Yankees Rumors

East Notes: Yankees, Mets, Nava, Orioles, De Leon

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2017 at 10:48pm CDT

Both the Yankees and Mets acted rationally with their approaches in trades this summer, opines Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Yankees showed a willingness to deal from the middle range of their considerable prospect depth to avoid luxury taxation, as they did with the Jaime Garcia trade and reportedly tried to do in their pursuits of Jay Bruce and Neil Walker. Sherman writes that the Yankees asked the Mets to eat $2.7MM of the remaining $3.7MM on Bruce’s contract in exchange for two prospects. The Mets clearly didn’t deem the difference between that pair and Ryder Ryan (whom they acquired from the Indians for Bruce) to be sizable enough to eat that cash. While many Mets fans chastise the organization for not spending, Sherman points out that the Mets have taken on salary (Bruce, Addison Reed, Yoenis Cespedes) in recent years. They’ve also already begun spending for 2018, Sherman adds, pointing to the acquisition of AJ Ramos. In that sense, saving money in trades to better stock the team’s offseason war chest could have relatively immediate impact on the team’s fortunes. Of course, it remains to be seen how their offseason plays out.

A bit more from the game’s Eastern divisions…

The Phillies announced tonight that outfielder Daniel Nava has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a lower back strain. The veteran Nava’s injury is especially noteworthy given the fact that he seemed a logical August trade candidate for the Phils. The 33-year-old switch-hitter hasn’t done much against left-handed pitching this year — he’s always been weaker as a right-handed bat — but he’s clubbed righty pitching at a .347/.427.492 clip through 143 PAs and could’ve been a solid bench addition for a contender. There’s still time for Nava to get back and demonstrate his health to interested parties, but his back injury clearly diminishes the chances of a trade.
Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes that Orioles GM Dan Duquette has a long history of making August deals — six in the past five years — but opines that there’s not much worth pursuing for the O’s this summer. Baltimore’s greatest need is starting pitching, but the remaining available arms are mostly fringe fifth starters that don’t represent a clear upgrade over the Orioles’ current options. Nonetheless, Connolly states that he does find it likely that Duquette and his staff make some kind of move, noting that the Orioles have “always had a little interest in” Derek Holland and are quite familiar with Miguel Gonzalez — both currently pitching for the rebuilding White Sox. I’d agree with Connolly that neither seems to represent an upgrade, though the O’s could probably acquire either pitcher primarily in exchange for salary relief.
Rays right-hander Jose De Leon is on the minor league disabled list for the third time this season, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. De Leon, who has previously dealt with forearm/flexor issues, now has tendinitis in his right elbow, per Topkin. It’s been a frustrating first season with the Rays organization for De Leon — a highly touted pitching prospect that was acquired in a straight-up swap that sent Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers. De Leon has appeared in just one big league game with the Rays and has only 38 1/3 minor league innings under his belt, though he’s logged a 3.05 ERA with 44-to-16 K/BB ratio in the minors when healthy.

2017 Opt-Out Clause Update

By Steve Adams | August 14, 2017 at 2:41pm CDT

The last look we took at the handful of players with opt-out clauses following the 2017 season was more than a month ago, and a few of their situations may have changed since that early July check-in. Here’s an update on this group of potential free agents…

