Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Diamondbacks Rumors

Latest On Asdrubal Cabrera, Zack Wheeler

By | at

12:03pm: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the Mets and Brewers have discussed a package deal that would send both players to Milwaukee, though there’s no indication that anything is close to being completed. The D-backs are indeed in the mix for Cabrera, he adds.

9:05am: Teams who’ve spoken to the Mets about the availability of Asdrubal Cabrera have gotten the impression that he’ll be traded soon, reports Andy Martino of SNY.tv. While “soon” is a relative term, especially with the non-waiver trade deadline just four days away, Martino adds that the Mets then plan to shift their “full attention” to finding a trade partner for Zack Wheeler. Presumably, they’ll want to leave themselves ample room to discuss that swap, so it stands to reason that they’d hope to wrap up a Cabrera swap in short order.

ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted yesterday that the Diamondbacks have “checked in” on Cabrera as they seek to bolster their own infield mix. Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds the Indians and the Phillies to the fray, though he notes that Philadelphia’s interest would be stronger were Cabrera still viewed as a capable shortstop. Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Braves and Brewers, too, may be in the market. While a number of teams have inquired to some extent, the Post’s Mike Puma surmised yesterday that there are three or four teams with legitimate interest in Cabrera (Twitter link). As for Wheeler, he’s generating interest from the Brewers and Reds, per Martino. The Cubs had shown interest, though yesterday’s agreement to acquire Cole Hamels would quite likely put an end to that pursuit.

While the Mets have had just about everything possible go wrong for them over the past couple of seasons, their signing of Cabrera in the 2015-16 offseason has proven to be an excellent one. He’s earning $8.5MM in the third year of what proved to be a $25MM contract (after his 2018 option was exercised) and is hitting .277/.329/.488 with 18 homers, 23 doubles and a triple. Cabrera, though, has received dreadful defensive ratings for his work at second base (-18 Defensive Runs Saved, -6 Ultimate Zone Rating), which won’t do his trade value any favors.

As for Wheeler, he’ll obviously have the greater value of the pair, given his affordable salary, the fact that he’s controlled through 2019, his recent success and the plethora of teams seeking to bolster their rotation in the coming days. Over his past 10 starts, Wheeler has worked to a 3.50 ERA (3.40 FIP, 4.17 xFIP) with 7.8 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and 0.56 HR/9 with a 40.2 percent ground-ball rate. His fastball has averaged 96.4 mph in that span, and he’s posted a strong 11.3 percent swinging-strike rate. Puma noted yesterday that as many as 10 teams have displayed some level of interest.

D'Backs Recently Scouted Chris Archer

By and | at

Scouts from the Padres and Diamondbacks (and, from outside the division, the Phillies and Cubs) watched Archer’s start last Sunday.  A source tells Morosi that at least eight teams have recently been in touch with the Rays about Archer’s availability, and while there still isn’t clear sign Tampa is considering a trade, this deep interest is one of the reasons “a deal involving Archer is more likely now than at any point in recent memory,” Morosi writes.

Diamondbacks Designate Randall Delgado For Assignment

By | at

The Diamondbacks have designated right-hander Randall Delgado for assignment, as per a team press release.  The move creates 40-man roster space for newly-acquired righty Matt Andriese, who was just acquired in a trade with the Rays.

Delgado originally came to Arizona as part of the five-player package sent by the Braves to acquire Justin Upton back in January 2013.  In five-plus seasons since with the D’Backs, Delgado has been deployed as a full-time starter, a full-time reliever and as a swingman.  He worked in this role in 2017, making five starts amidst 26 overall appearances, and posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 4.29 K/BB rate over 62 2/3 IP before a flexor strain prematurely ended his season.

Delgado was further slowed by an oblique strain during Spring Training, and he didn’t make his season debut until earlier this month.  The righty has only seven frames to his credit in 2018, with a 5.14 ERA, three walks, and two strikeouts.

Prior to his recent injury woes, Delgado has been a durable and overall effective arm for the D’Backs, making today’s DFA somewhat of a surprise.  One would think rival teams would be interested in seeing if Delgado can regain his old form, particularly given his low price tag — he has roughly $810K remaining owed to him in salary over the rest of the year, from the $2.25MM deal agreed to last winter in his final year of arbitration eligibility.  With Andriese essentially stepping into the old swingman role, it could be that Arizona is simply looking to get rest of Delgado’s salary off the books (modest as it might be) to clear some space for additional moves.

