charliewilmoth | MLB Trade Rumors

Padres Designate Tim Federowicz

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 2:29pm CDT

The Padres have designated catcher Tim Federowicz for assignment, Corey Brock of MLB.com tweets. Federowicz was completing a rehab assignment for a meniscus tear that has cost him the entire season so far. He was out of options, and the Padres evidently decided they were happy with Derek Norris and Austin Hedges at catcher, so as Federowicz approached full health, the Padres were forced to a decision.

Federowicz, 27, has a career .194/.247/.300 line in parts of four big-league seasons, all with the Dodgers. He does, however, have a good defensive reputation. The Dodgers sent him south last December in the Matt Kemp / Yasmani Grandal trade.

Drew Pomeranz Changes Agents

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 2:25pm CDT

Athletics pitcher Drew Pomeranz is changing agents to CAA Sports, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets. The 26-year-old Pomeranz will be arbitration eligible for the first time in the coming winter.

The lefty currently has a 4.04 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 64 2/3 innings split between starting and relieving. Those numbers are roughly in line with his career numbers in parts of five seasons split between Colorado and Oakland.

C.J. Wilson Likely Out For Season

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 12:54pm CDT

Angels starter C.J. Wilson believes he might be out for the season, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez (Twitter links). The Angels had previously announced that the results of a recent MRI showed left elbow impingement secondary to arthritis. Wilson says he has bone spurs in his elbow that have expanded. As Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets, the bone spurs have been an issue for several months, but Wilson is now opting for surgery because of a decreased range of motion and an increased risk of injury to his shoulder.

Wilson had similar surgery following the 2012 season and returned to pitch 212 1/3 good innings in 2013. (He also had surgery for the issue late in 2008.) Still, the news is unfortunate for the Angels. Shaikin tweets that Wilson informed the Angels before the trade deadline that he would likely need surgery, so they had enough time to make a deal if they wanted to. They did not, however, perhaps figuring that they already had enough depth — they currently have Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Hector Santiago and Andrew Heaney in their rotation, with Jered Weaver set to return soon from a hip injury.

The 34-year-old Wilson has had an effective season with the Angels, with a 3.89 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 132 innings. He’s making $18MM in 2015 and will make $20MM next year before the expiration of the five-year, $77MM deal he signed prior to the 2012 season.

Deadline Reactions: Winners, Losers, Top Prospects

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 11:33am CDT

Here’s a roundup of recaps from yesterday’s trade deadline.

The Blue Jays and Royals are the biggest winners of last month’s trades, while the Padres are the biggest losers, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman writes. All three choices were probably fairly easy ones, with the Blue Jays landing Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, the Royals grabbing Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist, and the Padres mostly standing pat. Further down both lists is where things get interesting, though — Heyman notes that the Phillies and Athletics did well in their trades of veterans, and that the Dodgers should have done better than Mat Latos and Alex Wood for all the payroll they’re taking on.
The Astros, Royals, Phillies and Tigers, among other teams, deserve credit for their deadline deals, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan writes. The Padres, meanwhile, did poorly. To expect the Padres to make the playoffs at this point “borders on lunacy,” Passan writes.
Nine of the top 100 prospects in baseball changed teams at the deadline, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes. Daniel Norris (headed from the Blue Jays to the Tigers in the David Price trade) tops the list followed by Brett Phillips (from the Astros to the Brewers in the Carlos Gomez deal) and Jose Peraza (who went from the Braves to the Dodgers in the Mat Latos deal). Callis’ take on the Dodgers’ 13-player trade is quite different from Heyman’s — Callis writes that the Dodgers got plenty of big-league help in the deal while also getting a very impressive prospect in Peraza.
Prospects among MLB’s top 50 include Norris, Phillips, Peraza, Hector Olivera (who went from the Dodgers to the Braves), Jeff Hoffman (Blue Jays to Rockies in the Troy Tulowitzki deal) and Jake Thompson (Rangers to Phillies in the Cole Hamels deal), J.J. Cooper of Baseball America writes.

