Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Rockies Designate Matt Carasiti, Select Geoff Hartlieb

By Mark Polishuk | June 8, 2024 at 1:24pm CDT

The Rockies have designated right-hander Matt Carasiti for assignment, according to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (X link). The move creates a roster spot for Geoff Hartlieb, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.

Carasiti has pitched for Colorado in each of the last two seasons, rejoining the organization on a minors contract last winter. The contract was selected to the big league roster two weeks ago, and the righty has struggled to a 10.38 ERA across 8 2/3 innings and seven appearances.

Between these results and a 5.91 ERA in 21 1/3 Triple-A innings, it’s been a rough season all around for Carasiti, and he’ll now head to DFA limbo to await the next step. If he clears waivers and the Rockies outright him off the 40-man roster, he has the right (due to a previous outright in his career) to reject a Triple-A assignment in favor of free agency.

The 32-year-old has a 7.41 career ERA over 58 1/3 innings across parts of four Major League seasons — with the Rockies in his 2016 rookie season, with the Mariners in 2019, and the last two years in a return trip to Colorado. Carasiti has bounced around to a few other spots in his journeyman career, including stints in independent ball and with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball, as well as some time in the Cubs’ and Giants’ farm systems.

Hartlieb’s career arc is somewhat similar, as the Rockies represent his fifth MLB organization since was initially a 29th-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2016 draft. He has a 7.17 ERA over 70 1/3 career innings with three different teams at the big league level, with all but four of those frames coming with the Pirates and Mets from 2019-21. After spending 2022 in the Red Sox farm system, he then spent most of 2023 also in the minors with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate, though he did make it back to the Show for two appearance and four innings for Miami.

He’ll now get another shot as a fresh arm in Colorado’s bullpen, and any sort of good results will help Hartlieb stick on a Rockies team starved for any kind of relief help. The Rox rank at or near the bottom of the league in most major pitching categories, particularly on the bullpen side of the ledger. Hartlieb is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to be designated for assignment himself if the Rockies wish to move him back to Triple-A.

Brewers Sign Elieser Hernandez

By Mark Polishuk | June 8, 2024 at 12:41pm CDT

The Brewers announced the signing of right-hander Elieser Hernandez to a one-year big league deal with the team. To create roster space, righty James Meeker was optioned to Triple-A, and left-hander DL Hall was moved from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list.

The Dodgers designated Hernandez for assignment last week and then outrighted him off their 40-man roster on Thursday. Since Hernandez has over five years of MLB service time, he had the right to reject that outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency, and the right-hander indeed took that path and quickly landed with the Brew Crew. The decision seems like a wise one, as Hernandez has now landed both a guaranteed contract and a clearer route to playing time on a team with a lot of question marks in the pitching staff.

Milwaukee’s rotation has been ravaged by injuries, leading the Brewers to build something of a patchwork around innings leaders Freddy Peralta and Colin Rea. Bryse Wilson and Tobias Myers have stepped into regular starting roles, and the Brewers were reportedly set to promote prospect Carlos Rodriguez in time for a start on Tuesday, though it’s possible this plan might change now that Hernandez is in the fold.

There is no guarantee that Hernandez will stick in the rotation, or even if he’ll necessarily be a primary starter — it’s possible Hernandez could be paired with Rodriguez in a piggyback situation to ease the rookie’s path into the majors. Hernandez started only one of his five appearances with Los Angeles, and had an 8.38 ERA over 9 2/3 total innings.

That small sample represented Hernandez’s first MLB work since 2022, as he spent 2023 mostly dealing with injuries, while tossing only 9 1/3 innings in the Mets’ farm system. Best known for his time with the Marlins, Hernandez showed flashes of being a solid starter over his five seasons with Miami, but injuries again hampered his ability to stay effective and stay on the mound altogether. The right-hander has a 5.15 ERA over 297 1/3 career Major League innings, along with a 22% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. Opposing batters have taken Hernandez deep to the tune of a 16.5% homer rate, representing his biggest issue in run prevention.