Diamondbacks Acquire Matt Andriese

By | at

The Diamondbacks have acquired right-hander Matt Andriese from the Rays, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  Robert Murray, also of The Athletic, was the first to report that Tampa and Arizona had a trade in place.  The Rays will receive two minor leaguers in return — catcher Michael Perez (as per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) and righty Brian Shaffer (as Rosenthal was the first to report).  In a corresponding move, the D’Backs announced that right-hander Randall Delgado has been designated for assignment to create a 40-man spot for Andriese.

Arizona was known to be checking in on the starting pitching market, though rather than splurge on a big name, the Snakes landed a versatile and somewhat underrated asset in Andriese.  The 28-year-old has mostly been deployed as a swingman in his three-plus MLB seasons, with the Rays using Andriese as a starter and in both short and long relief roles.  He has only started four of his 27 appearances this season, though that stat is somewhat misleading, as you might expect given Tampa Bay’s unconventional use of its pitching staff.  Andriese has appeared multiple times as the second pitcher into the game after the likes of Ryne Stanek or Sergio Romo began things as the Rays’ “opener.”

Matt AndrieseDespite the ever-shifting roles, Andriese has been largely successful in Tampa, including a 4.07 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 50.6% grounder rate, and 3.28 K/BB rate this season over 59 2/3 innings, plus a career-best 11.4% swinging strike rate.  It represents a nice rebound from an injury-filled 2017, as Andriese was limited to 86 innings (starting 17 of his 18 games) due to hip and groin problems.

The D’Backs have dealt with their own share of pitching injuries this season, though things have somewhat stabilized with a regular starting five of Zack Greinke, Patrick Corbin, Robbie Ray, Zack Godley, and successful bounce-back project Clay Buchholz.  Still, with Ray and Godley both delivering inconsistent results, Andriese gives the Snakes some extra rotation depth, as well as a valuable durable arm for the bullpen.

Andriese will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, and thus the D’Backs had to surrender a not-overwhelming but decent prospect package for Andriese’s three years of control.  The 2018 Baseball America Prospect Handbook ranked Perez as Arizona’s 30th-best minor leaguer prior to the season, with MLB.com ranking Shaffer 23rd in their current top-30 ranking of the Snakes’ system.

Perez, 25, has long been heralded as a strong defensive catcher, and he has begun to make some strides at the plate over the last two seasons at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  In 250 career PA at Triple-A, Perez has a solid .291/.348/.445 slash line, though that is both a rather small sample size and perhaps a product of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.  Even without a big bat, however, Perez still projects as a potential glove-first backup catcher type, which is useful for a Rays team that has long looked for consistency behind the plate.  Topkin reports that Perez will join the Rays’ roster on Thursday for his first taste of Major League action.

Shaffer was a sixth-round pick for the Diamondbacks in the 2017 draft.  MLB.com’s scouting report cites the 21-year-old’s slider as his best pitch, and he also possesses a fastball that has touched 94mph.  Shaffer has delivered good results in his brief pro career thus far, including a 2.70 ERA, 9.2 K/9, and only a 1.8 BB/9 over 106 2/3 frames at the A-ball level this year.

Between this trade and sending Nathan Eovaldi to the Red Sox earlier today, the Rays have continued to churn their roster, even while falling short of an actual rebuild.  Indeed, after today’s win over the Yankees, the Rays are now 52-50 for the season, though they are still realistically out of the pennant race (8.5 games back of the last wild card slot).  In the short term, Tampa finds itself short two valuable arms for its pitching mix, as it remains to be seen how the Rays’ pitching strategy will continue to evolve without Andriese and Eovaldi around to cover innings.

This represents the third major trade between the Rays and D’Backs in under a year, after the offseason deals that saw Brad Boxberger come to Arizona and the three-team deal (also involving the Yankees) that most notably saw Steven Souza go to Arizona and Brandon Drury head to New York.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

D-backs Showing Interest In Rangers' Relievers

By | at

  • Morosi also tweets that the Diamondbacks have shown interest in Rangers relievers Keone Kela and Jose Leclerc. There’s no indication that talks between the two sides are serious, but the Rangers are reportedly open to moving Kela, who is controlled through the 2020 season. The 25-year-old is currently sporting a 3.18 ERA with 10.9 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 through 34 innings of work and has a 2.97 ERA with better than 11 K/9 dating back to 2017. Leclerc would be tougher to pry away, as he’s controlled for another four seasons beyond the current campaign and currently boasts a 2.06 ERA with a 51-to-18 K/BB ratio through 35 innings.

Latest On The Market For Zach Britton

By | at

8:17pm: The Yankees are not only involved but have “serious interest,” Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets. He adds that the O’s are trying to get something done in short order, which is perhaps not surprising given that Britton is throwing well now but goes represent an injury risk.

