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Trade Market For Lefty Relievers

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Having lost veterans Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty to elbow injuries, the Braves are expected to be in the hunt for a lefty reliever, confirmed Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Rosenthal notes that Miami's Mike Dunn would be ideal; Atlanta traded him to the Marlins in the Dan Uggla deal several years ago.  Dunn, who turns 28 on Thursday, has pushed his walk rate down a bit and is getting more groundballs, which partially explains his 1.74 ERA.  He's under team control through 2016, and the Marlins should be able to command a strong return on the trade market.  Which other lefty relievers might become available this summer?

  • Darren Oliver and Brett Cecil, Blue Jays.  Oliver, 42, hasn't been effective against left-handed hitters this year, allowing 14 hits out of 36 batters faced.  Cecil has dominated same-side batters, but he is under team control through 2016 and would be much harder to acquire.
  • J.P. Howell, Dodgers.  Howell and his 87 mile-an-hour heater have been extremely effective against lefty hitters.  He has a $2.85MM base salary plus incentives.
  • Wesley Wright and Travis Blackley, Astros.  Erik Bedard is another name to watch here, though he's currently in the Astros' rotation and might be needed there.  Wright has been ineffective against lefties, while Blackley has been OK.
  • Brian Duensing, Twins.  Glen Perkins could be very popular on the trade market, but he's signed potentially through 2016 and I'm not sure the Twins would be willing to trade their closer.  Duensing has been very good against left-handed hitters and is under team control through 2015.
  • James Russell, Cubs.  Russell may be the prize among left-handed relievers.  His numbers have moved in the right direction this year.  He's dominated lefty hitters and is usable against right-handed ones.  He's under team control through 2015, so the Cubs will be in no rush to move him.
  • Tom Gorzelanny and Mike Gonzalez, Brewers.  Gorzelanny has a 2.30 ERA on the season, a deceptive number given his low strikeout rate, high walk rate, and proclivity toward the longball.  Signed through 2014, the Brewers would do well to clear his contract.  Gonzalez, also signed as a free agent during the offseason, needs to be kept far away from right-handed hitters.  His 4.5 K/BB ratio against left-handed batters is promising, but he has been hittable.
  • Charlie Furbush and Oliver Perez, Mariners.  Walks have been a problem for Furbush, who is under team control through 2017.  Perez has at least limited free passes against lefty batters, whom the impending free agent has dominated.
  • Antonio Bastardo, Phillies.  Bastardo has allowed a pair of home runs among his 25 left-handed hitters faced, which continues to be a problem for him given his inability to get groundballs.  He's under team control through 2015.
  • Scott Downs, Angels.  The L.A. teams certainly aren't ready to punt on the season, but one or both may be in two months.  Downs, 37, is earning $5MM in the last year of his contract.  He's got one of the best groundball rates you'll find, and remains tough on left-handed hitters.
  • Matt Thornton, White Sox.  Unlike most left-handed relievers, Thornton sits around 94 miles per hour with his fastball.  The 36-year-old earns $5.5MM this year and has a $6MM club option for 2014.  He battled elbow inflammation in February and strikeouts have eluded him so far, depressing his trade value.
  • Joe Thatcher, Padres.  Thatcher has been hittable against lefties, but otherwise effective.  He's under team control through 2014.
  • Marc Rzepczynski, Cardinals.  Rzepczynski had his fire questioned by GM John Mozeliak, and despite a $1.1MM salary he and his 7.88 ERA were demoted to Triple-A in late April.  Lefties have hit him well at that level too, so the Cardinals would be selling low to move him this summer.

Latest On Nationals, Mike Rizzo

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In an April 29th poll of over 28,000 MLBTR readers, 3.25% voted for the Nationals' Mike Rizzo as the best GM in baseball.  That placed Rizzo 13th overall; only Billy Beane received more than 9% of the vote.  A few days prior, the Nationals had exercised Rizzo's 2014 club option.  On the face of it, that move was seen as a show of support from ownership for the GM, as they were not obligated to make a decision until after the season.  At the time, it was reported that the two sides were working on an extension beyond 2014, and also noted that the Nats still retain a 2015 club option.

