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Yankees Unlikely To Continue Pursuit Of Andrew Benintendi

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Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi has reportedly been a target of both the Blue Jays and Yankees in the early stages of the summer trade market, but yesterday’s placement on the restricted list in advance of Kansas City’s trip to Toronto, due to vaccination status, is already having impact on his market. It seemed obvious at the time of that revelation that the Jays would be out of the mix for Benintendi, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post now reports that the Yankees are also unlikely to further pursue the outfielder. Presumably, the same is true of Benintendi’s teammate Michael A. Taylor, who joined him on the restricted list and has also reportedly been considered by the Yankees.

The Yankees are one of two teams (joining the Astros) who have taken a full roster on the road to Toronto this season. They still have three games in Toronto on the schedule in late September, and Blue Jays, currently in possession of the American League’s third Wild Card spot, represent a potential postseason opponent. Certainly, not all contending clubs are going to be dissuaded from pursuing unvaccinated players, but it’s also doubtful the Yankees and Jays will be the only ones taking this stance.

Outfield help is known to be a priority for a Yankees club that watched Aaron Hicks and, to a far greater extent, Joey Gallo struggle for much of the season. Hicks has righted the ship of late, hitting at a very strong .268/.376/.449 batting line over his past 149 trips to the plate, dating back to late May. He’s also gone 4-for-5 in stolen bases during that time, swatted five homers, and added four doubles and a couple triples. (Hicks was helped off the field during last night’s game after fouling a ball into his shin, but thankfully for both him and the team, imaging did not reveal a fracture.)

It’s been another story for Gallo, whom the Yankees would surely like to move over the next 19 days between now and the Aug. 2 trade deadline. Gallo’s .166/.287/.336 batting line is miles away from the .214/.340/.507 slash he posted with the Rangers from 2017 through July 27 of last year, when he was traded to the Bronx. The Yankees surely didn’t expect Gallo to begin hitting for a high average. However, a 50-point drop in his already perennially low mark, combined with an uptick in strikeout rate and decrease in walk rate and power output, has rendered Gallo one of the least-valuable hitters in baseball at the moment. For a 28-year-old hitter still in his prime, it’s a fairly remarkable decline.

Turning the focus back to Benintendi, Heyman further tweets that the Mets, who don’t have a Toronto series on their schedule and would thus only need to worry about a potential World Series matchup there, do have some interest in Benintendi. The Mets have cast a wide net in seeking upgrades, however, and Benintendi is surely just one of many players on their radar as they seek to bolster the roster.

Interest in Benintendi, Taylor and other players who are unable to travel to Toronto will vary from team to team. For the Yankees, it seems a clear and understandable roadblock. Other clubs will feel differently. There’s no denying the adverse effect it has on the Royals, however, due both to the fact that they’ll be without nearly 40% of their big league roster this weekend and to the fact that president of baseball operations Dayton Moore will have fewer interested parties to engage on the trade market.

Blue Jays Fire Charlie Montoyo

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The Blue Jays have fired manager Charlie Montoyo, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The decision comes barely three months after Montoyo signed a one-year extension that ran through the end of the 2023 season.

The Blue Jays have announced the move via press release. Montoyo has been “relieved of his duties as manager” (i.e. fired) in favor of bench coach John Schneider, who’ll assume the position on an interim basis through the end of the 2022 season. Triple-A manager Casey Candaele is joining the Major League staff as an interim bench coach as well.

Charlie Montoyo | Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

It’s rare to see a team that’s four games over .500 and in possession of a Wild Card spot oust its skipper, but Montoyo’s Jays are in the midst of a dreadful stretch that has seen them drop nine of their past 11 games. That includes a sweep at the hands of a red-hot Mariners club that used a series of four straight wins over Toronto to pull itself back to within a half game of the very Wild Card spot to which the recently floundering Blue Jays are clinging. ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that “questions in the clubhouse about leadership” also contributed to Montoyo’s dismissal (Twitter link).