Trending Up

Justin Upton, Tigers ($88.5MM from 2018-21): There have been plenty of suggestions that there’s no way Upton will walk away from that contract, but we’re not really sold on that notion. Upton was terrible in his first three months with the Tigers but is hitting .274/.352/.542 (137 wRC+) with 45 homers dating back to July 1, 2016. Over the past calendar year, he’s hitting .281/.366/.571 (148 wRC+) with 40 homers in 631 PAs. He’s been seven to nine runs above average in left field, per UZR and DRS, as well. Upton will play next year at the age of 30 and needs only to feel he can top Hanley Ramirez’s guarantee to opt out. Beyond that, he may simply like the idea of moving to a team that isn’t openly trying to pare back its payroll and retool for the future.
Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees ($67MM from 2018-20): Tanaka’s home-run woes are an unequivocally troubling issue, but his numbers since the summer began are encouraging. Since May 26, Tanaka has a 3.99 ERA with 10.7 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate — good for a 3.12 xFIP and a 3.17 SIERA. The numbers are even better if you look at his past nine starts (3.00 ERA, 65 K, 12 BB, 57 innings). The health concerns are well known. Tanaka had a partial UCL tear in his rookie season but was able to avoid Tommy John, and he’s currently on the DL with what is reportedly some minor shoulder fatigue. The righty has averaged 2.2 HR/9 this year, but he’s also going to be just 29 years old next year. An opt-out looked highly unlikely two months ago but now looks entirely plausible, as long as this latest DL trip proves minor.
Welington Castillo, Orioles ($7MM player option): Since last check, Castillo has absolutely raked. He’s batted .308/.345/.500 with four homers and three doubles in his past 84 PAs, and his overall batting line it up to .283/.319/.457 (103 wRC+). Castillo’s framing marks have improved from some of the worst in the league to roughly average (per Baseball Prospectus), and he’s halted an incredible 46 percent of stolen-base attempts against him in 2017. He should be able to top a one-year, $7MM deal with ease this winter.

Trending Down

Greg Holland, Rockies ($15MM player option): Since our last check, Holland has reminded everyone that he is indeed mortal. In his past 11 2/3 frames, he’s coughed up eight runs on a dozen hits and six walks with 14 strikeouts. Six of those runs have come in his past two outings, but as long as that proves to be a blip on the radar, Holland still seems a safe bet to opt out. If he significantly fades in his first year back from Tommy John or lands on the disabled list, though, there’s at least a chance that he takes the option. Assuming he remains healthy, though, Holland will likely look to top Mark Melancon’s four-year, $62MM deal this winter.
Johnny Cueto, Giants ($84MM from 2018-21): It’s been almost a month since Cueto last set foot on a Major League mound, as he’s been sidelined with a forearm issue that has significantly clouded his chances of opting out. Reports earlier in the summer suggested that a slow start wasn’t going to deter Cueto from opting out, but a month-long injury scare and an ERA in the upper-4.00s certainly might. Cueto, 32 in February, has a 4.59 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and the second worst ground-ball rate of his career (39.2 percent). FIP, xFIP and SIERA all peg him at 4.41 or worse.

Unchanged Since Last Check

Matt Wieters, Nationals ($10.5MM player option): Wieters wasn’t hitting in early July, and he’s hitting even less now. His defensive reputation limited him to a two-year, $21MM deal with a player option after year one on the 2016-17 open market, and that was coming off a much better offensive season. Wieters seems extremely likely to take the $10.5MM in 2018.
Ian Kennedy, Royals ($49MM from 2018-20): Kennedy’s results have improved slightly since the last opt-out update, but it’s hardly enough to make it likely that he’ll opt out of that significant guarantee. Through 120 innings in 2017, Kennedy has averaged 1.65 HR/9, tying a career-worst mark, while both his strikeout and walk rates have gone the wrong direction. He’s also missed a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury, and he’ll turn 33 this December.
Wei-Yin Chen, Marlins ($52MM from 2018-20): No change here. Chen has scarcely been able to pitch in 2017 due to a reported partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament. He’s reportedly still aiming for a late comeback, but that won’t be enough to give him the earning power to top his remaining guarantee.

Yankees Place Masahiro Tanaka On 10-Day DL With Shoulder Inflammation

By charliewilmoth | August 12, 2017 at 11:33am CDT

12:02pm: There is nothing structurally wrong with Tanaka’s shoulder, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets. Tanaka simply told the team that his arm was tired, and the Yankees are giving him a short break.

11:33am: The Yankees have announced that they’ve placed righty Masahiro Tanaka on the 10-day DL with shoulder inflammation. To take his place on the active roster, they’ve recalled righty reliever Giovanny Gallegos from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Tanaka has posted a 4.92 ERA and allowed 28 home runs over 133 2/3 innings this season, although his strikeout and walk numbers (9.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9) have been fine. He left Wednesday’s start against the Blue Jays after allowing five walks in four innings, however.

