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12 Possible Fits For A Tyler Glasnow Trade

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Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow is among this offseason’s top trade candidates. He’s set to make $25MM in his final season before free agency. That’d be the largest single-year salary in franchise history. The Rays committed to that number not long ago, signing the 6’8″ hurler to an extension in August 2022. Even with various subsequent injuries to their rotation, Tampa Bay could move Glasnow to bring in cheaper talent.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweeted this evening that a pair of rival executives believe the Rays will pull the trigger on a Glasnow deal this offseason. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal offered a similar sentiment in an appearance on Foul Territory (X link). Rosenthal suggested Glasnow could be the likeliest of the group of top starters who are frequently mentioned as trade candidates — also including Corbin Burnes, Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber — to move.

If the Rays did pull the trigger on a deal this winter, it’d have to be to a club with legitimate playoff aspirations in 2024. There’s little reason for teams like the Nationals or Rockies to acquire a star pitcher with one year left on his deal. An acquiring team would need to be willing to accommodate a $25MM salary. It’s hard to envision Tampa Bay making a trade of this magnitude within division.

That narrows things down somewhat but still leaves various potential suitors. Let’s identify some fits (listed alphabetically). All salary projections are courtesy of Roster Resource.

  • Angels: The Angels arguably stretch the definition of “legitimate playoff aspirations,” especially if Shohei Ohtani signs elsewhere. They have made clear they’re not going to rebuild in any case. Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and Griffin Canning are solid rotation pieces. They’re not true #1 arms, though, something Glasnow would provide.
  • Astros: Houston will be without Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. into the middle of the season. Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier make for a strong top three. Hunter Brown and J.P. France tailed off a bit as their rookie seasons wound down. Glasnow fits on paper, although it’s unclear whether the Astros would take on his salary. GM Dana Brown has downplayed the financial flexibility at their disposal.
  • Braves: Atlanta made a run at Aaron Nola before his seven-year contract to return to Philadelphia. The Braves subsequently added Reynaldo López on a three-year pact and indicated he could return to the rotation. That doesn’t preclude them from exploring clearer upgrades to join Max Fried, Spencer Strider and Charlie Morton in the middle to upper part of the staff. The farm system has thinned but president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos hasn’t shied away from aggressive strikes on the trade market to support an elite core.
  • Cardinals: St. Louis has sought three starting pitchers this offseason. They’ve added two veteran innings eaters on one-year deals, bringing in Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson on consecutive days. That raises the floor but still leaves them in clear need of a top-of-the-rotation arm. St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak acknowledged the team has yet to dig deeply into trade possibilities (link via Katie Woo of the Athletic). That’ll change now that they’ve added some stability without a ton of upside on the open market.
  • Cubs: Marcus Stroman declined his player option for 2024. That leaves the Cubs with a front three of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon. There’s clearly room for another high-end starter. Chicago isn’t far off this past season’s Opening Day payroll but projects around $25MM below their franchise high mark. They’re about $50MM south of the lowest luxury tax threshold.
  • Diamondbacks: Taking on a $25MM player isn’t typical operating procedure for the Diamondbacks. Yet it’s something they could consider this winter on the heels of a World Series run. Arizona’s $103MM projected payroll is around $13MM south of this past season’s mark. It’s nearly $30MM below their franchise high. Adding another starter to join Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt is a clear priority.
  • Dodgers: The Dodgers are going to add a couple starting pitchers. Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urías hit free agency. Kershaw’s return timeline is uncertain after shoulder surgery. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May will miss part or all of next season. Walker Buehler is back but coming off a second Tommy John surgery. Behind him are a few second-year hurlers (Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot and Emmet Sheehan) and swingman Ryan Yarbrough. Any of the top free agent or trade candidates on the rotation front make sense.
  • Giants: San Francisco’s projected payroll sits at $148MM, about $40MM shy of this year’s mark. Logan Webb is an ace. The rest of the rotation is in question. Alex Cobb is coming off hip surgery. Anthony DeSclafani and Ross Stripling had injuries and/or underperformance in 2023. Top prospect Kyle Harrison is still unproven. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has been reluctant to make free agent splashes for starting pitching. A Glasnow trade would add an impact arm without the kind of long-term rotation commitment to which this front office has been averse.
  • Mets: The Mets are likely to bring in multiple starters. Kodai Senga and José Quintana are the only locks for the Opening Day rotation. It’s debatable whether they’re positioned to part with noteworthy young talent to add a rental with the team coming off a 75-87 season. New York has made clear they’re not punting the 2024 season entirely, though. Adding a high-end starter is one step of many required to put themselves back in the conversation with the Braves and Phillies in the NL East.
  • Padres: San Diego is down to Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish after seeing each of Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez hit free agency. The Padres are reportedly trimming payroll, which could rule them out on a $25MM arm, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has never been afraid to move things around to accommodate impact talent. The Snell trade with Tampa Bay has been one of the best moves of his tenure.
  • Rangers: The defending champions could lose Jordan Montgomery to free agency. Jacob deGrom won’t be ready until the season’s second half. Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning and Andrew Heaney is still a good starting five. They could nevertheless take a swing for Glasnow, building a potential playoff rotation consisting of Glasnow, deGrom, Scherzer and Eovaldi as they try to repeat.
  • Reds: Cincinnati’s situation is similar to Arizona’s. The Reds aren’t big spenders but could be in position for a lofty one-year salary for a #1 starter. They’re projected at $52MM for next season, $30MM below this year’s Opening Day mark. The young position player group put the Reds on the fringe of postseason contention. Adding a starter to lead a staff that also includes Nick Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft and Andrew Abbott is the next step.

