star. It seems they’re currently open to offers more so as a matter of due diligence than any kind of eagerness to deal him.

Whether to move the impending free agents or push in more chips in hopes of an excellent second half could be determined in large part by their next few games. The Padres have four more outings before the deadline: a three-game set at home against the division-leading Rangers, then the first contest of a series in Colorado.

Dodgers Have Discussed Nolan Arenado Trade With Cardinals

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The Dodgers have engaged the Cardinals in trade talks for Nolan Arenado, reports Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. The third baseman has a full no-trade clause but Castillo reports that Arenado, a Southern California native, is willing to waive that right only if it means going to the Dodgers. It’s unclear if those talks made any progress or if a deal is close but the Cardinals are under no obligation to move Arenado, since he has four more years on his contract and they plan on contending again next year, but the Dodgers do have young pitching that they need. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays word from Arenado’s agent Joel Wolfe, who says that the report Arenado is only willing to waive his no-trade for the Dodgers is “inaccurate.”

It’s hardly surprising that the Dodgers would be interested in Arenado, who has been one of the game’s premier players for quite some time. He’s launched 321 home runs in his career and has produced a batting line of .288/.345/.534 for a wRC+ of 122, dating back to his 2013 debut. He’s done that while providing elite defense at the hot corner, having racked up 151 Defensive Runs Saved in his career, as well as 90 Outs Above Average and a 73.7 grade from Ultimate Zone Rating. He already has a career tally of 48.3 wins above replacement from FanGraphs and 54.1 from Baseball Reference.

The Cardinals are having a disappointing season, having fallen to 46-57 and 9.5 games back of a playoff spot. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak admitted a couple of weeks ago that the club would have to make moves aimed at improving the 2024 club. However, he also maintained that moving a key player like Arenado or Paul Goldschmidt wasn’t in their plans. “I don’t have any intentions of trading anybody like them,” he said, before leaving the door open to an offer that could change his mind. “If you’re willing to listen on anything, you have to understand (anything’s possible), but I doubt that would happen.”

To be clear, the Dodgers having interest in Arenado doesn’t mean the Cards are under any obligation to make a deal. As Mozeliak mentioned, they are willing to listen on anything. All indications have pointed to the Cardinals planning on moving short-term pieces and reloading for 2024 around a similar position player core but with a retooled pitching staff. Perhaps the Dodgers have enough young pitching talent to make a deal happen, but that’s still not clear at this point.

The Dodgers are 58-43, holding a three-game lead in the West and are clearly in buyer position. They’ve already added a couple of complementary pieces in Enrique Hernández and Amed Rosario but a big push for Arenado would obviously be a move in a different stratosphere.

The club has used players like Max Muncy and Chris Taylor at third base for much of this year, though both players are also capable of playing other positions and Castillo reports it’s possible that one or both of them could end up going to St. Louis in the potential deal. Muncy has long been a three-true-outcomes leader, hitting plenty of home runs while frequently walking and striking out. He’s continuing that this year, hitting 25 home runs while slashing .197/.329/.478 for a wRC+ of 118. However, he’s more of a bat-first option at third, having produced subpar defensive grades this year. The Dodgers hold a club option for his services in 2024 set at $10MM with no buyout.

Taylor spent many years as an above-average hitter who could play just about anywhere on the diamond. He reached free agency after 2021 and re-signed with the Dodgers on a four-year, $60MM contract but has seen his offensive performance slip. He hit .265/.343/.461 from 2017 to 2021 but just .219/.297/.399 since the start of last year. Despite the diminished production, he’s still been able to slot into every position except for first base and the battery. He still has two years and $26MM remaining on his deal after this year.

Arenado would undoubtedly be an upgrade over either of those two players, though the Dodgers would have to part with something to make it happen. The Cardinals have long been known to be in need of long-term starting pitching since Adam Wainwright is set to retire while both Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery are impending free agents and likely to wind up traded in the coming days. Steven Matz is a question mark after getting bumped to the bullpen earlier in the year, only recently retaking a starting job. Depth options like Dakota Hudson, Matthew Liberatore, Zack Thompson and Connor Thomas haven’t had great years either, leaving Miles Mikolas as the sole building block in next year’s rotation.

Young and controllable pitching is the something the Dodgers could offer, even some with some major league experience. Multiple injuries to their starting staff this year have forced them up push prospects up to the majors, including Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan and Michael Grove. That group would have also included Ryan Pepiot, though he suffered an oblique strain on the verge of Opening Day and has been on the injured list since, only beginning a rehab assignment this month.

