Wasserman Purchases Jet Sports Management
The Wasserman agency announced Friday that it has purchased Jet Sports Management and hired Jet founder and president B.B. Abbott as an executive vice president. Today’s press release indicates that agents Andrew Lowenthal, Al Goetz, Hank Sargent, Alex Ott, Tyler Pastornicky and Blaise Salter are all joining the Wasserman staff immediately as well.
Wasserman already stood as one of the largest agencies in the business, and their acquisition of Jet furthers that position. Among the dozens of clients joining the Wasserman roster are the likes of Byron Buxton, Zack Wheeler, Matt Olson, Charlie Morton, Clay Holmes, Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, Logan Gilbert, Gavin Lux and Mike Minor.
The changes in representation will be reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains information on the hundreds of big leaguers who’ve appeared in the Majors over the past several seasons. We do our best to keep those records up to date, but changes in representation happen regularly. If you see any inaccuracies or any clients unaccounted for, let us know: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
Jazz Chisholm Diagnosed With Stress Fracture In Back
The Marlins will be without star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. for quite some time, as a CT scan has revealed a stress fracture in his back, Craig Mish and Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald report (Twitter link). That comes with around a six-week recovery timetable, and Chisholm will likely then need to ramp back up to game activity.
It’s a brutal injury for a Marlins team that is on the fringe of the National League Wild Card race (six games back) and determining whether to add some veteran pieces or sell off short-term assets with the trade deadline looming. The 24-year-old Chisholm has emerged as Miami’s best position player and one of the better all-around talents in the National League, slashing .254/.325/.535 with 14 home runs, 10 doubles, four triples and a dozen stolen bases in 241 plate appearances this year.
That output would put Chisholm on pace for a potential 30-homer, 30-steal season — all while playing standout defense at second base. This latest injury, however, looks as though it’ll sideline the dynamic Miami second baseman for the majority of the games remaining on the schedule. Nagging back issues have interrupted the breakout season for the first-time All-Star, who initially landed on the 10-day injured list in late June with what had been termed a lower back strain.
The Fish have felt Chisholm’s absence, limping to a .206/.266/.304 line since he landed on the shelf. They’re currently riding a four-game losing streak in which they’re scored a total of one run, and they haven’t plated more than five runs in any contest since July 3. That stretch has dealt a notable hit to their chances of hanging around in the Wild Card race, and losing their best player only makes a second-half push seem more far-fetched. Frustrations with the offense have understandably mounted, with manager Don Mattingly saying yesterday the Marlins have a “stagnant club that sits and hopes we hit a home run or a couple doubles” while both Chisholm and stolen base leader Jon Berti have been on the injured list (video link via Jeremy Tache of Bally Sports Florida). The skipper added it’s been “frustrating” to get down years from players like Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler, each of whom was brought in via multi-year free agent deals over the winter.
Mish tweeted yesterday that unhappiness was predictably mounting throughout the organization, suggesting the team could soon turn to former #4 overall pick JJ Bleday in hopes of sparking the offense. Bleday has seen his stock fall notably since he’s been in pro ball, but he’s at least reaching base at a .365 clip with Triple-A Jacksonville this season. General manager Kim Ng and her staff will have to decide how to proceed with the roster over the next few weeks, with Miami featuring a host of veteran role players who could hold appeal to contenders were the Marlins to make them available.
Nationals Agree To Minor League Deals With David Dahl, Daniel Ponce De Leon
The Nationals have agreed to minor league deals with outfielder David Dahl and right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). Dahl was recently released by the Brewers, while Ponce De Leon was released from the Mariners organization. Both had been playing on minor league deals in Triple-A at the time of their release.
Neither player has appeared on a major league roster this year, but they’d both had extensive big league work before 2022. Dahl, a former tenth overall pick and top Rockies prospect, reached the majors in 2016. He hit .315/.359/.500 down the stretch that season, but injuries helped keep him out of MLB action the following year. That became a familiar occurrence, as Dahl missed notable time in each of the next three seasons with foot, ankle, back and shoulder issues.
