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Reds Acquire Luis Cessa, Justin Wilson From Yankees

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In a surprise transaction, the Yankees announced they’ve traded relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to the Reds in exchange for a player to be named later. Cincinnati designated Ashton Goudeau and Edgar García for assignment to open 40-man roster space.

The appeal for the Reds is in the addition of Cessa, who was a dependable bullpen arm throughout much of his time in the Bronx. The right-hander is capable of working multiple innings and has been an effective pitcher over the past few years. Since the start of the 2019 campaign, Cessa has tossed 141 innings of 3.64 ERA/4.34 FIP ball. He’s been even more effective this season, working to a career-best 2.82 ERA over 38 1/3 frames.

Cessa doesn’t have the bat-missing stuff of most relievers. His 19.3% strikeout rate is well below the 24.5% league average for bullpen arms, and his swinging strike rate is similarly underwhelming. That’s basically been true throughout Cessa’s entire big league tenure, though, and he’s found a fair amount of success by throwing strikes and avoiding especially damaging contact. The 29-year-old is inducing ground balls at a massive 56.8% clip this year, and Statcast shows he’s been among the top twenty percent of pitchers in suppressing opponents’ average exit velocity, hard contact and barrels.

While the Reds don’t look particularly likely to make the playoffs in 2021, the acquisition of Cessa gives Cincinnati a potential multi-year piece for a bullpen that has been one of the league’s worst this year. The 29-year-old is earning just $1.05MM this season (less than $400K of which remains to be paid), and he’s controllable through 2023 via arbitration. With the Reds no doubt hoping to contend in 2022 (and not yet giving up hope of a late push this season), picking up an affordable, long-term bullpen piece holds obvious appeal.

Wilson has a long track record of productivity, but he’s in the middle of a disappointing campaign. The southpaw put up an ERA below 4.00 each season from 2017-20, but he’s only managed a 7.50 mark through 18 frames so far this year. Wilson’s velocity has gone backwards, and his typically lofty strikeout rate has plummeted to 18.1%. Given their own bullpen struggles, Cincinnati figures to give him an opportunity to right the ship, but it’s likely the Reds agreed to take on Wilson’s salary to incentivize the Yankees to part with Cessa.

New York signed Wilson over the winter to a somewhat complex contract. The southpaw is making $2.85MM this year (about $1MM of which remains). He has a $2.3MM player option for next season. If he declines, Cincinnati would hold a $7.15MM club option ($1.15MM buyout) on his services. Given Wilson’s struggles this year, it seems he’d be trending toward exercising his player option — but doing so would entitle the Reds to a 2023 club option worth just $500K north of that year’s league minimum salary.

Goudeau bounced around waivers throughout last offseason. He now seems likely to wind up back on the wire after making five MLB appearances for the Reds this year. He’s tossed 31 innings across eight appearances (five starts) with Triple-A Louisville, working to a 4.65 ERA with a below-average 16.1% strikeout rate. García has also spent most of the campaign with the Bats. He’s been quite good in Triple-A but hit hard over his five big league outings.

From the Yankees perspective, the deal frees some payroll space and clears a pair of spots on the 40-man roster. In addition to getting themselves off the hook for Wilson’s 2022 player option, New York shaves around $1.4MM off their luxury tax ledger in 2021. With the Yankees just a few million dollars shy of the $210MM threshold, the extra breathing room could enable the front office to pursue upgrades before Friday’s trade deadline. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link) suggests New York could look around the league for bullpen and/or shortstop additions, with a particular focus on left-handed bats.

At Least Eight Teams In The Mix For Max Scherzer

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As many as eight clubs are in the mix for Nationals ace and three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, per Jayson Stark of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays, Astros and Mets are all interested, according to Stark, who adds that the Yankees also inquired but were told Scherzer isn’t likely to waive his no-trade rights for a move to New York. That meshes with recent reporting from SNY’s Andy Martino, who wrote earlier this afternoon that Scherzer wouldn’t approve a trade to the Mets (nor would the Nationals be keen on dealing their ace to the current division leaders).

