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MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
  • The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
  • The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
  • The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
  • The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
  • The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
  • Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
  • The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
  • The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
  • The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
  • The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
  • The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
  • Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
  • Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Orioles Designate Cristian Pache For Assignment, Option Heston Kjerstad

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The Orioles announced a batch of roster moves today, activating three trade acquisitions. Outfielders Eloy Jiménez and Austin Slater as well as left-hander Trevor Rogers have now been added to the roster and the club also recalled infielder Liván Soto. One spot was opened by placing infielder Jordan Westburg on the 10-day injured list with a right hand fracture, a development that was reported yesterday. To open three more spots, they optioned left-hander Keegan Akin and outfielder Heston Kjerstad and designated outfielder Cristian Pache for assignment. Vinny Nittoli, who was designated for assignment last week, elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment.

The Orioles engineered a surprising outfield shuffle in the week leading up to the deadline. It started with a notable subtraction, as Austin Hays was sent to the Phillies, bringing back reliever Seranthony Domínguez as well as Pache. The Baltimore roster is loaded with position player talent and the outfield still looked strong without Hays, consisting of Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser, Anthony Santander and Kjerstad. Since Pache is more of a glove-first guy, he was likely ticketed for a bench role.

But in the final moments of the deadline, the O’s also acquired Jiménez from the White Sox and Slater from the Reds. Since Slater is generally considered to be a solid defender and hits lefties very well, perhaps they figured he was an upgrade on Pache for a bench outfielder role.

That would be an understandable position to take, as Pache has struggled to make an impact from the batter’s box. He was once considered one of the top 10 prospects in all of baseball during his time in Atlanta’s system since it was believed he had the ability to be an all-around contributor. While the speed and defense have been as advertised, his hitting has been abysmal. He has hit .181/.244/.274  in his first 546 major league plate appearances. He exhausted his final option season in 2022, a year in which he hit .248/.298/.389 for a 68 wRC+ at the Triple-A level.

But he has continued to find work due to his glove. In just over 1,300 innings in the outfield, he has racked up 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 16 Outs Above Average. Oakland acquired him from Atlanta as part of the Matt Olson trade but was flipped to the Phillies at the start of last year, with the Phils mostly keeping him on the bench since he is out of options and can’t be sent down to the minors without being exposed to waivers. The O’s seemed to have some interest in a similar role for him but perhaps decided to move on when Slater became available.

With the deadline now passed, the O’s won’t have the ability to trade Pache elsewhere. He will be freely available to all 29 clubs at some point in the coming days as Baltimore will have no choice but to put him on waivers. Perhaps another team will take a flier on him based on his past prospect pedigree and the solid floor provided by his glovework. Many clubs have roster openings in the wake of the deadline and could perhaps find room for him. As mentioned, he is out of options but is still in the pre-arbitration phase of his career. If he lands a roster spot somewhere, he can be retained via arbitration for three seasons after this one.

Kjerstad getting sent down is somewhat surprising in that he’s been performing well, but it’s also not surprising since it’s not the first time. This is actually going to be his third optional assignment of the year, as he was sent down just prior to Opening Day, recalled in late April and optioned again in the middle of May before being recalled again in late June. In 81 major league plate appearances, he has struck out 29.6% of the time but also drawn walks at an 11.1% rate and hit .261/.370/.420 for a wRC+ of 125.

Despite that strong performance, the club’s stockpile of talented position players has bumped him down to Norfolk yet again. It’s perhaps a bit perplexing to see him nudged out for guys like Jiménez and Slater, but the deadline was essentially the last chance to meaningfully add talent. The O’s took that chance even though it meant bumping a guy like Kjerstad into a depth role for the time being, and those new additions are likely looking at part-time roles anyway.

Slater has a .274/.364/.433 batting line and 122 wRC+ against lefties compared to a .226/.316/.334 line and 84 wRC+ against righties. Jiménez is having a rough season overall but is hitting .304/.360/.370 against southpaws this year for a wRC+ of 109. The two of them will likely be in short-side platoon roles, Jiménez helping to shield Ryan O’Hearn from lefties while Slater protects Mullins. O’Hearn has hit .259/.286/.296 for a 67 wRC+ this year with the platoon disadvantage while Mullins is at .141/.164/.211 for a wRC+ of 3.