The left-handed hitter was generally effective when healthy, at least early in his career. He combined for a .291/.342/.528 line while playing just more than half of Colorado’s games between 2018-19, earning an All-Star nod in the latter season. After losing most of the shortened 2020 campaign to injury, however, he was surprisingly non-tendered by the Rockies. He caught on with the Rangers on a big league deal heading into last season, but his results were disastrous. Dahl hit only .210/.247/.322 over 220 plate appearances in Texas. He was released last August and caught on with the Brewers on a minor league deal.
Dahl had spent the past year with Milwaukee’s top affiliate in Nashville. He played well there, including a .294/.357/.468 showing through 67 games this season. Nevertheless, the Brewers elected against giving him another MLB look, and he was granted his release a few weeks ago. The 28-year-old will try to play his way back to the majors on a Washington club that is rebuilding and likely to deal a few hitters over the coming weeks. Juan Soto is obviously the biggest name on the market, but each of Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell are virtual locks to change hands before the August 2 deadline. Cruz has taken almost the at-bats at designated hitter, so there could be at-bats available for Dahl there for the season’s final couple months.
Ponce de Leon, 30, pitched for the Cardinals from 2018-21. He broke in with some promise as a swingman, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his first two seasons while generating a solid number of strikeouts. He punched out an elite 31.5% of opponents during the shortened 2020 season, but that year also saw him walk a career-high 14% of batters faced. Those control woes persisted last season, and St. Louis designated him for assignment after he posted a 6.21 ERA through 33 1/3 innings.
Signed by Seattle to a minor league deal in April, he’d spent the year with their top affiliate in Tacoma. Ponce de Leon was hit hard over 16 starts, posting a 7.95 ERA with an elevated 12.7% walk rate and surrendering more than two homers per nine innings. His 24.1% strikeout rate there was fine but not at the heights he’d flashed in prior seasons, and the M’s let him go this week. Washington will add him as non-roster depth capable of working either out of the rotation or the bullpen.
Astros Among Teams With Interest In Josh Bell
Nationals first baseman Josh Bell is among the likeliest trade candidates on the market, and the Astros are among the teams interested in adding the slugger to their lineup, SNY’s Andy Martino tweets. The Mets are also said to have interest in Bell, who figures to appeal to just about any team in need of an offensive upgrade.
The 29-year-old Bell (30 next month) has been a force in Washington’s lineup for the past two seasons, coming over from the Pirates in a trade that sent Wil Crowe and minor league righty Eddy Yean to Pittsburgh in return. After an awful first month in D.C. last season, the switch-hitting Bell picked up the pace and hasn’t really slowed down. Since May 1, 2021 — a span of 902 plate appearances — Bell is hitting .293/.376/.503 with 38 long balls, 43 doubles and four triples.
Bell achieves that production with a combination of strong plate discipline and far better bat-to-ball skills than one might expect from a burly 6’4″, 255-pound slugger. He’s walked at an impressive 11.2% clip over that stretch of 902 trips to the plate and struck out in just 15.2% of them (including just 13.5% this season). Bell makes consistently strong contact (45.5% hard-hit rate, 91.1 mph average exit velocity), and although he puts the ball on the ground more than is ideal for someone with his power (51.3% ground-ball rate), he’s adept at spraying line drives. Also, while only 28.2% of Bell’s batted balls during this run have been classified as fly-balls, more than one in five of those flies (20.5%) has left the yard.
Bell once graded as a poor defender at first base but has improved his ratings in recent years. Public metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (+3) and Outs Above Average (+1) feel he’s been a solid option at the position this season — a far cry from early in his career when he was turning in full-season marks of -7 and -8. That defensive improvement is surely key for the Astros, who would have to play Bell at first base with a good deal of frequency given the presence of Yordan Alvarez at designated hitter. Alvarez is capable of playing left field and may do so more often with Michael Brantley out indefinitely due to a shoulder injury, but if the team ends up back at full strength, either Alvarez or Brantley would require some extra reps in the DH slot.
