MLBTR Originals News & Rumors

21-26. Kirby Yates, RHP, Padres; Nate Jones, RHP, White Sox; Kyle Barraclough, RHP, Marlins; Shane Greene, RHP, Tigers; Mychal Givens, RHP, Orioles; Keone Kela, RHP, Rangers: These relievers are all striking out more than a batter per inning and come with multiple future seasons of control. Their respective teams will need to decide whether the deadline makes for an opportune moment to move these volatile relief assets. The White Sox did so last year with Tommy Kahnle, who was sent out in a package deal and has struggled thus far in 2018, though none of these hurlers have pitched to the level Kahnle did in the run-up to the ’17 deadline. Yates has been the most impressive thus far, with dominant results and quality peripherals. Greene has functioned in the ninth inning for the Tigers with strong results; he’s also one of the team’s most useful trade pieces. Jones, Barraclough, and Givens have all been walk-prone but possess intriguing power arms. The former two have worked some in a closing capacity, but aren’t likely to be viewed that way by contenders. The O’s have given little indication of interest in moving Givens, who could be the team’s near-future closer, but will have to at least consider all possibilities. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is the 25-year-old Kela, who’s throwing harder than ever and carries peripherals that suggest his 4.03 ERA is on the unlucky side. He’s controllable for another three years, but given the past off-field issues between him and the team, perhaps this will represent a good point at which to strike a trade.

27-30. Matt Harvey, SP, Reds; Bartolo Colon & Doug Fister, SP, Rangers; Mike Fiers, SP, Tigers: It’s not terribly likely that any of these rental starters will be seen as postseason rotation pieces, but all could conceivably help boost the depth for a contending team. Harvey has shown a bit of life in Cincinnati and could still build up some value over the next several weeks, though there’s still not much reason to think he’ll regain his former form. Colon, Fister and Fiers carry ERAs in the low-4.00s and look like plausible back-of-the-rotation additions for a team simply in need of stable innings. Fiers’ control is improved, but he’s as homer-prone as ever (1.79 HR/9) — an area in which Colon and Fister have also had issues.

31-34. Tyler Clippard, Seunghwan Oh & John Axford, RHP, Blue Jays;  Jesse Chavez, RHP, Rangers: Things generally aren’t going great in Toronto, but at least the Blue Jays seem largely to have cornered the market on serviceable, cheap middle relief rentals. Clippard is a known commodity with a 3.52 ERA, though a look beneath the hood doesn’t leave much cause for optimism. Axford and Oh have settled in as solid, if unspectacular middle relievers. Chavez carries quality K/BB numbers but has continued to be rather homer-prone in a long relief role.

35-38. Aaron Loup, LHP, Blue Jays; Luis Avilan, LHP, White Sox; Jake Diekman, LHP, Rangers: Both Loup and Avilan have shown quality peripherals and could be of use, while Diekman is an intriguing power pitcher whose walk rate is out of control at present. These pitchers are all affordable and expendable for their current teams; they are the types of arms that end up being sent elsewhere for bullpen depth every summer. Avilan may be the most attractive of the bunch by virtue of the fact that he has a year of control remaining beyond 2018, while Loup and Diekman are pure rentals.

38-39. Jose Iglesias, SS, Tigers; Freddy Galvis, SS, Padres: You know what you’re getting with this pair of pending free agents. Neither is particularly cheap — just over $6MM a pop for the year — and neither provides value with the bat. But Iglesias is a high-end defender at shortstop and Galvis provides solid glovework there along with plenty of experience at other spots on the field. Either could fill in at short and provide value with the glove, and either could be a defensive-oriented upgrade to a contender’s bench.

40. A.J. Ellis, C, Padres: Nobody expects the 37-year-old to keep hitting at a .303/.405/.409 clip, but it’s nice that he’s in good form at the plate. More importantly, the veteran receiver is a trusted hand behind the dish who’s earning a reasonable $2.5MM this year. He could fill a void elsewhere as a backup option.

41-42. Billy Hamilton, OF, Reds; Leonys Martin, OF, Tigers: There’s really no reason to think that Hamilton is going to start hitting. Sure, he might creep back toward his ugly career batting line of .244/.297/.330, but the ship has probably sailed on Hamilton as a regular player on a first-division team. That doesn’t mean he can’t be useful, though, particularly to a contender that would like to add a high-end defender and baserunner to help out in late-game spots in the postseason. It’s hard to imagine that the Reds will get significant offers, and it’s tough to know whether a deal will come together with another arb year remaining, but Hamilton would be an interesting addition in the right situation. As for Martin, the 30-year-old is a good defender in center who has a much more useful bat than does Hamilton. He’s off to a .259/.327/.467 start with eight home runs in 217 plate appearances. It doesn’t hurt that he’s playing on a cheap, $1.75MM salary and can be retained for another year via arbitration.

