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NL West Notes: A-Gon, Pollock, Nunez, Arroyo, Espinoza, Padres

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Adrian Gonzalez’s season and possibly even his long-term playing future have been threatened by his recurring back problems, but the Dodgers first baseman tells Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times that he intends to return to the field in September even if his back is still bothering him.  “Put it this way: Even if I’m not quote-unquote 100%, I’m still going to go in September because what I have is what I have,” Gonzalez said.  “If it doesn’t get better with all this time off, it’s not going to get better, so I might as well learn to play with medication.”  If he isn’t healthy enough for regular play, Gonzalez said he is happy to take a pinch-hitting role or to cede playing time to Cody Bellinger since “I’m just here to win. It’s not about, ‘It’s my position,’ or, ‘It’s his position.’ It’s about winning as a team.”  The piece is well worth a full read, as Gonzalez also discusses how his back problems have raised the question of retirement.

Here’s more from around the NL West…

  • Outfielder A.J. Pollock has officially returned to action for the Diamondbacks, with the club announcing that he has been activated from the 10-day DL after a lengthy absence owing to a groin strain. Arizona hasn’t encountered any real troubles in his absence, but the return promises to make for an even more compelling roster. The surprising D-Backs not only seem a shoe-in for a Wild Card spot, but currently sit just two-and-a-half games out of the NL West lead.
  • Eduardo Nunez didn’t play in a scheduled rehab game on Sunday due to continued discomfort in his ailing hamstring, and the Giants infielder may not return to action until after the All-Star break, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  Nunez, who has been on the DL since June 24, is perhaps the Giants’ clearest trade chip as the club prepares to be deadline sellers.  If he can’t return until after the break, Nunez will have just over two weeks to keep up his solid pre-injury production and prove to interested trade suitors that he is healthy, or else the Giants will have trouble gaining full value in a deal.
  • Christian Arroyo suffered a fractured left hand after being hit by a pitch in minor league action on Saturday, and the Giants prospect is in danger of missing the rest of the season, MLB.com’s Chris Haft writes.  Manager Bruce Bochy said he was hoping Arroyo would be healthy in time to be a September call-up for the Giants.  Arroyo made his big league debut earlier this season and hit just .192/.244/.304 in 135 plate appearances, though San Francisco obviously wants to give one of its most highly-touted young players more experience in the Show.  Arroyo’s development has already been stalled by another hand injury in June; in fact, Arroyo’s first game back from that prior injury was Saturday’s contest.
  • Padres relievers Craig Stammen and Kirby Yates are under-the-radar candidates to be moved at the deadline, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune write as part of a reader mailbag.  Stammen has a 4.53 ERA in 45 2/3 IP, a number that is somewhat inflated by a few bad outings; 10 of Stammen’s 23 earned runs this year came during a three-game stretch in April, plus he allowed a grand slam in his last game.  Yates, meanwhile has an outstanding 2.08 ERA, 14.2 K/9 and 5.13 K/BB rate over 26 IP since being claimed off waivers from the Angels in April.  Neither pitcher is likely to net the Padres a big return in a trade, though as Lin notes, San Diego has little in the way of healthy trade chips aside from Brad Hand.
  • Also from Lin’s mailbag, he reports that star pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza is playing catch but hasn’t yet thrown off a mound.  Espinoza has yet to pitch at all this season after suffering forearm tightness in early April, and then additional soreness in May that led to a shutdown.  The Padres, as you might expect, are taking it slow with Espinoza’s recovery given his long-term value to the organization.  Lin notes that Espinoza might possibly not pitch at all this summer, as it will still be a while before the young righty is ready for game action.

Rob Manfred On A.J. Preller’s Suspension: “I Know Where A.J. Is”

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Major League Baseball has had to deal with a number of situations recently in which it’s had to punish teams or front offices, rather than players. Those include the Padres’ failure to disclose some medical information in trades, which led to the suspension of GM A.J. Preller; the Red Sox’ manipulation of international signing practices; and hacking of the Astros’ database by a Cardinals front office employee. Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald explores those issues an excellent article that includes new tidbits from commissioner Rob Manfred. (We also highlighted some of Manfred’s other thoughts on the Preller matter yesterday.)

Some throughout the game have wondered whether Preller’s 30-day suspension is enforceable. He would, surely, only need his phone and computer to continue to influence over the Padres’ decision-making. Manfred, though, says that the league has mechanisms in place to ensure Preller stays away.

“I know where A.J. is,” Manfred says. “We’ve also told the Padres that we will be making investigatory undertakings to verify that there has been no contact. They’re very, very explicit rules about what he can and can’t do. I think given the circumstances, I am comfortable we can enforce the penalty.”

