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Adam Jones To Officially Retire

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The Orioles announced that Adam Jones will retire as an Oriole on September 15. Presumably, he will sign a one-day contract and there will be some pre-game festivities, though those details have not yet been announced. Jones last played in the majors in 2019, heading to Japan for two years after that but didn’t sign anywhere last year. Now he will officially hang up his spikes with the organization where he spent the bulk of his career.

Jones, now 38, was selected by the Mariners with the 37th overall pick in the 2003 draft. He was initially used as a shortstop but moved to the outfield as a minor leaguer. He became a top 100 prospect and was able to get some brief major league time with the Mariners in 2006 and 2007, getting into 73 games over those two seasons. He didn’t quite establish himself at the big league level immediately, hitting .230/.267/.353 in that time.

Adam Jones | Amber Searls-USA TODAY SportsPrior to the 2008 season, Jones was one of five players that the Mariners sent to the Orioles in the Erik Bedard trade, a move that would prove to be career-defining for Jones. The O’s were in a rough period at that time and were able to give Jones some regular playing time. He got into 132 games in 2008, hitting .270/.311/.400. That translated to a subpar wRC+ of 84, but he stole 10 bases and provided above-average center field defense, leading to a tally of 1.5 wins above replacement from FanGraphs.

2009 would be a breakout year for Jones, as he hit 19 home runs, more than doubling the nine he hit in the prior season. He hit .277/.335/.457 for a wRC+ of 103, getting selected to the All-Star team and winning a Gold Glove award in the process. Despite being limited to 119 games by an ankle sprain, he still matched his 1.5 fWAR tally from the year before.

He would become a staple of the outfield in Baltimore for years to come, continuing to produce in that all-around fashion with above-average offense, defense and speed. In May of 2012, he and the club agreed to a six-year, $85.5MM extension that ran through 2018, the largest contract in franchise history at that time.

That led to Jones playing 11 seasons with the Orioles from 2008 to 2018. He was remarkably consistent and reliable in that time, never playing less than 137 games in a season after the aforementioned 119 games in 2009. He played 1,613 games overall as an Oriole, hitting 263 home runs and stealing 90 bases. His .279/.319/.459 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 108 and he was worth 29.3 fWAR over those seasons.

With Jones in the outfield, the Orioles were able to emerge from a long period of mediocrity and become a perennial contender. After losing seasons in each campaign from 1998 to 2011, they went on to finish .500 or better five years in a row from 2012 to 2016. They made the playoffs three of those years, won the AL East division title in 2014 and made it to the ALCS that year.

But by the time his contract expired at the end of 2018, the O’s were back in a rebuilding period, one that they have just recently emerged from. Jones signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Diamondbacks for 2019 but his offense and defense declined to subpar levels. He then signed a two-year, $8MM deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He hit .250/.334/.390 in 159 games over those two years.

Although Jones didn’t begin his career with the Orioles, the largest and best part of his career was spent in Baltimore. He didn’t finish his playing time with the Orioles either but will now ceremonially conclude his career with the O’s in a few weeks, officially closing the books on his time as a player. Overall, he got into 1,823 major league games and tallied 1,939 hits, including 336 doubles, 29 triples and 282 home runs. He scored 963 runs, drove in 945 and stole 97 bases, made five All-Star teams and won four Gold Gloves. He also represented Team USA internationally, playing in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classic tournaments. The latter of those two saw him make arguably the most famous catch in WBC history, robbing his Oriole teammate Manny Machado, who was representing the Dominican Republic.

We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Jones on a fine career and wish him the best in all his post-playing endeavors.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brewers Sign Fernando Abad To Minor League Deal

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The Brewers have signed left-hander Fernando Abad to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Nashville.

Abad, 37, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies in the offseason and was selected to their big league roster twice, though both instances saw him get designated for assignment after a short period of time. He appeared in six games for the Rox with a 4.26 ERA. His 30 1/3 innings in Triple-A this year have resulted in a 3.86 ERA, with Abad striking out 27.8% of hitters while walking just 2.6%. But he allowed nine earned runs over his last five appearances and got released last week.

