Pirates Could Move On From Jung Ho Kang
With the Pirates out of playoff contention and infielder Jung Ho Kang in the throes of an awful season, his time with the organization may be nearing an end. Kang’s Pirates tenure could expire as soon as shortstop Erik Gonzalez comes off the injured list on Aug. 6, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic observes (subscription link).
General manager Neal Huntington admitted Wednesday that it’s “valid” to question Kang’s status with the organization, adding, “It’s a conversation we need to have as a group now that the trade deadline has come and gone.”
Manager Clint Hurdle even acknowledged it’s difficult to give playing time to a hitter whose “bat has not shown up as (much as) we were hoping to get.” Hurdle further noted, “There’s been a lot of swing and miss,” which is true. Kang swung and miss in 8.7 percent of plate appearances from 2015-18, but the number has skyrocketed to 16.0 this season. At the same time, after Kang struck out in 21.2 percent of PA during his first few years as a Pirate, he’s up to an unappealing 32.4 in 2019. The production has been abysmal as a result, with the previously impressive Kang having slashed a miserable .169/.222/.395 (56 wRC+) in 185 trips to the plate despite showing quite a bit of power (10 home runs, .227 ISO).
The fact that Kang’s only 15 PA from earning $625K in incentives could be important to the low-budget Pirates, Biertempfel points out. Kang would also earn an additional $625K by reaching 300, 400 and 500 plate trips. However, those look like unrealistic goals for Kang, who entered the season as the Pirates’ starting third baseman but has since faded into the background behind Colin Moran. Meanwhile, Kevin Newman‘s locking down shortstop – Kang’s secondary position – leaving no obvious spot for the veteran. He could become even less necessary to out-of-contention Pittsburgh with the return of Gonzalez, an offseason acquisition who hasn’t played since April 19 on account of clavicle and hamstring injuries.
Re-signing Kang was also part of the offseason business for the Pirates, who brought him back on a $3MM guarantee after turning down a $5.5MM club option. To this point, the team has stuck with Kang through worse ordeals than lousy on-field output. Kang, whom the Pirates signed out of Korea entering the 2015 season, was accused of sexual assault in 2016 (though criminal charges were never filed). He then missed all of 2017 and almost the entirety of last season because he had trouble acquiring a visa in the wake of his third DUI arrest in his homeland.
Kang was outstanding on the field before he sat out nearly two full years. But with his effectiveness having waned to a significant extent in 2019, it appears Kang’s finally about to run out of rope with the Pirates.
Details On The Twins’ Trade Deadline Talks
Sam Dyson and Sergio Romo represented the sum total of the Twins’ midseason additions as the club tries to hold its lead atop the AL Central. While Dyson and Romo address needs in the bullpen, Minnesota was also very aggressive in looking for starting pitching, though ultimately came up short in reinforcing the rotation.
Rival teams continually asked the Twins about top prospects Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff, with the Mets among the multiple clubs who asking for both youngsters. New York wanted both Lewis and Kiriloff in discussions about Noah Syndergaard, and if premium minor league talent wasn’t available for the ace, the Mets were also focused on adding Major League players, to the point of asking Minnesota about Byron Buxton in a possible Syndergaard deal.
Lewis and Kirilloff were also on the mind of the Blue Jays’ front office, as Toronto was looking for either of the prospects in exchange for Marcus Stroman. Minnesota turned down this initial request, and The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that the Jays never called back with any other offers before trading Stroman to the Mets. This would seem to indicate that the Jays were only interested in Lewis and Kirilloff specifically, though Hayes writes that “the Twins were disappointed when Toronto didn’t give them a chance to match an offer they believed they could have outdone.”
Beyond the prospects, Hayes tweeted that Luis Arraez was “everyone’s favorite ask” amongst teams who were offering rental players to Minnesota. Arraez has been a revelation for the Twins over his first 43 Major League games, as the rookie is hitting .349/.422/.445 over 166 plate appearances. Arraez has long boasted strong averages and on-base numbers in the minors, and while regression is inevitable, his .361 xwOBA isn’t far off his .388 wOBA. With this much potential, it isn’t hard to see why the Twins were reluctant to part with a 22-year-old, multi-positional talent for only a rental player (or potentially anyone).
