Marlins Rumors: Yermin, Greene, Dickerson
The Marlins’ offseason trade interest in Willson Contreras was fairly well documented, but it appears he wasn’t the only Chicago catcher pursued by the Fish. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Marlins also made an “aggressive” attempt to acquire Yermin Mercedes from the White Sox but couldn’t convince the South Siders to part with him. “Aggressive” is a relative term, but in the case of Mercedes, nearly any focused effort to pry him away could’ve been seen as such prior to Opening Day. He’d logged only a single MLB plate appearance prior to the 2021 season and entered the year as a 28-year-old with 53 Triple-A games under his belt. Scouting reports on Mercedes have universally tabbed him as a DH-only prospect who lacks a true defensive position.
There’s been no ignoring Mercedes’ remarkable breakout at the plate to begin the season, however. The bat-first characterization of his skill set looks to be well deserved, as he opened the year with an incredible eight consecutive hits and is now 16-for-32 with a pair of homers, three doubles and four walks to match his four strikeouts. Mercedes obviously won’t sustain a .538 average on balls in play, but at least early on, he looks the part of a strong DH option. Even with some regression to be expected, the torrid start has surely quelled any temptation for the White Sox to trade the “Yerminator.” The Marlins, meanwhile, figure to continue looking for catching help this summer and into next offseason, per Mish and Jackson.
A few more notes out of South Florida…
- While the Marlins may be seeking catching help now, they had one of the game’s top all-around backstops not long ago. Miami traded J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies prior to the 2018 season, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal sheds some light on talks that took place with another interested party: the Reds. Talks between Cincinnati and Miami weren’t a secret at the time, and it’s been previously reported that current second baseman Jonathan India and catcher Tucker Barnhart were among the players who could’ve potentially been sent to the Marlins in a Realmuto deal with the Reds. The breaking point in talks, according to Rosenthal, was that the Reds staunchly refused to part with flamethrowing righty Hunter Greene in the deal. Greene was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 Draft, and while he’s since had Tommy John surgery, he remains a highly regarded pitching prospect. Then again, righty Sixto Sanchez, whom the Marlins actually did pick up in their eventual trade of Realmuto, is widely considered among the game’s top overall young talents.
- Corey Dickerson doesn’t appear to be in the Marlins’ plans beyond 2021, Jackson and Mish add in the previously linked Herald column, making a trade at this year’s deadline appear possible. Dickerson stood out as a rather logical on-paper trade candidate in the first place, as a veteran on an expiring contract with an up-and-coming team that most do not expect to contend for a playoff berth. Dickerson, who’ll turn 32 in May, has batted just .259/.314/.402 through his first 243 plate appearances as a Marlin dating back to 2020. He inked a two-year, $17.5MM deal to serve as Miami’s primary left fielder, and while his power and exit velocity have dropped off, his strikeout and walk rates have actually improved a bit with the Fish. As of this year’s July 30 trade deadline, Dickerson will still have $2.97MM remaining on this year’s $8.5MM salary, plus an additional $1MM owed to him in the form of a deferred signing bonus. The Marlins could need to absorb a portion of that sum in order to bring about a trade.
2021 Trade Deadline Will Be July 30
This year’s trade deadline will be slightly earlier than usual, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reporting that it’ll fall on July 30 rather than the customary July 31. Major League Baseball preferred to have the 4pm ET deadline fall on a day where afternoon games aren’t scheduled to take place, so as to avoid scenarios where players head out to the field as the hours until the deadline dwindle. Doing so eliminates some injury risk and uncomfortable scenarios where a player could be injured during play as a trade surrounding him is completed.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen the deadline moved up or pushed back a day in order to avoid that situation, and it’s unlikely to be the last. For instance, the league pushed the deadline back to Aug. 1 in 2016, the last time it was slated to fall on a Sunday, when nearly every team in the league was scheduled for games in the early to mid-afternoon. With the 2022 deadline also set for a Sunday, that type of shift could happen next year. It’s also possible that the upcoming wave of collective bargaining negotiations could bring about a more substantial change.