This is Abad’s 11th season seeing some time in the majors, having previously suited up for the Astros, Nationals, Athletics, Twins, Red Sox, Giants and Orioles prior to joining the Rockies this year. He has a 3.78 ERA over 406 appearances in that time, with a 19.3% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 41.7% ground ball rate.

The Brewers have operated for parts of this season with Hoby Milner as their only left-handed reliever, with various attempts to deploy a second lefty having gone poorly thus far. The club acquired Andrew Chafin prior to the deadline and has also given brief showings to Ethan Small, Clayton Andrews and Bennett Sousa. Amazingly, none of those four have an ERA south of 11.81 for the Brewers this year. Each case is a small sample of 5 1/3 innings or less, but it’s still a part of the roster that’s a bit shaky at the moment.

By bringing Abad aboard, the Brewers will add some veteran non-roster depth for their lefty relief mix. By joining the organization prior to September 1, he will be eligible to pitch for the Brewers in the postseason, if they were to qualify and he were to earn his way into a role. Rosters expand from 26 to 28 in September, which could perhaps open a spot for him, though he would need to be added to the 40-man roster.

The Opener: Jansen, Cubs, Garrett

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As the 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Jansen to be re-evaluated:

Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen was pulled from Wednesday night’s game due to tightness in his right hamstring. Per MLB.com, the club plans to evaluate Jansen further upon returning to Boston today. Jansen told reporters that he “felt great” yesterday and was hoping to avoid a trip to the injured list. The 68-60 Red Sox are still in the hunt for the playoffs, with a 3.5 game deficit to make up for in the Wild Card standings. A healthy and effective Jansen will be key to the club’s playoff aspirations, as the four-time All Star has posted a 2.81 ERA while racking up 29 saves in 46 appearances this season. Should Jansen require a trip to the shelf, Chris Martin seems like the most likely candidate to take over for Jansen in the ninth inning.

2. Who’s starting for the Cubs this weekend?

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer announced yesterday that the club plans to move left-handed Drew Smyly to the bullpen going forward, raising questions regarding who will take the ball for Smyly’s previously-scheduled start on Sunday. Right-hander Hayden Wesneski (4.46 ERA) made 11 starts for the club earlier in the season, but has excelled in a multi-inning bullpen role with a 2.45 ERA in 22 innings since leaving the rotation.

If the club doesn’t want to change Wesneski’s role, they could look to the minor leagues where 2021 first-round pick Jordan Wicks has posted a 3.55 ERA in 91 1/3 innings between the Double-A and Triple-A levels this year. One intriguing option would be right-hander Shane Greene, a long-time big league reliever who has been stretched out to longer appearances at Triple-A since joining the Cubs on a minor league deal. In his most recent appearance, Greene posted five scoreless innings with the club’s affiliate in Iowa, striking out six while walking just one.

3. Where will Garrett land?

The Guardians granted left-hander Amir Garrett his release yesterday, allowing the veteran southpaw to return to the open market. With one week remaining before September 1, after which point players who join a new organization will no longer be postseason eligible, time is of the essence as Garrett looks to catch on with a new team.

The 31-year-old posted a solid 3.33 ERA in 24 1/3 innings with the Royals earlier this season, though he also walked a whopping 17.9% of batters he faced during that time. While he only recorded 4.2 innings of work with the Guardians at Triple-A, his wildness didn’t appear improved there, as he walked four in that time. Still, given the scarcity of external relief options this time of year, particularly ones who throw from the left side, it seems reasonable to expect Garrett to find a new home in the coming days. The Cubs, Astros, Red Sox and Twins are among the clubs who might benefit from an additional lefty arm in their bullpen.

Stephen Strasburg Plans To Retire

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Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg plans to retire, per a report from Jesse Dougherty and Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post. A news conference is tentatively scheduled for September 9. He signed a massive seven-year, $245MM contract prior to the 2020 season but has hardly pitched since then due to injuries. The financial specifics of how that contract will be affected by this retirement are not yet known.