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported earlier in the day that Scherzer preferred a West Coast club, though MLB Network’s Jon Heyman adds that the ostensible West Coast preference is more about Scherzer wanting to go to a team with a chance to win in 2021 and beyond. Scherzer prefers to go to “a team he could stay with” on a possible extension, per Heyman. Agent Scott Boras indicated as much earlier in the summer, although at the time Boras suggested an extension might be necessary in order for Scherzer to waive his no-trade protection at all. That no longer seems to be the case, but as evidenced by Scherzer’s unwillingness to go to a New York club, the no-trade rights can help him choose his eventual landing spot.

If the Nats are to ultimately trade Scherzer, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the team’s preference is to do so within the next 48 hours. Doing so would leave ample time to sort through the no-trade obstacles and any potential compensation for waiving those rights (e.g. alterations to deferrals, taxes, etc.).

That said, a trade taking place prior to Thursday’s game would put an acquiring team in a tough spot. Scherzer was scratched from his weekend start due to a triceps issue and is set to return to the mound Thursday. A recent MRI came back clean, and any team acquiring Scherzer would obviously have access to the results from that imaging and other testing. Still, a clean MRI may not inspire as much confidence as seeing Scherzer go out and actually perform. If interested clubs prefer to wait until Scherzer has taken the mound, there’d be fewer than 24 hours between the conclusion of Thursday’s start and Friday afternoon’s deadline.

Any trade involving Scherzer is going to be financially complicated, but looking at Stark’s list of interested parties, there are a few particularly complex scenarios. The Dodgers are already into the final luxury-tax bracket, meaning they’d pay a 62.5 percent overage penalty on any additional money added to the books. For Scherzer, whose remaining luxury hit clocks in at roughly $10.03MM post-deadline and $10.49MM as of this writing, that’d mean paying between $6.27MM and $6.56MM on top of the approximately $12.2MM he’s still owed in actual 2021 salary. (Luxury tax is calculated based on a contract’s average annual value, but Scherzer’s backloaded contract comes with a $35MM salary in 2021 — albeit with much of that sum deferred.)

The Padres are reportedly just above the luxury tax threshold, but are still considering moves that could take them back under that line. A Scherzer acquisition, however, would push them well above the mark. That’s also true of the Astros and the Red Sox, who are both within just a few million of the $210MM threshold. The Rays, of course, have an entirely different sort of financial obstacles to consider (namely, their perennially cellar-level payroll). The Jays and Giants, as teams with deep pockets and no real luxury concerns of which to speak, ostensibly represent the “cleanest” fits of the bunch.

That’s not to say that the Dodgers, Padres, Astros, Rays or Red Sox shouldn’t be considered legitimate contenders for Scherzer. (Although if Scherzer is hoping to stay with the club that acquires him, the low-payroll Rays are an admittedly tough fit.) Most clubs this summer have voiced some iteration of a “we’d exceed the threshold for the ’right’ player” stance. It’s hard to imagine a player who fits that billing more than a bona fide ace and three-time Cy Young winner who has a 2.92 ERA in 49 1/3 postseason innings with the Nats since 2016. But with the Nats theoretically negotiating with a rapidly ticking clock, any complicated financial elements of a deal are magnified.

Pirates Trade Clay Holmes To Yankees

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The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve acquired right-handed reliever Clay Holmes from the Pirates in exchange for minor league infielders Diego Castillo and Hoy Jun Park. Catcher Rob Brantly, who’d been on the roster as a Covid-related replacement player, has been returned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to open a roster spot. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported about a minute before the announcement that Holmes was being traded to the Yankees for a pair of minor leaguers (via Twitter).

Holmes, 28, has spent the season in the Pittsburgh bullpen and pitched to a 4.93 ERA, a 23.3 percent strikeout rate, a 13.2 percent walk rate and an enormous 72.8 percent ground-ball rate. To offer a bit more context on that percentage, Holmes has pitched 42 innings this season and surrendered just 16 fly-balls (three of which were pop-ups) and 15 line drives. He’s induced 83 grounders.

Control has been an obvious issue for Holmes, who has always hit four batters and thrown five wild pitches, but he’s only allowed 10 home runs in 119 2/3 career innings (0.75 HR/9). He’s also among the game’s best at limiting premium contact so far in 2021 (86th percentile average exit velocity; 91st percentile barrel rate).