That scenario would likely push Astros stalwart Yuli Gurriel into a part-time role, which may be a bitter pill for both Gurriel and the organization to swallow. However, the 38-year-old Gurriel hasn’t performed up to his previous standards, hitting at a .235/.286/.386 clip through 329 plate appearances. He’s still making loads of contact (13.4% strikeout rate), but his walk rate, power output and batted-ball quality have all declined. Gurriel is popping the ball up to the infield at a higher rate than ever before and is sporting a career-low 17.9% line-drive rate. A Gold Glove winner at first base just last season, Gurriel has also posted negative marks in both DRS (-2) and OAA (-5).
Gurriel is still hitting lefties at a respectable .258/.298/.443 clip (110 wRC+), and he’s a fixture in the Houston clubhouse, so it stands to reason that he’d stick on the roster and be relied upon in a part-time role even if the Astros were to acquire Bell or another first base upgrade. It’s also worth pointing out that Gurriel has shown some signs of life after an awful run in April and May; dating back to June 1, he’s batted .255/.318/.418 in 154 plate appearances. That’s still a far cry from both his typical production and the numbers Bell has posted over the past couple seasons, however.
Bell is earning $10MM this season and will be a free agent at season’s end. The Astros’ $174MM payroll is down notably from last season’s franchise-record $188MM mark, and they’re more than $30MM shy of the new $230MM luxury-tax barrier. As such, there shouldn’t be any financial roadblocks to stand in the way of a deal if the two parties can agree on the young talent that would need to go back to Washington in return.
Mets Exploring Trade Market For DH Options
The Mets are exploring the market for a number of bats as they look to upgrade over what has been a generally unproductive tandem of Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis at designated hitter, reports Andy Martino of SNY. Nationals sluggers Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz, Colorado’s C.J. Cron and Baltimore’s Trey Mancini (as previously reported) are among the names in play.
Metsmerized’s Michael Mayer reported this week that the Mets have also had talks with the Pirates about left-handed-hitting Daniel Vogelbach, who is signed to a highly affordable $1MM contract with a $1.5MM option for the 2023 season. FanSided’s Robert Murray hears the same, though Murray notes that there are multiple teams inquiring about Vogelbach’s availability (as is surely the case with the Mets’ other reported targets). Martino describes conversations with the Pirates regarding Vogelbach as “active.”
The 29-year-old Vogelbach would surely be viewed as a platoon option in Queens, as he’s never hit lefties well and has again posted an inept .141/.267/.156 batting line against them. However, he’s crushed righties to the tune of a .260/.365/.532 batting line, swatting a dozen homers, nine doubles and a triple in just 203 trips to the plate when holding the platoon advantage this year. Vogelbach’s has long been a productive hitter against righties, and he’s not all that far removed from a smashing a career-high 30 homers with the 2019 Mariners.
There’s some appeal to Vogelbach beyond the strong platoon work and next year’s affordable club option, too. He entered the year with three-plus years of Major League service time, meaning that even after a club exercises next year’s option — which seems likely, whether it’s the Pirates, Mets or another trade partner — he’s still controllable through the 2024 season. Vogelbach would be arbitration-eligible in the 2023-24 offseason before reaching free agency in the 2024-25 offseason.
The 29-year-old Bell is hitting .311/.390/.504 with 13 home runs this season, striking out at a career-low 13.5% and drawing walks at a hearty 10.7% pace. He’s earning $10MM this season, and while the Nationals might be wary of sending long-term pieces to the division-rival Mets (e.g. Juan Soto), Bell is a free agent at the end of the year, which probably eliminates any such concerns from Washington’s vantage point.