The news is, on the one hand, not terribly surprising in light of what has transpired in recent seasons. In the almost four years since the ink dried on that contract, Strasburg has only thrown 31 1/3 total innings. Frequent injuries have repeatedly derailed his attempts to get on the mound, with thoracic outlet syndrome the most significant. But taking a wider view, it’s a shocking, sad and far-too-early end to a career that had such tremendous highs.

Strasburg, now 35, was one of the most highly-regarded prospects in history based on his work at San Diego State University. As a sophomore in 2008, he posted a 1.58 ERA in 98 1/3 innings and followed that up with a 1.32 ERA in 109 innings as a junior. The Nationals held the first overall pick in the 2009 draft and selected Strasburg, signing him shortly thereafter to a four-year, $15.1MM contract.

Strasburg made his professional debut in the Arizona Fall League that year and went into 2010 as already one of the top prospects in the league. Baseball America ranked him second overall, trailing only Jason Heyward at that time. Their report from that time noted his fastball, which sat in the mid-to-upper 90s and could touch 102 mph. They also highlighted his plus-plus curveball and plus changeup, noting that he had excellent command of all his pitches.

He came into 2010 with the highest of expectations, especially for a franchise that has just moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005 and had performed quite poorly since then. He began that year in Double-A but dominated in five starts with a 1.64 ERA and was in Triple-A by early May. Six starts at that level resulted in an ERA of 1.08 and a promotion to the major leagues by June.

In his much-hyped first major league outing against the Pirates, he tossed seven innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits. He didn’t surrender a walk and punched out 14 opponents. He finished his rookie season with a 2.91 ERA in 68 innings, striking out an incredible 33.6% of batters he faced. Unfortunately, the excitement of those results was paired with the news in August that Strasburg would require Tommy John surgery.

Although Strasburg was set to miss most of the 2011 campaign, the positive feeling around the Nationals was starting to build. The club was able to select another franchise-altering player when they got Bryce Harper with the first overall pick in 2010. Subsequent years would see them add other significant young players like Anthony Rendon, selected 11th overall in 2011, and Trea Turner, acquired from the Padres in a 2015 trade.

Strasburg, along with those players and many others, would lead the Nationals out of their years-long rebuild and into a period of prolonged success. The club went 80-81 in 2011 as Strasburg returned from his Tommy John rehab and made five starts late in the year. The club would emerge as a perennial contender from there, making the postseason in 2012 and finishing above .500 in each season for the rest of the decade, with multiple playoff appearances sprinkled in.

That stretch was marked by tremendous work from Strasburg, though also significant injury issues. The 2012 to 2018 period saw him post a 3.19 ERA over 189 starts, striking out 28.8% of batters, walking 6.5% and getting grounders on 45.2% of balls in play. But there were limits to the volume of his workload, most controversially in 2012. His first full season after the Tommy John surgery, he was famously shut down in September. The Nats made the playoffs for the first time since the franchise relocated, but they were eliminated by the Cardinals in the NLDS as Strasburg was left off the roster.

He finished that year with 159 1/3 innings pitched and managed to increase that total over the next two years, getting to 183 in 2013 and then 215 in 2014. He added another five postseason frames in that latter campaign, though the Nats were again eliminated in the NLDS, this time by the Giants. But he struggled to stay at that level of output in the seasons to come. Issues with his shoulder, back and elbow would send him to the injured list at various times, which kept him between 127 1/3 and 175 1/3 innings in each campaign from 2015 to 2018.

But the results were still good, despite the injuries, with Strasurg never finishing any of those seasons with an ERA higher than 3.74. In the midst of that period, May of 2016, he and the Nats agreed to a seven-year, $175MM extension, though one that afforded him opt-out opportunities after 2019 and 2020.

It was in 2019 that everything finally went right, both for him and the club. He stayed healthy all season and logged 209 innings over 33 starts. He registered a 3.32 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 51.1% ground ball rate. The Nationals as a club got out to a dreadful 19-31 start but rallied over the rest of the season to finish 93-69, securing a spot in the Wild Card game. Max Scherzer started for the Nats against the Brewers, but Strasburg entered the game with the Nats trailing 3-1 after five. He tossed three shutout innings as they took the lead, eventually winning 4-3 as Strasburg went down as the winning pitcher.