12:39am: The list of teams being linked to Zach Britton continues to grow, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeting this morning that the Diamondbacks are also showing interest in the lefty. The D-backs join the likes of the Astros, Cubs, Rockies, Brewers, Red Sox and Braves as clubs holding some level of interest in acquiring Britton.

Of course, it stands to reason that virtually every contending club will want to familiarize itself with the asking price on Britton. It’s not known exactly how aggressively all of the teams that have been tied to Britton are actually pursuing him. That said, Rosenthal adds that, similarly to colleague Jim Bowden, he hears the Astros’ interest is “heavy.” The Yankees, who weren’t among the teams prominently linked to Britton over the weekend but are “still trying” to pry him away from the Orioles, according to Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter link).

Meanwhile, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported today that the Dodgers could be a tough fit for Britton given the team’s ongoing quest to remain underneath the $197MM luxury tax threshold. Passan cites a league source in noting that a Britton acquisition would put the Dodgers over that threshold.

Certainly, the Dodgers could remedy that scenario by trading away a veteran player, but that didn’t pan out in the Manny Machado talks. Rumors surrounding the Dodgers and Machado at one point indicated that Logan Forsythe could be sent back to Baltimore as a means of offsetting some of the money the Dodgers would take on, but Forsythe ultimately remained in Los Angeles. Perhaps the two sides could come to an alternative solution when discussing Britton, but (speculatively speaking) the fact that no money changed hands in the Machado trade could be a reflection on the Orioles’ feelings on subsidizing a theoretical Britton trade.

On the flip side, it’s possible that the Orioles’ previous talks for Machado with other clubs who also hold interest in Britton could prove beneficial. Rosenthal tweets that the Brewers are indeed among the many clubs pursuing Britton, and their Machado negotiations already give them a good idea of how Baltimore values many of their prospects.

Britton has now snapped off eight consecutive scoreless appearances to drop his ERA to 3.45. Alternatives like FIP (4.43), xFIP (4.02) and SIERA (4.37) still aren’t exactly bullish on his overall body of work, but there’s little denying that he’s been an improved pitcher of late. Britton’s sinker has averaged 95.2 mph over that scoreless streak — up from the 93.8 mph it averaged through his first eight appearances. His ground-ball rate, too, is on the rise and is now sitting at 72.2 percent over his past eight outings.

If there’s a knock on Britton — beyond the $4.45MM he’s owed through season’s end — it’s that his control still doesn’t seem to be as sharp as it once was. He’s walked four hitters and thrown two wild pitches while falling behind nearly two-thirds of the batters he’s faced over his scoreless stretch (35.7 percent first-pitch strike rate). But, with his stuff clearly ticking upward and contending clubs universally seeking to deepen their bullpens, the market for Britton should continue to be robust right up until the moment he’s inevitably moved.

Latest On Cole Hamels

By | at

7:27pm: Then again, a source tells Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link) that it’s “not accurate” to say the sides have discussed Hamels.

Of course, the Nats do have someone on hand to watch Hamels in action tonight, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports on Twitter. The Braves, Cubs, Phillies, Yankees, and Diamondbacks do as well.

Of course, there are other players on view as well. The Atlanta organization may be looking at lefty reliever Jake Diekman, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman suggests on Twitter.

As for the Nationals, Janes tweets that noted D.C. executive Dan Jennings is the rep in Arlington, though she suggests his appearance is “more due diligence.”

7:15pm: The Nationals are the latest team with some level of interest in Rangers lefty Cole Hamels, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. Those two organizations are said to have engaged in “trade discussions,” though there’s no indication that a deal is particularly close.

It’s not surprising to see the Nats angling to deepen their rotation and Hamels is certainly a pitcher with whom the organization is familiar. Of course, it’s also a bit interesting to hear of this particular connection given a rather notable run-in between Hamels and the D.C. ballclub, though that was some years ago.

After a strong outing on June 19th, Hamels owned a 3.41 ERA. After four sub-optimal times out, though, he’s all the way up to a 4.36 mark that arguably better reflects his true talent level at this stage of an outstanding career.

On the one hand, Hamels is back to generating a strikeout per nine after a big fall-off in 2017. On the other, he’s giving up home runs on 20.2% of the flyballs put in play against him. ERA estimators mostly view Hamels as a solid hurler — he’s at a 5.06 FIP, 4.11 xFIP, and 4.06 SIERA this year — but there’s not much reason to believe that Hamels is the top-line starter he once was.

Perhaps there’s some added appeal in the fact that Hamels has a long history of good work in the postseason, even if his most recent appearance — a 2016 dud for the Rangers — did not go as hoped. All told, he has thrown 98 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball over 16 playoff starts. Hamels was also named the MVP of the 2008 World Series.