43-45. Dan Straily, SP, Marlins; Clayton Richard & Jordan Lyles, SP, Padres: On the face of things, Straily has returned from an early-season injury to pitch well. He owns a 3.50 ERA through 36 innings, after all. But the right-hander has surrendered an inauspicious combination of 5.5 BB/9 and 1.5 HR/9 on the year. The Fish may well hold onto his final two years of arb control and hope for better. Likewise, the Padres don’t need to move Richard and Lyles, who are helping fill innings this year and can be retained at a low cost in 2019. Both would be of most interest to other teams as relievers or swingmen. Richard gets loads of ground-balls and has outperformed his 4.67 ERA, while Lyles looked good in a relief role before a move to the rotation that showed initial promise and has begun to falter under repeated testing.

46. Starlin Castro, 2B, Marlins: Now 28 years of age, Castro has settled in as a solid-enough player — a roughly average hitter and tolerable but below-average defender — who may hold appeal to contenders as an everyday guy. But he could plug a gap or perhaps function in some sort of utility role. Castro is owed $10MM this year and another $12MM thereafter (including a $1MM buyout on a 2020 option), so the Fish would mostly just be looking to save some money by striking a deal. Uncertainty surrounding Martin Prado could cut both ways here. On the one hand, the club has greater need for a veteran infielder. On the other, there’s no longer any hope at all of unloading a portion of the Prado contract.

47-48. Jared Hughes & David Hernandez, RHP, Reds: These two are something like the bullpen equivalents of Richard and Lyles (but with better results). Neither is likely to continue pitching like a relief ace, but both are carrying peripherals that speak to the merit of their efforts thus far. With cheap contracts covering both the current and ensuing campaigns, though, the Reds can set a fairly steep ask and decide to hold if it’s not met.

49. Michael Fulmer, RHP, Tigers: Fulmer is among the most enticing rotation pieces in the game that could plausibly be dealt this summer. The problem for the Tigers, though, is that his performance simply isn’t up to par with his first two excellent seasons in the Majors. Fulmer’s velocity is as good as ever, and he’s sporting career-best swinging-strike and chase rates to complement strikeout and ground-ball rates that’re in line with his 2016 Rookie of the Year levels. But his walk rate has soared to 3.7 per nine, and he’s averaging a career-worst 1.22 homers per nine innings. If teams are willing to look past his sudden control and home run issues, perhaps the Tigers can yet receive a franchise-altering package. However, Detroit improbably remains on the fringes of the division race in a terrible AL Central, and with Fulmer controlled another four seasons beyond ’18, there’s no rush to move him unless the return is exorbitant.

50. Whit Merrifield, 2B, Royals: Speaking of players with four years of control, Merrifield has emerged as a late-blooming star in Kansas City. He’s hitting .284/.363/.411 with elite baserunning, a bit of pop and intriguing defensive versatility. Merrifield plays an excellent second base and has also lined up on the outfield grass, including in center. The remaining club control and the fact that he won’t even be arb-eligible until the 2019-20 offseason are compelling reasons to keep him, but Merrifield is also already 29 and the Royals don’t expect to contend for years. Second base hasn’t been an in-demand position in recent years, but Merrifield is the type of player that should fetch a package featuring multiple prospects and/or near-MLB-ready assets.

Disabled List

Steve Pearce & Josh Donaldson (Blue Jays); Chris Archer & Adeiny Hechavarria (Rays); Zach Britton & Darren O’Day (Orioles); Francisco Liriano & Jordan Zimmermann (Tigers); Lucas Duda (Royals); Avisail Garcia (White Sox); Elvis Andrus (Rangers)

Also Considered

Athletics – Jonathan Lucroy and Jed Lowrie could each be significant rental assets, among other potential pieces, but the Oakland brass likely won’t consider a sell-off unless and until the team falls out of Wild Card contention. That hasn’t happened yet.

