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Indians Claim Michael Martinez, Designate Tyler Olson

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The Indians have claimed utilityman Michael Martinez off waivers from the Red Sox, per a team announcement. To clear a 40-man roster spot, the Indians designated lefty Tyler Olson for assignment.

Boston had actually added Martinez from Cleveland not long ago, and now sends him back. The 33-year-old switch-hitter has just 70 MLB plate appearances on the year, over which he carries a .273/.304/.364 batting line.

That doesn’t sound like much production, and it isn’t, but it actually stands quite a bit higher than Martinez’s career .515 OPS in 542 plate appearances. He has continued to draw interest from organizations, though, because of his defensive versatility. Martinez has lined up at every position except for first, pitcher, and catcher.

Olson, 26, was himself a recent waiver mover, with the Indians representing his third team on the year. He has reached the majors, but has received only minimal time there. Over his 95 1/3 career Triple-A innings, Olson has pitched to a 4.81 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 3.0 B/9.

AL East Notes: Moncada, A-Rod, Yankees, Rays, Sanchez

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Top Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada may not quite be ready to follow Andrew Benintendi to the majors, but GM Mike Hazen says he is playing his way into the team’s near-term plans, as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Moncada’s big numbers at Double-A have prompted a move to third base, where he could play at the big league level in relatively short order. Hazen analogized the situation to that of Mookie Betts, who also shifted off of second base — in his case, to the outfield — because he was ready to play but was blocked by stalwart Dustin Pedroia. As for timing of a big league promotion, Hazen declined to offer an opinion, but did note that Moncada has had a very different path to this point than did Benintendi. Also, as Mastrodonato notes, he needs to polish his hitting approach and refine his mechanics from both sides of the plate.

A bit more from the AL East…

  • The Yankees have no plans to release Alex Rodriguez, general manager Brian Cashman said in a recent ESPN Radio appearance (transcript via the Post’s George A. King III). Cashman acknowledged that some of Rodriguez’s at-bats will go to other players, but injuries or matchups could get Rodriguez additional looks down the stretch. The contract of Rodriguez, which calls for him to earn another $27MM through next season, is a factor, Cashman admitted: “First and foremost, you just have to admit it’s not easy to go ahead and eat — meaning release — that kind of money. It’s not something you come to a quick decision on. There are players around the game with big contracts, well-below-average players, for many years, not just a year. Alex hit 33 home runs, I believe, last year. … If we choose to do something, that’s our right at any time, but right now that’s not being done.”
  • Cashman appeared on yesterday’s Baseball Tonight podcast with ESPN’s Buster Olney (audio link) and discussed the Yankees’ decision to act as sellers at this year’s deadline as well as the prospects he picked up in trades of Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline. Cashman also said he has a list of Pirates prospects at the lower levels of their system from which he’ll select a pair of players to be named later in order to complete the Ivan Nova trade, but they’re still in the process of evaluating their options.
  • Rays infielder Brad Miller tells Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times that he was “extremely disappointed” to learn that newly acquired Matt Duffy will supplant him as the everyday shortstop upon his return from an Achilles injury. Miller considers himself a shortstop and sounds frustrated that he’ll be moved off the position for the second time in his young career. “I feel like I’ve done everything I needed to do to keep the job, and they didn’t see it that way,” he explains. “The same thing happened in Seattle.” Rays skipper Kevin Cash, though, stressed that Miller will still be an everyday player due to his bat. He’ll move over to first base until Logan Morrison’s return and then presumably see regular at-bats spread across several positions as a means of keeping his .252/.300/.484 slash line and 18 homers in the lineup.
  • Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM within the past hour (audio link) and said definitively that Aaron Sanchez won’t throw 220 innings this season. Shapiro added that GM Ross Atkins is on his way to discuss scenarios with Sanchez, manager John Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker at today. Said Shapiro of the innings limitation on Sanchez: “There’s no safe way to shut him down and ramp him up again. If you take that out, it’s simply do you let him start to a point where he either fatigues and mandates being shut down or he reaches some arbitrary inning amount — 190 or whatever it is — …or do we reallocate this innings in the bullpen and let him continue to contribute to this team in high-leverage situations?”

Red Sox Designate Tommy Layne, Michael Martinez

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The Red Sox have designated left-hander Tommy Layne and utilityman Michael Martinez for assignment in order to clear spots on the roster for newly acquired southpaw Fernando Abad and newly promoted outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi, as MLB.com’s Ian Browne and Tim Britton of the Providence Journal first noted (links to Twitter).

[Related: Updated Boston Red Sox Depth Chart]

Layne, 31, has a 3.77 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 53.2 percent ground-ball rate in 28 2/3 innings out of the Boston bullpen this season. He posted fairly similar numbers in 2015, but the key difference between the two seasons is his performance against left-handed opponents. Last year, Layne was unhittable in such situations, limiting left-handed hitters to a comical .148/.248/.170 slash in 102 plate appearances. This year, though, lefties batted .259/.355/.333 against him, thus prompting the Sox to look outside the organization for an improvement, which they found by flipping hard-throwing relief prospect Pat Light to the Twins in exchange for Abad.