Pham: Interest From Around 10 Teams In Free Agency

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Tommy Pham is on the open market for a third consecutive season. The veteran outfielder is in a better spot than he had been from 2021-22, as he’s coming arguably his best year since 2019.

In an appearance on the New York’s Post podcast with Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman, Pham said his representatives at Vayner Sports have had conversations with roughly 10 teams. While he said he has yet to receive an official offer, Pham indicated that interest is far more robust than it was last offseason. The righty-hitting outfielder told Heyman and Sherman that he heard from just three teams before he signed a $6MM guarantee with the Mets in the middle of January.

Pham unsurprisingly didn’t name any of the clubs that have checked in. He suggested he’s seeking an opportunity to continue playing on an everyday basis. “I don’t view myself as a platoon player,” he replied when asked about his free agent priorities. “I’m not comfortable going into a situation where they’re saying ’hey, you’re only going to play against lefties.’ I still want to play every day. That’s most important to me. Then winning, of course.”

Landing a job as a team’s primary left fielder seems attainable after Pham’s solid performance in 2023. He hit .256/.328/.446 with 16 home runs through 481 plate appearances. As he has throughout his career, he posted strong exit velocities. Pham’s respective 9.8% walk rate and 22% strikeout percentage weren’t far off the league averages. He also stole 22 bases in 25 attempts and rated as a neutral corner outfield defender.

Pham’s offensive production was balanced. He hit for more power against left-handed pitching but had a higher batting average and on-base mark against same-handed arms. His .262/.332/.435 slash versus righties and .245/.322/.465 showing against southpaws aren’t that dissimilar. Pham’s production was concentrated more heavily early in the season. He hit .268/.348/.472 for the Mets before running a .241/.304/.415 line upon being dealt to the Diamondbacks on deadline day. Pham ran a .279/.297/.475 slash over 16 postseason contests during the Snakes’ run to the World Series.

Turning 36 in March, the 10-year MLB veteran may again be limited to one-year offers. He should at least find a loftier guarantee than last year’s $6MM figure and a two-year pact isn’t entirely implausible. Pham’s old teams in Queens and Arizona each have questions about their left field situations. The Braves, Nationals, Twins, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Mariners and Yankees are among other speculative suitors for corner outfield help.

