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Yankees Release Duane Underwood Jr.

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The Yankees released right-hander Duane Underwood Jr., who’d been pitching for their Triple-A affiliate after signing a minor league deal in the offseason, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s a free agent who can now sign with any club.

Underwood’s release comes despite generally solid results in Scranton. He’s pitched 38 2/3 innings for the RailRiders, logging a 3.26 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate that’s slightly north of the big league average. The Yankees never game him a look in the big leagues this season, likely due in part to an unpalatable 14% walk rate that portends some regression in that otherwise sharp earned run average.

A second-round pick by the Cubs back in 2012, the now 30-year-old Underwood has three-plus years of big league service that have been accrued over parts of six seasons split evenly between the Cubs and Pirates. Underwood found some decent success with Pittsburgh from 2021-22 and even worked his way into a leverage role with the ’22 Bucs. Over those two seasons, he tallied 130 innings of 4.36 ERA ball with a 21.1% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate, 45.7% ground-ball rate, one save and a dozen holds. He was arguably miscast as a setup man, but Underwood looked the part of a perfectly serviceable middle reliever at the very least.

The 2023 season marked a notable step back for the right-hander, however. Underwood pitched just 24 1/3 frames in the big leagues and was roughed up for a 5.18 ERA with glaring declines in his strikeout and walk rates. His average sinker fell from 95.3 mph in ’22 to 93.6 mph in ’23, and Underwood posted a career-low 14% strikeout rate against a career-worst 11% walk rate. Pittsburgh passed him through waivers last June. He became a minor league free agent at season’s end and signed with the Yankees.

On the whole, Underwood has 190 2/3 innings of 4.63 ERA ball under his belt in the majors. He’s set down 21.5% of his opponents on strikes and issued free passes at a 9% clip — both numbers right in line with the results he delivered for the 2021-22 Pirates. He’s worked mostly in short relief with the Yankees organization, although Underwood does have eight appearances in which he’s recorded between four and six outs over the past couple months. He could be an option for a team seeking some depth in the form of an experienced arm that’s comfortable working more than an inning per appearance.

Yankees Release J.D. Davis, Outright Jahmai Jones

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The Yankees announced that infielder J.D. Davis has been released while infielder/outfielder Jahmai Jones has been sent outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Davis has already cleared waivers and is a free agent, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X.

Davis, 31, began his year by winning an arbitration hearing against the Giants, or so he thought. He was in line to make $6.9MM this year but the Giants released him after they signed Matt Chapman to take over their third base job.

Per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, arbitration salaries are not guaranteed if the two sides go to a hearing, so the Giants only had to give Davis about $1.1MM in termination pay in letting him go. He landed with the A’s but only secured a $2.5MM guarantee on that deal.

With Oakland, he missed some time with a right adductor strain and hit a tepid .236/.304/.366 for a wRC+ of 96. He was flipped to the Yankees, who mostly kept him in a bench role, as Davis only got into seven games in over a month on the roster. He was designated for assignment when the Yanks acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the other 29 clubs evidently passed on the chance to grab Davis off waivers.

The Yanks will remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary, which is around $775K. Any other club could sign him for the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay. He hit .268/.352/.443 from 2019 to 2023 for a wRC+ of 120 and that past performance could perhaps intrigue some other clubs.

As for Jones, it’s a bit more surprising to see him go unclaimed. Roughly half the teams in the league have open 40-man roster spots in the wake of the trade deadline. Jones is not too far removed from being a notable prospect and has not yet qualified for arbitration, meaning he’s making a league minimum salary. He is out of options and would have needed an active roster spot with any claiming team, but could have been controlled for five additional seasons beyond this one.

He has hit just .198/.257/.278 in his major league career but without getting much of a chance, as he’s still never reached 75 plate appearances in a season. He was claimed by the Yankees back in February but was only sent to the plate 47 times in his stretch of about four months on the roster, getting designated for assignment when Giancarlo Stanton came off the injured list.