Obviously it’s a minor shift for the 2021 campaign, but it’s nevertheless notable for the league’s 30 teams. Today, more than ever, we tend to see Major League teams wait until the last possible minute to determine whether it’s appropriate to acquire help, sell off some veteran pieces or take some form of hybrid approach. It’s also feasible that even a marginally earlier deadline could afford a team an extra start from a pitcher it plans to acquire, which could have a minor impact on the manner in which a trade candidate is valued.
Trevor Rosenthal Undergoes Thoracic Outlet Surgery
APRIL 8: Rosenthal underwent thoracic outlet surgery Thursday, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com tweets. He’ll be re-evaluated in eight weeks.
APRIL 7: After opening the season on the injured list due to a shoulder problem, Athletics closer Trevor Rosenthal could now require thoracic outlet surgery to address the injury, manager Bob Melvin announced to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News). It’s a sudden and troubling development for a struggling A’s club. The procedure would come with “at least” a 12-week recovery time, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. The right-hander is weighing his options and is expected to make a decision in the near future.
Rosenthal, 30, spent much of the offseason seeking a lucrative multi-year deal after turning in an absolutely dominant performance between the Royals and the Padres last season. However, when he wasn’t able to find a long-term deal to his liking, the hard-throwing righty opted for a one-year deal at a strong $11MM rate to serve as the closer at the pitcher-friendly O.Co Coliseum.
It was a surprise investment for an A’s club that spent most of the winter idling on the sidelines as teams throughout the league sifted through the free-agent market. Only after the A’s were able to shed a notable portion of Khris Davis‘ contract did they enter the free-agent waters, and even then, their initial expenditures were modest, one-year commitments to Yusmeiro Petit, Sergio Romo and Mitch Moreland. Rosenthal was an entirely different type of spend, and it’s now an open question whether they’ll get any real return on what was a major splash by their standards.
Thoracic outlet syndrome is the latest in a series of setbacks for Rosenthal, who broke into the league as one of the game’s most dominant young relievers with the Cardinals but has since struggled to stay healthy. Tommy John surgery wiped out Rosenthal’s entire 2018 season, and when he returned with the Nationals in 2019, he developed a sudden case of the yips. Rosenthal walked 26 of the 85 batters he faced between Washington and Detroit that season. He also hit another four batters and snapped off nine wild pitches in just 15 1/3 innings. He tried to find himself with the Yankees’ Triple-A club but faced just five hitters with Scranton, issuing three walks, hitting a fourth batter and throwing another wild pitch.
Those immense struggles made Rosenthal’s comeback in 2020 all the more remarkable. Not only did he rediscover some big league success, he emerged as one of the most dominant relievers in all of baseball. Through 23 2/3 innings between Kansas City and San Diego, Rosenthal notched a 1.90 ERA with an overpowering 41.8 percent strikeout rate, a strong 8.8 percent walk rate and a fastball that averaged 98.1 mph. It was vintage Rosenthal.
From here, the future is sadly muddied once again. The track record for pitchers coming back from thoracic outlet surgery is generally poor, and few pitchers have undergone both Tommy John surgery and a TOS procedure in such close proximity. Matt Harvey is the most prominent example of a pitcher to undergo both operations in a short time, missing the 2014 season due to Tommy John and then undergoing TOS midway through the 2016 campaign. Obviously, he’s been unable to rediscover the dominant form he displayed early in his career.
There are certainly success stories among pitchers who’ve had surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. Recently retired righty and current Rangers general manager Chris Young credited the procedure with saving his career, and Rosenthal’s former Cardinals teammate, Jaime Garcia, enjoyed a productive three-year stretch upon returning from his own TOS operation.
For the Athletics, the new development on Rosenthal means they’ll be extra reliant on veterans like Romo, Petit and Jake Diekman in the late innings. Right-handers Lou Trivino and J.B. Wendelken have had their share of success in the big leagues as well; Wendelken in particular has been quietly dominant dating back to 2018. The A’s also have a former top 10 overall pick, left-hander A.J. Puk, as an intriguing option in the ‘pen this year as he looks to put his own injury woes in the rearview mirror.