Hayes reports that the Twins were considering both Robbie Ray and Mike Minor, though concerns about Ray’s durability and Minor’s July struggles diminished the interest. On the relief front, the Twins also had interest in Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez.
“It was one of the most unique trade deadlines I’ve ever experienced,” Twins GM Thad Levine told Hayes and other reporters. “One error I made was assuming that early in the trade cycle that the leverage was towards the seller. I assumed that there was going to be a little bit of a shift of that see-saw back to the buyer as we got closer to the deadline. I’m not sure we ever saw the shift in the see-saw. The sellers felt pretty emboldened. They set the prices high, which is very normal in a trade deadline. But I’m not sure they moved off of those high asks at any point, and as a result, there were just a finite number of players that meaningfully changed the fortunes of playoff-contending teams.”
Early talks with the Giants involving multiple players (including Dyson, Madison Bumgarner, and Will Smith) did result in the late Dyson trade. Minnesota and San Francisco re-engaged in talks just 45 minutes before the 3pm CT deadline, medicals on the four players in the deal were exchanged at 2:50pm, and the trade was finalized with just five minutes to spare.
Jameson Taillon Expected To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Pirates right-hander Jameson Taillon is tentatively scheduled to undergo surgery on his elbow flexor tendon sometime in the next few weeks, The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel reports (subscription required). The procedure will keep Taillon out of action for roughly seven to nine months, so he could be back on the mound for Pittsburgh sometime in May if everything goes according to plan.
While Taillon faces a lengthy recovery period, it represents a more optimistic timeline than Tommy John surgery, which was the initial concern when Taillon was shut down with forearm pain last week. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like a TJ procedure (which would be Taillon’s second) is necessary, outside of “a small chance” more damage is found within Taillon’s elbow during the tendon surgery. Taillon’s elbow, however, appeared to be intact after being examined by Dr. David Altchek earlier this week; Altchek also performed Taillon’s original Tommy John surgery back in 2014.
Injuries have limited Taillon to just 37 1/3 innings this season, a disappointing follow-up to what seemed like a breakout year for the right-hander in 2018. Taillon posted a 3.20 ERA over 191 innings for the Pirates last year, and certainly seemed to be stepping up as the ace of Pittsburgh’s rotation. Hopes that Taillon would pitch again in 2019 were dashed by last week’s news, though it seems as if he’ll be able to return to active duty for at least most of the 2020 campaign. Tommy John surgery, of course, would have sidelined Taillon for 12-15 months, all but certainly keeping him on the injured list until 2021.
Taillon’s abbreviated 2019 campaign will obviously have a significant impact on his future salary, as he will be eligible for arbitration for the first of three times this offseason. He’ll still receive a big bump beyond the minimum salary, albeit much less than he would have earned if he’d been able to replicate his 2018 numbers this season.
The Pirates can go into their offseason plans with the expectation that Taillon will, for now, be back at the front of the rotation for much of 2020, though the team is likely still going to look into adding pitching (almost surely of the lower-cost variety) over the winter.
Suspensions Issued After Pirates/Reds Brawl
Tuesday’s enormous brawl between the Pirates and the Reds has, unsurprisingly, led to multiple suspensions on both teams. Major League Baseball announced a total of 32 games’ worth of suspensions for six players, as well as a six-game suspension for Reds manager David Bell and a two-game ban for Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. All six players will appeal their penalties, while Bell and Hurdle will begin serving their bans immediately.
