Yermin Mercedes Returns To White Sox’ Triple-A Club
July 22: In a sudden turnabout, the White Sox announced to reporters that Mercedes is in uniform and on their Triple-A club’s active roster for tonight’s road game in Durham (Twitter link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times).
In a new Instagram post of a phoenix rising, Mercedes writes that his dream is to be an established Major Leaguer and that he owes it to his family, the White Sox organization and his fans to continue working toward that goal. “I love everybody, I’m back,” he wrote at the end of his post.
July 21, 11:05pm: White Sox manager Tony La Russa only learned of Mercedes’ post after tonight’s game against the Twins but tells reporters he plans to reach out to Mercedes (Twitter links via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin).
La Russa drew plenty of criticism earlier this year for not supporting Mercedes after he missed a take sign and hit a 3-0 home run in a blowout win over Minnesota. Many have immediately jumped to the conclusion that La Russa’s handling of the situation contributed to Mercedes’ decision today, although there’s nothing to support that line of speculation. La Russa suggested that he and Mercedes are still on good terms:
“As you probably know, if you are paying attention, several times he said how close we are. He knows I’m a supporter of his. So I’ll reach out to him and see what’s going on. It could be he’s just feeling frustrated. … I’ll try to explain to him he’s got a big league future.”
9:15pm: White Sox designated hitter/catcher Yermin Mercedes announced on Instagram tonight that he’s stepping away from baseball “indefinitely.” The 28-year-old thanked his family, agent Daniel Szew, and his former teammates before concluding his post with the words: “it’s over.”
It’s a stunning development for a player whose breakout performance was one of the biggest storylines of the early 2021 season. Mercedes started the season as the White Sox’ designated hitter and went 8-for-8 to begin the year. Mercedes batted .368/.417/.571 through the season’s first 38 games, but he followed that up with a .150/.220/.196 across his next 118 plate appearances.
The White Sox optioned Mercedes to Triple-A Charlotte back on July 2, and he’s been ripping through minor league pitching since that time. In 14 games and 61 plate appearances, he’s batting .309/.377/.655 with four home runs, five doubles and a triple.
Despite Mercedes’ post tonight, the White Sox say they have not received any formal indication from the player himself. The team released the following statement:
“The White Sox are aware of tonight’s Instagram post by Yermín Mercedes, who is currently on the active roster of our Class AAA team in Charlotte. At this point in time, the White Sox have not received any official notification from Yermín concerning his future plans.”
Multiple NL Clubs Have Considered Nelson Cruz
It wouldn’t be deadline season without teams getting creative. Both ESPN’s Jeff Passan and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand report that at least a pair of NL clubs has explored the possibility of acquiring Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz. Passan notes that Cruz “is game” to play the field in the event of a trade.
It’d be tough for a team to trust Cruz in the field much after he hasn’t suited up for an inning of defense since 2018. He’s only logged 54 innings with a glove since 2016. That said, Cruz is the best pure hitter on the market this summer, having slashed an excellent .294/.370/.537 with 19 home runs, 13 doubles and even a triple. He’d still be able to DH in any remaining interleague games at AL parks and could also do so during World Series play, should an acquiring team advance that far. Cruz is playing the season on a one-year, $13MM deal and would be owed about $4.54MM of that sum post-trade deadline.
Neither Passan nor Feinsand lists specific teams, but from a purely speculative standpoint, any of the Padres, Braves or Giants seem like long-shot possibilities to at least consider the idea. Darren Wolfson of 1500 SKOR North in Minneapolis tweets that both the Braves and Dodgers had some interest last offseason, though many NL clubs spent much of the winter expecting that a universal DH would eventually be implemented.
San Diego general manager A.J. Preller has held an affinity for former Rangers players since taking the reins with the Friars, and he’s spoken of improving his lineup’s consistency this summer. Putting Cruz in an outfield corner would achieve that, albeit at the cost of a quite a bit of defense. There’s been no hard connection between the two parties, but the idea of an outside-the-box Cruz/Padres matchup has made sense for awhile now.
The Braves, meanwhile, are without Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna; Cruz wouldn’t break the bank in terms of prospects and would give Atlanta a much-needed middle of the order presence. Given their rangy options elsewhere in the outfield, perhaps the Braves feel they could cover some of Cruz’s lack of range.
