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José Bautista To Officially Retire

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José Bautista hasn’t played in a big league game since 2018 but had never officially retired in the years after his last appearance. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet was among those to report today that Bautista will sign a one-day contract with Toronto to officially retire as a Blue Jay, as part of the ceremony wherein he will be added to the club’s Level of Excellence on Saturday.

Bautista, now 42, didn’t have the typical path to baseball stardom as he wasn’t a high draft pick or top prospect. The Pirates selected him in the 20th round of the draft in 2000 and he would get some modest attention from prospect evaluators after that, with Baseball America ranking him #14 in the system in 2002 and #7 in 2003.

In 2004, he had an especially unusual season, getting selected by the Orioles in the Rule 5 draft. As the season wore on, he was claimed off waivers by the Devil Rays, then was subsequently traded to the Royals, Mets and back to the Pirates. He would stick with the Pirates for a few years, mostly as a third baseman but also playing some outfield. He showed glimpses of his potential at the plate, hitting 16 home runs in 2006, 15 the year after and another 15 in 2008.

That 2008 season saw him traded to the Blue Jays in August for a player to be named later, which was eventually revealed as Robinzon Díaz. A fairly forgettable transaction at the time, it would later prove to be the start of the defining era of Bautista’s career.

His first full season as a Blue Jay wasn’t especially noteworthy, as Bautista hit 13 home runs in 2009, though there were a few developments that would prove to be important in later years. He began incorporating a leg kick into his swing and also started to spend more time in right field, with his strong throwing arm a good fit for that spot.

In 2010, at the age of 29, Bautista broke out in stunning fashion. He launched 54 home runs for the Jays that year, setting a new single season record for the franchise. He also showed a keen eye at the plate, drawing walks in 14.6% of his plate appearances. His .260/.378/.617 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 165, indicating he was 65% better than the league average hitter. The Jays decided to bank on that breakout, giving Bautista a five-year, $65MM extension that covered his final arbitration season and four free agent years, with a club option for 2016.

He followed that up with an even better season overall. His home run tally dropped to 43 in 2011, but his patient approach allowed him to take advantage of pitchers giving him less to hit. He was walked in 20.2% of his trips to the plate in 2011, leading to a .302/.447/.608 slash line. His 180 wRC+ was the best in the majors that year and would eventually prove to be his personal best as well. He was considered to be worth 8.1 wins above replacement by FanGraphs and 8.4 by Baseball Reference. He came in third in AL MVP voting behind Justin Verlander and Jacoby Ellsbury.

His production would continue in fairly similar fashion for years to come, defined by both his power output and on-base abilities. From 2012 to 2016, he hit between 22 and 40 home runs each year with his walk rate never finishing below 13.1%. Despite that excellent production, and that of another late-blooming star in Edwin Encarnación, the Jays struggled to push too far beyond .500 in most of those seasons.

The 2015 season finally changed that, with the Jays aggressively bolstering the roster by adding Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin and others in the offseason. The trade deadline saw further aggression, with the club adding a batch of players headlined by Troy Tulowitzki and David Price. The moves paid off when the Jays surged in the final months of the season and finished 93-69, winning the American League East and cracking the postseason for the first time since 1993.

Bautista’s first opportunity to play in the playoffs would lead to a singular moment and image that are now cemented in the minds of millions of baseball fans. The Jays squared off against the Rangers in the Wild Card series, which had a best-of-five format at that time. The Jays lost the first two games but rallied to tie it up and force a fifth contest.

In the deciding game, the Jays fell behind in the top of the seventh 3-2 on a strange play wherein Rougned Odor scored when Martin’s attempted throw back to pitcher Aaron Sanchez hit the bat of Shin-Soo Choo and ricocheted away. Home plate umpire Dale Scott initially ruled the ball dead but the umpiring crew eventually allowed the run to score. That soured the mood in the stadium, with many fans throwing debris to express their displeasure.

In the bottom of the frame, several defensive miscues from the Rangers allowed the Jays to tie the game up before Bautista launched a two-out, three-run home run to give the Jays a 6-3 lead. Bautista reacted to the emotionally-charged atmosphere by flipping his bat high into the air, which proved to be controversial in some baseball circles, though it would quickly become an iconic moment among Jays’ fans. Toronto held on to win that game but would lose to the Royals in the ALCS.

