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Minor MLB Transactions: Deadline Day

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As is the case at every trade deadline, there’s a flurry of activity on deadline day. The most high-profile of the moves are the trades themselves, but the aftermath of that activity often results in a shuffle of minor moves of their own. Plenty of clubs have had to fill or create roster spots depending on the deals they’ve made in the last 24 hours. We’ll round up 40-man roster transactions not previously covered on the MLBTR pages here:

AL East

AL Central

  • Tigers: Reinstated right-hander Matt Manning from 60-day injured list
  • White Sox: Claimed right-hander Tobias Myers off waivers from Giants

AL West

NL East

  • Nationals: Designated left-hander Josh Rogers for assignment; transferred left-hander Evan Lee to 60-day injured list. Selected the contract of first baseman Joey Meneses
  • Marlins: Reinstated right-hander Anthony Bender from 60-day injured list
  • Phillies: Claimed left-hander Andrew Vasquez off waivers from Blue Jays

NL Central

  • Cubs: Claimed right-hander Kervin Castro off waivers from Giants
  • Brewers: Designated right-hander Luke Barker for assignment

NL West

Giants: Lost right-hander Tobias Myers on waivers to White Sox; lost right-hander Kervin Castro on waivers to Cubs

Yankees, Cardinals Swap Jordan Montgomery For Harrison Bader

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The Cardinals are acquiring lefty Jordan Montgomery from the Yankees, tweet Ken Rosenthal and Lindsey Adler of The Athletic.  Montgomery will be traded for Harrison Bader, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network.  The trade, which has been officially announced by both teams, also includes a player to be named later or cash considerations going to the Yankees, conditional on Bader’s playing time as it pertains to the plantar fasciitis that sidelines him at present.

Montgomery, 29, is a big addition to the Cardinals’ rotation.  The lefty, a fourth-round draft pick of the Yankees out of the University of South Carolina in 2014, finished sixth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting with a fine 2017 debut, but saw his career derailed by Tommy John surgery the following season.  Since 2021, he’s settled in as a dependable member of the Yankees’ rotation, posting a 3.77 ERA in 272 innings across 51 starts.  While Montgomery’s strikeout rate has been down this year, so too has his walk rate, and he’s continued to keep his ERA south of 4.00.

Montgomery is earning a reasonable $6MM this year, and he’s due a raise through arbitration in 2023 before becoming eligible for free agency.  He was not necessarily thought to be available, but the Yankees just added Frankie Montas to the front of their rotation in a trade with the A’s.  Montgomery fits in well with the Cardinals’ pitch-to-contact rotation, which currently features Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson, rookie Andre Pallante, and recent addition Jose Quintana.  Steven Matz, signed as a free agent in November, is out with a knee injury that could require surgery.  Former ace Jack Flaherty won’t be eligible to return from a shoulder strain until late August.  Looking ahead to 2023, Adam Wainwright may retire and Quintana could depart as a free agent, but everyone else remains under team control.

At present, the Cardinals sit three games back in the NL Central and are one game back from a wild card spot.  In addition to Quintana and Montgomery, the Cardinals also added Chris Stratton to their bullpen via trade.  The club reportedly expressed interest in many available starters before landing Montgomery, including Frankie Montas, Jake Odorizzi, Tyler Mahle, and Carlos Rodon.  Bader hit the IL for plantar fasciitis in his right foot in late June, with Dylan Carlson starting in center field in his absence.  Bader is currently in a walking boot for the injury.  Evidently, the Cardinals felt Carlson can handle the gig for at least the remainder of the season.  The Cardinals had been involved on Juan Soto, but reportedly hadn’t been willing to pair Carlson with their top prospects.

Bader, 28, is a native of Bronxville, New York, about 11 miles away from Yankee Stadium.  He’s served as the Cardinals’ primary center fielder since 2018, when he finished sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.  Known for his defense, Bader picked up his first Gold Glove last year and finished second in the Fielding Bible awards voting.  Bader’s wRC+ sits at 93 this year, but he was at 111 over 526 plate appearances from 2020-21.  Bader, one of the speedier center fielders in the game, was limited to 103 games in 2021 due to a forearm strain and a rib fracture.

