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Previewing Upcoming Club Option Decisions: National League

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In the past two days, MLBTR has taken a look at how players with contractual options could impact the upcoming free agent class. We looked at players with vesting provisions on Tuesday before turning our attention to American League players under control via team options yesterday. Today, we’ll check in on their National League counterparts.

Braves

It has been strange year for Morton, who starred on last year’s World Series winner. He re-signed on a $20MM deal with a matching option for next season. Through 22 starts and 122 2/3 innings, the two-time All-Star has a slightly underwhelming 4.26 ERA. That’s largely attributable to a dreadful first couple months, however. He has an ERA of 3.55 or below in each of the past three months, carrying a cumulative 3.44 mark while holding opponents to a .198/.276/.369 line since June 1. Morton is still sitting in the mid-90’s with his fastball, striking batters out at a quality 27.3% clip and has ironed out his control after some uncharacteristic wildness through his first few starts. At first glance, a $20MM salary seems pricey for a pitcher entering his age-39 season with Morton’s overall numbers, but he’s not shown any signs of physical decline and has looked great lately. If he keeps at this pace for another two months, the Braves will probably welcome him back. That, of course, assumes Morton wants to continue playing. He’s hinted at retirement in years past and set fairly strict geographic limitations on his market during his latest trips to free agency.

Mets

The Mets acquired Vogelbach from the Pirates to add a left-handed platoon bat to what had been an underwhelming designated hitter mix. He’d hit .228/.338/.430 through 75 games in Pittsburgh and has raked at a .341/.473/.568 clip over his first couple weeks in Queens. For a negligible $1.5MM salary, keeping Vogelbach around feels like an easy call. He’s technically arbitration-eligible through 2024 regardless of whether the Mets exercise his option. The option price should be more affordable than whatever he’d receive through arbitration next offseason, so if the Mets surprisingly declined the option, they’d likely non-tender him entirely.

  • John Curtiss, RP ($775K option, arbitration-eligible through 2025)

There’s nothing new to report on Curtiss. He signed a big league deal just before Opening Day with the knowledge that he’d likely miss all of this season recovering from last August’s Tommy John surgery. He was immediately placed on the injured list. Next year’s option is valued at barely above the league minimum salary, so it’s just a matter of whether the Mets plan to devote him a roster spot all offseason. Curtiss is controllable through 2025 if the Mets keep him around.

Phillies

Segura has been the Phils’ primary second baseman for the past four seasons. He’s generally hit at a slightly above-average level, relying on excellent bat-to-ball skills to prop up an aggressive offensive approach. He’s paired that with above-average defensive ratings at the keystone. He’s lost most of this season after fracturing his finger on a bunt attempt, but he’s healthy now and performing at his typical level. Across 195 plate appearances, he owns a .284/.324/.421 line with seven home runs. Segura is a good player, but a $16MM call will probably be too much for a Philadelphia club that already has five players on the books for more than $20MM next season (and will add a sixth notable salary — more on that shortly). The market also hasn’t been particularly robust for second base-only players in recent years. Segura will be headed into his age-33 season.

This one’s a no-brainer for the Phillies to exercise. Nola is one of the sport’s top pitchers, a picture of durability and consistently above-average numbers (aside from a blip in his 2021 ERA that didn’t align with still excellent peripherals). One can argue whether Nola’s a true ace, but he’s at least a high-end #2 caliber arm. He’s given the Phils 144 2/3 innings of 3.17 ERA ball this season, striking out 27.9% of batters faced against a minuscule 3.6% walk rate. Even on a $16MM salary, he’s a bargain.

Reds

Wilson signed a complex free agent deal with the Yankees during the 2020-21 offseason. A one-year guarantee, the deal contained player and team options for 2022. Wilson and the Yankees agreed that if he triggered his $2.3MM player option for 2022, the team would get a 2023 option valued at $500K above that year’s league minimum salary. That provision carried over to the Reds when Wilson was dealt to Cincinnati at the 2021 trade deadline, and he indeed exercised the player option last winter. Next year’s league minimum is set at $720K, so Wilson’s option price will come in at $1.22MM.

It’s certainly affordable, but it still seems likely the Reds will let him go. The 34-year-old (35 next week) southpaw underwent Tommy John surgery in June, meaning he won’t return until late in the ’23 season at the earliest. He made just five appearances this season and posted a 5.29 ERA over 34 innings last year.

Brewers

Wong presents a tricky case for a Milwaukee club that typically runs slightly below-average player payrolls. He’s hitting .255/.336/.425, offense that checks in around 11 percentage points above league average according to wRC+. It’s among the better showings of his career. He doesn’t have huge power, but Wong’s an effective baserunner with plus bat-to-ball skills and good strike zone awareness. He’s a good but certainly not elite offensive player, one who’s performed about as well as Milwaukee could’ve reasonably hoped when signing him over the 2020-21 offseason.

What seems likely to determine whether the Brewers bring him back is how they evaluate his defense. A two-time Gold Glove award winner, Wong has rated as one of the sport’s best defensive second basemen for the majority of his career. Public metrics have unanimously panned his work this year, though, with Statcast’s Outs Above Average pegging him as the worst defensive second baseman in 2022. Wong’s speed has also taken a step back, and perhaps the Brewers think he’s just past his physical prime as he nears his 32nd birthday. If that’s the case, they probably buy him out, since Wong’s value has been so heavily concentrated in his glove. If they feel this year’s downturn is just a blip and expect he’ll return to his old ways on defense, then keeping him around makes sense. Like Segura, Wong could be affected by the market’s recent devaluation of second basemen. It’s also worth noting that Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that Milwaukee was open to trade offers on Wong before this summer’s deadline. They didn’t move him, but it’s perhaps an indication the front office is leaning towards a buyout.

