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Archives for July 2025

The Opener: Diamondbacks, O’Hearn, Cardinals

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With the first major trade of July finally in place, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:

1. Who’s next to go on the Diamondbacks?

The Diamondbacks had been on the fence between buying or selling for weeks, but they’ve finally planted their stake in the ground by being the first team to sell off a rental player this summer when they shipped first baseman Josh Naylor to the Mariners last night in exchange for pitching prospects Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi. With Naylor out the door, the biggest question for fans in Arizona is who will follow him? Eugenio Suarez is looked at by many as the prize of this deadline when it comes to rentals amid a season where he’s already clubbed 36 homers, but Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen are intriguing rental starters as well. Arizona has even reportedly received some interest on outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and the final year-and-a-half of his three-year pact with the club from the 2023-24 offseason.

2. Could O’Hearn be on the way out of Baltimore?

Naylor isn’t the only slugging, lefty-swinging first baseman on the market. That description also applies to Ryan O’Hearn of the Orioles, a fellow rental bat in the midst of an even stronger season than Naylor. The 31-year-old O’Hearn is having a career year in 2025, with a .281/.375/.452 slash line and 12 home runs in 89 games despite having topped out at 15 across an entire season previously. A team in need of offensive firepower like the Reds, Rangers, Padres, or Brewers could make plenty of sense for O’Hearn, although the Reds and Rangers appear to be on the buy-sell bubble at this point. San Diego is also apparently considering a buy-and-sell strategy for the deadline. Like Naylor, O’Hearn’s limited defensive versatility could make him a tough fit for teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, and Mets who are more surefire buyers but generally have talent locked in at first base, at designated hitter and in the outfield corners.

3. Who will the Cardinals trade?

The Cardinals didn’t work out a trade yesterday, but they’ve still made waves in recent days. After president of baseball operations John Mozeliak acknowledged that he was meeting with Nolan Arenado to discuss the third baseman’s no-trade clause earlier this week, St. Louis designated potential trade chip Erick Fedde for assignment in a move that signals they don’t intend to keep the righty regardless of if they find a suitor for his services or not. Most recently, longtime closer Ryan Helsley publicly acknowledged that he feels he has about a “90 percent chance” to be pitching elsewhere on August 1. Helsley is likely St. Louis’s top trade chip, especially given the struggles Fedde has faced this year. Most veterans on the roster like Arenado, Miles Mikolas, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras have no-trade clauses they’ve not indicated an interest in waiving to this point, so a sell-off in St. Louis could be focused on players like Helsley, veteran righty Phil Maton, and lefty Steven Matz.

Mariners Acquire Josh Naylor

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The Mariners and Diamondbacks made the first significant move of deadline season on Thursday evening. Seattle acquired first baseman Josh Naylor for rookie left-hander Brandyn Garcia and pitching prospect Ashton Izzi. Naylor and Garcia are each on the 40-man roster, so no additional moves were required in that regard. The D-Backs recalled Tristin English to fill the spot on the active roster.

Naylor hasn’t gotten quite the same amount of deadline hype as now former teammate Eugenio Suárez, whose power barrage makes him the top impending free agent hitter available. The 28-year-old first baseman is having a strong year in his own right, though. Naylor is hitting .292/.360/.447 with 11 homers in nearly 400 trips to the dish. He has even chipped in a career-high 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts. There may not have been a better left-handed rental bat on the market.

The former first-round pick is on the move for the second time in seven months. The Diamondbacks acquired Naylor from Cleveland for starting pitcher Slade Cecconi and the 70th overall draft pick over the winter. It was a more affordable means of addressing first base than re-signing Christian Walker, who secured a three-year contract that paid $20MM annually from the Astros. While Naylor doesn’t provide the same Gold Glove defense that Walker offers, he has been a well above-average hitter for a fourth straight season. Last year’s career-best 31 home runs looks like an outlier, but he has cut his strikeout rate to a personal-low 12.4% clip and should hit between 15-20 homers.