It’s a similar story for the 42-year-old Cruz, who’s earning $15MM this season and has a mutual option for the 2023 campaign. Those are rarely exercised by both parties, however, and players with mutual options are generally considered rentals for this reason. Cruz got out to an awful start in 2022 but has produced a solid .283/.362/.425 batting line in his past 247 plate appearances. He’s only homered six times in that span, showing a decidedly uncharacteristic lack of power, but Cruz has still been a productive hitter if you’re willing to set aside a slow start to the year.
As for Cron, it’s understandable that the Mets would harbor interest, but a deal seems unlikely to come together. Although the Rockies are 19 games out of the NL West lead and six and a half games back of the NL’s third Wild Card spot, the organization has opted not to deal what look to be on-paper trade candidates for years now. Ownership in Denver steadfastly believes the foundation of a contending club is in place, as evidenced by the glut of extensions doled out over the past year (as well as the surprising signing of Kris Bryant to a seven-year deal).
One need look no further than last year’s deadline to see that Cron isn’t likely to be moved. The Rockies were in this position a year ago, when Cron was playing on a cheap one-year deal and looked like a slam-dunk candidate to be flipped to a contender. The Rockies instead kept him and inked Cron to a two-year, $14.5MM extension. To their credit, Cron has been overwhelming bargain, hitting .298/.350/.552 with 21 homers this year. That’s outstanding production, but if the Rox balked at moving him a year ago when he was a free-agent-to-be, it only stands to reason that they’d be further dissuaded from trading him now (even though the contract likely makes him more appealing to potential suitors). General manager Bill Schmidt said just last week that he does not expect to be a major seller this summer.
Any of the names listed here would likely serve as an upgrade over the combined .219/.300/.368 batting line that Mets designated hitters have put together this season. That production includes 90 very productive plate appearances by Pete Alonso as DH, which only underscores how rough the non-Alonso DH options have been at Citi Field this season.
As for what would happen with the current DH options the Mets have in-house, it somewhat unsurprisingly seems as though a change of scenery may be in the fold. Smith was just placed on the injured list due to an ankle sprain but could return by the middle of next week. The Cubs and Red Sox are among the teams to have talked to the Mets about a potential trade. Martino writes that the Mets are “working to trade Smith,” adding that Davis could be moved as well.
Smith has struggled in 2021-22 after a hugely productive 2019-20 showing, while Davis’ power numbers have tumbled this year despite eye-popping exit velocity and hard-hit numbers. Both are controllable for two years beyond the current campaign, which might make them appealing to a club that’s not a current contender but can afford to give Smith or Davis consistent playing time while showing a bit more patience than the Mets have the luxury of doing in a competitive setting atop the NL East.
The White Sox’ Corner Outfield Needs
The 2022 season hasn’t gone at all as the White Sox hoped, but they nevertheless find themselves within striking distance of the AL Central lead, thanks largely to the underwhelming composition of the division as a whole. This comes despite designating fifth starter Dallas Keuchel for assignment after eight starts, despite receiving no production at all from their catchers and despite another injury-ravaged season from Eloy Jimenez (among many other issues).
Some of the White Sox’ struggles weren’t exactly impossible to forecast. Keuchel’s 2021 season was substandard, to say the least, for instance. The Sox were thin on depth behind their Opening Day rotation options, and to the front office’s credit, they struck the absolute jackpot in signing Johnny Cueto to a minor league deal. (Where would they be without his 74 innings of 2.80 ERA ball?)
Not every patchwork option has played out quite so nicely, however. Relying on Leury Garcia and Josh Harrison to hold down second base seemed questionable, at best, and the results are worse than most could’ve imagined. There was no reason to expect Garcia to suddenly become one of the absolute worst hitters in the Majors, but he’s at .205/.232/.262, and the resulting 39 wRC+ (61% worse than league-average) is third-worst in MLB (min. 200 plate appearances). Harrison is better utilized as a utility player, but Garcia’s struggles have increased his role. In Harrison’s defense, his .260/.339/.420 slash against lefties is quite good, and with a better platoon partner he’d be a solid part-time piece. His .223/.293/.350 slash against fellow righties, however, is obviously problematic.