Boxberger has spent the past couple seasons on low-cost contracts in Milwaukee and generally performed well. He carries a 2.51 ERA through 43 innings this season, albeit with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk rates. Boxberger has a career-worst 8.4% swinging strike rate, and the front office could view his strong run prevention mark as little more than a mirage. The financial cost is modest enough they could nevertheless keep him around, particularly since manager Craig Counsell has trusted Boxberger enough to give him plenty of high-leverage opportunities (largely with good results).

Rockies

Oberg is technically controllable for another season via club option, but the Rockies will obviously decline it. He earned a three-year extension after the 2019 season on the heels of two consecutive sub-3.00 ERA campaigns, no small feat for a reliever calling Coors Field home. Unfortunately, Oberg has dealt with persistent blood clotting issues that prevented him throwing from a single major league pitch throughout the course of the contract. The 32-year-old hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but he admitted in May he’s no longer actively pursuing a return to the field. He’s taken on a role in the Colorado scouting department to stay involved with the organization.

Dodgers

  • Max Muncy, INF ($13MM option, $1.5MM buyout)

One of the game’s best hitters from 2018-21, Muncy has had a disappointing season thus far. Seemingly nagged by health issues tied to a ligament tear he suffered in his elbow late last season, he’s had a huge downturn in his offensive production. Muncy still boasts elite strike zone awareness, but his results on contact are way down. Overall, he carries a meager .180/.317/.360 line across 366 trips to the plate.

Still, given what Muncy’s shown himself capable of in the past, it seems unlikely the Dodgers let him go to save $11.5MM. This is an organization that annually runs one of the league’s highest payrolls, and they’ve shown a willingness to place one-year bets on players with upside but risk (e.g. tendering a $17MM arbitration contract to Cody Bellinger on the heels of a .165/.240/.302 season disrupted by injuries). They’ll probably do the same with Muncy and hoping he rediscovers his prior form with another offseason to rehab his elbow.

The Dodgers signed Duffy to a one-year guarantee this spring knowing he wasn’t likely to factor into the plans until midseason. He’d been shooting for a June return but has still yet to make his Dodgers debut, although he’s reportedly throwing at the team’s Arizona complex. It’s unlikely the Dodgers bring him back for $7MM given his recent health woes, but he could change those plans if he makes it back to the mound late in the season and looks like a potential impact arm, as he did at times with the Royals.

Hudson signed a one-year guarantee over the offseason and quickly emerged as a key high-leverage option for manager Dave Roberts. He dominated over 24 1/3 innings, pitching to a 2.22 ERA with an excellent 30.9% strikeout rate while averaging north of 97 MPH on his fastball. The veteran righty looked like one of the sport’s best relievers for two months, but he unfortunately blew out his knee trying to field a ground-ball. He tore his left ACL and is done for the year. The Dodgers could still roll the dice given how well he’d pitched before the injury, but that’s no longer a foregone conclusion. A $5.5MM decision isn’t onerous — particularly for L.A. — but there’s plenty of risk in Hudson’s profile given the injury and the fact that he’ll be headed into his age-36 season.

The Dodgers added the veteran Alberto on a fairly surprising big league deal. He’s been a below-average offensive player for three years running, with his solid contact skills not quite compensating for a lack of power and one of the game’s most aggressive approaches. He’s played a limited utility role, serving as a right-handed bench bat capable of splitting his time between second and third base. Next year’s option price is very affordable, but the Dodgers can probably find a hitter with a bit more punch to play the role Alberto has assumed.

Nelson underwent Tommy John surgery last August, but the Dodgers brought him back for the league minimum salary to get a cheap option on his services for next year. He’s been on the injured list for all of 2022, as expected. Whether the Dodgers keep him will depend on how he looks at the start of the offseason, but $1.1MM for a 33-year-old who posted a 1.86 ERA and punched out 37.9% of his opponents in 29 innings when last healthy is beyond reasonable.

Padres

The Padres have spent the past few years trying to get out from under the money they owe Myers. The extension to which they signed him in January 2017 never worked out, as he’d been a roughly average hitter aside from a monster showing in the shortened 2020 campaign up until this season. The 2022 season has been a disaster, as Myers owns a .233/.277/.295 showing through 159 plate appearances and has lost two months to a right knee injury. He’s healthy now but relegated to fourth outfield duty. Myers will probably find a big league opportunity somewhere this offseason, but it’ll come with a new team and with a substantial pay cut.

Giants

Longoria is nearing the end of an extension he first signed with the Rays a decade ago. His production dipped late in his stint with Tampa Bay, and Longoria slogged through a trio of mediocre seasons through his first four years in San Francisco. He’s had an offensive resurgence over the past two years, carrying a .254/.340/.468 line in 470 plate appearances going back to the start of 2021. Longoria’s still a good hitter and capable defender at the hot corner, but he’s dealt with plenty of injury concerns as he’s gotten into his late 30s. He’s gone on the injured list five times in the last two seasons, including long-term absences for a shoulder sprain and hand surgery. The hefty buyout means it’d only be an extra $8MM for San Francisco to keep him around, but it seems likely they’ll look to get younger at the hot corner. It’s possible the three-time All-Star takes the decision out of their hands entirely, as he told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle in June that he’s not ruling out retiring after this season.