Miller, 24, has a 4.28 ERA through 10 starts, striking out 23.2% of hitters while walking 7% and getting grounders at a 45.5% clip. Sheehan, 23, has a 6.75 ERA through his six outings while Grove, 26, is at 6.19 this year. Each of those three and Pepiot were generally considered among the club’s 30 best prospects coming into the season and they all come with years of cheap control. Castillo’s report suggests the Cardinals have interest in all four.  Moving them would leave the Dodgers with diminished pitching depth, but perhaps they could patch that over by acquiring veteran rentals for the stretch run, with Clayton Kershaw potentially returning at some point later in the year. The Dodgers reportedly had interest in rental starter Lucas Giolito prior to him being traded to the Angels yesterday, and Castillo’s report speculates they could be interested in getting Flaherty or Montgomery from the Cardinals as well.

The Cardinals surely have some level of interest in each of those, given their dire need for pitching, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re willing to move on from Arenado in order to acquire them. The two sides have long seen committed to each other, with Arenado even forgoing an opt-out opportunity at the end of last season. He likely could have topped the five years and $144MM remaining on his deal but decided to stay in St. Louis instead. He will still have four more years and $109MM left on that deal at the end of this year.

That would be a hefty salary for the Dodgers to take on as they are already over the competitive balance tax and will likely be trying to sign Shohei Ohtani to a record-breaking deal this winter, like many other teams. Perhaps they could balance some of that out by including Muncy or Taylor in the deal, though that would depend how much the Cardinals value those veteran players compared to the younger starters.

Arenado departing St. Louis would leave a hole at third base in St. Louis going forward, though Muncy or Taylor could theoretically help fill that. Leaving those two aside, the Cardinals have many multi-positional players like Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman, who have each played some third this year. Tommy Edman hasn’t played there this year but has in the past. He might be needed at shortstop if Paul DeJong winds up traded this week, though prospect Masyn Winn is in Triple-A and could slot in there in the near future.

It’s worth reiterating that teams often discuss all kinds of trade scenarios and there’s been nothing to suggest anything is close to completion here. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat straight up denies that Arenado is being traded and, as mentioned up top, Arenado’s agent has denied the report about his no-trade clause. The Cardinals and Dodgers make sense as potential trade partners since one has short-term pitching but needs long-term, and the other the opposite. It would be natural for the Dodgers to at least ask about other players in those talks. Mozeliak has said in the past that the Cardinals, despite doing some selling, weren’t looking to move key players like Arenado. He did say they are willing to listen on anything, so perhaps the Dodgers have enough young pitching to make them think about it, but time will tell.

Brewers Acquire Carlos Santana

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4:00pm: The Brewers have now officially announced the deal.

2:06pm: The Brewers and Pirates are in agreement on an intra-division trade that’ll send first baseman Carlos Santana from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). Minor league infielder Jhonny Severino is headed back to the Pirates in the deal.

Santana, 37, signed a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $6.725MM in Pittsburgh over the offseason. He’s still owed about $2.42MM of that sum between now and season’s end. Milwaukee has a need at first base with Rowdy Tellez on the injured list, and the veteran Santana has outplayed Tellez this season anyhow.

In 393 trips to the plate, the switch-hitting Santana is batting .235/.321/.412 with a dozen homers, 25 doubles and six stolen bases. He’s been almost exactly league average at the plate (99 wRC+), whereas Tellez has struggled to a .213/.285/.388 batting line in 288 trips to the plate. Santana is also one of the game’s top defensive first baseman; despite the fact that he’s never won a Gold Glove, he’s amassed 17 career Defensive Runs Saved and 20 Outs Above Average at first base — including respective marks of plus-6 and plus-2 in 2023. Tellez has graded below average (-1 DRS, -3 OAA).

Santana has been particularly productive at the plate as the season has shifted to summer. Dating back to June 1, he’s hitting .244/.319/.470 with nine of his 12 homers and 11 of his 25 doubles. He’s sporting a characteristically strong walk rate (11.5%) against a lower-than-average strikeout rate (17.6%) and has nearly identical platoon splits on the season. Brewers general manager Matt Arnold spoke this week about not wanting to subtract from the team’s defense in order to improve the lineup, and acquiring Santana gives the Crew a solid bat and improved defense at one of their weakest positions this season.

In Tellez’s absence, Milwaukee has been deploying utilityman Owen Miller at first base. The right-handed-hitting Miller has performed reasonably well, batting .266/.305/.378 with above-average defense at multiple positions. The acquisition of Santana will allow him to revert to a multi-position role, slotting in at second and third base in addition to occasional time around the outfield.