Over in San Francisco, the Giants have gotten just a .217/.291/.396 batting line from their left fielders in 2021. They were recently reported to be a “key” team in the Starling Marte market, but Cruz would be another rental bat who’d give the lineup some extra thump. Cruz roaming the outfield at the cavernous Oracle Park seems particularly treacherous, but it’s hard to overstate just how big an improvement he’d be over their current left-field production.
There are other possible fits, of course. The Cardinals have been struggling to find outfield production for a few years now. The Nationals are currently without Kyle Schwarber and have been looking at Josh Bell as an option in left field recently. It feels like we can never rule out the Dodgers doing anything that’s unorthodox and/or unexpected.
Really, one could make the argument that any contender or fringe contender is improved enough by Cruz’s bat to offset the defensive hit. Teams could get creative by only playing Cruz on the grass when heavy ground-ball and/or strikeout pitchers are on the mound. He could be frequently lifted for mid- or late-inning defensive replacements, and teams could experiment with four-outfielder shifts in certain favorable matchups. Cruz also has more than 8000 career innings in the outfield; at least with regard to balls hit in his general vicinity, he could be expected to make routine plays.
At the end of the day, it still seems likelier that whenever Cruz is moved, it’s to an American League club. But the Cruz-to-the-NL rumblings serve as a reminder that there are very few possibilities we should rule out entirely over the next eight days. Today’s front offices will be looking at all kinds of off-the-wall scenarios — particularly with so many teams still unsure as to how they’ll approach the trade deadline.
Nick Castellanos Has Microfracture In Right Wrist
July 22: MLB.com’s Jon Morosi suggests Castellanos could be sidelined “for a couple weeks” due to the injury (Twitter link).
July 21: Reds right fielder Nick Castellanos revealed tonight in an Instagram Live appearance with Jomboy Media’s Chris Rose that a CT scan earlier today revealed a microfracture in his ailing right wrist (video link). Castellanos, who was hit by a pitch on the wrist last Friday, said he tried to play through the pain for a few games but will need to “take a couple days and see where I’m at.” He added that he’s unable to swing a bat at the moment.
It’s important to note that Castellanos didn’t provide any sort of outlook beyond taking a couple of days to rest and reevaluate. There’s no sense in speculating how much time he’ll miss beyond that initial down period, but even an absence of a few days is a tough blow for the Reds, given the current state of their roster and the context of the NL Central.
Cincinnati is already without slugger Mike Moustakas and is down three of its top relievers: Tejay Antone, Michael Lorenzen and Lucas Sims. The Reds have also dropped five of their first six games coming out of the All-Star break, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the division-leading Brewers.
The Reds are still very much alive in the postseason hunt, sitting six back of a Wild Card spot and six and a half games back of the Brewers in the division. But they’re also one of many teams whose deadline trajectory could be determined by their play over the next week, which magnifies the importance of even a brief absence from their best hitter.
Castellanos has been an absolute monster this season, batting .329/.383/.582 with 18 home runs, 29 doubles and a triple in 368 plate appearances. He’s vital to the team’s chances in the coming days, and if the club were to ultimately pivot and look to sell some veterans, he’d have been an in-demand player himself, given his ability to opt out of his contract at season’s end. Castellanos is in the second season of a four-year, $64MM contract with Cincinnati but can forgo the final two years and $34MM on that deal and return to the open market this winter.
However long Castellanos is down, the Reds can turn to Aristides Aquino and Shogo Akiyama to help cover in right field. They’re also sending the injured Nick Senzel out on a minor league rehab assignment this week, so he could be an option to help out before long. Manager David Bell told reporters today (Twitter link via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that Senzel will see time both at center field and shortstop during his rehab stint.
Outrighted: Lucroy, Mathisen
A couple of recent outright assignments to note…
- Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy was assigned outright to Triple-A Gwinnett after clearing waivers, the Braves announced. He has enough service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. Once one of the game’s premier catchers, the now-35-year-old Lucroy has slipped into journeyman status. He went 1-for-5 in a brief look with the Braves, who are his second big league team of the season and fifth in the past three years (not counting his Spring Training run with the White Sox). An All-Star in 2016, it’s been a swift decline for Lucroy, who has batted just .249/.317/.350 in 1286 plate appearances split among eight teams since the start of the 2017 season.
