Yankees Promote Jorbit Vivas
12:55pm: The Yankees have formally announced the moves. Davis is headed to the IL with a bout of the stomach flu. His stint is retroactive to July 9, meaning he’ll be eligible for activation a week from now.
11:51am: The Yankees are calling up infield prospect Jorbit Vivas for his major league debut, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so only a 26-man roster move will be necessary. That’ll come in the form of a 10-day IL placement for infielder J.D. Davis.
Vivas, 23, came to the Yankees alongside lefty Victor Gonzalez in the offseason trade that sent infield prospect Trey Sweeney to the Dodgers. The 5’9″, 171-pound lefty hitter has primarily split his time between second base and third base in the minors. He’ll give the Yankees an option at both positions. Second base has been Vivas’ primary position (and the one at which he’s more well regarded defensively), but the Yankees have particularly struggled with regard to production from the hot corner this season.
In 169 plate appearances at the Triple-A level in 2024, Vivas has turned in a .258/.404/.424 slash. He’s swatted five homers, six doubles and a triple — chipping in nine stolen bases in 13 attempts. Vivas has also shown strong bat-to-ball skills and an incredibly disciplined approach, drawing a walk in 17.2% of his plate appearances against an 18.3% strikeout rate.
Baseball America ranked Vivas 14th among Yankees farmhands on their updated ranking of the team’s top-30 prospects just three days ago. MLB.com ranks him 15th in the system. BA’s scouting report suggests that his power is presently well below average but could still grow to the point where he can reach double-digit homers in a given season. (Being a lefty hitter at Yankee Stadium won’t hurt in that regard.) Still, Vivas’ most highly regarded tools are an above-average hit tool, average speed, a solid glove at second base and his terrific strike zone awareness.
Yankees second basemen this season have posted a collective .224/.296/.336. Most of that has been Gleyber Torres, who struggled mightily in April, rebounded in May/June, and has again fallen into a woeful July slump. At third base, the combination of Jon Berti, Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu has posted an even more bleak .236/.297/.314 slash. Given the dearth of production at both spots, Vivas should get the opportunity to spell both Torres and LeMahieu, who currently occupy the regular roles at those two positions.
Pirates To Designate Brent Honeywell For Assignment
The Pirates are designating right-hander Brent Honeywell for assignment, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The team has not yet formally announced the move.
Honeywell, 29, was only selected to the 40-man roster this past Sunday. He’s since tossed 3 1/3 innings, allowing a run on three hits and two walks with one strikeout. The former No. 72 overall draft pick (Rays, 2014) and longtime top prospect signed a minor league deal with the Bucs in the offseason and has spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A Indianapolis, where he’s pitched 39 innings with a 4.85 ERA, 19.6% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate over the life of 31 relief appearances.
It’s the third season with some big league work for Honeywell, who once ranked as high as No. 14 on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list but has been beset by a devastating slate of injuries. The right-hander has undergone an incredible four elbow surgeries since 2017. He’s undergone Tommy John surgery, an ulnar nerve decompression, a procedure to repair/stabilize a fracture in his elbow, and an arthroscopic procedure that the Rays said at the time was performed “to relieve mild discomfort.”
All four of those operations came before Honeywell even made his big league debut with Tampa Bay, which finally happened in 2021 — seven years after he was drafted. That Honeywell even continued his career to reach the majors is remarkable in and of itself — a testament to his grit and perseverance. He’s since tossed 60 innings at the big league level and recorded a 4.95 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate. He’s also pitched in parts of five Triple-A campaigns, totaling 277 innings with a 4.35 earned run average, 24% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.
The Pirates will have a week to trade Honeywell, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options — unsurprisingly so, given his career arc — so any team that trades or Honeywell or claims him would have to plug him directly onto the big league roster.
Top 50 Trade Candidates For The 2024 MLB Trade Deadline
The 2024 MLB trade deadline is less than three weeks away! We’ve already seen a couple swaps in the past week — plus that out-of-the-blue early-May blockbuster — but the majority of the action will take place in the next 19 days. Today’s MLB front offices tend to wait until the last minute to make decisions of any note, be it with regard to the trade deadline, the non-tender deadline, the Rule 5 protection deadline, etc. Gone are the days of teams planting their flag in the ground in early July or late June — moving the draft to the All-Star break and thus pushing front offices to dedicate immense July resources to that event hasn’t helped — but that makes the final couple weeks of July all the more chaotic.
As is customary each year here at MLBTR, we’ll take multiple runs through the top names on the trade market. The ordering here is far from exact. To the contrary, it’s quite subjective. There’s no genuine way to place odds or determine the likelihood of an individual player being traded. Certainly, in some cases it’s quite clear that a deal is likely or borderline inevitable, but even in what look like blatantly obvious trade scenarios, sometimes a deal doesn’t come together. (Hey there, 2022 Willson Contreras and 2021 Jon Gray and Trevor Story!)
As such, the “ranking” here is more a blend of likelihood of a deal and impact of the player in question. The names atop the list are going to be those that both seem likeliest to move and carry the potential for significant impact on the acquiring team. We’ll have several relievers in the top 15 or so of the list — well ahead of Oakland’s Mason Miller, for instance. That doesn’t mean they’re better pitchers than Miller, just that they’re likelier to be traded than a 25-year-old who averages 101 mph and has five-plus seasons of club control remaining.
This list was a collaborative effort, so big thanks to both Anthony Franco and Darragh McDonald for helping to turn it out. All that preamble aside… onto the names!
1. Jack Flaherty, RHP, Tigers
Flaherty is the top rental arm, if not the top rental player entirely, on the 2024 trade market. The one-year, $14MM deal he signed in Detroit proved to be a jackpot addition for the Tigers, who’ve seen Flaherty turn the clock back to the dominant form he showed in the second half of the 2019 season and in the first half of the 2021 campaign. In 95 innings, he’s pitched to a 3.13 ERA with a scintillating 2.50 SIERA. Flaherty has an elite 32.1% strikeout rate and similarly dominant 4.3% walk rate. He’s been one of the best pitchers in MLB, and while some back discomfort served as a brief red flag, he avoided a trip to the IL and returned to the mound with six innings of two-run ball as this list was being finalized.
Flaherty is the type of playoff-caliber starter who should command a top-100 prospect (and then some) despite his rental status. The Tigers don’t need to feel obligated to move him, as Flaherty is an obvious qualifying offer candidate and could earn them a comp pick after the first round in 2025 after he rejects that QO and signs for more than $50MM — both of which feel inevitable.
2. Garrett Crochet, LHP, White Sox
There’s no trade candidate in recent memory like the unique case of Crochet. The former first-round pick skipped the minors entirely and debuted as a reliever late in the 2020 season, just months after being drafted 11th overall out of the University of Tennessee. He spent the 2021 season in Chicago’s bullpen, missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery, pitched just 25 innings between the minors and big leagues combined last year while finishing off his rehab … and then broke out as the best pitcher on the planet atop an awful White Sox rotation in 2024.
Crochet’s long injury history gave him enough IL time to accrue enough service to reach arbitration this offseason — but his lack of innings limited him to a tiny $800K salary. That, paired with his jaw-dropping results and two remaining seasons of club control beyond the current season, make him one of the most appealing trade candidates in recent memory. However, Crochet has also already thrown more innings in 2024 than he did in his entire career prior to the current season. The Sox will price him like an ace — and rightly so. Interested teams may value him as such in 2025-26, but they’ll be wary of how many innings he can contribute down the stretch in ’24.