Prior to exhausting his option years, his work in the minors was strong. Over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, he took a walk in 15.2% of his plate appearances, only getting struck out 21.8% of the time. He hit a combined .254/.378/.441 in that time for a 114 wRC+. He also stole 25 bases in 34 tries while playing all three outfield spots, second base and even a bit of third base.

On top of that solid minor league work, he’s a former second-round pick who appeared on some top 100 prospect lists a few years ago, but he nonetheless went unclaimed on waivers. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency at this time. He’ll report to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for now but will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if he’s not added back to the roster.

MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
  • The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
  • The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
  • The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
  • The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
  • The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
  • Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
  • The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
  • The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
  • The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
  • The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
  • The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
  • Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
  • Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Yankees Release Chasen Shreve

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The Yankees released lefty reliever Chasen Shreve from his minor league contract, tweets Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. In another small roster move, New York announced they reinstated right-hander Nick Burdi from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yanks transferred Cody Poteet to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot for Burdi.

Shreve signed with New York in late June. He made 10 appearances for Scranton and pitched fairly well, allowing three earned runs over 11 innings. Shreve surrendered three more unearned runs but struck out 11 while only walking three. New York evidently didn’t believe he’d carry that form over at the major league level. Despite trading Caleb Ferguson and not adding another left-handed reliever at the deadline, they’ll let Shreve depart.

The 34-year-old Shreve hasn’t pitched in the big leagues this season. He has split his time between the Triple-A affiliates with the Rangers and Yankees. He made 50 MLB appearances between Detroit and Cincinnati a year ago, turning in a 4.63 earned run average with slightly better than average strikeout and walk rates over 44 2/3 frames.

New York added a pair of right-handers, Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos, to their relief corps this week. Tim Hill is the only southpaw in their current bullpen while Anthony Misiewicz and Josh Maciejewski are on optional assignment in Triple-A.

Burdi is also headed to Scranton, though he’s evidently healthy after losing more than two months to a right hip injury. The Louisville product has had a very difficult time staying on the mound over his professional career but continues to intrigue evaluators with a fastball that sits around 98 MPH on average. Burdi has fired 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball for New York this season, already setting a personal-high mark with 12 MLB appearances.

Poteet’s 60-day minimum absence is retroactive to his initial IL placement on June 15. He’ll be eligible to return in the second week of August. He has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment due to a triceps injury. Poteet started four games earlier in the year, turning in a 2.14 ERA across 21 innings.

Jeter Downs Signs With NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

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Catching up on some news that was set aside during the trade deadline frenzy, the Yankees announced yesterday that infielder Jeter Downs was released and signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

Downs, 26, wasn’t a Yankee for very long. He was claimed off waivers from the Nationals in December, with the Yankees then passing him through waivers unclaimed in January. He didn’t have the right to elect free agency at that time and has been in the Yankees’ system in a non-roster capacity since then.

He has been having a decent year at Triple-A. In 69 games for Scranton Wilkes-Barre, he hit 10 home runs and slashed .264/.360/.498 for a wRC+ of 117. He also stole 15 bases while bouncing between second base, third base and shortstop.

Despite those decent numbers, he never got called up to the majors even though the Yankees have had plenty of infield challenges. Players like Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera have had disappointing seasons so far and Jon Berti has been on the injured list for most of the year. But the club never felt compelled to call upon Downs and eventually acquired Jazz Chisholm from the Marlins and plugged him onto their roster. Since he was fairly blocked from getting any playing time in the Bronx, he will instead go overseas to see if this opportunity will work out for him.

Downs was once a top 100 prospect during his time in the Dodgers’ system, before being traded to the Red Sox in the now-infamous 2020 deal that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to Los Angeles. He struggled to live up to the hype in the subsequent seasons, hitting .200/.309/.365 in the minors over the 2021-23 campaigns. He was only given brief looks in the majors, producing a line of .182/.260/.273 in 50 plate appearances. He went from the Red Sox to the Nationals on waivers in December of 2022 but then the Yankees got him off waivers a year later, as mentioned.