Seattle has long had a reputation as a team that desperately needs offense to complement a loaded pitching staff. That has been true in prior seasons but is not so much the case this year. The Mariners rank sixth in home runs and 10th in runs scored. They’re middle-of-the-pack in batting average and rank among the top ten in both on-base percentage and slugging. That’s no small feat for a team that plays its home games at the extremely pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park. Seattle has an MLB-best .270 batting average and .346 OBP on the road, and only the Brewers and Cubs have scored more runs away from home.

Naylor deepens the group. He’ll take the everyday first base job from Luke Raley, who should see most of his time in right field. Dominic Canzone has been on fire since Seattle recalled him from Triple-A on June 9. He now projects as a bench bat, though he could also get into the lineup at designated hitter if the Mariners feel comfortable using Jorge Polanco a little more frequently between second and third base.

That’s all dependent on what other moves Seattle has in store. Earlier this week, Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reported that the Mariners considered a reunion with Suárez to be their top deadline priority, even more so than the idea of adding Naylor. The Mariners will reportedly continue to push to add Suárez as well. He’s a cleaner positional fit — he’d be a massive upgrade at third base over Ben Williamson — but the Diamondbacks will command a better return than they received for Naylor.

That also demonstrates that the M’s are working with greater financial flexibility than they had over the offseason, as has been reported by multiple Seattle beat writers in recent weeks. Naylor is playing on a $10.9MM salary, nearly $4MM of which the Mariners are taking on. Suárez is owed more than $5MM of his $15MM salary. The Mariners have fallen six games back of the Astros in the AL West, but they’re clearly willing to invest as they try to at least lock down a Wild Card berth.

This is the first of multiple dominoes to fall for the Diamondbacks. Any hope they had of avoiding a sell-off when they swept the Cardinals coming out of the All-Star Break is gone. They negated the St. Louis series by getting swept at home by Houston earlier this week. They’re back to three games below .500 and 5.5 out of a playoff spot with four teams to jump. The front office is resigned to the unlikelihood of closing that gap with an injury-riddled pitching staff.

Arizona is prioritizing controllable pitching in their deadline returns. They get a pair of young arms in their first deal of the summer. Garcia, 25, should jump right into the big league bullpen. The 6’4″ southpaw was just promoted to the big leagues on Monday. He has pitched twice, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks while recording one strikeout. He’s averaging 97 MPH on his sinker and has two distinct breaking pitches — a mid-80s sweeper and a cutter/slider that sits in the upper 80s.

Garcia was Seattle’s 11th-round pick out of Texas A&M in 2023. He ranked 13th among Seattle prospects at MLB Pipeline and 19th at Baseball America. Both outlets credit him with a promising sinker-slider combination. Garcia’s lack of a viable changeup and fringe command pushed him to the bullpen for the first time this season. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reports that the D-Backs also view him as a reliever and don’t intend to build him back up to start. Garcia has combined for a 3.51 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate and elevated 11.4% walk percentage in 32 appearances between the top two minor league levels.

Izzi, 21, is a long-term development play. Seattle took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft out of an Illinois high school. He pitched well in Low-A last season but has struggled to a 5.51 ERA across 12 starts in High-A this year. He has punched out a quarter of batters faced with a reasonable 9.7% walk rate, suggesting there’s some poor fortune in that earned run average. The 6’3″ right-hander ranked 13th among Seattle farmhands at Baseball America and 16th at MLB Pipeline. He has a mid-90s fastball and the chance for a three-pitch mix that could allow him to stick as a starter if his command continues to develop.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that the Mariners were acquiring Naylor. ESPN’s Jeff Passan had Garcia and Izzi going back to Arizona. Respective images courtesy of Denis Poroy and Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images.

Should The Padres Listen To Offers On Their All-Star Closer?

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Despite being deadline buyers, the Padres are hearing teams out on Dylan Cease. He’s an impending free agent who could theoretically allow them to acquire young talent they could flip for a more controllable starting pitcher or help elsewhere on the roster.

There’d be a similar logic for San Diego in entertaining offers on All-Star closer Robert Suarez. The 34-year-old righty is expected to opt out of the remaining two years and $16MM on his contract. He’s playing on a $10MM salary this year, around $3.2MM of which will be owed from the deadline through the end of the season. While that’s a bargain rate for a very good reliever, it’s not an insignificant amount for a team that had very little short-term payroll room all offseason.