In return for the final few months of Santana’s 2023 season, the Pirates will acquire the 18-year-old Severino — one of Milwaukee’s top signings during the 2021-22 international free agency period. Severino has played in parts of two minor league seasons since signing, turning in a combined .264/.324/.432 batting line with seven homers, 13 doubles, a pair of triples and 15 stolen bases. He’s walked at a six percent clip in his young professional career and fanned in 26% of his plate appearances — most of which have come against older and more advanced competition. He opened the 2023 season with the Brewers’ affiliate in the Arizona Complex League, where he’s about two years younger than the average player.

Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Severino among the top 30 prospects in the 2021-22 international class, and the Brewers accordingly paid him a $1.23MM bonus at the time of his signing. BA’s Ben Badler touted the switch-hitting Severino as an offensive-minded infielder who’d likely end up moving off shortstop but has plus raw power from both sides of the dish and an advanced hit tool as a right-handed bat. MLB.com’s report on him noted his above-average arm strength and strong frame, all of which could point to a third base profile. Of course, as a teenager who’s just now getting going in Rookie ball, Severino is years away from having any sort of impact at the MLB level. He’ll add some power potential to the lower tiers of the Pirates’ farm system.

With Santana now in Milwaukee, the Bucs figure to give Ji-Man Choi and/or Connor Joe increased reps at first base — although both Choi and Joe themselves are trade candidates. Should the Pirates move one or both players, it’d open more opportunity for the Pirates to get top catching prospects Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis into the lineup on the same day. They could also conceivably take another look at former Yankee Miguel Andujar, whom they’ve twice passed through waivers since acquiring him. Andujar isn’t currently on the 40-man roster but has obliterated Triple-A pitching, slashing .343/.405/.545 in 333 plate appearances. He can be controlled another two years if he’s added back to the roster.

Extension Talks Have Not Progressed Between Cardinals, Jordan Hicks

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The Cardinals are going into the deadline looking to make moves that help the 2024 club. That’s likely to involve trading impending free agents like Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery. Though Jordan Hicks is also an impending free agent, it was reported earlier this week that he and the club were discussing an extension, perhaps keeping him in St. Louis. However, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports today that those talks have not progressed and he is garnering trade interest.

Hicks, 26, has long been one of the hardest throwers in the league, averaging north of 100 mph on his fastball since he debuted back in 2018. Oddly, he wasn’t about to translate that velocity into elite strikeout stuff. He came into this season having punched out 23% of batters faced, a mark that’s roughly around typical league averages. He did get grounders at an excellent 61.1% clip but also issued walks to 13.4% of batters. His 4.05 ERA prior to this season was fine but not especially exciting.

This year, he finally seems to have had a breakout. He’s thrown 41 2/3 innings for the season, striking out 31.2% of opponents in the process. His 12.7% walk rate is still on the high side, but he’s also still getting grounders on 58.3% of balls in play. That combination is difficult to come by, as among pitchers with at least a 30% strikeout rate in at least 40 innings this year, only Jhoan Durán of the Twins has a higher ground ball rate. Hicks has a 3.67 ERA for the year but may have deserved better, since his .366 batting average on balls in play is above his career rate and the league average, leading to a 3.02 FIP and 3.40 SIERA. Those results have come with Hicks taking over the closing role while Ryan Helsley is on the injured list, racking up eight saves in the past six weeks.

Since Hicks debuted when he was 21, cracking the Opening Day roster in 2018, he’s now just a few months from qualifying for free agency. He’s in his final year of arbitration, making a salary of $1.838M. The Cardinals are 46-57 and have been outside contention for quite a while now. Since they seem to be more focused on the future than the present, it makes sense to move on from Hicks and exchange him for more controllable players, especially now that extension talks haven’t found much traction.

Just about every contending club can use bullpen upgrades at this time of year, so Hicks should get plenty of interest. His previous track record isn’t as dominant as this season and he’s had some health concerns, including a Tommy John surgery in 2019, but acquiring clubs wouldn’t be making long-term commitments to him. They would simply be hoping to catch lightning in a bottle for a few months to help with a postseason push. The trade deadline is August 1.

Angels Designate Tucker Davidson For Assignment

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The Angels have designated left-hander Tucker Davidson for assignment, per Sam Blum of The Athletic, between games of today’s double-header. His roster spot will go Reynaldo López, who has joined the team after being acquired alongside Lucas Giolito last night.

Davidson, 27, was a prospect of note when with Atlanta, with Baseball America considering him one of their top 30 prospects in five straight years starting in 2018. He got some brief stints with their big league club before coming over to the Angels in last year’s Raisel Iglesias trade. He made eight starts for the Halos after that deal last year but posted an ERA of 6.87 in those.