Still, the greatest area of need on this team isn’t second base at the moment, but rather in the corner outfield, where the team’s solution to an offseason need appeared quite sound at the time. When the Sox flipped embattled reliever Craig Kimbrel to the Dodgers in exchange for outfielder AJ Pollock, it looked as though they’d killed two birds with one stone. Jettisoning Kimbrel following last year’s struggles was a clear priority for the South Siders, and they did so by acquiring a veteran who’d posted a .272/.330/.499 batting line over the past half decade — including an even better .290/.342/.547 slash in his final two seasons with the Dodgers. The trade even saved the White Sox a million dollars; it was hard to find fault with the deal.
Unfortunately, we’ve reached the “even the best laid plans” cliche territory with how that swap has worked out. Pollock missed 10 days with a hamstring strain early in the season and, when healthy, has floundered through the worst season of his 11-year Major League career. In 272 plate appearances, he’s batting just .227/.268/.333 with career-lows in walk rate (5.1%) and hard-hit rate (37.7%). Pollock has already tied a career-worst with 14 infield flies. A whopping 18.2% of the fly-balls he’s hit this season have been classified as infield flies, effectively rendering them automatic outs.
Beyond the glut of pop-ups and dearth of walks, Pollock’s sprint speed has dropped in 2022 — perhaps not an unexpected result for a 34-year-old outfielder who has now thrice been on the injured list with hamstring strains dating back to Opening Day 2021. Statcast measures Pollocks’ average sprint speed at 27.5 feet per second — down from the 28.1 ft/sec he posted in the four seasons prior. It’s not a massive dip, but for a player who derives value from his wheels. Pollock is hitting just .193 on grounders this year — his worst mark since 2017. From 2018-21, he batted no worse than .243 on grounders in a single season and hit .276 on grounders overall. That may not be solely attributable to the dip in his sprint speed, but losing that extra step can’t help his cause.
For all of Pollock’s struggles, however, there’s another reason the Sox need to find an alternative in the outfield: his contract. Considering this year’s performance, it should be a given that Pollock will exercise the $10MM player option on his contract. That’s already onerous enough, but Pollock can boost the value of that option even further, tacking on an additional million dollars for reaching each of 400, 450, 500, 550 and 600 plate appearances this season. He’s at 272 plate appearances right now, so he’s surely not going to reach the top thresholds of that bonus structure, but he could certainly reach 400 or perhaps even 450 plate appearances and tack on another $1-2MM to that option’s value.
There’s no escaping that option for the White Sox, either, barring an unlikely salary dump. Because it’s a player option, the base value is considered guaranteed money. Just as the Padres can’t simply release Eric Hosmer and be free of the $39MM he’s owed after the opt-out clause he has at the end of the current season, the ChiSox can’t cut Pollock and avoid the $10MM he’s promised for next season. If another team were to claim him on waivers, that team would assume responsibility of that player option, but Pollock’s struggles would lead to him going unclaimed.
Beyond that, there’s good reason for the Sox to actually hang onto Pollock — this season’s struggles notwithstanding. While his overall productivity has been poor, Pollock has hit .274/.297/.532 against lefties. Even though just 64 of his 272 plate appearances have come versus southpaws, all four of his homers and four of his 13 doubles have come when holding the platoon advantage. Pollock has crushed lefties throughout his career (.285/.335/.522), so it’s not a surprise to see that trend continue, even as his fate against right-handed opponents has taken a tumble.
The Sox might have been hopeful that Gavin Sheets could serve as a left-handed-hitting corner outfield complement if needed, but he’s hitting just .229/.296/.388 against righties this season. And, as a 6’5″, 230-pound first baseman whose first professional appearance in the outfield was only last season, Sheets has predictably turned in poor defensive marks in 276 innings (-5 Defensive Runs Saved, -4.8 Ultimate Zone Rating, -3 Outs Above Average).
