Braves Rumors

NL Notes: Teheran, Ellis, Cubs, Beede, Nationals

By charliewilmoth | July 29, 2017 at 7:46am CDT

The Braves aren’t likely to trade righty Julio Teheran at the deadline, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag. A report earlier this month suggested the Braves were open to dealing Teheran, but there haven’t been many specific details about potential Teheran deals since. Teheran is in the midst of an underwhelming season (5.09 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 over 120 1/3 innings), is only 26, and is controllable at reasonable prices through 2020, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the Braves opted to keep him for now. Here are more quick notes from the NL.

The Cubs remain interested in Marlins catcher A.J. Ellis, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. A report earlier this week from MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro connected the Cubs to Ellis, who would provide Chicago with a veteran backup to Willson Contreras. (Frisaro tweets that two other teams are interested in Ellis as well and that the Cubs might not ultimately land him.) The Cubs also continue to look for a reliever. “That’s what you would be looking for — that high-leverage, later-inning guy that you’re really comfortable with — so you can spread the work out a little bit more evenly,” says Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who adds that his guess is that the team will make another move of some sort before the deadline.
Top Giants pitching prospect Tyler Beede will likely miss the rest of the season with a groin strain, as Alex Pavlovic of CSNBayArea.com notes. Beede is expected to miss four weeks, taking him to around the end of the minor-league season. The injury could wind up costing him a chance at a big-league call-up once rosters expand in September as well. He could, however, pitch in the Arizona Fall League. After a strong season with Double-A Richmond in 2016, the former first-round pick struggled in Triple-A Sacramento in 2017, posting a 4.79 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 over 109 innings.
The Nationals need catching help, FanGraphs’ Travis Sawchik writes. Matt Wieters has not hit or framed pitches well, batting .248/.297/.381 over 310 plate appearances while rating -10.8 runs in framing, via Statcorner. Sawchik suggests Atlanta’s Tyler Flowers (a much better receiver) and Detroit’s Alex Avila as good targets for the Nats to pursue.

Trade Rumblings: Lynn, Darvish, Strickland, Johnson, Cubs, Blevins

By Steve Adams | July 28, 2017 at 4:53pm CDT

Teams around the league are waiting for the Cardinals to give a clear indication that they intend to trade right-hander Lance Lynn, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. The impending free agent is among the most sought-after assets in a thin market for starting pitching, Olney adds. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests, though, that the Cardinals haven’t exactly made Lynn’s availability a secret. St. Louis is “in the process of generating a market and offers” for Lynn, according to Goold, though they’re also still trying to acquire a bat to put in the middle of their lineup. Goold speculates that once Sonny Gray is finally traded, other clubs may then pivot to the Redbirds and make their best offer for Lynn, who hasn’t had any substantive talks with Cardinals brass about an extension. The Yankees have interest in Lynn, per Goold, who also notes that the Dodgers and Indians have scouted St. Louis recently. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that the Royals have also had recent talks with the Cardinals about Lynn.

More trade rumblings with the non-waiver deadline now less than 72 hours away…

Yu Darvish is still the Dodgers’ top target, but the team isn’t likely to surrender any of its “very top prospects” in order to pry him away from the Rangers, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The Dodgers view Sonny Gray as a fallback option for Darvish, who is also drawing interest from the Yankees, Cubs and Astros, according to Heyman.
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that the Giants are open to moving Hunter Strickland but feel that the vast number of relief options available on the trade market could prevent them from extracting max value. As such, San Francisco may simply elect to hold onto the 28-year-old with the intent of pairing him with Mark Melancon, a returning Will Smith and a seemingly rejuvenated Sam Dyson at the back of the bullpen in 2018. (On a somewhat related note, MLBTR recently ran down the trade market for right-handed relievers and for left-handed relievers.)
Also from Crasnick (Twitter link), the Braves are listening to offers for right-hander Jim Johnson, though they’re not actively trying to move the veteran, either. The 34-year-old is playing out the first season of a two-year, $10MM extension inked last October. He’s worked to a 4.10 ERA through 41 2/3 frames, albeit with a career-high 10.8 K/9 that has contributed to a more encouraging 3.21 SIERA mark. Johnson’s 50.5 percent ground-ball rate is the lowest of his career, though, and his 3.2 BB/9 represents his highest mark since a brutal 2014 season.
The Cubs have been oft-connected to Tigers catcher Alex Avila as they seek to acquire a more experienced backup option to young Willson Contreras, but MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that Avila is one of many names on the Cubs’ list. He’s not a priority for the Cubs, per Rosenthal, who adds that Chicago is seeking more of a defense-first upgrade. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets that Chicago could be in on Marlins veteran A.J. Ellis as a possible option. Among the catchers that are likely to be available, Rene Rivera may well have the best defensive reputation.
Newsday’s Marc Carig tweets that teams have continued to call the Mets on the availability of left-hander Jerry Blevins, but GM Sandy Alderson and his staff aren’t keen on moving the 33-year-old. Blevins is viewed by the Mets as an important piece to the team’s 2018 plans, per Carig. Blevins is much more of a specialist than fellow southpaw trade candidates Justin Wilson and Brad Hand, having limited same-handed opponents to a putrid .173/.230/.185 batting line. Conversely, right-handed opponents have absolutely clobbered Blevins (.316/.469/.632) through 49 plate appearances. He’s earning $5.5MM i 2017 and has a $7MM club option for the 2018 campaign.