It’s been an unexpectedly mediocre season for the Blue Jays on the whole. While their lineup has been well above-average overall — Toronto hitters are batting .259/.321/.435, good for a fifth-ranked 111 wRC+ — that masks a dismal stretch in the middle of the season where the Jays were one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league for a few weeks. Even with those solid rate stats, Toronto sits just 11th in total runs scored (401), and their offense has not been the juggernaut unit that most expected.

Each of Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have been better than the average hitter but shy of their recent levels of production (Bichette in particular). Offseason acquisition Matt Chapman has been better than he was in his past couple seasons with Oakland but has yet to rebound to the form he showed prior to 2020 hip surgery.

There have been similarly unexpected troubles on the pitching staff, with Jose Berrios’ unexpected decline chief among them. The longtime Twins top starter and prized 2021 deadline acquisition for the Jays signed a seven-year contract extension in the offseason and has immediately followed up with far and away his worst performance since his rookie season.

Berrios was the picture of consistency for the Twins from 2017-21 and pitched like his typically strong self down the stretch with Toronto following last July’s trade. However, he’s stumbled through the 2022 season with a 5.38 ERA and career-low 20.7% strikeout rate through 95 1/3 frames. His rotationmate, offseason free-agent signing Yusei Kikuchi, has had similar struggles in the first season of a three-year deal. Hyun Jin Ryu was lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery. Injuries have prevented Nate Pearson from taking the mound.

Of course, those shortcomings certainly don’t fall squarely on Montoyo’s shoulders, but he’ll be the one to bear the blame for the struggles of those expected contributors and the team’s recent spate of often close losses. He becomes the third manager to be dismissed this season alone, as both Joe Girardi (Phillies) and Joe Maddon (Angels) were fired earlier in the year.

At least in terms of win-loss record, Montoyo will go down as one of the more successful managers fired in recent memory. Despite taking over in the late stages of a rebuild in 2019, he guided the Jays to an even 236-236 record in his three-plus seasons on the job. Prior to his time with the Jays, the bilingual Montoyo was one of the most successful minor league managers in Rays franchise history, and he also spent four seasons as bench coach in Tampa Bay. Given that history and track record, it stands to reason that he could find himself in the running for some offseason coaching and/or managerial searches — if his desire is to get right back into a dugout, of course.

Royals To Place Andrew Benintendi, Nine Others On Restricted List

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The Royals are traveling to Toronto tomorrow to begin a series against the Blue Jays but will be without a significant portion of their regular roster. The team announced to reporters, including Alec Lewis of The Athletic, that ten players will be placed on the restricted list. Since unvaccinated travelers are not allowed to cross the Canada-U.S. border, it’s become common for teams to place a handful of players on the restricted list before playing in Toronto. However, the quantity and quality of the Royals players included is noteworthy. The full list of names: Andrew Benintendi, Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, MJ Melendez, Brady Singer, Brad Keller, Kyle Isbel, Michael A. Taylor and Dylan Coleman.

Benintendi is one of the top trade chips this year, as he’s an impending free agent having a good season for a noncompetitive team. He landed the #2 slot on MLBTR’s recent list of top trade candidates, trailing only Willson Contreras. Benintendi is walking in 10.2% of his plate appearances while striking out just 14% of the time and hitting .317/.386/.401 on the year. That amounts to a wRC+ of 127, or 27% above league average. With the Royals currently 35-53, a record worse than all American League teams except for the A’s, they stand out as obvious deadline sellers.

Two weeks ago, it was reported that the Blue Jays were among the teams interested in acquiring Benintendi, which was a fairly logical match. Benintendi bats from the left side, whereas the Blue Jays have a right-handed heavy lineup. They acquired outfielder Raimel Tapia from the Rockies in an offseason trade as a way to try to balance things out. Unfortunately, he’s hit just .263/.289/.375 for an 84 wRC+ this year. Swapping Benintendi into Tapia’s role as part of an outfield/DH mix with George Springer, Teoscar Hernández and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would have been a straightforward upgrade. However, this news would seem to more or less eliminate the chances of such a deal coming together since Benintendi would only be available to the Blue Jays for road games.