Nationals Claim Jake McGee, Designate Donovan Casey

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The Nationals announced that they have claimed left-hander Jake McGee off waivers from the Brewers. Outfielder Donovan Casey was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

McGee, 36, is a veteran in his 13th MLB season, having previously suited up for the Rays, Rockies, Dodgers, Giants and Brewers. He signed a two-year deal with the Giants prior to the 2021 season, which went great for a while. He threw 59 2/3 innings for San Fran last year with a 2.72 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate.

Unfortunately, the wheel of fortune has swung him around in the complete opposite direction this year, as he struggled badly with the Giants before being released, signing with the Brewers, struggling some more and then getting designated for assignment. Between the two clubs, he has an ERA of 7.00 on the year, with a 12.4% strikeout rate that’s barely half of what he registered last year.

In the short term, the move is sensible enough for the Nats, as they didn’t have a lefty in their bullpen prior to this move. Picking up McGee won’t cost really them anything financially, as the Giants are on the hook for the remainder of his salary with the Nats just paying the prorated league minimum.

From the big picture, however, the move is a little curious. The Nats have made a series of high profile trades in the past year-plus, shipping out Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Josh Bell and Juan Soto, clearly signaling that they have no faith in their team’s ability to compete in the near future.

In order to grab the 36-year-old McGee, the Nats won’t break the bank, but they are risking losing Donovan Casey, a 26-year-old outfielder they just acquired last year in the Scherzer/Turner deal. Casey hit .269/.329/.430 between Double-A and Triple-A last year, with 16 home runs, 26 doubles, two triples and 22 stolen bases. He got added to the club’s 40-man roster in the offseason based on that showing and was considered the #16 prospect in the system by Baseball America coming into the year.

Casey has definitely had a down season here in 2022, hitting .219/.283/.364 for a wRC+ of just 71. He’s struck out in 32.5% of his plate appearances while walking just 6.7% of the time. Still, despite that tepid showing, it’s a bit surprising to see the Nats send him out onto the waiver wire in order to grab a couple months of a veteran reliever in a season when they’re 36-75, the worst record in all of baseball. With the trade deadline now passed, the Nats will only have the option of placing Casey on outright waivers or release waivers. He has never been outrighted before in his career, nor does he have three years of MLB service time, meaning he would be ineligible to reject an outright assignment if he clears waivers.

Rockies Claim Dinelson Lamet, Designate Ashton Goudeau

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Aug. 7: The Rockies announced that Goudeau has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque. He will remain in the organization as depth but without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

Aug. 5, 1:00pm: The Rockies announced the claim of Lamet, adding that right-hander Ashton Goudeau has been designated for assignment in order to create roster space.

12:46pm: The Rockies have claimed right-hander Dinelson Lamet off waivers from the Brewers, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports (Twitter link). Lamet, whom the Brewers acquired alongside Taylor Rogers and prospects Esteury Ruiz and Robert Gasser in Monday’s surprising Josh Hader trade, was designated for assignment just 48 hours after being acquired.

At the time of Lamet’s DFA, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters that Lamet “has a good arm and was included in the trade to help balance out the deal” but that “subsequent transactions” made him a tougher fit on the roster. The Brewers added right-handers Matt Bush and Trevor Rosenthal in separate trades one day after acquiring Lamet.

Still, the quick DFA makes it fair to wonder how prominently Lamet ever truly factored into the plans. The 2020 Cy Young candidate has been beset by injuries since late in that truncated season and has yielded 14 runs in just 12 2/3 innings this season. His fastball, which averaged 97 mph in 2020, has averaged 95.3 mph this season. Of particular note for the Padres, who are barreling toward a second straight season paying the luxury tax, Lamet is earning $4.775MM in 2022. Including him in that trade meant not only jettisoning a player who had ostensibly been squeezed out of a roster spot but also who’d have a non-zero impact on the team’s luxury ledger. Stearns’ usage of the phrase “balance out the deal,” then, could be interpreted as referencing talent or in more fiscal terms.

Regardless, the Rockies now stand to potentially benefit from both their division-rival and the NL Central leaders feeling their rosters lacked space for Lamet. As recently as 2020, the 6’3″, 228-pound Lamet looked like a foundational piece in San Diego. He made a full slate of 12 starts during that pandemic-truncated campaign, pitching to a brilliant 2.09 ERA with a 34.8% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 36.9% ground-ball rate. That showing was good enough to land Lamet, then having just turned 28 years old, a fourth-place finish in National League Cy Young voting.

However, Lamet’s 2020 season also ended with him heading to the injured list with a biceps injury sustained in his final outing of the season. He’d go on to miss the 2020 postseason, and his 2021 season was limited to just 47 innings on account of a forearm issue that twice sent him to the injured list.

Those injuries, coupled with this year’s poor showing, have resulted in a grisly 5.46 ERA in the now-30-year-old Lamet’s past 59 1/3 Major League innings. In addition to the diminished fastball, he’s seen his strikeout rate plummet from that 34.8% mark to 26.9%, while his walk rate has spiked from 7.5% to a dismal 11.4%. Lamet may have had some bad luck in 2021, posting a .344 batting average on balls in play despite allowing hard contact at well below-league-average levels, but that’s not been the case at all in 2022. Yes, his .412 BABIP is through the roof, but so too is his opponents’ average exit velocity (a blistering 93.1 mph) and his 50% hard-hit rate.

