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Athletics Interested In Richard Rodriguez

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The A’s are among the teams to show interest in Pirates closer Richard Rodriguez, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB Network.  Rodriguez was previously linked to the Blue Jays.  Surely, other teams have checked in as well.  The bullpen is a deadline priority for Oakland, according to Morosi.

Since the beginning of June, five contenders sport bullpens with an ERA north of 4.50: the Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox, Phillies, and Mets.  The Phillies, Yankees, Brewers, A’s, and Mariners each have at least nine blown saves during that time.  There are 14 clubs with at least a 10% chance at the playoffs at present, and even those with good bullpens will likely look to supplement at the deadline.

Rodriguez stands a good chance of being traded, with the Pirates still in a prospect-accumulation phase – as evidenced by yesterday’s Adam Frazier trade.  The 31-year-old Rodriguez, who’s under team control through 2023, currently owns a 2.82 ERA, 22.8 K%, 3.4 BB%, and 29.2% groundball rate.   The average MLB reliever currently sits at 24.5%, 10.0%, and 43.5% in those areas.  So Rodriguez’s only standout ability this year has been avoiding walks, and with so few groundballs he may soon return to his homer-prone ways.  Nor does Rodriguez throw particularly hard for a reliever in 2021, averaging 93.2 miles per hour on his fastball.  The magic is already wearing off — Rodriguez’s ERA stood at 0.45 on May 25th, but since then in 18 games he’s managed a 5.40 ERA.

Still, not every team is willing to shop in the Craig Kimbrel aisle, and Rodriguez remains a useful reliever earning just $1.7MM on the season.  The A’s already tried going big on their bullpen, committing $11MM to Trevor Rosenthal in February only to see him miss the entire season with a torn labrum in his hip.

This month, the A’s have been relying on a quintet of relievers in important situations: Lou Trivino, Jake Diekman, J.B. Wendelken, Sergio Romo, and Yusmeiro Petit.  The leaders of the group have been particularly plagued by the free pass, with Trivino and Diekman each hovering in the 18% range for walk rate this month.  So Rodriguez could be an antidote of sorts, though the A’s could also turn to Raisel Iglesias, Taylor Rogers, Richard Bleier, Michael Fulmer, Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson for potentially available relievers with low walk rates.

Padres Acquire Adam Frazier

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The Padres have acquired one of the most sought-after players on the trade market, picking up second baseman Adam Frazier in a four-player swap with the Pirates.  Infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano, outfielder Jack Suwinski, and right-hander Michell Miliano are the prospects heading to Pittsburgh in the deal, and the Pirates are also sending $1.4MM along with Frazier to San Diego.  The deal became official Monday afternoon.

It’s the first big move of deadline season for Padres general manager A.J. Preller, who is no stranger to splashy moves and is pushing to get his team first to the NL West title and then deeper into October.  While a number of pitching injuries would very well result in some arms being added between now and July 30, Preller recently indicated that a bat was also on his shopping list.

Frazier is enjoying the best season of his seven-year MLB career, hitting .324/.388/.448 with four home runs over 428 plate appearances for the Bucs in 2021.  There is some possibility for regression, as Frazier’s .359 BABIP has helped make up for some very low hard-contact numbers, and his .337 xwOBA is well below his .368 wOBA.  However, even that xwOBA is still above average, and Frazier somewhat makes up for that lack of hard contact by making a lot of contact in general — fitting the Padres’ model as a player who rarely strikes out.

Frazier is a left-handed hitter, and while the Padres generally lean more to the right side of the plate, Frazier might supplant another left-handed hitting regular in Eric Hosmer.  The hot-hitting Jake Cronenworth could slide from second base to take over from Hosmer as the regular first baseman, opening the door for Frazier to become the new everyday second baseman.  Since Frazier also has experience as a corner outfielder, he could move into the grass to spell Tommy Pham or Wil Myers, giving San Diego even more positional flexibility.

Since Frazier also has one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining, he’ll be able to help the Padres for both this year’s playoff race and throughout the 2022 season.  Frazier was earning $4.3MM this season, so the $1.4MM sent from Pittsburgh will cover most of his remaining salary for 2021, which helps the Padres stay under the $210MM luxury tax threshold.

