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Latest On Guardians’ Rotation

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Ever since losing ace Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery early in the season, the Guardians have employed something of a patchwork starting staff. In atypical fashion, Cleveland has succeeded this season not necessarily because of its strong rotation but rather in spite of its starting pitching; Guardians starters rank 24th in the majors with a collective 4.49 ERA in 2024. Over the past 30 days, Cleveland starters have a 4.74 ERA. Thanks to an elite bullpen and productive offense, however, Cleveland’s 66-42 record stands as the best mark in Major League Baseball.

Unfortunately for the Guards, there’s more ominous news on the starting pitching front. Right-hander Tanner Bibee, who leads the team in both starts (22) and innings pitched (121 1/3), will have his next start pushed back due to tightness in his right shoulder, per Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Right now, there’s no indication that a stint on the injured list is in the offing, but any delay due to shoulder or elbow problems are cause for at least some concern with pitchers.

Bibee, in particular, has been vital to Cleveland’s success. He’s not only the staff leader in terms of workload, he’s been the most consistent and most effective arm on the staff in 2024. Journeyman Ben Lively has a narrow edge in ERA (3.42 to Bibee’s 3.48), but Bibee sports the better strikeout and walk rates and has been far more effective at keeping the ball in the yard.

Of last year’s three vaunted top prospects who made the jump to the majors in short succession, Bibee is the only one who has taken another step forward in 2024. Fellow righty Gavin Williams has spent most of the season on the injured list and only just returned last month. Left-hander Logan Allen was optioned to Triple-A Columbus earlier this summer after posting a 5.67 ERA and yielding 1.85 HR/9 through 87 1/3 innings.

The Guardians can hope there’s help on the horizon. Trade acquisition Alex Cobb has been out all season due to recovery from winter hip surgery and some setbacks that occurred along the way. He’s nearly done with a rehab assignment, however. His next and likely final rehab appearance will come tomorrow in Columbus, writes Chris Assenheimer of the Chronicle-Telegram.

Cobb, 36, is in the final season of a contract originally signed with the Giants in the 2021-22 offseason. San Francisco picked up a $10MM club option on him, but his return from that hip procedure has taken longer than anticipated due to a shoulder flare-up and some blister troubles. He’s been quite sharp when healthy over the past three seasons, logging a 3.79 ERA, 22.8% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 394 1/3 innings between the Angels (2021) and Giants (2022-23). If Cobb can produce anywhere near that level in Cleveland, he’ll be a boon for a starting staff that has lacked a steadily productive veteran all season.

While Cobb was the only trade acquisition for Cleveland, he’s not the only midseason addition to the staff. Cleveland signed former Tigers and Giants southpaw Matthew Boyd to a big league deal earlier in the summer as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. Boyd, 33, isn’t far from a potential debut himself. He’s now made four rehab starts, most recently tossing 3 2/3 innings with Columbus just yesterday. Boyd breezed through five innings on 64 pitches in Double-A during his third rehab stint and needed 63 pitches to get through yesterday’s 3 2/3 frames in Triple-A. He’s now pitched at three levels in Cleveland’s system and carries a pristine 1.15 ERA and 20-to-2 K/BB ratio in 15 2/3 innings.

Astros’ Eric Lauer Granted Release, Will Reportedly Pursue KBO Opportunity

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The Astros released left-hander Eric Lauer, who’d been with their Triple-A club in Sugar Land, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. It seems that’ll pave the way for the former Brewers and Padres hurler to sign in the Korea Baseball Organization. Per KBO reporter Daniel Kim, Lauer will sign a deal with the Kia Tigers for the remainder of the 2024 campaign.

Lauer, 29, opened the season with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate after signing a minor league deal in spring training and joined Houston’s Triple-A club a couple months later after opting out of that deal with Pittsburgh. He’s had rough results on the whole in Triple-A this season, working to a combined 5.26 ERA between the two teams. However, he’s been on a good run as of late (2.86 ERA over his past five starts), has maintained respectable strikeout/walk rates throughout the ’24 season (25.3%, 9.1%), and of course has a big league track record of some note.

Selected by the Padres with the No. 25 overall pick in the 2016 draft, Lauer made his big league debut with San Diego in 2018 and spent two seasons pitching at the back of the Friars’ rotation. He logged a 4.40 ERA over 53 appearances (all but one of them as a starter) and looked well on his way to cementing himself as a serviceable back-end option. The Padres traded him to Milwaukee alongside Luis Urias in a trade shipping Trent Grisham and Zach Davies back to San Diego. Lauer made four ugly appearances during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, yielding 16 runs in 11 innings, but bounced back in a major way the following year.