While a trip to the DL with a shoulder injury doesn’t always mean that injury is significant, it’s certainly worth watching. Tanaka missed time due to arm issues in 2014 and 2015, although those were to his wrist, forearm and elbow, not his shoulder. The seriousness of his current injury is unclear.

In the short term, the Yankees will have to fill a rotation that’s also currently missing CC Sabathia, who’s out with a knee inflammation, and Michael Pineda, who has a UCL injury. The Yankees recently promoted Jordan Montgomery to take Sabathia’s place.

AL Notes: Park, Sabathia, Royals

By charliewilmoth | August 12, 2017 at 9:48am CDT

After an underwhelming start to his US career in 2016, Twins first baseman ByungHo Park has yet to appear in the Majors this season, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press notes. Park arrived in the US with fanfare but batted just .191 in his rookie season, and the 31-year-old is now hitting just .260/.318/.417 with just nine home runs over 368 plate appearances with Triple-A Rochester. Park’s friend and South Korean countryman Shin-Soo Choo says Park “really wants to do something here” in the United States. Choo’s comment came in what appears to have been a response to a question from Berardino about whether Park and the Twins might reach a deal on a buyout for the remainder of Park’s contract. Park is set to make $3MM in both 2018 and 2019, plus a $500K buyout or a $6.5MM option for 2020. Berardino quotes a scout, however, who notes that Park might not be able to make that kind of money were he to leave the US to return to the KBO. Here’s more from the American League.

Prior to yesterday’s game, the Yankees placed lefty CC Sabathia on the DL with knee inflammation. To take his place on the active roster, they recalled righty Jordan Montgomery from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Sabathia left his last start due to issues with his knee, so his DL placement doesn’t come as a surprise, but his situation has to be frustrating for the Yankees — Sabathia is in the midst of a solid season, with a 4.05 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 thus far. Montgomery is scheduled to start tomorrow against Boston.
The Royals swing at more of the pitches they see — 50.9% — than any team, and are on pace to swing at more pitches than any team since at least 2002, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes. The approach hasn’t been particularly successful overall — the Royals are currently tied for 12th in the AL in runs scored. Of course, Kansas City’s freest swingers include Salvador Perez (58.5% swing percentage) and Mike Moustakas (56.9%), who are both in the midst of good seasons. “You don’t think we address that all the time?” says Royals manager Ned Yost. “Of course, we do. We talk about being more selective and getting better pitches. But again, these guys are who they are.”

Heyman’s Latest: Yanks, Mets, Darvish, Astros, Twins, Bucs

By Connor Byrne | August 10, 2017 at 7:56pm CDT

The Yankees showed interest in Mets second baseman Neil Walker before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. The crosstown rivals actually had a deal for Walker in place, tweets Mike Puma of Newsday, but it fell through over medical concerns. Walker suffered a partially torn hamstring in mid-June and returned shortly before the deadline. At that point, the Yankees had recently lost second baseman Starlin Castro to a hamstring injury of his own, but he’s now nearing a rehab assignment, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (Twitter link). As for Walker, the impending free agent has already cleared revocable waivers this month, making him eligible for a trade, though he’s owed sizable sum (around $6MM) through season’s end.

More from Heyman via a trio of columns, all of which are worth reading in full:

The Rangers don’t expect to reunite with Yu Darvish in free agency, suggests Heyman, who adds that they decided a couple days before the non-waiver deadline that they were going to trade the ace. Texas ended up dealing Darvish to the Dodgers right before the clock ran out. The Astros were a rumored Darvish suitor leading up to then, but they didn’t make a real effort to land him, reports Heyman.
Speaking of the Astros, their talks with the Tigers regarding Justin Verlander are all but dead, per Heyman, which jibes with a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “It never got close,” a personal familiar with the discussions told Heyman, and that source expects Verlander to still be in a Tigers uniform when the 2018 season begins. Houston was unwilling to deal any of its best prospects for the expensive, aging Verlander (or any of its other deadline targets), but a Tigers official told Heyman, “You’re trading an icon, you’ve got to get something back.” The Astros have been conservative in terms of making acquisitions this summer, surely because a 71-42 team doesn’t need a ton of help, but GM Jeff Luhnow’s lack of bold moves has led to frustration within the organization, writes Heyman. Ace Dallas Keuchel voiced some displeasure immediately after the club’s quiet deadline (only scuffling lefty Francisco Liriano came aboard), and outfielder Josh Reddick followed suit Thursday in an interview with MLB Network Radio (Twitter link). Astros players were “down in the dumps” after the deadline, Reddick revealed.
The Twins reportedly listened to offers for righty Ervin Santana in advance of the deadline, but their interest in dealing the solid mid-rotation starter was minimal, relays Heyman. Santana is under control through next season on fair $13.5MM salaries (his deal also features a $14MM club option for 2019), making it unlikely he’d go unclaimed on waivers this month, notes Heyman.
Although GM Sandy Alderson is in the last year of his contract, people around the Mets expect him to return in 2018. There’s less certainty surrounding manager Terry Collins, who’s also in a contract year. Heyman lists Mets bench coach Dickie Scott, Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren (who previously held that post with the Mets) and Athletics third base coach Chip Hale as potential replacements for Collins if he’s not back next year.
Meanwhile, both Pirates GM Neal Huntington and skipper Clint Hurdle appear safe. As long as the two want to return in 2018, the Pirates will exercise their options.
The White Sox would like to deal veteran hurlers Derek Holland, Miguel Gonzalez and Tyler Clippard, which isn’t surprising considering they’re impending free agents on a rebuilding team. Given the seasons they’re having, Holland and Gonzalez probably won’t carry much appeal to rotation-needy contenders, though Clippard has put up six straight scoreless appearances out of Chicago’s bullpen. Across that seven-inning span, Clippard allowed three hits and three walks, with nine strikeouts. MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted Wednesday that Clippard’s a prime August trade candidate.
The Diamondbacks were in on reliever Joe Smith before the Blue Jays dealt him to the Indians, but David Hernandez “seemed to be” Arizona’s top target, Heyman writes. The D-backs ended up acquiring Hernandez from the Angels, making this his second stint in Arizona. Hernandez has only thrown 2 2/3 innings in his return to the club, but they’ve been spotless (no runs, hits or walks allowed).

Yankees Place Clint Frazier On 10-Day DL, Activate Aaron Hicks

By Jeff Todd | August 10, 2017 at 11:35am CDT

The Yankees have placed outfielder Clint Frazier on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. That move had been expected, as he’s dealing with an oblique strain.

Aaron Hicks will return from his own oblique-related DL placement to take the open roster spot. He has been out since late June, but was on quite the tear through his first sixty games. Hicks will look to pick up where he left off, with a .290/.398/.515 batting line.

Generally, the picture on the position player side of things has continued to evolve for New York. With Matt Holliday on the DL, the club looked into a trade for Jay Bruce — and could still consider adding a lefty bat. But the switch-hitting Hicks becomes the team’s active third outfielder that represents an option against righties, and first baseman Greg Bird still could make it back in a few weeks. If no new addition is made, it seems reasonable to anticipate that the Yanks will rotate the DH role to keep everyone fresh, at least until Holliday returns.

As regards Frazier, there have been signs of both good and bad. He’s slugging .477 over his first 117 MLB plate appearances, but has also managed only five walks against his 34 strikeouts and is reaching base at a mediocre .274 clip. He may have been set for an optional assignment were it not for the injury; instead, he’ll now likely be viewed as a candidate to come back when rosters expand in September, assuming he’s healthy by that point.

Notes From The Jay Bruce Trade

By Jeff Todd | August 10, 2017 at 8:41am CDT

Last night’s trade sending Jay Bruce from the Mets to the Indians was perhaps the most significant deal since the non-waiver deadline. It could well hold that title the rest of the way, though there are also a variety of other notable players that could be dealt this month. (Click here for MLBTR’s top 25 ranking of candidates; click here to see the players that have already reportedly cleared waivers.)