Still, the Sox broached the possibility of an extension with Crochet and were quickly rebuffed. They’re now reportedly focused on trading him. The unprecedented nature of Crochet’s career arc makes it impossible to forecast just what kind of return he’ll command, but it should be massive.
3. Carlos Estevez, RHP, Angels
Estevez should draw plenty of trade interest coming off his Reliever of the Month honors in June. The Angels closer is amidst a streak of 13 straight scoreless appearances. Aside from a rough couple weeks in mid-April, he’s been a force at the back of the Los Angeles bullpen. Estevez owns a personal-best 2.79 ERA across 29 innings. He’s striking out 26.2% of opponents while walking fewer than 4% of batters faced. After saving 31 games a year ago, he’s 16-19 in locking down the ninth inning this season. Estevez is playing on a $6.75MM salary and will head back to free agency next winter. He’s alongside Tanner Scott as the most appealing rental relievers available.
4. Tanner Scott, LHP, Marlins
Speaking of which: a flamethrowing closer who’s an impending free agent on a last place team? Scott might be the most quintessential trade candidate on the summer market. He’s not as good as his 1.42 ERA, as that belies a grisly 14.9% walk rate. Command has long been an issue for Scott, but he did walk a career-low 7.9% of hitters just last year while fanning more than a third of his opponents. Scott throws gas, keeps the ball on the ground and misses bats at a plus rate. His $5.7MM salary isn’t exorbitant. The Marlins are going to trade him, barring an injury. It’s just a question of where.
5. Jazz Chisholm Jr., OF/2B, Marlins
There’s reportedly a “growing belief” that Miami will move its infielder-turned-center fielder in the next few weeks. Chisholm has drawn plenty of national attention despite results that haven’t quite caught up to his reputation. He’s a collection of loud tools and big personality that give him star potential even if he’s more upside than results to this point. Chisholm has shown huge power and speed alike but also been too prone to strikeouts. He’s a .253/.317/.459 hitter dating back to 2022, and he’s clubbed 44 homers with 52 steals in that stretch of 996 plate appearances.
Injuries are a particularly big red flag, as Chisholm has only reached 100 games in a season once and has never topped 507 plate appearances in the majors. He learned center field on the fly out of necessity and hasn’t graded well there, but he was a plus defensive second baseman before that shift. Chisholm is earning just $2.625MM this season and has legitimate 30-homer, 30-steal upside if he can stay healthy. He’s never hit lefties particularly well but is still a potential everyday bat in the outfield or middle infield who’s controllable through 2026.
6. Erick Fedde, RHP, White Sox
It’s been quite the journey for Fedde, the 18th overall pick back in 2014. A longtime top prospect of the Nationals, his development was slowed by Tommy John surgery shortly after his draft selection. He reached the majors in 2017, pitched in parts of six seasons as a National while posting a mid-5.00s ERA, and went to reinvent himself in the Korea Baseball Organization. Reinvent himself he did. Fedde posted a flat 2.00 ERA in South Korea, won KBO MVP honors and returned to North American ball on a two-year, $15MM contract with the South Siders. It’s perhaps the best move of rookie GM Chris Getz‘s tenure to date.
Brandishing a new split-changeup and harder, more horizontal sweeper than the slider he used in D.C., Fedde has burst back onto the MLB scene as not just a serviceable back-end starter but a playoff-caliber arm. In 111 1/3 innings, he’s pitched to a 2.99 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout rate (just shy of league-average) and a terrific 6.6% walk rate. He’s kept the ball on the ground at a 46.5% clip, avoided hard contact very nicely, and left little doubt that he can help any contender down the stretch.
Fedde’s deal is evenly distributed. He’s earning an eminently affordable $7.5MM both this year and next. He’s gone from MLB afterthought to bona fide deadline trade chip who should net the White Sox a legitimate top prospect (plus some secondary pieces). Not much has gone right for the Pale Hose this season, but the Fedde signing has proven to be one of the best moves made by any team this past winter.
7-8. Zack Littell, & Zach Eflin, RHPs, Rays
The Rays already dealt one starter, sending Aaron Civale to the Brewers last week. That was partially to make way in the rotation for Shane Baz, who is back from Tommy John rehab. With Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen also potentially returning in the second half, Tampa Bay could move another starter. Littell and Eflin are the likeliest options.
Littell is the much more affordable of the duo. Another of the Rays’ reliever-to-starter success stories, he’s playing on a $1.85MM salary. Littell is under control for one more season and looks like a decent #4 starter. He’s sitting on a 4.44 ERA over 95 1/3 innings — already a career high in terms of MLB workload. Littell has fanned an average 22.1% of batters faced and has pristine control, walking around 4% of opponents in consecutive seasons.
Eflin, on the other hand, is in the second season of a three-year deal he signed with the Rays going into 2023. The $40MM guarantee is backloaded, with $11MM salaries in the first two seasons and $18MM in 2025.
He had a career year in 2023, with a 3.50 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 3.4% walk rate and 49.8% ground ball rate. Most importantly, he stayed healthier than ever before, getting to career highs with 31 starts and 177 2/3 innings. This year has been a bit of a step back but not by much. He had a brief stopover on the IL due to lower back inflammation but has logged 99 1/3 innings over 17 starts with a 3.99 ERA. His strikeout rate has fallen to 18.9% and his grounder rate to 42.8% but he’s also dropped his walk rate to a miniscule 2.2%.
9-11. Danny Jansen (C), Yusei Kikuchi (LHP), Trevor Richards (RHP), Blue Jays
The Blue Jays’ trio of most appealing rental pieces could all be in play with Toronto buried in the AL East and now 9.5 games back in the Wild Card hunt. Any of Jansen ($5.2MM salary in ’24), Kikuchi ($10MM), Garcia ($6MM) or Richards ($2.15MM) would be both affordable and impactful for a new club.
Jansen stands as the top catching option on the market. He slumped at the plate after a hot start and entered play today at a league-average 100 wRC+, hitting .217/.315/.377. (He upped that line to .222/.319/.398 with a solo homer as this was being written.) The 29-year-old has plus power for a catcher and high-end defensive skills. He’s been injured too frequently in his career, but dating back to 2021 he’s a .233/.317/.464 hitter who’s averaged 27 homers per 162 games played. It’s rare for starting catchers to change hands at the deadline, as learning a new pitching staff on the fly midseason is no small feat, but Jansen should still garner plenty of interest.
Kikuchi is one of the top rental starters on the market. After a dominant showing in March/April/May, he hit a roadblock in June. He’s bounced back with four runs and an 18-to-2 K/BB ratio across 13 innings (two starts) in July. Kikuchi has a flat 4.00 ERA this season but a strong 26.1% strikeout rate and outstanding 5.4% walk rate. Since incorporating a new-look curveball into his arsenal last June, Kikuchi has a 3.77 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 40.8% grounder rate in 212 1/3 innings. That’ll play in any rotation.
Richards has been inconsistent year-to-year but is affordable and has been highly effective in ’24. He owns a 3.40 earned run average, 25% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. At 92.4 mph on average with his heater, he’s not overpowering — but he’s never struggled to miss bats, either (career 25.8 K%).
12. Luis Robert Jr., OF, White Sox
Robert hits the trade market with an enviable three years of control remaining beyond the current season. He produced MVP-caliber numbers a year ago when he hit 38 homers and swiped 20 bags while playing elite center field defense, but he’s also been injured as much as nearly any high-profile hitter in the sport in recent seasons. That continued when a hip flexor strain wiped out two months of Robert’s 2024 season.