Early in the 2021 season, Lauer added a slider to his repertoire and saw his results take off. He posted a 3.19 ERA and fanned 24% of his opponents in 118 2/3 innings that year, including a minuscule 2.41 ERA after incorporating his new breaking ball. The strong results continued into 2022, and Lauer wound up pitching to a combined 3.47 ERA in 277 1/3 frames across the two seasons, fanning 23.8% of his opponents against an 8.7% walk rate.

Lauer’s 2022 season was slowed by a shoulder issue, however, and he battled shoulder and elbow troubles the following year as well. The lefty saw his average fastball plummet from 93.3 mph in 2022 to 91.2 mph in 2023. In 46 2/3 big league frames, he was tattooed for a 6.56 ERA as his K/BB rates both went in the wrong direction. The Brewers sent him to Triple-A Nashville to try to get him right, but Lauer’s struggles continued, as he was knocked around for a 5.15 ERA there and did not return to the big leagues.

Lauer clearly hasn’t recaptured his 2021-22 form in Triple-A this season, but he’ll aim to do so down the stretch in the KBO with a Kia club that’s currently sporting the league’s best record at 60-41. It’s feasible that a big showing overseas could lead to interest from MLB clubs this winter, but it could also open the door for Lauer to re-sign with the Tigers for the 2025 campaign. He’d pitch all of next season at 30 years of age, and if he can either rebound to 2021-22 form or reinvent himself with some new offerings (a la Erick Fedde), an additional year in the KBO could catapult him back onto the big league radar.

The Opener: Leyland, Debuts, First Starts

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As teams gear up for the stretch run with the trade deadline behind us, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:

1. Tigers to retire Leyland’s number:

The Tigers announced yesterday that they plan to honor recently-inducted Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland by retiring his number 10 on Saturday prior to the club’s game against the Royals. The game starts at 6:10pm local time that evening but Detroit encouraged fans to arrive early and be in their seats by 5:25pm local time for the retirement ceremony in a press release about the retirement ceremony. Leyland’s number will be the tenth to be retired in Tigers history, joining numbers one (Lou Whitaker), two (Charlie Gehringer), three (Alan Trammell), five (Hank Greenberg), six (Al Kaline), 11 (Sparky Anderson), 16 (Hal Newhouser), 23 (Willie Horton), and 47 (Jack Morris). Leyland joins Anderson as the only manager in Tigers history to have his numbers retired. In his eight years managing the Tigers from 2006 to 2013, Leyland won 700 games and a pair of AL pennants.

2. Youngsters to make MLB debuts:

A pair of prospects in the AL East are having their contracts selected to the majors today and will make their MLB debuts when they first appear in a game. The Rays are calling up outfield prospect Kameron Misner to the big leagues in the wake of an injury to Richie Palacios, while the Orioles are calling up top infield prospect Coby Mayo after third baseman Jordan Westburg suffered a fractured hand earlier this week. Both clubs have vacancies on their 40-man rosters, meaning corresponding moves will be necessary only to make room on the active roster for these youngsters.

Misner, 26, is a former first-round pick by the Marlins. The Rays acquired him during the 2021-22 offseason in return for veteran utilityman Joey Wendle. Misner has spent the past two seasons with the Rays at Triple-A Durham and has posted a .236/.360/.453 slash line in 224 games, although a hefty 33.4% strikeout rate is cause for some concern about how his approach will translate to the big leagues. As for Mayo, the Orioles’ fourth-rounder in the 2020 draft established himself as a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport entering this year and has done nothing but confirm his status as one of the league’s elite prospects with an excellent .301/.375/.586 slash line at the Triple-A level in 2024.

This last one isn’t an MLB debut, but the Giants will give slugger Jerar Encarnacion his first look in the majors since 2022 and his first action in a Giants uniform when they select his contract later today. The 26-year-old Encarnacion, a former Marlins prospect, was a minor league free agent this offseason who had to settle for a deal in the Mexican League after finding scant MLB interest. He tore through pitching staffs in Mexico at a comical .366/.439/.989 rate and slugged 19 homers in only 107 plate appearances. The Giants quickly grabbed him on a minor league deal, and he’s hit .352/.438/.616 with 10 homers in 146 Triple-A plate appearances.