A left knee sprain has kept Hall from pitching since April 20, and he’ll now be out until at least late June after suffering another sprain while on a rehab outing. Hall told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (X link) that he is trying to pitch through some damage to his MCL, and a consult with Dr. Neal ElAttrache led Hall to attempt to return a quicker return to the mound, with a fuller treatment or possibly knee surgery saved until the offseason. The other option for Hall is to receive a PRP injection now, but that would sideline him until September.

Rays Reinstate Colin Poche, Place Richard Lovelady On 15-Day IL

By Mark Polishuk | June 8, 2024 at 11:59am CDT

The Rays announced that left-hander Colin Poche has been activated from the 15-day injured list. Poche will return to take the roster spot of fellow southpaw Richard Lovelady, who is headed to the 15-day IL due to a flexor strain in his left forearm.

Poche last pitched on April 23, as he has been recovering from tightness in the middle of his back. Poche required two injections to aid the healing process, the second coming just under a month ago after his initial throwing program was shut down due to recurring back discomfort. He officially returned to the mound in game action this past week with Triple-A Durham, tossing 2 2/3 total innings over three rehab appearances.

The back problems likely contributed to Poche’s slow start, as he had a 6.75 ERA across his first 9 1/3 big league innings for Tampa this season. Poche’s average fastball velocity was down to 90.9mph from 92.5mph in 2023, and his strikeout rate plummeted from 24.8% to 14.3%. After allowing 15 homers over 119 1/3 relief innings for the Rays in 2022-23, Poche had already given up three long balls in his small sample size of work this season.

A return to form for Poche would greatly aid a Rays bullpen that has been uncharacteristically average this season, with a cumulative 4.20 ERA that ranks 20th of 30 teams. Poche joins Garrett Cleavinger as the pen’s two left-handed options, while Lovelady will now be sidelined with a potentially serious arm injury.

Lovelady’s health history includes a Tommy John surgery in 2021, and then a pronator muscle strain in his forearm that brought an early end to his 2023 season. A flexor strain likely indicates a lengthy rehab process even for a pitcher without these past injuries on his resume, though hopefully Lovelady can avoid another surgery.

The Rays only just brought Lovelady into the organization three weeks ago, when Tampa acquired the left-hander from Chicago after the Cubs had designated him for assignment. The results haven’t been there for Lovelady before or after the trade, as his 7.62 ERA breaks down as a 7.94 ERA in 5 2/3 frames for the Cubs and a 7.36 ERA in 7 1/3 innings with Tampa Bay. Despite the ugly bottom-line numbers, Lovelady’s SIERA is only 3.65, as he has hampered by a very low 45.9% strand rate and a very high .386 BABIP.

Rangers, GM Chris Young Discussing Contract Extension

By Mark Polishuk | June 8, 2024 at 11:02am CDT

Chris Young is nearing the end of his deal with the Rangers, as the executive VP and general manager will be out of contract once the season is over. The team is taking steps to keep Young in the fold, however, as owner Ray Davis outlined in a statement to Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News.

“Chris Young and I have been meeting over the last couple of months to discuss a contract extension beyond the 2024 season. I absolutely want him to continue overseeing baseball operations for the Texas Rangers for many years to come,” Davis said. “I admire and respect CY’s leadership and vision very much and will always be grateful for the important role he played to help bring a World Series championship to Arlington for the first time. While there is no final resolution at this time, we will continue to work towards coming to an agreement. CY and I agree that our immediate focus is the 2024 season and defending our title.”

Davis’ final sentence implies that the two sides could be putting talks on the back burner until closer to the end of the season, or perhaps even until after the Rangers have completed their 162 games and whatever might await of another postseason run. In technical terms, most executive contracts that expire “after the season” usually have an official end date at the end of October or the start of November, rather than the literal end of a team’s final game.