The southpaw was a candidate for the club’s rotation coming into this year but was nudged out by Griffin Canning. That pushed the out-of-options Davidson into the bullpen, where he’s thrown 31 2/3 innings over 18 appearances with a 6.54 ERA. It’s possible he has deserved better, as he’s struck out 20.9% of opponents, walked just 7.4% and kept the ball on the ground at a 47.1% clip. His 3.38 FIP and 3.95 SIERA are much nicer, with his .412 batting average on balls in play and 59% strand rate likely pushing some more runs across the board.

Deserved or not, the results haven’t been great and the Angels can’t option him to the minors, leading to Davidson’s designation for assignment. They will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. His results at the big league level haven’t been great but he’s not too far removed from being a notable starting pitching prospect and is still young and controllable through 2027. That could lead to some interest, perhaps from a rebuilding club with the ability to give him some rope to try to get back on track.

Looking back to the Iglesias trade, it now seems even more likely to go down as a mere salary dump for the Halos, who moved the three-plus years remaining on his deal. They got back Davidson and Jesse Chavez, with the Angels releasing the latter after less than a month.

Giants’ Starters Drawing Trade Interest

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With the trade deadline now just a few days away, teams are calling the Giants about their starting pitching, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. There’s nothing to indicate the club is motivated to move any of its starters, but it’s an interesting development nonetheless. Murray also lists the Giants as one of many clubs seeking bullpen upgrades.

The Giants are 56-47, just three games back of the Dodgers in the National League West and currently in possession of a Wild Card spot. That means they are more likely to do some buying than selling, but the interest in their starting pitching might be a function of the strange market this summer. Due to the expanded playoffs and some weak divisions, there are very few clearcut sellers. It’s been speculated that we may see more trades between contenders this year, such as yesterday’s deal that sent Amed Rosario to the Dodgers and Noah Syndergaard to the Guardians.

The Giants currently have a rotation that consists of Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and Ross Stripling. Webb and Cobb each have ERA under 3.50. DeSclafani is at 4.88 but with a low strand rate of 64.8%, leading to a 4.38 FIP and 4.35 SIERA. Wood is struggling this year with a 4.75 ERA but has been much better in the past. Stripling struggled earlier in the year but has a 3.91 ERA since coming off the IL in late June.

Contractually, Webb signed an extension in April and isn’t going anywhere. But Wood is an impending free agent while Cobb is in the final guaranteed year of his deal, with a $10MM club option for 2024 with a $2MM buyout. DeSclafani and Stripling are under contract through 2024, with the latter having an opt-out opportunity at the end of this year.

That’s pushed Sean Manaea and Jakob Junis to long relief roles in the bullpen, both of whom have starting experience and would be good enough for rotation jobs on some clubs. Manaea has a 5.86 ERA this year but a 27.1% strikeout rate and 55.2% strand rate, leading to a 3.98 FIP and 3.74 SIERA. Junis is somewhat similar with a 4.79 ERA but 26.7% strikeout rate and .367 batting average on balls in play, leading to a 4.54 FIP and 3.37 SIERA. Junis is an impending free agent whereas Manaea can opt out of the one year left on his deal after this one.

On top of all those major league options, the club also has more starting pitching currently in Triple-A. Keaton Winn has a 4.47 ERA at Triple-A this year in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, as well as posting a 4.09 in his first 22 big league innings. Tristan Beck has a 4.32 ERA in Triple-A and 3.06 ERA in 50 major league innings. Sean Hjelle has a 7.79 ERA in the bigs this year but that’s likely skewed by a .434 BABIP and 51.9% strand rate, leading to a 4.03 FIP and 4.39 SIERA. Kyle Harrison is not yet on the 40-man roster but he’s one of the top pitching prospects in the league.

Given all of those options, and widespread interest in starting pitching around the league, it’s possible the club could line up a deal that sees them move a starter for help elsewhere on the roster. As Murray mentions, the club is looking for bullpen upgrades. Their relievers have a collective 3.75 ERA that’s one of the 10 best in the league, but just about every contender looks for additions to their relief mix at this time of year.

The Giants are also known to be looking for middle infield help, with Thairo Estrada having recently suffered a fractured bone in his hand. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco looked into some potential paths for them, which included some straightforward seller options like Paul DeJong of the Cardinals and Tim Anderson of the White Sox. Some of the infielders on contenders that could potentially be available are Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal of the Blue Jays, while the Orioles have Ramón Urías, Jorge Mateo and Adam Frazier. Both of those latter clubs are theoretical fits for starting pitching, which could perhaps lead to some interesting talks.

Again, there’s nothing to suggest the Giants are actively pursuing this line of thinking, as Murray only reports that other clubs are inquiring about their depth. But it’s a logical part of the Giants’ roster for them to use to improve elsewhere. The trade deadline is August 1.

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