He’s caught fire at the plate recently (.280/.345/.580 over his past 55 plate appearances), and there’s little doubting that Robert is one of the most talented players in the sport … when his body allows him to take the field. Add in that he’s being paid $12.5MM this season and $15MM next year before the Sox (or another club) hold a pair of $20MM club options, and the appeal only grows. Since 2021, Robert is a .280/.327/.509 hitter. He’s been worth just shy of 12 WAR in just over two full seasons’ worth of games. Controlling him for 3.5 seasons and a total of $59MM is an unmitigated bargain. That said, Robert’s injury history is a major red flag.
The Sox can rightly seek a king’s ransom in a trade, knowing they’ll have several opportunities to market him in the future when Robert still has two or even three full seasons of contractual control remaining. Will someone pony up a big enough offer to make them budge?
13. Brent Rooker, OF/DH, Athletics
Rooker was traded from the Twins to the Padres in the Taylor Rogers/Chris Paddack swap and then passed from San Diego to Kansas City to Oakland via a series of DFAs and waiver claims. The Twins, Padres and Royals are kicking themselves to varying extents, as he’s broken out as one of the top sluggers in the AL since donning green and gold. A .260/.348/.509 hitter with 48 bombs in 875 plate appearances for the A’s, Rooker is controllable through the 2027 season. He’s a poor defender who’s limited to left field, first base or designated hitter. He’s always going to strike out a lot and is doing so at a 32.6% clip this year. He’s also raking at a .282/.362/.544 clip and walking at a career-high 10.4% rate. The former No. 35 overall pick has a plus hard-hit rate, barrel rate and exit velocity. For teams looking to add a middle-of-the-order bat, he might be the top name on the market — and with three-plus seasons of club control remaining, the ask could be steep.
14-15. Kyle Finnegan & Hunter Harvey, RHPs, Nationals
Both Finnegan and Harvey are under club control through the 2025 season. Finnegan, the Nationals’ closer, is earning a $5.1MM salary to his top setup man Harvey’s $2.325MM. After struggling with walks early in the season, the hard-throwing Finnegan has reined in his command and pitched brilliantly. Over his past 32 innings, Finnegan touts a 1.69 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. He’s saved 23 games already this year (after saving 28 last year) and averaged 97.2 mph on his heater. Finnegan does have a propensity for pitch clock violations, one of which led to a lamentable walk-off loss to the Rockies this season when it occurred with the bases loaded. Be that as it may, he’s a viable leverage option based on his repertoire and results.
Harvey had better rate stats than Finnegan for much of the season but has hit a rough patch of late, yielding 10 earned runs over his past six innings. His 4.40 ERA looks rather pedestrian as a result, but Harvey’s 25.1% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate, 45.8% grounder rate and 97.9 mph average heater all make him highly appealing. He’s battled considerable injury troubles in his career and has just 166 2/3 career innings since debuting in 2019, but there’s little doubting the talent in Harvey’s arm.
16. Michael Kopech, RHP, White Sox
A closer with a 5.31 ERA isn’t exactly the quintessential trade candidate, but Kopech is a former elite prospect who’s averaging 98.6 mph on his heater and punching out 29.7% of his opponents. He’s earning just $3MM this year and is controllable via arbitration through 2025. The 13.1% walk rate and 1.85 HR/9 mark aren’t going to do his trade candidacy any favors, but Kopech is the type of power-armed 28-year-old that a rival club will be convinced it can “fix,” which should lead to ample bidding.
As recently as 2021-22, the flamethrowing righty posted a 3.53 ERA and 26.7% strikeout rate in 188 2/3 innings split between the bullpen and rotation. Kopech has the makings of an elite reliever, and while he won’t command an “elite reliever” prospect package, he’ll pique the interest of plenty bullpen-needy teams.
17. Pete Fairbanks, RHP, Rays
Fairbanks has been Tampa’s closer for a while now, with 25 saves last year and 15 so far this year. But his track record as an excellent reliever goes back farther than that. Since the start of 2020, he has tossed 170 1/3 innings with a 2.75 ERA, 33% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. He and the Rays signed a modest extension in January of 2023, one that pays him $3.666MM over the 2023-25 seasons with a club option for 2026. That option has a $7MM base salary but incentives and escalators, as well as a $1MM buyout. The Rays don’t need to trade him with that extra control but it would be in their M.O. to make him available before the contract expires.
18. Jesse Winker, OF, Nationals
After quietly being one of the game’s most productive bats against righties for the first several seasons of his career in Cincinnati, Winker’s 2022 season in Seattle and 2023 season in Milwaukee were severe disappointments. He underwent neck and knee surgery following that ’22 campaign and was likely never fully healthy with the M’s. Perhaps those procedures carried some lingering effects into the ’23 season with the Brewers as well.
Whatever the reason, Winker is back in vintage form. He’s hitting .264/.379/.430 this season with 10 homers and a career-high 12 steals. He’s walked at a 13.6% clip. After signing a minor league deal in free agency, he’s on a modest $2MM salary. Any team needing a lefty bat in its outfield/DH mix should have interest in Winker, who’ll be a free agent at season’s end.
19. John Brebbia, RHP, White Sox
After an awful stretch in mid to late May, Brebbia has been the Sox’ best reliever and quietly been one of the best relievers in the game. That might generate a few eye rolls, but it’s not hyperbole. Since June 1, he’s posted a 0.98 ERA with a gaudy 37.5% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. It’s only 18 1/3 innings, but Brebbia has his season ERA down to 4.38, and the K-BB profile is genuinely interesting (29.6 K%, 5.9 BB%). He’s on a one-year, $5.5MM deal with a mutual option for 2025. Mutual options are almost never exercised, so he’ll be treated as a pure rental and perhaps a deceptively attractive one.
20. Randy Arozarena, OF, Rays
Arozarena is having the worst season of his big league career, though that’s mostly due to a terrible March/April that he has put in the rearview mirror. He came into this season with a batting line of .265/.351/.451 and a 128 wRC+ but is currently at .203/.311/.360 for a 99 wRC+ in 2024. He had a dismal line of .143/.220/.241 at the end of April but has mostly been his old self since then, having slashed .236/.358/.427 for a wRC+ of 131.
The Rays don’t need to trade him, as he can still be retained for two more seasons via arbitration. But he’s already making $8.1MM this year and that number will only climb in the seasons to come. Tampa has a long track record of trading such players for younger, cheaper and less-established alternatives and it’s plausible to see the same thing happening here.
21. Lane Thomas, OF, Nationals
Controlled through the 2025 season, Thomas has been a fixture in Washington’s outfield for the past three seasons. His .243/.306/.400 line is down from last year’s career-best .268/.315/.468 showing, wherein he popped a career-high 28 homers. Though the Nats use Thomas in an everyday role, many contenders will view him as a platoon option. Thomas has pummeled lefties at a .329/.405/.548 clip in 2024 and a .306/.367/.524 pace in his career. However, he’s hitting just .207/.260/.341 against righties this season and carries only a .223/.288/.390 line in right-on-right matchups throughout his career. He’s one of the fastest players in the game (21 steals, 94th percentile sprint speed), but Thomas isn’t a great outfield defender. He’s a very useful player, but the Nats might value him more than other teams will.
22. Tommy Pham, OF, White Sox
Unlike many of the White Sox other trade chips, Pham is a pure rental. The entire point of signing him was to hope he’d hit his way into trade candidate status. He’s faded after a hot start, but the 36-year-old’s .259/.332/.355 line is still roughly league average. He’s sporting a .239/.375/.413 slash against lefties (129 wRC+). Pham has settled in as a mercenary of sorts late in his career, signing a series of one-year deals and frequently changing hands at the trade deadline. This year will be no exception.
