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Yu Chang Accepts Outright Assignment

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Red Sox infielder Yu Chang went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated for assignment on Tuesday, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. According to Cotillo, Chang has decided to accept the assignment and report to Triple-A Worcester.

The righty-hitting infielder could’ve elected free agency, since he has more than three years of MLB service. Players with less than five years of service time would forfeit their guaranteed salary in rejecting an outright, however. Chang is guaranteed $850K on the offseason pact he inked with Boston. With roughly $238K still to be paid out, the 27-year-old will head to Triple-A.

Chang was pushed into regular shortstop duty early in the season thanks to Trevor Story’s elbow injury. Chang played well defensively but was in a massive slump at the plate for a few weeks. His regular run was cut short when he broke the hamate bone in his left wrist on a swing, costing him around two and a half months.

Boston reinstated Chang from the injured list in early July. His offensive struggles continued, as he managed only a .180/.219/.361 line through 65 trips to the dish. Story’s return this week pushed Chang off the roster entirely.

Over parts of five big league campaigns, the Taiwan native is a .204/.265/.359 hitter. Public defensive metrics have rated him highly throughout the infield, but Chang has never found a consistent footing at the plate. He owns a .260/.333/.426 mark over five Triple-A seasons. Chang joins Christian Arroyo — himself outrighted off the roster just last weekend — David Hamilton and Enmanuel Valdez among the middle infielders in Worcester. If the Sox don’t re-select his contract before season’s end, Chang would reach minor league free agency in the fall.

Longtime Reds’ Beat Reporter John Fay Passes Away

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Longtime Reds’ beat reporter John Fay has passed away at age 66. Fay covered the club for more than three decades while working for the Cincinnati Enquirer until retiring three years ago.

Reds’ CEO Bob Castellini released a statement this afternoon via the club’s Twitter account:

“We are saddened and heartbroken to hear about the passing of long-time Reds beat writer John Fay. John had a no-nonsense and direct approach to reporting on the club. He was a thoughtful writer with a good baseball mind and was always well-prepared and honest. It was clear how deeply he cared about the team and its fans. John made a lasting impact with his coverage of the Reds and the entire organization will miss him dearly.”

Dan Horn penned the Enquirer’s obituary, recapping both Fay’s career and his decades-long relationship with his wife Laura, who passed away in January after a battle with breast cancer. Countless former colleagues of Fay’s throughout the industry — including C. Trent Rosecrans and Mark Sheldon — offered their remembrances. MLBTR joins them in sending condolences to Fay’s family, friends and loved ones.

Rangers Designate Bubba Thompson For Assignment

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The Rangers announced they’ve designated outfielder Bubba Thompson for assignment. The move opens room on the 40-man for J.P. Martínez, who was officially selected onto the big league roster. Travis Jankowski was placed on the paternity list to clear an active roster spot for Martínez.

A former first-round pick, Thompson reached the majors last August after five minor league campaigns. An elite runner, Thompson had stolen 49 bases and was caught just thrice for Triple-A Round Rock last season. He hit .265 and stole 18 more bags in 55 big league contests down the stretch, though that came with a modest .302 on-base percentage and well below-average .312 slugging mark.

Last year’s decent batting average was built on a massive .389 average on balls in play, as Thompson struck out at an alarming 30.9% clip. As one of the league’s fastest players, he’s likely to run a BABIP higher than the .297 league average. Yet hitting nearly .400 on balls in play consistently is a tall task for anyone.

Likely anticipating some regression in his offensive production, Texas signed Robbie Grossman to take primary left field duties. Jankowski has been very good in a fourth outfield role, leaving Thompson to tally only 60 MLB plate appearances over 37 games. He struggled to a .170/.237/.283 line in that scattershot playing time. While he improved his strikeout and walk numbers marginally, Thompson only made contact on 61.5% of his swings — a rate topped by every qualified hitter around the league.