There was little doubt that the rebuilding Pirates were going to move Frazier by the deadline, given that his strong season only enhanced his trade value.  Pittsburgh fans expecting multiple top-100 type prospects may be disappointed by the return, though it’s worth noting that Frazier has been more solid than outstanding during his career, with an even 100 OPS+ and wRC+ over his first six big league seasons.  Nevertheless, the Bucs did add three notable prospects to add to GM Ben Cherington’s overhaul of the farm system.

Marcano is the only member of the prospect trio with any MLB experience, appearing in 25 games for San Diego this season and posting a .485 OPS over 50 plate appearances.  An international signing from Venezuela in 2016, the 21-year-old Marcano is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the fifth-best prospect in the Padres’ deep farm system, while Baseball America has him in the eighth spot.

The Pirates valued Marcano highly enough that they were willing to include the $1.4MM to the Padres, Rosenthal reports, while other Frazier bidders like the Mariners weren’t asking for any money back in a proposed trade.  Heyman adds that the Padres weren’t willing to discuss Marcano back when San Diego and Pittsburgh worked out the Joe Musgrove trade last winter.

There’s plenty to like about the versatile Marcano, who has played mostly second base during his pro career but has also seen a lot of time at third base, shortstop, and both corner outfield slots.  At worst, Marcano seems like he’ll have a future as a utilityman, and he could well become a regular due to his excellent contact skills at the plate.  Marcano does lack some power, and while he possesses plus speed, BA’s scouting report notes that he will need to improve his baserunning instincts.  Marcano skipped Double-A entirely and made his Triple-A debut this year, hitting .272/.367/.444 with six home runs in 199 PA.

Neither Suwinski or Miliano appeared in the top-30 Padres prospect rankings for either Pipeline or Baseball America, but both youngsters have put themselves on the map in 2021.  Suwinski was a 15th-round pick for the Pirates in 2016, and hadn’t hit much in his first pro seasons before exploring for a .269/.398/.551 slash line and 15 home runs over 267 PA at Double-A San Antonio.  As noted by BA’s Matt Eddy, Suwinski has been doing this despite hitting in a pitcher-friendly home ballpark, though he’ll be moving to another pitcher-friendly location in the Pirates’ Double-A affiliate in Altoona.  Suwinski has experience at all three outfield positions, and is just a few days away from his 23rd birthday.

The 21-year-old Miliano has a 6.11 ERA over 94 1/3 innings in San Diego’s farm system, getting to high-A ball this season.  Miliano has given up a lot of hits (84) and, troublingly, almost as many walks (78) over his four seasons, but the Pirates were surely intrigued by his ability to miss bats.  The right-hander has a 31.74% strikeout rate in the minors, and that number includes an absurd 44.44% rate over 25 2/3 innings at A-level Lake Elsinore this year.

ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link) was the first to report that the Padres had acquired Frazier.  FanSided’s Robert Murray reported that the Pirates were getting three prospects, with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin identifying Marcano and Suwinski and ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel identifying Miliano.  Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweeted that the Padres were getting cash back in the trade, with MLB Network’s Jon Heyman specifying the $1.4MM figure.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pirates Release Kyle Crick

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The Pirates have placed right-hander Kyle Crick on release waivers, according to Alex Stumpf of DK Pittsburgh Sports (via Twitter).  Crick was designated for assignment earlier this week and cleared DFA waivers, and the Bucs elected to part ways with Crick rather than outright him to Triple-A.

The move ends Crick’s three-plus seasons in Pittsburgh after 139 1/3 innings and several ups and downs within the righty’s overall solid 3.62 ERA.  Crick had a very strong 2018 season but struggled in 2019, missed most of 2020 due to injury, and again couldn’t find any consistency this year.  Control has been Crick’s biggest problem, as he has an ungainly 16% walk rate since the start of the 2019 season.

Crick is still only 28 years old and he has two seasons of arbitration control remaining.  Between these points and the “change of scenery” factor, it seems likely that another team will look to pick him up on a minor league deal and see if they can solve Crick’s lack of command.