Heyman’s Latest: Royals, Lynn, Gray, Rockies, Brewers

By Steve Adams | July 27, 2017 at 9:12pm CDT

In his Inside Baseball column today, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag takes a look at some of the most important remaining trade deadline scenarios. He also runs down some news and notes from both the American League and National League. Among the highlights with relevance to the trade market:

The Royals remain on the hunt for rotation help even after netting Trevor Cahill, Heyman writes. (That much may be evidenced by their apparent talks for Francisco Liriano, which are reportedly progressing.) Heyman notes that Kansas City even called the Athletics on Sonny Gray and the Rangers on Yu Darvish, though the team was realistic about the fact that it doesn’t have much of a chance of outbidding the competition for either player.
If the Cardinals ultimately make Lance Lynn available, the Yankees would have interest in the right-hander, though Sonny Gray remains New York’s top target. Lynn is a free agent at season’s end, and as such wouldn’t help fill any of the upcoming voids in the Yankees’ rotation after the 2017 season.
The Braves have scouted Gray more than any team in the league, per Heyman, though they’re not currently believed to be the favorite to land him. Heyman notes that the money saved in the Jaime Garcia deal could help facilitate the acquisition of Gray, which is a suggestion that has been made in recent days. It seems worth bearing in mind, though, that Gray is only earning $3.575MM in 2017. Plus, any financial crunch the Braves had would only have been present due to the fact that the team acquired Garcia (and Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey) as stopgaps in the first place.
Starting pitching remains a target area for the Rockies after picking up Pat Neshek in a trade, and Colorado even considered Darvish as an option, though the Rockies are unsurprisingly on Darvish’s no-trade list. (That’s not a knock on the Rockies by any means, but I’d imagine that most pitchers, if given the opportunity, would want to safeguard themselves from being traded to pitch at Coors Field.)
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is more willing to part with top prospects in order to land Sonny Gray than his front office is, according to Heyman. General manager David Stearns and his staff are reluctant to part with the club’s very top prospects, and Attanasio has been deferring to the preferences of his baseball operations staff. The Athletics are eyeing center field prospect Lewis Brinson, Heyman continues, but it seems that the Brewers’ front office isn’t keen on parting with that level of talent.
It’s been reported that the Mets are likely to hang onto lefty Jerry Blevins, and Heyman notes that GM Sandy Alderson’s rationale is that if he traded Blevins, he’d merely be looking to fill that void with a free agent in a market where most relievers will enter the offseason seeking three-year deals. (Of course, that logic could also be used to argue that Blevins’ value is all the higher, and the Mets managed to pick up Blevins on a one-year guarantee even though he reportedly sought three years himself early last offseason. Boone Logan, who also signed a one-year deal in Cleveland, was also reportedly seeking three at one point.)

Braves To Option Dansby Swanson

By Steve Adams | July 26, 2017 at 10:47pm CDT

The Braves are sending shortstop Dansby Swanson down to Triple-A Gwinnett to receive everyday at-bats as they look to break him out of a lengthy slump, tweets Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

[Related: Updated Atlanta Braves depth chart]

The No. 1 overall pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2015 draft, Swanson was traded to the Braves alongside Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair in the widely panned Shelby Miller trade. After just 529 minor league plate appearances, he burst onto the scene with a .302/.361/.442 batting line through 145 plate appearances late in the 2016 season.