Holmes has yet to reach arbitration but will be arb-eligible for the first time this winter. He’s making scarcely more than the league minimum and can be controlled all the way through the 2024 season if he ultimately sticks in the bullpen. He’ll have to prove his mettle with the Yankees at the Major League level, however, as he’s out of minor league options and cannot be sent down without first being exposed to waivers.

For much of his minor league career, Holmes worked as a starting pitcher. He’s made just four starts in the Majors, however, against 87 bullpen appearances. Because he can’t be sent down, it’s unlikely that the Yankees would try to stretch him out at the MLB level. He’ll head into the bullpen for now, where he can give them some length. Holmes has worked several outings of one-plus or two innings at a time and topped 30 pitches in an appearance on a few occasions.

Ground-ball rate looks to be something the Yankees have zeroed in on in recent years, at least with regard to their bullpen. Zack Britton is one of the most prolific ground-ball pitchers in history, and the current Yankee bullpen sports five more pitchers who’ve tossed at least 10 innings of relief this year with a grounder rate of 50 percent or better: Albert Abreu, Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, Mike King and Wandy Peralta. At a time when the league is working to curb the use of foreign substances that increase the spin rate on four-seam fastballs and sliders, it’s perhaps not coincidental that the Yankees are seeking out another extreme ground-ball pitcher who relies on a low-spin sinker.

Yankees fans may be surprised to see Park included in this deal after he’s posted a .327/.475/.567 slash with 10 homers, nine doubles, a triple and eight stolen bases in 223 Triple-A plate appearances so far. The 25-year-old was recently called to the big league roster for the first time but only got one appearance before being sent back out.

Notably, however, the Yankees outrighted Park to Triple-A, however, indicating that he went unclaimed on outright waivers at the time of the move. The Pirates (or another club) could’ve had Park for free at that point, were they willing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. The 29 other clubs passed. The Bucs will now pick up his rights (without having to dedicate a 40-man spot) and hope he can continue to build on that breakout showing he’s enjoyed so far in Triple-A this year. FanGraphs’ Eric Lonenhagen ranked Park 31st among Yankees farmhands prior to this deal, noting that his ability to play a viable shortstop an control the strike zone make him a “high-probability utility infield piece.”

Castillo, 23, had a history as a light-hitting middle infielder with premium contact rates before his production exploded in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting this year. He’s hitting .277/.345/.504 (127 wRC+) with 11 home runs, 18 doubles and eight steals in 249 plate appearances on the year. Castillo has walked at a career-best 8.4 percent against a 13.4 percent strikeout rate. He’s another shortstop-capable infield prospect to add to the middle levels of the Pirates’ system — one whom Longenhagen ranked 21st in the Yankees’ system at the time of the swap.

Yankees Reinstate Gio Urshela, Place Chris Gittens On 10-Day Injured List

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The Yankees have activated Gio Urshela from the COVID-related injured list. Chris Gittens will replace him on the 10-day injured list after stepping on a bat and turning his ankle, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter). Tim Locastro was also transferred to the 60-day injured list, per the team.

Gittens, 27, made his Major League debut this season with a .111/.250/.194 triple slash line in 44 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter absolutely mashed in Triple-A, however, hitting an undeniable .359/.519/.718 in 104 plate appearances.

Urshela will be back at third base for the Yanks. The 29-year-old is again producing for the Yankees, posting 1.5 rWAR with a .275/.315/.441 line and 11 home runs over 314 plate appearances.

Latest On Corey Kluber

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  • Corey Kluber threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on Friday, and the Yankees veteran told reporters (including ESPN’s Marly Rivera) that he is “very confident” that he’ll be able to return in 2021.  Kluber was initially targeted for a late-July return at the time of his IL placement for a shoulder strain, though Yankees GM Brian Cashman later threw some doubt into Kluber’s exact timeline, saying that the right-hander might not be back until September.  While Kluber certainly doesn’t look immediately close to an activation just yet, his mound work does represent progress, even if he described his 25 pitches as “easy fastballs…nothing like I would do in a regular bullpen session.”