Mariners Interested In Adam Frazier

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The Mariners are known to be on the lookout for infield upgrades, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Seattle is currently in active pursuit of infielders who are controlled beyond the 2021 season — including Pittsburgh’s Adam Frazier. The Pirates are obvious sellers, and the widespread expectation is that Frazier will likely be traded between now and next Friday’s 4pm ET deadline.

Frazier, 29, is in the midst of the finest season of his solid career. His 413 plate appearances are the fourth-most in Major League Baseball, and he’s turned in a robust .327/.390/.453 batting line with four home runs, 27 doubles, four triples and five stolen bases. Frazier’s 10.9 percent strikeout rate is the fifth-lowest among 137 qualified big league hitters. He’s also tied for the game’s fifth-best contact rate (88.4 percent) and has the game’s seventh-lowest swinging-strike rate (5.4 percent).

It’s true that Frazier has benefited to an extent from some good fortune on balls in play; this year’s .363 BABIP is a career-high. However, even with some regression in that department, Frazier would likely still be enjoying a career year by virtue of that career-low strikeout rate. Statcast pegs his “expected” batting average at .297, after all, and he’s still walking at a respectable eight percent clip while swinging and missing less than ever before. He may not sustain this level of output, but he’s made his rough 2020 season look particularly fluky.

Frazier’s value goes beyond his contributions at the plate, too. His defense at second base has drawn plus ratings in Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average for his career, and he’s also an above-average left fielder by virtually any measure.

The Mariners surely see Frazier as a potential upgrade at second base, where they’ve received a collective .198/.267/.345 output so far in 2021. That’s a disastrous output no matter how you frame it, but it’s actually been far worse as of late; that combined effort includes 69 very strong plate appearances from Ty France, who’s slashed .293/.391/.483 while playing second base. France, however, has been playing more first base lately. Non-France Mariners second basemen in 2021 are hitting just .178/.239/.317 on the season.

As such, it’s no surprise to see Frazier among the Mariners’ targets. He’s playing the year on a $4.3MM salary and is controlled through 2022 via arbitration. That’s a key distinction for the Mariners, who are seven games back in the AL West and four and a half games back of a Wild Card spot. They’re aiming to stock up for a bit of a long-shot postseason run in 2021, but adding players who can help next year when their young core is more established (and likely after some offseason spending) is sensible.

It stands to reason that if Seattle is looking into Frazier, then general manager Jerry Dipoto has also gauged the asking price on Royals All-Star Whit Merrifield, who has again seen his name surface on the summer rumor mill. Dipoto is never afraid to make deals and will likely be checking in on a number of controllable, longer-shot trade candidates as the deadline approaches.

Astros Exploring Center Field, Bullpen Markets

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The Astros are exploring the market for center field and bullpen help, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported over the weekend that Houston was among the teams with interest in Marlins star Starling Marte.

In addition to Marte, Houston “checked in” on the availability of Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds, according to Rosenthal, but it doesn’t seem he’s a particularly attainable target. As Rosenthal wrote in a separate piece earlier this week, Pittsburgh prefers to build around Reynolds rather than trade him this summer. That’s hardly surprising, since the All-Star outfielder is controllable through the end of the 2025 season.

There’s an argument to be made the Astros needn’t explore the center field market at all. While the position looked like a question mark entering the season, Houston center fielders (Myles Straw and Chas McCormick) have played well. The Astros have a cumulative .269/.344/.361 slash line at the position, resulting in a 103 wRC+ that ranks tenth leaguewide. They’ve also both rated highly defensively.

Indeed, it’s possible the Astros would only look to the top of the center field market if they were to make an acquisition. Marte and Reynolds have been among the best performers at the position this year, and Houston could explore the possibility of making an impactful add while being content leaning on Straw/McCormick if no top players come available.

That’d generally align with comments made by general manager James Click earlier this month regarding the club’s payroll outlook. The Astros narrowly stayed below the $210MM luxury tax threshold over the offseason. Click suggested the organization was free to go above the threshold this summer but didn’t seem inclined to inch above the line to accommodate marginal upgrades.