Mariners Place James Paxton, Jake Fraley On Injured List
12:35pm: The Mariners announced that Paxton and Fraley have both been placed on the 10-day injured list. Paxton has been diagnosed with a left forearm strain, while the MRI confirmed a hamstring strain for Fraley. The Mariners recalled outfielder Braden Bishop and righty Ljay Newsome from their alternate training site to take their spots on the roster.
8:22am: James Paxton returned to the Mariners’ rotation last night after two years in the Bronx, but his start was cut short by another forearm injury, as he exited after just 1 1/3 innings. Outfielder Jake Fraley, meanwhile, left the game with what the team later announced as a hamstring strain after making a diving catch in left field. Both players will undergo an MRI this morning, manager Scott Servais told reporters after the game (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).
Paxton’s 2020 season with the Yankees was cut short by a forearm strain, so it’s obviously a concerning development for him to suffer this type of injury — particularly so early in the season. The lefty did tell Divish and others that the pain he’s feeling in his arm isn’t at the same level as it was when he sustained that injury last summer.
The Mariners brought Paxton back to the organization on a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal over the winter. The 32-year-old had interest from several teams, as one would expect based on his track record of success, but he seemingly preferred to return to Seattle. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto noted at the time of the signing that Paxton had been sharp in workouts for MLB teams and gave the club something of a “hometown discount.”
The reunion looked to be going well in Spring Training, where Paxton struck out half of the 34 batters he faced and allowed just one run during Cactus League play. For the time being, he struck an optimistic tone that the current issue could be muscular in nature and something from which he can quickly return.
As for Fraley, the 25-year-old is out to an unusual start to his 2021 season. He’s just 1-for-10 through five games, but he’s drawn eight walks and been hit by a pitch, leading to a bizarre .100/.500/.200 batting line through his first 19 plate appearances. Acquired from the Rays as part of the Mike Zunino trade, Fraley hasn’t hit much in two prior stints with the Mariners in 2019-20, but he only tallied 70 plate appearances during that time. He’s a career .286/.362/.480 hitter in the minors — including a .276/.333/.553 showing in 38 Triple-A games.
For the moment, however, it seems that an IL stint could be on the horizon, which will have the baseball world watching intently. The most straightforward move for the M’s would simply be to recall Braden Bishop from their alternate site, as he’s on the 40-man roster already, but Seattle also has top prospect Jarred Kelenic on the cusp of his first big league promotion as well.
Kelenic’s service time status was thrust into the national spotlight when now-former CEO Kevin Mather blatantly indicated in a Q&A with the Bellevue Rotary Club that the 21-year-old Kelenic had turned down an extension offer and wouldn’t be called to the Majors until mid-April (the general point at which the Mariners would gain an extra year of control over Kelenic). Kelenic missed some time in Spring Training with a minor knee injury, but he returned to the lineup and immediately went 3-for-6 with a double and a homer in two games before being reassigned to minor league camp, so the injury looks to be behind him.
It still seems likelier that the Mariners will turn to Bishop for the time being, as calling up Kelenic now would still give him enough time to accrue a full year of Major League service in 2021. That would no longer be the case as soon as next weekend, however.
Turning back to the pitching staff, the Mariners were already using a six-man rotation, so it’s likely they’ll simply shorten up to five starters for the time being and carry an extra reliever. The bullpen had to cover 7 2/3 innings last night and took a beating at the hands of the White Sox in the process, so Seattle would probably prefer to get a fresh arm into the relief mix anyhow.