Assuming this situation exists with Young’s contract, the Rangers would have some extra time in their exclusive negotiating window to finalize a new deal before Young officially hits the open market. It also isn’t uncommon for some front office heads (the Yankees’ Brian Cashman and the Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman are recent examples) to stay in their positions beyond the official end of their prior contracts, as it is understood that the executives will be staying even it might take weeks or even months into the offseason before a new deal is officially finalized or announced.

Davis’ statement plainly outlines the Rangers’ interest in retaining the 45-year-old Young, though the GM might have interest in testing the market to see what other opportunities await…or, to see what offers are on the table to provide more leverage in negotiations with Texas. Baseball operations leadership jobs don’t come available too often, but among known contract situations within front offices, Angels GM Perry Minasian is entering the last year of his deal, and the Twins’ duo of chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine. Speculatively speaking, it seems possible that Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins or Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller could be on the hot seat if their teams don’t reach the playoffs.

This season’s results could also obviously lead some unexpected positions opening up in the coming months. After all, Young’s elevation to the top job in Texas in August 2022 was itself something of a surprise after the club parted ways with longtime president of baseball operations Jon Daniels. Young had been working as Daniels’ chief lieutenant since December 2020, and he suddenly became tasked with getting the Rangers back into contention after a big spending spree in the 2021-22 offseason led to another losing record in 2022.

Needless to say, Young’s first full season running the front office was a roaring success. Texas went 90-72 and narrowly missed out on the AL West crown by losing a tiebreaker to the Astros, but then caught fire in the playoffs en route to the World Series title. The long list of contributors to the Rangers’ championship included trade deadline pickup Jordan Montgomery and offseason signing Nathan Eovaldi, to cite two of the many moves Young made to add the final touches to the title-winning roster.

The follow-up hasn’t been as strong, as the Rangers carry a modest 30-33 record into today’s action. The club has been hampered by injuries to almost every member of the starting rotation, though the pitching staff has somewhat remarkably still managed to post respectable numbers even in these short-handed circumstances. The lineup, however, has disappointed — staples like Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim have been average at best, highly-touted rookies Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford haven’t broken out, and Josh Jung has spent almost the entire season on the injured list.

The returns of injured players could help Texas dig out of this hole, and naturally there’s still well over half the season yet to be played. Still, it hasn’t been the follow-up the organization wanted to its championship run, even if Young’s hands were somewhat tied by budgetary restraints during the offseason. Since the Rangers don’t have a TV contract beyond the 2024 season to the ongoing Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy proceedings, ownership cut back on the spending last winter, so Texas didn’t see anything close to the mega-deals that landed Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, or Jacob deGrom.

It could be that this overarching broadcasting uncertainty also factored into Young’s own contractual situation, if ownership wanted a better sense of its future revenues before locking up Young. It isn’t known if Young received any kind of a raise after being promoted to the top job in 2022, so with both a promotion and a championship ring now on his resume, Young certainly has a strong case for a very lucrative new deal. Young might also conceivably be given the title of president of baseball operations and another exec could become the new GM, depending on how the Rangers want to officially set the hierarchy of their baseball ops group.

One of the few former players currently acting as a Major League front office boss, Young tossed 1297 2/3 innings over 271 career games with the Rangers, Padres, Mets, Mariners, and Royals from 2004-17. His 13 seasons in the bigs included such highlights as an All-Star nod with San Diego in 2007, and another ring as a member of Kansas City’s World Series team in 2015. After retiring, Young spent three years working in a variety of roles with Major League Baseball itself before becoming the Rangers’ general manager.

Giants Place Blake Snell On Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | June 3, 2024 at 5:05pm CDT

June 3: As expected, the Giants announced today that Snell has been placed on the 15-day IL with a left groin strain. Outfielder Michael Conforto was reinstated from the IL as the corresponding move.

June 2: Blake Snell’s nightmare of a season looks to be taking him back to the injured list, as the Giants left-hander had to leave today’s start against the Yankees due to left groin tightness. Snell had thrown 4 2/3 innings and the first two pitches of an at-bat against Alex Verdugo before he had to depart after a visit from the team trainer. Speaking with NBC Sports Bay Area and other media post-game, Giants manager Bob Melvin indicated Snell will almost surely be placed back on the 15-day IL, and a fuller timeline might be known when Snell undergoes an MRI tomorrow.