In the short term, the Royals will have to find replacements for these players in order get through the upcoming four-game series against the Blue Jays, which starts tomorrow. The corresponding moves are not known at this time.

Nationals Place Tanner Rainey On 60-Day IL With UCL Sprain, Select Tyler Clippard

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The Nationals have announced they have selected the contract of veteran reliever Tyler Clippard. To make room on the roster for him, closer Tanner Rainey has been placed on the 60-day injured list with a sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The news on Rainey is as surprising as it is unfortunate. He wasn’t even on the injured list, nor had there been any indication that an injury of this serious nature was being looked into. The UCL is the ligament that is repaired by Tommy John surgery. While the Nats haven’t announced that Rainey will undergo surgery or any timetable for his absence, the fact that he has been immediately placed on the 60-day IL suggests that they expect him to be out of action for the next two months at a minimum.

The 29-year-old was seemingly in the midst of a breakout season, throwing 30 innings with a 3.30 ERA, 28.1% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 31.6% ground ball rate. He had climbed up the club’s bullpen chart to become the closer, racking up three saves last year and 12 here in 2022.

The Nationals are now almost a year into the roster teardown that they started at last year’s deadline. As such, they’re enduring a miserable campaign that has them currently 30-59, tied with Oakland for the worst record in the majors. Rainey was one of the few bright spots of the year but also stood out as a potential trade chip. He has three more years of club control after this one, but as a relief pitcher on a bad team, there was still a chance of him getting moved, which won’t happen now.

Rainey qualified for arbitration for the first time last winter as a Super Two player and is playing this season on a salary of $860K, slightly above the $700K league minimum. He should be in line for a raise, despite this injury setback, based on his work in the first few months of the season. If he does indeed require surgery and will miss the majority of the 2023 campaign, there’s a possibility that the Nationals won’t tender him a contract. Though they could also keep him around given that he would come with two further seasons of control beyond that.

As for Clippard, 37, this will be his 16th MLB season, once he gets into a game. He should be a familiar face to the fans in Washington, as he pitched for the club from 2008 to 2014, in addition to spending time with the Yankees, A’s, Mets, Diamondbacks, White Sox, Astros, Cleveland, Blue Jays and Twins. Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, he’s pitched 36 1/3 innings this year in Triple-A with a 2.48 ERA, 32.2% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and 30.1% ground ball rate. He should provide the club with a veteran presence and could be a trade candidate if he pitches well in the majors.

Rockies Unlikely To Be Major Deadline Sellers

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At 39-49, the Rockies are tied with the D-backs for last place in the National League West, sitting 18 games back from the division-leading Dodgers. Only eight teams in baseball have a worse winning percentage than Colorado, and several of those eight came into the 2022 season with no intention of competing as they progressed through rebuilds. The Rockies, as has become par for the course, seem to feel their club is underperforming and don’t envision a major sell-off. General manager Bill Schmidt replied with a simple “no” when asked by Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette if he expects to be a big seller at this year’s deadline.

It’s a familiar refrain for a Rockies club that has enjoyed just two winning seasons in the past decade and appears well on its way to a tenth sub-.500 finish in the past dozen seasons. The Rockies are 171-212 dating back to 2019 but have nevertheless generally eschewed even the trades of veterans on expiring contracts. They added Kevin Pillar and Mychal Givens at the 2020 deadline, for instance. The Rox eventually traded Givens last summer, but that was the sole deadline deal for a club that had Jon Gray, Trevor Story and C.J. Cron on expiring contracts — plus righty Daniel Bard, who is a free agent at the end of the current season.

On the one hand, it’s refreshing to see a team continue to try to turn its fortunes and win in the here-and-now without embarking on an arduous multi-year rebuild (which, in itself, is not the panacea it’s often framed to be). On the other, the Rox have continually expressed ardent belief that this core can be the nucleus of a winning club but have yet to see that faith manifest in the form of consistent wins on the field.