23. Kevin Pillar, OF, Angels
Pillar has had a resurgent season. The veteran outfielder was released by the White Sox 17 games into the season. He latched on with the Angels after the Mike Trout injury opened a spot on the grass. Pillar has seized the opportunity, hitting .287/.340/.485 with six homers through 147 plate appearances. The 35-year-old recently told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that this is likely to be his final season. He’s hitting well enough to get a fourth or fifth outfield role with a contender.
24-25. Elias Diaz & Jacob Stallings, C, Rockies
Colorado’s catching duo are both impending free agents. They’re having solid seasons that could attract interest from teams looking to shore up their depth behind the dish. Diaz is hitting .296/.340/.417 over 259 trips to the plate. While he’s not likely to maintain a .347 average on balls in another home park, he puts a decent number of balls in play and has double-digit home run power. Diaz is making $6MM in the final season of a three-year extension.
Stallings is playing on a $1.5MM salary and is due a $500K buyout on a ’25 mutual option. While Stallings struggled with the Marlins between 2022-23, he has turned in a .265/.365/.434 slash across 160 plate appearances in a backup role. Stallings no longer rates as the elite defender he was at his peak — he won a Gold Glove with Pittsburgh in 2021 — but he’s affordable and outperforming the backup catchers on some contenders.
26-27. Cal Quantrill (RHP) & Austin Gomber (LHP), Rockies
Quantrill and Gomber are each in their second-to-last seasons of arbitration. Colorado could hold both pitchers into 2025, but that’d arguably bypass a chance to capitalize on a thin rotation market. The Rox have generally been resistant to trading players under control for multiple seasons. They’re reportedly open to discussions on their pair of back-end starters, even if its an open question whether they’ll get the kind of offer that convinces them to pull the trigger.
Of this duo, Quantrill has higher trade value. The Rockies bought low on the former #8 overall pick in a trade with the Guardians last offseason. That has proven a nice acquisition for GM Bill Schmidt and his staff. Quantrill sports a 4.13 ERA across a team-leading 102 1/3 innings. He hasn’t had any issue acclimating to Coors Field, turning in an even 4.00 earned run average over eight home starts. Quantrill has never missed many bats, but he has strong control and is getting ground-balls at a 46.4% clip. He owns a 3.88 ERA in nearly 700 career innings. The Stanford product is playing on a $6.55MM salary.
Gomber is more affordable but hasn’t been as effective. The 30-year-old southpaw owns a 4.47 ERA through 94 2/3 innings. Gomber attacks the zone but doesn’t throw especially hard (90.4 MPH average fastball speed) and hasn’t recorded a strikeout rate better than 18% over the past three seasons. The pitch-to-contact approach has led to a decent amount of volatility over the years. It has been more of the same this year, as Gomber was blitzed for a 9.39 ERA in June around otherwise solid performances in April, May and to this point in July. He’s making $3.15MM.
28. Trevor Rogers, LHP, Marlins
One of two former Rookie of the Year runner-ups on this list (Miguel Andujar being the other), Rogers’ stock has diminished a great deal since his sensational 2021 campaign. He dealt with some horrific, harrowing family issues and multiple serious injuries along the way — including a lat strain, left biceps strain that required a 60-day IL stint, and back spasms.
Rogers’ fastball is now down about two miles per hour from his breakout showing. His strikeout rate has dipped 10 percentage points, from 28.5% to 18.3%. His current 10% walk rate is a career-high. But while all of that, coupled with a 4.82 ERA in 89 2/3 frames this season, is rather underwhelming, Rogers is a former first-round pick, top prospect and decorated rookie who is still only 26 years old. He’s controllable through 2026 at salaries that won’t be prohibitive, as he’s earning just $1.525MM in 2024 and owed two more arbitration raises. A team with a knack for maximizing pitching performance might view Rogers as an affordable buy-low candidate based on his pedigree.
29. Brendan Rodgers, 2B, Rockies
Partially because of injury, Rodgers has never developed into the star player the Rockies expected when they drafted him third overall in 2015. Park-adjusted metrics have pegged him as a below-average hitter in every season of his career. It’s a similar story in 2024, as Rodgers hasn’t drawn many walks or hit for a ton of power. He owns a .272/.313/.388 slash line over 294 plate appearances. Still, he’s a former Gold Glove winner who could draw some attention in a market light on middle infield talent. Rodgers is making $3.2MM this season and comes with one more season of arbitration control.
30. Austin Adams, RHP, Athletics
Adams’ slider-spamming tactics are back in full force this season — he’s throwing more than three-quarters sliders — and the results are interesting. A 4.60 ERA is pretty easy to gloss over, but Adams has 16 holds and a 26% strikeout rate. He’s walked nearly 13% of his opponents and plunked 12. Hitters aren’t ever going to be comfortable in the box against Adams, who’s hit 43 batters in 145 2/3 career innings. Those are every bit as much a red flag as his high walk rates, but Adams can miss bats in droves (career 31.5% strikeout rate) and can dominate opposing lineups when his command is at its best. Walks and hit batters will always be part of his game, but he has the stuff to succeed despite poor command … it’s just a frustrating ride for fans to watch at times. Adams won’t command a huge haul, but he’s only making $800K this season and is controllable through 2025.
31. Andrew Chafin, LHP, Tigers
Chafin is owed the balance of a $4.25MM salary plus at least a $500K buyout on a $6.25MM club option for 2025. He’s bounced back from an ugly 2023 season so far, pitching to a 3.72 ERA with a big 28.8% strikeout rate versus an inflated 10.6% walk rate. His walk and grounder rates were once both plus marks but now sit below average. Still, Chafin is an established, experienced lefty who can be controlled through next season.
32. Luis Garcia, RHP, Angels
Garcia has been the best of the Angels’ various free agent signings to overhaul their bullpen. The hard-throwing sinkerballer is getting grounders at a 50.5% clip. He’s striking out a solid 22.5% of batters faced against an 8.8% walk rate. An atypically low strand rate has led to a pedestrian 4.30 earned run average, but the peripherals point to a decent middle innings arm. The 37-year-old righty is an impending free agent who is playing on a $4.25MM salary.
33. Dylan Floro, RHP, Nationals
Rental relievers are always in demand, and Floro has both pitched well. The 33-year-old is earning $2.25MM and has pitched to a 2.06 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. He’s not going to last the whole season without allowing a home run, as is currently the case, but even with some HR/FB regression, Floro has looked solid.
34. Jalen Beeks, LHP, Rockies
The Rockies grabbed Beeks off waivers from the Rays around the non-tender deadline. The southpaw agreed to a modest $1.675MM salary for his final year of arbitration. In 45 innings, Beeks carries a 4.40 ERA. His 17.8% strikeout rate is a personal low, which isn’t especially surprising for a pitcher during his first season in Coors Field. Beeks has decent walk and ground-ball numbers and can work multiple innings out of the bullpen.
35-36. Scott Alexander & T.J. McFarland, Athletics
Oakland’s rental lefties Alexander and McFarland are both cheap and have both been effective. Alexander is earning $2.25MM on a one-year deal and has turned in a 3.24 ERA in 16 2/3 innings since missing the early portion of the season with a ribcage injury. He’s never missed many bats (13.6% strikeout rate in 2024, 17.8% career), but Alexander has solid command and a mammoth 67.8% grounder rate in his career. McFarland is cut from a similar cloth. He’s fanned just 13.8% of his career opponents but has a 62.5% grounder rate in a dozen MLB seasons. He’s earning $850K and has a 4.24 ERA but a more palatable 3.51 SIERA. Neither will cost much. Both seem likely to move.