The Yankees have deployed the oft-injured Aaron Hicks as well as MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge in equal proportions in center field thus far this year.  Once Bader and Giancarlo Stanton are healthy, Hicks figures to see his playing time reduced.  The Yankees also recently added a new left fielder via trade, picking up Andrew Benintendi from the Royals.

Like Montgomery, Bader is under control through 2023.  However, due to a two-year extension signed in April, Bader’s salary was locked in at $4.7MM for both the 2022 and ’23 seasons, plus performance bonuses.  The Yankees will trim several million dollars off next year’s payroll compared to what Montgomery is projected to earn.

In parting with Montgomery, the Yankees have weakened their rotation for the remainder of the 2021 season, seemingly locking Domingo German into the fifth spot until Luis Severino is able to return.  With a 12-game lead in the AL East, that difference hardly matters.  Montgomery’s loss could be felt in the playoffs, especially if Severino isn’t able to build back up to a starting role, but evidently the Yankees feel the eventual defensive upgrade in center field is a net win.  The decision has, at least, elicited some “head-scratching” within the Yankees’ organization, according to Erik Boland of Newsday.

Giants Do Not Trade Carlos Rodon, Joc Pederson Prior To Deadline

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5:00pm: There was no last-minute trade of either Rodon or outfielder Joc Pederson, tweets Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. Both remain with the Giants and are now ineligible to be traded with the deadline passed. The Giants can still issue a qualifying offer to both players, with Rodon standing out as a particularly obvious candidate to receive one.

2:20pm: The Yankees have also checked in on Rodon, though they’re seen as a “long shot,” Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic adds that Rodon’s $22.5MM player option has indeed been a complicating factor in talks to this point, given the aforementioned downside it presents an acquiring club.

1:20pm: The Giants are in discussions with teams about Carlos Rodón, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Slusser suggests they’re not motivated to sell low, however, indicating they’d only accept an offer for “full value.”  Slusser lists the Phillies, Twins, and Cardinals as interested parties.  At 51-52, the Giants sit 4.5 games out for a wild card spot and have 16.6% playoff odds as calculated by FanGraphs.

Rodon dominated through his first 16 starts last year for the White Sox, but then seemed to wear down and was handled carefully the rest of the year.  The White Sox chose not to issue a qualifying offer, and Rodon went into free agency as a high-risk, high-reward pitcher.  After the lockout, the Giants gave Rodon a two-year, $44MM deal that allows him to opt out of the remaining $22.5MM for ’23 if he reaches 110 innings, a condition the lefty has already met.

So far, Rodon has silenced any concern about his health, as he’s tossed 123 innings without a dropoff in velocity or production, resulting in his second consecutive All-Star nod.  Over his last five starts, Rodon has punched out over 36% of batters faced, whiffing ten in each of his last two.

As with any opt-out clause, Rodon will exercise it if he thinks he can top the remaining $22.5MM.  Barring a significant injury, it seems likely Rodon will indeed explore free agency again unless he’s extended by a new team.  The Mariners and Yankees, respectively, have landed the top two starters on the trade market in Luis Castillo and Frankie Montas.  Back-end options Jose Quintana and Jake Odorizzi are off the board as well.

A healthy Rodon is a potential Game 1 or 2 playoff starter, and can impact a playoff race.  However, he is owed over $7.5MM for the remainder of the season, plus the downside risk of his opt-out clause and the chance of a repeat of last year’s late fade.  He’ll need a suitor with financial flexibility and tolerance for risk.  If the Giants don’t find an offer to their liking, they can still tender a qualifying offer to Rodon after the season.

Dodgers Acquire Joey Gallo

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3:00PM: The trade has been officially announced.

1:22PM: The Dodgers are taking a shot on Joey Gallo for the season’s final few months. They’ve reportedly agreed to acquire him from the Yankees in exchange for pitching prospect Clayton Beeter.