Rather than have Kjerstad collecting dust on the bench, the O’s will have him get some regular work for the Tides again, at least until an injury changes the calculus down the line. Even if he doesn’t carve out a role with the big league club this year, he should have a better path in 2025 as Santander is slated for free agency. Jiménez has a $16.5MM club option but the O’s will probably go for the $3MM club option instead.

Orioles Sign First-Rounder Vance Honeycutt

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The Orioles announced Thursday morning that they’ve signed first-round pick Vance Honeycutt. The UNC outfielder, selected with the No. 22 overall pick, was the last remaining unsigned first-round pick after ECU righty Trey Yesavage — the No. 20 overall selection — agreed to terms with the Blue Jays less than an hour ago. Honeycutt will take home a $4MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com, which sits a bit north of his $3.802MM slot value.

Honeycutt, 21, played three seasons for the Tar Heels and batted a combined .293/.412/.638 during his NCAA career — including a massive .318/.410/.714 batting line and 28 home runs during his junior season. Those 28 round-trippers tied him with No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana for seventh in all of Division-I baseball.

The 6’3″, 205-pound Honeycutt has clear raw power, and in spite of his gaudy batting line it’s his defensive acumen for which he draws the most praise. He’s a two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year who scouts believe can stick in center field while showing plus range and a plus arm. Eye-catching as his 28 homers and hefty slash stats were throughout his career, Honeycutt has regularly punched out at a high rate, including during his junior season when he went down on strikes in 27.5% of his plate appearances. He still drew walks at a strong 11.9% clip, but the frequent punchouts have created a relatively wide range of opinions.

Baseball America, for instance, ranked him as the draft’s No. 13 prospect. Other outlets weren’t all so bullish. MLB.com listed him 22nd. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him 25th. Keith Law of The Athletic tabbed him as the No. 41 prospect, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him 42nd. That still makes him one of the consensus top position players in the draft and a clear Day 1 talent, but Honeycutt’s shaky contact skills create a broad range of offensive outcomes, even as his power, speed and defensive aptitude give him a reasonable floor. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo perhaps put it best in their scouting writeup for MLB.com: “How much Honeycutt hits will determine if he becomes Drew Stubbs or better than that.”

Jordan Westburg Suffers Fractured Hand

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Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg suffered a fractured right hand when he was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning today, O’s skipper Brandon Hyde announced following the game (X link via Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun). There’s no immediate timetable for his return. Hyde said he hopes Westburg will be able to return before the end of the regular season, but that’s not a certainty for now.

The loss of Westburg, 25, is a gut-punch for the Orioles. The former No. 30 overall pick (2020) has produced a .269/.317/.497 batting line this season with 18 homers, 25 doubles, five triples, six steals and quality glovework as Baltimore’s primary third baseman. Westburg has hit from the moment the season began and hasn’t at any point gone into a lengthy slump. He’ll head to the 10-day injured list tomorrow, though the O’s could move him to the 60-day IL if they need a roster spot and if they expect the injury to sideline him for the remainder of the regular season.

Fortunately for the O’s, they’re exceptionally deep in infield talent — even after yesterday’s trade of Connor Norby to the Marlins (in return for lefty Trevor Rogers). Baltimore called top prospect Jackson Holliday back to the majors today — he hit a grand slam for his first big league homer — and fellow top prospect Coby Mayo and his powerful bat are looming in Triple-A Norfolk. Holliday could see time at either third base or second base, though the latter feels more likely. If the O’s don’t want to turn to Mayo just yet, utilityman Ramon Urias at least provides surehanded defense at the hot corner and a roughly league-average bat to slot into the bottom of the order.

That said, all eyes figure to turn to Mayo until the O’s decide on their course of action. The 22-year-old slugger was selected just 73 picks after Westburg back in 2020 and has clobbered Triple-A pitching so far in 2024. Mayo touts a .293/.366/.578 batting line with 20 homers and doubles alike, in addition to a pair of triples. His walk rate has dipped from 15.7% in 267 Triple-A plate appearances last year to 9.7% in 331 plate appearances this season, but that’s still a strong mark, particularly when coupled with what many scouting reports feel is 70-grade raw power.