It’s at least worth noting that as with the Fraley/Kelenic situation, the Mariners have a highly regarded pitching prospect who is near MLB readiness: 2018 first-rounder Logan Gilbert. While this comment didn’t draw as much attention as the Kelenic revelation, Mather indicated in that same interview that he expected Gilbert to be pitching in the Majors by mid-April (obviously, an allusion to his service time). Gilbert, however, only tossed a pair of innings in Spring Training before being reassigned to minor league camp, so he may not yet be built up to the point where he’s an option even in the event that Paxton is shelved for a notable period of time. If the Mariners want to stick with a six-man rotation and Paxton does miss some time, they could give a few starts to Ljay Newsome and/or Nick Margevicius. Before too long, however, Gilbert seems likely to emerge as an option at the big league level.
White Sox Place Tim Anderson On Injured List
The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve placed shortstop Tim Anderson on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 5, due to a strained left hamstring. Anderson exited Sunday’s game due to tightness in his hamstring, and it would seem that discomfort has not dissipated. Fellow infielder Danny Mendick was recalled from the Sox’ alternate site in Schaumburg to take Anderson’s spot on the roster.
With Anderson sidelined temporarily, the Sox are down two of their best hitters early in the season. Anderson’s absence obviously isn’t expected to be as lengthy as that of Eloy Jimenez, who is expected to miss the majority of the season due to a ruptured pectoral tendon, but his absence will be felt in the short-term.
Anderson, 27, was out to just a 3-for-15 start in 2021, though his work at the plate since Opening Day 2019 speaks for itself. He’s been not just one of Chicago’s best hitters over the past two seasons but one of the best hitters on the planet, raking at a .331/.357/.514 batting line with 28 homers, 43 doubles and a triple in 739 trips to the plate.
Mendick, a career .260/.292/.404 hitter in 154 big league plate appearances won’t replicate that offensive output, but he’ll give the South Siders a solid glove to install at the position while Anderson’s injury heals. He’s in the lineup at shortstop today, batting ninth for the series finale against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
Twins Select Brandon Waddell, Place Brent Rooker On Injured List
The Twins will place outfielder/first baseman Brent Rooker on the 10-day injured list with a cervical strain in his neck and select the contract of left-hander Brandon Waddell from their alternate training site today, the club announced. Hard-throwing young righty Edwar Colina was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Waddell. Colina is dealing with inflammation in his right elbow.
Rooker, 26, was the No. 35 overall pick back in the 2017 draft and has had some rough luck early in his big league career. He burst onto the scene with a .316/.381/.579 slash through seven games last summer before sustaining a fractured forearm when he was hit by a pitch. That injury ended his season, and Rooker will now head back to the injured list after just appearing in just three games in 2021.
Rooker is a bat-first prospect who isn’t likely viewed as the team’s long-term answer in left field, but his power bat is still expected to get a legitimate audition when he’s healthy. He can shift between first, left field and DH, and given that his most recent minor league work in 2019 produced a .282/.399/.530 batting line in 67 games between Double-A and Triple-A, it’s not hard to see why the organization is bullish on him. The Twins did not give an immediate indication as to how long the new injury is expected to sideline Rooker.
As for the 26-year-old Waddell, an eventual big league audition with the Twins appeared likely after the former Pirates farmhand turned heads in Spring Training. Waddell yielded five runs in 9 1/3 innings, but he also struck out 15 of the 36 hitters he faced (41.7 percent) and showed what the Twins felt was a demonstrably improved arsenal. Minnesota claimed him off waivers from Pittsburgh at the end of the 2020 season and managed to sneak Waddell through waivers in late February, but his absence from the 40-man roster proved brief.
Waddell has a pair of minor league options remaining, so the Twins will be able to send him down to their alternate site in St. Paul without exposing him to waivers for a second time. For now, he’ll join Taylor Rogers and Caleb Thielbar as a third lefty in manager Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen.
Blue Jays Sign GM Ross Atkins To Five-Year Extension
9:32am: Atkins’ contract begins at the end of this season, so it covers the 2022-26 campaigns, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. He’s now signed one year longer than Shapiro.