Gallo has spent the past year in the Bronx, coming over from the Rangers in a massive deadline deal last summer. At the time, the power-hitting outfielder was fresh off a second career All-Star nod and carried a .223/.379/.490 line with 25 home runs in 95 games. The Yankees no doubt envisioned his left-handed pop playing perfectly in the short right field porch at their home ballpark, but Gallo’s tenure in New York proved a major disappointment.

The 28-year-old stumbled to a .160/.303/.404 line through 58 games after the trade last year. While he’s always been a high-strikeout player, his saw his rate of punchouts spike from 32.2% to 38.6%. He still connected on 13 homers with the Yankees, but the 70 point dip in both his batting average and on-base marks surely wasn’t what general manager Brian Cashman and his staff had had in mind.

The Yankees retained Gallo via arbitration in hopes his production would bounce back towards his career norms. The opposite transpired, as his struggled became even more pronounced in 2022. Gallo’s strikeout rate held near its late-2021 level (38.8%), and his power has taken a step back. He’s hit 12 homers in 82 contests, watching his average exit velocity fall from a strong 91.3 MPH to a near-average 88.4 MPH. Gallo’s still drawing plenty of walks, but merely average batted ball metrics aren’t sufficient for a player who whiffs as often as he does.

New York’s frustrations with Gallo’s continued struggles mounted (as did his own, as he candidly addressed with Lindsey Adler of the Athletic recently). The Yankees began to curtail his playing time in favor of the hot-hitting Matt Carpenter. They then acquired Andrew Benintendi from the Royals for a trio of pitching prospects last week, all but officially ending Gallo’s time in the organization.

It’s an inopportune time to market Gallo, but the Dodgers certainly aren’t anticipating they’re getting a player who’ll hit .159/.291/.368 — as Gallo did in over 500 plate appearances with New York. They’re betting on his pre-Yankees track record, hopeful that a change of scenery and perhaps some desired mechanical tweaks can get him back on track. Gallo is capable of carrying a lineup at his best, as he did during last year’s first half in Texas and during a half-season in 2019 when he hit .253/.389/.598 with 22 homers. He’s also an excellent defensive corner outfielder and baserunner, and he addresses a corner outfield mix that is currently without Chris Taylor due to a foot fracture (although Taylor is expected to return wells in advance of the start of the postseason).

Once Taylor returns, Gallo figures to work off the bench behind Taylor, Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts. He’ll add some left-handed power to a group that also includes Jake Lamb, while he adds a plus defensive outfielder for late-game situations. It’s a short-term pickup for a club that’s certainly headed to the playoffs (and very likely to win the NL West). Gallo is slated to reach free agency at the end of the season. He’s playing this year on a $10.275MM salary, around $3.7MM of which is yet to be paid. The Dodgers will assume the reminder of that money, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link).

In exchange for the final couple months of Gallo’s services, the Yankees pick up a recent supplemental second-round pick. Beeter, a righty from Texas Tech, checked in as the #15 prospect in the L.A. system on Baseball America’s most recent rankings. He generates plus life on his mid-upper 90s fastball and has a good downhill curveball, but his lack of control seems likely to eventually push him to the bullpen. The 23-year-old has spent the season in Double-A, pitching to a 5.75 ERA with a huge 36.1% strikeout rate but an untenable 14.3% walk percentage across 18 appearances (16 starts).

Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated first reported the deal.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rays’ Brett Phillips Drawing Interest From Multiple Clubs

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The Rays designated outfielder Brett Phillips for assignment yesterday upon acquiring outfielder Jose Siri from the Astros, and while a team normally has a week to trade a player following a DFA, that’s not the case with today’s 6pm ET deadline looming. Phillips seems likely to change hands today, as he’s already drawing interest from multiple clubs. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe tweets that the Red Sox have reached out to the Rays, while Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets that the Phillies have also shown interest as they look to add some defense in center. Brendan Kuty of NJ.com adds the Yankees as another interested club.