Thompson’s production in Triple-A has also taken a step back. Despite carrying solid walk and strikeout marks at the top minor league level, he’s hitting .260/.362/.378 through 149 plate appearances at Round Rock. He’s gone 16-18 on stolen bases but has only two homers in 32 games after connecting on 13 longballs in 80 Triple-A contests a season ago.

While the 25-year-old Thompson is clearly still a work in progress offensively, he has some standout skills that could intrigue another club. There are few more effective baserunners. Thompson has stolen 22 bases in 27 attempts at the MLB level and has been successful at a huge 83.2% clip in his minor league career. That standout speed gives him the ability to play all three outfield spots, though he’s spent most of his MLB time in left field.

Texas has no choice but to put Thompson on waivers within the next week. It seems fairly likely he’ll be claimed. Another team willing to carry him on the 40-man roster could keep him in the minors for the foreseeable future. Thompson is in his first of three minor league option seasons.

Mariners Place J.P. Crawford On Injured List

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The Mariners announced that shortstop J.P. Crawford has been placed on the seven-day concussion injured list, retroactive to August 10. He’s eligible to return by next Thursday but the team hasn’t provided a firm timetable. Players can go on the concussion list whether they’re officially diagnosed with one or simply have concussion-like symptoms. Sam Haggerty was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to take the active roster spot.

Crawford was injured on Wednesday when he collided with third baseman Eugenio Suárez while playing a softly-hit grounder in the hole. The shortstop remained in the game initially but came out a couple innings later after informing the coaching staff he wasn’t feeling well. The team sent him for testing postgame and apparently found the injury significant enough to rule him out for a week.

It’s a rare bit of unfortunate news for MLB’s hottest team. Seattle has rattled off seven straight wins, pulling within a game and a half of Toronto for the last Wild Card spot in the American League. Crawford has been an excellent table setter at the top of the order, reaching base at a career-best .379 clip while starting 106 of the club’s 114 games at shortstop.

Seattle is turning to Dylan Moore at the position tonight against Orioles starter Kyle Gibson. Moore and José Caballero are the only players aside from Crawford to play there for the M’s this season.

John Angelos Reportedly Seeking Public Land, Extra Funding In Orioles’ Stadium Lease Negotiations

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It was reported back in February that the Orioles had declined a five-year lease extension on their lease at Camden Yards. The hope was that they could work out a longer deal that would allow them to take advantage of a new Maryland law and borrow $600MM for stadium upgrades. It was hoped that the longer deal would be worked out by the All-Star break, but it hasn’t come to fruition, with new reporting from Andy Kostka, Brenda Wintrode, Hallie Miller and Pamela Wood of The Baltimore Banner indicating club CEO and chairman John Angelos is trying to leverage the negotiations to acquire public land.

As noted in the report, Angelos and Maryland Governor Wes Moore took a tour of The Battery in March. The Atlanta area development houses Truist Park, where the Braves play, as well as various other spaces for retail, commercial and residential uses. He seems to see The Battery as a kind of model to emulate, though there are logistical challenges to following that blueprint in Baltimore. As noted in the report from the Banner, the Braves moved away from Turner Field in Atlanta to the suburb of Cumberland, purchasing 82 acres of land and spending $452MM on The Battery.

With that model in mind, Angelos is reportedly trying to get an extra $300MM in state funds as well as public land around Camden Yards, which is holding up a deal as the deadline looms at the end of the year. There are several obstacles to Angelos getting his wish, per the authors of the report.

One complication involves the Baltimore Ravens, who play in M&T Bank Stadium, just south of Camden Yards. The Maryland Stadium Authority lease with the Ravens, which that club signed in January, contains a clause requiring “parity” with their fowl neighbors. If the authority negotiates more favorable terms for the Orioles, they would have to modify their agreement with the Ravens in a comparable fashion.

