MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers!
Ryan McMahon should have been available at last summer's deadline. The Rockies third baseman got out to a strong start to the 2024 season. He raked in April and continued to hit well through the end of May. His production began to tail off in June, but he carried a solid .272/.350/.447 batting line into his first career All-Star Game. His exit velocities were up, and he was making contact a little more frequently, at least early in the season.
Some of McMahon's early-season results were driven by unsustainable batted ball numbers. He had a .355 average on balls in play through the first two months. Teams wouldn't have expected hits to keep falling at quite that rate, yet even slightly above-average offense would be sufficient when paired with a plus glove. The trade market was light on infield talent. McMahon would have been an attractive target for contenders. The Yankees and Blue Jays were among the teams that reportedly expressed interest.
The Rockies never seemed to consider moving him. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reported as early as May 29 that McMahon was "highly unlikely" to be available. Three weeks later, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post confirmed there was essentially no chance of a trade. Saunders wrote that the front office was keen on a left side infield tandem of McMahon and newly-extended shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. Perhaps more significantly, he reported that McMahon was a favorite player of Rox owner Dick Monfort.
This week's mailbag gets into Dalton Rushing's future with the Dodgers, the Phillies' rotation, Kyle Tucker's earning power, the Giants' offense, the Rockies' potential run at history, and much more.
Matthew asks:
Since they've played Dalton Rushing in the outfield and 1st base, why don't they position him at 3rd? Johnny Bench played 3rd and catchers sometimes make a good transition to that position.
Rushing is said to have "above-average arm strength" and "reliable hands," per Baseball America. He never did dabble at third base at the University of Louisville, despite spending his first two years there backing up Henry Davis at catcher. This year at Triple-A, Rushing has spent 102 innings at catcher, 26 at first base, and one in left field. Rushing did see ample time at both catcher and left in 2024.
It's usually a lack of range that results in a catcher moving to first base rather than third. BA noted a 28.4 feet per second sprint speed for Rushing in Triple-A last year, so he's faster than most MLB third basemen. Of course, sprint speed is not range, and I just don't know how Rushing would rate in that regard at third.
Johnny Bench never really did make the transition to third base. He only topped 319 1/3 innings there once, when he reached 858 2/3 as a 34-year-old in 1982.
MLBTR's Steve Adams hosted a chat today at 1:30pm CT, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.
MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers!
The D-backs moved on from Joc Pederson this past offseason, bidding farewell to a slugger who made 132 appearances at designated hitter for them in 2024 and turned in an outstanding .275/.393/.515 slash in 449 plate appearances. Pederson was limited to 42 plate appearances against left-handed pitching but was a mainstay in the lineup against right-handed opponents. He torched righties at a .281/.392/.531 clip -- 54% better than league average, by measure of wRC+.
Arizona spent more than anyone expected this past offseason, but the vast majority of that spending came in the form of their stunning six-year, $210MM signing of right-hander Corbin Burnes. That marked the largest contract in franchise history, helping push payroll to record levels. The rest of the front office's moves were understandably on the smaller side, at least in terms of financial commitment. A trade for Josh Naylor replaced Christian Walker at first base for about half the 2025 price (and one-sixth of the overall financial commitment). Re-signing Randal Grichuk cost another $5MM. Relievers Kendall Graveman and Jalen Beeks signed for under $2MM apiece.
Pederson's two-year, $37MM deal with the Rangers was announced on the same day as Burnes' deal with the Diamondbacks. Based on the totality of Arizona's offseason, it'd be fair to presume that signing both simply wasn't in the budget. Perhaps, however, the D-backs felt comfortable moving on from Pederson because they bought into the out-of-the-blue breakout from another lefty slugger on the roster.
This week's mailbag gets into potential Giants trade targets, long shot front of the rotation trade candidates this summer, players who might retire after the season, and much more.
Todd asks:
Since the Giants have done so much better than expected, chances of them doing something significant before the trade deadline seem likely. Who do you expect the Giants to be pursuing, or at least who should they be pursuing?
The Giants sit at 15-9 with a 47% chance at the playoffs. I agree they'll be looking to upgrade at the deadline.
Offensively, left field and first base seem like potential areas to improve. Heliot Ramos, manning left field, hasn't hit much over his last 200 PA dating back to last year. The Giants have some options in Triple-A, but none that seem clearly better than the likely 2-WAR-ish Ramos. Looking through the various unlikely playoff teams' outfields, I could see Taylor Ward being a decent target. Still, I'm not convinced he's better than Ramos. We'll get to Luis Robert Jr. later in this mailbag.
Bryce Eldridge homered in his first at-bat of the year yesterday, and if he gets to Triple-A quickly and hits well, I could see a fast track to the Majors. The bottom line is that I don't see an obvious position player for the Giants to target - yet.