If he fares well in Japan, he could intrigue teams based his past. He hit .267/.359/.458 in the minors from 2017 to 2019, though mostly at the lower levels, with only 12 games above High-A in that time. But he has the former prospect pedigree and was performing well in Triple-A this year. A nice run with the Hawks could perhaps lead the way to a return to the majors down the line, especially since he’s still only 26 years old.

Brett Phillips Attempting Comeback As Pitcher, Agrees To Minors Deal With Yankees

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Longtime MLB outfielder Brett Phillips is attempting to get back to the big leagues as a pitcher. Earlier this week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote about Phillips and his recent journey, then relayed on X that he had a agreed to a minor league deal with the Yankees.

Phillips, 30, appeared in the majors as an outfielder from 2017 to 2023, not hitting to much but providing value via his speed and defense. He hit .187/.272/.347 over 395 games for the Brewers, Royals, Rays, Orioles and Angels, stealing 39 bases in 45 tries. In just over 2,300 outfield innings, he was considered to be worth 41 Defensive Runs Saved and 32 Outs Above Average.

Most recently, he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox in January but was released in May after hitting .120/.228/.280 in 57 Triple-A plate appearances. It seems he has been focusing on carving out a new career path on the mound with some encouraging signs.

Phillips tells Topkin that he has a fastball that has been clocked at 95 miles per hour as well as a curveball and split-change. In another piece at the Tampa Bay Times, Topkin notes that Phillips recently pitched in a National Baseball Congress game and was hitting 97 miles per hour with his fastball.

“I feel like I’m going to pick it up pretty quickly,” Phillips said. “The whole reason I’m doing this is I feel like I can still compete. I feel like my body can still allow me to compete. And I feel like I could help. I love the game. And I want to continue to play the game, especially at the highest level.”

While he was still working as an outfielder in the majors, Phillips was generally beloved within the baseball world for his ebullient personality, perhaps best exemplified by his celebratory run into the outfield after the Rays walked off the Dodgers in Game Four of the 2020 World Series (video from MLB.com). That will undoubtedly mean that many will be in his corner as he attempts to navigate this unusual second act for his career.

Phillips already has 5 1/3 innings of pitching experience, which mostly involved him lobbing the ball over the plate in blowout games. If he manages to get back to the majors now that he’s pursuing pitching in a more serious fashion, he is out of options but has four years and 60 days of service time, meaning he could be retained via arbitration for at least one additional season.

Yankees Reportedly “Backed Out” Of Jack Flaherty Trade Following Medical Review

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The Yankees and Tigers had a “preliminary” trade agreement in place that would’ve sent right-hander Jack Flaherty to New York prior to the trade deadline earlier today, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, but the Yankees ultimately pulled the plug on the deal after reviewing the right-hander’s medical records. It’s not clear what the Yankees would’ve traded to Detroit to acquire Flaherty had the deal gone through. The righty, of course, ended up traded to the Dodgers just before the deadline.

Flaherty, 28, was long expected to be one of the most coveted starters on the market this summer after a sensational start to the season with Detroit where he delivered a 2.95 ERA and 3.11 FIP through eighteen starts. He hasn’t been fully healthy this year, however, as he skipped a start due to back discomfort early this month. He’s looked good with a 1.53 ERA and 18 strikeouts in three starts since then, but evidently the Yankees nonetheless had concerns after reviewing his medicals. The club was rumored to be in “extensive trade talks” with the Tigers after Detroit scratched the righty from his scheduled start yesterday, but ultimately no deal came together.