From there, the Nats went through the Dodgers, Cardinals and Astros, winning their first World Series title. Strasburg tossed 36 1/3 innings in that postseason with a 1.98 ERA, including two starts in the World Series with a 2.51 ERA, earning MVP of the series in the process.

On the heels of that excellent season, Strasburg triggered his opt-out and signed the aforementioned seven-year, $245MM deal. In 2020, he made just two starts before being diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and undergoing surgery. It was hoped that he would be fully healthy for 2021 but he only made five starts before it was determined he would require thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, a procedure that he was never able to recover from. He made one start in June of 2022, with diminished velocity, before landing right back on the injured list immediately after. Later that year, he expressed his belief that he had been dealing with the thoracic outlet symptoms since 2018.

This year, he tried to start a throwing program in the offseason but continued to experience nerve discomfort. He was shut down from all physical activity and apparently has given up on ever getting things back on track. Today’s report indicates that his nerve damage is such that “he has struggled with mundane tasks, such as lifting his young daughters or opening a door with his right hand.” A report from Dougherty back in July highlighted that there are two different types of thoracic outlet syndrome. Players like Merrill Kelly have had venous TOS and bounced back whereas Strasburg has neurogenic TOS, which typically is harder to recover from. Though his deal runs through 2026, he and the club have presumably worked out some sort of arrangement for the remainder, the details of which remain unknown at this point.

Thanks in large part to that condition, Strasburg’s career will be filed in the brief-but-brilliant category. He appeared in 247 regular season games, throwing 1,470 innings with a 3.24 ERA. He struck out 28.9% of the batters he faced in that time, walked 6.6% of them and kept the ball on the ground at a 45.8% rate. He was selected to three All-Star clubs and won a World Series, earning series MVP honors in the process. MLB Trade Rumors congratulates Strasburg on a fantastic career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

A’s Owner: “I Have Not Considered Selling The Team”

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Athletics owner John Fisher has become the subject of increasing levels of ire from a fanbase that has engineered “reverse boycotts” this season and initiated “sell the team” chants at parks throughout the league when the A’s are playing on the road. The vitriol is understandable from a group of fans that is none too pleased with the manner in which the team’s ostensible exit from Oakland has been ushered in, but Fisher unsurprisingly told Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal yesterday that those cries have largely fallen on deaf ears.

“I have not considered selling the team,” says Fisher, noting that he and partner Lew Wolff have owned the club since 2005. “… Our goal since then has been to find a new home and build a new home for our team.”

Fisher praised the “great success stories” of new ballparks elsewhere in the league, pointing specifically to Baltimore’s Camden Yards and Atlanta’s Truist Park. He demurred when asked whether the $380MM in public funding to which the state of Nevada and Clark County have committed would meaningfully impact player payroll, instead touting how much his own family plans to invest in the stadium.

Without delving into specifics, Fisher told Akers he “(expects) that our revenues will be considerably higher in our new ballpark than they have been to date, and that that will enable us to have a higher payroll.” Later in the interview, he claimed that the A’s expect an operating loss of $40MM this season and asserted the organization lost around $175MM during the 2020 pandemic season.

Fisher’s claim of the organization’s dire financial circumstances come at a time when the A’s have slashed spending and trotted out one of the worst rosters in recent history. The A’s are on pace for a 47-115 season that’d match the ’19 Orioles for the second-worst record of the past two decades.

The club is less than three years removed from a trio of consecutive playoff appearances, headlined by back-to-back 97-win rosters in 2018-19. Those teams were dismantled via a series of trades as the A’s sliced player payroll from a franchise-record $92MM range in 2019 to just under $57MM this season, as tabulated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts. As the quality of the on-field product has dropped and the franchise has explored relocation, the fanbase has increasingly stayed away. ESPN calculates the A’s average home attendance in 2023 at a little under 10,500 fans. That’s easily the lowest in the majors and just over half the approximate 20,500 average from 2019 — the last time the A’s had a playoff team in a season with fan attendance.