For a pitching-needy team like the Rockies, however, there’s little harm in taking a relatively low-cost look at Lamet. They’ll be owed the prorated portion of his salary — about $1.6MM between now and season’s end — but can also control him via arbitration this winter if he impresses down the stretch. Viewed through that lens, there’d have been a case for any of the clubs higher on the waiver priority (e.g. Nationals, A’s, Tigers, Royals, Pirates) claiming Lamet, but despite the right-hander’s obvious talent, not every club is going to be bullish on his chances to rebound (or on taking on that extra chunk of cash at this point in the season).

Goudeau, also 30, has pitched 20 1/3 innings in this, his second stint with the Rockies, for whom he made his MLB debut back in 2020. He’s been tagged for a 7.08 ERA with a 17% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate, however, both well worse than the league average. His work in Triple-A Albuquerque has been even rougher, evidenced by 43 earned runs allowed in just 37 innings of work (10.46 ERA).

Brewers Designate Jake McGee For Assignment

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The Brewers announced that right-hander Jason Alexander has been recalled from Triple-A, with lefty Jake McGee being designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

McGee, 36, is a veteran in his 13th MLB season. The Giants signed him to a two-year deal prior to the 2021 campaign, which looked like a masterstroke at the halfway point of the contract. The Giants won 107 games last year, thanks in no small part to McGee. The southpaw threw 59 2/3 innings last year with a 2.72 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate, racking up 31 saves and eight holds in the process.

However, things have swung completely the other way around here in 2022, with McGee struggling immensely. In 21 1/3 innings with San Fran, he registered a 7.17 ERA, along with greatly diminished 11.5% strikeout rate and 29.1% ground ball rate. Based on that unfortunate downturn, the Giants released him, with McGee then landing with the Brewers about a week later.

For Milwaukee, things haven’t gotten much better. McGee has a 6.35 ERA since getting his new jersey and is still only getting strikeouts at a 16% clip. That’s a small sample size, but it largely matches what McGee was doing prior to joining the Brew Crew.

The Brewers’ bullpen has been in the spotlight lately, after the club traded away Josh Hader despite leading the NL Central.  Since then, the club has gone 1-4, with the bullpen giving away late leads in some of those games, and now sit one game back in both the Central and the Wild Card race. It seems they felt the need to shake things up, with McGee getting cut loose despite a brief audition.

Despite his poor season, he could still get a shot elsewhere, given his track record and the fact that many teams are deficient in terms of left-handed relief. He’s making $2.5MM this year but the Giants are on the hook for most of that, with any team that signs him only having to pay the prorated league minimum. Since the trade deadline is now passed, the Brewers will have to put him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days.

NL Notes: Megill, Suarez, Pomeranz, Bettinger

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It was recently reported that the Mets are aiming to have Tylor Megill work out of the bullpen when he returns from the injured list, given that their rotation is healthier than it was early in the season. However, the team has told Megill that he will be stretched back out as a starter for next year, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

The fact that the Mets still want to try Megill as a rotation candidate is fairly sensible, given that it’s possible they will face a huge amount of turnaround in that department in the coming months. Jacob deGrom has long maintained that he’s going to exercise his opt-out after this year, despite his lengthy injury battles. Chris Bassitt has a mutual option for 2023, which is unlikely to be exercised by both sides, as mutual options almost never are. Taijuan Walker has a $6MM player option with a $3MM buyout. Though he can increase the value of that option with incentives as high as $8.5MM with 175 innings pitched this year, he’s still likely to turn that down and find more money in free agency. The Mets hold a $14MM club option over Carlos Carrasco that will vest if he reaches 170 innings and finishes the year healthy.

It’s within the realm of possibility that the Mets begin the offseason with an on-paper rotation of Max Scherzer followed by depth options like David Peterson and Joey Lucchesi. Given all that uncertainty, it’s understandable that they’d want to keep Megill in the mix. He stepped up to fill in for deGrom earlier this season and posted a 1.93 ERA through April, though he then posted an 11.48 ERA after that as his shoulder injury seemed to catch up with him.

Other notes from the Senior Circuit…

  • The Padres reinstated righty Robert Suarez from the 60-day injured list yesterday, per a club announcement. The 40-man roster already had a vacancy, meaning no corresponding move was required in that regard. Fellow righty Steven Wilson was optioned to create room on the active roster. Suarez was signed in the offseason after a five-year stint in Japan and has thrown 24 1/3 innings for the Padres this year. His 29.3% strikeout rate is very strong though it also comes with a 13.1% walk rate, leading to a 3.33 ERA on the year so far. He’s been on the IL since early June due to knee inflammation.
  • The San Diego bullpen could soon welcome back another injured hurler, as lefty Drew Pomeranz has begun a rehab assignment. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Pomeranz is expected to pitch in at least two rookie ball games before deciding next steps. Signed to a four-year deal in late 2019, the southpaw had an excellent showing in the shortened 2020 season, throwing 18 2/3 innings with a 1.45 ERA and 39.7% strikeout rate, though he also had a 13.7% walk rate. He was putting up fairly similar numbers last year before undergoing surgery to repair an injured flexor tendon, a procedure he’s still working back from almost a year later. If he can come back in a form that’s anywhere close to what he showed in 2020 and 2021, he should provide a huge boost to the Friars’ relief corps, which also just picked up Josh Hader prior to the trade deadline.
  • The Brewers announced that right-hander Alec Bettinger has been released. The 27-year-old made his MLB debut last year, tossing ten innings over four appearances with an unsightly 13.50 ERA in that small sample. He lost his 40-man roster spot earlier this year, being outrighted in May. Though Bettinger had put up solid minor league number in previous years, he’s not fared well this season, registering a 6.49 ERA through 34 2/3 Triple-A innings. After posting walk rates around 6% in recent years, he’s more than doubled it here in 2022, jumping to 12.9%. His strikeouts have also vanished, coming in at a 12.9% clip this year after being in the 23-27% in prior campaigns.