Swanson got off to a terrible start to the season but righted the ship from early May through July 1, hitting .282/.352/.420 with a dozen doubles and four homers through 196 plate appearances. Unfortunately, he’d fallen into a brutal 2-for-40 slump and begun to lose some playing time to the hotter-hitting Johan Camargo.

By all accounts, Swanson is still largely viewed as the shortstop of the future in Atlanta despite what can be described, at best, as an up and down 2017 campaign. He’s yet to take a full season’s worth of plate appearances in the Majors or in the minors, so at 23 years of age Swanson should hardly be considered any kind of lost cause. In all likelihood, Swanson will get another chance to prove himself at the Major League level later this season after working to sort out some kinks in a lower-pressure environment.

From a service time standpoint, he’s currently just nine days away from reaching a full year, so it’s exceedingly likely that he’ll still end up with one-plus year of service this offseason. That’d still leave him on pace to be eligible for arbitration upon completion of the 2019 season and eligible for free agency in the 2022-23 offseason.

Rockies Seeking Catching Upgrades, Bullpen Arms

By Steve Adams | July 25, 2017 at 8:08pm CDT

The Rockies are looking to upgrade behind the dish and are interested in Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Sullivan’s colleague, Thomas Harding, reports that the Rox also have some interest in Braves backstop Kurt Suzuki and Tigers catcher Alex Avila.

All three of the options listed are set to hit free agency upon completion of the 2017 campaign, and none of the bunch is earning at a substantial rate. Lucroy’s $5.75MM salary is the heftiest of the bunch, while Avila is earning $2MM in 2017 and Suzuki is owed only the balance of a $1.5MM base salary (plus some modest incentives).

The 31-year-old entered the season as one of the consensus top free agents on the 2017-18 market, but he’s seen both his bat and his glove take steps backward in his first full season with Texas. After being acquired just prior to last year’s non-waiver deadline, Lucroy raked at an exceptional .276/.345/.539 pace with 11 homers in 168 plate appearances down the stretch. However, he’s batting just .240/.293/.339 through 294 plate appearances this season and has begun to cede some playing time to Robinson Chirinos.

Lucroy has caught 30 percent of those that have attempted to steal against him, but he’s also seen his once-vaunted framing numbers deteriorate to the point that Baseball Prospectus ranks him as one of the league’s worst pitch framers.

It’s the opposite story for the 30-year-old Avila, who has broken out in a substantial way in 2017. A well-above-average catcher with the Tigers in 2011-12, Avila’s career was mired in a downward spiral before a return to the Motor City sparked a renaissance. He’s hitting .280/.402/.488 with 11 homers through just 256 plate appearances and has slashed his strikeout rate from 37.3 percent in 2016 to a more passable (but still too high) 29.7 percent this year.

While many have questioned Avila’s ability to sustain this pace, there isn’t a player in baseball (min. 250 PAs) that has a higher hard-contact rate than Avila’s 50 percent. His 92 mph average exit velocity is also among the top 10 in the league, trailing only Aaron Judge, Miguel Sano, Khris Davis, Joey Gallo, Manny Machado and Nelson Cruz. He’s sporting a 31 percent caught-stealing rate but, like Lucroy, has received below-average marks in framing this year (albeit to a lesser extent than Lucroy).

Suzuki, meanwhile, is hitting .255/.340/.468 through 163 plate appearances in his first season with Atlanta. While SunTrust Park has a homer-friendly reputation, six of Suzuki’s eight big flies have come on the road this season. He’s caught a much-improved 26 percent of potential base thieves with the Braves and has demonstrated some improved but still shaky framing skills, per B-Pro.

The reason for the Rockies’ interest in catching upgrades isn’t difficult to see. Tony Wolters has shouldered the bulk of the time behind the dish this season, but he’s posted a meager .255/.351/.306 batting line, with much of that OBP boost coming from batting in front of Rockies pitchers. On the whole, Rockies backstops have posted a dismal .234/.313/.310 batting line — an especially unsightly level of output when considering their hitter-friendly home park.

Harding further reports that the Rox have “extensively” scouted Tigers left-hander Justin Wilson, adding names like Brad Brach, Zach Britton and AJ Ramos as other names the Rox have at least kept an eye on.

It’s not hard to connect some dots and expect that the Rox could have interest in a combo deal that would net them both Avila and Wilson from Detroit, though the asking price on that affordable and excellent pairing would figure to be high. Similarly, I’d imagine there’ve at least been internal discussions about the possibility of pairing one of the Baltimore relievers with Orioles catcher Welington Castillo, though his bat has cooled considerably since suffering a groin injury earlier this summer. That last connection is merely my own speculation, but if the Orioles do indeed listen on their relievers, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see them gauge interest in Castillo as well.