Here is the full list of suspensions issued…
- Pirates’ Keone Kela, 10 games
- Reds’ Amir Garrett, eight games
- Pirates’ Jose Osuna, five games
- Reds’ Jared Hughes, three games
- Pirates’ Kyle Crick, three games
- Indians’ Yasiel Puig (then a member of the Reds), three games
Fines were also issued to all six players. Joey Votto, Philip Ervin, and Trevor Williams also received fines, as did players on both teams who participated in the fracas despite being on the injured list.
Beyond just the brawl that began when Garrett rushed from the mound to go after the Pirates’ dugout, the suspensions cover a wide range of incidents during the game. Kela received the harshest punishment both “for his role in instigating the bench-clearing incident,” as per the league’s official release, and for throwing at Derek Dietrich‘s head in the seventh inning.
There has been no love lost between the Pirates and Reds this season, as reflected in Hurdle’s suspension. The Pittsburgh skipper was cited for not only “his Club’s conduct during the incident,” but also for “multiple intentional pitches thrown at Dietrich this season.” Hurdle still received less punishment than Bell, whose six-game suspension was “for returning to the field following his ejection; escalating the incident with his aggressive actions; his Club’s intentional pitch at [Starling] Marte; and his numerous ejections this season.”
Friedman: Dodgers Missed On Top Targets Despite Aggressive Approach
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman defended his organization’s approach to the trade deadline, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register reports. There was some consternation as the team came away with only Jedd Gyorko and Adam Kolarek yesterday, but Friedman says he’s satisfied the front office played its hand correctly.
“I think our position was to be aggressive,” said Friedman. “As far as process, conversations and how aggressive we were, we feel really good about what we can control,” he added.
With a generally exemplary roster, there weren’t many areas for the Dodgers to upgrade, though the bullpen was certainly one. Perhaps it didn’t help that many of the top relievers were held by the rival Giants. A late injury to Ken Giles may have skewed the top of the market.
Most of all, the Dodgers seemed to be focused (quite understandably) on a few top assets — in particular, so far as was known publicly, ace Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez. Whether they’d ultimately line up wasn’t so much a matter of broad market considerations as individual negotiations.
It simply didn’t happen on Vazquez, with the Bucs reportedly demanding top Dodgers prospect Gavin Lux. Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington says the team was simply “looking for what we felt was an appropriate return for one of the best relievers in baseball,” as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic reports (subscription link). That characterization of Vazquez — an apt one, it’s worth noting, even before considering his exceptionally valuable contract situation — offers some insight as to why the deal wasn’t consummated.
Friedman did not address Vazquez specifically. But he hinted that the club was willing to go beyond its valuations to land such a talent — just not as far as would’ve been necessary.
“If you expect to win a deal from a value standpoint in July, you’re not going to make deals,” he said. “We made plenty of offers that were definitely underwater from a value standpoint but felt good about making because of the team that we have.”
The subtext here is a tough one for some to accept: it was only worth so much future value to improve in the immediate term. Every team has had to reckon with such considerations, even before the analytical explosion. The narrative of the Dodgers as prospect-clutching misers is not really a fair one. This club went big for Yu Darvish and Manny Machado in successive deadlines. There really wasn’t much need for the team to seek marginal improvements to this particular roster, given the monster lead it has already built in the NL West.
Still, it’s tough for Dodgers fans not to wish that this team had somehow managed to install a premium new relief arm at the back of the pen. That’s especially true given how agonizingly close the team has come to a championship in recent campaigns, and how good it is already. The L.A. front office is confident it handled the trade market in a responsible manner, but it’s also aware that one never knows how the picture will look until the games are played. “A year or two from now, that could end up being a really good thing,” Friedman said of the way the deadline played out. “We’re not sure.”
Wheeler, Vazquez, Bumgarner, Minor All Held At Deadline
Though deals can and will still trickle in after the formal end of the MLB summer trade period, there are specific reports indicating that several top trade candidates will not be changing hands.
- Mets righty Zack Wheeler is staying put, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter).
- The same is true of Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link).
- There was no last-minute deal for Giants hurler Madison Bumgarner, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets.
- Mike Minor is staying in Texas, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets.