San Diego reportedly fielded interest in Suarez throughout the offseason. They obviously didn’t find an offer to their liking. That was also the case for Cease but hasn’t stopped them from taking calls this summer. ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggested on Wednesday that the Padres could make Suarez available as well.

The Padres have a trio of high-end setup options in Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon. Rookie right-hander David Morgan has a 2.25 ERA while striking out a quarter of opponents in his first 24 big league innings. Morgan doesn’t have any high-leverage experience, but he regularly hits 98 MPH with his fastball and has a plus curveball. He certainly has late-inning caliber stuff. If they were to trade Suarez, the Padres could give Morgan some more meaningful assignments while using Estrada or Adam in the ninth inning.

A trade would only make sense if the Padres get big league talent in return (either directly or by flipping some of the prospects to a third team). They need to add a left fielder and could be in the catching market. The rotation depth is questionable, especially with Yu Darvish struggling in his first four starts off the injured list. Their farm system isn’t strong beyond their top two prospects, Leo De Vries and Ethan Salas, whom they’re unlikely to move. Trading off the big league roster in some capacity seems likely — even though the conventional play would be to deal rookies like Morgan or starter Ryan Bergert for more established veterans.

Suarez leads MLB with 29 saves. He tallied 36 saves last season and carries a 3.46 ERA across 41 2/3 innings. Almost all of the damage has been confined to a pair of five-run disasters. Outside of those two appearances, he has allowed seven combined runs. 36 of his 44 appearances have been scoreless. Suarez has fanned nearly 27% of batters faced against a 7.3% walk rate. His opt-out clause could give some teams pause — the remaining $16MM in guarantees are pure downside for an acquiring club if he gets injured late in the season — but he’s affordable and effective enough that the Padres should find plenty of interest if they seriously considered making him available.

Ryan Helsley Expects To Be Traded

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Ryan Helsley has stood as a logical trade candidate for upwards of ten months now, dating back to the Cardinals’ declaration that they planned to reduce payroll heading into the 2025 season and focus on creating opportunities for young players. St. Louis surprisingly held onto Helsley all offseason and up into deadline season. After holding a Wild Card spot earlier this summer, they’ve gone dropped 13 of their past 19 games and now sit nine games out of the division lead. They’re still just two and a half games back in the Wild Card scene but have three teams to leapfrog.

With the team’s recent slide, indications have been that they’ll wind up operating primarily on the sell side of the market. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported in the past couple days that the Cards are listening on not only Helsley but also relievers Phil Maton and Steven Matz. Goold wrote this morning that the Cardinals aren’t necessarily turning away interest in lefty reliever John King or infielder Nolan Gorman — among other unnamed, more controllable pieces. (Presumably, southpaw JoJo Romero, who’s controlled through just the 2026 season, is obtainable as well.)

The reality seems to be setting in on the roster. Helsley told The Athletic’s Katie Woo tonight that the “likelihood is probably as great as it’s ever been for me to get traded” before going on to add: “I would say it’s 90 percent I go, 10 percent I stay.” Helsley made clear that his preference would be to remain with the Cardinals and win in St. Louis, but that’s not a decision that’s under his control at the moment.

At least five clubs have shown interest in Helsley, per Woo and colleague Will Sammon. The Dodgers are known to have interest in the 31-year-old flamethrower, and the Phillies were connected to him earlier this season. Back in the offseason, the Blue Jays were among the teams with interest, and it stands to reason now that they’re clear deadline buyers, they could revisit their pursuit of the impending free agent.

Helsley is earning $8.2MM in his final season of club control. The Cardinals could make him a qualifying offer and recoup a compensatory pick in the 2026 draft if he turns it down and signs elsewhere, though that would presume continued health and production from Helsley down the stretch. Neither is a guarantee. The most surefire way to extract some future value from the former All-Star is to trade him within the next week.

Helsley is having a nice season relative to the average big league reliever but a down year by his standards. He’s pitched 35 innings and logged a 3.09 ERA but has already blown five saves — more than he did all of last season (four). Helsley’s 25.5% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate have both trended in the wrong direction. He punched out 34.6% of his opponents from 2022-24, but his strikeout rate has now dipped for a third consecutive season. His walk rate is up from both the 8.6% and 8.4% marks he posted in 2024 and 2022, respectively, though it’s better than the 11.6% mark he logged in 2023 and right in line with his overall 2022-24 rate. He’s still averaging better than 99 mph on his fastball, though even his 99.3 mph average represents a modest dip from last year’s 99.6 mph.