Zealous confidence in the core has been demonstrated through far more than just words. Colorado extended Cron, infielder Ryan McMahon, lefty Kyle Freeland, righty Antonio Senzatela and catcher Elias Diaz, traded for Randal Grichuk and signed Kris Bryant to an eye-popping seven-year deal in an effort to finally turn the corner this year. Smaller deals for Jose Iglesias, Alex Colome and Chad Kuhl were meant to further bolster the roster. But at with just 20 days until the trade deadline, they find themselves in a familiar spot, and the only names among those extensions and new acquisitions who’ve performed up to expectation are Cron, Kuhl, Colome and perhaps Iglesias.

Despite the lackluster results, Schmidt tells Allentuck that he “believe[s] in these guys,” adding confidence that the farm system will soon bring about some reinforcements. The Rox indeed have some nearly MLB-ready talent on the cusp of the Majors, but the system as a whole is ranked between 23rd and 25th among all 30 teams at each of Baseball America, MLB.com, The Athletic and ESPN. Schmidt, the scouting director-turned-GM, surely views his group more favorably, but as Allentuck explores in greater detail, nearly every one of the organization’s most promising pitching prospects has dealt with injuries of varying severity this winter.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the Rockies should, at the very least, be open-minded about deals involving veterans who are set to be free agents at season’s end. That would include Bard, who’s been one of the better closers in the NL this season, as well as Kuhl, Colome, Iglesias and hard-throwing but mercurial righty Carlos Estevez.

However, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that the Rox hope to sign the 37-year-old Bard to an extension rather than trade him. Allentuck notes that a deal between the two parties isn’t close but similarly suggests that an extension is likelier than a trade. While Nightengale wrote the Rockies could listen to offers on Kuhl, the right-hander himself tells Allentuck that he’s also open to an extension and would prefer to stay in one place rather than bounce around the league. Schmidt seemingly hinted at this when noting that the most commonly speculated trade candidates in Colorado “are the guys that want to stay here.” Based on the team’s recent rash of extensions, it’s certainly possible Kuhl re-signs on a new multi-year deal rather than changing hands in the next three weeks.

There’d obviously be plenty of risk associated with extending Bard or Kuhl. Bard is already 37, and although he’s whiffed 29.5% of opponents, limited hard contact and notched a career-best 56.4% ground-ball rate en route to a 2.14 ERA, his 2021 campaign (5.21 ERA in 65 2/3 innings) is a reminder of the overall volatility of relief pitching. Add in Bard’s age and still-ugly 12.2% walk rate, and there’s definite downside, strong as his results to date have been.

Kuhl, meanwhile, has a 4.02 ERA through 87 1/3 innings — a total that’s already the second-highest mark of the oft-injured righty’s career. The 29-year-old’s 16.9% strikeout rate ranks 71st of the 79 pitchers in MLB with at least 80 innings so far, and his 29.4% opponents’ chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone ranks 73rd. His 41.7% hard-hit rate is the highest mark he’s ever yielded. Perhaps the return wouldn’t be enough to justify a trade, and it can’t be ignored that it’s rare for free-agent pitchers to voice a willingness (or in this case, even a preference) to call Coors Field home.

Still, keeping Kuhl would effectively lock the 2023 Rockies into relying on the same rotation that has produced a 28th-ranked 5.06 ERA in 2022 (plus a 24th-ranked 4.47 FIP and 28th-ranked 4.58 SIERA). In doing so, they’d be betting heavily on improvements from German Marquez, Freeland and Senzatela — although with all three now signed to lucrative multi-year deals, there’s little choice but for the organization to hope for just that.

Last year’s deadline was Schmidt’s first in the GM chair after more than 20 years in other front office roles with the Rockies, so there was no precedent for how he’d approach the trade market. Now, between what we saw last summer and the latest comments to Allentuck, it seems likely to expect a conservative approach that’ll leave the bulk of the roster intact.