After Bautista’s extension ended, the Jays gave him a $17.2MM qualifying offer for 2017. He rejected that and became a free agent but eventually returned to Toronto via a one-year, $18.5MM deal. He still hit 23 home runs and walked in 12.2% of his plate appearances, but his overall production fell to .203/.308/.366 and a wRC+ of 81.

In 2018, he returned to the journeyman status that started his career, bouncing to the Braves, Mets and Phillies. He didn’t sign with a club in the years to come, though he did reportedly consider a comeback as a two-way player in 2020, but later threw some cold water on those reports. He played for the Dominican Republic team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were pushed to 2021 by delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now it seems his playing days will be officially ended during this weekend’s festivities, tying a bow on one of the more unique baseball journeys. Though Bautista began and ended his career as a journeyman, he had a late bloom that led to a lengthy stretch as one of the best players in the league. From 2010 to 2015, he hit 227 home runs, easily the most in the league for that time with Miguel Cabrera second at 199. He slashed .268/.390/.555 in that time for a wRC+ of 156 and tallied 33.2 fWAR, that latter figure placing him sixth among position players. His 60 outfield assists in that stretch were topped by just three other big leaguers. He engineered many memorable moments during that peak, too many to list here, featuring both his tremendous talents as well as his fiery and standout personality.

Over his career as a whole, he played 1,798 games and took 7,244 trips to the plate. He launched 344 home runs and walked at a 14.2% rate, leading to a .247/.361/.475 batting line and 126 wRC+. He had 1,496 hits, 1,022 runs scored, 975 driven in and stole 70 bases. He tallied 35.3 fWAR and 36.7 bWAR. He made six straight All-Star teams from 2010 to 2015, led the league in home runs twice, earned a couple of Hank Aaron awards and three Silver Sluggers. As a Blue Jay, his tallies of 38.3 bWAR and 36.2 fWAR are both the best in franchise history among position players, with only Dave Stieb and Roy Halladay ahead of him overall.

We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Bautista on an incredibly special career and wish him the best in all his post-playing endeavors.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Pirates’ Tucupita Marcano To Undergo Season-Ending ACL Surgery

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August 10: Marcano underwent successful surgery on August 9, as reported by Justice delos Santos of MLB.com. The utility player is expected to return to full baseball activities in nine to 12 months.

August 3: Pirates infielder Tucupita Marcano will undergo season-ending surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, team director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk announced yesterday (link via Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). A date for the surgery has not yet been set, as Marcano will need to wait for the swelling around the injury to subside before surgeons perform the necessary repair. The team had already placed Marcano on the 60-day injured list but had not yet divulged the full extent of the injury he’d suffered.

Marcano originally sustained the injury more than a week ago when running the bases in a game against the team that originally signed him out of Venezuela back in 2016: the Padres. The now-23-year-old Marcano was one of three prospects traded from San Diego to Pittsburgh in 2021’s Adam Frazier deal. Pirates center fielder Jack Suwinski and minor league righty Michell Miliano also went to the Bucs in that swap.

It’s been a tough couple years in the Majors for Marcano, who’s logged 397 plate appearances with the Pirates but mustered only a .221/.267/.334 batting line in that time. He’s fared quite a bit better in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .274/.359/.401 with 11 homers, 23 doubles, four triples and 16 steals in parts of three seasons (575 plate appearances). He’s also regularly posted excellent walk numbers and low strikeout rates in the minors, showing off the advanced approach and contact skills that surely appealed to the Pirates when acquiring him.

Marcano has played second base, third base, shortstop and both outfield corners for the Pirates in the Majors. The bulk of his professional innings have been split between the two middle infield spots. That’s become an increasingly crowded spot in Pittsburgh — hence the team’s deadline trade of Rodolfo Castro — with Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Alika Williams, Liover Peguero and Ji Hwan Bae all having reached the big league level.

Cruz and Bae are both on the injured list alongside Marcano at the moment, but the Bucs will have a crowded mix of options once the entire group is healthy in 2024. Cruz is slotted to be the everyday shortstop, so the competition for playing time really boils down to who’ll see the bulk of time at second base and who’ll claim some spots on the bench. In that sense, Marcano’s versatility is an advantage, but he’ll obviously need to hit more in the Majors if he’s going to carve out a long-term role on the club.

Pirates, Dom Nunez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates have agreed to terms on a minor league deal with catcher Dom Nunez, per their transaction log at MLB.com. The ALIGND Sports client will be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Nunez, 28, was released by the Cubs over the weekend but quickly found a new home with the Pirates organization. The former Rockies backstop hit .216/.367/.366 in 147 plate appearances with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Des Moines, drawing a walk in a whopping 17.4% of his plate appearances but also striking out at an untenable 27.5% clip.