It’s been a dismal season at the plate for Phillips, who’s hitting just .147/.225/.250 through 208 plate appearances and has fanned at a whopping 40.9% rate. He’s never been one to provide much with the bat, but this year’s struggles still represent a pronounced departure from last year’s .206/.300/.427 output and the career .201/.291/.381 Phillips carried into the season.

For all of Phillips’ struggles with the bat, he’s long been one of the game’s premier defenders. He’s not only capable of playing all three outfield spots but is a plus defender across the board, evidenced by career marks of 38 Defensive Runs Saved, 31 Outs Above Average and a 25.3 Ultimate Zone Rating in just 2100 innings of outfield work in his career. The left-handed-hitting Phillips also has displayed plenty of pop and been an excellent base stealer prior to the season. In 675 prior plate appearances, he’d popped 23 homers and gone 29-for-34 in stolen base attempts.

Phillips is earning $1.4MM this season and is controllable for another two years via arbitration, although this year’s struggles at the plate make him an obvious non-tender candidate. Still, as a backup outfielder with power, speed and an elite glove, he could offer plenty of value to a contender off the bench in the season’s final couple months. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick on the roster of whatever club potentially acquires him.

Speculatively, there are plenty of other potential fits even beyond the three teams reported to have inquired. The Marlins and Astros are both known to be looking for potential center field upgrades, and Phillips is of course a former Astros farmhand. The Twins’ outfield is banged up beyond recognition at the moment, and Phillips would give them a low-cost stopgap with elite defense to help shore things up. The Blue Jays could see Phillips as a more appealing version of the same skill set that current fourth outfielder Bradley Zimmer offers.

Lack of offensive value notwithstanding, the defense, speed and past power production could very well land Phillips with another team at some point today.

Bullpen Rumors: Soto, Givens, Moore

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While just about any team in need of bullpen help would love to get its hands on Tigers closer Gregory Soto, Detroit is setting a lofty asking price, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com. The Tigers are seeking multiple MLB-ready or nearly MLB-ready pieces and will surely be focused on players with several years of club control remaining, given that Soto himself has three years of team control beyond the current campaign. The 27-year-old is averaging a massive 98.6 mph on his heater and has pitched to a 2.36 ERA with a 25.5% strikeout rate, a 10.3% walk rate, a 46.5% ground-ball rate and 19 saves so far in 2022. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that the Astros are among the clubs with interest. Houston hasn’t had a single left-handed reliever eclipse ten innings this season, so it’s no surprise they’d have their eyes on a high-end southpaw like Soto.

More rumblings on the bullpen market…

  • The White Sox picked up Jake Diekman in a deal with the Red Sox this evening, but they’re still on the hunt for relief help. Bruce Levine of 670 the Score reports that the Sox are among the clubs with interest in Cubs reliever Mychal Givens (Twitter link). The veteran righty is quite likely to move by tomorrow evening’s deadline, as he’s on track to hit free agency after the season. Givens’ deal contains a 2023 mutual option, but those are rarely exercised by both sides. The righty is due what remains on a $3.5MM salary for this season, plus a $1.5MM buyout on the option. Givens, who signed with the Cubs over the offseason, has a 2.66 ERA across 40 2/3 innings. He’s punched out an excellent 29.7% of opponents, although his 11% walk rate is a bit higher than ideal. Nevertheless, a relatively affordable middle reliever with a strong track record and Givens’ bat-missing abilities should attract interest from contenders.
  • As part of an overview on the Rangers deadline outlook, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News posits that reliever Matt Moore is the most likely player on the club to be traded. MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored Moore’s trade candidacy a few weeks ago, noting that the veteran southpaw has adapted well to a bullpen conversion after a career as a primary starter. Signed to a minor league deal over the winter, Moore made the big league roster two weeks into the season. He’s followed with 48 2/3 innings over 36 outings, posting a 1.66 ERA with an above-average 26.1% strikeout rate and a huge 52.5% grounder rate. An elevated walk percentage (12.1%) stands as a bit of a black mark on his record, but that combination of strikeouts and grounders will no doubt appeal to contending clubs. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote last night that Moore — as well as Tigers reliever Michael Fulmer — was on the Yankees radar, but it’s not clear whether those hurlers are still on the wish list after New York brought in Scott Effross and Lou Trivino in separate deals this afternoon.