A similar injury led to Snell’s initial IL placement back on April 23, as he ended up missing almost exactly a month of action due to a left adductor strain. Today marked Snell’s third start back in action, and he again didn’t have much success, finishing with three earned runs over his 4 2/3 frames.

The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner now has a 9.51 ERA over 23 2/3 innings since signing a two-year, $62MM free agent deal with San Francisco on March 19. Since Snell didn’t sign until just a week prior to Opening Day, his preseason work consisted of extended Spring Training and simulated games, and the rust has been pretty evident since he made his Giants debut on April 8. It isn’t a stretch to say that these twin groin/adductor injuries might also stem from Snell not being entirely ramped up for the start of his season, though he did look great in his rehab outings while recovering from his previous injury.

Assuming the MRI doesn’t reveal anything more serious, it would seem like Snell is in for at least another month on the sidelines, as both he and the Giants surely want to ensure that this injury is fully dealt with before Snell restarts another round of throwing sessions and minor league rehab starts. Given the calendar, it seems possible that Snell could potentially be out until after the All-Star break, if the Giants wanted to give more time if he wasn’t quite ready by the beginning of July.

Missing more time also has broader implications on Snell’s future in San Francisco, as his contract carries an opt-out clause. The two-year deal was designed to allow Snell to potentially re-enter the market quickly after another strong season, and this time land the more lucrative longer-term pact that eluded him this past winter. However, even if he returns in July in his past form and pitches like an ace the rest of the way, the lackluster first three months might’ve already done enough to reinforce whatever doubts teams have about Snell’s ability to stay healthy. Remaining with the Giants and banking another $30MM in 2025 isn’t exactly an ugly outcome for Snell, but since he’ll be 33 on Opening Day 2026, time is running out for Snell to truly maximize his earning potential.

Only five National League teams have winning records, so the 29-31 Giants still hold the third wild card slot despite all their struggles. The rotation has been an obvious concern, as Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks, and Kyle Harrison have been San Francisco’s only reliable starters — Snell, Keaton Winn, and Mason Black have gotten the majority of other starts and none have pitched well. Winn has also been out of action due to a forearm strain, though he was set for a minor league rehab game on Tuesday.

Since the Giants have an off-days both on Thursday and on June 13, they could keep Winn on his planned rehab schedule because the team wouldn’t need a fifth starter for close to three weeks. Black could also be recalled from Triple-A, and the Giants are still probably at least six weeks away from having Robbie Ray or Alex Cobb as viable candidates to return from the 60-day IL. Ray will pitch in an Arizona Complex League game this week as he continues to rehab his way back from Tommy John surgery, and Cobb has started throwing again after shoulder discomfort led to a shutdown in mid-May.

Tigers To Option Spencer Torkelson To Triple-A

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2024 at 11:05pm CDT

The Tigers will be sending first baseman Spencer Torkelson down to Triple-A prior to tomorrow’s game with the Rangers, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports. The move opens up a 26-man roster spot for Justyn-Henry Malloy, whose impending promotion to the big leagues was reported by Petzold earlier today.

Torkelson didn’t play in two of the Tigers’ last three games, and prior to today’s 8-4 win over the Red Sox, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch have a rather non-committal answer when asked if optioning Torkelson to the minors was a possibility. As it turned out, the speculation was correct, and Torkelson will now head for Triple-A Toledo for the first time since his 2022 season.

In July of that year, Torkelson was hitting only .197/.282/.295 when the Tigers sent him back to the minors for six weeks to try and get on track. While he didn’t hit much better after being recalled in September, some improvement was evident last season, when Torkelson hit .233/.313/.446 with 31 home runs over 684 plate appearances. This translated to a respectable 107 wRC+, and given that Torkelson had some of the best hard-hit ball and barrel rates in the league, there was plenty of optimism that he would fully break out in his third MLB season.