Upon deeper examination from Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, exercising Rizzo's club option may not have been a generous move by the team.  The move "may have created a potential fissure between ownership and its general manager," writes Kilgore.  Since Rizzo signed on in 2010 with no experience as a full-time GM, his contract was quite team-friendly, putting him in the bottom third in salary for his position and allowing for the pair of club options.  As we've seen with players with less than a year's service time, such as Matt Moore and Salvador Perez, the team has all the leverage at that point.

Nationals owner Mark Lerner seemed to admit Saturday that extension talks with Rizzo have not yet taken place, despite earlier statements to the contrary.  Lerner still expressed optimism for a deal, while Rizzo told Kilgore, "I’d like to be here for the long term. I hope the Lerner family feels the same way."

Which Players Will Be Traded This Summer?

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Last summer, the biggest names traded were Zack Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante, Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, Ichiro Suzuki, Wandy Rodriguez, Kevin Youkilis, Francisco Liriano, J.A. Happ, Jeremy Guthrie, Brett Myers, Kurt Suzuki, Joe Blanton, Brandon League, Marco Scutaro, Stephen Drew, Joe Saunders, Edward Mujica, and Chris Johnson.

As always, the vast majority of trades will take place in July and August.  Perhaps we'll see a handful of All-Stars dealt, and surely a slew of solid veterans (often in contract years) and decent prospects.  With over two months remaining until the trade deadline, several of the more interesting speculative trade candidates, such as Chase Headley, David Price, Giancarlo Stanton, and Cliff Lee, appear unlikely.  Weigh in with today's poll – check all the names you expect to be traded this summer.  You can click here to view the results.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Tigers Looking Hard For Bullpen Help

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The Tigers are "looking hard" on the trade market for bullpen help, a source who speaks regularly with the team's management tells Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.  Closer Jose Valverde has been effective since joining the big league club on April 24th, but they remain in the hunt for help.  The Tigers' bullpen has a 3.79 ERA, ninth in the American League.  The relievers who comprise the current pen have a 2.04 ERA over the last 30 days, with everyone pitching well aside from Phil Coke.  Al Alburquerque had been struggling as well; he was sent down today in favor of Evan Reed.

It's difficult to predict which teams will be selling two months from now, but a week ago I took a shot at projecting some relief trade candidates.

 

Yankees, Robinson Cano Continue Discussing Contract

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Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner commented on contract talks with second baseman Robinson Cano to David Lennon of Newsday on his way out of the MLB owners meetings today in Manhattan, saying, "We've had several conversations with [agent] Brodie [Van Wagenen], just as we did with [former agent] Scott [Boras] and a lot of it is procedural.  But we're going to continue in the weeks to come to work through things and try to come to an agreement."  Steinbrenner later added, "We want him to end his career here."  Cano has sat atop our 2014 Free Agents Power Rankings since the beginning.  More on the Yankees:

  • Can a team with a $228MM payroll earn the designation "scrappy?"  Steinbrenner used that adjective, expressing admiration for the Yankees' young players and cheap veterans that have allowed them to successfully weather injuries to key players so far.  As for getting below the $189MM luxury tax threshold next year, Steinbrenner said, "The math works to me if the young kids do their job.  It has to happen. And I've been saying that for over a year now — that's the goal we're going to push for.  But again, I'll reiterate what I always reiterate, which is we're always going to field a championship-caliber team. That's what the fans expect. That's what we expect. It's going to happen. Not going to win every year. Nobody ever does. But we're going to do what we can to field the best team we can."
  • "We're going to sit down and figure out what to do when this season ends, hopefully the beginning of November," said Steinbrenner in regard to manager Joe Girardi and his expiring contract.
  • Yankees outfielder Brennan Boesch says he left his agent, Scott Boras, and returned to his old agent, Van Wagenen of CAA, according to David Waldstein of the New York Times on May 1st.  Boesch will be arbitration eligible for the first time after this season and can hit the open market after the 2015 season.  Stay on top of the representation for over 1,000 players with MLBTR's agency database.
  • "He’s a good guy and I think he can be a really good player, too. He’ll be back. I just wanted to let him know that it’s up to him," Yankees infielder Jayson Nix told Waldstein, recounting a conversation with the recently-designated Chris Nelson.
  • The shift from center to left field shouldn't damage Curtis Granderson's free agent value much, opined multiple executives in speaking with Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.  Granderson isn't concerned, saying, "Not an issue for me at all. Just want to help this team in any way I can. If they need me to go back to shortstop like I did in high school, I’ll do that."

NL Notes: Samardzija, Brian Wilson, Phillies, Braves

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The St. Louis Cardinals are the class of the National League right now, having won exactly two-thirds of their first 39 games.  They're fourth in the league in OBP and ninth in slugging, and third in runs scored per game partially due fantastic work with runners in scoring position.  Their rotation has easily been the league's best with a 2.33 ERA, even without Chris Carpenter.  While the Jason Motte-less bullpen has an NL-worst 5.00 ERA, it's at 3.27 in May, with most of the damage coming in one Carlos Martinez outing.  By measure of FanGraphs WAR, Adam Wainwright, Matt Carpenter, Shelby Miller, and Yadier Molina have been the team MVPs so far.  Now let's look at some links from elsewhere around the NL…

  • First baseman Anthony Rizzo has a new seven-year, $41MM deal with the Cubs, but pitcher Jeff Samardzija says he isn't ready to talk contract with the club, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.  "Absolutely not," said the pitcher when asked if he's looking to hammer out an extension. "Nope. This is a great team, really coming around right now, playing great baseball. I'm just really looking to keep this going. It's fun to play with these guys."  Samardzija, 28, will have four years of Major League service after the season.  This is just a theory of mine, but having been lured away from football in '06 with a $10MM contract, Samardzija has more financial security at this point in his career than most players, and continuing to bet on his talent will enable him to maximize his next contract.
  • Giants GM Brian Sabean told Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com that he hasn't been in touch with former closer Brian Wilson lately.  Sabean says that he doesn't know how Wilson is throwing but has heard The Beard is "working out like a fiend" and is "going to try to showcase himself over the All-Star break or thereabouts."
  • The Phillies issued a statement regarding Roy Halladay today: "Roy had successful shoulder surgery yesterday. He had an arthroscopic evaluation and underwent debridement of his labrum and rotator cuff as well as removal of an inflamed bursa.  He'll begin a progressive rehabilitation program and if all goes well, he may possibly begin a throwing program in 6-8 weeks."  The 36-year-old will be eligible for free agency after the season.  Scrambling for depth in the wake of the injuries to Halladay and John Lannan, the Phillies signed Carlos Zambrano to a minor league deal yesterday with a July 1st opt-out date.
  • In other NL East injury news, the Braves announced reliever Jonny Venters had the second Tommy John procedure of his career today.  The 28-year-old will be arbitration eligible for the second time after the season, with an expected salary similar to this year's $1.625MM.
  • A clerical error could have enabled Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt to pocket an extra $500K a few years back, but he wasn't willing to pocket the money, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle via Affeldt's book, "To Stir a Movement."  Affeldt believes his subsequent contract with the Giants went smoothly partly because of that decision.  

Reid Ryan To Become Astros President

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Reid Ryan will be named Astros team president Friday, reports MLB.com's Brian McTaggart.  Earlier, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported Ryan was the team's likely successor to George Postolos, who resigned this week.  Mark Berman of FOX 26 Sports first reported yesterday that Ryan was a strong candidate to become the team's president.