- Infielder Wyatt Mathisen went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Tacoma, the Mariners announced. He was designated for assignment earlier in the week. The 27-year-old Mathisen came over from the Rays in a deal that sent cash back to Tampa Bay late last month. He didn’t appear in a big league game and has struggled in 15 Triple-A contests with the Mariners, although his Triple-A track record prior to this stint has been excellent. Mathisen hit .288/.344/.525 with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham earlier this year and posted a massive .283/.403/.601 slash through 87 games with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A club back in 2019 (albeit in the juiced ball season). He has experience at second base and all four corner positions.
Anthony Swarzak Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
The Royals announced Wednesday that veteran right-handed reliever Anthony Swarzak opted for free agency over an assignment to Triple-A after going unclaimed on outright waivers. He’s now free to sign with any team.
Swarzak, 35, has pitched for both the D-backs and Royals this season but been clobbered for 13 runs on 20 hits, including four homers, in 12 1/3 innings of work. He yielded eight runs in 7 2/3 frames before being designated for assignment in Kansas City. Swarzak didn’t pitch in the Majors last year and worked to a combined 5.08 ERA in 79 2/3 innings from 2018-19 between the Mets, Mariners and Braves.
Swarzak’s best season came back in 2017, when he posted a 2.33 ERA and a career-best 30 percent strikeout rate in 77 1/3 innings between the White Sox and Brewers. He’s battled shoulder troubles and been inconsistent since that time, however. It’s been several years since Swarzak has looked like an effective big league reliever on a consistent basis, but he had a good showing in Triple-A earlier this year. Given the number of clubs around the league who are scrambling to find bullpen help, the 11-year big league veteran could well find interest from a new organization on a minor league arrangement.
Angels Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Sam Bachman
The Angels have agreed to a deal with right-hander Sam Bachman, their top pick in this month’s amateur draft, reports Carlos Collazo of Baseball America (via Twitter). The now-former Miami (Ohio) University hurler will take home a $3,847,500 bonus that checks in more than a million dollars south of the $4,949,100 value of Bachman’s No. 9 overall slot.
The 21-year-old Bachman, listed at 6’1″ and 235 pounds, posted ridiculous numbers in his junior season. Through 59 2/3 innings, he pitched to a 1.81 ERA while striking out 41 percent of his opponents against just a 7.5 percent walk rate. He allowed just one home run all season and, in three years of NCAA ball, surrendered just four long balls through a total of 159 innings.
Bachman was seen as a slam-dunk first rounder thanks to some of the best raw stuff in the entire draft. Baseball America’s scouting report on the RedHawks ace indicated that both his fastball and slider have received 70 grades on the 20-80 scale, with some scouts even putting an 80 on both pitches. The Athletic’s Keith Law wrote that Bachman had the “best one-two punch in the draft and should be a top ten pick.” Law ranked Bachman as the draft’s No. 9 player, and he ranked 14th both at Baseball America and at MLB.com. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen had Bachman listed 18th, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him 29th.
Bachman isn’t without his concerns, however. He missed a pair of starts early in the college season due to arm troubles and gives scouts some pause because of his delivery. Bachman has a third offering, a changeup, that some reports grade as above-average, but he rarely used it this season. All of that leads to some concern that he’s a reliever rather than a starter, but he’d have a good chance at being an impact bullpen piece even if he goes that route.
Bachman headlined an Angels draft class comprised entirely of pitchers. The Halos not only exclusively selected pitchers this year but went with college arms for 19 of their 20 picks. The lone exception was high school lefty Mason Albright in the 12th round — a lefty who landed 122nd on MLB.com’s rankings and 135th at Baseball America but is committed to Virginia Tech. It’s possible that the $1.1MM or so in savings on the Bachman pick will be used to try to sway Albright from that commitment and get him into the Angels’ system.