37. Derek Law, RHP, Nationals
Law doesn’t have the track record or huge power arsenal that teammates Finnegan and Harvey bring to the table. He’s pitching well and is controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration, however. Law’s track record is that of a true journeyman, bouncing around the league via a series of DFAs and minor league deals. But, he’s posted a 3.35 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate in 53 2/3 innings of relief this season already. He’s on a $1.5MM deal, making him affordable for any team.
38. Paul DeJong, SS, White Sox
Another South Side rental, DeJong is hitting .229/.280/.438 on the season as Chicago’s primary shortstop. The average and OBP are characteristically unimpressive, but DeJong has belted 16 dingers and tallied a dozen doubles. His once-premium defensive grades have tanked, but he has a strong track record as a plus defender. That, plus this year’s power surge, should get the White Sox a modest return.
39. Gio Urshela, INF, Tigers
Urshela isn’t the solid, 20-homer regular he once was. He missed the bulk of the 2023 season following a pelvic fracture and is hitting just .257/.294/.335 in 231 plate appearances with Detroit. But, he’s also on a cheap one-year, $1.5MM deal and can play all around the infield while making plenty of contact at the plate. He’s a decent bench addition for a contender but isn’t likely to net the Tigers substantial prospect help.
40. Miguel Andujar, OF, Athletics
Andujar never matched the 27-homer pace he set in his Rookie of the Year runner-up campaign back in 2018, thanks in large part to shoulder surgery that ruined his 2019 season and pushed him down the depth chart with the Yankees. The Yanks only gave Andujar a combined 516 plate appearances in the four seasons following his second-place finish in ROY voting, and he didn’t do much in 130 plate appearances with the Pirates either. He’s settled into Oakland’s left field spot, though, slashing .299/.327/.408 (112 wRC+) with three homers in 165 plate appearances. Andujar has never walked much and isn’t a great defender, but he’s typically hit when healthy. He’s earning just $1.7MM this season and is controlled through 2025. Teams in need of right-handed corner bats could have interest.
41. Josh Bell, 1B, Marlins
Bell’s name will pop up on a lot of trade candidate lists, but he’s included here more because the Marlins will be trying to unload him than because other teams will be trying to pry him loose. The switch-hitting slugger has been a plus hitter at multiple times in his big league career, but his grounder-heavy approach in the box makes the plodding 6’4″, 261-pound Bell too inconsistent. He’s hitting only .227/.289/.350 in his first full season with Miami and is being paid $16.5MM this year. No one is touching that contract unless the Fish eat the majority of it or take back another bad contract. Still, Bell has enough track record that if Miami pays him down to league minimum (or close to it), another club might take him on as a change-of-scenery flier. Bell did rake following last year’s trade from Cleveland to Miami, so he’s hardly far removed from a productive stint.
42. Jason Adam, RHP, Rays
As has happened so often before, Adam bounced around the league before finally putting it all together in Tampa. After stints with the Royals, Blue Jays and Cubs, he signed with the Rays going into 2022 and has since tossed 157 1/3 innings with a 2.12 ERA, 29.7% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 44.8% ground ball rate. His $2.7MM salary is affordable even by Tampa standards and he has two seasons of club control remaining, but his late-bloomer trajectory means he will turn 33 next month. As time goes on, he’ll get older while his salary will grow and his window of club control will shrink, which could tempt the Rays to move him now.
43. Taylor Ward, OF, Angels
The Angels are reportedly hesitant to move players with multiple years of team control. That could lead them to hang onto Ward, who is eligible for arbitration for another two seasons. If the Halos more seriously consider moving controllable players, Ward should be a target for teams seeking outfield help. The former first-round pick has hit 14 home runs in 89 games. A diminished average on balls in play leads to a fairly modest .235/.320/.415 slash, but Ward has posted above-average offensive numbers in four straight seasons. Since the start of 2021, he’s a .258/.340/.440 hitter in more than 1400 plate appearances. Ward is a solid defender in left field who is playing on a $4.8M arbitration salary.
44. Tyler Anderson, LHP, Angels
Anderson is headed to his second All-Star Game at age 34. That’s largely a reflection of the veteran southpaw’s excellent 2.81 ERA over 112 innings. This is the kind of production the Halos envisioned when they signed him to a three-year, $39MM free agent deal over the 2022-23 offseason. Anderson’s first season in Orange County was much tougher, as he allowed well over five earned runs per nine. All 29 other teams passed on the chance to take on the remainder of Anderson’s contract via waivers last August.
While the run prevention and the All-Star nod have raised Anderson’s stock over the past few months, he probably has less trade value than fans might anticipate. Anderson has mediocre strikeout (16.8%) and walk (10.3%) rates. He’s averaging a career-low 89.2 MPH on his fastball. There’s certainly value in the kind of stability Anderson has provided, though teams aren’t likely to surrender much prospect capital if they’re also taking on his $13MM salaries for the next year and a half.
45. Griffin Canning, RHP, Angels
Canning is a potential buy-low target in the rotation market. The former second-round pick has struggled to a 4.84 ERA over 19 starts. His strikeout rate has plummeted from last season’s 25.9% clip to only 15.7% this season. He has lost a tick on his fastball as well, though his 93.7 MPH four-seam speed is still respectable.
The UCLA product is only one season removed from looking like a viable fourth/fifth starter. He’s a former top prospect who is still showing decent raw stuff. In a market light on healthy starters, Canning could still get some interest. He’s making $2.6MM and is under arbitration control for another season. The Angels may not want to sell low because of the extra year of control, but it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if he moves in a change-of-scenery deal.
46-47. Mason Miller & Lucas Erceg, RHPs, Athletics
Miller is the envy of every bullpen-hungry contender at this year’s trade deadline. Armed with a fastball that averages a comical 101.1 mph and a devastating slider, he’s punched out a ridiculous 46.5% of his opponents this season. Miller’s 9.9% walk rate is higher than average but not egregiously so, and he’s kept the ball on the ground at a 40.3% clip while yielding only 0.72 HR/9. He’s also controllable all the way through the 2029 season. This type of player just isn’t traded in today’s MLB, but the A’s are in circumstances unlike any other club in the sport. Demand for Miller could be so high they receive an offer they feel they can’t overlook.
Erceg draws less fanfare but is similarly interesting. Formerly an infield prospect with the Brewers, he only converted to the mound in 2021. The 6’3″ righty may be new to pitching in pro ball, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his 3.09 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate, 50% grounder rate and 0.84 HR/9. Erceg is averaging 98.4 mph on four-seamer and 98.5 mph on his sinker, coupling those fastballs with a mid-80s slider and low-90s “changeup.” At 29, he’s four years older than Miller despite having similar service time and identical windows of club control. The asking price won’t be as high as Miller, who’s simply been a more dominant reliever, but it’s also hard to believe the A’s plucked Erceg from Milwaukee in exchange for only cash last year. His trade value has exploded since then.
48-49. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. & Bo Bichette, INFs, Blue Jays
Toronto will be one of the most fascinating clubs to watch as the deadline draws nearer. Both Guerrero and Bichette have been core pieces during the Jays’ recent run of contending seasons, but both are now just a year and a half from free agency with no indication an extension is close on either front. Guerrero has recovered from a poor start to post a mammoth .327/.389/.508 line across his past 275 plate appearances. That’d be strong in any season but is extra-potent (55% better than average, per wRC+) in a season where the ball doesn’t appear to be traveling as far and where offense is down across the board.