Reid, 41, is a son of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who formerly served as president of the Rangers and is now the team's CEO.  Reid is the founder and CEO of the Round Rock Express, currently the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate, and the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Astros' Double-A affiliate.  In 1994-95, he pitched in the minor leagues in the Rangers organization after being drafted out of TCU.

MLBTR Mailbag: Dickey, Ethier, Price, Kennedy

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As usual, I answered about forty questions in Tuesday's chat, and today we'll get to a few unanswered ones from that session.

Who do the Giants go after for left field? – Allen

Gregor Blanco, Andres Torres, and Francisco Peguero have manned left field for the Giants this year, posting a .250/.299/.336 line at the position.  In the National League, only the Reds and Marlins have received worse from left field than San Francisco's .634 OPS.  Asked yesterday by Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com if he's satisfied with the production of his left field platoon, GM Brian Sabean replied, "I think so."  He continued, "We went on the side of the defense and the speed and to take our chances. And it wouldn’t be that much of an eyesore statistically from a run production standpoint if we had a bona fide six hitter, which should be [Brandon] Belt, but we’ve been forced to rotate and scramble a little with the bottom three spots. But on balance they’ve done a good job, given the skill set."  

Given the way Sabean steered the question toward Belt, I have to wonder if the first baseman is in as much jeopardy as the left field platoon.  Of course, Belt is actually hitting .297/.343/.516 out of the #6 spot in the order, and he's hitting quite well this month.  To answer the original question, Josh Willingham makes a lot of sense for the Giants if the Twins are willing to deal him.  I imagine the Giants are unlikely to turn back to Melky Cabrera, Nate Schierholtz, or Alfonso Soriano.  Beyond Willingham, Alex Rios and Mike Morse could be a couple names to watch, but the Twins, White Sox, and Mariners are in the range of contention currently.

If the Blue Jays decide to sell any chance the Mets get R.A. Dickey back? – Dan

Having won their last four games, the Jays are currently no further from contention than the Mets, who have dropped six in a row and have the second-to-worst record in the league.  So while the Blue Jays could become trade deadline sellers, it's difficult to picture them selling back to the Mets.  I also think they'd keep Dickey regardless, as he could be a key piece for them in 2014 and '15.  Furthermore, if Dickey's ERA still sits near 5.00 in two months, the Blue Jays would be selling low and perhaps unable to win back either premium prospect sent to New York in the deal, Travis d'Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard. 

Is this the year we trade Andre Ethier and who would we target via trade? – Dodgers fan

Ethier, 31, is hitting .267/.355/.385 on the season in 155 plate appearances.  He has over $10MM in remaining salary this year, plus another $70MM for 2014-17.  The contract, signed in June of last year, isn't looking so great at the moment given Ethier's power drought.  Moving Ethier makes sense this summer if the Dodgers drop completely out of contention, with outfielders Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson waiting in the wings.  A top 100 prospect seems unlikely, but the Dodgers could focus on moving 60% or more of the contract, depending on how Ethier is playing in two months.  They could also try for a bad contract swap, though I haven't found a good matchup yet.

Does Tampa trade David Price for a legit controllable bat, prospects, or hold on to him this summer? – Grinch 

New information has emerged since this question was asked, as Price left last night's start with a left triceps strain.  We're not even sure yet if a DL trip will be necessary, but given the expected massive asking price on Price, the injury has to give would-be suitors pause as the lefty has also seen his average fastball velocity dip below 94 miles per hour.  The Rays have played well of late, too, so they'd have to take a serious nosedive to consider trading Price with two-plus years of control remaining.  Keep in mind too that an ERA in the 4.00s this year would depress Price's 2014 arbitration salary, making it easier for the Rays to fit him into their payroll.