Yankees Transfer Luis Severino, Miguel Castro To 60-Day IL, Sign Carlos Espinal

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The Yankees announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with righties Luis Severino and Miguel Castro being transferred to the 60-day injured list. Righty Clarke Schmidt was optioned to Triple-A, while another righty, Carlos Espinal, was signed to a major league contract and selected to the active roster.

Severino, 28, was placed on the injured list July 14 due to a low-grade strain of his right lat. Today’s transfer will rule him out until 60 days from that initial placement, which would be mid-September at the earliest.  That absence is longer than most expected, and the Yankees did not reveal Severino’s timeline until after making their acquisition of Frankie Montas official.  Severino could still be a factor for the Yankees in the postseason.  Severino played catch on the field today, reports MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.

Severino, 29 in February, pitched only 18 regular season innings in the Majors from 2019-21 due to a lat strain and a drawn-out recovery from Tommy John surgery that included a shoulder injury of its own.  Until this current lat strain, 2022 had marked a return to health and form for Severino, who has a 3.45 ERA in 16 starts.  The Yankees will be weighing his $15MM club option after the season.  Castro, acquired from the Mets in an April trade, pitched acceptably in lower-leverage work out of the Yankees’ pen before straining his shoulder.

Espinal, listed at 5’11” and 175 pounds, has never gotten attention from prospect experts but has demonstrated the ability to miss bats at the Double-A level.  After only a trio of appearances at Triple-A, he’s now on the cusp of his Major League debut at age 25.  Schmidt was unscored-upon over his last seven innings, but after throwing 52 pitches on Tuesday perhaps the Yankees preferred a fresher arm in the short-term.  Espinal can help bridge the gap as the Yankees wait for a pair of new bullpen additions to make their way to New York: Scott Effross, acquired from the Cubs, and Lou Trivino, added from the A’s in the Montas deal.

Yankees Acquire Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino

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The Yankees have announced that they have acquired Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino from the Athletics. In exchange, the Athletics will receive pitchers JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk and Luis Medina, as well as second baseman Cooper Bowman.

Next to Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, Montas has been seen as one of the better starting pitchers available at the trade deadline. The Yankees had been connected to Castillo, but he was traded to the Mariners in recent days. The Yanks evidently turned their attentions to Montas in order to satisfy their desire for boosting their rotation.

Montas has been a solid member of Oakland’s rotation for years, first establishing himself in 2018. Despite a down year in 2020, Montas still owns a career 3.73 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate. Just looking at what he’s done since the start of the 2021 season, he’s been on an even better level, logging a 3.30 ERA, 26.3% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 44% grounder rate. He’s been worth 6.1 wins above replacement in that time, according to FanGraphs.

Despite being a solid performer, Montas has seemed like an inevitable trade candidate for quite some time now. As the 2021 season finished and the offseason began, the A’s were widely reported to be planning a massive sell-off of any player making a significant salary and/or approaching free agency. Montas was frequently cited among the trade candidates, next to Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman. Those four latter names were all moved between this winter’s lockout and the beginning of the season, but Montas stayed. He’s making just over $5MM this season, making him the cheapest of that group, but he only has one further season of club control remaining. Given that the A’s aren’t likely to return to competition in that time, it made sense to make him available to other clubs.

The Yankees have been incredibly healthy in terms of their rotation this year, with their front five of Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Nestor Cortes, Jordan Montgomery and Luis Severino all staying healthy for the first three-plus months of the season. As such, the rotation as a whole has logged 567 innings, the third-most in the majors, while also posting a 3.37 ERA that’s third in the league. However, Severino landed on the IL a couple of weeks ago with shoulder tightness. While he’s been out, Domingo German has made two starts but has an 8.22 ERA in those. When Montas reports to the team, he will likely bump German back to the minors or a long-relief role. If Severino can get back on the mound while everyone else is still healthy, the Yanks might have to make a tough decision about to fit everyone into the mix, but that would be a good problem to have in the future.