That’s not to say Helsley doesn’t have much trade value. He’s one of the most talented relievers on the market, and the asking price on him will be considerably lower than on other marquee relievers like Emmanuel Clase, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and David Bednar — all of whom are controlled at least one additional season (one for Bednar, two for Duran and Jax, three for Clase). Contending clubs covet power arms with high-leverage track records this time of year, and Helsley still checks those boxes, even if his results have dipped.

If the Cards string together several wins, perhaps they’ll ultimately wind up holding onto Helsley and plan to make him a qualifying offer. As things stand, however, the pitcher himself is bracing for a trade within the next week — and it sounds like several other Cardinals could end up on the move as well.

Latest On A’s Deadline Possibilities

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The A’s are known to be listening to offers on a few back-of-the-rotation starting pitchers. There’s been comparatively less chatter about the 43-62 club’s position player group. That’s because their hitters of much regard are all controllable for a long while, but there’s a case to be made that they should entertain trading from a crowded collection of bats.

If that happens, it won’t involve Brent Rooker. The All-Star slugger confidently told Foul Territory this afternoon that he will not be moved. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re good. I’m staying,” Rooker said. He’s in the first season of a five-year, $60MM extension. While that doesn’t come with any no-trade protection, Rooker indicated the front office has already assured him that they’re not moving him.

Rooker will remain locked in as the primary designated hitter. Nick Kurtz, who is mashing at a .281/.355/.614 clip to give teammate Jacob Wilson a run for his money as the AL Rookie of the Year, is a building block at first base. That does leave the A’s to somewhat awkwardly play Tyler Soderstrom out of position in left field. Soderstrom is an average runner who had played only catcher or first base until this season. While he has graded as a league average defender in his first 500+ career innings in the outfield, it’s fair to wonder if the A’s want to keep him out there for the long term.

With that positional logjam in mind, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe wrote earlier this week that some people within the game consider Soderstrom a dark horse trade candidate. Speier didn’t report that the A’s are shopping the 23-year-old, to be clear, so it’s possible that other teams are simply observing the A’s crowded outfield mix and wondering if there’s an opportunity to pry him loose.

Soderstrom is a former first-round pick who has been an above-average hitter in two straight seasons. He owns a .256/.329/.448 batting line with 18 home runs across 415 plate appearances this year. The vast majority of that damage came in April. Soderstrom hit .284 with nine longballs in the season’s first month. He fell into a two-month slump thereafter, though he has rebounded of late with a .271/.295/.542 showing in July.

The lefty-hitting Soderstrom is still a year away from qualifying for arbitration. He’s under club control for four seasons after this one. The A’s would certainly set a high bar even if they were willing to entertain trade discussions. They’ll need an influx of young starting pitching if they want to compete in the near future, though, and none of Jeffrey Springs, JP Sears or Luis Severino is likely to bring back a huge return. Floating Soderstrom for a starting pitcher with a similar window of club control could have some appeal.

Latest On Eugenio Suárez’s Market

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The D-backs have officially chosen a lane and are heading down a seller’s trajectory. First baseman Josh Naylor is already on his way to the Mariners for a pair of pitching prospects, but it’s third baseman Eugenio Suárez and his thunderous power output that have captivated fans of contenders for much of deadline season. The 33-year-old, earning $15MM in the final year of his contract, is hitting .252/.325/.593 with 36 home runs on the season — including 21 round-trippers dating back to June 1 (a span of 179 plate appearances.

Even after the Mariners landed Naylor, they remain in the mix for Suárez, per multiple reports from the Seattle beat (link via Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports 770 AM). Naylor cost the Mariners two well-regarded pitching prospects — lefty Brandyn Garcia and righty Ashton Izzi — but left the upper tiers of a Seattle farm system that’s arguably the best in baseball untouched. Earlier in the week, Suárez was reported to be the Mariners’ top deadline target. Adding Naylor, it seems, will not put an end to that existing pursuit.