Phillies Looking At Fourth Starters, Bullpen Upgrades
The Phillies may not have played as well as they’d hoped after an active first offseason under new front office leaders Dave Dombrowski and Sam Fuld, but they’re still a game over .500 and only three back from the lead in a division no one has run away with just yet. Given the context of their division and Dombrowski’s reputation as an aggressive, “win-now” type of executive, it should come as little surprise that he plainly indicated this week that he has no plans to trade away veteran pieces in the week-plus leading up to the July 30 trade deadline.
“We are contending,” Dombrowski told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark on his podcast this week. “…We’re not selling. We’re not in a position where we’re looking to move players off our team.”
Dombrowski declined to tip his hand as to specific areas he could upgrade, though he did note that the bullpen has again been inconsistent and that the team’s defense “is not our strength.” The first-year Phillies president of baseball ops also pushed back on the narrative that his team doesn’t have the prospects to make substantial upgrades. Dombrowski suggested that 2020 first-rounder Mick Abel isn’t likely to be moved but generally sounded open-minded about making moves to improve his club. Phillies fans, in particular, will want to give the entire interview a listen.
While Dombrowski would only vaguely indicate that the club can “get better in a couple areas,” Jayson Stark and Matt Gelb of The Athletic report that the team is targeting fourth and fifth starters to round out the rotation, as well as back-end relievers who can help shore up the team’s late-inning relief corps.
That meshes with Dombrowski’s assessment of the rotation in his interview with Clark. The former Expos, Marlins, Tigers and Red Sox baseball ops head lauded Zack Wheeler‘s work and noted that when Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin are all pitching up to their capabilities, “you can beat anybody” in a short playoff series. Dombrowski also repeatedly praised lefty Ranger Suarez, who has recently emerged as a ninth-inning option and generally been effective since joining the club in early May. Suarez carries a 1.22 ERA, a 27.3 percent strikeout rate, and 8.4 percent walk rate and a 65.2 percent ground-ball rate in 37 innings.
One option of particular intrigue for Phillies fans could be former Philadelphia ace Cole Hamels. The free-agent lefty held a showcase for MLB teams last week, and Dombrowski confirmed to Clark that the Phillies attended the workout and threw the ball well. While candidly acknowledging interest in the lefty, however, Dombrowski also noted that he could be 30-plus days away from joining a big league rotation, as Hamels needs to go through the equivalent of a Spring Training buildup. That doesn’t provide the Phils or anyone else immediate help — and that’s something the Phillies could use with Eflin on the injured list at the moment.
With regard to specific trade targets, Dombrowski appears to still be casting a wide net and gauging asking prices throughout the league. Stark and Gelb write that the Phils have checked on “every closer who could be available” but aren’t limiting their search to current closers. The Phillies, like every other team, are cognizant of the fact that the next week could determine whether a few clubs operate as buyers or make some veterans available.
Dombrowski spoke about that tenuous balance with Clark, noting that it’d take something catastrophic (e.g. a 10-game losing streak) for the Phillies to sell. On the flip side, however, as a team looking to buy, that fine line being walked by so many other clubs could lead to players becoming available just before the deadline. “All of a sudden, [another team] loses three in a row, and somebody may be available that you weren’t anticipating to be available,” Dombrowski said to Clark.
There’s an argument that the Phillies (and other buyers) should simply act now rather than take the wait-and-see approach that is so prevalent throughout the game at the moment. But every front office is at the mercy of how much ownership will spend, and investing immediate resources only to find that a more desirable target is available a couple of days down the road is a risk when payroll isn’t unlimited.
Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez has the Phillies about $4.2MM from the $210MM luxury threshold. Stark, however, reports that the feeling among other clubs who’ve spoken with the Phillies about potential trades is that they’d be willing to cross that barrier for the first time in franchise history. That doesn’t mean Phils fans should assume there’s no limit to what Dombrowski can spend on outside acquisitions, but it’s a critical piece of context to consider as the deadline looms.
Looking around the league, there are plenty of fourth starter types available. Minnesota’s Michael Pineda, Colorado’s Jon Gray, Pittsburgh’s Tyler Anderson and Chicago’s Zach Davies are among the names available. There’s no need for the Phils to limit themselves to rental starters, either; Andrew McCutchen, Odubel Herrera, Archie Bradley, Chase Anderson, Matt Moore, Brad Miller, Vince Velasquez, Hector Neris, Brandon Kintzler and Matt Joyce are all coming off the roster at season’s end. The Phils still have $134MM committed to their 2022 books even with that large group of pending free agents, but this is a team that opened the 2021 season with a $197MM payroll and is now willing to add to it. Merrill Kelly, Matthew Boyd and Kyle Gibson are among the names available who could be moved even though they’re controlled through the 2022 season.