It’s not necessarily a surprise that New York would be somewhat gunshy about the possibility of trading for an injured pitchers. As Rosenthal notes, the club traded for right-hander Frankie Montas in a deal with the A’s at the 2022 trade deadline despite lingering concerns about his shoulder, and Montas ended up struggling in a brief stint with the club before undergoing surgery. Given the fact that the Yankees reportedly planned to shop southpaw Nestor Cortes before the deadline in the event that they landed Flaherty, it would’ve been a substantial risk for the club to deal away an established arm to make room for a pitcher who they had some level of injury concern about. The Yankees instead focused their attention on the bullpen today, shipping out lefty Caleb Ferguson while adding righties Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos.

By contrast, the Dodgers have a deep staff of internal rotation options led by Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw with even more arms like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler expected back from the IL later this year. Given the club’s deep group of starters, it’s understandable why they’d be willing to stomach injury risk in acquiring a rental arm like Flaherty. The addition of Flaherty was paired with the addition of center fielder Kevin Kiermaier in a deal with the Blue Jays today to bolster the club’s depth after the Dodgers added Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech in a three-team trade yesterday, as well as infielder Amed Rosario in a separate deal.

According to Rosenthal, word spread around the league that the Yankees had concerns regarding Flaherty’s medicals in the run-up to the deadline, although the only other team to actually see those medicals for themselves was the Dodgers. It’s unclear to what extent other offers for Flaherty’s services were impacted by concerns coming out of the Bronx about his medicals, though it’s worth noting that Jon Heyman of the New York Post highlighted the Red Sox alongside the Dodgers and Yankees as among the teams known to have interest in Flaherty. Boston’s only established starting pitching acquisition ended up being DFA’d veteran James Paxton as they instead opted to shore up their bullpen with Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia alongside the addition of a young, unproven potential starter in Quinn Priester.

Yankees To Acquire Enyel De Los Santos

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The Padres traded reliever Enyel De Los Santos and minor league pitcher Thomas Balboni Jr. to the Yankees for outfielder Brandon Lockridge, according to team announcements.  The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner was first with the deal.

De Los Santos, 28, has a 4.46 ERA, 28.2 K%, 7.6 BB%, and 34.6% groundball rate in 40 1/3 innings for the Padres this year.  He’s been stung by the longball, allowing 11 bombs on the season.  Padres manager Mike Shildt has lost trust in De Los Santos in recent weeks, perhaps due to a 7.62 ERA over his last 14 games.

Signed for $15K by the Mariners out of the Dominican Republic a decade ago, De Los Santos was traded to the Padres in December 2015 in a deal for Joaquin Benoit.  He was dealt to the Phillies a couple years later for Freddy Galvis, making his Major League debut with that team.  De Los Santos went on to log big league innings with the Pirates and Guardians, with the Padres picking him up in last November’s Scott Barlow deal.

De Los Santos is earning $1.16MM this year, and was expendable for the Padres particularly after they added Jason Adam and Tanner Scott in trades.  De Los Santos is under team control through 2026 as an arbitration eligible player.  The Yankees supplemented their bullpen earlier today by acquiring Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs.

The Yankees also add Balboni, a 24-year-old A ball reliever.  Balboni, drafted by the Padres in the 15th round in 2022, owns a 38.2 K% and 12.7 BB% on the season.

Lockridge, 27, was a fifth round pick by the Yankees in 2018.  He’s mostly played center field this year at Triple-A, riding a strong walk rate to a 114 wRC+.  Known for his speed, Lockridge also has 34 stolen bases on the season.

J.D. Davis Not Traded To Rays

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The Rays have not acquired infielder J.D. Davis from the Yankees. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on X that Davis was going to the Rays but later recanted it, also on X. Davis had been designated for assignment by the Yankees a couple of days ago and is presumably still in DFA limbo. He’ll have to be put on waivers in the coming days now that the trade deadline has passed.