Another part of that lease is that 4,000 nearby parking spaces have to remain surface lots, not to be turned into underground parking, so as to allow tailgating. The report notes that there are also state-owned parking lots nearby, with the revenue generated from those lots goes to the teams. If the O’s wanted that land, the authority would need to start a procurement process that could involve bids from other developers. One source with knowledge of the negotiations tells the authors that Angelos won’t get the land or money he is seeking.

Regardless of the complicated details, the report notes that the negotiations have shifted, with the plan moving from straightforward stadium upgrades to a much more complex design. A public opinion poll was circulated this week, from an unknown source, asking Marylanders how they felt about the Orioles potentially pursuing a larger revitalization project in a “public-private partnership.”

All this comes on the heels of an apparently tumultuous period for the Angelos family. Reports from 2022 indicated the family had been battling each other over how to move forward with the club after Peter Angelos collapsed in 2017, with Goldman Sachs having been retained to look into the possibility of a sale. There were various lawsuits involving Peter’s wife Georgia and their sons John and Louis, though it was reported in February of 2023 that those had all been dropped, just a few days after the club declined to renew its lease at Camden Yards. John was formally approved by the league’s other owners as the Orioles’ new control person following the 2020 season.

John Angelos has declined to comment on the current matter but Governor Moore expressed optimism about the process. “There is a core belief that this is about what we need to do to create a winner on the field, but also I’m committed to making sure that this is a win for Baltimore, and that this is a win for the state of Maryland,” he said. “We have a shared vision to be able to build a new journey and a new era where having the Orioles and the Ravens and all the other activities you can have in Baltimore … [happen] simultaneously. And we’re all going to win.” The current lease expires on December 31 of this year.

Red Sox Reinstate Chris Sale From 60-Day Injured List

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The Red Sox announced that they have reinstated left-hander Chris Sale from the 60-day injured list, with fellow lefty Brandon Walter optioned in a corresponding move. The 40-man roster previously had a vacancy but is now full. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the moves prior to the official announcement. Sale will start tonight’s game against the Tigers.

Sale, 34, was once one of the best pitchers in the majors but his health has been the primary focus in recent years. He required Tommy John surgery in 2020, wiping out that season and most of 2021 as well. In 2022, a stress reaction in his ribs kept him out until July. He returned but fractured a finger when he was struck by a comebacker. While on the injured list for that ailment, he broke his wrist in a bicycle accident.

Here in 2023, it was relatively smooth sailing for a while. He tossed 59 innings over 11 starts, allowing 4.58 earned runs per nine innings but he probably deserved better. He struck out 28.5% of batters faced and walked 6%, but his .315 batting average on balls in play and 69.4% strand rate were both a bit on the unlucky side. Metrics like his 3.69 FIP and 3.47 SIERA painted a rosier picture of his season than his ERA.

In early June, he was placed on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation, though he was later moved to the 60-day IL with his condition described as a stress reaction in his shoulder blade. That has kept him out of action until now, just a bit beyond the 60-day minimum.

What the Sox will get from Sale at this point remains to be seen. His results earlier in the year were decent, but he’s already pitched more innings than in any season since 2019. Perhaps he will run into workload concerns, though his rotation mate James Paxton shows that’s not necessarily the case. The latter has thrown 80 1/3 innings this year with a 3.36 ERA after missing almost all of the previous three campaigns. Sale has one more guaranteed year remaining on his extension with a $27.5MM salary for 2024 and a $20MM club/vesting option for 2025.

Sale and Paxton figure to hold down two rotation spots for now, with Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta and Kutter Crawford in the other three. Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck are both on rehab assignments right now and could factor into that mix soon, though manager Alex Cora recently said there’s “a good chance” Whitlock will be used as a multi-inning reliever upon his return.

A’s To Promote Lawrence Butler For MLB Debut

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August 11: The A’s have now officially recalled Butler, with Kemp moved to the paternity list in the anticipated corresponding move.