Unfortunately for Torkelson and the Tigers, his numbers have sharply swung in the other direction. Torkelson has only a 71 wRC+ from four homers and a .201/.266/.330 slash line, and his hard-contact metrics and walk rates have all swung well below the league average. Things have gotten particularly dire over Torkelson’s last 10 games, with just three hits to show from his last 40 trips to the plate.

This deep slump left the Tigers no choice but to see if the first overall pick of the 2020 draft can again find himself with a stint in the minors. Torkelson’s option comes even with Kerry Carpenter on the 15-day injured list and possibly facing an extended layoff due to a stress fracture in his back, yet given his numbers, the argument can certainly be made that the Tigers’ lineup would be improved rather further hampered if someone besides Torkelson took over at first base.

Torkelson entered the season with one full year and 137 days of MLB service time. Another full season in the majors would have put Torkelson in very good position to earn Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility, based on where the Super Two threshold has usually fallen over the last 15 seasons. While the thresholds have trended a bit lower over the last five years, spending even a month in Toledo could take Torkelson out of the Super Two conversation altogether.

This is undoubtedly a concern for Torkelson and his reps at the Boras Corporation, and Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris surely considered the Super Two implications among the many factors involved in the decision to option Torkelson to Triple-A. What both parties can agree on, however, is that Torkelson’s future earning potential will will be even more adversely impacted if he can’t consistently hit Major League pitching, so some time in the minors might be necessary at this still-early stage in Torkelson’s career. It shouldn’t be overlooked at Torkelson is still not even 25 years old, and his baseball development already had the unexpected roadblock of the canceled 2020 minor league season.

Mark Canha, Gio Urshela, or Andy Ibanez could get some time at first base as Detroit will now shuffle its lineup around in search of more overall production. Malloy figures to play as a corner outfielder or DH, and if Urshela starts playing more often at first base, it opens up more third-base playing time for the hot-hitting Matt Vierling, who is currently in a timeshare at third base and center field.

NL East Notes: Sanchez, Marsh, Alvarez, Fujinami, Fletcher

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2024 at 10:11pm CDT

The Marlins placed right-hander Sixto Sanchez on the 15-day injured list today (retroactive to June 1), with right-hander Emmanuel Ramirez was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move. Sanchez is dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder, and something seemed awry when his velocity was significantly down in his start against the Rangers on Friday.

Given how multiple shoulder surgeries (amidst other injuries) kept Sanchez from just a single inning of minor league ball from 2021-23, it isn’t a good sign that the former top prospect is again dealing with any type of shoulder problem, even if some inflammation or soreness might be expected given Sanchez’s long layoff. The righty made his return to the big leagues this season and has a 6.06 ERA over 35 2/3 innings for Miami, starting seven of his 14 appearances. While Sanchez has always been more of a grounder specialist than a strikeout artist, Sanchez has struck out only 10.5% of batters faced this season.

Pirates To Call Up Henry Davis

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2024 at 8:05pm CDT

After a month at Triple-A Indianapolis, former first overall pick Henry Davis is headed back to the majors, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link) reports that the Pirates are calling Davis up in advance of their next game on Tuesday against the Dodgers. The corresponding move isn’t yet known, but it seems likely that backup catcher Grant Koch will be optioned to Triple-A a few days after making his big league debut.

Davis, the first overall pick of the 2021 draft, hit .213/.302/.351 over 255 plate appearances after making his MLB debut last season. Davis only played as a catcher in two games during his rookie season, but headed into 2024 slated for a heavier workload behind the plate once fellow rookie catcher Endy Rodriguez underwent season-ending UCL surgery during the offseason. Injuries to Yasmani Grandal and Jason Delay further cleared the path for more playing time for Davis at catcher, but the struggles continued both offensively and defensively.

Pitch-framing remains an issue for Davis, and the Defensive Runs Saved metric rates him a -2 based on his 184 1/3 innings at catcher this season. With the bat, Davis has hit only .162/.280/.206, and struck out in 29 of his 83 plate appearances.