As I said last week, the Giants will need more starting pitching behind Logan Webb. Landen Roupp and Justin Verlander both pitched well against the Angels over the weekend. Robbie Ray is entrenched salary-wise. Jordan Hicks could wind up in the bullpen, though he would probably not prefer that.
Sandy Alcantara is the name on everyone's lips, and he's back throwing 98 and getting groundballs, though he hasn't actually pitched well through four starts. Sonny Gray could be interesting, though there's no suggestion he'd waive his no-trade clause. Which other pitchers might be available at the deadline?
The Giants had a rotation battle throughout Spring Training. Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander were locked into the top three spots. President of baseball operations Buster Posey said in December that the team remained committed to Jordan Hicks as a starter. The final job would go to one of three younger arms: Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong or Landen Roupp.
Harrison seemed like the frontrunner entering camp. If that had been the case, he quickly pitched his way out of it. The lefty allowed eight runs in 6 2/3 spring innings. The Giants optioned him before Opening Day. (He's since made four starts at Triple-A Sacramento, allowing nine earned runs despite recording 21 strikeouts over 15 innings.) It came down to Birdsong and Roupp, with the latter getting the nod. Birdsong broke camp as a long reliever.
The decision came as a surprise. Birdsong started 16 all of his major league appearances last year. He turned in a 4.75 ERA over 72 innings as a rookie. He'd been lights out during Spring Training, firing 12 innings of one-run ball with 18 strikeouts and no walks. Roupp had a good but less impressive camp, giving up five runs with 14 strikeouts and one walk across 12 frames. He also had more experience working out of the bullpen, as he'd started just four of 23 appearances during his debut season last year.
San Francisco probably feels good about their decision to give Roupp a rotation job. The 26-year-old righty carries a 4.09 earned run average with an excellent 31.2% strikeout rate through the first four turns. He has recorded a pair of quality starts and reached seven innings for the first time in his MLB career on Saturday, when he held the Angels to two runs while striking out nine.
While Roupp has earned continued starting looks, the rest of the rotation beyond Webb has struggled. The Giants have raced to a 15-9 record despite their rotation having the seventh-worst ERA in MLB, entering play Wednesday. They should already consider making a change.
MLBTR's Steve Adams hosted a live chat today at 2pm CT, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.
I was just 15-20 minutes into writing this when the Rays placed Richie Palacios back on the injured list and selected the contract of prospect Chandler Simpson, widely regarded as the fastest player in the sport. Simpson swiped 104 bags in 110 minor league games last year. He was caught only 13 times. He's 8-for-11 in steals to begin the current season. He's struck out in fewer than 10% of his professional plate appearances. Simpson has virtually no power, but he's an oddity in today's game and a throwback to the leadoff hitters of yesteryear. If he can carry those wheels and that preternatural contact ability over to the majors, he's going to garner a lot of national attention, simply because he's a departure from the MLB archetype in an era of baseball that's increasingly focused on power, elevating the ball, exit velocity, etc.
Maybe Simpson will be a star for the Rays. Maybe he'll follow the Billy Hamilton career path. We can't know yet. He hasn't played a single big league game. But even without the promotion of a notable prospect, the Rays' future was already starting to look quite bright.
We're early in the 2025 season, of course, so lots of things can be chalked up to small sample sizes. And the Rays do have plenty of early small-sample success stories. It hasn't yet translated into winning ball, evidenced by their 8-11 record, but Tampa Bay has a +11 run differential and has spent a good portion (in some cases all) of the season playing without some key stars. Shane McClanahan is wrapping up his rehab from Tommy John surgery. Josh Lowe has been out almost all year with a strained oblique. Ha-Seong Kim was signed knowing that he'd be out into at least May following shoulder surgery. The version of the Rays that president of baseball operations Erik Neander and manager Kevin Cash trot out in June and July should be expected to look quite a bit different than the April version.
There are still some intriguing names on the roster right now, however, many of whom are flying too far under the radar. It's easy to get too caught up in early-season data, as it tends to balance out over a larger sample. But with many of the Rays' young and/or returning contributors, the breakout campaigns they're teasing date back to the second half of the 2024 season. Tampa Bay operated as a seller last summer, trading away veterans Zach Eflin, Jason Adam, Isaac Paredes, Randy Arozarena, Aaron Civale and Phil Maton, among others.
That opened the door for a wave of younger players to begin receiving more playing time, and if you trace things back to that point, some of these eye-opening March/April stats start to look a little more legitimate. It's still only about 40% of a season -- less than that in some cases -- but as is always the case with a Rays team that ebbs and flows through periods of contending and rebuilding on the fly, there are some very intriguing components of a core taking shape.
Let's run through a few particular standouts.
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