There’s a case to be made no center fielder who might be made available in the next week and a half has the potential to move the needle for a team more so than Byron Buxton. Rosenthal wonders whether the Astros might look into acquiring the Twins’ star center fielder, although there’s no indication they’ve done so to this point.

Of course, it’s not even clear Buxton will become available. Rosenthal reported last week the Twins were making a renewed effort to broker a long-term extension with Buxton but might consider a midseason trade if the parties can’t get a deal done. However, LaVelle Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that the chances of Buxton being dealt before July 30 are “remote.” Neal hears from Twins personnel who believed the sides were making progress on an extension during Spring Training before those talks broke down. (Jeff Passan of ESPN hears differently, writing that the gap in extension talks this spring “was far too big to bridge“).

Even if the Twins and Buxton don’t work out an extension in the next week, there’s no guarantee Minnesota would make him available in a trade. The Twins can keep him in Minneapolis through 2022 via arbitration, and the club has their sights set on contention next year. Buster Olney of ESPN reported over the weekend the Twins were generally disinclined to part with players under team control beyond this season.

Obviously, the center field situation remains in a state of flux, but the relief market should be more straightforward. There are a handful of productive relievers on non-contending teams, many of whom are affordable enough for Houston to stay below the luxury line if they’re so inclined. Cot’s Baseball Contracts estimates the Astros have a little more than $3MM in breathing room before hitting the threshold. Paul Fry and Cole Sulser (Orioles), Scott Barlow (Royals), José Cisnero and Gregory Soto (Tigers), Ian Kennedy (Rangers), Dylan Floro and Richard Bleier (Marlins), Ryan Tepera (Cubs), Richard Rodríguez and Chris Stratton (Pirates) and Daniel Bard (Rockies) are among the many quality relievers due less than that amount for the remainder of the season.

Pirates Agree To Overslot Deal With Third Round Pick Bubba Chandler

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The Pirates have agreed to sign third round draft choice Bubba Chandler to a $3MM contract, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). The deal is pending a physical. That shatters the $870.7K slot value associated with the #72 selection.

Of course, the main reason Chandler fell to 72nd overall was the high bonus required to dissuade him from a two-sport commitment (baseball and football) to Clemson University. Each of Baseball America, Keith Law of the Athletic, and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN slotted Chandler among the top 25 prospects in their pre-draft rankings. That suggests he was generally seen as a mid-late first round talent, and his bonus is commensurate with that status.

A two-way player during his Georgia high school career, Chandler is expected to focus on pitching full-time in pro ball. The righty draws praise for his athleticism, mid-90’s fastball and promising curveball, with McDaniel suggesting he has mid-rotation upside.

The Pirates’ ability to get overslot deals done with Chandler and Anthony Solometo (along with potential significant agreements for still-unsigned Lonnie White Jr. and Owen Kellington) reflects Pittsburgh’s overarching draft strategy. The Pirates cut an underslot agreement with first overall pick Henry Davis, allowing them to leverage their league-high bonus pool into likely agreements with a handful of well-regarded prep prospects on the draft’s second day.

Pirates Sign Anthony Solometo

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9:51am: MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets that Solometo’s bonus is $2.8MM, so he took home a bit more than $800K over slot.

9:44am: The Pirates announced this morning that they’ve signed left-hander Anthony Solometo, who was their second-round pick in the 2021 amateur draft. The team unsurprisingly didn’t include bonus details, but Solometo’s No. 37 slot comes with a $1.999MM value.

Solometo, 18, was ranked as one of the top high school arms in this year’s draft but slipped to the second round. As such, signing Solometo away from his commitment to North Carolina may require the Bucs to go over that $2MM slot value. They’ll have the resources to do just that after top pick Henry Davis’ signing bonus checked in roughly $1.9MM under slot, however.

Heading into the draft Solometo was ranked 17th on MLB.com’s list of draft prospects, 20th at The Athletic, 28th at Baseball America, 34th at FanGraphs and 35th at ESPN. He earns praise for a fastball that’s reached 94-95 mph — though it currently sits lower than that — and a slider that grades out as a potential plus offering as well. MLB.com and FanGraphs note that Solometo’s delivery draws comparisons to that of Madison Bumgarner.