3. Recently traded arms starting anew:

A number of starting pitchers got traded in the run-up to the trade deadline earlier this week, and many of those arms are set to make their first starts with their new clubs this weekend. Newly-minted Cardinals righty Erick Fedde (3.11 ERA) and Brewers right-hander Frankie Montas (5.01 ERA) will make their team debuts against the Cubs’ Javier Assad (3.23 ERA) and Nationals’ Jake Irvin (3.44 ERA), respectively, later today. On Saturday, recently-added Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty (2.95 ERA) will take on A’s rookie Mitch Spence (4.47 ERA). New Royals starter Michael Lorenzen (3.81 ERA) faces a to-be-announced Tigers starter on Saturday. This weekend affords fans of each of those four teams their first look at a major addition by their club from the days leading up to the deadline that is sure to impact the pennant races those teams find themselves in down the stretch.

MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
  • The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
  • The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
  • The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
  • The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
  • The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
  • Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
  • The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
  • The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
  • The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
  • The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
  • The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
  • Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
  • Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Chase Anderson Elects Free Agency

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Chase Anderson is electing free agency after clearing outright waivers, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (X link). The veteran righty was designated for assignment by the Red Sox a couple days before the trade deadline to accommodate the James Paxton acquisition.

The Sox signed Anderson to a $1.25MM guarantee in Spring Training. The 36-year-old spent the season working as a long reliever in Alex Cora’s bullpen. Anderson tossed 52 innings over 27 appearances, allowing 4.85 earned runs per nine. His 15.6% strikeout percentage was well below average. Anderson had decent control but struggled with home runs, allowing 1.73 longballs per nine.

Anderson is an 11-year big league veteran who had a strong run out of the Milwaukee rotation between 2016-19. He has been a more well-traveled depth arm over the past few seasons, appearing for six teams within the last five years. He was holding down a rotation spot for the Rockies as recently as last season, although he struggled to a 5.75 ERA over 17 starts with Colorado.

The Sox are on the hook for Anderson’s salary, as players with more than five years of MLB service keep their guaranteed money if they decline an outright assignment. Anderson may need to settle for a minor league deal. If he gets back to the majors this season, his new club would owe him the prorated $740K league minimum for however long he’s on the roster.

Adbert Alzolay To Undergo Arm Surgery

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Cubs reliever Adbert Alzolay is going to undergo surgery on his injured arm, tweets Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic. The team is still sorting out the details of the procedure, but it’s discouraging news for a pitcher who has been out for a few months with a flexor strain.

Alzolay has battled arm issues over the last three seasons. He lost almost all of the 2022 campaign to a shoulder strain. The righty missed a few weeks last September with a seemingly minor forearm strain, though the Cubs felt comfortable enough with his status to reinstate him for the last couple days of the season.

In the interim, Alzolay broke through as arguably Chicago’s best reliever. He worked to a 2.67 ERA across 64 innings last season. The Venezuelan pitcher established himself as the Cubs’ closer, saving 22 games in 25 attempts. He struck out 26.5% of batters faced against a meager 5.1% walk rate.

The Cubs were counting on Alzolay to anchor their bullpen again this season. That didn’t come to pass. He got out to a terrible start to the year, surrendering 13 runs (nine earned) over 17 1/3 innings. Opponents connected on six homers while his strikeout rate dropped by more than nine percentage points. Alzolay blew five leads while only successfully protecting four saves and one hold. His velocity was only marginally below last season’s levels and there’s no indication he was pitching through any kind of discomfort until reporting forearm soreness on May 13.

Chicago diagnosed Alzolay’s injury as a flexor strain. They shut him down entirely for a few weeks and transferred him to the 60-day injured list. Alzolay began ramping up a couple weeks ago and started a rehab stint with Triple-A Iowa in late July. He came out of his third rehab appearance after sustaining a setback.

The Cubs figure to provide more detail on the procedure and Alzolay’s timeline next week. An unspecified arm surgery looks as if it may impact his availability for the start of next season. If he requires any kind of ligament repair, it could put his entire ’25 campaign in jeopardy. The 29-year-old is making $2.11MM this season in his first year of arbitration. He’ll be in line for a similar salary in ’25 assuming the Cubs tender him a contract. He’s on track for free agency after the 2026 campaign.