Davis, 31, has had a strange year. Back in February, he and the Giants went to an arbitration hearing, which he won. That set him up to make $6.9MM this year instead of the $6.5MM figure the club requested. But after the Giants signed Matt Chapman, they put Davis on waivers and released him.

Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, arbitration salaries are guaranteed if they agreed to prior to a hearing, but not if a hearing takes place. The Giants only had to pay Davis about 30 days’ termination pay, which was roughly $1.1MM. He then signed with the A’s, earning a $2.5MM guarantee. Even when combined with the termination pay from the Giants, he was making only about half of what he thought he earned in arbitration.

He hit .236/.304/.366 in his time with Oakland, leading to a subpar 96 wRC+. The rebuilding A’s likely hoped to turn Davis into a deadline trade chip but it wasn’t trending that way so they designated him assignment and flipped him to the Yankees in a small deal. But he didn’t receive much playing time as a Yankee, getting into just seven games in over a month before being designated for assignment again.

Davis slashed .268/.352/.443 from 2019 to 2023 for a wRC+ of 120. Though he has struggled this year, teams looking for roster upgrades won’t have much choice now that the deadline is done, so perhaps his past track record will draw someone’s attention. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining all of his salary, so he’ll end up a free agent if he clears waivers. At that point, a team could sign him for just the prorated league minimum with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay.

Yankees Trade Caleb Ferguson To Astros

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The Astros have acquired lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Yankees in exchange for minor league pitcher Kelly Austin and international signing bonus space, according to an announcement by New York. Houston is reportedly sending $750K in bonus room.

New York acquired Ferguson from the Dodgers over the offseason. He has had a difficult season, pitching to a 5.13 ERA over 42 appearances. That’s in part because of poor sequencing, as he has only stranded 62.2% of baserunners. Yet Ferguson has also been somewhat homer prone and is issuing walks at an elevated 10.3% clip.

Ferguson is still missing a decent number of bats. He’s striking out 26.5% of opponents behind an 11.5% swinging strike rate. Those are each in line with his career marks, although his 93.7 MPH average fastball speed is a bit below the 95-96 MPH range he’d posted over the previous two seasons.

Over parts of five seasons with the Dodgers before last winter’s trade, Ferguson turned in a 3.43 earned run average. He had an identical mark across 60 1/3 frames last season. Ferguson doesn’t have much in the way of a platoon split for his career, so he’s not an ideal fit as a situational specialist, but he’s only a year removed from being a solid overall middle reliever.

The Astros have been light on left-handed relief for the past few seasons. They signed Josh Hader to a five-year contract last winter, but he’s obviously holding down the ninth inning. Houston hasn’t had much in the way of a middle innings option for manager Joe Espada, though that generally hasn’t been a priority for their front office. Aside from Hader, only rookie Bryan King and Parker Mushinski have logged any action out of the bullpen as southpaws.

New York is similarly light on left-handed bullpen options, though they might take a bigger swing on the trade market in the next three hours. Tim Hill stands as the only southpaw in their current relief mix. The Yanks could be involved on top rental lefty Tanner Scott or a less exciting target like Tanner Banks or old friend Justin Wilson.

Ferguson is making $2.4MM in his final year of arbitration. There’s a little less than $800K in salary for the stretch run. The Yankees are paying a 110% tax on salary, so offloading Ferguson saves them around $2MM. Houston is in the second luxury tax bracket, so they’re paying a 32% tax — around $250K — to pick him up. He’ll be a free agent next offseason.

Austin, 23, is a former undrafted free agent out of UCLA. He has worked out of the bullpen in the low minors this season, turning in a 2.21 ERA across 36 2/3 innings. The 6’0″ righty has dominated low minors competition, striking out 31% of opponents while issuing walks at a meager 4.7% clip.

Jack Curry of the YES Network first reported the Astros were acquiring Ferguson for a minor leaguer and international bonus pool space. Chandler Rome of the Athletic identified the player as Austin and reported the $750K figure.

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