Contract will play a major role in the market for Hamels. He’s earning $22.5MM this year, a hefty rate for a sub-elite starter. He’s also due a $6MM buyout on a $20MM club option for 2019. Increasingly, it seems likely he’ll end up receiving the break-up fee.

Hamels can block trades to twenty teams, but the Nats are not among them. Neither are the division-rival Braves. The Atlanta organization has been linked loosely to Hamels in the recent past. Morosi suggests the Braves are indeed at least taking a look, though it’s not clear if there’s serious interest.

Diamondbacks Could Use Shelby Miller In Relief

By | at

  • If Diamondbacks right-hander Shelby Miller returns this season from elbow inflammation, he may work as a reliever, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Zach Buchanan of The Athletic) on Friday. For now, Miller’s in the midst of a 10- to 14-day shutdown period, Buchanan notes, though he doesn’t have any UCL damage. Miller, out since July 12, endured a nightmarish few starts before going on the DL. In his first action since undergoing May 2017 Tommy John surgery, Miller yielded 19 earned runs on 24 hits and seven walks in 15 innings (four starts).

Rosenthal On Diamondbacks' Deadline Approach

By | at

  • Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and other reporters on Friday that the M’s are hoping to address their pitching staff by the deadline. “We’ve certainly had our feelers out there on a variety of different things that would help our pitching staff, whether it be bullpen or starting pitching,” said Dipoto, adding that “we would prefer to focus on pitching.” Dipoto’s less concerned about upgrading the Mariners’ position player group, which will soon get the suspended Robinson Cano back, though Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says (video link) the team’s “open to any upgrade” – even an offensive one. The same is true regarding the Diamondbacks, who are “exploring a wide range of possibilities,” Rosenthal reports. Although, the bullpen is the likeliest area that both Seattle and Arizona will address, per Rosenthal.

Mets Notes: Cespedes, Asdrubal, Rivera, Syndergaard

By | at

As we wait to hear about the consummation of a prospective deal that would send closer Jeurys Familia out west, the Mets have served up plenty of other noteworthy news. Here are the other topics of conversation in New York:

  • High-priced outfielder Yoenis Cespedes homered in his return from a lengthy DL stint, but dropped a seeming bombshell after the game. Cespedes said that the root cause of his various leg ailments is in fact calcification in his heels, as Tim Britton of The Athletic and MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (Twitter links) were among those to report. The veteran says the only way to address the problem is a surgical procedure followed by an eight-to-ten month rehab, though it’s not certain that he’ll end up pursuing that course. For now, Cespedes could only say he’s not sure if he’ll be able to play through the rest of the season but hopes to be able to do so. Of course, the current campaign isn’t really the chief concern of the team. With Cespedes promised a total of $58.5MM over the next two seasons, his ability to play out the back half of the deal at a high level — whether in New York or elsewhere — is of much greater importance. At this point, it’s entirely unclear how that situation will shake out.
  • Infielder Asdrubal Cabrera figures to be a fairly notable trade piece for the Mets. The veteran switch-hitter is drawing wide interest, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports on Twitter. While that market is not fully developed, it seems all but certain a deal of some kind will come together by the time the trade deadline arrives. Feinsand cites the Brewers and Diamondbacks as teams “believed to be among [the] potential suitors.” Cabrera placed fifth on our recent ranking of the top 75 trade deadline candidates, though some other infield possibilities could rise in the ranks if their teams move clearly into the selling camp.
  • Cespedes’s situation did not represent the only poor injury news. Infielder T.J. Rivera, who is working back from Tommy John surgery, has been diagnosed with a right elbow sprain, as Tim Healey of Newsday tweets. For now, Rivera will finish a ten-day rest period after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection, with the ensuing steps presumably still to be determined. The 29-year-old was hoping to reestablish himself as a solid infield piece, but struggled at the plate in six rehab games before this issue arose.
  • Alarm bells rang this evening as Mets righty Noah Syndergaard exhibited a velocity drop (as documented on Twitter by Britton). Fortunately, both the hurler and his manager say there’s no real cause for concern. (See this tweet from MLB.com’s Joe Trezza and this one from DiComo.) Neither his recently problematic finger nor some other issue was to blame for the velo fade. Instead, the team’s viewpoint is that Syndergaard simply experienced fatigue.
  • Blue Jays executive and former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington is emerging as an early potential front office target for the Mets, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). Of course, that process is only in the preliminary stages at this point. It’s still not entirely clear just how the Mets will go about addressing the front office uncertainty that arose when GM Sandy Alderson took a leave of absence, leaving a trio of execs to handle things in his absence. Whether or not Alderson ultimately returns in some capacity, though, it seems the club will at least consider bringing in some new voices.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top