The trade market for outfielders isn’t as robust as it has been in seasons past, but there are still some solid lefty-swinging options who could pair well with Pollock to help boost the ChiSox’ fortunes against righties. Andrew Benintendi is the most talked-about member of the bunch, but Cincinnati’s Tyler Naquin is another above-average hitter against righties whose $4MM salary is more affordable than Benintendi’s $8.5MM mark. Arizona’s David Peralta, Baltimore’s Anthony Santander and Washington’s Yadiel Hernandez are all options as well, though the Orioles’ recent winning streak might dissuade them from moving controllable pieces like Santander and Hernandez may not be deemed a big enough upgrade over Sheets.
Whatever names the Sox decide to target, salary figures to be a part of the equation. Chicago’s payroll is already at a franchise-record $194MM, and they already have a hefty $117MM of guaranteed salary on the books in 2023. That doesn’t include Pollock’s player option or the no-brainer decision to pick up Tim Anderson‘s $12.5MM club option — nor does it include arbitration raises for key players like Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito and Michael Kopech (among others) or a potential deal to bring back stalwart first baseman Jose Abreu, who’ll be a free agent at season’s end.
Given those forthcoming financial obligations and a farm system that’s regarded as one of the worst in the league (if not the worst), the White Sox aren’t likely to factor prominently into the Juan Soto bidding. However, a short-term, lefty-hitting corner outfielder to pair with righties Pollock, Jimenez, Luis Robert, Andrew Vaughn and Adam Engel would still be useful for a White Sox team that carries an underwhelming .250/.303/.368 batting line against right-handed pitching this season.
Diamondbacks Designate Dallas Keuchel, Reinstate Ian Kennedy
July 21: The Diamondbacks have announced their slate of roster moves, with Keuchel being designated for assignment. His active roster spot will go to right-hander Ian Kennedy, who has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. With the open spot on the 40-man roster, righty J.B. Bukauskas has been reinstated from the 60-day IL and optioned to Triple-A.
July 20: The Diamondbacks have designated veteran left-hander Dallas Keuchel for assignment, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). The team has not yet formally announced the move.
It’s the second DFA of the season for Keuchel, who was cut loose by the White Sox earlier this year while playing out the third and final season of a three-year, $55.5MM contract. The former AL Cy Young winner posted a pristine 1.99 ERA in 11 starts with the ChiSox during the shortened 2020 season but logged a lackluster 5.28 ERA in 30 starts a year ago before taking another step back in 2022.
Keuchel was rocked for a 7.88 ERA with the Sox, tallying just 32 innings despite making eight starts. The D-backs brought him in on a minor league deal after he cleared waivers and became a free agent, hoping that a reunion with former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom — now the pitching coach in Arizona — might help Keuchel tap into some of his prior success. That, however, hasn’t proven to be the case. Keuchel somewhat remarkably struggled even more with the Snakes, yielding 22 runs (20 earned) in just 18 2/3 frames before today’s DFA.
To Keuchel’s credit, he did post markedly improved strikeout and walk rates in Arizona. After posting identical 12.2% strikeout and walk rates in Chicago — both among the worst marks in the league for starters — he turned in a 20.2% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate with the D-backs. The strikeout rate is still below average, but that walk rate is solid, and Keuchel can still induce grounders at an above-average rate (albeit nowhere near his peak rate when he was perennially among the league leaders).
Whether that’s enough for another club to take a look remains to be seen. Keuchel will be placed on waivers within the week and will surely clear a second time and again become a free agent. He’ll likely settle for a minor league deal wherever he lands next.
Astros Activate Yordan Alvarez
The Astros announced Thursday that they’ve reinstated designated hitter Yordan Alvarez from the injured list and placed closer Ryan Pressly on the paternity list. Outfielder Jose Siri was optioned to make room for Alvarez, while lefty Parker Mushinski was reinstated from the 15-day injured list to take Pressly’s spot for now.