Oscar Mercado Opts Out Of Padres Deal

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Outfielder Óscar Mercado opted out of his minor league contract with the Padres, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams (X link). San Diego did not call him up, so the 29-year-old heads back to free agency.

Mercado signed with the Friars over the winter. He mashed in Spring Training but didn’t break camp and has spent the season with Triple-A El Paso. Mercado’s production in the Pacific Coast League has been below average. He’s hitting .226/.307/.425 in a very favorable league for hitters. His .231 average on balls in play certainly hasn’t done him any favors, as Mercado’s 9.1% walk percentage and 16% strikeout rate are both solid.

A former second-round pick, Mercado appeared in the majors each season between 2019-23. He looked like a potential everyday center fielder as a rookie in Cleveland, though his production dropped off sharply from there. Since the start of 2020, he owns a .206/.262/.334 slash in nearly 500 big league plate appearances.

Mercado is still capable of playing all three outfield positions. He logged a decent amount of action in both center and right field this season. He’s an above-average runner who swiped 12 bases in 16 tries for El Paso. His camp will presumably pursue another minor league contract with a team seeking non-roster outfield depth.

Yankees Release Chasen Shreve

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The Yankees released lefty reliever Chasen Shreve from his minor league contract, tweets Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. In another small roster move, New York announced they reinstated right-hander Nick Burdi from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yanks transferred Cody Poteet to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot for Burdi.

Shreve signed with New York in late June. He made 10 appearances for Scranton and pitched fairly well, allowing three earned runs over 11 innings. Shreve surrendered three more unearned runs but struck out 11 while only walking three. New York evidently didn’t believe he’d carry that form over at the major league level. Despite trading Caleb Ferguson and not adding another left-handed reliever at the deadline, they’ll let Shreve depart.

The 34-year-old Shreve hasn’t pitched in the big leagues this season. He has split his time between the Triple-A affiliates with the Rangers and Yankees. He made 50 MLB appearances between Detroit and Cincinnati a year ago, turning in a 4.63 earned run average with slightly better than average strikeout and walk rates over 44 2/3 frames.

New York added a pair of right-handers, Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos, to their relief corps this week. Tim Hill is the only southpaw in their current bullpen while Anthony Misiewicz and Josh Maciejewski are on optional assignment in Triple-A.

Burdi is also headed to Scranton, though he’s evidently healthy after losing more than two months to a right hip injury. The Louisville product has had a very difficult time staying on the mound over his professional career but continues to intrigue evaluators with a fastball that sits around 98 MPH on average. Burdi has fired 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball for New York this season, already setting a personal-high mark with 12 MLB appearances.

Poteet’s 60-day minimum absence is retroactive to his initial IL placement on June 15. He’ll be eligible to return in the second week of August. He has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment due to a triceps injury. Poteet started four games earlier in the year, turning in a 2.14 ERA across 21 innings.

Harris: Tigers Were Never Close To Trading Skubal

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Throughout the month of July, Tarik Skubal’s name frequently surfaced in reports of teams eyeing rotation upgrades. He was widely considered to be a long-shot trade candidate, at best — we listed him 50th on our Top 50 trade candidate list, noting his unrivaled ability to impact a new club but also the Tigers’ unwillingness to move him — but it seemed as though teams might still try to blow the Tigers out of the water as the deadline drew nearer.

Perhaps other clubs indeed hoped to be able to do so, but Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris made clear in his post-deadline comments that Skubal was never on the cusp of moving. At a press conference to discuss the trades of Jack Flaherty, Mark Canha, Andrew Chafin and Carson Kelly, Harris was asked how close he came to trading Skubal, the presumptive Cy Young front-runner in the American League.

“Not close,” Harris said without hesitation (video link via WXYZ Detroit sports director Brad Galli). “There were a lot of rumors that floated out there. There are a lot of ’unconfirmed reports’ that are just totally inaccurate. We never came close to trading Skubal.”

Harris declined to comment on whether there was ever any temptation or an offer that made him consider the possibility. However, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers, who naturally had strong interest in Skubal, came away with the impression that the left-hander wasn’t available “in any scenario,” writing that one source indicated Detroit “wouldn’t talk about Skubal at all.”