Blue Jays – Toronto is fading at the moment, but it’s unclear how deep the cuts could go if there’s a sell-off. Veteran starters Marco Estrada and Jaime Garcia could be back-end pieces for other organizations, but both have turned in very poor performances on sizable contracts. Curtis Granderson has lots of walks, but also lots of strikeouts, and hasn’t hit for as much power as usual. Kevin Pillar would surely draw interest, but there’s no pressure to deal him with two more arb years still to come.

Marlins – There’s no question of the door being open to dealing, though it’s not yet clear how many deadline moves the Miami organization will end up striking after a big offseason sell-off. Justin Bour and Derek Dietrich might continue to make more sense on the Miami roster than as trade chips, though both are hitting well and could draw interest. The club would love to move some of the money owed to Wei-Yin Chen and Brad Ziegler, but the results for both have been abysmal to this point. Outfielder Cameron Maybin could make it into a future version of this list, but he’s not producing much at the plate.

Mets – Things aren’t looking great for a club that has faded after a hot start and faces a variety of roster woes. But the Mets are still within striking distance and are far from seriously entertaining any trade scenarios. While some outside observers have batted around the idea of a Jacob deGrom swap, that still seems quite unlikely. (If there’s a chance, it’s because of the dearth of high-end arms reflected in the above list.) More likely, if it comes to it, would be a few rental deals, with Asdrubal Cabrera looking like the most useful asset at this point. It’s a different situation than last year, when the Mets had numerous one-year veterans to move, but there are a host of interesting scenarios that could arise if the team can’t break out of its current malaise.

Orioles – It’s all a matter of where they stop dealing, because a mid-season yard sale is all but inevitable. Jonathan Schoop, Kevin Gausman, and Dylan Bundy are among the controllable players who the O’s could in theory listen to offers on, but all have run into some difficulties this year and it’s not clear that rivals will rise to meet what’ll surely be eyebrow-raising asking prices. If the team is willing to eat some money, perhaps they could find takers for some of the cash still due to Mark Trumbo or Andrew Cashner. Clubs in need of a bench bat might consider Danny Valencia or Pedro Alvarez.

Pirates – Jordy Mercer, Ivan Nova, Sean Rodriguez, David Freese, Francisco Cervelli, Corey Dickerson, and especially Felipe Vazquez would all draw varying levels of trade interest. But while the Buccos have faded to a .500 mark after a strong start, it doesn’t seem likely that they’re considering a sell-off just yet.

Rangers – They’d love to move Shin-Soo Choo‘s contract, but that’s decidedly unlikely. Jurickson Profar has raised his profile after years as a trade candidate, but with multiple affordable years left, there’s no rush to move him. Robinson Chirinos‘s power behind the plate is intriguing, but his strikeout rate is through the roof and the team will like the idea of keeping him for 2019 with a cheap option. Tony Barnette is the type of affordable reliever who’s often moved for a relatively minimal return.

Rays – It’s curious to see so many Tampa Bay players populating the list while the team has a winning record. Then again, they already dealt away their closer and a productive outfielder, so there’s not much reason to think the organization will hold back at the deadline. In addition to the players noted above, veteran position players Brad Miller and Carlos Gomez could end up drawing attention, while the team could also weigh offers on relievers, perhaps even including lefty Jonny Venters.

Reds – Adam Duvall is having a disastrous season, and OBP-challenged corner outfielders with pop have hardly been in-demand trade/free-agent commodities in recent years. Scott Schebler could be of more interest.

Royals – Alcides Escobar is hitting less than either Jose Iglesias or Freddy Galvis. Jason Hammel, Danny Duffy and Ian Kennedy have all struggled this season, though Duffy’s track record at least makes him interesting. Still, it’s hard to imagine the Royals selling low on a pitcher of his caliber.

Tigers – Beyond the names in the Top 50, there’s not a lot of trade currency on this roster. Alex Wilson is just back from the DL and could be moved if he’s throwing well come July. Perhaps there’s still some distant chance of a deal involving Miguel Cabrera, though structuring such an arrangement would be quite complicated.

White Sox – The Sox would love to drop the remainder of the $10MM they’re paying Shields in 2018, and to his credit he’s pitched fairly well of late (with the exception of a seven-run shellacking in his most recent start). Shields recently wrapped up a seven-start stretch in which he tossed 47 innings of 3.45 ERA ball with a 36-to-14 K/BB ratio, but he’s the type of arm a fringe contender may take on to stabilize the fifth spot in the rotation, knowing that the asking price will be negligible so long as the ChiSox receive some salary relief. Hector Santiago and Bruce Rondon may also draw some interest, but Rondon’s control is still poor.