Could Ian Kennedy be a good change of scenery guy? I can think of a few contenders that may want a solid SP that they can buy low on. – Sean

Kennedy, 28, has a 4.88 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 1.14 HR/9, and 38.8% groundball rate in 55 1/3 innings for the Diamondbacks this year.  Strikeouts are down and walks are way up, which is concerning.  Earning $4.265MM this year as a first-time arbitration eligible player, Kennedy is at the top of the salary scale for his service class, a pace that might slow a bit with an off-year.  He's under team control through 2015, and since he is represented by the Boras Corporation, there's a good chance he reaches free agency when eligible.  He is a good candidate for a change of scenery, and if there's one GM who might trade his Opening Day starter midseason while contending, it's the Gunslinger.

Arizona's rotation has a 3.68 ERA, sixth-best in the league even with Kennedy's 4.88 ERA covering about 22% of their innings.  The readiness of Triple-A pitchers Tyler Skaggs, Randall Delgado, and Zeke Spruill would have to be a factor in considering a midseason trade of Kennedy.  None of them seem ready to fill Kennedy's shoes, as an innings eater who should be able to post a sub-4.00 ERA from here on out if the walks come down.  However, as a reader pointed out in the comments, Daniel Hudson should return from Tommy John surgery in July, which could provide the needed depth to trade Kennedy.

Minor Moves: Sean Gallagher, Matt Fox

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Today's minor moves…

  • The Rockies inked pitcher Sean Gallagher to a minor league deal today, tweets Chris Cotillo of CLNS Radio. Tracy Ringolsby of ROOT Sports confirmed the signing (also via Twitter). The righthander had been playing with the Atlantic League's Sugar Land Skeeters. According to the Denver Post's Troy Renck, the Rockies have been looking hard for minor league arms after multiple injuries and will send Gallagher to Double-A Tulsa as a starter. (Twitter links.) Gallagher, 27, first reached the bigs as a 21-year-old for the Cubs in 2007. The former top-100 prospect never panned out, however, and last appeared in the majors in 2010 as a reliever for the Padres and Pirates, sporting a cumulative 5.77 ERA over 57 2/3 innings. He was similarly ineffective as a minor league starter for the Reds' Triple-A affiliate last year, posting a 4.92 ERA over 139 innings. He failed to demonstrate strikeout ability or control, logging 5.4 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9.
  • The Mets have signed right-handed starter Matt Fox from the independent league York Revolution, MLBTR has learned.  He'll start for their Triple-A Las Vegas club.  Fox is represented by David Sloane of Taurus Sports Associates.  Fox, a supplemental draft pick of the Twins in '04 as compensation for the loss of free agent Eddie Guardado, made four big league appearances for the Twins and Red Sox in 2010.  He pitched with Boston's Triple-A club in '11 and was in the Seattle organization last year.  Several former big leaguers hope to follow Fox from the Revolution back to a Major League organization, including Juan Rincon, Brett Tomko, Michael Wuertz, Andy Marte, and Eric Patterson.
  • Notable former Major Leaguers such as Ian Snell, Dontrelle Willis, Ramon Castro, and Ben Broussard are currently on the Long Island Ducks' roster, but as we learned yesterday from Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, Carlos Zambrano has not yet signed a contract despite agreeing to terms.  It appears Zambrano will exhaust his options to join a Major League organization first.

Trevor Rosenthal Now With Boras Corporation

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Cardinals righty Trevor Rosenthal is represented by the Boras Corporation, MLBTR has learned.  Rosenthal had previously been with Full Circle Sports Management.

Rosenthal, 22, is currently working out of the Cardinals' bullpen.  He will be arbitration eligible after the 2015 season and eligible for free agency after the 2018 campaign.  Prior to the season, Rosenthal ranked 58th on Keith Law's top 100 prospect list for ESPN and 39th on Baseball America's list.  His floor is as an impact bullpen arm, wrote Law, although he has the tools to start.

As always, you can check MLBTR's agency database for the latest player representation.

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