The decision was made on May 3 to send Davis to Indianapolis for more seasoning, and Davis has responded by hitting .286/.433/.649 with seven home runs over 97 PA. While Davis torched minor league pitching during his initial trip up the Pirates’ pipeline, it should be noted that Davis had only 63 PA at Triple-A when the Bucs first promoted him last season. It could be that he was simply brought up a bit too soon, even if Davis also might’ve forced the Pirates’ hand by looking like he had little left to prove in the minors.

Delay just started a minor league rehab assignment, so while he is eligible to be activated from the 60-day IL later this week, he’ll need quite a bit of time to get ramped up after missing almost the entire season due to meniscus surgery. Joey Bart was also just placed on the 10-day IL with a thumb injury, while Grandal is healthy but has struggled badly at the plate. With this lack of depth and Davis’ overall import as a cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s rebuild, he should have plenty of runway for playing time as the team’s regular catcher. Andrew McCutchen has the everyday DH spot pretty well covered, so while Davis could conceivably get some more work as an outfielder if the Pirates are looking for ways to get his bat into the lineup, the likeliest scenario is that Grandal just moves into a backup role.

Tigers To Promote Justyn-Henry Malloy

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2024 at 6:11pm CDT

The Tigers are calling up outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports (X link). Malloy will be making his MLB debut when he first appears in a game, which could happen as early as Monday when the Tigers begin a series with the Rangers. The corresponding move or moves aren’t yet known, as Detroit will have to open up space on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters.

Malloy was a sixth-round pick for the Braves in the 2021 draft, and was dealt to Detroit in December 2022 as part of the trade that brought Joe Jimenez into the Atlanta bullpen. Drafted as a third baseman out of Georgia Tech, Austin Riley’s presence in Atlanta made him something of an expendable piece, as the Braves apparently weren’t sold on Malloy’s potential as an outfielder after deploying him exclusively as a left fielder in Double-A and Triple-A.

He still saw some work at the hot corner after joining the Tigers organization, but Malloy went into 2024 prepping to be a full-time outfielder, and he has indeed played only in the corners (and at DH) at Triple-A Toledo this season. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline each rank Malloy as the sixth-best prospect in the Tigers’ farm system, and their scouting reports both indicate Malloy has a strong throwing arm, even if his time at third base was hampered by some accuracy issues in throwing to first base.

Even if Malloy is just a passable defensive outfielder, the Tigers will happily make do as long as Malloy can hit. Malloy has a .272/.417/.474 slash line over 838 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, and has drawn raves for his approach at the plate. According to BA’s report, “Malloy manages to get to average or better power — despite modest raw juice — because he’s an highly intelligent hitter with a plan at the plate and an excellent idea of the strike zone.” His high on-base numbers reflect his outstanding batting eye, and he has sharply increased his line drive rate from 24% in 2023 to 28.3% this season.

The 24-year-old Malloy is a right-handed hitter, so he’ll add to a Detroit lineup that now tilts even more heavily to the right side since Kerry Carpenter is on the injured list. However, lineup balance will take a back seat to production of any kind, given how the Tigers have been struggling to score runs. Carpenter will be sidelined for an indefinite amount of time with a lumbar spine stress fracture and Mark Canha has been trying to play through some hip problems, though Canha was back in today’s lineup.

Malloy could slide right in as a makeshift replacement for Carpenter, getting work at either corner outfield spot or as a DH depending on how the Tigers build their lineup. This might also end up being Malloy’s general usage over the long term if he can stick as an outfielder, potentially replacing Canha if the veteran moves on as a free agent after the season.

Jays GM Ross Atkins: Trading Guerrero, Bichette “Doesn’t Make Any Sense For Us”

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2024 at 5:40pm CDT

The Blue Jays have won five of their last six games, but still sit below the .500 mark with a 28-30 record, putting them a few percentage points behind the Rays for last place in the AL East. As Darragh McDonald put it in a piece for MLBTR last week, some tough decisions will await the club heading into the trade deadline, and perhaps in the bigger picture entirely if the Jays don’t start heating up in a hurry.