Fisher told Akers that the new stadium should allow the A’s to “keep our young talent around, as opposed to sadly seeing them go to other teams.” The A’s, of course, have regularly traded players to other clubs as their young talent reaches arbitration, often lamenting that the team’s market size, stadium and television contract don’t allow them to retain core players. The open question, naturally, is one of how strongly the A’s have tried to retain said talent. Oakland hasn’t brokered an extension with a pre-arbitration player in nearly a decade. Sean Doolitte’s four-year, $10MM contract was the last extension of its kind.

The A’s reportedly put forth an offer to Matt Chapman at one point, and perhaps they’ve made other attempts in the nine years since Doolittle signed his contract. But it’s difficult to imagine they’ve been as aggressive in trying to lock up homegrown talent as other small-market organizations like the Rays, Guardians, Brewers and Pirates have. The A’s have had dozens of high-quality players graduate from their farm over the years, and the lack of subsequent contract extensions is patently bizarre — particularly for an owner that laments his ability to retain stars and inability to field a competitive payroll; most early career extensions are signed at well below-market values. Perhaps the A’s don’t want to risk being locked into a long-term deal, but the potential “burden” of being bogged down by a pre-arb extension doesn’t seem any more glaring than signing an oft-injured Trevor Rosenthal to a one-year, $11MM pact a couple years back.

Rosenthal aside, the franchise has generally done little on the free agent market. The organization’s largest contract — a $66MM extension for Eric Chavez — predated the Fisher/Wolff ownership group. A $36MM guarantee for Yoenis Cespedes shortly after he defected from Cuba stands as their largest contract of the last 18 years. Among traditional MLB free agents, Billy Butler ($30MM), Ryan Madson ($22MM) and Scott Kazmir ($22MM) are the only players to whom they’ve given a contract exceeding $20MM.

As for the relocation process itself, Fisher told Akers that the A’s have officially submitted their application to MLB. They’ll need approval of 75% of ownership groups to sign off on the move to Vegas. That’s widely expected to be granted. Fisher indicated to Tim Keown of ESPN this evening that the vote has not yet been scheduled.

The A’s lease at the Coliseum runs through the 2024 campaign. The new stadium in Las Vegas isn’t expected to be ready before ’28, leaving the franchise with some uncertainty about their home in the intervening three seasons.

Reds Outright Henry Ramos

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The Reds have sent outfielder Henry Ramos outright to Triple-A Louisville, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. He had lost his 40-man roster spot when Cincinnati selected Nick Martini onto the big league roster on Tuesday.

It’s the second time this season in which Cincinnati sent Ramos through waivers. The Reds outrighted him in mid-July and reselected his contract a couple weeks ago. Ramos had played his way back to the bigs with an excellent showing in Louisville. Through 234 Triple-A plate appearances on the year, the 31-year-old is hitting .315/.399/.522 with nine homers and a quality 12% walk rate.

Ramos hasn’t maintained that power pace in very brief big league looks. Cincinnati has plugged him into 23 games and given him 86 trips to the plate. Ramos has walked in 12.4% of those and has reached base at a solid .349 clip, but he has managed just four extra-base knocks (three doubles and a triple).

The switch-hitter has spent over a decade in the minor leagues. He has logged minors action with the Red Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants and D-Backs but had only reached the majors with Arizona (an 18-game stint two years ago) prior to this season’s stay with the Reds. Ramos has been outrighted twice before and therefore has the right to explore free agency, but he could choose to accept the assignment to Louisville as he had in July.

Cubs Moving Drew Smyly Back To Bullpen

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The Cubs are kicking left-hander Drew Smyly back into relief, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said this evening (relayed by Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). Smyly had been set to oppose lefty Bailey Falter for Sunday’s series finale in Pittsburgh; the Cubs’ starter for that game is now listed as to be announced.