While the transaction was largely a straightforward affair — a team with a need chipped in a low-level prospect and took on the entire contract of a veteran who fit — it’s worth taking a look at some of the post-deal chatter:

Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti spoke with the media about the deal, and MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian provided a transcript of the chat. Antonetti acknowledged the importance of injuries to the swap, noting that the club wouldn’t really even have playing time to give to Bruce were it not for the absences of Lonnie Chisenhall and now Michael Brantley. The timing was right now, says the club’s top baseball decisionmaker, but the organization has long had interest in Bruce. While Cleveland will begin to face some challenging playing-time questions if it gets a fully healthy roster, the expectation at present is that Bruce will “play regularly.”
There aren’t a lot of recent scouting reports on Ryder Ryan, the young righty who goes to New York in the trade. That’s due largely to the fact that he is a late-round relief prospect that hasn’t had much time to climb the organizational ladder. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a reasonably intriguing prospect. Antonetti himself said as much, crediting Ryan’s “really good stuff” and saying he “has a chance to pitch in a major league bullpen.” Baseball America also has some details, noting that Ryan is working in the mid-nineties while working on developing his slider and commanding his pitches.
One of the most interesting elements of the deal, though, was the alternative swap that didn’t go through. The Yankees were in on Bruce through to the end, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter) and Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link) report. But the Yankees’ offer would’ve left the Mets holding onto most of Bruce’s remaining salary this year, per reports from Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (on Twitter) and Newsday’s Marc Carig (also in a tweet), while also picking up two prospects that (it stands to reason) would be more valuable than Ryan. The Mets’ motivation for choosing Cleveland’s offer isn’t yet entirely clear — GM Sandy Alderson has yet to speak to the media, but will do so today — but there could certainly be multiple factors at play. While the cross-town Yankees obviously aren’t off limits as a trade partner, perhaps considerations of intra-city marketing played some role. And surely the cost and talent packages offered different benefits and drawbacks.
Per Sherman, Bruce would’ve functioned as the DH had he been acquired by the Yankees, filling in there with Matt Holliday on the DL. With Aaron Hicks nearing a return and Greg Bird still representing a possible option, there are some internal possibilities for bolstering the team’s array of lefty bats. While it’s not clear at present whether the Yanks are looking hard at alternatives, it stands to reason they’d be open to the possibility. (Clearly, though, there are limits to how much salary they want to take on at this point.) Among the players that we have identified as plausible August trade chips, there are a few that could fit the bill. If the Mets are willing to keep chatting, old friend Curtis Granderson or even Neil Walker could make sense; neither has the same profile as Bruce but both offer more defensive function. Former Red Sox nemesis Daniel Nava might be an affordable target, while Matt Joyce of the Athletics is surely available. Of course, Yonder Alonso arguably made the most sense, but he was dealt to the Mariners after Seattle placed a waiver claim (meaning the Yankees never had a shot — at least, after July 31st).

AL East Notes: Sabathia, Montgomery, Bridwell, Andriese

By Steve Adams | August 9, 2017 at 9:12am CDT

There is once again concern surrounding CC Sabathia’s troublesome right knee, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. Pain in that knee forced Sabathia out of last night’s start after three innings, and the 37-year-old said after the game that his knee hasn’t felt this bad in two years, Davidoff continues. Sabathia is headed back to New York to have the knee further evaluated today, and it’s an all-around worrisome scenario for the Yankees, who have quietly received strong production out of Sabathia over the past three months or so. Sabathia has a 2.98 ERA in his past dozen starts (albeit with somewhat lesser peripherals), but he’s now given up four runs in each of his past three trips to the hill. The Yankees have bolstered their rotation with the additions of Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia, but they’ve also lost Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery and are trying to limit young Jordan Montgomery’s innings.

Quick Hits: Daulton, Escobar, Montgomery, Dombrowski

By Mark Polishuk | August 6, 2017 at 11:06pm CDT

Darren Daulton, the longtime former catcher for the Phillies, passed away tonight at the age of 55 after a five-year battle with brain cancer. Renowned as a clubhouse leader in Philadelphia, Daulton played 1109 games and parts of 14 seasons in a Phillies uniform, reaching three All-Star games, twice finishing in the top seven of NL MVP voting and winning a Silver Slugger Award in 1992. He played a particularly big role in the Phillies’ pennant-winning 1993 club, and he ended his career as a champion. After a July 1997 trade to the Marlins, Daulton’s final game was Game 7 of the ’97 World Series, going out on a high note as the Fish won their first title. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Daulton’s family and loved ones.

