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Dodgers Acquire Jedd Gyorko

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3:33pm: Southpaw Tony Cingrani is heading to St. Louis, likely for salary relief (as he’s out for the year), along with righty Jeffry Abreu. The Dodgers also obtain international spending capacity and cash considerations in unannounced amounts.

2:15pm: The Dodgers have struck a deal to add infielder Jedd Gyorko from the Cardinals, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The return isn’t yet known.

Gyorko, 30, is playing on a $13MM salary this year ($5MM of which is still property of the Padres) and comes with a $13MM option ($1MM buyout) for next season. It’s not clear whether the Dodgers will be stepping into the full obligation.

Though he’s currently on the injured list, Gyorko is expected back in relatively short order. He’s on the 60-day injured list at present, which means the Dodgers don’t have to open a 40-man roster spot for him.

The Dodgers certainly have a wide array of players that fit Gyorko’s general description as a multi-positional player with a nice track record at the plate. But several of those players are currently dealing with injury issues, so the L.A. brass obviously decided to snag another.

Gyorko will be looking for a bounce back when he arrives with his new team. He hasn’t seen much action this year but has struggled when he has been available. But he was a consistent hitter over the prior three seasons in St. Louis, carrying a cumulative .259/.331/.463 batting line with 61 total long balls.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

D-Backs To Acquire Mike Leake

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The Diamondbacks have worked out a last-minute deal for Mariners righty Mike Leake, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Infield prospect Jose Caballero is going to Seattle in return, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Arizona is taking on only $6MM of Leake’s remaining obligations, according to John Gambadoro of ArizonaSports.com.

It’s been a precipitous drop for the 31-year-old Leake, who’s now accrued nearly 1,800 big-league innings since debuting straight from Arizona State in 2010. Leake’s walk and strikeout rates have remained mostly intact, but he hasn’t been able to withstand the league-wide homer onslaught this season, having allowed an easily-career-high 1.71 per nine in 137 IP thus far. His average fastball velocity’s cratered to a career-worst 88.3 MPH, though the always-crafty mix-and-match artist has adjusted: his cutter and changeup, long his go-to out pitches, have each seen an uptick in usage, with the former being deployed nearly 27% of the time at current.

Leake’s park-adjusted peripherals still place firmly in the fourth/fifth starter range – thanks mostly to a string of sterling outings in the latter half of this month – and his presence should stabilize the back half of a Diamondbacks rotation that’s leaned heavily on the mostly ineffective arms of Taylor Clarke and Merrill Kelly of late. After the trade of Zack Greinke to the Astros, Leake will line up with the newly-acquired Zac Gallen, the still-here Robbie Ray, and some combination of Clarke, Kelly, and rookie Alex Young, whose peripherals lag far behind the 2.51 ERA he’s posted in his first six big-league outings.

It’s perhaps a bit chastening for the M’s, who acquired the righty from the Cardinals in a now-defunct August swap two seasons ago, to recoup only $6MM from the some $25MM remaining (through 2020) on the his deal. Caballero, 22, didn’t assert himself as a top organizational prospect for the Snakes, so the swap mostly seems centered around the marginal amount saved and opportunity for the club to insert a young hurler, perhaps lefty Justus Sheffield, into its rotation for the remainder of ’19. Righty Matt Wisler, acquired after being designated for assignment by San Diego, should also be afforded a look: the one-time top prospect has finally flashed the bat-missing stuff that was so often absent from his repertoire in seasons past.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Wheeler, Vazquez, Bumgarner, Minor All Held At Deadline

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Though deals can and will still trickle in after the formal end of the MLB summer trade period, there are specific reports indicating that several top trade candidates will not be changing hands.

Diamondbacks Acquire Zac Gallen From Marlins For Jazz Chisholm

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2:10pm: The deal is now official.

1:48pm: The Diamondbacks and Marlins have reportedly struck a deal involving two intriguing young players. Righty Zac Gallen is going to Arizona and shortstop Jazz Chisholm heading to Miami in return, according to reports from Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link) and Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio (via Twitter).

Both of these players have gone in different directions in 2019, evidently meeting in the middle in a sense. Gallen, who’ll soon turn 24, was seen as a solid but unspectacular prospect. Chisholm was widely regarded as a top-100 pre-MLB player leaguewide.

Gallen, acquired as part of the Marcell Ozuna swap, opened eyes with a dominating romp through the International League to open the year. Even as others were mowed down by a opposing hitters, buoyed by a newly long-flying baseball, Gallen carried a 1.77 ERA with 11.0 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 through 14 starts.

It was still fair to wonder whether the relatively un-hyped hurler would find success at the MLB level. On the whole, his first seven starts have been a big success. He has allowed just 11 earned runs on 25 hits while recording 43 strikeouts and 18 walks. It seems Gallen’s stuff is playing just fine, as he’s generating a 12.1% swinging-strike rate.

As they sell at a relative high point on Gallen, the Marlins will buy at a low point on Chisholm. It’s not all that surprising to see the Miami club moving an arm for a position player, as the team has had greater success at transitioning its young hurlers to the majors. But taking a risk on Chisholm represents an interesting move.