Yankees, Yerry De Los Santos Agree To Minor League Deal

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Nov. 21: De Los Santos indeed signed a minor league deal with an invite to spring training, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post, further adding that the righty would earn $900K upon making the roster. De Los Santos also has out clauses in the deal on June 1 and July 1.

Nov. 20: The Yankees have an agreement with reliever Yerry De Los Santos, his representatives at Epitome Sports Management announced on Instagram. While the agency didn’t specify the terms, it’s very likely a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training.

De Los Santos became a free agent two weeks ago after he went unclaimed on waivers. That ended his career-long tenure with the Pirates. The righty signed with Pittsburgh as an amateur in 2014. He got to the big leagues eight years later, tossing 25 2/3 innings of 4.91 ERA ball as a rookie. He took on a similar workload this past season, tallying 24 1/3 frames over 26 MLB appearances.

The 25-year-old (26 next month) turned in a 3.33 ERA for the Bucs this year. That’s a solid mark on the surface but comes with an underwhelming strikeout and walk profile. He handed out free passes at a 12.5% clip while punching out a well below-average 17.3% of batters faced. De Los Santos had only slightly better strikeout and walk numbers in Triple-A, where he was tagged for a 6.12 ERA over 25 innings.

That combination of middling control and a subpar whiff rate led teams to opt against devoting him a 40-man roster spot when he hit waivers. He’s a sensible target for the Yankees as a non-roster addition, however. New York tends to prioritize ground-ball arms in the late innings. They’ve led the majors in ground-ball percentage from their relief corps in consecutive seasons.

De Los Santos fits the mold. He relies primarily on a sinker that averaged 95 MPH at the big league level. That has resulted in a grounder rate north of 53% in his MLB career. (The league average for relievers sat at 43.6% this year.) De Los Santos has a pair of minor league options remaining. If he cracks the MLB roster, the Yankees could move him between the Bronx and Triple-A without exposing him to waivers.

Red Sox Hire Andrew Bailey As Pitching Coach

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Nov. 21: The Red Sox have now formally announced the hiring of Bailey as their new pitching coach.

Nov. 14: The Red Sox are close to an agreement with Andrew Bailey to become the team’s new pitching coach, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (X link). Assuming the deal is completed, the 39-year-old will head back to a place where he pitched from 2012-13.

Bailey’s stint in the Sox’s bullpen overlapped with that of Boston’s first-year chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. The two-time All-Star pitched parts of eight seasons from 2009-17 before moving into the coaching ranks. He spent two years with the Angels before taking over as Giants pitching coach going into 2020. Bailey held that role in San Francisco for four seasons.

Along the way, he quickly built a reputation as one of the game’s better pitching minds. The Mets attempted to interview Bailey for a bench coach vacancy in 2022, but the Giants refused permission. His contract expired at the end of the ’23 campaign, however. Bailey has looked for opportunities closer to his home in the Northeast. He attracted interest from the Marlins and interviewed for the bench coach vacancy with the Yankees yesterday. The Giants subsequently tabbed Bryan Price when it became clear Bailey wasn’t returning to the Bay Area.

Bailey will replace Dave Bush, who was dismissed as Sox’s pitching coach at the beginning of the offseason. He takes over a staff that isn’t too dissimilar from the ones he managed in San Francisco. The Giants had a very flexible approach to pitcher usage, frequently deploying openers and bullpen games around top starter Logan Webb (who developed into a high-end arm during Bailey’s tenure). Boston has a number of talented multi-inning arms but is lacking in certainty on the starting staff.

Brayan Bello tailed off in the second half. Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck have flashed but generally found more success in relief. Nick Pivetta has been inconsistent, although he’s coming off the most dominant few months of his career to close the 2023 campaign. Chris Sale has battled myriad injury issues. Breslow and his front office will surely bring in more stability with a veteran addition or two. They’ll hope Bailey can help coax another level out of their in-house options.

MLBTR Poll: Should The Twins Trade Kyle Farmer?