They’ll face steep competition, however, It’s known that in addition to the Mariners, each of the Reds, Cubs and Yankees have some level of interest in the Arizona third baseman. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reported earlier today that as many as a dozen teams have at least looked into the possibility of adding Suárez to their lineup.

That includes at least one division rival. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com reports that in the wake of a serious injury to Isaac Paredes, the Astros have joined the bidding for Suárez. Houston has some hurdles in their path to landing the coveted D-backs slugger, however. Owner Jim Crane has been loath to cross the luxury tax threshold for what would be a second straight season. Adding Suárez would put them into tax territory unless the ’Stros shed payroll elsewhere or convince the Snakes to pay down his salary. Houston also does not have as strong a farm system as many of the teams against which they’d be bidding.

Whether it’s Suárez or another bat, the Astros’ priorities seem to have shifted. General manager Dana Brown suggested earlier in the summer that pitching would be his primary focus. Now, with Paredes shelved indefinitely and Yordan Alvarez’s recovery from a hand fracture dragging out, Brown tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic that his primary focus is on adding to its lineup. The Astros have several starters on the mend, including Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France and Lance McCullers Jr. It seems they’ll hope for some internal reinforcements to support co-aces Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez and instead aim to use their limited financial and prospect resources to augment the offense.

With that number of teams at least on the periphery of the market, it can be presumed that most contenders have at least put out some feelers. One team that notably is not in the running, per the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, is the Mets — at least for the moment. Despite a rotating cast of characters on the infield this year — Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña have all seen time around the infield but struggled to varying extents — the Mets’ main focus has been and remains upgrading the bullpen.

That said, SNY’s Andy Martino suggests that if the Mets use that infield depth to add to the bullpen or rotation (which they’re reportedly willing to do), they could at least consider the idea of pursuing Suárez to take over at the hot corner. The Mets haven’t been keen on parting with top prospects for rental players, but the D-backs have been scouting their Double-A club, in particular, with an eye toward potential Suárez packages, per Martino.

There’s no immediate indication that a Suárez trade will come together quickly on the heels of the Naylor swap, but the very fact that Naylor is on his way out the door serves as a clear indicator that any combination of Suárez, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly — at the very least — could be on the move in the next week. The D-backs also have rental relievers Jalen Beeks and Shelby Miller as trade candidates (Miller is on the injured list but has resumed throwing), and outfielder Randal Grichuk has a mutual option that won’t be exercised by both parties.

Blue Jays, Rays Among Teams Showing Interest In Dylan Cease

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Earlier this week, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that the Padres had discussed Dylan Cease with multiple AL East teams in addition to the Mets and Cubs. It seems the interest from the AL East has come from every contending club in that division. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees have all checked in with the Friars to express interest.

The Cease rumors have picked up steam over the past few days. It’d be unconventional for a team that presently occupies the National League’s final playoff spot to trade one of its two best healthy starters. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller has never shied away from big swings, though, and they’re seemingly considering the idea of trading Cease for young talent while reallocating payroll room and prospects to different available starters. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported last night that they’re among the teams that have been in touch with the Marlins regarding Sandy Alcantara, for instance.

Cease is an impending free agent who is playing on a $13.75MM salary. He’s a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer if the Padres hold him all season. As a luxury tax payor, they’d only receive a compensatory pick after the fourth round in the 2026 draft. That’s worth far less than they’d receive if they traded him, though they need to balance that against the hit it’d deal to the rotation for the stretch run.

The 29-year-old Cease is incredibly durable and has pitched at a top-of-the-rotation level in previous seasons. His near-30% strikeout rate and 97 MPH average fastball still point to that ceiling, but he hasn’t managed particularly strong results this year. He carries a 4.59 earned run average across 113 2/3 innings. Some of that can be traced to a nine-run drubbing at the hands of the A’s in their extremely hitter-friendly park in Sacramento back in April. That’s hardly the sole factor, though. Cease got on a decent run after that outing but has allowed a 5.21 ERA over his most recent seven starts.