8:37am: The Blue Jays announced Wednesday that they’ve signed general manager Ross Atkins to a five-year extension. The exact length of Atkins’ prior contract wasn’t publicly known, though he last inked an extension in June 2019. This new five-year pact lends some clarity to his contractual status and cements that Atkins and president Mark Shapiro, who was extended through the 2025 season earlier this year, will continue to head up Blue Jays operations for the foreseeable future.
Originally hired as the team’s general manager in Dec. 2015, Atkins has spent the past five years heading up Toronto’s baseball operations department. There were some lean years for the Jays from 2017-19 as Atkins, Shapiro and their front office team turned over the farm system and worked to compile a core upon which they could build. The Jays currently have the game’s third-best farm system, according to both Baseball America and The Athletic. The fruits of those efforts to restock the farm already began to manifest in 2020, when the Jays nabbed a playoff spot in last year’s expanded field.
With the likes of Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez all coming together at the big league level, the Jays began supplementing that core on the free-agent market heading into the 2020 season. Hyun Jin Ryu inked a four-year, $80MM deal to head up a rotation that had vaunted pitching prospect Nate Pearson on the horizon, and the Jays made a larger splash this past offseason when they inked George Springer to the largest deal in franchise history: a six-year, $150MM contract.
Some of the current roster — Guerrero, Rowdy Tellez, Danny Jansen — was acquired prior to the hiring of Atkins. As is the case with most front-office shuffles, there’s some groundwork laid by the prior group that continues to shape the long-term direction of the club and some continuity from regime to regime. Tony LaCava, for instance, was an assistant GM under Alex Anthopoulos and still holds a key position (senior vice president of player personnel) in the current group.
[Related — GM Trade History: Blue Jays’ Ross Atkins]
Acquiring Hernandez from the Astros in exchange for Francisco Liriano is likely the most notable success on the trade market under Atkins, while key international signings like Gurriel and Alejandro Kirk have begun to provide value at the MLB level as well. Time will tell whether the investment in Springer proves fruitful, but the Ryu investment has paid off so far and it’s hard to fault a one-year pact for a player of Marcus Semien‘s caliber. There have certainly been missteps along the way — the Randal Grichuk trade worked out nicely; his extension did not — but Atkins has clearly commanded the confidence of ownership and is now being rewarded with a lengthy extension for his efforts.
For all of the Jays’ recent spending, the affordable nature of their young core gives them the flexibility to continue being aggressive on the market next winter. There was a clear stopping point this winter, as the Jays cooled their spending despite some a relatively questionable rotation composition. But the Jays only have about $65MM committed to the 2022 roster at present, and the only sizable arbitration raises on the docket figure to be Hernandez (who’ll get a bump from this year’s $4.325MM salary) and Guerrero (who’ll be arb-eligible for the first time).
The Blue Jays aren’t considered division favorites in 2021, but they have one of the game’s top farm systems, a promising core of controllable young big leaguers upon which to build, and considerable payroll flexibility heading into a historically strong class of free agents next winter. The future looks bright.
Yankees Acquire Rougned Odor
4:58pm: The Yankees will pay Odor the prorated minimum this year ($570,500) and next, but that money will not count against their luxury tax bill, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.
2:32pm: The teams have announced the trade. The Rangers acquired outfielders Josh Stowers and Antonio Cabello in return for Odor and cash. Notably, Texas announced Cabello as a catcher/outfielder, though he’s played exclusively the outfield in his minor league career to date. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN ranked Cabello as the Yankees’ 18th-best prospect, tweeting that he has the necessary tools for both center field and catcher. Cabello, whom the Yankees signed out of Venezuela for $1.4MM in 2017, hasn’t climbed above rookie ball yet, though he’s still just 20 years old. He owns a .251/.344/.409 line with eight home runs in 443 professional plate appearances.
Stowers, 24, has now been part of two trades during his career. He was originally a second-round pick of the Mariners in 2018, but they dealt him to the Yankees as part of a three-team deal that also included the Reds and centered on righty Sonny Gray. Stowers slashed an impressive .273/.386/.400 with seven homers and 35 steals in Single-A ball in 2019, his lone season in the New York organization. However, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote over the winter that he doesn’t expect Stowers to max out as more than a fourth outfielder in the bigs.