The Red Sox, of course, were victims of Preller’s handling of medical information, having been deprived of relevant records in the Drew Pomeranz / Anderson Espinoza swap. The Sox could have rescinded the deal in either July or August, Drellich reports. When the Red Sox learned that the Padres had withheld information, they informed the league, but took the position that they wanted to keep Pomeranz, even after receiving the results of an MRI that increased their frustration with the situation. (The exact results of the MRI are not publicly known, although Pomeranz is currently struggling with left forearm soreness.)

“For a very, very long time, there has been a rule in baseball that if something happens in terms of lack of complete information or disclosure with respect to the trade that the remedy is to rescind the trade, and you saw that baseball rule operate,” Manfred says, referring to the partially-rescinded trade between the Padres and Marlins involving now-injured Colin Rea. (Rea originally headed from the Padres to the Marlins with Andrew Cashner and Tayron Guerrero for Carter Capps, Jarred Cosart, Josh Naylor and Luis Castillo, then headed back to the Padres for Castillo alone.) “Once that happens the rule in baseball has always been that we do not reconfigure trades. Figuring out exactly what happened when is extraordinarily difficult if not impossible. And even if we can figure that out, we are not institutionally capable of deciding who would have traded what for what.”

Manfred On CBA, Red Sox-Padres Trade, Preller, Ortiz

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Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement is set to expire in December, but commissioner Rob Manfred said Sunday that he expects a new CBA in place by the end of the postseason, according to Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal (Twitter link). “Both parties still have significant issues on the table,” added Manfred, but he doesn’t believe those concerns are enough for either side to rip up the agreement and start negotiations from scratch (via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, on Twitter).

Manfred, who’s in Boston on Sunday for Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz’s final regular-season game, also addressed several other important topics:

  • After acquiring left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the Padres for top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza in July, questions arose in August over whether San Diego was completely honest about Pomeranz’s medical information. It turned out the Padres didn’t reveal that Pomeranz was taking anti-inflammatory medication for his elbow at the time of the deal. Then, when MLB handed Padres general manager A.J. Preller a 30-day suspension in September, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner expressed displeasure with the commissioner’s office, saying, “We felt that some wrong was committed and that it’s important to have a level playing field. The Padres didn’t play on it.” Interestingly, the league gave the Red Sox the opportunity to undo the trade in early August, Manfred revealed, but the non-waiver deadline had already passed by then. Moreover, there was no way for the league to compensate the Red Sox, the commissioner stated. As a result, Boston turned down the offer and kept Pomeranz (Twitter links via MacPherson and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). The 27-year-old has scuffled since the trade and is currently dealing with left forearm soreness.
  • Whether the Padres fire Preller for his questionable practices is up to them, not the league, according to Manfred (via Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune). “I felt that that Mr. Preller behaved inappropriately in the situation. He behaved inappropriately to the detriment of two clubs,” said Manfred. “And I thought that a publicly announced suspension of 30 days, which is the longest suspension of a front-office person in 70 years, was a firm statement of our view on how he had behaved or, in this case, misbehaved.” As of Sept. 17, the Padres’ front office was reportedly split on Preller, who, in addition to crossing the Red Sox, didn’t disclose all available medical information in a July trade with the Marlins. As a result, the Preller-led Padres reversed part of what was a large transaction that centered on Andrew Cashner. Ultimately, the Padres re-acquired right-hander Colin Rea from Miami and sent pitching prospect Luis Castillo back to the Marlins. That came after Rea left his sole Marlins start with an elbow injury. Rea is now attempting to stave off Tommy John surgery.
  • Ortiz was among 104 major leaguers who tested positive for performance-enhancing substances in 2003, but Manfred downplayed that. The list didn’t distinguish therapeutic use exemptions from PEDs, per Manfred, who called it “unfair” and “wrong” that the positive test might negatively affect Ortiz’s legacy (Twitter links via MacPherson and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe).

Trade News & Rumors: Hazen, Espinoza, Padres, Huntington, Cespedes

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Here’s the latest from around baseball as we move another day closer to the August 1 trade deadline…