Alternatives down in Norfolk include the just-optioned Terrin Vavra and just-acquired Livan Soto, both of whom have experience at third base. Neither would be expected to come anywhere close to Westburg’s production, but both could hold down a utility role if the Orioles want Mayo to continue developing. If it is indeed time for Mayo to make his big league debut, Baltimore will need to make a move to get him on the 40-man roster.

Orioles Outright Levi Stoudt

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The Orioles have sent right-handed pitcher Levi Stoudt outright to Double-A Bowie, the team announced this morning. He was designated for assignment last week to open up a spot on the 40-man roster after Baltimore traded for Seranthony Domínguez and Cristian Pache. This is the first time Stoudt has been outrighted in his career, and given his limited MLB service time, he has no choice but to accept the assignment.

The Mariners selected Stoudt in the third round of the 2019 draft, but due to a UCL injury and the canceled minor league season in 2020, he did not make his professional debut until 2021. After parts of two seasons in Seattle’s system, he was sent to Cincinnati ahead of the 2022 trade deadline as part of the package for Luis Castillo. He made his MLB debut with the Reds in 2023, making four appearances (two starts) over four separate stints with the big league club. Across 10 1/3 innings, the righty gave up 11 earned runs on 16 hits. He was once a well-regarded pitching prospect, but given his poor performance in the majors and similarly disappointing minor league numbers (6.23 ERA, 7.40 FIP), it came as little surprise when the Reds DFA’d him over the offseason.

The Mariners claimed Stoudt off of waivers this past February, but his second stint in Seattle was short-lived. After he pitched to a 6.92 ERA in 12 games (11 starts) at Triple-A, Stoudt was DFA’d again in June. This time, the Orioles picked him up and brought him back down to Double-A to work exclusively as a reliever. He has a 4.26 ERA but a much more impressive 3.23 FIP over nine games (12 2/3 innings) with the Bowie Baysox. He has struck out 31.0% of batters he has faced, a huge improvement over his 14.9% strikeout rate as a starter with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Presumably, he will continue to work as a multi-inning reliever with Bowie after the outright.

Orioles Acquire Austin Slater, Livan Soto

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Today: Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports that the Reds will receive cash considerations in the deal, not a player to be named later.

July 30: Just before the deadline, the Orioles have picked up Austin Slater and infielder Livan Soto and cash considerations in a trade with the Reds, per announcements from both clubs. The Reds receive cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Slater is on the move for the second time this month, as Cincinnati acquired the outfielder in a deal with the Giants only three weeks ago. But the Reds recently nabbed Ty France from the Mariners, perhaps leading to Slater being squeezed out of their plans.

He has long been a solid defender with a right-handed bat that performs well with the platoon advantage. He’s hit just .226/.316/.334 against righties in his career for an 84 wRC+ but his slash against southpaws is .274/.364/.433, which leads to a 122 wRC+.

On the defensive side of things, Slater has close to 3,000 outfield innings on his ledger, with almost 1,200 of those in center field. Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating consider him subpar in center but good in a corner, while Outs Above Average considers him to be strong in all three spots.

The O’s traded Austin Hays for Cristian Pache and Seranthony Domínguez but were reportedly looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder to take some of the at-bats that were available in the wake of Hays’ departure. It would appear that Slater will be the one to step up for that job.

Soto, 24, is clearly a favorite of the Baltimore front office. They claimed him off waivers from the Angels in February, but the Angels claimed him back later that month. The O’s claimed him a second time back in April but then also quickly put him back on waivers, when the Reds claimed him.

He has a small sample of major league experience, with 23 games scattered over this season and the previous two. He’s hit .280/.378/.376 in Triple-A this year for a 101 wRC+. He’s capable of playing the three infield spots to the left of first base and even has a small amount of center field experience. He can still be optioned for the rest of this year and an additional season as well.

C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic first reported on X that Slater was going to the O’s. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com relayed Soto’s inclusion on X. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer first relayed the cash on X.