NL East Notes: Mets, Amaro, Braves

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 10:58am CDT

The Mets did well with their series of trades before yesterday’s deadline, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin writes. The addition of Yoenis Cespedes significantly improves the Mets’ offense, and while the Mets did give up a fair amount of pitching talent (particularly Michael Fulmer), they have plenty of good young starting pitching and were trading from depth. Here are more quick notes from the NL East.

After the collapse of their trade for Carlos Gomez, Friday couldn’t have worked out better for Sandy Alderson and the Mets, David Lennon of Newsday writes. Not making a deal could have resulted in a “public relations catastrophe,” which the Mets avoided by turning their attention to Jay Bruce and then to Cespedes, finally making a trade right before the deadline.
In Philadelphia, meanwhile, Mike Sielski of the Inquirer wonders whether Ruben Amaro might have saved his job with his performance in the Cole Hamels trade. The Phillies got three top prospects in Nick Williams, Jake Thompson and Jorge Alfaro as part of their return for their ace. “In this day and age, teams are much more willing to dole out money than they are prospects,” says Amaro. “The value of the prospects has increased dramatically. I’ve had to make a personal adjustment on that, to understand that a bit better and make the adjustment there. I think we did that with this deal.” Sielski writes that it was also striking that Amaro was the one speaking to the media, and Pat Gillick and Andy MacPhail weren’t present.
One player who wasn’t traded yesterday was Braves outfielder Jonny Gomes, and he wants to remain in Atlanta, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution writes. Gomes also isn’t ruling out that the Braves can contend this year, even after trading a number of players (including Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Alex Wood, Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson and Bronson Arroyo) near the deadline. “In 2012, Oakland A’s were 14 1/2 games back in mid-August, and we were in first place for the last four innings of the season,” says Gomes. “[I]ndividual accountability, how we’ve got to play the game — that doesn’t change.”

Blue Jays Designate Danny Valencia, Ezequiel Carerra

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 9:14am CDT

The Blue Jays have designated 3B/OF Danny Valencia and outfielder Ezequiel Carrera for assignment, Scott MacArthur of TSN tweets. The Jays also recalled middle infielder Munenori Kawasaki and optioned righty Ryan Tepera. The moves were likely made so that the team could add newcomers Ben Revere and Mark Lowe to their active roster, although those moves haven’t yet been announced.

Valencia, 30, is in the midst of a strong offensive season, hitting .296/.331/.506 in 173 plate appearances. With Devon Travis on the DL, though, the Jays were short in the middle infield, so Kawasaki will join the team instead. It’s still a bit surprising that the Jays would designate Valencia, however, given that the addition of Lowe will leave them with 13 pitchers on their staff. Valencia is making just $1.68MM this year, and he could become an attractive target in a trade or on the waiver wire, given his strong hitting this season (even if it’s somewhat out of character) and his ability to hit lefties and play third base, first base and outfield. He has also appeared in three games at second for the Jays this year. Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos says he expects Valencia will be claimed, as Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets.

Carerra, 28, was batting .279/.327/.374 in 164 plate appearances this year. He became somewhat superfluous, however, with the Jays’ trade for fellow lefty hitter Revere. Carrera is a career .259/.311/.349 hitter in parts of five seasons also spent with the Indians, Phillies and Tigers.

Reactions To The Padres’ Decision Not To Sell

By charliewilmoth | August 1, 2015 at 8:41am CDT

Despite being 50-53 and an afterthought in the playoff race, the Padres surprisingly opted not to sell at the trade deadline yesterday. Here more on what they did, or didn’t do.