Chisholm, a 21-year-old from the Bahamas, is lauded for his ability to stay at shortstop in the long term along with his upside at the plate. But he hasn’t quite followed upon his 25-homer 2018 campaign, which he polished off with a big run through the Arizona Fall League. Through 364 plate appearances this year at the Double-A level, Chisholm carries a .204/.305/.427 slash. While his walk rate is up to 11.3%, and he has popped 18 home runs and 13 steals, he’s also striking out at a worrying 33.8% clip.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Athletics Acquire Tanner Roark

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The Athletics have struck a deal to acquire righty Tanner Roark plus cash from the Reds, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Outfielder Jameson Hannah is headed to Cincinnati in return, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).  Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes that the Reds will pick up $2.1MM of Roark’s remaining salary, which looks to be a bit more than $3MM.  The trade is now official.  As is commonplace, Roark learned of the trade in an Arby’s parking lot.

Roark is earning $10MM this year before hitting free agency at season’s end. He was a clear trade candidate for a Cincinnati organization that is largely looking ahead to the 2020 campaign. The club’s recent acquisition of Trevor Bauer, combined with the recent return of Alex Wood, left a bit of a rotation overload even with Tyler Mahle hitting the injured list.

The Athletics have scrambled all season long to keep their own rotation afloat. Anticipated arrivals of a variety of injured, younger hurlers just haven’t happened yet. With the club competing hard for a Wild Card slot — if not a late dash for the division — there was a clear need for more starters, even after the prior acquisition of Homer Bailey (who has struggled in Oakland).

Roark, who’s closing in on his 33rd birthday, has taken a step back after a strong opening to the season. He’s now sitting on a 4.24 ERA through 110 1/3 innings on the year, with 8.8 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 1.14 HR/9, and 36.7% groundball rate in 110 1/3 innings.  Roark, a 25th round pick by the Rangers in 2008, joined the Nationals in 2010 as part of the Cristian Guzman trade.  He greatly exceeded expectations with the Nationals, logging 935 innings of 3.59 ball across six seasons.  2016 was a particular high point, as Roark finished 10th in the NL Cy Young voting.  The Reds picked him up in a December trade.

Soon to turn 22, Hannah was a second-round pick in the 2018 draft. He has been playing at the High-A level, where he carries a .284/.341/.381 batting line in 414 plate appearances. It seems his power will need to come around a bit, but he’s regarded as possessing a quality hit tool with an advanced approach.  Prior to the season, Baseball America considered Hannah a 50 grade prospect, citing a “sweet left-handed swing paired with plus athleticism and double-plus speed.”  BA sees Hannah as a strong defensive center fielder and likely big leaguer, making him a nice score for two months of Roark.  It appears the Reds were able to pick up most of the tab on Roark’s salary and extract a better prospect as a result.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nationals Acquire Daniel Hudson

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2:32pm: This deal is now official. Southpaw Jonny Venters goes on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

12:55pm: The Nationals have struck a deal to acquire righty Daniel Hudson, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN (Twitter link). Minor-league righty Kyle Johnston is going to Toronto in return, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).

Hudson, 32, emerged as a trade candidate after throwing 48 innings of 3.00 ERA ball for the Blue Jays this year. That’s a nice showing considering that Toronto added him late in camp on a minor-league deal with a $1.5MM base salary and $1.5MM in incentives.

Unfortunately, it’s questionable whether Hudson can sustain that effort down the stretch. He’s averaging a strikeout per inning, but has also handed out 4.3 walks per nine and has benefited from a .258 batting average on balls in play and 80.7% strand rate. While he’s still pumping 96, Hudson is also sitting at a 9.9% swinging-strike rate after topping twelve percent in each of the three prior seasons.

No doubt the Nats don’t expect Hudson to dominate so much as to provide serviceable innings. The club has not had enough of those to this point of the season, creating a need for multiple deadline additions. In all likelihood, Hudson is the first of one or more new relief arms who’ll come to DC in the next two hours.

The 23-year-old Johnston is a former sixth-round pick who’s said to hold some promise as a future reliever. He’s currently working at the High-A level, where he owns a 4.03 ERA in 105 innings with 8.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ken Giles Still “In Play” In Trade Talks

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12:53pm: The Yankees are “considering” Giles, Jon Heyman of the MLB Network tweets. New York lined up on a deadline deal with division-rival Toronto last season when acquiring J.A. Happ.

12:20pm: Blue Jays righty Ken Giles may not be at full health, but he’s still “in play” in trade talks, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). That seemed increasingly unlikely when it emerged yesterday that the closer had undergone a cortisone shot to treat an elbow issue.

The 28-year-old Giles was clearly among the game’s best trade candidates before his recent elbow woes arose. He’s earning a reasonable $6.3MM this year with another arbitration season left to go. Long known for his talent, Giles also had returned to producing exceptional on-field results to begin the 2019 campaign.

When he came to Toronto, Giles was a bounceback asset. He has done exactly that. In his 35 innings this season, he owns a 1.54 ERA with a hefty 14.9 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. Unlike many pitchers, Giles has successfully limited the long ball, allowing just a pair.

