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Mets Acquire Miguel Castro From Orioles

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The New York Mets swung another deal just before the trade deadline, acquiring Miguel Castro from the Orioles, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The Orioles will receive southpaw Kevin Smith, per Robert Murray (via Twitter). In addition, the Mets will be sending a player to be named later or cash to Baltimore, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

The Mets completed a flurry of deals at the last minute, also acquiring catcher Robinson Chirinos and third baseman Todd Frazier from the Rangers. In Castro, the Mets are getting another power arm from the right side to help out late in games. The 25-year-old owns a 4.02 ERA/3.71 FIP across 16 appearances this season. He strikeout to walk numbers have blown up in the 15 2/3 innings he’s logged this year with 13.8 K/9 to 2.9 BB/9. Those numbers are far better than his career norms, so at least some regression is to be expected. With just another month to go in the season, the Mets are betting the overall profile holds up.

Castro was set to make $1.05MM before prorating for the shortened season in his first season of arbitration eligibility. The Mets will retain his rights for two more seasons after 2020. Given the injury to Dellin Betances and Edwin Diaz’s struggles since joining the Mets, Castro figures to see some high-leverage opportunities over the final month of the season. Retaining his control for two years beyond this season is a win for the Mets as well. They have continually sought bullpen reinforcements in recent seasons.

Smith was the Mets’ 12th-ranked prospect per Baseball America and MLB.com. The 6’5″ Smith spent 2019 between High-A and Double-A tossing 117 innings across 23 starts with a 3.23 ERA. That showing prompted Smith to jump up the Mets prospect boards before the start of 2020. Smith, 23, could be given a look as early as this season, given the trend of debuting youngsters we’re seeing throughout baseball, but it’s more likely Smith stays in the development pool for now.

The Orioles sent a number of pitchers out in trades before the deadline, also dealing Mychal Givens to the Rockies and Tommy Milone to the Braves. They continue to rebuild under second-year GM Mike Elias.

Rockies Acquire Mychal Givens From Orioles

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The Orioles have dealt relief pitcher Mychal Givens to the Rockies, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Along with Tommy Milone, Givens is the second key pitcher the Orioles have traded away today. In return, the Orioles will receive Tyler Nevin, Terrin Vavra, and a player to be named later, as first reported by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Givens has returned to the setup role after struggling as Baltimore’s closer for much of last season, converting just 11 of 19 save opportunities. 2019 was clearly Givens’s worst season since debuting in 2015, but this year he’s once again showing the form that allowed him to excel as Zack Britton’s right-hand man just a few years ago.

Through his first 13 innings of work this year, Givens is sporting a 1.38 ERA and an even 1.00 WHIP, which is supported by career-best strikeout numbers and a 3.17 K:BB ratio. His strikeout rate has climbed up to 38%, and while his walk numbers are up slightly from years’ past, it’s not enough to induce panic. Opponents’ batted-ball results are much improved over last year, aligning more closely with Givens’s 2017 season, when he was at his best. Givens relies heavily on a four-seam fastball that sits right around 95 mph, also utilizing a mid-80s slider and a changeup.

By acquiring Givens, the Rockies hope to strengthen a bullpen that is currently producing to the tune of a 5.81 ERA, the third-worst in all of baseball. For what it’s worth, that number is quite a bit higher than the unit’s 4.22 FIP, which is roughly middle-of-the-pack, but the fact is that the Colorado ’pen has not done well to prevent runs this year. With Scott Oberg out for the year and Wade Davis on the injured list, it’s a thin unit that has had to rely on inexperienced arms like Yency Almonte, Carlos Estevez, and Jairo Diaz.

At first blush, it looks like a pretty solid haul for the O’s in exchange for their top reliever. In Vavra and Nevin—two 23-year-olds—Baltimore is getting the Rockies’ No. 7 and No. 14 ranked prospects, respectively (courtesy of MLB Pipeline). Nevin is strictly limited to corner positions (experimenting with the outfield last year after beginning his career at third base), and is a bat-first player with solid plate discipline and the ability to make hard contact to all fields. His 13 home runs at Double-A last year tied a career high.