Brewers Planning To Select Jakson Reetz

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The Brewers are planning on adding catcher Jakson Reetz to their 40-man roster, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Reetz isn’t currently on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be required.

Reetz, 26, was a third-round draft pick of the Nationals in 2014, working his way up to make his MLB debut last year. He only got two plate appearances before getting designated for assignment in September. Since he got one hit, he currently has a career batting average of .500 in an obviously tiny sample.

Baseball America considered Reetz to be one of the top farmhands in the Nationals’ system from 2015 to 2018 and again in 2020 and 2021. He’s long earned praise for his defensive acumen but never managed to hit much in the upper levels of the minors. He’s taken steps forward in that department this year, however, after signing a minor league deal with the Brewers in the offseason. He’s spent most of this year at Double-A, getting into 64 games and hitting an incredible 22 home runs in that time. His batting line at that level this year is .281/.392/.636 for a wRC+ of 166. It’s been less eye-popping in 13 Triple-A games, though he did add three more dingers there for a line of .229/.283/.479, wRC+ of 94.

The Brewers have quickly gone from a catching surplus to a deficit in recent days. Not so long ago, they had a trio of Omar Narvaez, Victor Caratini and Pedro Severino all on the active roster, enough bodies that they were getting trade interest on Narvaez. The deadline passed without a deal and the club decided to move on from Severino, designating him for assignment yesterday. However, Narvaez suffered a quad strain last night and landed on the IL today. With the triumvirate whittled down to just Caratini, the club recalled Mario Feliciano today with Reetz seemingly getting into the mix soon. Given that he’s a glove-first catcher who might have suddenly found his stroke, it’s understandable that the Brewers are willing to give him a shot.

Brewers Place Omar Narvaez On IL With Quad Strain

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The Brewers announced that catcher Omar Narvaez has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left quad strain. Fellow catcher Mario Feliciano has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

The severity of the injury isn’t clear but the timing is particularly unfortunate for the Brewers, who had been carrying three catchers in recent weeks, with Narvaez, Victor Caratini and Pedro Severino all on the roster. They even got some trade interest on Narvaez leading up to the deadline, but ending up holding all three until yesterday afternoon when Severino was designated for assignment. A few hours after that, Narvaez injured his quad and a catching surplus suddenly turned into a deficit.

Narvaez has played 60 games on the season, hitting .237/.324/.363. That’s amounts to a wRC+ of 94, or 6% below the league average hitter, but slightly above the league average of 88 wRC+ for catchers. The left-handed hitting Narvaez and the switch-hitting Caratini have formed a platoon this year, with the latter playing 54 games and hitting .230/.350/.405 for a wRC+ of 116. Each also has quality defensive numbers, allowing Narvaez to accrue 1.3 fWAR on the year to Caratini’s 1.5

With Severino gone and Narvaez on the shelf, Caratini will likely step into a larger role with Feliciano as the backup. Feliciano jas just one MLB plate appearance to his name (a walk) but has hit .288/.346/.382 in Triple-A for a 97 wRC+. If Severino clears waivers and elects free agency, it’s possible that the Brewers could re-sign him and send Feliciano back down to the minors.

Brewers Designate Dinelson Lamet, Pedro Severino For Assignment

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The Brewers have announced to reporters, including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a series of roster moves prior to today’s game. Righty Freddy Peralta has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, while deadline acquisition Matt Bush has been added to the roster. Infielder Keston Hiura was also recalled. In corresponding moves, the club optioned righty Peter Strzelecki and designated righty Dinelson Lamet and catcher Pedro Severino for assignment.

Lamet getting cut from the roster comes as a surprise, since he was just acquired from the Padres a couple of days ago as part of the Josh Hader trade. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com relayed a quote from Brewers’ president of baseball operations David Stearns, attempting to explain. “Dinelson has a good arm and was included in the trade to help balance out the deal,” Stearns says. “As subsequent transactions played out, the roster fit became a little tougher. We are hopeful we will be able to keep him in our system.”

The reference to “subsequent transactions” seems to imply that the Brewers ended up making other trades that squeezed Lamet out of their plans. Lamet, and the other players in the Hader deal, were acquired on Monday, the day before the trade deadline. As the deadline played out yesterday, the club also added Bush and Trevor Rosenthal in separate deals. Perhaps the Brewers value those hurlers higher than they view Lamet, which led to Lamet losing his roster spot today.

Although Lamet technically has options remaining, Hogg points out that he recently surpassed five years of MLB service time. Players beyond that threshold cannot be optioned without their consent, meaning Lamet had to be DFA’d to be removed from the roster. That also means that, should Lamet clear waivers, he would have the right to refuse an outright assignment and elect free agency without forfeiting his salary, as all players beyond five years of MLB service can.

Frankly, it would be very surprising if Lamet cleared waivers, given his track record and modest salary. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball during the shortened 2020 season, logging a 2.09 ERA over 12 starts with a 34.8% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. He has dealt with injury woes in subsequent seasons, being relegated to bullpen duty and occasionally getting optioned to the minors. Still, he’s making a modest $4.775MM salary this year and can be retained for another season via arbitration. Due to his injuries, underperformance and time spent in the minors, he likely wouldn’t earn a huge raise for 2023.