Trading either of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette would be the most seismic moves Toronto could make if the team did decide to sell at the deadline. The duo have been the faces of this era of Blue Jays baseball, but since both are scheduled to become free agents after the 2025 season, it isn’t yet clear if either player will truly be in Toronto for the long term — whether due to the Jays’ overall struggles, or the team’s own hesitation about making a big financial commitment to players with inconsistent performance.

In either case, Jays GM Ross Atkins pushed back against the idea of a Guerrero/Bichette trade in an interview today on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio, and reiterated that the Blue Jays “believe in their futures and hope that there is a way they can play here for a long time.” In regards to possible extensions, Atkins said “of course we have dialogue with them” about such multi-year deals, “and that is something that will continue.”

This belief would seem to preclude the idea of Guerrero or Bichette being moved at the deadline. Atkins said he was “disappointed” in a recent report from MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, which featured a quote from an unnamed AL executive who said Toronto wasn’t “opposed to” moving one of their two cornerstones, and have “talked to teams about it,” though “the asks were ridiculous.”

Atkins didn’t deny that some conversations had taken place with other front offices about Guerrero and Bichette, but in the sense that that the other teams were floating the idea of a trade, not the Jays themselves. Trading Guerrero or Bichette “just doesn’t make any sense for us…There will be occasional times as you’re talking to other executives, that they’ll ask if we’ll consider, and we just say it’s not something that we have spent any time on. Because they are so talented and such great teammates, they are attractive to other teams, so [others] will call.”

It is common practice for executives to check in on all sorts of players, simply out of due diligence just in case a rival team might be open to moving a player not known to be available, or if such a player could be available at a lower-than-expected price. Technically, a trade that “doesn’t make any sense for” in Atkins and the Blue Jays in early June could start looking a lot more sensible if the team is still struggling in late July, and some early groundwork laid by an interested suitor could make them Atkins’ first call at the deadline if the Jays did change direction.

That said, Atkins expressed confidence that better things were ahead for his team, noting that the two players have been hitting better after posting rough numbers in April. Guerrero in particular has been hot, hitting .366/.458/475 in 118 plate appearances and 26 games from May 1 through June 1, even if he had hit only two home runs in that span. Bichette has also posted a .318/.356/.471 slash line in his last 90 PA.

Even with the two stars producing, however, the Blue Jays as a whole have continued to struggle to score runs. George Springer has continued to struggle, Daulton Varsho has cooled off after a solid April, and the improvements from Guerrero and Bichette have been countered by Justin Turner’s bat suddenly going ice cold over the last month. As a collective group, the Jays are also near the bottom of the league in hitting with runners in scoring position.

With offensive production at a premium, the Jays’ lineup today had the unexpected twist of Guerrero’s return to third base. Guerrero made his MLB debut as a third baseman in 2019, but hasn’t played the position at all since, apart from two late-game cameos at the hot corner.

Atkins said that the decision to use Guerrero at third base was “something we’ve been working on collectively…and that’s another way for us to deploy a lineup that maybe creates a little more offense.” Manager John Schneider said the same following today’s 5-4 win over the Pirates, telling Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that Guerrero could perhaps play one of every five or six games as a third baseman. Turner or Daniel Vogelbach could then be used at first base or DH, or one of the Jays’ two catchers (Danny Jansen or Alejandro Kirk) could get a DH day while the other backstop is also in the lineup and behind the plate.

After Matt Chapman departed in free agency, Ernie Clement and offseason signee Isiah Kiner-Falefa have more or less split the playing time at third base this season, with Turner, Cavan Biggio, Addison Barger, and now Guerrero getting a few stray appearances. Kiner-Falefa has also seen a good chunk of action at second base, and he has performed well in this virtual everyday role. Not only is IKF delivering his customary strong defense, but he is also hitting .268/.315/.399 in 182 PA, for what would be a career-high 105 wRC+.

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