Vavra, meanwhile, was the Rockies’ third-round draft choice in 2018, and projects as a middle-infield type, with second base perhaps his best fit at the Major League level. He’s likewise known for his bat, a line-drive hitter with advanced bat-to-ball skills who walked as often as he struck out last year. A switch-hitter, his hitting talent has been on display in the year and a half since he was drafted, though he’s only reached as high as A-ball.

Braves Acquire Tommy Milone

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10:51 am: The deal is official. Atlanta designated first baseman Matt Adams for assignment to clear roster space for Milone, who is in fact set to start tonight’s game for the Braves.

8:26 am: The Braves are nearing a deal to acquire left-hander Tommy Milone from the Orioles, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). Atlanta will send two prospects, neither of whom is in the Braves’ 60-man player pool, to Baltimore, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Because they are outside the player pool, those prospects will be included as players to be named later. Presumably, we won’t know their identities until after the end of the season.

Milone, 33, was surprisingly named Baltimore’s Opening Day starter after latching on with the organization on a minor-league deal over the offseason. That start didn’t go as planned, but he’s quietly performed well in his five starts since. Overall, Milone has a 3.99 ERA in 29.1 innings this season.

The soft-tossing Milone has always been a control artist, and that’s continued in 2020. More importantly, he’s struck out a career-best 24% of hitters in the early going on the back of a career-high 12.5% swinging strike rate. The Braves will place a low-cost bet Milone can mostly maintain that uptick in swing-and-miss while working in his customary 86-87 MPH velocity range. His $1MM base salary was prorated to a little over $370K, of which about $173K remains. Milone will be a free agent at season’s end.

It still seems there’s room for the Braves to explore further rotation acquisitions. Max Fried has been exceptional so far, but the rest of the rotation has been shaky. Despite those starting pitching woes, the Braves are off to an 18-14 start and two games ahead of the pack in the NL East. However, they’re not expected to be involved in the pursuit of Rangers ace Lance Lynn, hears Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).

At 14-18, the Orioles are technically still on the periphery of the AL wild card race. Serviceable start notwithstanding, this was always expected to be a rebuilding year for Baltimore, so it’s hardly surprising to see them flip present assets for future value. Prospects Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer are already on the 40-man roster and are speculative candidates to replace Milone in the starting rotation.

Orioles Activate Jose Iglesias From 10-Day IL

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The Orioles have activated shortstop Jose Iglesias from the 10-day injured list, one of multiple transactions announced today by the team.  Infielder Ramon Urias and southpaw Keegan Akin have been optioned to the Orioles’ alternate training site, while the O’s selected the contract of right-hander Cesar Valdez.  In addition, outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. cleared waivers (Smith was designated for assignment earlier this week) and was outrighted to the alternate site.

Iglesias’ return from a left quad injury comes after a minimum 10-day absence, as his original placement was backdated to August 16.  Baltimore will now get perhaps its most unexpectedly hot bat back in the lineup, as Iglesias was off to a fantastic .400/.414/.564 start through his first 58 plate appearances.

Valdez signed a minor league deal with the Orioles over the offseason and is now on track to appear in his first Major League game since the 2017 season.  His 30 2/3 innings with the A’s and Blue Jays that season marked a return to the Show from an even longer absence, as Valdez’s previous MLB experience came in a nine-game stint with the Diamondbacks in 2010.  In between these hiatuses from the big leagues, Valdez has a long track record in the Mexican League, as well as eight games in the Chinese Professional Baseball League and 861 1/3 career minor league innings with the A’s, Blue Jays, D’Backs, and also the Marlins, Astros, and Pirates.