Bichette, on the other hand, is still mired in a career-worst funk. He looked to be on the upswing in May when he hit .280/.321/.410 on the month, but his bat has cratered once again in the five weeks since. He’s hitting just .222/.275/.321 on the season. That said, Bichette was a star-caliber bat from 2019-23, slashing a combined .299/.340/.487. He’s never been a great defensive shortstop, making the offensive downturn all the more alarming. He’s also now dealing with a calf issue that’s left him day-to-day for the time being.
Guerrero is earning $19.9MM in 2024 and eligible for a raise — likely to the $25MM+ range — in 2025. Bichette is signed for $11MM this year and $16.5MM next year. Both will be free agents in the 2025-26 offseason. The Jays are reportedly likely to deal primarily rental players if they sell, but teams will come calling about their pair of star infielders — particularly Guerrero, given his elite production dating back to late April.
50. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers
The odds of the Tigers trading the current AL Cy Young favorite are long, to say the least, but Detroit’s 2024 season hasn’t catapulted the team back into contention and they’re hungry for controllable, big league-ready bats. Skubal is earning an eminently affordable $2.65MM this season and is controlled two more years beyond the current season. As a Scott Boras client who’s emerged as one of the game’s elite names at his position, he’s unlikely to sign an extension.
The Tigers hope to be in the postseason mix in earnest next season, and Skubal should be a big part of that. In order for them to even consider parting ways with the dominant southpaw, they’d need a genuinely franchise-altering haul — if not on par with the Nationals’ Juan Soto bounty then something not too far below it. A win-now club that’s deep in high-end, MLB-ready hitting prospects (e.g. Orioles) could put together an offer that makes the Tigers think long and hard, but Detroit would likely need to feel the trade package is strong enough and carries enough immediate value that it doesn’t wholly derail their 2025 chances.
Ultimately, it’d be a shock to see someone offer enough to pry Skubal away. He is, after all, sitting on a 2.37 ERA with a huge 30.5% strikeout rate, a tiny 4.6% walk rate, a strong 46.7% grounder rate and just 0.74 HR/9. Still, teams are going to do their best to make president of baseball operations Scott Harris and his staff consider it, so buckle up for several weeks of Skubal chatter as teams take their best shot.
Others to watch if their teams drop in the standings
Cubs: Jameson Taillon, Nico Hoerner, Christopher Morel, Hector Neris, Drew Smyly
D-backs: Christian Walker, Paul Sewald, Joc Pederson, Randal Grichuk, Ryan Thompson
Giants: Michael Conforto, Taylor Rogers, Tyler Rogers, Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr.,
Pirates: Aroldis Chapman, Martin Perez, Michael A. Taylor, Rowdy Tellez, Yasmani Grandal, Connor Joe
Rangers: Michael Lorenzen, Andrew Heaney, Nathan Eovaldi, David Robertson, Kirby Yates, Jon Gray, Jose Leclerc, Jose Urena
Reds: Frankie Montas, Nick Martinez, Jonathan India, Justin Wilson, Brent Suter, Buck Farmer, Lucas Sims, Austin Slater
Currently on the Injured List
David Bednar, Cody Bellinger, Paul Blackburn, Mike Clevinger, Alex Cobb, Joey Gallo, Yimi Garcia, Braxton Garrett, Trevor Gott, Merrill Kelly, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jesus Luzardo, Tyler Mahle, Jordan Montgomery, Luis Rengifo, Ross Stripling, Mike Tauchman, Abraham Toro, Trevor Williams, Alex Wood
Royals Trade Colin Selby To Orioles
The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve acquired right-hander Colin Selby from the Royals in exchange for cash. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Kansas City had recently designated Selby for assignment. The O’s transferred Kyle Bradish from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Selby, 26, pitched just three big league innings for the Royals this season, allowing a pair of runs in that short time. Kansas City acquired Selby from Pittsburgh back in April, sending minor league southpaw Connor Oliver to the Pirates in return. Selby pitched 24 innings with the Bucs last year but was tagged for 24 runs in that time. To date, he’s allowed 26 earned runs in 27 MLB frames.
Obviously, that’s a poor track record but also a small sample at the game’s top level. But the former 16th-round pick is no stranger to minor league success, having posted excellent numbers at the Double-A level in addition to some decent but inconsistent results in Triple-A. Selby notched a sub-4.00 ERA with a 30.8% strikeout rate for Pittsburgh’s Triple-A club last season but has struggled to a 5.32 ERA in 20 Triple-A frames between Indianapolis and Omaha this year.
Missing bats is nothing new for Selby, who’s punched out 25.6% of his career minor league opponents. That includes some lesser strikeout rates in the lower minors when he was still working as a starter. Since moving up to the Double-A level and shifting exclusively to a relief role, Selby has fanned 29.8% of the batters he’s faced. His bat-missing arsenal, as is often the case, is accompanied by troubling command woes, however. He’s dished out a free pass to 12.5% of his combined Double-A/Triple-A opponents and plunked another five hitters. Between those walks and HBPs, he’s given first base away to about 14% of the hitters he’s faced in the upper minors.
Selby is in the second of three minor league option years and doesn’t yet have a full season of MLB service under his belt. If the O’s can get him straightened out, he’ll be optionable again next season and under club control for a full six seasons. There’s quite a ways to go before that’s even a plausible situation, but Baltimore has a knack for coaxing strong relief work from unheralded acquisitions. Their track record isn’t spotless, of course, but the O’s have unlocked next-level performances from Yennier Cano, Danny Coulombe, Cionel Perez and Jacob Webb, among others, despite middling to nonexistent track records at their time of acquisition.
Orioles Select Burch Smith
The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Burch Smith from Triple-A Norfolk. Fellow righty Dillon Tate was optioned to Norfolk in a corresponding move. Baltimore already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so a 40-man move wasn’t necessary.
The 34-year-old Smith signed with the O’s on a minor league deal two weeks ago. He’s pitched a pair of shutout innings for the Tides during his brief Triple-A stint in the organization, fanning a pair and only allowing one hit along the way. He also tossed 29 2/3 innings out of the Marlins’ bullpen earlier this season and worked to a solid 4.25 ERA — albeit with a subpar 17% strikeout rate. However, Smith also walked only 6.7% of his opponents and kept the ball on the ground at a hearty 47% clip.
That marked Smith’s first big league work since 2021. He spent the 2022 season with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and the 2023 season with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles. A former 11th-round pick, Smith has pitched in parts of six big league seasons between the Padres, A’s, Royals, Giants, Brewers and Marlins, logging a combined 5.79 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.
As for Tate, he was a key member of the Baltimore bullpen in 2022, when he pitched 73 2/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball for manager Brandon Hyde. He opened the 2023 season on the injured list due to a flexor strain, however, and when he’d progressed to the point that he was ready for a rehab assignment, he suffered a stress reaction in his elbow that led to a second shutdown. He wound up missing the entire 2023 season as a result of those two injuries.
Now healthy, Tate was enjoying a strong season up through mid-June before hitting a substantial rough patch. As recently as June 19, Tate was sitting on a sparkling 2.31 ERA. A poor 15.6% strikeout rate suggested he would have a hard time sustaining quite that level of success, but Tate sported an average walk rate and huge 56.3% grounder rate. Regression indeed came — and far more aggressively than anyone could’ve reasonably predicted. He’s been scored upon in three straight appearances and has given up runs in six of his past eight outings. Dating back to June 19, Tate has a 9.90 ERA (11 runs in 10 innings).
