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Marlins Activate Martin Prado, Place JT Riddle On IL

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The Marlins have announced that they have activated veteran infielder Martin Prado from the 10-day injured list. He’ll take the place of utilityman JT Riddle, who’s headed for his own IL stint with a forearm strain.

Prado, 35, is back in action in time to feature as a trade candidate — in theory. Trouble is, his nosedive at the plate has shown no signs of abating over the past three years. And his latest hamstring injury is the latest in a string of leg maladies.

When the Fish inked Prado to a questionable three-year extension late in the 2016 season, he was putting the finishing touches on a solid campaign and was still at least carrying a recent track record of slightly above-average offensive work. Three years and $40MM seemed like a rather heavy commitment, particularly for an organization with the outlook of the Miami club, but he’d have been a reasonably sought-after free agent had he not re-upped with the Marlins.

That deal has turned out to be a complete bust in spite of the best efforts of the respected veteran. Prado has played in only 142 games, slashing a combined .244/.277/.319. While he’s still a solid defender, Prado is a negative on the basepaths and has in the aggregate played at or below replacement level.

Perhaps it’s still possible to squint and imagine a contender taking a flier on Prado as a 25th man who’d contribute in the clubhouse. He has been on a tear on his rehab assignment; if he shows up to the majors looking particularly spry, there’s an outside chance at a trade. Even then, it’s tough to imagine the Marlins shedding any noticeable amount of salary or recouping anything in the way of prospect value in return.

Latest On Push For International Draft

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Major League Baseball is pressing a plan to implement an international draft in the near future, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports. With ownership behind the initiative, says Badler, it’s possible that the league could attempt to institute such a system as soon as the 2020 international signing season.

That general attempt has long been anticipated. What’s most notable about the report, which arises in the wake of a league-run session with teams’ international staff members, are some of the potential particulars. The changes, if implemented, would represent a significant further tightening of an already closely controlled labor-intake system.

According to Badler, the initial structure under consideration features “hard slot value[s]” that would leave no room for negotiation for incoming players. In other words, in addition to losing their ability to select which organization would best nurture and care for a 16-year-old while providing the best long-term opportunity, players and their families would be stripped of the chance to negotiate a larger bonus than the system dictates.

The proposal also includes a simple rotation system for assigning top draft choices to teams. That’d make for quite a different approach from the domestic amateur draft, in which the order is tethered directly to MLB team performance. A rotating approach would largely preserve the status quo, in which spending pools aren’t connected to MLB-level outcomes; it’s unclear whether there would continue to be any connection to competitive balance (recipients currently get more pool money) or free-agent outcomes (there’s a pool hit for non-revenue sharing teams that sign a player who declined a qualifying offer).

MLB has already succeeded in shaving something like a quarter of its international expenditures by imposing hard caps on amateur spending. Though many players signing under the regime are teenagers, the rules also extend to cover those who haven’t yet turned 25 and who possess less than six seasons playing in a foreign professional league. (That’s why the immensely talented Shohei Ohtani signed for peanuts.)

It’s impossible not to connect the question of the international draft to the still-building labor battle between MLB and the MLB Players Association. First and foremost, the international intake system is subject to bargaining — just as it was when the union acceded to the hard-cap system. More broadly, there’s an obvious connection between amateur signing bonuses and early-MLB extensions — the recent run of which has had a huge (albeit still not fully known) impact on the ability of MLB players as a whole to command future free-agent earnings.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the MLBPA responds to this initiative. Chief Tony Clark hinted recently at a new stance on the amateur side, though it’s still not clear whether the union will be able to enunciate an encompassing vision to compete with the league’s — or, at least, use this topic to pry other, worthwhile concessions. Mid-CBA negotiations are now in process; the international question will no doubt feature significantly.

Badler notes that members of the international intake apparatus — trainers on the player side and scouts on the team side — are increasingly “split” in their views on the draft after a history of general opposition. That won’t dictate the players’ position by any stretch, but it’s a notable shift from a set of important stakeholders.

There are numerous considerations to be accounted for here beyond bonuses. The international signing system has long featured nefarious, sometimes dangerous, situations involving young and often vulnerable players. While there are indications that some of the most concerning elements have improved in recent years, it’s still plenty concerning that teams are lining up advance deals with extremely youthful players who are not yet eligible to sign. There’s still ample potential for harm. And while teams have increasingly seen the value in investing in education and health initiatives for their amateur players, there’s no common standard and no firm support system for those that aren’t chosen to continue advancing as professional ballplayers. It may be hoped that, if the league is successfully able to tighten control through a draft, it also focuses serious energy and resources to creating a truly just overall program for players that are eligible for selection.