Even if this hasn’t been a banner year, Cease’s track record and stuff would make him an extremely desirable trade target. He’d be the best rental rotation arm available, and teams would still view him as a surefire playoff starter. The Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays are all known to be in the starting pitching market. New York has a strong 1-2 in Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, but Luis Gil is a health question mark and they lost Clarke Schmidt to Tommy John surgery. Boston would certainly benefit from adding another high-end starter to pair with Cease’s former White Sox teammate, Garrett Crochet. Toronto’s veteran-laden rotation lacks a true top-end starter, and they’ve already been tied to some of the higher upside trade candidates like Edward Cabrera and Mitch Keller.

The Rays would be the most surprising entrant into this group, though Tampa Bay tends to at least kick the tires on big names even if they don’t often land them. They’re a game and a half back of Boston in the Wild Card race. They’d have little hope of re-signing Cease, and a big push for a rental when they’re a bubble team seems unlikely. Tampa Bay could trade a starter like Taj Bradley or Zack Littell in the coming days; they’re also hopeful of getting Shane McClanahan back in the final two months.

San Diego awaits the return of one of their own top starters. Michael King has been out for more than two months with a nerve injury in his shoulder. He’s targeting a mid-August comeback. As of now, he’d team with Cease, Nick Pivetta and potentially Yu Darvish in a playoff rotation. That’s not a terrible group, but both Cease and King are months from free agency. Pivetta can opt out after next season, and Darvish is approaching his 39th birthday. Even with Joe Musgrove returning from Tommy John surgery next year, the long-term rotation picture is cloudy. They could try to thread the needle of acquiring a controllable arm while shipping Cease out.

Dodgers Sign Matt Gorski To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have signed first baseman/outfielder Matt Gorski to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll presumably report to Triple-A Oklahoma City at some point though his current health status is unknown.

Gorski, 27, got a brief big league stint with the Pirates earlier this year. He was optioned to Triple-A on May 17th. He was placed on the minor league injured list on May 25th with an undisclosed issue. On June 19th, he was transferred to the minor league 60-day IL.

On July 11th, the Pirates added Yohan Ramírez to their roster and Gorski was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so he was released, which allowed him to sign this deal with the Dodgers.

Gorski only hit .195/.214/.390 in the majors but in a small sample of 42 plate appearances. He has naturally put up more impressive numbers in the minors. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has 521 Triple-A plate appearances with 27 home runs, a .261/.319/.521 line and 112 wRC+. He also stole 17 bases, though he was caught nine times as well. Defensively, he has played first base and all three outfield positions.

The Dodgers have Freddie Freeman at first base and Shohei Ohtani in the designated hitter spot. Their outfield mix consists of Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, James Outman and Esteury Ruiz. Conforto and Outman aren’t performing well but the club may shake up the roster at the deadline.

Gorski is likely just depth and might not even be fully healthy at the moment, but there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. He burned his first option year here in 2025 but could still be optioned in two future seasons if he gets a 40-man roster spot down the line.

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images

Pirates Listening On Oneil Cruz; Deal Seen As Unlikely

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Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz is thought to be available on the trade market, though a deal seems to be a long shot. Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the club is not shopping him but has received plenty of calls and is willing to listen to offers. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com frames the situation similarly, saying that the Bucs would have to be bowled over by an offer in order to pull the trigger. Jeff Passan of ESPN is even more emphatic, saying that Cruz isn’t going anywhere.

The possibility of a Cruz trade first seemed to open about a month ago, when it was reported that the Pirates had very few untouchable players ahead of this year’s deadline. Apart from Paul Skenes and franchise icon Andrew McCutchen, it seemed everyone else was on the table.

A lot of the club’s focus seems to be on players they signed to long-term deals who are no longer in their plans. That would be Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller. Both Hayes and Reynolds have had disappointing results lately and their contracts are seen as underwater. Keller has been pitching well but he may be expendable since the club has so many younger and cheaper pitchers who could replace him.

Cruz would be a different situation. He is still young and cheaply affordable. He can be retained for three seasons beyond this one. He will qualify for arbitration for the first time at the end of this season.

His performance on the field has not been perfect but he is clearly talented and valuable. He has some of the top raw abilities in the majors, frequently topping Statcast leaderboards with his exit velocity, speed and arm strength. On the other hand, he strikes out a lot and his defense is wobbly. By the eye test, he takes some awkward routes but he can make up for those sometimes with his excellent speed.