One of the most discussed aspects of the Padres’ decision not to sell was that they asked the Diamondbacks for Paul Goldschmidt in return for Craig Kimbrel, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes. D-backs GM mentioned the Goldschmidt discussion on KTAR-AM and clarified it later. The Diamondbacks, of course, couldn’t reject the deal fast enough. “[W]e don’t talk about Goldy in any deals and no team has approached me in the almost year that I’ve been here about Goldy, so I was kind of shocked to hear that,” said Stewart. “Like I said, I don’t know if there was sincerity in it, but, yeah, the name did come up.” Piecoro notes that the Padres deny the request was serious, and it surely wasn’t. As FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel tweeted yesterday, it’s not uncommon for GMs to make wild offers. What is perhaps uncommon is for other GMs to reveal them. What the Goldschmidt discussion might suggest, though, is that the Padres were not particularly interested in trading Kimbrel.
There are a number of hypotheses as to why A.J. Preller and the Padres decided not to sell, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes. “They never knew what they really wanted,” says a rival executive. It would take a brilliant stretch run for the Padres to make the playoffs, and they’ll be in a tough spot — they won’t have gotten anything (except a draft pick) for free agents like Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy and Will Venable, and they’ll still be on the hook for Kimbrel, James Shields, Matt Kemp and Melvin Upton, who will be so expensive collectively that they might have trouble making other moves to get better. They’re putting themselves in a difficult position, and Stark writes that the other teams are mystified by what they’re doing.
The Yankees were willing to give up shortstop prospect Jorge Mateo and to take on at least part of the Jedd Gyorko contract in order to acquire Kimbrel, but the Padres declined, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets. Gyorko is in the midst of a second consecutive disappointing season and has $33MM remaining on his contract beyond 2015, so such a move would likely have helped position the Padres for the future. Mateo, meanwhile, ranks third on MLB.com’s list of the Yankees’ top prospects, earning praise for his outstanding speed in particular. He has a ridiculous 70 stolen bases and a .271/.341/.379 line at Class A Charleston this season.
It might also been seen as strange that, given the Padres’ decision not to sell, they also didn’t really buy, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune points out. They only added Indians reliever Marc Rzepczynski. “You have a lot of teams that are in the hunt,” says Preller. “That makes it harder for teams to really look at moving a lot of their pieces, because I think a lot of people, rightfully so, think they’re in contention.” One might think, though, that such conditions might make the more obvious route of selling even more attractive. “We were working through all different scenarios to try to add the club and other scenarios in which other teams were asking about our guys,” says Preller. “Ultimately, we didn’t feel like we got the value that we wanted to get to.”
Unsurprisingly, Padres players and management seem excited the team didn’t move any of its top players, as MLB.com’s Corey Brock reports. “It’s a relief,” says Justin Upton. “I think just the sense around the clubhouse is that this front office wants this group, so we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that they didn’t make the wrong decision.”

Reactions To The Cole Hamels Trade

By charliewilmoth | July 31, 2015 at 10:42pm CDT

In the days leading up to the trade deadline, the Phillies finally traded ace Cole Hamels, sending him with Jake Diekman and cash to Texas for pitcher Matt Harrison, top catching prospect Jorge Alfaro, outfielder Nick Williams, and young pitchers Jake Thompson, Alec Asher and Jerad Eickhoff. Here’s a roundup of reactions to one of the week’s biggest deals.

The Giants came very close to acquring Hamels — so close, in fact, that Hamels waived his no-trade rights to allow the Phillies to trade him to San Francisco, as Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweets.
The Phillies got a strong return for Hamels, Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com writes. Alfaro looks like the key to the deal for Philadelphia, but the Phillies also got interesting pieces in Thompson and Williams, and they actually can use Harrison as well, even though he’s in the deal partially to offset Hamels’ salary.
Philadelphia got “quantity and quality” in the Hamels trade, says MLB.com’s Jim Callis (video link). Callis says Thompson’s slider is, at its best, one of the top sliders in the minors, and Williams has great bat speed and has dramatically improved his plate discipline. Alfaro needs to improve his polish in some areas, but he has terrific tools, including his arm strength.
The Phillies could continue trading in August, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. Chase Utley could be a candidate to be dealt, assuming his injured ankle heals and he waives his no-trade privileges. Aaron Harang and Jeff Francoeur are possibilities as well.

Trade Deadline Roundup: NL West

By charliewilmoth | July 31, 2015 at 10:04pm CDT

Here’s how the NL West fared in the days leading to the trade deadline this afternoon.