The Yankees weren’t content to merely upgrade their rotation, however, also adding Trivino into the bullpen, their second such addition of the day, following their earlier acquisition of Scott Effross. Yankee fans might see Trivino’s 6.47 ERA and scoff, but there’s actually more to like under the hood. Trivino’s been the victim of a .451 batting average on balls in play, despite that number being around .250 in the two previous seasons. His 28.7% strikeout rate and 52.3% ground ball rates on the year are both career highs while his 8.9% walk rate is a career low. As such, all of the advanced metrics feel that batted ball luck is masking his true talents, with Trivino currently sporting a 4.29 xERA, 3.84 FIP, 2.92 xFIP and 2.89 SIERA. He’s making a modest $3MM salary this year and can be retained via arbitration for another two seasons.

The Yankees’ bullpen seemed unstoppable for much of the season but has since hit some snags. Chad Green required Tommy John surgery and won’t be back this year. Michael King is also done for the year after suffering an elbow fracture. The once-untouchable Aroldis Chapman has struggled since coming off the IL. Clay Holmes, who seemed to replace Chapman as the unhittable monster in the bullpen, has also come back down to earth in recent weeks. With the additions of Effross and Trivino, the Yankees have given themselves some extra options for late-game duty.

The A’s have already completely remade their system this year with the aforementioned trades of Bassitt, Manaea, Olson and Chapman, and this deal will allow them to bring in four more fresh faces. The highlight of the bunch is probably Waldichuk, 24, who is enjoying a tremendous breakout season. Selected by the Yankees in the fifth round in 2019, he has split his time this year between Double-A and Triple-A. In 17 starts between the two levels, he’s thrown 76 1/3 innings with a 2.71 ERA and incredible 36.5% strikeout rate. The 10.4% walk rate is a little above-average, but there’s still plenty to be excited about in that performance. The southpaw was recently ranked the #5 prospect in the Yankees’ system by Baseball America.

Sears, 26, came in 20th on that same list at BA. He made his MLB debut this year and has looked good so far, notching a 2.05 ERA in his first 22 big league innings. He’s only gotten strikeouts at an 18.1% clip in that time, but is much better at getting punchouts in the minors. In 43 Triple-A innings this year, he has a 1.67 ERA with a 33.7% strikeout rate, along with a 4.3% walk rate.

Medina, 23, has also been considered one of the top Yankee prospects by BA, oscillating between the #7 and #11 spot from 2018 to the present. He’s made 17 starts in Double-A this year, throwing 72 innings with a 3.38 ERA, 50.9% ground ball rate, 26.4% strikeout rate, but a high 13% walk rate.

As for Bowman, he’s the most long-term play among the new Athletics, as he’s just 22 years old and was just drafted last year, being selected in the fourth round. He’s played 80 games in High-A this year, putting up a line of .217/.343/.355 while playing second base and shortstop.

While the A’s are ramping up for the future, the Yankees are loading up for right now. Their 69-34 record is the best in the American League and only percentage points behind the Dodgers for best in the majors. In recent days, they’ve bolstered their lineup by adding Andrew Benintendi, added Montas to their rotation and Effross and Trivino to their bullpen. Though there’s still about 24 hours until the trade deadline for them to make further moves, they’ve clearly cemented themselves as one of the strongest teams this year.

With Castillo and Montas now both off the market, teams looking for rotation upgrades will likely turn their attentions to Tyler Mahle. Teams like the Cardinals, Twins, Padres and Blue Jays have been connected to Montas in recent days, with those clubs now likely to pivot to Mahle or other arms.

Jack Curry of the YES Network reported the particulars of the deal before the official announcement (Twitter links).

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels Planning To Keep Shohei Ohtani, No Longer Listening To Offers

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The Angels have listened to offers on reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani for the past several days, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that they’re no longer doing so. The Yankees, Padres and White Sox were among the teams to submit trade offers for Ohtani, per the report, but Heyman writes that owner Arte Moreno ultimately proved “unwilling” to part with Ohtani.