MLBTR Poll: What Should The Giants Do At The Deadline?

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So … with the Giants now within 2.5 games of a Wild Card spot after winning twelve of their past fourteen games, should they halt a long-anticipated summer sell-off? There’s obvious appeal to making a push with a veteran-laden team, but also no small amount of risk in foregoing an opportune and much-needed chip-cashing opportunity on the trade market.

It’s awfully hard to pull the rug out from under a team that was built to win. The ballclub was constructed for contention by the prior front office regime, but seemed badly in need of a reset after two-straight miserable campaigns. Maybe it has taken longer than hoped, and hasn’t quite happened in the manner anticipated, but perhaps we’re finally seeing the fruit of the labors of deposed GM Bobby Evans.

There are some signs of recently improved play from the roster. Over the past thirty days, Giants hitters have paced the majors with 162 runs scored while producing a collective 111 wRC+ (11th in baseball). In that same span, the pitching staff has been a top-ten unit by measure of fWAR. The Giants’ very good and judiciously deployed bullpen has led all of baseball in net win-percentage added this season, which helps explain how the team has strongly outperformed win expectations based upon Pythagorean (+3) or BaseRuns (+6) evaluation. Perhaps there’s some magic yet in a dugout commanded for one final time by Bruce Bochy.

On the other hand, it’s easy to get carried away with recency bias. There really isn’t much evidence of underlying changes in the talent level on the roster that would suggest this is a much better ballclub than its 47-49 record would suggest. There are still five teams ahead of the Giants in the Wild Card picture, many of which also have legitimate chances at winning their divisions and will be improving at the deadline. The Giants have no hope of catching the Dodgers in the NL West and don’t appear situated to make notable additions, even if they do hold existing veterans. Fangraphs’ playoff odds calculator still places the Giants as the second-to-least likely team in the National League to appear in the playoffs.

Plus, the San Francisco farm system — despite making some improvements of late — could clearly stand to be supplemented. We’ve been talking for months about the increasingly appealing set of trade pieces the Giants can bring to the market this summer. Our recent ranking of the top sixty deadline assets is littered with San Francisco roster members. In particular, the Giants possess many of the top pure rental players and all but control the bullpen market. They could also have some chances at moving big contracts to help free the near-future books.

All things considered, it’s a tough test for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who’ll either have to sell the selling to the fanbase or risk hampering the rebuilding effort. What do you think he ought to do? (Poll link for app users.)

Outrighted: Mac Williamson, Jarrett Parker

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We’ll use this post to cover the day’s minor moves, both involving a pair of former Giants outfielders …

  • The Mariners announced today that they’ve outrighted Mac Williamson after he cleared waivers. Williamson was designated for assignment following a dreadful run in Seattle — which, in turn, came on the heels of an even worse stint in San Francisco. Williamson carries a .156/.250/.258 slash line on the year and just hasn’t made use of his MLB opportunities over the past five seasons, sporadic though they have been. He is a .266/.344/.488 hitter through over a thousand plate appearances at the Triple-A level, however.
  • Meanwhile, the Angels have announced the same exact move for Jarrett Parker. At times, it seemed that Parker might join Williamson as a part of the regular Giants outfield mix, but he was released after the 2017 season. Parker has shown some renewed life this year at Triple-A with the Halos, where he has slashed a hefty .296/.424/.604 and launched 19 long balls. The 30-year-old didn’t get much of a shot at the MLB level, but it bears note that he went down on strikes eight times in just 15 plate appearances.

Twins Sign Alejandro De Aza

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The Twins have added outfielder Alejandro De Aza to their top affiliate, per an announcement from Triple-A Rochester communications director Nate Rowan (via Twitter). De Aza agreed to terms on a minors deal with the Minnesota organization, which in turn purchased his contract from the indy ball New Britain Bees.

Now 35 years of age, De Aza has not seen MLB action since the 2017 campaign — his tenth with at least some time in the majors. All told, the left-handed-hitting outfielder is a .260/.325/.396 hitter through 2,878 trips to the plate at the game’s highest level.

De Aza has hit rather well at his various stops over the past two seasons. He posted a .420 OBP in 32 games last year at Triple-A with the Nats and then turned in a .868 OPS in Venezuelan Winter League action. This year, he has dominated the Atlantic League to the tune of a .347/.415/.517 batting line with six home runs in 299 trips to the plate.