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, it complicates Lamet’s status. For one thing, the Brewers won’t be able to work out a deal to send Lamet elsewhere, as they would have been able to do prior to the deadline. For another thing, for clubs that are looking for bullpen upgrades from outside their organization, waiver claims are now effectively the only way to do so. It seems highly likely that some club will give Lamet a shot, either a contender looking for a boost down the stretch or a rebuilding team that will give him some time to regain his previous form and perhaps trade him in the offseason or next year.

Beyond Lamet’s status, this will immediately change the calculus for evaluating the Hader trade. “The players we are receiving in this trade help ensure that the future of the Milwaukee Brewers remains bright while not compromising our desire and expectation to win today,” is how Stearns phrased the trade at the time. “This mix of present Major League talent and high-level prospects furthers our aim to get as many bites of the apple as possible and, ultimately, to bring a World Series to Milwaukee. Trading good players on good teams is difficult, and that is certainly the case with Josh. We also recognize that to give our organization the best chance for sustained competitiveness, to avoid the extended down periods that so many organizations experience, we must make decisions that are not easy.” Two of the four acquired players, Robert Gasser and Esteury Ruiz, have already been assigned to minor league clubs. Though they could be called up later in the year, this currently leaves Taylor Rogers as the lone player from the trade on the big league roster. While Rogers is certainly a fine player, few would argue that he’s been capable of pitching at the elite level of Hader.

As for Severino, he recently returned from an 80-game suspension after a positive PED test. That gave the Brewers a surplus of catchers, as Omar Narvaez and Victor Caratini were both playing well in Severino’s absence. It was reported in recent days that Narvaez was drawing trade interest, though nothing came together before the deadline. Instead, the club has merely decided to move on from Severino and stick with the Narvaez-Caratini tandem.

As for Peralta, he landed on the IL in May due to shoulder soreness and now returns after an absence of over two months. He had a tremendous breakout last year, pitching to a 2.81 ERA and 33.6% strikeout rate. This year, his performance dipped a bit, perhaps due to the shoulder issues. He had a 4.42 ERA and 30.3% strikeout rate, still high but not quite as dominant, before landing on the shelf. If his health issues are behind him and he can return to his 2021 form, he will help the Brewers form one of the most fearsome rotations in the sport, lining up next to Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Eric Lauer and Aaron Ashby.

Deadline Recap: National League

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Following one of the wildest deadlines in recent memory — and, perhaps, the most significant deadline trade in living memory — even die-hard baseball fans could be forgiven for losing track of all the action. To get you caught up, here’s a recap of the weird, the wild, and the wacky over the last few days.

San Diego: It’s highly unlikely that anyone reading this post is unaware of the sport-shaking mega-deal that sent Juan Soto to San Diego, and there isn’t much to say about it that hasn’t already been said by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco. Though they’ll almost certainly have to run the three-game Wild-Card-series gauntlet this year, hyper-aggressive president of baseball operations A.J. Preller — who also acquired top-line closer Josh Hader in a deal with the Brewers and free-agent-to-be Brandon Drury from the Reds — has pushed all of his chips into the center of the table, effectively giving his club three seasons to win a World Series. Soto is under control through 2024, and Hader will be a free agent at the conclusion of the 2023 season.

Given the size of the package Preller sent to Washington — and the caliber of players therein — anything less than at least one title will feel like a bust. That said, that no opposing pitcher will relish the prospect of facing Soto, Manny Machado, and Fernando Tatis Jr. (currently nearing a rehab assignment) in order is a massive understatement, and the Friars will be a force to be reckoned with come October. In San Diego, the future is now.

Atlanta: While one of the league’s hottest teams could have been forgiven for more-or-less standing pat — particularly after locking up third baseman and MVP candidate Austin Riley to a ten-year, $212MM extension — the defending champs were once again active. President of baseball ops Alex Anthopoulos added a major piece to an already strong bullpen, acquiring Raisel Iglesias, in a last-minute deal with the Angels. The Braves also revamped the back half of their roster, acquiring Jake Odorizzi, Robbie Grossman, and Ehire Adrianza to shore up their rotation, outfield mix, and bench, respectively.

Oddly, they also subtracted a bit, sending former closer Will Smith to the Astros in the Odorizzi deal and back-end bullpen stalwart Jesse Chavez to the Angels in the Iglesias deal, but there’s little doubt that the team is stronger after the moves than it was before. Odorizzi provides depth to a rotation that includes a struggling Ian Anderson and rookie sensation Spencer Strider, who may be on an innings limit. The switch-hitting Grossman is a strong righty bat who can share time with the left-handed Eddie Rosario following Adam Duvall’s season-ending surgery. Adrianza offers cover at several positions, including second base, where Ozzie Albies’ timeline on a return from injury remains murky. Iglesias both strengthens and balances a previously lefty-heavy bullpen that, in addition to Smith, had given a great many high-leverage innings to A.J. Minter and Tyler Matzek.

Milwaukee: In one of the stranger — if, perhaps, shrewder — moves of the deadline period, the first-place Brewers subtracted a pretty major piece, sending all-world closer Josh Hader to the Padres in exchange for a ready-made high-leverage replacement in Taylor Rogers, the oft-injured but wildly talented Dinelson Lamet, and a pair of prospects. It’s an on-its-face odd move for a serious contender to trade away its most dominant player, but it’s also the sort of tough decision small-market teams (a la the Rays) have had to make to keep a contention window open for as long as possible.