It’s a moderate surprise, as Smyly was generally expected to hold onto a rotation spot after Marcus Stroman’s recent injury setback. The Cubs had used Smyly three times in relief last week but gave him the start on Tuesday in Detroit. That outing didn’t go well — the Tigers saddled him with a loss by plating seven runs in 3 2/3 innings — and the Cubs have decided to return him to a relief role.

Smyly had worked a scoreless inning in each of the aforementioned three bullpen appearances. That’s far too small a sample on which to draw any conclusions, particularly given a generally weak slate of opponents (Blue Jays, White Sox and Royals). Moving him to long relief allows manager David Ross to deploy Smyly in lower-leverage situations than he’d have taken on as a starter.

It’s certainly not the result the Cubs envisioned when re-signing the veteran southpaw last offseason. Smyly had turned in a 3.47 ERA over 106 1/3 frames a season ago. The Cubs guaranteed him $19MM over two years on a deal that also allows him to opt out at the end of this season. Smyly hasn’t come close to replicating last season’s run prevention, allowing 5.28 earned runs per nine across 124 1/3 innings.

On the one hand, the front office likely anticipated some amount of regression. Smyly had a below-average 20.4% strikeout rate a season ago, leading to estimators like SIERA (4.06) and FIP (4.23) that were above his actual ERA. They certainly wouldn’t have anticipated his ERA jumping by almost two runs, though. Smyly’s 21.2% strikeout percentage is actually a touch better than last season’s, but his walks are up slightly and he has had a very tough time keeping the ball in the park. He has allowed 1.81 homers per nine, the seventh-highest rate among pitchers with 100+ frames.

The Cubs are through seven days in a stretch of 13 consecutive game days. The quartet of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad comprises the rotation. Chicago will have to find another solution for Sunday. They could try to patch things together with a bullpen game, though that’d run the risk of straining the pitching staff in advance of a crucial three-game series against the Brewers that begins the following day. Righty Hayden Wesneski is on the MLB roster and has starting experience; he struggled out of the rotation early in the year and has been working 2-3 inning relief stints of late.

If Chicago wanted to look to the minor leagues, they could go outside the 40-man roster. Prospect Ben Brown has been on the Triple-A injured list for three weeks. The Cubs optioned righty Caleb Kilian back to Iowa on August 15. Pitchers must spend at least 15 days on an optional stint before they can be recalled unless they’re brought back in conjunction with an IL transaction. The only way the Cubs could turn to Kilian by Sunday is if they place someone else on the shelf.

2021 first-round pick Jordan Wicks and former Marlins righty Nick Neidert are among the non-roster players starting games for Iowa. Chicago would have to select either player’s contract but has a pair of openings on the 40-man roster to accommodate a move if they so choose.

Blake Treinen Begins Rehab Assignment

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Dodgers righty Blake Treinen began a minor league rehab assignment at the team’s Arizona Complex League affiliate on Tuesday and is now headed to Triple-A Oklahoma City to continue that rehab, tweets Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. However, manager Dave Roberts conceded that it’s a “long shot” that the former relief ace will be able to contribute for the Dodgers down the stretch.

Treinen, 35, underwent shoulder surgery back in November and is already passed the 10-month recovery window the Dodgers laid out at the time of surgery. The right-hander said earlier this month that he’d been throwing bullpen sessions and remained optimistic about his chances of returning before the end of the season. With Treinen now heading to Triple-A, he’ll have a 30-day rehab window in the minors.

Treinen spent the majority of the 2022 season on the injured list, pitching just five innings, and hasn’t taken a big league mound since Sept. 5 of last year. His 2021 season was nothing short of elite, however. The veteran righty posted a sparkling 1.99 ERA with a hefty 29.7% strikeout rate, a solid 8.7% walk rate and a strong 52.6% ground-ball rate in 72 1/3 innings.

A sixth-place finisher in 2018 AL Cy Young voting when he saved 38 games with a 0.78 ERA for the A’s, Treinen has routinely been a source of missed bats and grounders when healthy. He’s worked in high-leverage roles for the Nationals, A’s and Dodgers in a nine-year big league career, logging a 2.86 ERA with 87 holds and 79 saves in 503 innings at the big league level.