Houston general manager James Click also provided updates on a pair of injured veterans, Michael Brantley and Jason Castro, neither of which sounded like return was imminent (Twitter links via FOX 26’s Mark Berman). There’s no present timetable for Brantley’s return from a shoulder injury, as the team needs to wait for the inflammation to die down before his rehab can progress further. Click stated that “the best medicine [for Brantley] is time” at this point. More nebulously, the GM said Castro is “making some decisions on what the best plan of attack is to get himself back into playing shape.” The team hopes to have a more concrete update on him before long.
With Brantley still sidelined indefinitely, it’s especially good news for Houston that Alvarez only wound up missing the minimum number of regular-season games possible due to inflammation in his right hand. He’s been the best overall offensive performer in baseball on a rate basis this season, ranking 12th among qualified hitters in batting average (.306), fourth in on-base percentage (.405) and leading the Majors in slugging percentage (.653). Only Aaron Judge (33), Kyle Schwarber (29) and Austin Riley (27) have more home runs than Alvarez’s 26, and each of those three players has at least 83 more plate appearances than Alvarez on the year.
This year’s brilliant production, paired with Alvarez’s generally outstanding track record, prompted the ‘Stros to put forth a six-year, $115MM extension offer that Alvarez accepted. His new deal covers the 2023-28 seasons, ensuring that Houston will have control over one of the game’s best hitters for what would’ve been his first three free-agent seasons. Given just how good Alvarez is and how immediately he ascended to the ranks of MLB’s elite hitters, it’s easy to forget that he only just turned 25 years old. He’ll be 31 when the new contract expires, leaving him ample opportunity for a second major contract of note.
As for Pressly, he’ll be away from the team for up to three days. He’s been on an absolute tear of late, rattling off a string of nine perfect innings dating back to June 25, punching out 17 of the 27 consecutive hitters he’s retired in that stretch. Rafael Montero, Ryne Stanek and Hector Neris will all be leverage options for manager Dusty Baker in Pressly’s absence.
Mushinski’s return makes him the lone lefty reliever in Baker’s bullpen. The 26-year-old rookie has appeared in six games so far, yielding three runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 big league innings. He’s also logged a 3.32 ERA in 19 Triple-A innings so far in the 2022 season.
Mets Place Dominic Smith On Injured List
The Mets placed first baseman Dominic Smith on the 10-day injured list due to a right ankle sprain, per a team announcement. The move is retroactive to July 17, so Smith will be able to return by the middle of next week, in a best-case scenario.
Smith’s placement on the IL comes with less than two weeks remaining before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. He’s been an obvious change-of-scenery candidate for much of the season and has reportedly been the subject of conversations with both the Cubs and the Red Sox. Smith’s placement on the IL doesn’t by any means eliminate the possibility of a trade; beyond the fact that he can return prior to the deadline, it’s not uncommon to see players flipped even while on the 10- or 15-day IL. (Look no further than Boston’s acquisition of Kyle Schwarber last summer.) That said, it does throw a wrench into things for the Mets, particularly since they’d be selling low on Smith in the first place.
The 27-year-old Smith hit .299/.366/.571 in 396 plate appearances with the Mets from 2019-20, giving the impression that he was making good on his status as a former first-round pick and top-100 prospect. In the two seasons since that time, however, he’s managed just a .233/.298/.345 batting line in 645 plate appearances, playing through a partial tear in his right shoulder’s labrum last season and struggling through inconsistent playing time so far in 2022. The Mets optioned Smith to Triple-A Syracuse at the end of May, and while he hit fairly well in the minors and has been a bit better since returning in late June, the overall results this season have been quite poor.
Smith is owed the remainder of a $3.95MM salary for the 2022 season and will be arbitration-eligible twice more before becoming a free agent following the 2024 season — assuming he’s tendered a contract, of course. At present, he looks like a clear non-tender candidate for a Mets team that won’t be able to afford him regular playing time upon his return from the IL, although another club might welcome the chance to buy low on Smith and hope that regular at-bats bring about production closer to his 2019-20 form.