Twins Acquire Jaime Garcia, Anthony Recker

By Jeff Todd | July 24, 2017 at 4:15pm CDT

The Twins have acquired lefty Jaime Garcia and catcher Anthony Recker from the Braves, per a club announcement. In return, Atlanta acquires young righty Huascar Ynoa.

As part of the swap, the Braves will send $100K to cover a piece of Recker’s remaining salary, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. Minnesota is absorbing all of Garcia’s remaining salary, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (via Twitter); that represents just over $4.5MM of the original $12MM salary.

While these two clubs had seemingly been nearing a deal involving Garcia just days ago, those talks broke down — at least temporarily — when an issue arose in the medicals of Twins righty Nick Burdi. When that fell through, the southpaw ended up making another start for the Braves. It was a good one, which helped buttress the club’s position, though obviously Atlanta did not have an enormous amount of leverage here.

Garcia is a useful pitcher, to be sure, but no team was going to give big value to get him. That was especially true of a Minnesota organization that is looking to stay in the postseason hunt, but has little interest in mortgaging the future to do so. The Twins have said all along their preference was to add a controllable starter, but perhaps that was going to cost too much in prospect capital. Instead, the team will take on a bit of payroll and give up a far-away prospect to help boost its rotation in the near-term.

While he’s no ace, Garcia will represent a pretty significant improvement for this particular staff. Indeed, he’ll probably slot in as the club’s third-best starter behind Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios. Assuming that Adalberto Mejia will hold a rotation spot and Bartolo Colon will receive at least a few more outings, it seems Kyle Gibson is most likely to lose his rotation spot as a result of the move.

Since arriving over the winter from the Cardinals in a deal that sent young hurlers John Gant, Chris Ellis, and Luke Dykstra to St. Louis, Garcia has largely been a steady presence. He has continued to stay healthy after years of shoulder woes, throwing 113 innings over 18 starts, and has turned in a solid 4.30 ERA. Garcia is carrying only 6.8 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9, but does have an excellent 55.4% groundball rate.

Minnesota also adds Recker, who provides some depth behind the dish. He has received scant MLB action thus far in 2017, but hit quite well last year for Atlanta. Over 156 Triple-A plate appearances thus far in 2017, Recker is slashing .223/.301/.381.

The Braves aren’t likely to make a postseason push, so the club could now safely part with Garcia. Of course, there have also been whispers that Atlanta is looking at adding a controllable starter as soon as this summer. That remains a somewhat low-likelihood proposition, at least as viewed on paper, though it’s worth noting that this deal will free up some finances, which may conceivably aid the team’s efforts to add a pitcher who can be retained past the present season.

Atlanta will also pick up a prospect that has value. Ynoa (the younger brother of Michael Ynoa) just turned 19 years old and has yet to advance out of Rookie ball. This year, he has struggled through just 25 2/3 innings in the Appalachian League, allowing 15 earned runs with 23 strikeouts and 14 walks. MLB.com rates him as the Twins’ 22nd-best overall prospect. Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs, meanwhile, tweets that he sees Ynoa’s upside as at most a #4 type of starter — an outcome that’d be plenty valuable, but perhaps still remains a best-case scenario.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Yankees’ Search For Starting Pitching

By Connor Byrne | July 23, 2017 at 12:58pm CDT

The Yankees had a scout on hand to watch Rangers ace Yu Darvish’s eight-inning, 12-strikeout performance in Tampa Bay on Friday, leading to speculation that the Bombers have interest in the right-hander. That is indeed the case, per FanRag’s Jon Heyman, who reports that the Yankees have reached out to the Rangers about Darvish. They’ve also been in contact with the Athletics regarding righty Sonny Gray and the Braves concerning southpaw Jaime Garcia.

The connection to Gray isn’t anything new, as Heyman reported earlier this week that the Athletics have “named their price” for the 27-year-old in discussions with New York. The A’s want “top guys” in exchange for Gray, while the same applies to the Rangers if they’re going to trade Darvish, writes Heyman. Darvish is only a rental, whereas Gray’s controllable through 2019, but the former’s track record suggests he’d make the greater impact down the stretch. His presence would obviously benefit the Yankees, who hold a wild-card spot in the American League, but they’re not eager to part with the best prospects in their well-regarded system, relays Heyman, who suggests that outfielder Clint Frazier, infielder Gleyber Torres and lefty Justus Sheffield aren’t going anywhere. The Yankees “probably” won’t move righty James Kaprielian, either, tweets Heyman. It’s an open question, then, whether they’d be able to put together an appealing enough offer for the coveted Darvish.