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The Twins are reportedly planning to scale back payroll into the $125-140MM range — below the approximate $154MM mark at which they opened the 2023 season. That has naturally led to trade speculation involving a handful of veteran players on the roster.

Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco are perhaps Minnesota’s most desirable realistic trade candidates. Set for respective $10MM and $10.5MM salaries, they’re each above-average regulars who would clearly be of interest to other teams. While they’re both viable possibilities, it’d perhaps be an easier sell for the front office to part with Kyle Farmer. He’s not as impactful offensively and has only spent one year in the Twin Cities — in contrast to Polanco and Kepler, career-long members of the organization who have been with the team for more than a decade.

It is somewhat surprising that Farmer is still on the roster. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the utility infielder for a $6.6MM salary in his final season of arbitration. That made him a non-tender candidate. Dan Hayes of the Athletic wrote two weeks ago that Minnesota was exploring trade options on Farmer, which seemed to suggest they could simply move on if they didn’t line up a swap before last Friday’s non-tender deadline.

That didn’t end up being the case. Now that Minnesota has tendered Farmer a contract, he’s set for a payday that could land in the $6-7MM range. That doesn’t preclude the front office from continuing to explore trade options. Minnesota’s infield depth still leads to questions about how they should proceed.

Royce Lewis and Edouard Julien had excellent showings in the final few months. Lewis has clearly claimed the everyday third base job so long as he’s healthy. Julien is stretched defensively at second base but hit .263/.381/.459 through his first 408 MLB plate appearances. Polanco is one of the better bat-first middle infielders in the league. Even if the Twins wanted to get Julien more at-bats as the designated hitter, a starting infield of Alex Kirilloff, Polanco, Carlos Correa and Lewis has significant upside.

Everyone in that group aside from Julien has a notable injury history as well. The front office surely feels better about it if it’s backed up by a utility player of Farmer’s caliber. At the same time, there’s an argument the Twins have bigger needs. They could look for a right-handed hitting first base/DH to complement the lefty-swinging Kirilloff and Julien. Sonny Gray’s expected free agent departure thins the rotation. They may need to re-sign or replace Michael A. Taylor given the likelihood they’ll need to manage Byron Buxton’s reps in center field.

Farmer, acquired from the Reds last offseason, had a solid year. His .256/.317/.408 batting line over 369 plate appearances was league average. The righty-swinging Farmer produced a .289/.352/.430 showing when holding the platoon advantage, a nice boost for a Minnesota team that was far better against right-handed pitching overall. Farmer started 20+ games at each of second base, third base and shortstop.

Switch-hitting Willi Castro offers similar defensive versatility. He has neutral platoon splits for his career but was quite a bit more productive against right-handers this past season. While Castro could play a utility role, he’s likely an offensive downgrade from Farmer — particularly against southpaws.

That the Twins didn’t non-tender Farmer indicates they’re not going to simply give him away. The front office feels there’s some amount of surplus value. The trade offers for one season of a 33-year-old utilityman projected for a near-$7MM salary aren’t going to be overwhelming. A dreadful free agent middle infield class works in Minnesota’s favor somewhat by limiting the alternatives for teams in need, but it’s not going to result in a dramatically better prospect return. The primary motivation of a trade from the Twins’ perspective would still be about reallocating salary.

Is that worthwhile for Minnesota? Should they deal Farmer to open some spending room while recouping a mid-tier prospect?

(poll link for app users)

Should The Twins Trade Kyle Farmer?
Yes. 63.17% (2,252 votes)
No. 36.83% (1,313 votes)
Total Votes: 3,565

 

Yankees, Giants Expected To Pursue Jung Hoo Lee

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South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is one of the more intriguing players who’ll be available in this year’s free agent class. The Kiwoom Heroes will make him available to MLB teams via the posting system at some point in the next few weeks.