The move to option Tate comes not long before he’d have been granted the right to refuse such an assignment. The former No. 4 overall pick entered the season with 4.048 years of MLB service and has run that total up to 4.128 years. With just 44 more days on the active roster or injured list, he’d reach five years of service. At that point, he’d have to consent to being optioned.
So long as Tate gets 44 more days on the active roster or injured list between now and season’s end, he’ll remain on track to become a free agent following the 2025 season. If, however, he’s up for 43 or fewer days, he’ll finish the season with four-plus years instead of five-plus and have his path to free agency pushed back by a year.
Tigers Move Kenta Maeda To Bullpen
Tigers righty Kenta Maeda will not make his next scheduled start and will instead move to the bullpen “for the foreseeable future,” manager A.J. Hinch announced to the team’s beat this morning (X link via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). Maeda is not currently expected to return to the rotation after the All-Star break. The Tigers will make a decision on what to do with that open rotation spot at a later date.
Maeda, 36, has struggled greatly in the first season of a two-year, $24MM deal signed over the winter. It appeared to be a highly reasonable signing at the time, as Maeda had shined over the final four months of the season with the division-rival Twins after returning from a triceps injury. In Maeda’a final 16 starts of the 2023 campaign, he pitched to a 3.36 ERA with an excellent 29% strikeout rate and strong 7% walk rate.
Things have gone the opposite direction in 2024. The longtime Dodgers and Twins righty has started 16 games but tallied just 65 2/3 innings with a grim 7.26 earned run average. His command remains solid (7.9% walk rate), but Maeda’s strikeout rate has plummeted to 17.1% and he’s lost close to a mile per hour off his fastball (averaging just 90.3 mph this season, per Statcast). Most problematically, Maeda has already yielded 15 homers on the year, just two shy of his 2023 total (in 104 1/3 innings) and one shy of his 2022 total (in 106 1/3 innings).
The Tigers’ other offseason rotation addition, righty Jack Flaherty, has enjoyed a brilliant rebound campaign. He and Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal have formed a dynamic one-two punch atop the Detroit starting staff, and sophomore righty Reese Olson has stepped up to give Hinch three quality options with ERA of 3.30 or less. Former No. 1 pick Casey Mize returned from Tommy John surgery and back surgery to post a solid, if unspectacular 4.23 mark in 16 starts of his own.
That quartet gives the Tigers a quality slate of options in the top four spots, and righty Keider Montero has rattled off consecutive quality starts over the past week-plus. He might be the first up for a look in the fifth spot, but Detroit will likely need another starting option before long. Excellent as Flaherty has been, the Tigers as a whole have underwhelmed at 44-49. That leaves them 14 games out of the AL Central lead and seven back in the AL Wild Card hunt. A trade of Flaherty seems overwhelmingly likely between now and July 30, as the right-hander is playing on a one-year deal and is positioning himself for a potential nine-figure deal in free agency this winter.
The top internal option for the Tigers to take that spot, if and when it becomes necessary, is former first-round pick and top prospect Matt Manning. The 26-year-old has yet to establish himself as a consistent MLB rotation presence, working to a 4.43 ERA over 50 big league starts. That includes a 4.88 mark in five starts (27 2/3 innings) earlier this season. He’s yielded an unsightly 5.03 ERA in Triple-A this year but has far more promising strikeout and walk rates of 24.7% and 8.8%, respectively.
Speculatively speaking, Detroit could move forward with a rotation of Skubal, Olson, Mize, Manning and Montero while hoping that former top-40 pick Ty Madden (8.43 ERA in 12 Triple-A starts) turns things around in Toledo. It’s also feasible that their deadline dealings bring in some other rotation candidates of note. Of course, an ideal scenario would see a sojourn to the bullpen help Maeda rediscover his form, paving the way for him to rejoin the starting staff and create some optimism for better performance in 2025. There’s a long way to go before that’s a consideration right now, however.
Cubs Sign Trayce Thompson To Minor League Deal
The Cubs signed veteran outfielder Trayce Thompson to a minor league contract yesterday afternoon. While the team never made a formal announcement, the Wasserman client’s signing is reflected on the team’s transaction log at MLB.com, and Thompson already suited up with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Des Moines last night, going 1-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
Thompson, 33, was cut loose by the Mets earlier this month after spending 62 games with their Triple-A club in Syracuse. The former second-rounder hit .228/.300/.500 in 253 plate appearances during his stint with the Mets organization. He’ll now return to the Cubs for a second stint; Thompson was also with the Cubs in 2021, ripping 21 homers in 88 games with Iowa and also appearing in 15 big league games as a Cub.
Though he’s never been a regular in the majors, Thompson has accrued more than four years of service time scattered across parts of seven MLB campaigns. In 369 games and 1058 plate appearances between the White Sox, Dodgers, A’s and Padres, Thompson carries a .212/.300/.411 batting line. He’s walked in a hefty 10.9% of his career plate appearances but also fanned at an untenable 32.7% rate. He’s long had impressive raw power and earlier in his career also boasted plus speed, though Statcast measured him as average in that regard last season in 72 games split between the Dodgers and ChiSox.
Thompson gives the Cubs some depth across all three slots in the outfield. His ability to play anywhere in the outfield took on extra importance just hours after signing with the Cubs, as Cody Bellinger exited last night’s game against the Orioles after being plunked on the hand by a 97 mph heater from Baltimore lefty Cionel Perez. It’s not clear yet whether there’s a fracture or enough swelling that Bellinger will require a stay on the 10-day injured list, but Bellinger noted following the game last night that he had to depart because he wasn’t able to throw a ball.
Even in the event of a Bellinger absence, the Cubs could go with outfield prospect Alexander Canario to take his spot on the big league roster. Whatever the immediate future holds, Thompson gives the Cubs an experienced depth option who’s posted a .237/.307/.465 batting line in parts of seven Triple-A seasons and who, with 16 long balls already in the books this year, looks well on his way to his fifth professional season with 20-plus homers.
Reds’ Nick Martini Undergoes Thumb Surgery
Reds outfielder/designated hitter Nick Martini underwent surgery yesterday to repair ligament damage in his thumb, manager David Bell informed the team’s beat (X link via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer). A firm timeline for his recovery wasn’t provided, but Bell noted there’s still a chance Martini could return before season’s end.
Martini was placed on the injured list over the weekend due to an issue in his left thumb. He suffered the injury when he jammed his thumb on a headfirst slide into second base the day prior. The 34-year-old Martini got out to a blistering start in 2024, ripping a pair of Opening Day homers and batting .290/.303/.677 through his first 11 games. He then fell into a prolonged slump before being optioned to Triple-A Louisville on May 7.
Martini has twice been optioned to Louisville this season, and both times he’s laid waste to upper-minors pitching. In 60 plate appearances, he’s delivered a .340/.467/.681 batting line with four homers and as many walks as strikeouts (11). That certainly suggests the thumb hadn’t been bothering him prior to that ill-fated slide and that the bulk or entirety of the damage came on that one isolated play.
The overall .212/.272/.370 slash that Martini has turned in this season for the Reds is quite a ways below par, but he has a history of drawing walks and posting solid OBPs at the MLB level. In 575 MLB plate appearances, Martini is a .252/.336/.400 hitter. He’s also consistently been an OBP machine in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .295/.400/.451 in 2246 career plate appearances.
Martini will get big league pay and service time while he mends from that surgery. The injury could also give the Reds some 40-man roster flexibility, as it seems quite possible based on Bell’s nebulous recovery timeframe that he’ll require 60 days on the injured list.