While Garcia would undoubtedly bring back the worst return among this trio, he’s nonetheless garnering plenty of interest. The 31-year-old impending free agent wouldn’t provide the Yankees with another front-of-the-rotation presence to complement No. 1 starter Luis Severino. However, Garcia would help make up for the loss of Michael Pineda, who underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery earlier this month, and give the team a credible back-end option to slot in behind Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Jordan Montgomery.

Latest On Jaime Garcia

By Jeff Todd | July 23, 2017 at 12:41pm CDT

SUNDAY, 12:41pm: Add the Brewers to the list of teams interested in Garcia, per Crasnick (Twitter link).

10:34am: Minnesota and Atlanta continue to discuss Garcia, but the Twins are also focusing on starters from other teams, Wolfson indicates (on Twitter).

SATURDAY, 1:32pm: Righty Nick Burdi was involved in the deal, Rosenthal tweets. Burdi had Tommy John surgery in late May and will be out until next season. The Braves already obviously would have been aware of that, and they haven’t shied away from acquiring injured pitchers in the past (such as Max Fried, who they got when they traded Justin Upton to the Padres in the 2014-15 offseason). So perhaps the player whose medicals they took issue with was someone else. It’s still possible, though, that they saw less than they hoped for in Burdi’s medical reports. The 24-year-old Burdi had an 0.53 ERA, 10.6 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 17 relief innings with Double-A Chattanooga before the injury.

11:30am: Talks between the Braves and Twins came to an impasse due to a medical issue the Braves had with a prospect they would have received from the Twins, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. The two sides are currently considering other options, though they could return to the table at some point.

FRIDAY 8:34pm: All indications are that Garcia will take the ball for Atlanta tonight. The front office is in contact with a half-dozen organizations regarding the lefty at present, Feinsand tweets.

3:04pm: It is still possible that the Twins will acquire Garcia, though MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that such a trade is “not probable.”

2:35pm: Garcia will make his scheduled start for the Braves tonight against the Dodgers, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. Talks are still ongoing between the Braves and other teams about Garcia’s services, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports, so a late deal could still happen. Aaron Blair was scratched from a minor league start yesterday and is in Los Angeles to make a spot outing should Garcia be scratched at the last minute.

9:32am: Teams besides the Twins are still talking to the Braves about Garcia, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter). It isn’t known who the other clubs in the mix are, though earlier today, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweeted that the Astros and Royals were two of the the teams that had previously shown interest in Garcia. Kansas City, however, now appears to be more focused on acquiring a right-handed starter.

TODAY, 7:14am: No deal has been finalized between the two sides as of this morning, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports.

THURSDAY, 8:24pm: Minnesota is “very likely” to take over all of Garcia’s remaining salary (about $4.7MM), per 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (via Twitter).

7:42pm: For what it’s worth, Garcia is still in a Braves’ uniform tonight, Kevin McAlpin of the Braves Radio Network tweets. Of course, that doesn’t mean the deal isn’t nearing completion; he isn’t scheduled to start until tomorrow.

6:44pm: It’s possible the Twins will be receiving an additional player in the deal, per LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune (via Twitter), though it seems that’d likely be a lower-level player of some kind.

6:12pm: It seems the swap is done except for the formalities. It’s being finalized right now, tweets Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, while MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger adds on Twitter that the sides are currently waiting on medical assessments. Atlanta will be receiving a minor-league player in return, he adds.

5:51pm: Minnesota is closing in on a deal for Garcia, Rosenthal tweets.

5:46pm: Amidst ongoing rumors that Braves starter Jaime Garcia may be dealt in short order, the Twins are engaged in discussions on the veteran southpaw, according to Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (via Twitter). It’s not apparent at this point whether other teams are still involved or whether an agreement could be nearing completion.

Garcia is probably one of the better rental starters on a market that doesn’t have many of great interest (pending the availability of Yu Darvish). I’d generally concur with MLBTR’s readers, who rated him alongside Jeremy Hellickson, and behind Trevor Cahill and Marco Estrada, in a poll yesterday.