Trade Deadline Notes: Royals, Moore, Rays, BoSox, Angels, Eppler, Orioles

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Trevor Rosenthal and other Royals relievers are already drawing interest from trade suitors, though GM Dayton Moore hasn’t ruled out being a deadline buyer.  “We wouldn’t hesitate to add to this team,” Moore told Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star.  “This team is talented enough to be one of eight teams representing the American League in the playoffs….So I’m not even beginning to think about dismantling or moving players that help us win at this point.  I believe that this group of players is extremely talented and very much capable of being a playoff team.”

The Royals are last in the AL Central with an 11-18 record, and they sit four games back of the Blue Jays for the last AL wild card slot.  While they’d have to leapfrog a lot of teams to cross the postseason line, even one brief winning streak could greatly improve Kansas City’s chances in the shortened season.  As Worthy notes, the Royals haven’t yet had their entire ideal roster together at one time, as multiple key players have been sidelined due to injuries and COVID-19.  It doesn’t seem likely that K.C. will make any kind of big deadline push, though those expecting a mini-fire sale might also be disappointed.

More trade buzz from around the league…

  • There is no doubt that the Rays are planning on being deadline buyers, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that “other teams say the Rays are being very aggressive in” trade talks.  It stands to reason that Tampa Bay is targeting pitching given all of their injured arms, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rays swing some creative deals to address multiple needs.  In July 2019, for instance, Tampa landed Nick Anderson, Trevor Richards, Eric Sogard, and Jesus Aguilar in separate deals with the Marlins, Blue Jays, and Brewers respectively, while five other lower-level trades were also consummated.
  • The Red Sox are willing to include some money to accommodate trades, Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal writes (subscription required).  We’ve already seen the Sox kick in $815K to the Phillies as part of the Brandon Workman/Heath Hembree trade last weekend, and McAdam speculates that Boston could potentially eat larger sums for higher-paid players like J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, or Christian Vazquez in order to land a better prospect return.
  • Though the Angels’ 9-21 record is the worst in the American League, their approach at the trade deadline could be impacted by front office uncertainty, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman said in an appearance on the MLB Network (video link).  “There is probably not a general manager on thinner ice…right now than Billy Eppler,” Sherman notes, as the Halos are looking at their fifth straight losing season in Eppler’s five-year tenure.  Since Eppler’s contract is up after the season, Sherman wonders if the GM would have the green light to trade anything beyond rental players.  Dylan Bundy and Andrew Heaney, for instance, would draw a lot of trade interest if shopped, though both pitchers are also arbitration-controlled through 2021 and the Angels plan to contend next season.
  • The Orioles have a .500 record and are in the mix for a playoff berth, though both The Athletic’s Dan Connolly and the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli figure that the team isn’t likely to make any splashy rental acquisitions.  As Connolly puts it, “general manager Mike Elias is focused on his big-picture plan and he’s not going to alter that for the immediate gratification of a seventh or eighth seed in a short season.”  Meoli, meanwhile, wonders if the O’s will be particularly active either as a buyer or seller at the deadline, noting that Elias didn’t swing many significant deals at the 2019 trade deadline and instead waited until the offseason to move the likes of Bundy and Jonathan Villar.  Between many teams’ uncertain financial situations and the lack of many defined buyers or sellers, there might even more reason this year for the Orioles to hold off until the winter.

Orioles Place Wade LeBlanc On 60-Day Injured List

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The Orioles have placed southpaw Wade LeBlanc on the 60-day injured list due to a stress reaction in his throwing elbow, the team announced.  Left-hander Keegan Akin has been called up from the team’s alternate training site in a corresponding move.

LeBlanc will see his season end after just 22 1/3 innings, including an outing last Sunday that saw him depart the mound due to injury before the first inning was over.  It was a tough stretch for LeBlanc in Baltimore, with an 8.06 ERA largely fueled by the six homers allowed during his 22 1/3 frames of work.  Home runs have been something of a constant issue for LeBlanc over his 12 big league seasons, though the problem has spiked over the last two years in particular, as LeBlanc has a 2.1 HR/9 over his last 143 2/3 MLB innings.