A sixth-round pick back in 2013, Nunez has a career .229/.346/.433 batting line in parts of three Triple-A seasons but has managed only a .180/.280/.373 output in 347 Major League plate appearances. He’s belted a dozen homers, 16 doubles and three triples in that time, showing above-average power, but Nunez’s 34% strikeout rate as a big leaguer has been too large an obstacle to overcome thus far.

Nunez’s career 29% caught-stealing rate (minors and majors combined) is better than average, although like many catchers, he’s seen a dip following rule changes that have emboldened baserunners. He’s sitting at 23% in Triple-A this year. He regularly graded as a plus framer earlier in his minor league career, per Baseball Prospectus, although his marks have dipped closer to average this season. Statcast credits him as slightly above-average in terms of both framing and blocking throughout the 826 innings he’s caught at the MLB level.

The Pirates traded catcher Austin Hedges to the Rangers prior to the deadline, paving the way for top prospects Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis to get more playing time behind the plate. (Davis has played almost exclusively in right field in the Majors.) That trade and the pair of promotions thinned out Pittsburgh’s depth in the upper minors, so it’s not all that surprising to see the Bucs scoop up an experienced catcher to provide some depth. Between Rodriguez, Davis and Jason Delay, the Pirates have three catching options on the current big league roster. That jams up Nunez’s path to the big leagues, but he should get playing time in Indianapolis alongside 2018 fifth-rounder Grant Koch — and he’ll be an option if the Bucs wind up needing to tap into their catching depth for any reason.

Pirates To Promote Colin Selby For MLB Debut

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3:55pm: The Pirates have now made these two moves official, with right-hands Osvaldo Bido and Yerry De Los Santos optioned in corresponding moves.

11:37am: The Pirates are set to recall right-hander Colin Selby from Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Jason Mackey of  the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. They’re also planning to recall Thomas Hatch, whom they just claimed off waivers a few days ago. Both players are on the 40-man roster already.

Selby, 25, was the Pirates’ 16th-round pick back in 2018 and put himself on the prospect map with a particularly strong showing in Double-A last year, wherein he tossed 32 2/3 innings of 2.20 ERA ball with a 29.7% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 53.1% ground-ball rate. Baseball America ranked him 26th among Pirates prospects on their latest update, crediting him with three plus pitches — fastball in the upper 90s, slider in the upper 80s, curveball in the low 80s — but below-average command.

The 2023 season has been a strong one for the hard-throwing Selby. After a quick three-inning stop in Double-A, he was bumped up for his Triple-A debut, which has resulted in 30 1/3 frames of 3.86 ERA ball. He’s sporting a gaudy 30.8% strikeout rate and massive 61.2% ground-ball rate in Indianapolis, but he’s also walked 16.5% of his opponents (and plunked three as well). In his 30 1/3 innings at Triple-A, Selby has put 25 runners aboard either by way of walk or hit-by-pitch. It’s a power arsenal, but there’s some clear refinement to be done.

As for Hatch, he’ll be making his team debut and logging his first action with a team other than the Blue Jays, who designated him for assignment earlier this month. Hatch, a 2016 third-round pick, has pitched to a 5.28 ERA in 44 1/3 big league innings, fanning 21.3% of his opponents against a 12.4% walk rate.

While he’s worked primarily as a starter in Triple-A, Hatch has moved to the bullpen for the majority of his work in the upper minors this season. He’s pitched to a 4.40 ERA in 30 games — 45 innings — and notched a 27.8% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate. Hatch has typically kept the ball on the ground at average or better rates in Double-A and Triple-A, and this year’s 4.40 ERA in Triple-A is right in line with the 4.45 mark he’s posted in 240 2/3 total innings at that level.

Pirates Claim Thomas Hatch Off Waivers

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The Pirates have claimed right-hander Thomas Hatch off outright waivers from the Blue Jays, as announced by both teams.  Toronto designated Hatch for assignment earlier this week.

The move officially ends Hatch’s tenure in the Jays organization after a little over four years, as Toronto initially acquired the righty in a deadline deal with the Cubs on July 30, 2019.  He made his MLB debut in 2020 without the benefit of any Triple-A experience (due to the canceled minor league season) and made a good first impression, as Hatch had a 2.73 ERA over 26 1/3 relief innings despite some shaky peripheral numbers.