Solometo was the second of four highly touted players the Pirates secured at the top of their draft class. While Davis was at least a moderate surprise with the top overall pick — he was expected to go somewhere in the top five or so picks regardless — that selection might’ve helped the Bucs save enough to go over slot on their next three picks. Each of Solometo, Lonnie White Jr. and Bubba Chandler were high school players with first- or second-round potential, and Pittsburgh has drawn a good bit of praise for maneuvering to land that trio and Davis with the team’s top four selections.

Pirates Acquire Dillon Peters, Designate Kyle Crick

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The Pirates have acquired left-hander Dillon Peters from the Angels in exchange for cash considerations, both clubs announced. The Angels designated Peters for assignment last week after signing outfielder Adam Eaton to a major league contract. To open roster space for Peters, Pittsburgh has designated reliever Kyle Crick for assignment.

Peters appeared in the majors each season from 2017-20, with the bulk of his experience coming in 2019. Altogether, he’s tossed 132 2/3 innings of 5.83 ERA/5.22 SIERA ball across 31 MLB appearances (including 24 starts). To date, Peters has struggled to miss bats at the big league level, striking out a below-average 16.7% of batters faced and generating swinging strikes on only 8.7% of his offerings (11.4% league average).

However, Peters has shown much better strikeout and walk numbers this season at Triple-A. Through 41 1/3 frames with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, the 28-year-old has punched out a strong 26.8% of hitters while walking just 7.3% of opponents. Peters has been plagued by the home run ball this year (2.61 HR/9), but that’s also likely influenced by the extreme hitter-friendly environment of Triple-A West. Clearly, the Pirates’ front office was sufficiently intrigued by Peters’ improved minor league peripherals to take a low-cost flyer on him. He’s in his final option year, meaning he can move freely between Pittsburgh and Triple-A Indianapolis for the rest of the season if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

It has been a difficult 2021 season for Crick, who has intermittently flashed high-leverage potential. A one-time top pitching prospect coming up through the Giants’ system, the righty moved to the bullpen in 2017. He made his big league debut with San Francisco that year, tossing 32 1/3 innings of 3.06 ERA ball. That offseason, the Giants shipped him to Pittsburgh alongside Bryan Reynolds in a now-regrettable deal to acquire Andrew McCutchen.

Crick pitched well in his debut campaign with Pittsburgh, working 60 1/3 relief innings with a 2.39 ERA and a 3.57 SIERA. He’s not consistently managed to follow up on that success, though, as his control has gone backwards in recent years. Crick struggled in 2019, then missed much of the abbreviated 2020 season dealing with shoulder and lat injuries.

This year, Crick has made 27 appearances totaling 24 1/3 innings. He’s tallied a 4.44 ERA with worse than average strikeout (19.6%), walk (17.8%) and groundball (36.7%) rates. Crick’s velocity on both his fastball and slider is down 2-3 miles per hour relative to his heyday, and he’s seen an accompanying dip in swinging strike rate.

The Pirates will have a week to trade Crick or expose him to waivers. As a player with between three and five years of major league service, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment if he passes through waivers unclaimed. Doing so, however, would mean forfeiting what remains of his $800K salary. If another club acquires Crick via small trade or waivers (or if he remains in the Pittsburgh organization but pitches his way back onto the 40-man roster before the end of the year), he’d be controllable via arbitration through 2023.

Pirates Sign First Overall Pick Henry Davis

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The Pirates announced this morning they’ve come to an agreement with first overall draft pick  Henry Davis. Davis will receive a $6.5MM signing bonus, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).

The #1 overall pick came with an accompanying slot value of $8.4153MM, so Davis’ bonus lands a little less than $2MM under slot. Pittsburgh was surely aware of his willingness to sign for less than slot value before selecting him, with his bonus demands playing a role in their eventual choice.