Alex Kirilloff To Undergo Wrist Surgery
4:48pm: Kirilloff’s recovery timetable is roughly eight weeks, tweets Helfand. He’ll go through that rehab in Fort Myers, where the Twins have their Spring Training facility and Class-A Advanced team. Kirilloff could return to Minneapolis to work out with teammates and be around the club late in the season, but the Twins believe the surgery will end the year for him.
3:50pm: Twins outfielder/first baseman Alex Kirilloff will undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist this week, tweets Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He’ll be placed on the 10-day IL today, and utilityman Willians Astudillo will be recalled to the Major League roster in his place.
The wrist issue has plagued Kirilloff throughout the season. He missed two weeks back in May with what the team termed a right wrist sprain, though a sprain by definition involved stretching/tearing of the ligament to some degree. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes notes that Kirilloff has known since that time that he could continue to play through the injury if he felt well enough to do so or undergo season-ending surgery (Twitter links). It would seem the issue has become problematic enough that he’ll now opt for the latter option.
The surgery likely brings Kirilloff’s rookie campaign to an end with a .251/.299/.423 batting line, eight home runs, 11 doubles and a triple through 231 plate appearances. Given that he’s been playing through a ligament tear of some degree for the past two and a half months, it’s a solid first showing for the 23-year-old.
Kirilloff, the Twins’ first-round pick at No. 15 overall back in 2016, has long rated as one of the top offensive prospects in the minors. He’s had some injury issues in the past, most notably requiring Tommy John surgery in 2017, but Kirilloff has hit at every level since being drafted. He’s a lifetime .318/.366/.503 hitter in the minors and was regarded highly enough by the team to make his Major League debut last year during the Twins’ Wild Card playoff series against the Astros.
Moving forward, Kirilloff can be expected to hold down a place in the Twins’ everyday lineup for several years — be it as a corner outfielder or a first baseman. He and fellow first-rounder/top prospect Trevor Larnach have both held their own against big league pitching as rookies in 2021, despite the absence of a 2020 minor league season to keep them as sharp as possible. Kirilloff is controlled all the way through the 2027 season and won’t reach arbitration for another two years.
Tigers Release Nomar Mazara
JULY 21: Detroit has requested unconditional release waivers on Mazara. He’ll almost certainly clear after 48 hours, at which point he’ll be free to sign elsewhere.
JULY 16: The Tigers announced Friday that they’ve designated outfielder Nomar Mazara for assignment and optioned infielder Willi Castro to Triple-A Toledo. Outfielder Derek Hill and infielder Isaac Paredes are up from Toledo in a pair of corresponding roster moves. Detroit has also appointed lefty Miguel Del Pozo as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader against the Twins.
Still just 26 yeas old, Mazara once ranked as one of baseball’s elite prospects, entering the 2016 season as one of the consensus 25 most promising minor leaguers in the sport. He looked the part when he made his MLB debut that season, too, hitting .266/.320/.419 with 20 home runs in 145 games. It wasn’t a dominant showing, of course, but Mazara was just 21 years old at the time and was making the jump with only 23 Triple-A games under his belt. It was an impressive showing, and it was reasonable to expect that he’d only improve with more reps against big league pitching.
That, however, never really proved true. Mazara spent the next four seasons as the primary right fielder in Texas but more or less just kept repeating his 2016 season. He posted a 93 OPS and 91 wRC+ as a rookie in ’16 and, from 2017-19, posted collective marks of 94 and 92 in those same respective categories. He hit exactly 20 home runs again in 2017 and 2018 before hitting 19 in 2019. Essentially, he’d settled in as a slightly below-average hitter with well below-average defensive grades. The Rangers trade him to the White Sox during the 2019 Winter Meetings.
