Here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day:
1. Waiver activity incoming:
It’s become common in recent years for teams that have fallen out of the playoff race to place veteran players (especially impending free agents) on outright waivers late in the year, offering them up to possible contenders who would like to claim them. That process is typically done before September 1 to allow players claimed off waivers to participate in the postseason with their new club. With the start of September just a few days away, activity has already started to pick up. The Pirates designated veteran lefty Andrew Heaney for assignment yesterday, and Guardians first baseman Carlos Santana is on outright waivers at the moment. There’s a number of other players who could feasibly be offered up on waivers as soon as today if their club decides they’re too far out of the race and/or if they simply want to shed some payroll with an eye toward the offseason. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco took a look at a handful of players who could fit this bill last week in a piece for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.
2. Can Quinn Priester and the Brewers extend their streak?
Milwaukee’s April acquisition of right-hander Quinn Priester from the Red Sox has been pivotal to their 2025 success. The right-hander’s 3.44 ERA and 4.37 FIP are both solid enough figures, but what really jumps off the page is the team’s success when he takes the ball. The Brewers haven’t lost a game where Priester took the mound since May 24. Since then, the twice-traded former top prospect has gone 10-0 in 15 starts. All five of his no-decisions in that span have ended in victory for the team. It’s a remarkable three-month stretch, even though his 3.01 ERA and 4.20 FIP don’t suggest quite that level of dominance. Today, the Brewers will go for a 16th consecutive win with Priester on the mound against Ryne Nelson (3.63 ERA) and the Diamondbacks.
3. Ben Cherington joins the MLBTR Podcast:
The latest episode of the MLBTR Podcast is available today, and it features Pirates GM Ben Cherington as a special guest. In the episode, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald chats with Cherington about some of the challenges of being a small-market GM, the team’s conversations over Paul Skenes with the first pick of the 2023 draft, and the fact that Pittsburgh has not signed any free agents to multi-year deals during Cherington’s time at the helm. Today’s podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and it will also be published here on MLBTR later this morning.
It’s ok, Boston signed Walker Buehler to join them this year.
Breslow probably wouldn’t trade starting pitching depth again in-season but he did land 3.5 pretty nice prospects for Priester.
Baseball Reference has the trade return as Yophery Rodriguez, who has had a very bad first year at Boston’s A+, John Holobetz, who has had a very nice year between A+ and AA, and a 2025 Competitive A round draft pick (33 overall) which turned into Marcus Phillips.
I’d say that’s more like 2.5 pretty nice prospects at best, depending on whether or not Rodriguez gets back on track next year.
Yophery Rodriguez is so toolsy that it’s way too early to write him off even with his not-so-great year. Seems like he’s still pretty respected as a prospect in MLB circles.
Eyanson is the extra 0.5; Phillips’s underslot deal allowed them to draft Eyanson, who I like more than Phillips.
Trading Chris Sale for an infielder they can’t use was the worst deal they could have ever made..
Breslow: Hold my beer.
implying Priester is as good as sale or that he even gets close to that level is insane and so is your take on that trade
Oh, nice! MLBTR pulled in a big fish for their podcast. Next thing we’ll know, they’ll be having Brian Cashman explaining why the Yankees are the best run organization…
Cherington burnishing his résumé as he heads out to the job market.
Cherington probably has his home decked out as though it’s 2013 all year round, every year.
We can only hope.
I’m sure there are struggles GMing for a small market team but Cherington wasn’t exactly crushing it in Boston either…
“…some of the challenges of being a small-market GM”
This excuse is so incredibly tired. The Brewers, Royals, Reds, and (to an extent) the Padres are all small-market teams that are competitive and invest in their team. Media outlets continually perpetuating this excuse just allows Nutting and the FO to further dig in and skirt by with revenue sharing profits funding the continually declining payroll.. Unless something drastically changes (salary cap, forced sale), nothing will change, and the best we can hope for is a 2-3 year winning period like we enjoyed in 13-15, followed by 8-10 years of futility.
we must be due for a 2-3 winning period because we’ve been playing in futility for the past 8 years
Not to mention the Rays, who currently have a comparable payroll and don’t generally run with high or even mid range payrolls very often yet frequently are in or around the playoffs in a tough division.
It’s tough to run a successful major league ball club with a low payroll. There’s very little room for error. Even so, we see low cost competitive teams pretty much every year in the playoffs, so it is do-able.
OK, tell me how many small market teams have won the World Series this century. People act like spending $100m to $120m on a roster is not a big concern when your competition spends $200m to $350m.
Doug- One since 1991.
Yeah, the Padres were a “small market team” until they got ownership that wanted to spend more money to compete. It’s more a choice than a condition.
Sounds good in theory. San Diego County is not a small market. Plus the Padres are the only major sports team, which is a huge plus for them, too.
I think MLB economics hurt small market teams AND some small market teams can still thrive in this environment.
There are legitimate reasons why only 1 team outside the top 10 in team payroll has won a World Series in the last couple decades or more. And there are legitimate reasons why some small market teams routinely reach the playoffs with bottom 10 team payroll.
The specific problems with the Pirates are:
1. GM doesn’t draft/develop nor sign near as many bats as a good team needs.
2. Owner refuses to take financial risks on players from outside the organization.
3. Veteran players aren’t held accountable for poor play, while young players aren’t put in best position to succeed.
4. And most importantly, the Owner doesn’t prioritize winning or customer relations…AT ALL!
There’s a serious disconnect with your fan base when home attendance is only above A’s, Rays, and Marlins, yet is top 10 on the road. Not to mention, fans purchasing ad’s on billboards that simply say, “Sell the Team,” and crowds chant the same message during home games.
Case in point: Rockies and Angels who are always at least in the middle of the pack for stadium attendance. Fans are showing up anyway so no need to take big investment risks for a few marginal wins to possibly earn a wild card spot.
Jason-The best that we can hope for is 3 years of winning with a playoff appearance or two followed by 3 years of mediocrity.
The Brewers have been the principle outlier along these lines for the eight small market teams.
FFS. Every little bit of information an American doesn’t agree with is a media perpetuation. That is what is really tiring.
Padres owner was in the last year of his life. If he wanted to tick the box, he had one choice. That’s a unique situation and in terms of their roster, they have been dancing around the financial challenges ever since. It’s totally understandable that treating your own money like that is not for everyone.
Ben Cherington is getting out there to advertise his services for when Bob Nutting cuts him loose as soon as the season ends.
One can only hope!
You can’t believe a word Cherington says. Still waiting on these MLB ready players the Pirates were going to receive at the trade deadline. I think the other GMs know he will fold from his demands and take some prospects instead.