Here are some news items from around the game…

Yunel Escobar left today’s game due to a right intercostal strain, as per an Angels press announcement (Twitter link). The third baseman will undergo an MRI tomorrow to access the damage. Escobar has a .274/.333/.397 slash line and seven homers over 381 PA for the Halos this season, Escobar has already spent some time on the DL this season, missing around 2.5 weeks due to a hamstring strain in May, and he sat out of a couple of recent games due to a sore back.
The Yankees optioned left-hander Jordan Montgomery to Triple-A after today’s game, as per a team announcement. With Luis Severino, C.C. Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka and new acquisitions Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia in the rotation mix, the rookie Montgomery was the obvious odd man out when the Yankees made the move back to a standard five-man starting staff. The 24-year-old southpaw posted a 4.05 ERA, 8.6 K/9 and 3.17 K/BB over 115 2/3 IP (21 starts) in his big taste of MLB action, making an excellent case for himself as a future rotation piece in 2018 and beyond.
Dave Dombrowski has put together a strong record on trades in less than three years running the Red Sox front office, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Breaking down the 15 trades under Dombrowski’s leadership, Mastrodonato calculates that the president of baseball operations has acquired quite a bit of “trade profit,” as observed by examining the salaries and fWARs of the players who came to Boston in those deals. The numbers are, of course, skewed by the fact that so many of the players dealt away in those trades were prospects who have barely or never played in the big leagues yet, though Chris Sale alone has more fWAR than every traded player combined since the time they were dealt.

AL East Notes: Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees

By Connor Byrne | August 5, 2017 at 7:00pm CDT

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman has functioned as a starter in all 194 of his major league appearances, but he’ll come out of the bullpen next time he takes the ball. Tillman has been the weakest link in an awful Orioles staff this year, having logged an 8.10 ERA over 66 2/3 innings, leading them to shift the impending free agent to a relief role, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. The once-quality starter may be in his last weeks with the Orioles, but Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com argues that they should re-sign him now in a buy-low maneuver. Connolly’s reasoning: Baltimore will be desperate for starting pitching in the offseason, and the team’s unlikely to bid for big fish such as ex-Oriole Jake Arrieta or Yu Darvish, so re-upping Tillman on a one-year, $6MM-$8MM deal with a club option for 2019 would be a worthwhile gamble.

More from Baltimore and two other AL East cities:

When the Red Sox placed left-hander David Price on the disabled list last week on account of elbow issues, they were confident he’d return this season. Now, “the clock is working against” Price, writes Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com, as he’s dealing with soreness that prevented him from throwing from flat ground Friday. Afterward, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was unable to provide a timetable for a potential Price return. While Dombrowski noted that Price’s elbow has been “fine” when he has thrown, the executive conceded “the longer that he’s out, the longer it takes to come back, because you have to then build yourself back up.”
Designated hitter Matt Holliday wasn’t in the Yankees’ starting lineup Saturday after tweaking his lower back Friday, and a DL stint is possible, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Judging by his output lately, a Holliday absence wouldn’t be the worst thing for the scuffling Yankees. The 37-year-old got off to a sizzling start this season before going on the DL in late June with a viral infection. He has been a drain on New York’s offense since returning in mid-July, with a .136/.165/.198 line and 24 strikeouts against three walks in 85 second-half plate appearances.
In an act that has become commonplace for the Orioles, they traded international bonus slots for a minor leaguer on Saturday, when they acquired High-A infielder Brallan Perez from the Rangers. Owner Peter Angelos doesn’t allow Dan Duquette to make splashes internationally, notes Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun, and the general manager explained Saturday what he has tried to accomplish by dealing the money for players who are already stateside. “We’ve been utilizing the international slot money to help us acquire some pitching to help our team,” said Duquette, who added that he’s “utilizing a trade resource to impact your team now rather than three, four, five years down the road.” The trade Duquette made Saturday wasn’t for a pitcher, nor will Perez make a big league impact imminently. However, previous swaps have netted the club hurlers in Yefry Ramirez, Matt Wotherspoon, Jason Wheeler and Damien Magnifico – the last of whom is now in the Angels organization.

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