At that point, Mazara was a highly interesting change-of-scenery candidate. He’d plateaued in Arlington, to be sure, but he was a former Top 25 prospect who was heading into his age-25 season with two years of club control remaining. For the White Sox, it was a sensible enough roll of the dice to see if they could help Mazara take the next step. Instead, he turned in a career-worst .228/.295/.294 batting line with just one home run and a career-high 29.5 percent strikeout rate through 149 plate appearances last summer. Chicago non-tendered him in the offseason.
Mazara took a chance with his second AL Central club, landing with the Tigers on a one-year, $1.75MM deal late in the offseason. Things have gone a bit better in Detroit than in Chicago, but only by a slight margin. Mazara’s strikeouts are down a bit and he’s shown a little more pop. However, his overall .212/.276/.321 batting line through 181 plate appearances so far simply wasn’t enough for the Tigers to keep giving him at-bats over more controllable players who are hoping to emerge as long-term fits in Detroit.
The Tigers will have a week to trade Mazara, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or place him on release waivers. Mazara has more than five years of service time, so even if he does go through outright waivers without a claim, he can reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues and retain the entirety of his remaining salary. It’s unlikely that another club would claim that salary, given his poor showing at the plate. The likeliest outcome is that Mazara becomes a free agent, whether via unconditional release from the team or via rejecting an outright assignment. At that point, he’d be free to sign elsewhere for only the prorated league minimum. That amount would be subtracted from the roughly $753K the Tigers still owe him through season’s end.
Hill, 25, is a former Tigers first-rounder who has had some sparse big league looks but hasn’t yet had a lengthy audition. He’s hitting .320./.373/.508 in 133 Triple-A plate appearances, however, and he’ll now return to Detroit for his second stint of the 2021 campaign.
The 22-year-old Paredes has been ranked among the Tigers’ better prospects since coming to the Tigers alongside Jeimer Candelario in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Wilson and Alex Avila to the Cubs. He hasn’t hit much in 145 prior MLB plate appearances, but his .261/.357/.412 slash in Triple-A will net him a look over the struggling Castro — another infield prospect who has stumbled to a .214/.278/.341 slash through 280 plate appearances with the big league club so far in 2021.
Padres Willing To Exceed Luxury Tax At Trade Deadline
It might have seemed silly a few years ago to suggest that the Padres would soon have to make any decisions regarding the luxury tax — San Diego only reached $100MM in total payroll once prior to the 2020 season — but the Friars now find themselves roughly $6MM from the $210MM luxury barrier. And while many teams who are so close to the tax line are loath to actually cross the threshold, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that Padres ownership is willing to make that concession as the trade deadline approaches.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller recently indicated that he’d like to upgrade his lineup in an effort to coax more consistent production out of the group, and the Padres have struggled to unexpected levels in the rotation. Blake Snell hasn’t pitched up to his previous standards, and the Friars are currently without Dinelson Lamet (forearm inflammation), Ryan Weathers (fractured ankle) and Adrian Morejon (Tommy John surgery). Last summer’s big-ticket acquisition, Mike Clevinger, underwent Tommy John surgery over the winter, so it’s been known for quite awhile that he wouldn’t be a factor in 2021.
The Padres have consistently been connected to Rangers slugger Joey Gallo, whom Preller knows quite well from his time as a Rangers assistant general manager. Gallo would be an upgrade in right field over Wil Myers, and since he’s controllable through the 2022 season, he’d be a multi-year improvement for the lineup. Gallo is hitting .233/.391/.510 and pacing MLB in total walks and walk percentage, and he’s been one of the game’s hottest hitters since early June: .282/.444/.748 in his past 133 plate appearances.
That said, Gallo himself wouldn’t take the Padres over the tax barrier, and he’s just one of multiple possibilities. Passan suggests more broadly that the Padres are open to adding a “significant” bat (Gallo included). Several others would fit that billing as well. The Marlins and Cubs are expected to trade Starling Marte and Kris Bryant before the trade deadline. The Mariners and the Orioles will be getting offers on Mitch Haniger and Trey Mancini, even if the preference for both clubs would be to hold onto them. If the Reds’ current slide continues, it’s at least feasible that they’d consider deals involving Nick Castellanos, who can opt out of his contract at season’s end.
Regardless of which bat the Padres zero in on, it’ll likely be one of multiple moves the Padres make, given their aggressive front office and the simultaneous need in the rotation.