Boras On Juan Soto Extension Offer, Potential Trade, Rumored Nationals Sale
All eyes will be on Juan Soto over the next 13 days. With the annual amateur draft and All-Star Game now in the rearview mirror, what figures to be a frenzied and condensed summer trade market will be up and running. Soto’s recent rejection of a 15-year, $440MM contract extension has already drawn countless headlines, and his reported subsequent availability on the trade market will generate unprecedented intrigue.
Agent Scott Boras addressed Soto’s decision to turn down what would’ve been the largest total guarantee in MLB history this week, first in an interview with James Wagner of the New York Times and then with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post on their podcast, “The Show.” There were plenty of factors in the decision, but Boras suggested that the average annual value, the potential sale of the franchise and uncertainty about the team’s direction all weighed heavily.
[Related: Looking for a Match in a Juan Soto Trade]
“I don’t think anybody wants to work for someone they don’t know,” Boras told Wagner. “So it’s kind of a ghost contract. We don’t know who’s going to pay it. Consequently, when you’re a player like Juan, you’re a winning player and you want to make sure there’s a lot more things than dollars and cents involved and who you’re going to work for and where you’re going to be for the majority.”
In his appearance with Sherman and Heyman, Boras spoke about the respect Soto has for the Lerner family and the commitment they’ve shown to winning over the years, but the direction of an incoming ownership group can’t be known at this time. Even if a swift return to contention is the goal, the Nationals’ bleak farm system, lack of big league talent on the current roster, and the strong division in which they play all coalesce to make an immediate rebound unlikely. Soto is surely aware of this.
“Juan Soto has a ring on his finger and he has had people that he knows and trusted ever since his inception with the franchise, but now that group of people has said, ‘We’re going to move on and assign this team to another group,'” said Boras, in reference to the Lerner family’s likely sale of the franchise. “…When you’re a player, you can talk about being offered things, but it doesn’t carry with it the intentions [of ownership] and the security of winning — the goals of the player that are beyond economic.”
As one would expect, the potential sale of the Nationals is a complicating factor in both extension and trade talks. It’s understandable if Soto prefers to wait to see what happens with the franchise to get a feel for a new owner’s mentality. Conversely, whether Soto is or isn’t with the team will have an impact on the sale of the team itself. Boras is, unsurprisingly, of the mind that Soto is an asset who’ll enhance the team’s appeal for prospective buyers, as “billionaires certainly like their choices” and will want the option of whether to build around Soto or commit to an early rebuild.
ESPN’s Buster Olney sees things differently, saying on yesterday’s Baseball Tonight podcast that executives around the game believe new owners will want the situation resolved one way or another before taking over. With an extension likely off the table, that would mean completing a trade before the sale of the team goes through. Of course, we don’t yet know who the new owners will be, so that’s a speculative view of the scenario (much like Boras’ belief that the new owners will want the chance to make the choice themselves).
Even in the absence of the current ownership uncertainty, however, Boras seemed to intimate that the Nationals’ offer simply wouldn’t have been sufficient. As we saw with Aaron Judge prior to the season, being paid at an annual rate that’s commensurate with baseball’s top stars appears important to Soto.
“The rarity of Juan Soto, this is from age 19 to 23, so he’s really separated himself to be in a very small group, among Major League history, of performance levels,” said Boras.”[Those players] are going to be at the highest order of average annual values, and yet the proposal placed him well below the top group, in the No. 15 or 20 range.”
All of that lines up to further cement the reality that Soto will at least be available in talks over the coming two weeks, but it’s wholly unclear whether any team will meet what will be a historic asking price. Olney suggested in that previously referenced segment that the Nationals are going to want Major League-ready talent to headline a return and, of note, added that the Yankees and Dodgers are at least somewhat wary of surrendering the type of enormous prospect value Soto will command. The Yankees, of course, also have the future of their own superstar outfielder (Judge) to consider in conjunction with any theoretical Soto scenarios, which only further complicates the equation on their end.