In an appearance on the MLB Network this afternoon, Jon Morosi suggested the Yankees and Giants are likely to pursue Lee once his free agency opens (X link). It’s not surprising that either team would have interest. Previous reports have indicated San Francisco and New York had done scouting work on Lee during his run in the Korea Baseball Organization. He fits the profile that both teams are known to be targeting this winter.

Lee, 25, is a left-handed hitting center fielder. A hit-over-power offensive player, Lee posted an OPS north of .900 in each season between 2020-22. He won the KBO MVP award with a .349/.421/.575 showing in ’22 but had a disappointing platform year. Lee’s power production plummeted; he hit only six home runs while slugging .455 over 86 games and 387 trips to the plate. His season ended in July when a left ankle injury required surgery. That came with an estimated three month rehab process, so it’s not expected to affect his availability for Spring Training.

While that’s clearly not the season Lee envisioned preceding his jump to the majors, he’ll still be a target for various teams. He’s atypically young for a free agent. Evaluators praise his pure contact skills and strike zone awareness, although there could be some division among teams about whether he projects as an MLB center fielder. Lee’s fringe power would be more alarming if a club feels he’s a better defensive fit in the corner outfield.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters at the GM Meetings they’d like to add two outfielders — ideally ones who hit from the left side. Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has suggested that adding athleticism to their outfield is an offseason priority. Not coincidentally, those clubs are generally speculated as strong fits for Cody Bellinger. Lee is a riskier bet without a body of work against big league pitching but isn’t going to approach Bellinger’s contract.

Of course, there’ll be more teams involved once the posting process gets underway. The Padres have previously been tied to Lee, while teams like the Mariners, Nationals and Royals make sense on paper. Seattle needs corner outfield help and is looking for high-contact hitters. Washington and Kansas City have short-term uncertainty in the outfield and could view Lee as a candidate for a free agent strike as they look to pull out of rebuilds. Given his youth, he’d align better with their competitive timelines than would most free agents.

Josh Donaldson Open To Playing Another Season

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Josh Donaldson returned to free agency at season’s end. The veteran third baseman had finished out the year with the Brewers after being released by the Yankees in late August.

The 2015 AL MVP tells Josh Wegman of The Score that he’s open to a return for what would be his age-38 season. A potential 14th big league campaign would seemingly be his last, as Donaldson indicated he’d be unlikely to continue into 2025.

“If it’s a situation that I feel (comfortable in) then I’m definitely up for playing one more year,” Donaldson told Wegman. “But I think after this upcoming season, that would be my last season no matter what. I would like to play one more year and go out on a good note and then that’d be it.”

Donaldson isn’t going to be a priority target for teams coming off the worst season of his career. He had hit .142/.225/.434 in 34 games for the Yankees. Donaldson had a pair of lengthy injured list stints, losing time to hamstring and calf injuries. His production in Milwaukee was slightly improved but still below average. Over 17 contests with the Brew Crew, he managed a .169/.290/.390 showing. He finished the year with a bizarre .152/.249/.418 batting line over 189 plate appearances. A staggering 13 of his 25 hits for the season were home runs.

While he still brings some power potential from the right-handed batter’s box, Donaldson’s offense has skewed toward an extreme three true outcomes approach. He surely won’t repeat a .115 batting average on balls in play, but he’s also striking out more than he did earlier in his career.

In July, Donaldson acknowledged some uncertainty about playing beyond 2023. He’s apparently now willing to do so, although it’s possible he’d be particular about a destination. Donaldson understandably didn’t seem enthused about the idea of signing with a non-competitive team. At the same time, he indicated the calculus for competitiveness would be his subjective perception of a team’s chances as opposed to general consensus.

“For me to believe that the team has a chance to contend, I wouldn’t say that everybody has to have the thought of that team contending,” Donaldson said. “I would definitely want to feel like the team has a chance to win.”

It isn’t clear if he’d have any appetite for a minor league deal if no team were willing to guarantee him a roster spot. Donaldson’s contract with the Brewers was a non-roster deal, but Milwaukee called him up after five tune-up games in Triple-A.