  • Red Sox GM Mike Hazen discussed his team’s recent flurry of moves with CSNNE.com’s Sean McAdam in a video interview.  Because the Sox had “a fairly clear need on our end…it allowed us to be focused on what we wanted to be aggressive on,” and thus Hazen said the team could act quickly to address those needs before the trade market began to thin out.  Getting a controllable pitcher like Drew Pomeranz was in part a priority since there aren’t many quality starting arms available in free agency this winter.  The full interview is well worth watching, as Hazen covers multiple topics about the Red Sox as they head into the second half.
  • Before the Padres finally landed pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza from the Red Sox in the Pomeranz trade, San Diego team president Mike Dee tells Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune that his club made two earlier attempts at landing Espinoza’s services.  The Padres also asked about the 18-year-old righty at last year’s trade deadline, and again last offseason when the Friars and Sox were negotiating the Craig Kimbrel deal.  In the same interview, Dee also discusses how the organization will be more entirely focused on improving the on-field product in the coming years.
  • Pirates GM Neal Huntington discusses several Bucs-related topics with Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other reporters, including how the Pirates are exploring the trade market for pitching but finding very high prices.  “You continue to look externally, but your bar’s set fairly high in terms of what your acquisition needs to be,” Huntington said.  “That acquisition comes with an extreme acquisition cost. We will weigh, are we better going with our own guys, is there something that makes sense from the outside, and that will play out over the next couple of weeks.”
  • In another Huntington interview, he discussed the Pirates’ pitching search and other items with Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link).
  • Yoenis Cespedes told reporters (including ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin) that he would like to play left field for the rest of the season, based on both personal preference and a desire to avoid aggravating his quad injury.  Cespedes has made 61 starts in center this season (with 13 in left) to accommodate the Mets’ roster construction, though if Cespedes is better off in left, it creates a bit of a jam for New York.  Michael Conforto would be forced into right field, leaving Curtis Granderson, Juan Lagares and Alejandro De Aza all in the center field mix (assuming Conforto hits well enough to retain a regular job).  This is just my speculation, but I wonder if the Mets could explore moving Granderson, Lagares and/or De Aza at the deadline as part of a trade for more reliable center field help.

Starting Pitching Rumors: Archer, Hill, Espinoza, Buchholz, Weaver

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Here’s the latest on some starters who may or may not be on the move at the deadline…

  • The Rays have told teams that ace Chris Archer is unavailable in trade talks, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (Twitter link), barring an offer that “overwhelms them.”  It would be hard to see such a huge offer in the making given Archer’s disappointing 4.68 ERA over 117 1/3 innings this season.  ERA indicators (4.35 FIP, 3.77 xFIP, 3.85 SIERA) hint that Archer has been a bit unlucky and could be primed to some improvement in the second half.  The righty has had some batted-ball misfortune in the form of a .315 BABIP but the real outlier is Archer’s 17.4% home run rate, which is well north of his 11% career average.  Archer has been scouted by the Dodgers and other teams as we approach the deadline, though it isn’t surprising that Tampa considers him virtually off-limits given that he is controlled through 2021 on a team-friendly contract.
  • The Athletics asked the Red Sox for Anderson Espinoza in exchange for Rich Hill, according to Olney (Twitter links).  When the Sox rejected that proposal, the A’s countered with another offer that didn’t involve Espinoza.  Of course, Boston ended up dealing Espinoza to the Padres for Drew Pomeranz.  Boston had scouts watching Hill’s start today, though we heard yesterday that the Sox weren’t keen on meeting Oakland’s obviously high asking price for the veteran southpaw.  Hill is almost nine years older than Pomeranz and a free agent after the season, so it isn’t a surprise that the Sox were more willing to surrender their top pitching prospect for the controllable younger arm.
  • If Eduardo Rodriguez is able to re-emerge as a legitimate rotation piece, it will impact not just the Red Sox pitching search but also possibly Clay Buchholz’s immediate future, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes.  Cafardo believes the Sox could trade or even designate Buchholz for assignment, though that would leave Boston with one fewer starting option (despite Buchholz’s struggles) for the questionable back of its staff.
  • Jered Weaver has thrown consecutive quality starts and FOX Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi suggests (Twitter links) that the Angels’ veteran could get some deadline attention as an innings-eater, if nothing else.  Recent form aside, it’s been a tough season for Weaver, as today’s quality outing only bumped his season totals to a 5.02 ERA, 5.02 K/9 and 30.2% grounder rate over 107 2/3 innings.  His fastball velocity has dropped to just 83.6 mph as Weaver has relied more on his changeup, curve and slider.  Weaver is still owed roughly $7.2MM of salary in the last year of his contract, so even if a club was interested, the Halos would likely have to eat a big chunk of that money to facilitate a deal.  There’s also the matter of Weaver’s full no-trade clause, as Morosi notes, though one would think he’d be willing to waive it to join a contender.

Red Sox Acquire Drew Pomeranz For Anderson Espinoza

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The Red Sox and Padres have begun the second half of the season with some fireworks, announcing on Thursday night that Boston has acquired left-hander Drew Pomeranz in exchange for top right-handed pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza, who is widely considered to be one of the 20 best prospects in all of Major League Baseball. Infielder Josh Rutledge moves to the 60-day DL for Boston in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for its new starter.

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The Padres acquired Pomeranz, 27, from the A’s this winter for the now-bargain price of Yonder Alonso and Marc Rzepczynski. After talking his way into the rotation mix in Spring Training, Pomeranz has broken out as the ace of the San Diego staff and fulfilled a good deal of the potential that pundits believed him to possess when he was selected fifth overall by the Indians back in 2010. In 102 innings this season, the first-time All-Star has posted a 2.47 ERA with 10.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate. He’ll immediately slot into the middle of the Boston rotation and can be controlled for another two seasons beyond the 2016 campaign via the arbitration process. Not only does he have two years of club control left, he’s earning just $1.35MM in 2016, which will help to suppress his future arbitration salaries despite this season’s breakout.