Asher Wojciechowski Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Asher Wojciechowski has rejected the Yankees’ outright assignment to Triple-A and elected to become a free agent, the team announced.  New York designated Wojciechowski for assignment earlier this week.

After signing a minors deal with the Yankees this past offseason, Wojciechowski’s tenure in the Bronx lasted just one Major League game — a spot start against the Phillies on Wednesday that saw the righty allow two runs in four innings of what ended up as a 6-5 Yankees victory.

Wojciechowski will now head back onto the open market, after having already been a member of 10 different organizations during a pro career that began when the Blue Jays selected him 41st overall in the 2010 draft.  Wojciechowski has pitched for five teams at the MLB level, with a 5.93 ERA over 202 career innings over parts of five seasons.  Since Wojciechowski had also been outrighted off a big league roster in the past (by the Orioles last September), it was his right to refuse another outright assignment and opt for free agency.

Gary Sanchez Leaves Game

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  • The Yankees were also dealt a potential blow today as Gary Sanchez was removed from the game with back spasms. The Yankees are already without backup Kyle Higashioka, who will remain on the COVID-related injured list at least until next week, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News (via Twitter). Rob Brantly would be the stand-in, should Sanchez need further days off.

Latest On Yankees’ Trade Targets

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The Yankees are far from matching the kind of production they’ve set as their historical standard, but manager Aaron Boone’s much-maligned unit isn’t exactly dead in the water: they’re five games over .500 and still a very reasonable 4.5 games out of the second wild card spot. Most teams in their spot would be looking for additions to make a playoff push. The Yankees, of course, have no plans of fading into the background, and they’re surely set to make a splash or two here in the final week before the trade deadline.

Trevor Story and Starling Marte continue to be two of the most talked-about names on the market, and both Story and Marte have been connected to the Yanks in recent weeks. They’ve also checked in on Max Kepler, though the Twins’ asking price is said to be “exorbitant,” per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com.

Consider Story or Marte the more likely targets, then, though they’ll face plenty of competition for either player. Both players are, however, likely to move before the deadline. The hangup will be on finding the right match of prospects to send to Colorado and Miami, respectively.

Speculatively speaking, Story would appear the more impactful addition, given how much his glove could improve the Yankees’ defense – and how much he would affect the other pieces of the roster. Sliding Gleyber Torres to second and DJ LeMahieu to first would put all the pieces in the right places, though Luke Voit would be in a position to either move to the bench or push Giancarlo Stanton to the outfield, where the Yankees are hesitant to play him. Still, there aren’t as many teams as it might seem with a hole at shortstop, and some of those teams with obvious needs to upgrade (i.e. the A’s) have been bearish on pursuing one.

Further, ESPN’s David Schoenfield suggests they might be on the lookout for bullpen help. That might be a little offputting to hear at first, as their bullpen ranks third by fWAR this season, but there’s a lot of volume built into that metric. They rank eighth overall with a 3.67 bullpen ERA. The concern, more specifically, is their recent performance. The Yanks’ pen ranks 21st with a 5.19 ERA in July. That’s not necessarily enough to cause full-on panic, but there’s always room for another arm in the bullpen.

 

Yankees Interested In Trevor Story

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The Yankees are looking at one of the top position players that might be available at the trade deadline, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that New York is one of the teams interested Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.  Roughly six to eight teams have reportedly contacted the Rockies about Story, with the White Sox being one of the names linked to the All-Star.

There have already been a few unique turns to Story’s status as a trade candidate, such as Chicago’s openness to moving Story from shortstop to second base, or an unnamed team looking into Story as a center fielder.  While the Yankees have a center field need of their own, it is probably safe to presume their interest in Story is pretty straight-forward — Story would take over shortstop from Gleyber Torres, with Torres moving to second base, DJ LeMahieu playing first base regularly, and Gio Urshela playing third base when he returns from the COVID-IL.  Luke Voit would presumably factor into the first base mix when healthy, though it isn’t known when he might return from his current knee problems.