Hatch ran into struggles after that debut season, posting a 4.45 ERA over 240 2/3 innings at Triple-A Buffalo from 2021-23.  This inconsistency as both a starter and a reliever translated into Hatch’s limited big league work, as the Blue Jays have given him a few looks in each of the last three seasons without much success.  Hatch has an 8.85 ERA over 20 1/3 Major League innings since the start of the 2021 season, with seven of his 10 appearances coming out of the bullpen.

Pirates GM Ben Cherington was working in Toronto’s front office when Hatch was first acquired in 2019, and that familiarity surely contributed to the Bucs’ claim.  Hatch gives Pittsburgh extra depth for the rotation or the pen, and he can still be optioned to the minors through the 2024 season, providing more flexibility.  It is possible Hatch (who turns 29 in September) might thrive with a change of scenery, but at the very least, he’ll give the Pirates another arm to perhaps eat some innings over the remaining two months.

NL Central Notes: Suzuki, Reds, Cruz

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The Cubs surprised much of the baseball world with their play in recent weeks, which pushed them to add third baseman Jeimer Candelario at the trade deadline rather than deal away rental players like Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman. With the focus now firmly on a push toward making the playoffs in 2023, the club appears to be shortening the leash of struggling players.

That includes outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who the Cubs spent nearly $100MM to add to the club’s roster prior to the 2022 campaign between Suzuki’s five-year, $85MM contract and the posting fee owed to the Hiroshima Carp as payment for Suzuki’s services. In 111 games with the Cubs last year, Suzuki played solidly in his rookie season, with a .262/.336/.433 slash line that was good for a wRC+ of 116. Suzuki began the 2023 campaign on the injured list due to an oblique issue, but got off to a fantastic start when he was back in action, slashing .293/.385/.487 with a 12.6% walk rate in 174 trips to the plate through the end of May.

Unfortunately, Suzuki’s offense has cratered since then, as he’s mustered just a .214/.281/.310 slash line in 210 plate appearances since the calendar flipped to June. That’s brought his overall campaign below league average by measure of wRC+ (96) in 2023, and while he’s played excellent defense in right field, Cubs manager David Ross indicated to reporters (including The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma) recently that Suzuki would not be an everyday player going forward until he gets things back on track. “He knows he needs to work on some things,” Ross said of Suzuki, “It’s hard to do that in-game. We’ll give him some time, and he’ll be back in there when we feel like he can help us win games.”

It seems that journeyman outfielder Mike Tauchman, who came to the Cubs on a minor league deal during the offseason but has impressed with a .277/.371/.431 slash line (121 wRC+) in 238 trips to the plate since joining the roster back in May, will receive the lion’s share of playing time in right field, with Suzuki making occasional starts when he or Ian Happ have a day off or when Cody Bellinger moves from center field to first base. The Cubs are 2.5 games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central and 1.0 game back of Cincinnati for the final NL Wild Card spot entering play today.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Reds right-handers Justin Dunn and Vladimir Gutierrez both have yet to throw a pitch in the majors this season, spending the entire campaign on the 60-day IL due to a shoulder strain and Tommy John surgery, respectively. Though both righties have been starting pitchers throughout their careers to this point, each figures to come out of the bullpen upon returning to the big leagues, manager David Bell told reporters (including Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Gutierrez had a solid rookie season with the Reds in 2021 during which he pitched to a roughly league average ERA of 4.74 (99 ERA+) but struggled badly in 36 2/3 innings of work last year prior to going under the knife in July of last year. Dunn, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick who has yet to find success a starter in the big leagues, with a 4.44 ERA and 6.23 FIP in 133 2/3 career innings of work in the majors.
  • Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz looks to be a rising star and one of the most exciting youngsters in the game today, with a 108 wRC+, 13 steals and 19 home runs in 410 trips to the plate so far in his career. The 6’7” shortstop was expected by many to challenge for the 30/30 club in his first full season as a big leaguer in 2023, but was unfortunately sidelined by an ankle injury just days into the 2023 campaign. While he won’t be able to play in his first full major league season until 2024, he could still finish the 2023 campaign in the majors nonetheless, as Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington told MLBNetwork Radio’s Jim Duquette that Cruz is expected to begin a rehab assignment later this month, with a goal of returning to the majors in September. The Pirates have started a youth movement while Cruz has been on the shelf, and he’ll be greeted by fellow youngsters Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, and Quinn Priester upon his return to the big league club.