Baltimore signed LeBlanc to a minor league contract in the offseason, so he will earn the prorated portion of an $800K salary for reaching the Orioles’ active roster.  The O’s expected to LeBlanc to eat some innings and provide some veteran experience for their young pitching staff, though today’s news could quite possibly mark the end of LeBlanc’s tenure with the club.

Akin might be the most obvious candidate to fill LeBlanc’s spot in the rotation, though the Orioles have some time to make a decision since LeBlanc’s next turn isn’t until Saturday.  A second-round pick in the 2016 draft, the 25-year-old Akin has posted some solid innings in Baltimore’s farm system and he already made his MLB debut earlier this season (a three-inning relief outing on August 14).

Orioles’ LeBlanc, Severino Leave Game With Injuries

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The Orioles’ starting battery in Sunday’s game, lefty Wade LeBlanc and catcher Pedro Severino, were both forced to exit this afternoon’s game prematurely after each suffered an injury. LeBlanc exited in the first inning of Baltimore’s matchup with the Red Sox due to left elbow discomfort, while Severino left in the seventh after experiencing tightness in his right hip while running out a single. Per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun, LeBlanc will undergo an MRI tomorrow, with Severino also due for further evaluation.

Severino has been one of the most productive bats on the Baltimore roster thus far, slugging five homers to go with a solid .329/.398/.570 slash line. Even so, his hard-hit rates and exit velocity numbers don’t lend themselves to that type of success. Surely, a .967 OPS is unreasonable to expect the rest of the way, but even something more in line with his 2019 .740 OPS is nothing to scoff at, especially by catcher standards.

On the other hand, it’s been a slow start for the veteran LeBlanc, who entered today with a 7.89 ERA through his first five starts with his new club. He’s tallied just 13 strikeouts in 21 2/3, though to his credit he has done well to induce soft contact, according to Statcast metrics.

The last several years of LeBlanc’s career have been relatively injury-free, and he hasn’t had any arm troubles in recent memories. In the first handful of starts in his age-36 season, there hadn’t been any significant decrease to his velocity compared to prior seasons. Still, it’s been widely speculated that the abbreviated buildup to this unusual season is to blame for the bevy of pitcher injuries that has swept across baseball, victimizing stars like Justin Verlander, Kirby Yates, and Stephen Strasburg, among many others.

We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get an idea of the severity of the Orioles’ latest injuries, but we hope that LeBlanc has avoided a fate comparable to that of the aforementioned trio of pitchers. And with Severino emerging as a hot bat in the Baltimore batting order, they’ll cross their fingers that a hip injury won’t prevent him from playing for too long. In the meantime, Chance Sisco will likely assume most of the catching duties, while young prospects like Keegan Akin or Dean Kremer are available to assume LeBlanc’s spot in the rotation.

Orioles Designate Dwight Smith Jr., Select Mason Williams

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The Orioles have designated outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. for assignment and have selected the contract of outfielder Mason Williams, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.

With Smith Jr. removed from the 40-man roster, the team will have a week to either trade the 27-year-old or place him on outright waivers. Per Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com, O’s general manager Mike Elias is hopeful that Smith Jr. will remain in the organization following his DFA.

Although his 2020 season has not gone as hoped, Smith Jr. was a capable contributor for last year’s Orioles, batting .241/.297/.412 in his first shot at a regular role with an MLB team.

However, he’s fallen out of favor in Baltimore as he finds himself in an increasingly crowded outfield mix in need of a true center fielder after the injury to Austin Hays. Smith Jr. is limited to left field and has struggled defensively since coming to Baltimore.

Mason Williams will join the Orioles roster as an option to play center field occasionally, and is more suited for a role as a fourth outfielder than Smith Jr. due to his positional flexibility. He appeared with the Orioles briefly last year, though he spent the majority of the year with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate. There, he hit .308/.371/.477 with 18 home runs, his most in a season since debuting in 2010.