Matt Chapman is the headliner of this winter’s free agent third base class. Jeimer Candelario is the clear #2 option, while Justin Turner and Evan Longoria are veteran righty hitters who could rotate through the corner infield and designated hitter. Gio Urshela has a chance at a two-year deal. Brian Anderson, Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Escobar are among the depth options.

Guardians, Padres Swap Scott Barlow, Enyel De Los Santos

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The Guardians announced they’ve acquired reliever Scott Barlow from the Padres. Fellow reliever Enyel De Los Santos is back to San Diego in a one-for-one swap. Cleveland also announced they’ve signed outfielder Ramón Laureano to a one-year contract to avoid arbitration. Zack Meisel of the Athletic reports (on X) that Laureano will make $5.15MM next season.

Barlow has spent the majority of his career in the AL Central. The right-hander reached the big leagues with the Royals in 2018. He logged five and a half seasons in Kansas City, where he was one of the game’s more quietly effective bullpen arms. Barlow turned in a sub-3.00 ERA over 74 1/3 innings in consecutive seasons from 2021-22. That excellent run prevention took a step back this year, as he carried a 5.35 mark through 38 2/3 frames at the time of the trade deadline.

The Royals swapped Barlow to San Diego last summer. While he’d been working as Kansas City’s closer, he stepped into a setup role in deference to Josh Hader at Petco Park. Barlow made 25 appearances for the Friars down the stretch, pitching to a 3.07 ERA. While Barlow was effective, he became a trade candidate yet again as rumors of payroll constraints in San Diego arose.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Barlow for a $7.1MM salary in what’ll be his final year of arbitration control. While that’s decent value for an effective reliever, the Padres are reportedly aiming to cut spending (potentially by as much as $50MM). Moving a non-closing reliever is one of the less impactful ways for San Diego to clear spending room, although it’s another hit to a bullpen that also stands to lose Hader to free agency.

It’s rare for the low-payroll Guardians to find themselves on this side of a trade of that nature. Cleveland tends to deal away players as they’re nearing free agency. The Guards jumped on the opportunity to add a high-quality reliever to join Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges as a leverage bridge to star closer Emmanuel Clase.

To offset the loss of Barlow, San Diego brings back a more affordable short-term bullpen piece. De Los Santos had a nice 2023 campaign, pitching 70 times and working to a 3.29 ERA through 65 2/3 innings. The righty, 28 next month, had an average 23.7% strikeout rate and walked 9.5% of opposing hitters.

It was his second straight year with an ERA in the low 3.00s. Since signing a minor league deal over the 2021-22 offseason, he has turned in a 3.18 ERA over 119 frames. De Los Santos worked in mostly low-leverage situations but had pitched his way into the middle innings during his second season in Terry Francona’s bullpen.

De los Santos, who spent some time in the Padres system early in his minor league career, has between three and four years of MLB service. He will be eligible for arbitration for the next three years. Swartz forecasts him for an affordable $1.2MM this winter, meaning the deal should save San Diego roughly $6MM in the short term.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marlins Acquire Vidal Brujan, Calvin Faucher From Rays

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The Marlins announced the acquisition of utility player Vidal Bruján and right-hander Calvin Faucher from the Rays. Miami is sending minor league infielder Erick Lara, right-hander Andrew Lindsey and a player to be named later to Tampa Bay. The Fish already had three openings on the 40-man roster, so no further moves were necessary.

Bruján is the biggest name in the deal. While the switch-hitting utilityman has yet to find much major league success, he was once a top prospect. The Dominican Republic native was a top 10 prospect in a strong Rays system at Baseball America each year from 2019-22. He ranked in the back half of BA’s top 100 overall minor league talents throughout that run.

Praised for his speed, bat-to-ball skills and defensive flexibility, Bruján fit the general profile that Tampa Bay prioritizes. Despite excellent minor league production, he never got much consistent run at the MLB level with the Rays. Bruján struggled when he did see relatively brief stints at the highest level in the last three seasons.