Rich Hill Plans To Pitch In 2024

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Rich Hill, traded to his 13th team yesterday at 43 years young, has no intention of making the Padres the final stop in his baseball career. The left-hander tells MLB.com’s Justice de los Santos that he has “all intentions of playing” in what would be his 20th Major League season in 2024 (Twitter link).

Hill’s age-35 comeback season with the Red Sox was remarkable on its own — way back in 2015. At that point, the suggestion that Hill would still be pitching in 2023 with his sights set on continuing into 2024 would’ve sounded like utter lunacy. He’d pitched in just 153 innings in the seven seasons from 2008-14, compiling a 5.41 ERA and regularly being bounced off rosters and passed through waivers. His 1.55 ERA in four late-season starts with Boston in 2015 was a fun story, but the manner in which the next decade unfolded has been completely unforeseeable.

That 29-inning sample with the Red Sox prompted the A’s to sign Hill for a year and $6MM, and he went on to dominate with Oakland to the point that the Dodgers pounced to acquire him and Josh Reddick for a trio of then-prospects: Frankie Montas, Jharel Cotton and Grant Holmes. Hill re-signed in Los Angeles on three-year, $48MM deal that seemed surreal at the time, given where he’d been just a couple years prior.

He’s steadily slowed from an upper-tier starting pitcher to a cagey innings eater in the years since, pitching to a 3.00 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate from 2016-19 but a 4.15 ERA and 21% strikeout rate in 440 2/3 innings dating back to 2020. That includes a 4.76 ERA, 19.6% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate in 119 frames with the Pirates this year.

Hill will step into the back of the Padres’ rotation and help provide stable innings behind Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell. Righty Seth Lugo is quickly approaching his career-high innings count after moving from a relief role to a starting role this year, and while he’s pitched quite well to date, it’s unclear how he’ll fare as his workload moves into uncharted territory. Hill’s steady, if unspectacular innings, could prove important as the Padres hope for a second-half surge that’ll push them back into the playoff picture.

How Hill fares in the season’s final two months will impact his earning power in free agency. It’s hard to imagine anyone inking him to a multi-year deal regardless, given his age, but his performance in San Diego will play a large role in dictating the type of guarantee he can command on another one-year pact.

Yesterday’s trade to the Padres was notable in that they’ll be Hill’s 13th Major League team — tying him for the second-most franchises appeared for by any player. Edwin Jackson holds that oddball record at 14. Hill will have a chance to tie him this offseason and perhaps even surpass him next year, if he’s traded during the 2024 campaign.

Minor 40-Man Moves: Adams, Ortega, Capra

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With the trade deadline behind us, a few smaller 40-man transactions from throughout the day that weren’t previously covered:

  • The Angels selected outfielder Jordyn Adams onto the big league roster while transferring Jo Adell and Sam Bachman to the 60-day injured list. The 17th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Adams is set for his major league debut. The 23-year-old outfielder is hitting .264/.351/.466 through 389 plate appearances with Triple-A Salt Lake. Strikeout issues have knocked down his former top prospect stock, but he’s capable of playing center field and has stolen 37 bases in 42 attempts this year.
  • The Pirates selected infielder Vinny Capra. Pittsburgh acquired the 27-year-old for catcher Tyler Heineman in a minor swap with the Blue Jays at the end of April. His big league experience consists of eight games with Toronto last season. The right-handed hitter owns a massive .350/.457/.485 showing with more walks than strikeouts over 34 games at Triple-A Indianapolis for the Bucs.
  • The Mets selected Rafael Ortega. Signed to a minor league deal in mid-June, the lefty-hitting outfielder returns to the big leagues for a seventh season. Ortega hit .265/.344/.408 for the Cubs between 2021-22. He owns a .228/.352/.388 line between two Triple-A affiliates this season. The 32-year-old will be eligible for arbitration after the season if he finished the year on the MLB roster.

Injured List Transactions

Phillies, Pirates To Swap Bailey Falter For Rodolfo Castro

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The Phillies and Pirates are nearing a swap of left-hander Bailey Falter and infielder Rodolfo Castro, reports Jayson Stark of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal has been agreed upon, pending medical reviews, tweets Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Falter, who turned 26 earlier this season, will give the Pirates an immediate option in the rotation. He’s struggled in 2023, logging a 5.13 ERA in 40 1/3 frames, but is only a season removed from 84 innings of 3.86 ball over the life of 20 appearances (16 of them starts) with Philadelphia. Though Falter has struggled both in the Majors and in Triple-A this season, he’s generally pitched with excellent command (career 4.7% walk rate in MLB, 7.3% in Triple-A). He’s not a hard-thrower, but Falter has still missed bats in the upper minors and can be controlled for an additional five years via arbitration.