He has been punched out in 31.9% of his plate appearances this year but he’s also drawn walks at a 12.5% clip and hit 16 home runs. The result is a .219/.319/.419 batting line and 102 wRC+. He has 33 steals in 37 attempts. Defensive Runs Saved has him at -7 this year but Outs Above Average has him at +2. Put it all together and it’s still a strong player. FanGraphs credited him with 3.5 wins above replacement last year and he’s on a similar pace this year, currently at 2.0 fWAR.

Teams will naturally be attracted to that, especially those with notable budgetary concerns. However, from Pittsburgh’s perspective, it’s understandable that they would set a high asking price. They have developed a huge pool of pitching talent but have struggled to do the same with their position players. Players like Hayes, Henry Davis, Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo and others have not turned out as hoped.

Cruz, on the other hand, is the club’s best position player. He’s the only one on the team to have produced more than 1.1 fWAR this year. Last year, he was the only guy to get beyond 2.1 fWAR. In other words, trading him would blow a huge hole in the lineup. And the lineup already has a few of those.

The Pirates aren’t contending this year but presumably want to get over the hump soon. They haven’t been in the playoffs since 2015. They have an exciting group of young pitchers, headlined by Skenes, and surely want to build a winning club around them. They’re already having a hard time doing that with Cruz on the roster. Unless they get offered something too good to refuse, it seems he is likely staying in Pittsburgh.

Teams like the Royals, Guardians, Mets, Phillies, Tigers and Angels could be looking for center field help, though they may have a better chance at getting guys like Luis Robert Jr., Cedric Mullins, Harrison Bader or Alek Thomas. The Pirates will listen to Cruz offers but will likely spend more time talking about Keller, Reynolds, Hayes and others in the next week.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Angels Select José Quijada

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander José Quijada. Fellow lefty Jake Eder has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake as the corresponding active roster move. Righty Robert Stephenson has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

The Halos did a bullpen game yesterday, with Eder mopping up six innings, throwing 98 pitches in the process. They optioned Jack Kochanowicz prior to the All-Star break and haven’t found a permanent solution for that rotation hole yet. Eder wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so the club will bring in a fresh arm. They have Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks to start the next four games but will need to figure out something for Monday’s game. Perhaps some pre-deadline moves will shake up the roster or they will simply recall Kochanowicz. An optional assignment for a pitcher comes with a 15-day minimum. He was optioned on July 11th, so he’ll be eligible to be recalled in a few days.

Quijada, 29, designated for assignment just prior to Opening Day and outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. He didn’t pitch anywhere through the middle of May. He was added to the roster of the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas on May 10th. Per Chris Harris of MiLB.com, he had been on the development list prior to that. He told members of the media today, including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, that he changed his diet at the club’s Arizona complex and has lost 30 pounds since spring training.

He has been putting up good numbers in Double-A since joining the Trash Pandas. He has logged 26 1/3 innings, allowing 2.73 earned runs per nine. He struck out a huge 37.1% of batters faced, while his 8.6% walk rate and 42.6% ground ball rate were around average.

Those numbers and the improved conditioning are perhaps encouraging, though getting major league hitters out is obviously different than Double-A opponents. He had a decent run with the Angels in 2021 and 2022, tossing 66 1/3 innings over those two seasons with a 4.21 ERA. His 12.9% walk rate was high but he struck out 32.3% of batters faced. The two subsequent years were mostly wiped out by Tommy John surgery.

He will give the Halos a fresh arm for now but is out of options, so he can’t be easily sent back to the farm. That was part of the reason why he was designated for assignment earlier this year. His service clock is between three and five years, which means he has the right to reject outright assignments but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments when exercising that right. Since he’s making $1.075MM this year, he naturally accepted. If he were bumped off the roster again, it’s possible the same sequence of events would play out.

As for Stephenson, this shouldn’t impact his timeline. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL, which was on May 31st due to right biceps inflammation, though he later said it’s due to a stretched nerve. It’s been almost 60 days already, so he’ll eligible for reinstatement once he’s healthy.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

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