While Pomeranz has been dominant in 2016, he doesn’t come without his risks, and chief among them is the limited workload he’s had in recent seasons. Pomeranz spent his early years in Colorado after being included in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade with Cleveland, and his innings totals were suppressed as he pitched poorly much of the time at Coors Field. Oakland deployed Pomeranz in a swingman capacity and utilized him more out of the bullpen than the rotation. Since being drafted, Pomeranz has never thrown more than 146 2/3 innings in a single season between the Majors and Minors combined. That total came all the way back in 2012 and has been followed by single-season innings totals of 112 2/3 (2013), 115 1/3 (2014) and 88 (2015). The Red Sox, however, appear undeterred by the fact that Pomeranz will be approaching uncharted waters in terms of workload as the season progresses into its final months.

The Red Sox have been tied to rotation help for more than a month, as the club’s Opening Day mix of starters has largely underwhelmed. MLBTR’s Jason Martinez noted earlier today in examining the top need of each American League contender that the rotation was far and away the Red Sox’ primary deficiency. Boston starting pitchers rank 19th in Major League Baseball with a 4.72 ERA this season, and only Steven Wright and Rick Porcello have posted earned run averages south of 4.00. David Price has righted the ship after a rocky start to the season but still is sporting a 4.34 mark on the year, while Eduardo Rodriguez has been slowed by injuries and pitched poorly even upon activation from the disabled list. Joe Kelly has been relegated to the Triple-A bullpen, and spot starts from Henry Owens and Sean O’Sullivan have been sub-par, to say the least. Excluding the work of Wright, Price and Porcello, the Red Sox have received a combined 7.22 ERA from the rest of their rotation.

From the Padres’ vantage point, the decision to move Pomeranz wasn’t a clear-cut one. We at MLBTR weighed the pros and cons of dealing Pomeranz and wound up with a split camp among our staff when debating whether the Padres should trade him (a topic that I first examined at length before polling the MLBTR staff for their individual opinions). Pomeranz is both controllable and affordable but also comes with limited innings and a pair of DL stints for shoulder and biceps issues.

While it’s possible that Pomeranz’s value will be even higher come the offseason, the Padres elected to move him now, and in doing so continued down a clear path to an extensive rebuild. Not only that, but the fact that the club focused in on the 18-year-old Espinoza when dealing a pitcher that could’ve provided significant value in both 2017 and 2018 indicates that the Padres may feel that a fairly lengthy rebuild is in order. Espinoza, who rated 14th on today’s midseason top 100 prospect update from ESPN’s Keith Law (ESPN Insider required/recommended), is currently the youngest player in the Class-A South Atlantic League but has held his own in spite of that fact. He’s totaled 76 innings and delivered a 4.38 ERA with a 72-to-27 K/BB ratio and a 48.9 percent ground-ball rate against much older competition.

Law notes in his scouting report that Espinoza sits comfortably at 94-95 mph with his heater and can touch 99, and he also features a plus changeup and curveball (with the former representing the better of the two secondary offerings). Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com note that Espinoza repeats his delivery well, which allows him to locate the ball effectively. The MLB.com duo notes that his secondary offerings are much more advanced than those of a typical teenager. Baseball America, who rated him 15th in MLB on their midseason Top 100 list, wrote in the offseason that Espinoza possesses “obvious front-of-the-rotation talent, and makeup and intelligence to maximize his ability.”

The swap represents the second significant trade completed between the Red Sox and Padres over the past nine months, as Boston also acquired Craig Kimbrel from the Friars in exchange for Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Carlos Asuaje and Logan Allen in the offseason. While San Diego GM A.J. Preller has taken his share of flak for the Padres’ ill-fated attempt at an accelerated path back to contention in the NL West, he’s now flipped a pair of assets (Kimbrel, Pomeranz) within a year of acquiring them and received significantly more in exchange than he initially surrendered.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, meanwhile, has come to Boston as advertised: unafraid to utilize a deep farm system to acquire immediate impact talent at the Major League level in the name of winning now. While the losses of players like Margot and Espinoza sting, the Red Sox likely feel compelled to capitalize on the fact that young stars such as Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley are emerging (or have emerged) as front-line talents, while aging veterans (most notably David Ortiz) are still productive and able to help the club push for a return to the postseason.

Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune first reported that Pomeranz was going to the Red Sox. Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reported (via Twitter) that Espinoza was part of the return. Lin (Twitter link) and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports/MLB.com indicated that it was a straight-up swap of those two players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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