Martinez, meanwhile, scarcely saw playing time during his brief tenure with the Red Sox. He appeared in just four games and totaled seven plate appearances, going 1-for-6 with a walk and two strikeouts. The 33-year-old is a career .198/.244/.271 hitter in parts of six big league seasons (542 plate appearances). He has experience all over the diamond, having spent time in the outfield and at second base, third base and, to a lesser extent, shortstop.

Red Sox To Promote Andrew Benintendi

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The Red Sox are having top outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi meet the team in Seattle tomorrow, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. The move means Benintendi will skip straight from Double-A Portland, where he’s batted .295/.357/.515 in 263 plate appearances this season, to the big leagues.

Benintendi has relatively little minor-league experience, with just 657 career plate appearances on the farm, but it sounds like the Red Sox are confident his lack of repetitions won’t be a significant hindrance. As GM of the Tigers, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski frequently moved top talents to the Majors quickly, whisking players like Justin Verlander, Andrew Miller, Rick Porcello and Jeremy Bonderman through the minors.

“Maybe,” Dombrowski had said Monday when asked whether Benintendi or fellow top prospect Yoan Moncada could join the team at some point this season. “It could be. They’re close enough that they could be. I’m not making that prediction, but they could be.”

Benintendi had been the subject of some speculation at this year’s trade deadline, but it’s unsurprising the Red Sox were apparently reluctant to move such a blue-chip player. Since the Red Sox picked him with the seventh overall selection in last year’s draft, the University of Arkansas product has rocketed through the Sox’ system, posting a .312/.392/.540 career line in four minor-league stops.

MLB.com currently rates Benintendi the second-best Red Sox prospect (behind only Moncada) and the game’s seventh-best overall prospect, praising him for his left-handed swing, plate discipline and all-around offensive game and noting that he could eventually hit .300 with 20 homers per season. (Heading into the season, Baseball America rated Benintendi the game’s No. 15 prospect.) Benintendi is a bit small, at 5’10 and 170 pounds, but there is no reason to think he can’t be an excellent big-league hitter.

It’s unclear how Benintendi will fit into the Red Sox outfield, which already features two top young players in Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley. Benintendi, who has played mostly center field in the minors, could take over left field and free Brock Holt, who also plays infield, to play other positions. If Benintendi sticks in the big leagues, he could become eligible for arbitration after 2019 and free agency after 2022.

Relief Pitching Deadline Day Rumors

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The market for relievers is always moving on deadline day, as teams look to add pen pieces that will bolster their depth down the stretch.  Fernando Abad is off the board, having been traded to the Red Sox today.   We’ll keep tabs on the remaining relievers here:

  • The Orioles and Marlins are shopping for a low-end left-handed reliever, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  Sherman feels the Braves’ Hunter Cervenka could be one such candidate, while ESPN’s Jayson Stark names Cervenka as a last-minute target for the Fish.
  • Sherman also notes that the Rangers are among the teams looking at Braves righty Jim Johnson.  The Braves have kicked around Johnson as well, tweets Marc Carig of Newsday, but nothing appears close.
  • While they are also pursuing larger targets, the Giants have perused the second tier of the relief market, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link). While the top targets have perhaps mostly already been traded, San Francisco has scouted the Brewers’ strong group of relievers as well as increasingly valuable Rockies southpaw Boone Logan — though last we heard he may not be traded. Jeanmar Gomez of the Phillies is another name the Giants have checked, though he too isn’t sure to be dealt. And even as the Giants talk with the Rays on starter Matt Moore, the club has also watched right-handed swingman Erasmo Ramirez, per Crasnick.
  • The Astros are kicking around some left-handed reliever options, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links). That’s arguably the team’s biggest area of need. Some of the names mentioned include Logan and Jake McGee of the Rockies and the Brewers’ Will Smith — all of whom are at or near the remaining market for relief southpaws. It’s not immediately clear whether any are real options at this stage, as Crasnick notes that nothing has “materialized” to this point.

Latest On Red Sox, Chris Sale

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  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post hears that the Red Sox aren’t actively discussing Sale with the White Sox (Twitter link).
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Red Sox are pushing the hardest of any team for Sale, but there’s no indication that a trade will acutally take place.
  • The Red Sox and White Sox had some late-night talks pertaining to Sale, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (on Twitter). Nightengale adds that if Sale is moved — and that is a huge “if,” it should be noted — the Red Sox and the Dodgers are likely destinations. Jon Paul Morosi said in appearance on the MLB Network this morning that he considers the Red Sox to be the likeliest destination for Sale, though a trade is very far from a sure thing.
  • FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Red Sox have indeed talked to the White Sox on Sale recently, but Chicago is seeking “at least” four young players from Boston, including “three of [their] best.”
  • Heyman wrote this morning that the Red Sox, Rangers and Dodgers are seen as three of the most likely landing spots in the event of a trade due to the strong farm systems and bulk of MLB-ready talent that each has to offer. However, he also tweeted earlier that the Rangers and White Sox haven’t spoken about Sale recently. Notably, the Rangers have been focused on other trade options, including Jonathan Lucroy.