That would ostensibly set the stage for another offseason of win-now transactions for the Rockies, but there are payroll considerations to keep in mind as well. Assuming Charlie Blackmon picks up next year’s $10MM player option, they’ll already have $120.5MM in guarantees on the books. That doesn’t include potential salaries for extension candidates Bard and Kuhl, nor does it include arbitration raises for Austin Gomber, Brendan Rodgers, Tyler Kinley, Garrett Hampson and Robert Stephenson. All of that will push the Rockies much closer to their franchise-record $145MM payroll, meaning it’ll be incumbent for the current group to right the ship if they’re to truly turn their fortunes in future seasons.

Royals Acquire Drew Waters From Braves For Draft Pick

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The Royals have made their second deal of the past week, acquiring former top outfield prospect Drew Waters, minor league righty Andrew Hoffmann and minor league corner infielder CJ Alexander from the Braves in exchange for their Competitive Balance draft pick (No. 35 overall). Both teams have announced the trade.

The 15 selections in the two Competitive Balance rounds — Round A ranges from Nos.33-39, Round B from picks 67-74 — are the only picks eligible to be traded each year’s draft and can only be traded once (meaning the Braves cannot subsequently flip the pick to another team). The No. 35 pick that Atlanta is receiving comes with a slot value of $2,202,100, all of which will be added to the Braves’ league-allotted bonus pool of $8,022,200. That’ll bump the Braves from the 19th-largest draft pool to the 10th-largest (barring any additional trades).

The added pick and financial might will give the Braves some extra means of replenishing the farm after surrendering four prospects to acquire Matt Olson this offseason (to say nothing of the handful of trades made at each of the past few deadlines). Between those deals, low draft selections the past few years (due to strong regular-season performances) and the international free-agent penalties incurred by the former front office regime, the once-vaunted Braves farm system has taken a hit.

Drew Waters

Waters, 23, ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects from 2019-21 but has seen his stock fall precipitously in recent seasons as he’s struggled against Triple-A pitching. Waters is currently in his third season with Triple-A Gwinnett, but his .246/.305/.393 batting line isn’t an improvement over the pedestrian output he’s recorded there in both 2019 and 2021. Overall, in 788 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Waters is a .246/.324/.383 hitter. Those struggles are reflected in the fact that the former second-round pick, who was once seen as a key building block for the Braves organization, is now instead part of a three-player package that will net Atlanta a draft pick that’s just six places higher than Waters was selected a half-decade ago.

With Ronald Acuna Jr. and Michael Harris II set to hold down two-thirds of the Atlanta outfield for the future — plus veterans Eddie Rosario, Marcell Ozuna and Guillermo Heredia all signed or controlled beyond the current season, there wasn’t much immediate room for Waters to make an impact on the big league outfield anyhow. Braves fans might be disheartened when thinking about what Waters might’ve fetched in a trade had he been moved a year or two ago, but the team did manage to net some value for the former Futures Game participant.

From the Royals’ vantage point, the long-term outfield picture is far less certain, so there’s good reason to take a chance on getting Waters back on track. Kansas City has been working to put a winning product on the field for the past couple seasons, and while the results haven’t been there yet, Waters provides more immediate potential to help the team than whomever would have been tabbed with that No. 35 overall pick. Waters posted a huge .319/.366/.481 batting line in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting back in 2019, when he was one of the youngest players in the league. Baseball America and MLB.com both ranked him within the sport’s top 40 overall prospects in consecutive offseasons.

With Andrew Benintendi all but certain to be traded and center fielder Michael A. Taylor a candidate to go as well — he’s signed affordably through 2023 — the Royals will soon have some outfield vacancies. If veteran Whit Merrifield is finally moved at this year’s deadline, that’d represent another subtraction from the outfield corps.

The organizational hope has been that 25-year-old Kyle Isbel can claim a long-term spot in the outfield mix, but he’s currently hitting just .216/.248/.328. Twenty-six-year-old Edward Olivares has performed well in a much more limited role. Generally speaking, though, the Royals are thin on outfield prospects. College pitching has been a focus of their drafts during their recent rebuild, and while they have standout young options at shortstop/third base (Bobby Witt Jr.), catcher (MJ Melendez) and first base/designated hitter (Vinnie Pasquantino, Nick Pratto), there’s no ballyhooed outfielder knocking down the door to the Majors for the Royals at the moment. Waters, clearly, is something of a project, but he’ll give the Royals an immediate option to join that young core if he can indeed benefit from a change of scenery.