Roberts, of course, chose not to completely close the door on a potential Treinen return, and it’s further possible that the right-hander could return at some point during the postseason, if he’s indeed healthy enough to do so. Treinen is one of nine relievers on the injured list with the Dodgers, but Roberts still boasts a strong back end of the bullpen led by Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol, Caleb Ferguson and resurgent righty Ryan Brasier (1.11 ERA in 24 1/3 innings since joining Los Angeles).

Even if Treinen’s unable to return this season, his progress in Oklahoma City will be worth watching closely. The Dodgers hold a club option on Treinen that’ll be valued between $1MM and $7MM. Presumably, given Treinen’s lack of innings this year, it will land at or near the bottom of that range.

Greg Allen Elects Free Agency

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The Yankees announced that outfielder Greg Allen has elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. New York had designated him for assignment on Tuesday when bringing up rookies Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza from Triple-A.

Allen has had a pair of stints in the Bronx. After suiting up for 15 games two seasons ago, he returned to the organization in May when the Yanks acquired him in a minor trade with Boston. Allen rather quickly thereafter suffered a strained hip flexor that cost him more than a month and a half. He returned in late July and operated in a fourth/fifth outfield capacity until this week’s DFA.

The switch-hitting Allen tallied 28 plate appearances over 22 games this time around. He picked up four extra-base hits, including a homer, while striking out 10 times. The former fifth-round pick has now appeared in seven straight MLB campaigns, working mostly in a depth capacity. He’s a .231/.300/.340 hitter in 828 career plate appearances. Allen has an excellent .292/.403/.433 batting line through parts of five seasons at the Triple-A level.

A plus runner, Allen has 48 stolen bases in 57 attempts at the major league level. That’s an 84.2% success rate that’s nearly five percentage points better than this year’s league average (despite the fact that the bulk of Allen’s attempts came before the introduction of the more favorable rules for baserunners last offseason). That speed gives him the ability to cover all three outfield positions, though public defensive metrics suggest he’s better suited for work in the corners than center field.

Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players at the start of September. Clubs are required to bring up at least one position player as part of that expansion, leading some to roster a pinch-running specialist for the stretch run. Allen could hold some appeal in such a role. If he finds another landing spot before end of day on August 31, he’d be eligible for postseason play with his new employer.

Brian Cashman Discusses Yankees’ Season, Future Plans

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The 2023 season has undoubtedly been a disappointing one for the Yankees. They snapped a nine-game losing streak yesterday but lost again today, bringing their record to 61-66. That has them last in the American League East, 6.5 games back of the fourth place Red Sox. They are 10 games away from the final Wild Card spot in the American League and FanGraphs pegged their playoff odds at 0.3% coming into today’s action. For a club that came into the season aimed at contending and ran up one of the league’s highest payrolls, it’s obviously not an ideal outcome.

General manager Brian Cashman spoke to the media yesterday, acknowledging the obvious, with Brendan Kuty of The Athletic among those to relay some of the specifics. “It’s been a disaster of a season,” Cashman said. “We’re embarrassed by it.” He also made it clear he was aware of the disappointed fans who wanted him fired but also defended his claim on continuing in his job. “I think we’ve got a pretty good track record here,” he said. “We’ve had a real good run of success. But this, at the same time, is not an easy sport. Nothing is guaranteed.”

The overall track record is indeed strong, when looking back to Cashman becoming the general manager in February of 1998. The Yanks have never finished below .500 since then, with their last losing season coming back in 1992. Since 1995, they’ve only missed the postseason four times and have won the World Series five times.

For some fans, that’s not enough, or it’s been too long since the most dominant stretch of the Cashman era. Four of those five titles came from 1996 to 2000 with the last one in 2009. Though the Yankees have made the playoffs in each of the six previous years, they haven’t made it past the ALCS in over a decade and have a chance to break their 30-year streak of winning seasons here in 2023. Whether that track record is enough to keep him in his current position remains to be seen and Cashman himself provided little clarity, saying that it would be “somebody else’s decision that’s above me,” presumably in reference to chairman Hal Steinbrenner.