Brewers Outright Taylor Clarke
July 10: Clarke went unclaimed on outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. As previously noted, he’ll likely accept. Clarke picked up 48 days of service earlier this season while on the major league injured list, bringing him to 4.168 years of service — just four days shy of the five years he’d need to reject the outright but retain his salary. (Clarke did not receive big league service time during his DFA window, as he was in Triple-A at the time he was designated.)
July 3: The Brewers have designated right-hander Taylor Clarke for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for newly acquired right-hander Aaron Civale. The right-hander did not pitch in the majors for Milwaukee after coming over from Kansas City in an offseason trade sending minor league right-hander Ryan Brady and minor league infielder Cam Devanney back to the Royals.
The 31-year-old Clarke pitched in the big leagues for the 2019-21 D-backs and 2022-23 Royals. He had a nice showing with Kansas City in 2022, tossing 49 innings of 4.04 ERA ball with a solid 23.6% strikeout rate and pristine 3.9% walk rate. He couldn’t sustain that production into the 2023 campaign, however, evidenced by a 5.95 ERA in 59 frames. Clarke punched out an even better 24.4% of his opponents but also walked 9% of the batters he faced and yielded considerably more hard contact en route to a bloated 1.83 HR/9 mark.
Milwaukee, likely intrigued by Clarke’s 95 mph average heater, ability to miss bats and remaining minor league option, sent a pair of minor leaguers to Kansas City after the Royals had designated Clarke for assignment themselves (to make room for the signing of Seth Lugo). He opened the season on the minor league injured list and has been stretched out as a starter since returning, though the results haven’t been encouraging. Clarke has pitched in 11 games, nine of them starts, and been tagged for a dreary 5.30 earned run average. He’s back to showing strong command (5.2% walk rate) but has seen his strikeout rate dip to 19.5% while last season’s home run troubles persist (1.77 HR/9)
The Brewers will either trade Clarke or place him on outright waivers within the next five days. (Waivers themselves are an additional 48 hour process.) He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minors in the event that he goes unclaimed, but doing so would require forfeiture of the remainder of this season’s $1.25MM salary. Given that arbitration salary and his struggles in the upper minors, it seems likely that Clarke will clear and remain with the Brewers in Triple-A Nashville. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster before season’s end, he’d be eligible for minor league free agency, as is the case with all players who possess three-plus years of service but have been removed from a team’s 40-man roster.
Giants’ Zaidi Downplays Need For Major Deadline Acquisition
At 45-47, the Giants sit ten games behind the Dodgers for the NL West lead. They’re two and a half games back in the race for the final NL Wild Card spot, with three teams (including division-rival San Diego and Arizona) in order to claim that spot. The Pirates sit just a half-game behind San Francisco in the standings. The Cubs are only one game behind. It’s a tightly contested bunch of fringe contenders, but president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi isn’t publicly broadcasting an urgency to make a splash to separate his club from the pack.
“When I look at our team, we have pretty solid players at every spot in the field,” Zaidi said last night (link via Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle). “We have a rotation that’s getting healthier and a bullpen that’s done a nice job. So nothing jumps out as a spot where we need an emergency plug in.”
The rotation health to which Zaidi is referring includes not only reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who returned from the IL and made his best start of the season last night, but also veteran hurlers Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb. Ray, acquired in an offseason swap with the Mariners, is on the mend from 2023 Tommy John surgery. Cobb, whose $10MM option was exercised following the 2023 season, has had a longer-than-expected recovery from hip surgery. Both veterans are currently on minor league rehab assignments that could see them activated later this month.
In some respects, this was always the plan. After signing free agents Snell and Jordan Hicks to pair with ace Logan Webb, the Giants patched together the rest of their first-half rotation with a series of in-house promotions and bullpen games. Injuries to Tristan Beck, Keaton Winn and Kyle Harrison have tested their depth at times.
The season-long results aren’t great overall. Giants starters rank dead last in the majors with 428 innings pitched and sit 22nd in each of ERA (4.48), strikeout rate (20.8%) and walk rate (8.3%). The impending returns of Ray and Cobb could well help turn the tides, but it’s also worth noting that Hicks has significantly tailed off after a hot start — perhaps no surprise given that he’s now into uncharted waters (in terms of workload) as a reliever making the conversion to starting pitching.
While the Giants can hope to soon have a rotation of Webb, Ray, Cobb, Harrison and Hicks — a strong quintet indeed if all are healthy — the question of depth persists. Winn has been out since June 21 due to elbow inflammation and has not begun a rehab assignment. Beck has been out all season after requiring surgery to address an aneurysm in his shoulder. Rookie Mason Black has been hit hard in three starts. Fellow debut hurler Hayden Birdsong has fared a bit better but hardly been dominant through three trips to the hill. Top prospect Carson Whisenhunt has started 18 games in Triple-A but has a 5.79 ERA and 11.7% walk rate.
Similarly, the bullpen has its own slate of questions. San Francisco relievers have thrown more innings (383 1/3) than any team in MLB, as one would naturally expect for a team with the game’s fewest rotation innings. Part of that is attributable to their frequent use of bullpen games — a strategy that can take its toll on a relief corps over time. The Giants have received strong work from Ryan Walker, Sean Hjelle, Taylor Rogers and Tyler Rogers this season. Closer Camilo Doval has been less effective than in the past, with a pedestrian 4.04 ERA and worrisome 14.2% walk rate (the worst mark of his career). Rookie right-hander Randy Rodriguez has been decent in middle relief, but fellow rookie Landen Roupp and veteran Luke Jackson have struggled. As is the case with the rotation, the bullpen has a talented core group but could certainly stand to be deepened.
On the position player side of things, the Giants have received strong production from each of catcher, first base and third base. Patrick Bailey has emerged as a cornerstone piece behind the dish. Veteran OBP machine LaMonte Wade Jr. is a sound option at first base. Matt Chapman is hitting well and playing plus defense at the hot corner.
In the outfield, the Giants have seen former top prospect Heliot Ramos break out as an All-Star. Michael Conforto‘s recent hot streak (.289/.391/.658 over his past 15 games) has pulled him back to above-average offensive production on the whole. Mike Yastrzemski has underwhelmed thus far and will presumably platoon with Luis Matos for the time being. Jorge Soler has produced average offense out of the DH spot but isn’t going anywhere in the first season of a three-year, $42MM deal.
The middle infield is far less set in stone. The recent DFA of Nick Ahmed has Tyler Fitzgerald and Brett Wisely ticketed for frequent reps there. Both are hitting well but doing so with some particularly good fortune on balls in play. Second baseman Thairo Estrada just returned from the injured list but has batted only .227/.260/.371 in 315 plate appearances when healthy — a far cry from the .266/.320/.416 he slashed from 2021-23.
Perhaps Zaidi is correct in suggesting that there’s no glaring need where the Giants are performing with disastrous results and no reinforcements on the horizon. The sixth-year president of baseball operations spoke of the importance of allowing players like Fitzgerald and Matos to come to the big leagues and feel they have an opportunity to earn playing time, just as Ramos has.
At the same time, banking on production from so many unproven assets is a risky proposition for a team that, despite a sub-.500 record, has a legitimate playoff chance. It’s always a fine line to walk, giving players like Fitzgerald and Matos chances at playing time while also striving to remain competitive. The Giants are also sitting on a club-record $208MM payroll and are presently about $16MM north of the luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource. It’s not clear just how much ownership is willing to tack onto that record spending — if they’re willing to at all.