Also heading to the Royals are Hoffmann, a 22-year-old righty selected in the 12th round of last summer’s draft, and Alexander, a 25-year-old who’s shown power, speed and concerning on-base struggles while playing against younger competition in Double-A.

Hoffmann ranked 16th among Braves prospects at FanGraphs and 23rd at MLB.com, where scouting reports on the 6’5″ righty peg him as a high-probability back-of-the-rotation piece — a rather notable step forward for a player just a year removed from being selected so late in the draft. So far in 2022, Hoffmann has posted terrific numbers in Class-A, making 15 starts with a 2.36 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 46.3% ground-ball rate. Hoffmann’s fastball sits in the 91-93 mph range — below-average by today’s standards — and he relies heavily on above-average command to help mitigate the lack of a power primary offering.

Alexander, meanwhile, isn’t as highly regarded — as one would expect for a player who is in his third trip through Double-A despite the fact that he’ll turn 26 this month. A 20th-round pick in 2018, Alexander has dramatically reduced his strikeout rate in 2022, as it’s currently at 21.8% after sitting at 32% in 2019-21. He’s slugged 15 homers and gone 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts through 289 plate appearances this year, but Alexander has also walked at a meager 4.8% rate. Overall, his .258/.294/.465 isn’t particularly exciting, but he gives Kansas City yet another lefty corner infield bat, as he’s capable of playing first base as well.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the trade (Twitter links).

Wander Franco To Miss 5-8 Weeks Due To Hand Surgery

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Rays’ shortstop Wander Franco, who was placed on the IL yesterday due to an injury to his hamate bone, will undergo surgery to repair it. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the news, noting that Franco will be out 5-8 weeks.

Long considered one of the top prospects in the sport, Franco debuted last year and delivered on the hype with an excellent rookie campaign. Just 20 years old at the time, he got into 70 games, striking out in just 12% of his plate appearances and hitting .288/.347/.463 for a wRC+ of 127. On the heels of that campaign, the Rays signed him to an 11-year, $182MM extension to keep him around as the face of the franchise for the next decade-plus.

Unfortunately, the first season of that extension hasn’t gone according to plan, with Franco being beset by injuries on multiple occasions. He first landed on the IL in May due to a quad strain, before this hamate injury surfaced. He’s managed to get into 58 games on the season, but seems to have been dragged down by these ailments. His batting line this year is .260/.308/.396, still above average with a 104 wRC+, but surely a disappointment for a young player hoping to see year-over-year growth. With a 5-8 week absence coming up, it seems he won’t be back until mid-August at the earliest, but potentially not returning until September.

The grim news for the Rays doesn’t end there, as Topkin relays an update on center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who also went on the IL yesterday alongside Kiermaier. Manager Kevin Cash says that Kiermaier will see a hip specialist after the All-Star break and is going to be “down for some time.” The defensive wiz was having another one of his customary seasons, providing quality glovework while hitting just shy of league average. While the length of his absence isn’t exactly clear, it seems like it will be significant. This leaves the club doubly handicapped in the outfield, especially in center, as Manuel Margot is also on the IL, with a patellar tendon strain keeping him out of action for a decent chunk of time as well.

With Franco out of action in the past couple of days, the club has turned to Taylor Walls at shortstop. Through 73 games this year, he’s hitting just .164/.245/.264 for a wRC+ of 52. Center field has been manned by Brett Phillips, who’s hitting .146/.218/.247 for a 39 wRC+ on the campaign. With both Franco and Kiermaier out of action for significant time, these two areas stand out as clear areas of need as the August 2 trade deadline approaches. The Rays are currently 45-40, well back of the Yankees in the AL East but still in possession of a postseason spot in a tight Wild Card race.