On the one hand, it’s easy to shrug comments and reports along these lines off as irrelevant. What’s done is done, and Skubal is a Tiger. Nothing will change that for the time being. On the other hand, it also offers a potential glimpse into the offseason and the future. Had the Tigers been legitimately entertaining Skubal offers but simply not found an offer to their liking, he’d stand as a logical offseason trade candidate. But with Detroit’s ostensible refusal to even engage in discussions on him, it becomes all the more difficult to envision a scenario where Skubal is genuinely available this winter. If the Tigers wouldn’t even discuss him in July, when the return would theoretically be even higher, there’s little reason to think they’d give strong consideration to trading him a few months from now.

Asked whether the decision to hang onto Skubal, who’s only controlled for two additional seasons, was an indicator that Detroit would be aggressive in its offseason free agent and trade pursuits, Harris sidestepped and said his focus for now is the final two months of the season.

“It’s July right now,” said Harris. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this year. … We have a lot of young players in the big leagues who need to get a whole lot better. I think you guys are seeing some flashes of it. I think when you see some of these players, what they looked like in April and now what they look like in July, it’s a good example of what we can be as an organization. But we can’t just start looking into the winter right now. We have a lot of work to do in August and September to make sure the players on this and the players that are going to impact this team in the second half are coming up and getting better. That’s where our focus is right now.”

Mike Trout Done For The Year Due To Meniscus Tear

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Angels outfielder Mike Trout has suffered another meniscus tear and is out for the year. General manager Perry Minasian informed reports today, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, who relayed the news on X.

Trout underwent surgery at the start of May to address a torn meniscus in his left knee. He was able to begin a rehab assignment by playing for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees on July 23 but departed that game with left knee soreness. The Angels then announced that he would return to Southern California to be re-evaluated and it now appears that a torn left meniscus has been discovered yet again and he won’t be able to return in 2024.

“Since my initial surgery on May 3rd to repair my meniscus, my rehabilitation proved longer and more difficult than anticipated,” Trout said in a statement released on X. “After months of hard work, I was devastated yesterday when an MRI showed a tear in my meniscus that will require surgery again – ending my hopes of returning this season. Playing and competing is a huge part of my life. This is equally as heartbreaking and frustrating for me as it is for you, the fans. I understand that I may have disappointed many, but believe me, I will do everything I can to come back even stronger. I will continue to help my team and teammates from the dugout as we press forward into the second half of the season. Thank you for your support.”

It’s yet another brutal blow in a career that was once defined by such brilliance but has more recently been defined by injuries. From 2012 to 2020, Trout was the consensus best player in baseball. In that stretch, he hit 297 home runs and drew walks in 15.4% of his plate appearances. He slashed .306/.421/.587 for a wRC+ of 173 while stealing 197 bases and providing quality defense in center field. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 73 wins above replacement in that time frame, with Max Scherzer coming in a distant second with 50.4 fWAR. Buster Posey was second among position players with 47.1 fWAR.

But Trout has been significantly hampered by various ailments since that time. In 2021, a right calf strain limited him to just 36 games. In 2022, he got that up to 119 games but still missed a bit of time due to back problems. Last year, a left hamate fracture capped him at 82 games.

When he’s been able to take the field, he has still been able to produce at an elite level, and that was still true here in 2024. He began the season with 10 home runs and six steals in just 29 games. Despite a tiny .194 batting average on balls in play, he produced a line of .220/.325/.541 for a wRC+ of 137. But due to these ongoing knee problems, he won’t be able to add anything to those stats with the remainder of the schedule.

The news won’t have a huge impact on the Halos here in 2024. At 47-61, they are well back of the playoff race at this point. They recently made some sell-side moves ahead of the deadline, trading impending free agents Carlos Estévez and Luis García.

Fans of the club and baseball in general will be hoping that Trout comes back healthy and effective next year. Though many of his injuries have appeared to be fluky in nature, his continued absences naturally create some worry about the long-term picture for the club. Even when they had peak Trout on the same roster as Shohei Ohtani, they never managed to get into the playoffs or even finish a season with a winning record. Ohtani is now a Dodger while Trout is going to turn 33 years old next month and hasn’t played 120 games in a season since 2019.

The extension he signed in 2019 runs through 2030 and pays him $35.45MM annually at this point. Fans of other clubs often dream of getting Trout out of Anaheim via trade but his run of injuries will make other teams loath to take on all that money for his mid- and late-30s. He also has a full no-trade clause and has expressed a desire to stay and win with the Angels.

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