August 9: The Athletics are recalling outfield prospect Lawrence Butler, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (Twitter links). It’s his first big league promotion. Butler was added to the 40-man roster over the offseason, so the club will only need to make a corresponding active roster move. That figures to be the placement of Tony Kemp on the paternity list, as Gallegos notes the veteran utility player is headed to Nashville for the birth of his second child.

Butler, 23, was a sixth-round draftee out of an Atlanta high school five years ago. It was an upside play on a 6’3″ outfielder with significant power potential. He started slowly in his pro career but had a breakout showing in Low-A coming out of the canceled season. Butler continued to perform well in High-A last season, leading the A’s to select his contract to ensure they wouldn’t lose him in the Rule 5 draft.

He has spent the majority of this season at Double-A Midland. The lefty-swinging Butler hit .285/.352/.465 with 10 homers, 13 steals and a solid 18.9% strikeout percentage in 318 plate appearances. He was tabbed to participate in this summer’s Futures Game and bumped to Triple-A Las Vegas thereafter. Butler has hit .281/.340/.512 in 22 games since getting moved to the top minor league level.

The Oakland front office was sufficiently pleased with those results to give him his first big league call. Whether the A’s are simply giving Butler a cup of coffee in Kemp’s absence or plan to afford him regular run from here on out remains to be seen.  He has experience at all three outfield spots but is generally viewed as best suited for the corner outfield or first base. With Esteury Ruiz back to man center field, Butler seems likely to mix into the corners alongside Seth Brown, Brent Rooker and JJ Bleday.

Mariners Outright Zach Muckenhirn

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August 11: The Mariners announced today that Muckenhirn cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

August 9: The Mariners have officially selected the contract of prospect Emerson Hancock, a move that was reported yesterday. In corresponding transactions, the M’s optioned right-hander Devin Sweet to Triple-A and designated left-hander Zach Muckenhirn for assignment.

Muckenhirn, 28, made his major league debut with the Mets earlier this year, tossing six innings over three appearances with four earned runs allowed. He was designated for assignment in July and then promptly traded to the Mariners as part of the deal that sent Trevor Gott and Chris Flexen to Queens. Flexen was released by the Mets shortly thereafter, highlighting the fact that they were taking on Flexen’s contract in order to effectively buy Gott.

The M’s saved some money in that deal but also added Muckenhirn to their system, sending him to Triple-A Tacoma. He’s thrown 8 2/3 innings for that club with a 9.35 ERA in that small sample, which likely helped loosen his grip on a roster spot. But he had a much more palatable 0.88 ERA in 30 2/3 innings for the Syracuse Mets prior to the trade, giving him a combined 2.75 ERA at Triple-A this year. He’s only struck out 14.8% of opponents at that level but has kept the ball on the ground on close to half of the balls in play he’s allowed.

With the trade deadline now in the rear-view mirror, the M’s will have a week to put Muckenhirn on outright waivers or release waivers. Left-handed relief tends to always be in demand and Muckenhirn can serve as a long-term depth option since he has just a few days of service time and a full slate of options. His strikeouts haven’t been there this year but he punched out 23.8% of minor league hitters last season, in addition to consistently solid ground ball rates.

If the lefty were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the M’s since he lacks the necessary service time or previous career outright that’s necessary for the right to elect free agency. But if he’s still not on the roster at season’s end, he would qualify for minor league free agency.

Blue Jays Promote Hagen Danner For MLB Debut, Option Alek Manoah

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The Blue Jays announced today that right-hander Hagen Danner has been recalled from Triple-A. He will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Righty Alek Manoah was optioned as the corresponding move.

Danner, 24, was both a pitcher and a catcher in high school when the Jays drafted him in 2017. They initially tried him behind the plate but he didn’t hit much in the lower levels of the minors and got moved back to the mound. In 2021, he tossed 35 2/3 innings in High-A, allowing 2.02 earned runs per nine innings. He struck out 29.4% of batters faced, walked 8.4% and got grounders at a 36.3% rate.