Teams considering an investment of this type want as much certainty as possible. In that regard, the elbow issues are worrying, even if they’ve been deemed non-structural.

That said, the upside is tremendous. Giles carries a monster 20.3% swinging-strike rate this year. He’s averaging 96.9 mph on his fastball, which is down from his peak but still strong. And Statcast thinks he has been a bit unlucky on batted-ball fortune, crediting him with an exceptional .232 xwOBA that’s quite a bit lower than his still-excellent .253 wOBA.

Braves, Nats Pursuing Shane Greene

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12:36pm: The Tigers are still insisting the Nats part with top prospect Carter Kieboom to move Greene, according to Morosi (Twitter link). It’s frankly difficult to imagine that asking price being met with the highly regarded Kieboom dominating Triple-A pitching at 21 years of age. That’s all the more true given that Kieboom could fit on the Nats’ 2020 roster (if not the late-2019 roster) in a variety of ways.

12:07pm: The Braves and Nationals are not just engaged in a key series at the moment. It seems they’re also each pushing for the same relief arms — in particular, Tigers righty Shane Greene.

The Atlanta and Washington organizations are “leaders in the clubhouse” to secure the services of Greene, according to Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). Talks between the Braves and Tigers have “intensified” recently, with Greene “the focus,” per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter).

Greene, 30, is earning a reasonable $4MM this year for the Tigers. That’s nothing for his 38 innings of 1.18 ERA ball and 22 saves, though rival organizations still need to assess whether that’s what they can expect moving forward from Greene, who’ll be eligible for arbitration a final time next year.

Clearly, nobody thinks he’ll be able to sustain that sort of pitching output. But there’s good reason to think that Greene is and will remain a quality late-inning piece. He’s carrying 10.2 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 with a 53.8% groundball rate, with an 11.1% swinging-strike rate that’s substantially better than his prior two seasons.

Blue Jays Fielding Interest In Aaron Sanchez

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The Blue Jays are generating a high volume of interest in righty Aaron Sanchez, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). With “lots of hits” on the 27-year-old, there’s now a “real chance he moves” today via trade.

While Sanchez has long featured as a possible trade candidate, it’s rather surprising to hear of this degree of interest at this stage. Sanchez has dealt with control problems and a variety of finger issues in recent years, changing his once-promising career trajectory.

This year, Sanchez carries an ugly 6.07 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 over 112 2/3 frames. It’s promising to see the innings tally — the highest since his excellent 2016 season — but not much to be encouraged about otherwise. Sanchez’s average fastball velocity is under 94 mph for the first time in his career. He’s still generating swinging strikes at only a 8.7% rate, with a groundball rate (47.0%) well off of his once-lofty levels.

Sanchez did just turn in a ten-strikeout performance in his most recent start, though he also whiffed eleven in a mid-May outing and did not carry that forward. His 27:7 K/BB ratio over the past month is an improvement over his ugly June showing (16:19), but hardly earth-shattering. And Sanchez has actually lost velo of late.

All that being said, there has always been a perception that Sanchez has intriguing stuff. He’s earning $3.9MM this year, which is hardly an unmanageable sum, with another season of arb control remaining. It’s not implausible to imagine that a few creative front offices have ideas on how they can re-mold Sanchez’s raw tools and perhaps turn him into an effective arm. Bumping him into a relief role — he has thrown exclusively as a starter since 2015 — might well be an avenue worth exploring.

It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out over the next few hours. If offers aren’t good enough, the Blue Jays can certainly afford to hang onto Sanchez in hopes that he’ll finally turn the corner, with the idea of carrying him on the roster next year or spinning him off in an offseason trade.

Yankees Place Luke Voit On IL

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The Yankees announced today that they have placed first baseman Luke Voit on the 10-day injured list. He’ said to be dealing with a sports hernia.

Also hitting the IL is righty David Hale, who is said to be dealing with a lumbar spine strain. To take their roster spots, the club has recalled righty Jonathan Holder and infielder Breyvic Valera.

Core muscle issues of the sort Voit is dealing with can be quite problematic. Voit’s timeline isn’t yet clear, but a surgical procedure — which would come with a six-week rehab timeline — is on the table, according to skipper Aaron Boone. (Via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, on Twitter.)

Whether or not the club will consider a replacement piece isn’t clear. Internal options at first base include Edwin Encarnacion and Mike Ford. Encarnacion played first earlier this year in Seattle and has seen eight games there in New York, but has mostly served as a DH with the Yanks. It’s at least conceivable that uncertainty surrounding Voit could impact the Yanks’ willingness to move Clint Frazier, who’d be a candidate to serve as a DH and part-time outfielder if Encarnacion is deployed at first.

On the pitching side, losing Hale mostly just dents the depth. But the Yanks are also dealing with some rotation uncertainty. CC Sabathia is expected to be sidelined for a few weeks after a “lubrication shot” in his balky knee, James Wagner of the New York Times tweets. The club obviously has room to improve in the pitching department quite apart from those losses, but they do help add impetus to the task.

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