In 272 MLB plate appearances, the 25-year-old is a .157/.218/.221 hitter with three home runs. He has been far better at Triple-A Durham, hitting .273/.357/.450 over parts of three seasons. That includes a .272/.362/.477 slash with 10 home runs and 19 stolen bases (albeit with 14 times caught stealing) over 59 games for the Bulls this year.

Bruján has exhausted his minor league option years, so he’ll have to stick on the MLB roster next season. A Tampa Bay team deep in infield talent may not have been able to afford that opportunity, so they’ll clear a 40-man roster spot early in the offseason. Miami has a bit less bench depth and is without a clear answer at shortstop, where Jon Berti projects as the starter. While Bruján is unlikely to get an everyday job, he can play either middle infield position, any outfield spot, and has experience at third base.

Faucher, 28, had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. He’s now traded for the second time in his career. The former Twins draftee went to the Rays at the 2021 deadline in the Nelson Cruz/Joe Ryan swap. He debuted with Tampa Bay in 2022 and has pitched in 39 big league contests (four starts) over the past two seasons.

The results haven’t been great. Faucher owns a 6.32 ERA in 47 MLB innings. His 20.8% strikeout rate and 10% walk percentage are each a little worse than average. The UC Irvine product throws in the mid-90s and has a cutter, sweeper and curveball in his offspeed repertoire. He owns an excellent 2.75 ERA in 72 Triple-A innings over three years, striking out 29.4% of batters faced at that level.

Faucher still has one option year remaining, so the Marlins can move him between Miami and Triple-A Jacksonville for another season. It’s the second straight year in which the Fish acquired a reliever and a former top infield prospect from Tampa Bay. Last November, the sides lined up on the Xavier Edwards/JT Chargois deal. That was orchestrated by previous Miami general manager Kim Ng. Miami’s first-year president of baseball operations Peter Bendix was working in the Rays’ front office for that trade. One of his first transactions leading the Marlins is to bring in a pair of players with whom he’s familiar from their in-state rivals.

In return, Tampa Bay picks up a pair of prospects (and likely a third) who are nowhere near occupying 40-man roster spots — common practice as they churn the roster for future talent. Lara is a 17-year-old shortstop who recently signed out of the Dominican Republic. Baseball America’s Ben Badler wrote in May that he could stick at shortstop depending on his 6’2″ frame fills out. He’s a left-handed hitter.

Lindsey was a fifth-round pick this past summer out of Tennessee. The 6’3″ hurler pitched to a 2.90 ERA in 71 1/3 innings during his junior season for the Volunteers. He struck out nearly a quarter of opponents against a modest 6.4% walk rate. He turned 24 this week. BA wrote in his draft report that he sits in the mid-90s with a sinker and has a high-80s slider as his top secondary pitch.

Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported the Marlins were acquiring Bruján and Faucher.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Austin Dean Re-Signs With KBO’s LG Twins

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Outfielder Austin Dean re-signed with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization this week (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). He’ll receive a $300K signing bonus, an $800K salary and up to $200K in incentives.

Dean will stick with the KBO’s defending champions for a second season. The right-handed hitter signed with the Seoul-based Twins last December. He had a strong year against KBO pitching, connecting on 23 home runs in 139 games. Dean ran a .314/.376/.517 slash line through 583 trips to the plate.

A fourth-round draftee of the Marlins in 2012, Dean has played parts of five seasons at the big league level. The bulk of that time came with Miami between 2018-19. He picked up sporadic reps with the Cardinals and Giants over the subsequent three seasons. Dean hit .228/.286/.390 over 365 plate appearances against big league arms.

Dean joined pitchers Casey Kelly and Adam Plutko as foreign players on the Twins’ roster in 2023. Kelly and Plutko are back in free agency. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported this week that Plutko was looking to make it back to MLB after two seasons with the Twins. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweeted on Tuesday that Kelly could be on major league teams’ radars as well.

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