Over his 106 innings this year, Garcia has pitched to a 4.33 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 along with a healthy 54.7% groundball rate. At times, previously, he has shown a fair bit more, but that sort of output likely represents a reasonable expectation moving forward for Garcia, who the Braves acquired over the winter after a long run with the Cardinals.

Those looking for upside will note that Garcia does carry an 11.5% swinging-strike rate that is more reminiscent of his prime-level work. And it’s important to note that he has been plenty durable recently after experiencing several seasons marred by shoulder troubles.

While Garcia doesn’t necessarily excite, he should represent a sturdy option for a club that needs good innings down the stretch. That’s the case for Minnesota, which finds itself firmly in the AL Central (and AL Wild Card) hunt despite a generally underwhelming overall performance — particularly from its pitching staff.

The Twins just lost Phil Hughes back to the DL, where Hector Santiago also resides. Neither has been effective when healthy, and the same holds of Kyle Gibson and Adalberto Mejia — whose palatable 4.22 ERA isn’t supported by the peripherals. That leaves just two reliable rotation pieces in Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios. The Twins did just add former Braves hurler Bartolo Colon, though it’s anybody’s guess what he’ll provide.

While the Minnesota front office has focused more on the possibility of acquiring a controllable starter, it has acknowledged that rentals could also be pursued in the right circumstances. “We’re probably not going to be inclined to spend lavishly on short-term assets,” GM Thad Levine explained recently, “but we would be very open to spending aggressively on assets that we could use to propel our team forward this year and for years to come.”

Garcia would help shore things up for the rest of the season, but he’ll head to free agency thereafter. If Levine’s statement still holds, then, it seems reasonable to anticipate that the Twins won’t be sending a big package to acquire Garcia — who, it should be noted, is earning at a hefty $12MM rate this year. Taking on some salary now, though, may be the preferred route to boosting the team’s chances at earning a surprise postseason spot, particularly if the demand for the few available top-end controllable pitchers is as great as it seems.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Pirates, Astros, Gray, Darvish, Braves

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2017 at 7:16pm CDT

Thanks to a recent surge that has helped them climb over the .500 mark, the Pirates have ruled out trading either outfielder Andrew McCutchen or utilityman Josh Harrison prior to the deadline, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (video link). However, they’re not necessarily going into the deadline as full-blown buyers. Rather, the team could both buy and sell, as it did last year, and is willing to listen to offers for complementary players such as left-handed setup man Tony Watson, righty reliever Juan Nicasio, third baseman David Freese and first baseman/outfielder John Jaso. As for starter Gerrit Cole, the likelihood is that he’ll stay put, though the Pirates could still entertain offers for him, per Rosenthal.

NL Notes: Broxton, Marlins, Garcia, Reed, Dodgers

By charliewilmoth | July 22, 2017 at 12:40pm CDT

The Brewers have announced that they’ve optioned center fielder Keon Broxton to Triple-A Colorado Springs, clearing a roster spot for infielder Eric Sogard to return from the disabled list. It’s been a frustrating season for Broxton, who’s batted just .218/.294/.430 (albeit with 14 home runs and 17 steals) and whiffed 124 times in 326 plate appearances. That performance followed a promising 2016 stretch run that led to a fair amount of offseason hype. The move should create additional playing time for rookie Brett Phillips, who has bounced back and forth between Colorado Springs and the Majors since early June. Here’s more from the National League.

Tagg Romney has left the Jeb Bush / Wayne Rothbaum group currently bidding to buy the Marlins, FanRag’s Jon Heyman writes. The group’s chances of landing the Marlins are now unclear — Romney’s financial commitment to the project was limited, but he had ties to a number of those involved in the group, including former players Tom Glavine, Dave Stewart and Al Leiter.
Interest in Braves starter Jaime Garcia appears to be intensifying after he whiffed four batters and allowed three runs and one walk in seven innings in Los Angeles yesterday, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand adds (also via Twitter) that there are as many as eight potential trade suitors with varying levels of interest. Yesterday, Garcia appeared to be headed to the Twins, but that deal was scuttled due to a medical issue with a prospect the Braves would have received in return.
The Dodgers are considering trade scenarios involving Mets reliever Addison Reed, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. Reed has already been linked to any number of teams, including the Brewers, Red Sox and Yankees. He’s collected 16 saves with the Mets this season but obviously would be highly unlikely to displace Kenley Jansen in Los Angeles, likely complementing him in a late-inning role. Reed has a 2.35 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and a terrific 1.2 BB/9 in 46 innings this season, after which he’ll be eligible for free agency.

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