Phillies Acquire Corey Dickerson
2:43pm: The trade is now official. The Phillies designated outfielder Dylan Cozens for assignment to make room for Dickerson.
2:14pm: MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tweets that the Phillies will send international bonus allotments and a player to be named later to Pittsburgh.
2:08pm: The Pirates will not receive a player in return for Dickerson, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports (on Twitter). It’s possible that Pittsburgh is picking up some international funds, then, or that Pirates ownership was simply happy to shed the remainder of his salary.
1:51pm: The Phillies have acquired outfielder Corey Dickerson from the Pirates, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). He’ll add a quality bat to the Phillies’ outfield mix for the remainder of the season before becoming a free agent this winter.
Dickerson, 30, missed nearly two months with a shoulder strain earlier this season but has hit well since coming off the injured list. In 141 plate appearances, he’s posted a .317/.376/.556 batting line — capped by a two-homer, five-RBI performance last night in what proved to be his final start for the Pirates. A 2017 All-Star, Dickerson long carried the reputation as a defensive liability, but he surprised with 16 Defensive Runs Saved last season and took home a Gold Glove for his efforts. He’s earning $8.5MM this year and is still owed about $2.79MM of that sum over the final two months of the year.
The Phillies didn’t expect to need this level of outfield help in 2019 after signing both Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen in the offseason, but they’ve lost McCutchen to a torn ACL while center fielder Odubel Herrera has been suspended for the remainder of the season under the league’s domestic violence policy. Philadelphia tried to proactively address its needs with a June acquisition of Jay Bruce, but Bruce has been bitten by the injury bug as well and is currently out for weeks with an oblique injury.
Philadelphia is currently tied with the Cubs for the second NL Wild Card spot and is a somewhat distant but still-surmountable six games behind the Braves in the NL East. The Nationals sit just a half game in front of the Phillies in both those races, so Dickerson’s addition will prove impactful in what should be a tight race down the stretch.
Trade Chatter On Felipe Vazquez Reportedly Increasing
The Pirates have long received calls on star closer Felipe Vazquez, but on deadline day the club is “listening more actively” than before, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). A source even tells Rosenthal that it’s now as likely as not that Vazquez will be dealt today.
It’s tough to rely too much upon that anonymous prediction, but taken as a whole this report represents a notable — and rather sudden — shift in circumstances for an elite relief pitcher. Just yesterday, Rosenthal reported (subscription link) that the Pirates were “show[ing] little appetite for actually making” a deal on the high-powered southpaw, so much so that Vazquez “essentially is not available.”
The Bucs have quite understandably maintained a lofty asking price on Vazquez, who put it all together in his first full season in Pittsburgh (2017). His value only rose with a surprising extension that secured Vazquez’s financial future but conveyed a big bargain to the team. He’s earning just $4MM this year and a guaranteed $13MM over the next two campaigns. The deal includes a pair of $10MM club options thereafter (along with $1.5MM in total buyouts).
That looked like an excellent contract even before Vazquez found yet new heights in the current season. Through 43 1/3 innings this year, he’s not only sporting a 1.87 ERA but carrying peripherals that very nearly support that rarified level of performance. Still pumping upper-nineties heat, Vazquez has boosted his strikeout rate to 38.2%.
You don’t have to squint to see the value here, particularly given that Vazquez only just reached his 28th birthday. We’ll have to wait and see whether any team will dangle a significant-enough package to force the Pirates to make a move. But that now seems that’s a distinct possibility for a Pittsburgh organization that has almost no hope of making a postseason push this year.
Pirates, Brewers Have Discussed Keone Kela
Pirates reliever Keone Kela is drawing trade interest, including from the division-rival Brewers, according to Robert Murray of The Athletic. No deal appears “imminent,” Murray adds.