Story is only under contract through the remainder of the 2021 season, but it would be safe to imagine that his acquisition might mark the long-term end of Torres as a shortstop.  Torres has delivered consistently below-average defense at the shortstop position, and since taking over the position full-time prior to the 2020 season, Torres’ offensive production has significantly dropped.  After batting .275/.338/.511 in 1088 PA in 2018-19, Torres has since hit only .241/.337/.348 in 497 plate appearances.

Should the Yankees be looking for a new shortstop come the offseason, they’ll have many options to pick from amidst a very star-studded shortstop class that will include Story himself.  The Yankees would certainly use their two-plus months with Story as a recruiting pitch to perhaps interest him in a long-term commitment this winter, and there would be no better enticement than if Story could help the team get into the postseason.

Playing on a $17.5MM salary for 2021, Story has about $6.97MM remaining.  It isn’t a huge sum unto itself, though it does weigh heavily for a Yankees team that has prioritized staying under the $210MM luxury tax threshold this season, and thus resetting their penalty status.  New York is already within roughly $4MM of the threshold, and the Yankees also have holes to fill in the outfield and within the pitching staff.  As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted today, the Rockies could opt to maximize their return for Story by offering to eat the rest of his salary in exchange for a better prospect return, which would certainly get the Yankees’ attention and would be a canny move to increase the trade value of a rental player.

That said, there is also some doubt that Colorado will move Story at all, since the team will get a compensatory draft pick should Story reject the qualifying offer and sign elsewhere in free agency.  The Yankees would have to top the value of that compensatory pick, which New York might not be willing to do for a rental player, and if the team is ultimately competing just for a one-game wild card playoff at this point (given the eight-game gap between the Yankees and the first-place Red Sox in the AL East standings).

Draft Signings: 7/22/21

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The latest on some notable Day Two draft signings.  For more on the 2021 draft, check out the prospect rankings and scouting reports compiled by Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.  As well, here is MLB Pipeline’s breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.

  • The Twins agreed to deals with Competitive Balance Round A pick Noah Miller and second-rounder Steve Hajjar, the team announced.  As the 36th overall pick, Miller had an assigned slot price of $2,045,400, and Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (via Twitter) reports that the high school shortstop’s bonus was under slot at $1.7MM.  Hajjar’s bonus hasn’t yet been reported, but the 61st overall pick has an assigned price of $1,129,700.
  • The Rockies announced the signing of second-round pick Jaden Hill, with MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis reporting the LSU righty signed for the $1,689,500 slot price attached to the 44th overall pick.  Also from Callis, the Rockies agreed to another at-slot deal with Ohio University southpaw Joe Rock, whose deal is worth the assigned $953,100 price for the 68th overall pick.
  • The Mets signed 46th overall pick Calvin Ziegler for a $910K bonus, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports.  The Canadian right-hander’s deal falls significantly below the $1,617,400 slot value, so the Mets gained some significant pool savings that were necessary for the above-slot deal in the works with tenth overall pick Kumar Rocker.
  • The Brewers signed second-rounder Russell Smith for a $1MM bonus, Callis tweets.  A left-hander out of TCU, Smith was the 51st overall pick, which has a slot value of $1,436,900.
  • The Cubs agreed to a $2.1MM bonus with second-round pick James Triantos, according to Callis.  It’s an overslot deal for Triantos, a high school third baseman from Virginia, as the 56th overall selection had an assigned price of only $1,276,400.
  • The Rays reached a deal with second-rounder Kyle Manzardo, with Callis reporting that the Washington State first baseman signed for $750K.  The 63rd overall pick (and the final pick of the second round proper) has a slot price of $1,076,300.
  • The Astros went well over slot to sign third-rounder Tyler Whitaker, as Callis reported that the high school outfielder landed a $1.5MM bonus.  That is more than double the $689,300 slot price for the 87th overall pick.  Of note, Whitaker was Houston’s first pick of the 2021 draft, due to their punishment from the sign-stealing scandal.
  • The Yankees also more than doubled the slot price on a third-round selection, as Callis writes that prep left-hander Brock Selvidge received $1.5MM.  The 92nd overall pick has a recommended value of only $637.6K.  The Yankees have now signed all their draft picks from the first 10 rounds, going underslot on eight of the 10 players.
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