Falter is in the last of his three option years. He can be shuttled between Triple-A Indianapolis and Pittsburgh for the remainder of the current season, but the Bucs will need to keep him on the Opening Day roster in 2024 or else designate him for assignment and risk exposing him to waivers. Today’s trade of Rich Hill to the Padres and injuries to others (e.g. JT Brubaker, Vince Velasquez) have created enough uncertainty in the Pittsburgh rotation that there ought to be room for Falter to have a trial run in the season’s final two months. Pittsburgh’s starting staff currently includes Mitch Keller, Johan Oviedo and rookies Quinn Priester and Osvaldo Bido.

As for the Phillies, they’ll add a switch-hitter with experience at three infield spots. Much like Falter, Castro is in his final option season, potentially has five years of club control remaining, and is struggling in 2023 after a solid showing in 2022. Last year saw the 24-year-old turn in a .233/.299/.427 batting line (103 wRC+) with 11 home runs and seven doubles in 278 plate appearances. That’s not exactly standout production, but Castro drew solid defensive grades at the hot corner and looked like a potential utilityman moving forward, at the very least.

Castro got out to a huge start in 2023, batting .286/.378/.468 through the end of April, but his bat has cratered. Since May 1, he’s hitting just .192/.271/.283 with three homers, two doubles and a 30.1% strikeout rate in 133 plate appearances. He’s drawn nice grades for his defense a second base this season but lesser reviews for his work at third base and shortstop. On the whole, Castro is a switch-hitter with a bit of pop who can perhaps be relied upon at second or third base but is more of an in-a-pinch option at shortstop.

The Phillies were known to be looking for right-handed bats, and while Castro likely wasn’t on many (or any) radars in that regard, he does fill the need. The switch-hitter touts a career .277/.341/.559 line as a right-handed hitter (just .193/.272/.293 as a lefty) and is hitting .290/.368/.538 from the right side of the dish this season.

It’s an interesting swap of a pair of young change-of-scenery candidates. The Phillies, having acquired Michael Lorenzen to pair with Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker and Ranger Suarez, didn’t have any immediate need in the rotation for Falter, who’s also been passed on the depth chart by Cristopher Sanchez. The Pirates, meanwhile, now have Liover Peguero, Nick Gonzales and Alika Williams in the infield mix alongside injured hopeful cornerstones Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz. There wasn’t a clear long-term role for Castro. It’s something of a “challenge” trade for a back-end starter and potential role player, beefing up depth for each organization in potential areas of need.

Rangers To Acquire Austin Hedges

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The Rangers are acquiring catcher Austin Hedges from the Pirates, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). They’ll send international bonus space to the Pirates in return, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.

Texas has received excellent production from catcher Jonah Heim this year, but Heim was recently diagnosed with a wrist injury that’ll cost him at least a few weeks. Hedges can team with Mitch Garver to provide the Rangers with an elite defensive option behind the plate, though he’s also one of the lightest-hitting players in the game at present. Surgery hasn’t been ruled out for Heim, and if that ultimately ends up proving necessary, the addition of some depth behind the dish will prove all the more important.

Hedges, 31 next month, signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Pirates in the offseason. He’s turned in just a .180/.237/.230 slash line — disastrous even by his standards — but has continued to rate as the sport’s premier pitch framer and one of its top four pitch blockers, per Statcast. Defensive Runs Saved pegs him at a hefty +8 this season despite logging just 507 innings behind the plate so far. Hedges’ 14% caught-stealing rate is a career-worst mark for him, but he owns a career 28% mark in that regard. As far as defensive-minded backstops go, he’s arguably the best in the game.

Whether that offsets his utter lack of offense is up for debate, but the Rangers clearly felt him a worthwhile addition. Garver figures to see the bulk of the time behind the plate, but Hedges makes for a quality backup who has a reputation for working well with pitchers and prepping as a game-planner.

The Pirates, with top catching prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez both in the Major Leagues, simply didn’t have at-bats for Hedges anymore. Both young backstops have recently raved about the influence Hedges had on them in their short time together, and his departure will now create further opportunities for that pair to continue their development at the MLB level. There’s a chance Hedges might’ve been simply designated for assignment had the Pirates not found a taker for him, so getting even a nominal return in the form of some additional space in their international free agent pool isn’t too bad an outcome.

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