The Pirates and Brewers already swung a deal Monday, when Pittsburgh sent starter Jordan Lyles to Milwaukee. The rotation and bullpen still look like concerns for the Brewers, whose less-than-stellar pitching has left the reigning NL Central champions in danger of missing the playoffs. However, with a 56-51 record, the Brewers are very much in the thick of the postseason race. They’re a game back of the division-leading Cubs and Cardinals, facing the same deficit in the wild-card hunt and could make further upgrades by Wednesday’s trade deadline.
To this point, acquiring Kela at last year’s deadline hasn’t paid off as planned for the Pirates (nor has their 2018 deadline pickup of starter Chris Archer). The Pirates sent two pitching prospects to the Rangers for Kela, but the trade didn’t help lead to a playoff berth then and it won’t this season.
Kela has missed most of 2019 with right shoulder problems, and just as he returned from the injured list last week, the Pirates issued the 26-year-old a two-game suspension for an altercation with one of their coaches. The Pirates are now reportedly open to trading Kela, who has tossed three scoreless innings with four strikeouts, a walk and two hits allowed since returning from his short ban. Overall, Kela has logged a 3.68 ERA (and a much less encouraging 5.07 FIP) with 9.2 K/9, 3.07 BB/9, 1.84 HR/9 and a 31.0 percent groundball rate in 14 2/3 innings this season.
While 2019 has been a campaign to forget for Kela, he has mostly been an effective late-game option since debuting with the Rangers in 2015. Dating back to then, the hard-throwing Kela owns a 3.43 ERA/3.35 FIP with 11.04 K/9, 3.43 BB/9, 0.99 HR/9 and a GB percentage of 41.0 across 199 2/3 frames. He’s also affordable ($3.175MM salary) and set to go through arbitration one more time.
Closer Market Rumors: Diaz, Vazquez
The Mets have numerous top trade chips on the market right now, including marquee offseason acquisition Edwin Diaz. The talented young closer remains highly valuable despite his 4.95 ERA, though it’s likewise true that there’s little chance the Mets would be able to recoup what they gave up to get him over the winter. Beyond the fact that Diaz is now just months away from arbitration, the Mets simply paid a hefty fee for Diaz at the outset. In addition to parting with rising prospects Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn, the club took on $64MM in new salary (after netting out the cash and salaries exchanged).
While that’s a particularly painful price in retrospect, the New York organization must now think primarily about what it wants its roster and payroll to look like moving forward. The latest on Diaz and the rest of the closer market:
- Despite Diaz’s struggles in the earned-run department, there’s “significant” demand for his services, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription link). At present, the Dodgers, Rays, Braves, and Padres are teams with active interest. Several of those teams have been linked clearly to Diaz of late.
- While Rosenthal had also listed the Red Sox, who were connected yesterday to Diaz by ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, it seems that possibility has already fizzed. That match “remains unlikely,” Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand adds Raisel Iglesias of the Reds and Shane Greene of the Tigers as other top relievers unlikely to end up in Boston. (Twitter link.) The Braves, on the other hand, do indeed still seem to be in pursuit of Diaz. Per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, via Twitter, the Mets have continued to examine the Atlanta farm. From the Braves’ side, it seems Diaz is the top target, with starters Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler of ongoing but lesser interest.
- If there’s a clear alternative to Diaz, it’s ace Pirates reliever Felipe Vazquez. The high-octane lefty has hit another gear in 2019, with 14.1 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 to go with his shiny 1.87 ERA on the season. We’ve seen him connected recently to the Dodgers, but there’s no indication the sides have momentum. Indeed, Rosenthal adds (in the above-linked column) that the Bucs are putting such a high price on Vazquez that he “essentially is not available.” That may be a bargaining ploy to see if a rival comes forward with a monster offer, but it’s certainly understandable that the Pirates aren’t just putting Vazquez up for auction. Rosenthal cites anonymous front office opinion that the Pittsburgh roster doesn’t have enough to compete in the near-term to justify keeping an asset such as Vazquez. That may well be the case, but it doesn’t mean the club should sell him short — particularly after seeing what the M’s were able to pry from the Mets for Diaz last winter.