The Rockies only really made one move, but it was a big one — they traded star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins to the Blue Jays for shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco.
The Dodgers acquired pitcher Mat Latos, 1B/OF Michael Morse, infielder Jose Peraza, and pitcher Alex Wood, Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson and Bronson Arroyo in a complex 13-player deal with the Braves and Marlins. As part of the deal, they sent infielder Hector Olivera and pitchers Paco Rodriguez and Zachary Bird to Atlanta, also sending pitchers Kevin Guzman, Jeff Brigham and Victor Araujo to Miami. They then designated Morse, Brandon Beachy, Chris Heisey and Chin-hui Tsao for assignment, and shipped Morse and cash to the Pirates for outfielder Jose Tabata. They also lost reliever Preston Guilmet via a waiver claim.
The Giants acquired veteran righty Mike Leake from the Reds for pitching prospect Keury Mella and infielder Adam Duvall. They also lost reliever Jean Machi via a waiver claim and designated infielder Joaquin Arias for assignment.
Despite their 50-53 record, the Padres declined to sell at the deadline, instead acquiring reliever Marc Rzepcyznski from the Indians for outfielder Abraham Almonte and doing little else.
The Diamondbacks, too, were very quiet at the deadline, though they were connected in trade rumors to Reds closer Aroldis Chapman, who remains in Cincinnati. In a minor move, the the D-backs traded pitcher J.C. Ramirez to the Mariners.

Trade Deadline Roundup: NL Central

By charliewilmoth | July 31, 2015 at 9:21pm CDT

Here’s what happened in the NL Central in the week leading to the trade deadline this afternoon.

As expected, the last-place Brewers were very active as sellers. They sent star center fielder Carlos Gomez, starting pitcher Mike Fiers and international bonus spending rights to Houston for outfielders Domingo Santana and Brett Phillips, along with pitchers Adrian Houser and Josh Hader. They also shipped outfielder Gerardo Parra to the Orioles for pitching prospect Zach Davies, and they sent reliever Jonathan Broxton and cash to the Cardinals for outfielder Malik Collymore. Last week, they dealt veteran third baseman Aramis Ramirez and cash to the Pirates for pitcher Yhonathan Barrios. They also claimed reliever Preston Guilmet from the Dodgers.
The Reds also sold, trading starting pitchers in two high-profile deals. They sent Johnny Cueto to the Royals, getting lefties Brandon Finnegan, Jake Lamb and Cody Reed in return. They also shipped Mike Leake to the Giants for pitcher Keury Mella and infielder Adam Duvall. Finally, they outrighted Chris Dominguez.
The first-place Cardinals addressed their bullpen by getting Broxton in the aforementioned trade with Milwaukee, and by acquiring Steve Cishek from the Marlins for pitcher Kyle Barraclough. They also acquired 1B/OF Brandon Moss from the Indians for pitching prospect Rob Kaminsky, and they designated first baseman Dan Johnson and pitcher Marcus Hatley for assignment.
The Pirates received Ramirez in the aforementioned trade with the Brewers to shore up an injury-ravaged infield. They acquired lefty starter J.A. Happ from the Mariners for pitcher Adrian Sampson, and reliever Joakim Soria from the Tigers for infielder JaCoby Jones. They also got first baseman Michael Morse from the Dodgers for outfielder Jose Tabata, and veteran pitcher Joe Blanton from the Royals for cash. Finally, they designated relievers Deolis Guerra and Vance Worley for assignment; outrighted infielders Brent Morel, Steve Lombardozzi and Justin Sellers; and traded minor league pitcher Jayson Aquino to the Indians for cash considerations.
The Cubs acquired veteran starter Dan Haren from the Marlins for shortstop Elliot Soto and righty Ivan Pineyro. They also sent outfielder Junior Lake to the Orioles for reliever Tommy Hunter. In more minor moves, they designated pitcher Ben Rowen and outfielder Mike Baxter for assignment, and they released Edwin Jackson.

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