The fact that Ohtani is staying put is hardly shocking. Even when reports emerged of that the Angels were listening to trade offers, it still seemed unlikely that a deal would come together. Given Ohtani’s unprecedented contributions to the team in recent years, it was always expected that a massive package would have to be put on the table in order for the Angels to pull the trigger on a deal. With the Angels mired in another miserable season that’s seen them fall well out of contention, it made sense to listen to offers on the superstar given that he’s now just over a year away from free agency. Despite those three clubs apparently putting together serious offers, it seems none of them were close to the understandably high asking price of the Angels.

The reigning AL MVP, Ohtani is putting together another historic season to add to his already impressive list of accolades. His power has fallen off slightly, as his 22 home runs on the year puts him on pace to fall short of last year’s 46. But apart from that, his .255/.352/.495 slash line this year isn’t too far from last year’s .257/.372/.592. His 135 wRC+ this year is seventeen points behind last year, but still 35% better than the league average hitter. On the pitching side of things, he’s actually improved relative to the previous season. He’s dropped his ERA from 3.18 to 2.81, increased his strikeout rate from 29.3% to 36.4% and lowered his walk rate from 8.3% to 5.8%.

Given that he’s producing excellent results on both sides of the ball and making a modest $5.5MM salary, it’s hard to fathom a team that wouldn’t be interested in making use of his services. The Yankees are known to be looking for rotation help, having checked in on some of the top available names like Frankie Montas and Luis Castillo, before the latter was traded to the Mariners. They’ve also checked in on offensive upgrades, recently acquiring Andrew Benintendi. Acquiring Ohtani would have crowded the DH mix a little, though the Yanks were surely willing to find a way to work with that situation for such a historic player.

The Padres already have a rotation surplus but have been considering trading away from it as a way to reduce their payroll commitments. It’s possible that they could have combined an Ohtani trade with a trade of Blake Snell or Mike Clevinger, in order to get Ohtani into the rotation and then also upgrade the lineup.

The White Sox have a solid five-man rotation right now but have been exploring the market for upgrades anyway, with Michael Kopech perhaps working his way towards some load management as the season goes on. He’s already thrown 88 1/3 innings this year after only throwing 69 1/3 frames over the three previous seasons combined.

Regardless of how much sense Ohtani would have made for those teams, it doesn’t appear as though the Angels came close to a deal that they gave serious consideration to. It’s perfectly logical for them to want to hang onto such an unprecedented talent, though this decision won’t provide any long-term clarity. The Angels are still 43-59 and destined to finish another season watching the postseason from home. That will leave 2023 as the club’s last chance to build a winning roster around Ohtani, unless they are able to work out an extension.

That latter course will surely be appealing to Angels’ fans but will come with complications for the front office. The latest reporting indicated that Ohtani and his camp were looking to surpass Max Scherzer’s record for annual average value of a contract, $43.3MM. That number would be added to a payroll that already includes Mike Trout getting over $37MM per year through 2028 while Anthony Rendon getting paid similarly through 2026. That could leave the Halos paying around $120MM per season to just three players. That wouldn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for a team that’s never run an Opening Day payroll above $190MM. If an extension can’t be worked out, then perhaps Ohtani’s name will show up in trade rumors in more serious fashion one year from now.

Athletics Getting Closer To Frankie Montas Trade

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12:20pm: The Twins believe the A’s are wrapping up a trade sending Montas to another club, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. That would suggest they’re among the teams who’ve been informed they’re no longer in the running, as suggested by Heyman.

12:15pm: The Yankees are willing to include top shortstop prospect Oswald Peraza in a Montas deal, tweets SNY’s Andy Martino.

12:01pm: The Athletics have begun informing some teams that they’re no longer in the running for right-hander Frankie Montas, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Yankees are among the clubs who are still in the bidding, he adds.

It’s not clear just yet which clubs have been ruled out, but Montas has drawn widespread interest, with the Cardinals, Padres, Blue Jays and Twins among those who have joined the Yankees in their pursuit of the righty.

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