The Pirates’ collection of picks came with a cumulative bonus pool of $14.394MM, the largest amount in this year’s class. Teams are permitted to exceed their bonus pool by up to five percent without forfeiting future draft choices, giving Pittsburgh around $15.11MM to allot to their draftees among the top ten rounds. With Davis signed, the Pirates still have around $8.61MM to spend on their crop of Day Two selections.

Davis, a 21-year-old catcher out of Louisville, catapulted himself into the mix for the No. 1 overall selection with a massive junior season. The Bedford, N.Y. native raked at a .370/.482/.663 clip and clubbed 15 home runs to go along with nine doubles — all while walking (31 times) more than he struck out (24).

Davis wasn’t the consensus or even the expected top pick in the draft, although the majority of pre-draft rankings listed him as a Top 5 overall talent. He ranked No. 2 at FanGraphs and at The Athletic; No. 4 at Baseball America and ESPN; and No. 5 at MLB.com, for instance. The Pirates’ decision to opt for Davis saved them a little bit of money with respect to the top overall draft slot, but any savings figure to be reallocated to an impressive crop of top-ranked talent they managed to secure at draft slots further down the board.

As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper highlights, the Pirates’ first four selections — the fourth of which came at No. 72 overall — were all regarded as first-round talents in BA’s rankings. Left-hander Anthony Solometo, outfielder Lonnie White Jr. and right-hander/shortstop Bubba Chandler all ranked within BA’s top 32 players. Not every outlet was quite as bullish on that trio, but all were considered Top 75 talents; Chandler, in particular, was highly regarded. Specific rankings aside, it’s an impressive crop of talent to carry away from a single draft.

The Bucs will need to sign all four, of course, in order for that impressive group to pay dividends, but it appears they have a decent chance at doing so. Chandler, who was Clemson recruit as a quarterback, already told ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren this week that he intends to sign with the Pirates (Twitter link). Pittsburgh likely also saved some money with their picks in the fifth, sixth and ninth rounds by drafting college seniors, who frequently sign well below slot.

The selection of Davis immediately adds one of the game’s most highly regarded catching prospects to a Pirates system that second-year GM Ben Cherington and his front office are rapidly working to rebuild. Davis is lauded for his blend of hit tool, excellent power and plus or plus-plus arm strength. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen calls him a “rare offensive talent for a backstop.” Both Longenhagen and The Athletic’s Keith Law acknowledge some elements of his defensive game that need polish, but Law opines Davis will “outwork everyone to become an above-average defender.” ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel calls him the draft’s “best college hitter by a good margin,” and virtually every report on Davis notes that he has more than enough bat to make it work at another position even if he doesn’t stick behind the dish.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was first to report the sides had reached an agreement.

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Acquire Will Craig

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The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization have acquired first baseman Will Craig (hat tip to reporters Sung Min Kim and The Yonhap News’ Jeeho Yoo).  Craig will earn $371K for the remainder of the KBO season according to Yoo, while MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports a $425K salary.

Craig was most recently a member of the Pirates, and GM Ben Cherington said over the weekend that Craig had been given permission to look into opportunities with Asian teams.  Pittsburgh has designated Craig for assignment and outrighted him off its 40-man roster twice, with the most recent outright assignment coming last month.

Craig has spent his entire professional career with the Pirates, beginning after the Bucs selected him with the 22nd overall pick of the 2016 draft.  He has a .261/.351/.421 slash line over 2060 career plate appearances in the minor leagues, mostly playing first baseman but also getting some as a third baseman and right fielder.  After being selected for Pittsburgh’s alternate training site in 2020, Craig made his MLB debut with two games last season, and then appeared in 18 games for the Pirates this year.

In 69 PA in the majors, Craig has hit .203/.261/.281 with one home run (in his first game of the 2021 season).  Unfortunately for Craig, his most famous moment as a big leaguer was a uniquely memorable fielding error against the Cubs this season, when he engaged in a rundown with batter Javier Baez between first base and home plate rather than just step on first base to retire Baez on a routine grounder.

As noted by Kim, Craig will replace David Freitas as the foreign-born position player on the Heroes roster.  Freitas was placed on waivers by the Seoul-based team last month.

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