The addition of Rogers softens the blow considerably, and one day after dealing Hader, Milwaukee followed by acquiring righties Matt Bush and Trevor Rosenthal, further back-filling the ’pen to account for the loss of Hader. Trading Hader — who’ll be a free agent following the 2023 season and could top $15MM in salary next year– now rather than in the offseason gave the Padres two playoff runs with the superstar closer but also maximized the Brewers’ return. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz, in particular, is a largely MLB-ready addition. Devin Williams, Rogers, Bush and eventually Rosenthal give the Brewers plenty of late-inning options.

New York: To the surprise of just about everyone, the Mets — who held a three-game division lead over the Braves entering play Tuesday — didn’t make any major moves. They did add a pair of potential contributors in Darin Ruf (exchanged for J.D. Davis, Thomas Szapucki, and a pair of low-minors pitchers to share DH duties with fellow recent arrival Daniel Vogelbach) and reliever Mychal Givens. They’d been linked to Josh Bell (sent to the Padres as part of the Juan Soto deal) and Trey Mancini (to the Astros) as well as Willson Contreras and Ian Happ (both among the only significant pieces not to move). Ultimately, general manager Billy Eppler didn’t pull the trigger on a move of the scale that had been expected of a first-place team owned by Steve Cohen.

While Givens, who’s had an excellent year with the Cubs, should strengthen an already strong bullpen and Ruf will likely improve surprisingly anemic DH production, manager Buck Showalter will have to largely get by with in-house options the rest of the way.

Los Angeles: The Dodgers entered the deadline period as co-favorites to land Juan Soto and reportedly attempted to at least engage the Angels on Shohei Ohtani. Despite these lofty aspirations, the owners of the NL’s best record had a comparatively quiet deadline, with no move remotely rivaling the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner blockbuster of a year ago.

Instead, the Andrew Friedman-led front office kept things relatively cool (at least by their recent standards), acquiring reliever Chris Martin from the Cubs for utility-man Zach McKinstry and struggling outfielder/DH Joey Gallo from the Yankees for pitching prospect Clayton Beeter. Nothing the Dodgers could have done would have changed much in the regular season — even with Juan Soto and Josh Hader headed to San Diego, L.A. is all but a lock to win the NL West and a first-round bye. Manager Dave Roberts will have largely have to make do with what he’s got as the Dodgers attempt to get back to the World Series following 2021’s disappointing NLCS loss to the Braves.

St. Louis: Though they came up short in the Juan Soto bidding and watched rumored target Frankie Montas head to the Bronx, the Cardinals — who sat 2.5 games back of the Brewers in the NL Central and a game behind the Phillies for the final NL Wild Card spot entering play Tuesday — hardly stood pat. The Cards added left-handed starter Jose Quintana and right-handed reliever Chris Stratton in a deal with the Pirates, as well as southpaw Jordan Montgomery from the Yankees. Though the latter move came at the cost of currently injured but broadly productive outfielder Harrison Bader, there’s little doubt that the Cards emerge from the deadline with a much stronger pitching staff for the final ride of Adam Wainwright, Albert Pujols, and Yadier Molina than they had before.

The Cards entered the deadline with little stability in rotation beyond Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, and Dakota Hudson. With offseason signee Steven Matz still on the shelf (and ineffective when he’s been on the field), Quintana and Montgomery should immediately solidify the rotation and give the St. Louis faithful a real shot to send their aging legends into the sunset with a playoff appearance — if not a division title.

Philadelphia: Though only on the periphery of the NL East race, the Phils added several pieces at the deadline, headlined by starter Noah Syndergaard. Thor isn’t the dominant force of his first several Mets years, but he has had a solid bounce-back season with the Angels and will solidify the back end of an already solid rotation — and, perhaps, take the ball in the decisive third game in the Wild Card round.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski also added young outfielder Brandon Marsh to an outfield mix that badly needed a plus defender of this type. Veteran reliever David Robertson strengthens a middle-of-the-pack bullpen and takes the place of struggling veteran Jeurys Familia, who was designated for assignment. The Phils also picked up infielder Edmundo Sosa in a small deal with the Cardinals, adding a standout, versatile defender — albeit one with a light bat.

Washington: The departure of generational talent Juan Soto from a team that went from a World Series title to cellar-dwelling in a flash makes yesterday a sour day for Nats fans, but the haul Mike Rizzo pulled back in return for Soto (and first baseman Josh Bell) could portend much sweeter days ahead. The Nats all but emptied out the top ranks of the Padres’t farm system, adding a coterie of high-caliber prospects in left-hander MacKenzie Gore, shortstop C.J. Abrams, outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wood, and righty Jarlin Susana alongside make-weight first baseman Luke Voit. In a smaller deal, the Nats also picked up minor league outfielder Trey Harris in a swap sending Ehire Adrianza to the Braves.

Time will tell if Rizzo’s return matches the value of perhaps the best pure hitter since Barry Bonds, but with his club unlikely to contend anytime soon and Soto making clear he had no interest in the best extension offer the Nats were willing to give him, he may not have had much of a choice. They may no longer have Soto, but Washington fans will have more than their fair share of young talent on display for at least the next half-decade.

Cincinnati: The Reds, mired in mediocrity, continued a payroll-driven sell-off. Cincinnati held several of the more intriguing pieces of the deadline period in starters Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle and versatile infielder Brandon Drury. The team broke the deadline logjam, sending Castillo to the Mariners late last week for a quartet of prospects headlined by infielders Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo. They hardly stopped there, however, shipping off Mahle to the Twins for three prospects, Drury to the Padres for one, and outfielder Tommy Pham to the Red Sox for a player to be named later.