Orioles, Pirates Swap Minor Leaguers Billy Cook And Patrick Reilly

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On a day in which both teams made several moves to augment their major league rosters, the Orioles and Pirates also connected on a minor league trade, with the O’s sending 25-year-old utility player Billy Cook to the Bucs in exchange for 22-year-old right-hander Patrick Reilly. The teams have already made the trade official, according to the transaction tracker on MiLB.com.

The Orioles drafted Cook in the 10th round of the 2021 draft, and he has risen through the ranks of the Orioles system over the past four years. In 85 games between Double and Triple-A this season, he is batting .275 with 17 doubles, four triples, and 12 home runs, good for a 120 wRC+. He has also stolen 16 bases. On the other side of the ball, Cook has played first, second, and third base, as well as all three outfield positions. Earlier this year, he told David Laurilla of FanGraphs that he thinks his skills play best in the outfield, but he understands his ability to play the infield is important, too. While Cook is not the most highly regarded prospect (MLB Pipeline had him as the No. 28 prospect in Baltimore’s system, but he was unranked by Baseball America, FanGraphs, and The Athletic entering the season), it is impressive that he has managed to carve out a regular role at Triple-A Norfolk, considering the sheer amount of young talent in the Orioles’ organization. He will need to be added to the Pirates 40-man roster after the season if the team wants to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

The Pirates took Reilly in the fifth round of last year’s draft. He has made 19 starts at High-A this year, pitching to a 3.38 ERA and 4.65 FIP in 88 innings of work. His 108 strikeouts are particularly impressive, although his 41 walks are less than ideal. That said, he has cut down on free passes since his time at Vanderbilt, where he walked 93 batters over 144 innings. Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs ranked him as the No. 22 prospect in the Pirates’ system in June, while MLB Pipeline had him at No. 20 prior to the trade. Baseball America was higher on Reilly, ranking him at No. 8 entering the season. The evaluators at BA gave him a 45 future value grade, while MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs both gave him a 40. All three sources are high on his mid-90s fastball, but BA was equally enamored with his slider and less concerned by his control issues. The evaluators at BA also seem to be the most optimistic that Reilly can stick as a starter in the long term, writing that he “has the arm to make it work.”

While Reilly is widely considered the more promising young player, the Pirates clearly see something they like in Cook, who is much closer to making his MLB debut. Meanwhile, it’s easy to see why the Orioles, whose organization is loaded with position player talent, were happy to swap a 25-year-old hitter for a 22-year-old pitcher.

Orioles To Call Up Jackson Holliday

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The Orioles announced a flurry of roster moves in the aftermath of today’s trade deadline this evening. The club has selected the contract of second baseman Terrin Vavra and placed infielder Jorge Mateo on the 60-day injured list, while left-hander Matt Krook was designated for assignment. Perhaps most notable among this flurry of roster moves is a report from Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner that top prospect Jackson Holliday is set to join the team in Baltimore, although Kostka notes it’s not yet clear whether or not he’ll be formally added to the roster just yet.

Holliday, 20, was the first overall pick in the 2022 draft and entered the 2024 season as the consensus top prospect in baseball. He made his MLB debut back in April but looked overmatched in the majors at the time, slashing just .059/.111/.059 in 36 trips to the plate across ten games before returning to Triple-A. Holliday hit .252/.418/.429 over his next 40 games in his return to the minors, a solid overall slash line but a far cry from what Holliday had done in the past. His production in early June was especially troubling, as he hit just .212 with a 26.7% strikeout rate and a .394 slugging percentage in ten games before being placed on the minor league IL due to what the club referred to at the time as a “barking” shoulder.

Fortunately, the young phenom returned to action after just two weeks and has looked more like himself at the plate, slashing an excellent .273/.426/.507 in 101 trips to the plate since coming off the shelf. Holliday was initially restricted to DH-only duties upon his return but has gradually begun to mix in time on the infield dirt in recent days, with six of his past nine games coming at either second base or shortstop. Even if the Orioles don’t yet feel Holliday is ready for everyday reps in the field, a deep mix of infield talent that also includes Ramon Urias and Vavra should allow them to offer Holliday as much rest as he needs while still allowing him to be their regular second baseman.