Mitch Haniger Set To Resume Baseball Activities

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The Mariners have re-started the baseball activities of injured outfielder Mitch Haniger, manager Scott Servais told reporters including MLB.com’s Greg Johns (Twitter link). Doctors gave him the go-ahead to start some light catch and hitting.

Haniger halted an earlier attempt at ramping up when he experienced pain. His is a particularly unpleasant injury, so it’s probably not altogether surprising that the discomfort has continued.

Servais certain did not indicate that Haniger is now on a fast track back. “He still has some issues and is feeling some pain on certain days,” says Servais, “so we have to be careful how fast we go with him.”

It’s obviously disappointing to see the 28-year-old sidelined in this manner, particularly with so little else for the Mariners to cheer for at the moment. But with the M’s well out of contention, Haniger is clearly the one suffering the most. Beyond the physical and mental toll, his ongoing absence has sapped his earning power heading into his first year of arbitration eligibility. He’ll not only command less as an arb-1 player, but will establish a much lower starting point to build off of in the two ensuing years.

It seems there’s still at least some hope that Haniger can make it back to the majors this season. He will surely need to build himself up a bit physically and get comfortable again at game speed. Still, as a position player, Haniger shouldn’t require an especially extensive rehab stint — if and when he’s able to get fully past the pain.

Latest On Mike Minor

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The availability of Rangers lefty Mike Minor remains a key topic in the development of the 2019 summer trade market. The 31-year-old southpaw is among several quality veteran hurlers who could — but may not necessarily — end up on the move in the next two weeks.

Texas GM Jon Daniels has suggested that the club’s approach won’t be swayed too much by the standings, but it’s hard to ignore that as a factor. Entering play today, the Rangers sat 8.5 games back of the Astros, in third place in the AL West, and four games out of Wild Card position with four clubs in better position to claim the two play-in game slots.

Under the circumstances, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi seems to be stating the obvious when he writes that the Texas front office is “increasingly open-minded” about spinning Minor off in a trade. Indeed, that’s very nearly exactly how Daniels himself has publicly characterized the matter, indicating that says he’s hesitant but can’t rule out a trade involving Minor.

That’s not pleasing news for the veteran southpaw himself, as MLB.com’s TR Sullivan reports. Minor says that rumors of a sell-off “make us mad.” It sounds as if he’d rather stay and fight down the stretch. “I don’t want to go anywhere,” said Minor. “My name was talked about in the offseason, so I’m used to it. It seems like ever since I signed, I’ve been a topic. It’s like I signed here just to be traded.”

While that is something of an exaggeration, it’s not entirely untrue. Minor was a widely pursued pitcher when the Rangers nabbed him by promising him a chance to start and making a three-year commitment. The contract has worked out better than even the most optimistic predictions. With the Texas club still in a transition phase, it has fielded persistent interest in Minor — whose appeal is enhanced by his quality results this year (2.73 ERA in 122 innings) and affordable 2020 contract rights ($9.5MM).

Given their recent slide, the question is probably a fairly straightforward one for the Rangers, who value Minor for the same essential reasons that most other clubs do. They’ll simply wait to see if they’re offered enough young talent to give up the chance to keep a very good hurler at a nice price for the opening year of their new ballpark. If not, they can comfortably hang onto him.

Pirates Reportedly Making Jordan Lyles Available In Trade Talks

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The Pirates are “believed” to be making right-hander Jordan Lyles available to rival organizations in trade talks, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). The report also cites corner outfielders Corey Dickerson and Melky Cabrera as potential trade pieces, but suggests that there is not yet reason to believe the organization intends to move its more valuable and controllable assets.

In some regards, it’s obvious that Lyles would feature as a trade candidate. Indeed, he placed among the top 15 such players on this summer’s market in MLBTR’s initial ranking. We dropped him from the most recent list, however, when the club pulled to within 2.5 games of the division pace at the All-Star break. Unfortunately for the Bucs, they’ve already stumbled back to a 6.5-game deficit in the past week.

All that being said, there are some elements that would suggest the Pittsburgh organization probably isn’t (or shouldn’t be) ready to move Lyles just quite yet. For one thing, it’s eminently possible that another quick swing could put the team right back into solid position in the division. Cashing in Lyles for what’s likely to be a marginal return wouldn’t seem to make a ton of sense unless the club is pretty well buried — which it may soon be — or if it also has intentions of pursuing trades of other, more significant players as part of a broader roster re-shaping.