How much blame Cashman deserves for the struggles of the 2023 club is a matter that could be debated, and certainly is in certain circles. Injuries have been a significant factor in their results, as various players who were hoped to be key contributors have missed significant time. The starting rotation has been without Frankie Montas all year while Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodón have each bounced on and off the injured list while posting diminished results when on the field. On the offensive side of things, players like Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and others have dealt with significant injuries issues that led to absences or downturns in performance or both.

Defenders of Cashman could point to that litany of injuries as evidence that a strong on-paper roster was cursed by the baseball gods, but detractors could highlight the fact that all clubs deal with injuries and part of the job is building a roster than can succeed over an entire season as player health ebbs and flows.

Regardless of the reasons, it seems like all manner of possible changes will be considered in the coming months. “I think we’re all going to be evaluated,” Cashman said, referring to himself and manager Aaron Boone. “You’re going to see look at every aspect of the operation because that’s what you have to do under these circumstances, and then that takes us where it takes us. Nobody’s happy here. We’re better than this, but it’s not played better than this, and we’ll see. Stay tuned.”

How the franchise responds to this down year will be an interesting thread to follow over the coming weeks and months. The Yankees are usually one the most reliably aggressive teams when it comes to competing and spending. Before the offseason has even begun, their 2024 payroll is at $186MM while their competitive balance tax figure is at $197MM, per Roster Resource. Those figures don’t include arbitration salaries for players like Cortes, Gleyber Torres, Clay Holmes and more. Factoring in raises for those players will put the Yanks in the vicinity of next year’s base luxury tax threshold of $237MM before even making any offseason additions.

Assuming the Yanks look to compete again next year, there would be plenty on the to-do list this winter. The rotation theoretically has a strong front three, with Gerrit Cole followed by Rodón and Cortes, though that’s dependant on the health of the latter two. Even if they are healthy and Clarke Schmidt takes a back-end spot, there would be room for another pitcher in there, keeping Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez as minor league depth.

The lineup has many question marks, as the team has collectively hit .229/.304/.400 this year for a wRC+ of 94. Some of that can be explained by the aforementioned injury struggles of Judge and Rizzo, but the club has also received poor performances from veterans like DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton. The 35-year-old LeMahieu has hit .239/.316/.370 this year, 91 wRC+, and still has three years and $45MM left on his contract after this one. The 33-year-old Stanton has a line of .193/.277/.423 this season for wRC+ of 88 while still being owed $128MM over the next four years. The Yanks could try to move on from those players but their respective contracts and ages will make it very difficult.

There will also be fresh holes made in that lineup, with Harrison Bader and Isiah Kiner-Falefa set to reach free agency. Neither played is having an outstanding season at the plate but Bader at least provides speed and excellent center field defense while Kiner-Falefa also has speed and can provide cover at multiple positions. Josh Donaldson is likely to depart for the open market as well, as his deal has a mutual option that is unlikely to be picked up.

There are many questions for the Yankees to answer between now and 2024, but it seems they will start by using the remainder of the current campaign to get a look at some younger players. Earlier this week, they promoted youngsters Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza to get some reps in what’s left of the schedule. That group could soon be joined by Austin Wells, as Kuty reports the catching prospect is likely to join the club when rosters expand from 26 to 28 in September.

Wells, 24, was selected in the first round of the 2020 draft, with the Yanks taking him 28th overall. He has since climbed the minor league ladder and is considered by many outlets to be a top 100 prospect, with Baseball America currently having him in the #83 slot. He’s considered a bat-first catcher and is hitting .241/.333/.443 in the minors this year, walking in 10.8% of his plate appearances while hitting 26 home runs.

The Yanks are without Jose Trevino for the rest of the season, as he underwent wrist surgery in July. They are currently using the duo of Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt behind the plate but the expanded rosters could allow them to carry three catchers and get a look at Wells before the offseason arrives. Wells isn’t yet on the 40-man roster and would require a corresponding move to be added.

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