Should Holliday prove to be ready for the show upon his return to the club’s roster, it will help to assuage concerns regarding how the Orioles will make up for the losses of Mateo and Connor Norby, the latter of whom was shipped alongside Kyle Stowers to Miami in exchange for lefty Trevor Rogers earlier today. Mateo has been a serviceable but unspectacular second baseman for Baltimore this year, slashing .229/.267/.401 with an 86 wRC+ and middling defensive numbers and 13 stolen bases in 68 games for the club this year. A useful utility player with the ability to backup every spot on the diamond except for first base and catcher, the Orioles are sure to miss Mateo even as he was likely to be pushed out of the regular lineup by Holliday regardless of the left elbow subluxation that figures to keep him sidelined until at least late September.

Also helping to fill the void up the middle is Vavra, who missed most of the 2024 season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder and was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster back in November. He’s remained with the club in the minors since then and sports a respectable .269/.377/.423 slash line in 123 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level since returning from injury. Vavra struggled badly prior to his surgery last year but in 2022 posted a solid 99 wRC+ in 103 trips to the plate with the Orioles. Vavra offers the club an additional left-handed bat for their bench mix capable of playing both outfield corners as well as second and third base.

As for Krook, the lefty has pitched just one inning in the majors since the club acquired him from the Yankees back in February to act as optionable bullpen depth from the left side. That brief appearance did not go well, as he allowed three runs (two earned) on a walk and home run while striking out two in his lone appearance. Meanwhile, his results at Triple-A have been somewhat middling as he’s pitched to a 4.11 ERA in 35 innings at the level with a strong 27% strikeout rate that’s held back by his massive 16.4% walk rate. The Orioles will now have one week to attempt to pass Krook through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the Orioles will have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues to act as non-roster depth.

Orioles Designate Cole Irvin For Assignment

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The Orioles announced they’ve designated left-hander Cole Irvin for assignment. Baltimore recalled catcher Blake Hunt for his major league debut to take the vacated active roster spot.

Irvin, 30, was a fifth-round pick by the Phillies back in 2016 but struggled badly upon making his big league debut in 2019. He posted a 6.75 ERA and 5.09 FIP in 45 1/3 innings of work with the Phillies in parts of two seasons before being dealt to the A’s in a cash deal prior to the start of the 2021 season. Despite being used primarily out of the bullpen in Philadelphia, the A’s moved him to the rotation where he managed to fashion himself into a reliable, innings-eating back-of-the-rotation arm. Between his two seasons in Oakland, only 12 pitchers threw more innings than his 359 1/3 frames of work as he pitched to a 4.11 ERA (95 ERA+) with a 4.25 FIP across 62 starts for the A’s. Irvin posted a lackluster 16.8% strikeout rate during his time with the A’s but limited walks to a measly 5.2% clip.

That combination of volume and steady (if uninspiring) production made Irvin a fairly attractive trade candidate during the 2022-23 offseason as the A’s continued to tear down amid a rebuild that began the previous winter, particularly given that he was still set to make a league-minimum salary in 2023. Enter the Orioles, who were keeping payroll low as they cautiously stepped towards contention following a surprise 83-79 showing in 2022 and jumped at the chance to acquire the southpaw in a deal where they shipped infield prospect Darell Hernaiz to Oakland in exchange for Irvin and pitching prospect Kyle Virbitsky.

Unfortunately, Irvin has not been the steady source of innings the Orioles were surely hoping they’d be acquiring when they landed him. His career in Baltimore got off to a disastrous start as he pitched to a 10.66 ERA in three April starts before being optioned down to the Triple-A level. He was called back up to the big leagues in mid-June to take on a swing role, acting as a multi-inning reliever and spot starter for the remainder of the season after being squeezed out of the rotation picture by the emergence of youngsters like Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, and Tyler Wells. He performed solidly enough in that role, with a 3.22 ERA and 4.25 FIP in his final 64 1/3 innings of work last year, that the Orioles were willing to retain him through his first year of arbitration eligibility on a $2MM salary to act as rotation depth.