With his early attempts at catching and the canceled minor leagues in 2020, that was the totality of his professional pitching experience in November of 2021. Nonetheless, the Jays were clearly intrigued, as they added Danner to their 40-man roster to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Last season, the righty spent much of the time on the minor league injured list, only throwing 3 2/3 innings for the year. Here in 2023, he’s thrown 39 1/3 innings across three different levels with a 3.66 ERA. He’s struck out 35.7% of batters he’s faced while walking just 7%. The long ball has been a bit of an issue, however, with eight balls having gone over the fence so far this year. But his 26.7% rate of fly balls turning into home runs is more than double the major league average and unlikely to be sustained.

As for Manoah, this is the second time this year that he’s been sent on optional assignment. The first came in June after he struggled mightily in the first couple of months in the season, with a 6.36 ERA at that time. He was recalled about a month later and has been a bit better, with a 4.91 ERA since coming back up. His 23.3% strikeout rate in that time is close to average but his 12.8% walk rate is a few ticks on the high side.

The Jays have been running a six-man rotation recently, thanks to the return of Manoah as well as Hyun Jin Ryu returning from his Tommy John surgery rehab, joining Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi. That arrangement has been fine for a while as they are currently in a stretch of playing 17 days in a row, but that will end after this weekend. Starting on Monday, the Jays have three off-days in an eight-day period, making the six starters unnecessary.

It seems Manoah will be the odd man out for now, as he’ll head to Triple-A Buffalo and await his next opportunity. An injury to one of the club’s other starters could open a spot for him, or perhaps the expanded September rosters will get him back aboard.

José Bautista To Officially Retire

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José Bautista hasn’t played in a big league game since 2018 but had never officially retired in the years after his last appearance. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet was among those to report today that Bautista will sign a one-day contract with Toronto to officially retire as a Blue Jay, as part of the ceremony wherein he will be added to the club’s Level of Excellence on Saturday.

Bautista, now 42, didn’t have the typical path to baseball stardom as he wasn’t a high draft pick or top prospect. The Pirates selected him in the 20th round of the draft in 2000 and he would get some modest attention from prospect evaluators after that, with Baseball America ranking him #14 in the system in 2002 and #7 in 2003.

In 2004, he had an especially unusual season, getting selected by the Orioles in the Rule 5 draft. As the season wore on, he was claimed off waivers by the Devil Rays, then was subsequently traded to the Royals, Mets and back to the Pirates. He would stick with the Pirates for a few years, mostly as a third baseman but also playing some outfield. He showed glimpses of his potential at the plate, hitting 16 home runs in 2006, 15 the year after and another 15 in 2008.

That 2008 season saw him traded to the Blue Jays in August for a player to be named later, which was eventually revealed as Robinzon Díaz. A fairly forgettable transaction at the time, it would later prove to be the start of the defining era of Bautista’s career.

His first full season as a Blue Jay wasn’t especially noteworthy, as Bautista hit 13 home runs in 2009, though there were a few developments that would prove to be important in later years. He began incorporating a leg kick into his swing and also started to spend more time in right field, with his strong throwing arm a good fit for that spot.

In 2010, at the age of 29, Bautista broke out in stunning fashion. He launched 54 home runs for the Jays that year, setting a new single season record for the franchise. He also showed a keen eye at the plate, drawing walks in 14.6% of his plate appearances. His .260/.378/.617 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 165, indicating he was 65% better than the league average hitter. The Jays decided to bank on that breakout, giving Bautista a five-year, $65MM extension that covered his final arbitration season and four free agent years, with a club option for 2016.

He followed that up with an even better season overall. His home run tally dropped to 43 in 2011, but his patient approach allowed him to take advantage of pitchers giving him less to hit. He was walked in 20.2% of his trips to the plate in 2011, leading to a .302/.447/.608 slash line. His 180 wRC+ was the best in the majors that year and would eventually prove to be his personal best as well. He was considered to be worth 8.1 wins above replacement by FanGraphs and 8.4 by Baseball Reference. He came in third in AL MVP voting behind Justin Verlander and Jacoby Ellsbury.