Red Sox Acquire Fernando Abad

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The Red Sox have struck a deal with the Twins to acquire left-handed reliever Fernando Abad in exchange for hard-throwing right-handed relief prospect Pat Light, the teams announced.

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[Related: Updated Boston Red Sox Depth Chart]

Abad, 30, joined the Twins on a minor league deal this offseason and has performed quite well with Minnesota, pitching to a 2.65 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate in 34 innings of work. He’s admitted to having been bothered by a minor back issue in early July/late June, but the medicals clearly checked out in this case. That’s perhaps not surprising, as Abad never landed on the disabled list and has been used frequently by the Twins as of late, suggesting that any such troubles are behind him.

Left-handers are batting a woeful .163/.192/.265 against Abad this season, so he’ll provide manager John Farrell with a legitimate weapon against lefty bats in late-game settings. And, while he’s been markedly worse against righties, Abad has held his own against opponents that hold the platoon advantage, limiting them to a .257/.360/.351 batting line. While the OBP is a concern there, he hasn’t allowed right-handed hitters to generate much power against him. Abad is earning $1.25MM this season and is under club control through the 2017 campaign via arbitration, so he represents more than just a rental pickup for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who has now bolstered his roster with summer pickups of Aaron Hill, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Ziegler and Abad.

Light, 25, was the 37th overall pick in the 2012 draft and made his big league debut with Boston this season, tossing just 2 2/3 innings in a pair of relief appearances. Light was rocked for seven earned runs in that time but is a fairly well-regarded prospect within the Red Sox ranks, rating 10th on Baseball America’s midseason rankings and 14th on MLB.com’s same version of that list. Light’s fastball reaches triple digits on occasion and sits in the 94-98 mph range, per MLB.com’s report, and BA calls his fastball a “special” pitch. His control remains a work in progress, but MLB.com notes that the addition of an above-average splitter has helped his results take off in the minors. Light has a 2.32 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 31 innings at Triple-A this season but has also walked 17 hitters (one unintentional) in that time.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported that the Red Sox were getting Abad. (Twitter link). Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that the Twins were receiving Light in return (via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Red Sox Among Teams In On Chris Sale

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  • Chatter surrounding White Sox ace Chris Sale continues to suggest that he’s an unlikely trade candidate, but the mere possibility of a trade certainly warrants attention. The Rangers, Dodgers, and Red Sox are three clubs still working the phones to see if something can be worked out, per Heyman, who goes on to discuss some of the names being kicked around in possible deal frameworks.

Marlins Have Asked About Clay Buchholz

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  • The Marlins have talked with the Red Sox about righty Clay Buchholz, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). But Miami wasn’t enamored of Boston’s asking price, Heyman says, so it’s doesn’t appear as if there’s any traction between the sides at present. Miami seemingly addressed its rotation needs with the acquisition of Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea, but the latter was lost in the middle of his first start for his new team to an elbow sprain and is already headed to the DL.

Red Sox, Astros Among Teams Discussing Carlos Beltran With Yankees

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As the Yankees continue to chart a unique deadline course, the team is entertaining dialogue regarding outfielder Carlos Beltran with several interested competitors, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). Among the teams in discussions are not only the Indians and Rangers, who have frequently been mentioned in the past, but also the Astros and even the rival Red Sox.

Though it sounds as if there’s a fair bit of action on the 39-year-old slugger, that doesn’t mean that anything is close. Indeed, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter), no scenarios have been put in front of Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner — which would be the case if there were real “momentum” toward a deal.

New York doesn’t appear to be simply looking to get whatever it can for Beltran, given the team’s attempt to straddle the line between a full sell-off and continued pursuit of the playoffs. Last we heard, there’s a pretty high price tag on his services. That being said, it’s hard to imagine that he’s not an achievable target given that the club has already dealt top-quality late-inning arms Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller.

Unsurprisingly, all the clubs listed above are in the American League. While Beltran’s bat has been sensational even as he approaches forty years of age, he’s no longer the quality center fielder he once was. Instead, Beltran is now limited to playing right field — which he has done passably, though not terribly well, this year. And the wise move will likely remain to slot him in as a DH rather liberally; the Yankees have given him about a third of his overall action there.

Though he has limits as a player, Beltran is quite appealing as a rental bat. He owns a stellar .301/.342/.538 batting line and has already popped 21 long balls in his 383 plate appearances in 2016. Questions of health and age won’t be as pressing given his high-quality current performance, and the same holds of his fairly lofty salary. Beltran is earning $15MM this year before hitting the open market, with about $5.34MM left to go on the season.

It’s worth noting, too, that Beltran has been nothing less than a monster in the postseason. Over his 223 plate appearances, he owns a robust .332/.441/.674 slash with 16 home runs. And Beltran is obviously a highly respected veteran who’d add to any clubhouse, increasing his appeal to teams with designs on a deep run.

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