Orioles Promote Ryan Mountcastle, Place Chris Davis On 10-Day IL

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1:57pm: The Orioles have formally announced Mountcastle’s promotion. In a corresponding move, Chris Davis was placed on the 10-day IL due to patellar tendinitis in his left knee.

11:40am: The Orioles are calling up top prospect Ryan Mountcastle for his MLB debut, as first reported by Jason La Canfora of 105.7 The Fan (Twitter link). The 23-year-old slugger was the No. 36 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to clear space on the 28-man roster to accommodate him (although the corresponding move could still include a 40-man subtraction, of course).

Mountcastle has ranked among the organization’s best prospects since the time he was drafted out of high school. He has at times ranked among the game’s 100 best prospects according to outlets like Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus, etc. — and he’s currently just on the outside of FanGraphs’ Top 100, sitting at No. 111.

Questions persist about just where on the field Mountcastle will play. He was drafted as a shortstop but has slid down the defensive spectrum — first moving to third base and then spending time at first base and in left field last year in Triple-A. There are far fewer questions, though, about the slugger’s promising bat. Mountcastle followed up 2018’s .297/.341/.464 slash (121 wRC+) in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting with a .312/.344/.527 slash (117 wRC+) in Triple-A last year. He doesn’t walk much but also doesn’t strike out at an alarming rate and has never batted worse than .281 in a full professional season.

It’s possible that Mountcastle will supplant the struggling Dwight Smith Jr. as the team’s primary left fielder. Smith has posted a woeful .222/.306/.365 batting line in 72 plate appearances this year and wasn’t much better in 2019 when he hit .241/.297/.412. Given that Smith himself has graded out as a poor defender in left, there may not be a dip in glovework at all, and Mountcastle is a clear part of the organization’s future (which cannot be said of Smith).

Mountcastle could also be worked into the corner infield and designated hitter mix, but regardless of the position listed next to his name on the lineup card, it would behoove the Orioles to get him regular at-bats through season’s end. The hope is that Mountcastle will be a fixture in the lineup for years to come, and now that we’ve passed the point where he’d qualify as a Super Two or reach free agency after “only” six years instead of seven, there’s little reason for the O’s to keep him down at the alternate training site. Assuming Mountcastle is in the big leagues to stay, he’d be controllable through 2026 and arbitration-eligible after the 2023 season.

It is, of course, also worth noting that the O’s are just a game below .500 after a surprising start to the season. They’ve dropped five straight and are currently on the outside looking in on the playoff picture, but slotting Mountcastle into the lineup can’t hurt their odds of making a Cinderella run at this year’s expanded playoff format.

Orioles Place Jose Iglesias On 10-Day Injured List

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The Orioles have placed shortstop Jose Iglesias on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 16) due to a left quad injury, the team announced.  Infielder Ramon Urias has been called up from the alternate training site to take Iglesias’ spot on the Baltimore roster.

Known as a defensive specialist over his eight seasons prior to 2020, Iglesias has almost doubled his 84 OPS+ from 2011-19 with a whopping 166 OPS+ through 58 plate appearances this season.  Small sample size notwithstanding, Iglesias’ .400/.414/.564 slash line has been a key reason why the surprising Orioles are keeping pace in the playoff race with a 12-10 record.

Despite his production, Iglesias has been bothered by his quad all season.  He hasn’t played since last Saturday, so clearly the Orioles felt an IL stint was necessary to get the veteran shortstop fully recovered.

Andrew Velazquez has been filling in at short in Iglesias’ absence, and Urias could also help in this regard given his experience at all four infield positions.  A longtime veteran of both the Mexican League and 298 minor league games in the Rangers’ and Cardinals’ farm systems, the 26-year-old Urias is on the verge of his first Major League appearance.  Urias hit .263/.369/.424 with nine homers over 375 PA with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.

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