1:22pm: The Yankees are sending a pair of prospects to the Rangers in the deal, tweets Sherman.
1:05pm: The Yankees and Rangers are finalizing a trade that will second second baseman Rougned Odor to New York, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). The Rangers designated Odor, who has two years and $27MM remaining on his contract, for assignment prior to Opening Day. Given that substantial commitment and the Yankees’ general aversion to paying the luxury tax, the Rangers are surely offsetting the majority of Odor’s contract in some capacity. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the two sides have agreed to a deal.
It’s a bit surprising to see the Yankees taking on Odor, although it’s hard to imagine a park better suited for the 27-year-old lefty hitter’s pull-happy approach than Yankee Stadium. Odor’s strikeout rates have climbed continually since he signed an ill-fated six-year, $49.5MM extension with the Rangers, and generally been a poor all-around performer due to significant on-base deficiencies.
However, Odor’s power has never really been in question. He has three 30-homer seasons in the past five years and swatted 10 long balls in just 148 plate appearances last year. The trade-off for that pop has been a strikeout rate that has soared north of 31 percent in the past two seasons and an overall .215/.279/.418 batting line through 1915 plate appearances dating back to 2017.
Odor figures to join a Yankees bench that currently features catcher Kyle Higashioka, outfielder Mike Tauchman, outfielder Brett Gardner and infielder Tyler Wade. The only one of the bunch who has a minor league option remaining is Wade, and given that he’s also the only infielder of that group, it seems likely that he’ll be bumped to accommodate Odor’s acquisition. That would make Gio Urshela the primary backup to Gleyber Torres at shortstop, with Odor likely handling third base should Urshela be pressed into action at short for any reason.
Rays Place Kevin Kiermaier On Injured List, Claim Deivy Grullon Off Waivers
3:23pm: Kiermaier expects to miss a few weeks, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.
1:52pm: The Rays on Tuesday announced that they’ve placed center fielder Kevin Kiermaier on the 10-day injured list due to a left quadriceps strain and claimed catcher Deivy Grullon off waivers from the Reds. Infielder Kevin Padlo was recalled to take Kiermaier’s spot on the roster, while righty Chaz Roe was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Grullon. Roe is expected to miss as many as 12 weeks with a shoulder strain.
Grullon, 24, has made extremely brief appearances in the Majors with both the Phillies (2019) and Red Sox (2020) over the past two seasons. In 13 plate appearances, he’s collected two hits, including a double, with a walk and three punchouts. There’s little to glean from such a small sample, but Grullon carries a .283/.354/.496 slash in 457 Triple-A plate appearances and a .264/.302/.494 line in a similar body of work in Double-A. He also went 2-for-13 with a pair of homers and two walks during Spring Training with Cincinnati, but the Reds designated him for assignment when claiming fellow catcher Beau Taylor recently.
Kiermaier, 30, exited last night’s game with tightness in his quad, leading to today’s IL placement. It’s not yet clear how much time he’s expected to miss, though the Rays will surely provide additional updates on his expected recovery as they’re available.
This it the latest in a mounting series of injuries for Kiermaier, an ultra-talented defender with a tantalizing combination of power and speed but questionable durability. Over the past five seasons, Kiermaier has missed time with a fractured hand, a fractured hip, a ligament tear in his right thumb, a sprain in his other thumb and now this latest quadriceps issue. In all, he’s missed almost exactly one third of the Rays’ total games since Opening Day 2016.
Padlo, 24, is a right-handed-hitting corner infielder with impressive power who ranked 20th among Rays farmhands prior to the season, according to Baseball America. He slashed .265/.389/.538 in 432 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A back in 2019 and went 2-for-12 with a homer and six strikeouts this spring. BA’s scouting report pegs him as a solid defender at third but also a likely platoon bat — though the Rays have no trouble maximizing their return on such skill sets.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.