How long it will take for them to return to contention remains to be seen, but the substantial prospect haul brought back in the last few days should help speed things along. For the time being, though, the product on the field is going to be underwhelming.

Chicago: One of the more confusing teams to read in the offseason, the Cubs had several substantial pieces — including Willson Contreras and Ian Happ — rumored to be on their way out. Instead, they’ll remain on Chicago’s north side for at least the remainder of the season. Happ has a year of control remaining, but the decision by the Cubs/ front office to hang on to Contreras, one of the better bats (non-Soto division) available at the deadline and a free agent at season’s end, is perhaps the most vexing non-move of a deadline in which trades came fast and heavy.

The team did make several deals, however, effectively emptying out the top half of their bullpen. Chris Martin is now a Dodger (in exchange for utility-man Zach McKinstry), and Scott Effross, David Robertson, and Mychal Givens were shipped out to Yankees, Phillies, and Mets, respectively, each in exchange for a minor-league arm. Whether they seek to either hold on to Contreras long-term or simply receive draft pick compensation by issuing him a qualifying offer at season’s end remains to be seen.

Miami: The Marlins — owners of perhaps the most impressive reserve of young, controllable arms in the big leagues — entered the deadline period on the far periphery of the NL Wild Card race. This is something of a disappointment for a team that shelled out real money to add pop to their lineup (they signed Avisail Garcia ahead of the lockout and Jorge Soler after it) with little to show for it, leading to speculation that the club might trade one of its many controllable arms (per the rumor mill, Pablo Lopez) for a controllable bat.

No such deal came to fruition, but GM Kim Ng did send relievers Zach Pop and Anthony Bass to the Blue Jays for 2018 first-rounder Jordan Groshans. The shortstop, who’s also seen time at third and in the outfield, has an intriguing profile and has consistently gotten on base at all levels of the minors, but his power output has fallen off a cliff in his first taste of Triple-A.

San Francisco: Despite listening to offers on impending free agents Carlos Rodon and Joc Pederson in the midst of career years, the disappointing Giants — currently hovering around both .500 and the periphery of the NL Wild Card race but well shy of last year’s torrid pace — largely stood pat at the deadline, making only a handful of minor moves. They acquired infielder Dixon Machado (from the Cubs) and catcher/infielder Ford Proctor (from the Rays) before swapping Darin Ruf for J.D. Davis, pitcher Thomas Szapucki, and a pair of minor-league arms. They also traded away a handful of more minor pieces, including catcher Curt Casali and left-hander Matthew Boyd (to the Mariners for a pair of minor leaguers), and rehabbing right-hander Trevor Rosenthal (to the Brewers for another minor leaguer).

Pittsburgh: With several members of the Pirates’ loaded farm system making their way to the bigs this season, things may finally be starting to look up for the long-suffering Pittsburgh faithful. While 2022 won’t be the year that ends the club’s seven-season playoff drought, the Bucs entered the deadline as clear sellers. They made only a single significant move, sending reclamation project Jose Quintana (signed in the offseason for only $2MM) and reliever Chris Stratton to the division-rival Cardinals for a young arm with some big-league experience in Johan Oviedo and third base prospect Malcom Nunez.

Arizona: A team on the rise but with little to offer in the way of attractive rental talent, the Diamondbacks had one of the quieter deadlines across the majors. They did make a pair of moves, however, shipping David Peralta to the Rays for low-minors catcher Christian Cerda and righty Luke Weaver to the Royals for 26-year-old corner infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who hasn’t hit much in parts of two big-league seasons but showed real pop in the minors.

Colorado: The Rockies gave the rumor mill a bit of grist, with starter Chad Kuhl and reliever Carlos Estevez both reportedly drawing interest, but they ended the day the only team in the majors not to make a trade in the deadline period. They did shell out a bit of money, signing 37-year-old closer Daniel Bard to a two-year, $19MM extension on Saturday — a move that perplexed many onlookers given Bard’s age and status as an otherwise prototypical trade candidate.

Jonathan Lucroy To Announce Retirement

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Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy is set to officially announce his retirement Saturday as part of a ceremony at American Family Field, reports Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A third-round pick by the Brewers out of Louisiana-Lafayette in 2007, the backstop, who spent the first half of his twelve-year career in Milwaukee, will be inducted into the club’s Wall of Honor alongside former teammate Ryan Braun.

Arguably the most accomplished catcher of the 2010s not named Buster Posey or Yadier Molina, Lucroy’s best years — including a fourth-place MVP finish (and 8.2 fWAR) in 2014 — came with the Brewers, but he remained a serviceable option behind the plate for several years to come following a deadline trade to the Rangers in 2016. His production did dip considerably thereafter, however, and he became something of a journeyman in his 30s, playing for the Rockies, A’s, Angels, Cubs, Red Sox, Nationals, and Braves. He sported a robust .284/.343/.442 batting line across his first seven seasons — all but the last two months of 2016 in Milwaukee — but a comparatively paltry .248/.315/.350 thereafter. His once-elite defensive acumen also declined precipitously in the latter half of his career; after accruing 95 defensive runs saved between 2010 and 2016, he cost his teams 42 runs thereafter per the Fielding Bible metric.

For his career, Lucroy logged a more-than-respectable .274/.335/.416 triple-slash, a particularly strong output given the comparatively anemic production at his position across the majors. While he’s unlikely to receive any serious Hall of Fame consideration, the long-time Brewer can hang his hat on an excellent career that included two All-Star selections (in 2014 and 2016), 37 career fWAR, and four playoff appearances, including a 2011 NLCS run with the Brewers.

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