His production would continue in fairly similar fashion for years to come, defined by both his power output and on-base abilities. From 2012 to 2016, he hit between 22 and 40 home runs each year with his walk rate never finishing below 13.1%. Despite that excellent production, and that of another late-blooming star in Edwin Encarnación, the Jays struggled to push too far beyond .500 in most of those seasons.

The 2015 season finally changed that, with the Jays aggressively bolstering the roster by adding Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin and others in the offseason. The trade deadline saw further aggression, with the club adding a batch of players headlined by Troy Tulowitzki and David Price. The moves paid off when the Jays surged in the final months of the season and finished 93-69, winning the American League East and cracking the postseason for the first time since 1993.

Bautista’s first opportunity to play in the playoffs would lead to a singular moment and image that are now cemented in the minds of millions of baseball fans. The Jays squared off against the Rangers in the Wild Card series, which had a best-of-five format at that time. The Jays lost the first two games but rallied to tie it up and force a fifth contest.

In the deciding game, the Jays fell behind in the top of the seventh 3-2 on a strange play wherein Rougned Odor scored when Martin’s attempted throw back to pitcher Aaron Sanchez hit the bat of Shin-Soo Choo and ricocheted away. Home plate umpire Dale Scott initially ruled the ball dead but the umpiring crew eventually allowed the run to score. That soured the mood in the stadium, with many fans throwing debris to express their displeasure.

In the bottom of the frame, several defensive miscues from the Rangers allowed the Jays to tie the game up before Bautista launched a two-out, three-run home run to give the Jays a 6-3 lead. Bautista reacted to the emotionally-charged atmosphere by flipping his bat high into the air, which proved to be controversial in some baseball circles, though it would quickly become an iconic moment among Jays’ fans. Toronto held on to win that game but would lose to the Royals in the ALCS.

After Bautista’s extension ended, the Jays gave him a $17.2MM qualifying offer for 2017. He rejected that and became a free agent but eventually returned to Toronto via a one-year, $18.5MM deal. He still hit 23 home runs and walked in 12.2% of his plate appearances, but his overall production fell to .203/.308/.366 and a wRC+ of 81.

In 2018, he returned to the journeyman status that started his career, bouncing to the Braves, Mets and Phillies. He didn’t sign with a club in the years to come, though he did reportedly consider a comeback as a two-way player in 2020, but later threw some cold water on those reports. He played for the Dominican Republic team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were pushed to 2021 by delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now it seems his playing days will be officially ended during this weekend’s festivities, tying a bow on one of the more unique baseball journeys. Though Bautista began and ended his career as a journeyman, he had a late bloom that led to a lengthy stretch as one of the best players in the league. From 2010 to 2015, he hit 227 home runs, easily the most in the league for that time with Miguel Cabrera second at 199. He slashed .268/.390/.555 in that time for a wRC+ of 156 and tallied 33.2 fWAR, that latter figure placing him sixth among position players. His 60 outfield assists in that stretch were topped by just three other big leaguers. He engineered many memorable moments during that peak, too many to list here, featuring both his tremendous talents as well as his fiery and standout personality.

Over his career as a whole, he played 1,798 games and took 7,244 trips to the plate. He launched 344 home runs and walked at a 14.2% rate, leading to a .247/.361/.475 batting line and 126 wRC+. He had 1,496 hits, 1,022 runs scored, 975 driven in and stole 70 bases. He tallied 35.3 fWAR and 36.7 bWAR. He made six straight All-Star teams from 2010 to 2015, led the league in home runs twice, earned a couple of Hank Aaron awards and three Silver Sluggers. As a Blue Jay, his tallies of 38.3 bWAR and 36.2 fWAR are both the best in franchise history among position players, with only Dave Stieb and Roy Halladay ahead of him overall.

We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Bautista on an incredibly special career and wish him the best in all his post-playing endeavors.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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