Unfortunately, it’s also not opportune timing for extracting value out of Lyles. He’s owed only $2.05MM this year, which will hold plenty of appeal to certain contenders. But he has also been shelled in each of his past two outings, allowing a stunning 14 earned runs while recording only 14 outs.

Those ugly showings shouldn’t completely override the otherwise solid showing this year from Lyles. He was never going to keep up his early pace, but he entered the month of July with a sturdy 3.71 ERA. Through 75 total innings, he has racked up eighty strikeouts against 31 walks while matching last year’s bump up to a 10.3% swinging-strike rate. That said, he has shown some less-than-ideal changes in terms of contact — particularly, allowing opposing hitters to record a 42.5% hard-contact rate and 89.4 mph average exit velocity (both career-worst numbers for Lyles).

Dickerson and Cabrera have long been possible trade candidates, though the reason why is shifting. With Gregory Polanco now seemingly sidelined indefinitely, there isn’t as much roster pressure to move one of those rental players. But the dive in the standings is creating a new basis for a swap.

The most interesting question remains whether the Pirates will explore deals for some of their best trade assets. It seems likely that, if rentals are moved, the team will at least entertain proposals on players such as closer Felipe Vazquez and outfielder Starling Marte. There’s no reason that the organization can’t hold tight and look to build around those stars and others entering 2020, though one wonders whether a more decisive strategy will at some point be necessary for an organization that has not cracked the postseason since 2015.

Hector Neris, Noe Ramirez Receive 3-Game Suspensions

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5:03pm: Angels righty Noe Ramirez has also been suspended for a trio of contests after also being deemed to have thrown at the head of a hitter. In his case, he went after Jake Marisnick in apparent retribution for the outfielder’s own recent actions, which resulted in an injury to Halos catcher Jonathan Lucroy and a two-game ban for Marisnick.

Halos skipper Brad Ausmus also took a one-game ban, which he’ll serve tonight. Ramirez will appeal the suspension, he tells reporters including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter).

4:44pm: Major League Baseball has announced a three-game suspension for Phillies righty Hector Neris. He was deemed to have thrown intentionally at Dodgers infielder David Freese.

Here’s video of the incident. MLB cited the fact that the pitch was thrown “in the area of the head” of the hitter in explaining its decision.

Neris, the Phils’ closer, will appeal the suspension, according to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). If he loses or abandons the appeal, the punishment will take him out of the ninth inning for a brief stretch. Some might say that poor performance had already threatened such a move.

It was a brutal showing for Neris last night, as he coughed up three-run bomb to blow his fourth save. All of those have come since June 14th, with three coming since June 27th alone. Neris had a 1.88 ERA in mid-June; that has ballooned to 4.08. He evidently decided to take out his frustration on Freese, who strode to the plate after the ill-fated pitch.

Adalberto Mondesi Diagnosed With Shoulder Subluxation

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The Royals announced today that budding star shortstop Adalberto Mondesi has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder subluxation. It’s not surprising to hear of the IL placement, but the diagnosis represents a potentially worrying turn to the situation.

The club has not yet given indication as to the course of treatment or anticipated timeline for Mondesi’s return. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by infielder Humberto Arteaga. Just-acquired lefty Mike Montgomery is also coming to the majors, with righty Jake Newberry optioned to make way.

We won’t know more until the team elects to disclose further information, but it is worth noting that shoulder subluxations can be rather significant injuries for position players. In recent years, players such as Marco Hernandez, Guillermo Heredia, and Jesse Winker have required surgery for injuries falling under that category. In Winker’s case, he was declared out for the remainder of the season following a late-July procedure but was able to get back to health for the start of the ensuing campaign.

Regardless of the particular outlook for Mondesi, the club’s unfavorable postseason outlook won’t be altered. But he’s one of the Royals’ chief ballpark draws and it’d certainly be preferable to keep him on the field and gaining further experience against MLB pitching. Mondesi hasn’t quite followed up on his strong output from 2018. Through 335 plate appearances this year, he’s slashing .266/.294/.433 with seven home runs but carries a suboptimal combination of 16 walks and 101 strikeouts.

If Mondesi can find a way to improve in the plate-discipline department and get that OBP heading north, he’d have even greater opportunity to put his exceptional legs to work on the basepaths. As it stands, he already leads the league with 31 swipes. This injury will limit Mondesi’s reps at the plate in 2019, robbing him of some opportunity for further development.

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