The decision to keep Irvin in the fold proved to be a prescient one as the Orioles saw their rotation depth immediately tested this year by early-season injuries to Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez that were further compounded by John Means’ continued rehab from Tommy John surgery. Irvin’s early season performance merited his spot in the rotation mix for the most part, as he pitched to a solid 2.84 ERA and 3.47 FIP in ten appearance (eight starts) over the season’s first two months. That changed when the calendar flipped to June, however, as Irvin struggled to a 6.30 ERA with a 5.22 FIP in six starts before getting demoted to the bullpen in early July. His struggles only deepened upon moving to a multi-inning relief role as he posted a sky-high ERA of 9.00 in 14 July innings.

Between Irvin’s rapidly deteriorating performance and the club’s acquisitions of starters Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers prior to today’s trade deadline, the Orioles evidently felt they had no spot for Irvin (who is out of options) on their active roster going forward. Now that he’s been designated for assignment, the club will have seven days to attempt to pass him through waivers. Any club could pick Irvin up for the price of paying the remainder of his contract once he’s on the waiver wire, and it’s certainly possible a club looking for innings in the aftermath of today’s deadline could do so. Should Irvin clear waivers, he’d have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment but would forgo the remainder of his salary in doing so, giving him strong incentive to accept and assignment to the minors and remain with the Orioles as non-roster depth in the event he clears waivers.

As for Hunt, the 25-year-old backstop was acquired by the Orioles in the trade that sent right-hander Mike Baumann to Seattle earlier this year. Hunt has struggled to a .149/.192/.297 slash line in 20 games at the Triple-A level for the club’s Norfolk affiliate since the trade but figures to offer the club additional catching depth after veteran backup catcher James McCann suffered a broken nose during a game against the Blue Jays yesterday. Hunt’s first appearance with the Orioles will be his major league debut.

Orioles To Acquire Gregory Soto

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The Phillies traded reliever Gregory Soto to the Orioles, reports Jim Salisbury (on X). Pitching prospect Seth Johnson is going to Philadelphia, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (X link). Pitching prospect Moises Chace is also going to the Phils, reports Todd Zolecki of MLB.com (on X).

Soto, a 29-year-old lefty, has a 4.08 ERA, 26.7 K%, 12.1 BB%, and 50% groundball rate in 35 1/3 innings for the Phillies this year.  Manager Rob Thomson has moved Soto down the bullpen depth chart in recent months, well before the club added Carlos Estevez and Tanner Banks in recent trades.  Still, Soto averages 98.4 miles per hour on his fastball and is under team control next year as an arbitration eligible player.  He’s earning a decent salary of $5MM on the season.  Soto, who came up with the Tigers, joined the Phillies in a January 2023 trade.

With the Phillies’ CBT payroll sitting right around the second luxury tax threshold of $257MM, perhaps he was a luxury in a bullpen with Jeff Hoffman, , Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering, Jose Alvarado, and Estevez.

Just four days ago, the Phillies shipped reliever Seranthony Dominguez to the Orioles for outfielder Austin Hays.  It’s been an interesting pair of swaps between first-place clubs, and with the Orioles turning to the Phillies to supplement their bullpen behind Craig Kimbrel and Yennier Cano.  The Orioles, who also added starters Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers in deadline deals, don’t share the Phillies’ payroll concerns.

Johnson, a 25-year-old righty, sports a 2.63 ERA, 22.6 K%, 13.0 BB%, and 40.4% groundball rate in 18 Double-A starts.  Drafted 40th overall by the Rays in 2019, Johnson went to the Orioles at the trade deadline two years ago in a three-team deal involving Trey Mancini and Jose Siri.  MLB.com gave him a 45 grade, noting, “He maintains the ceiling of a mid-rotation starter, though his age and placement on the 40-man roster could push Johnson into a bullpen role in the short term.”  Prior to the season, Baseball America assigned Johnson a 50 grade and had a similar outlook.

Chace, 21, has mostly had 3-4 inning outings in High-A this year.  He’s missed a healthy amount of bats with a 34.2 K%, but allowed plenty of walks with a 13.5 BB%.  Chace’s pitching coach, Jordie Henry, said to Baseball America’s Jon Meoli, “Even when he does have those [command] hiccups, knowing that we already know his ceiling at this level is really, really exciting.”

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