Braves Select Robinson Cano, Designate Phil Gosselin

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The Braves announced that they’ve selected the contract of veteran second baseman Robinson Cano, just hours after acquiring him from the Padres in exchange for cash. Fellow infield veteran Phil Gosselin was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man and 26-man rosters. Atlanta also reinstated Adam Duvall from the paternity list and optioned first baseman Mike Ford to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Cano, 39, was suspended for the entire 2021 season after the second positive PED test of his 17-year Major League career. Once a perennial All-Star and MVP candidate who looked like a surefire Hall of Famer (prior to the multiple PED bans), Cano is in the penultimate season of a ten-year, $240MM contract signed with the Mariners prior to the 2014 season. He’s been released by both the Mets and the Padres this season thanks to an awful .149/.182/.189 batting line through 77 trips to the plate, but Cano did post a strong .333/.375/.479 slash in 104 Triple-A plate appearances for the Padres’ top affiliate this year.

Now back in the NL East, Cano will help his former division rival try to overtake his former club in a potential revenge series this weekend. For the time being, he’ll give Atlanta a platoon partner at second base for the righty-swinging Orlando Arcia — though it stands to reason that if Cano’s form resembles his output with the Padres and Mets from earlier in the year, the leash will be quite short. The Braves are biding their time until Ozzie Albies can return from a fractured foot, but he’s likely still more than a month out.

Gosselin, 33, had a nice run in Triple-A Gwinnett this season but hasn’t hit much in a tiny sample of 24 big league plate appearances (.261/.292/.261). He’s spent parts of ten seasons in the Majors, so teams generally know what they’re getting with him at this point. Gosselin will generally hit for a passable batting average but doesn’t walk or hit for power. He’s capable of playing just about anywhere on the diamond and is a solid defender at multiple infield positions, making him a nice veteran to have on hand as a depth option. The Braves will have a week to trade Gosselin, release him or try to pass him through outright waivers. Even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Pirates Have Rejected Recent Offers For Reynolds, Bednar

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The trade market hasn’t gotten rolling in full just yet, with many teams focused on the draft and some borderline clubs waiting to see how the current roster performs for a bit longer before adding or subtracting from the mix. At 14 games under .500 with a -129 run differential and a 10-game deficit even in the Wild Card hunt, the Pirates aren’t going to be under any delusions about contending in the current season. That doesn’t mean they’ll tear the entire roster down, however, and Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic reports that Pittsburgh has already rejected “tempting” offers for both center fielder Bryan Reynolds and closer David Bednar.

Reynolds and Bednar are the team’s highest-profile players (and thus likely to be the most frequently speculated-upon by fans and pundits over the next three weeks), but it’s long seemed unlikely that either would be moved. Reynolds is on a two-year deal covering the 2022-23 seasons and is then arbitration-eligible for another year before he’ll become a free agent after the 2025 season. The Pirates have turned away interest in him for more than a year now. Bednar, meanwhile, has a whopping four seasons of club control remaining beyond the current year — and being a Pittsburgh native certainly makes him a bit more marketable to the fan base. Although Reynolds and Bednar have already been the focus of some talks with other clubs, Biertempfel suggests that a deal involving either player remains unlikely. (USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that the Bucs have told teams that Bednar, in particular, will not be traded this year.)

Both players have performed well in 2022, and both could be key pieces when the Pirates take more aggressive strides to emerge from this rebuilding effort. The 27-year-old Reynolds had a dismal start to the season, slashing an uncharacteristic .202/.301/.345 in 136 plate appearances through May 16. In 208 plate appearances since that time, he’s hitting .299/.370/.543 with 11 homers, eight doubles and a pair of triples — right in line with the production you’d expect based on his output from 2019-21. A potential injury further diminishes the chances that Reynolds could be moved, though the team has yet to formally provide an update on his status today.

Bednar, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the NL’s best relievers since coming over from the Padres in the Joe Musgrove trade. In 101 2/3 innings with the Bucs since Opening Day 2021, the 27-year-old has a 2.39 ERA with a 33% strikeout rate, a 7.8% walk rate, 18 saves and 17 holds. His 15.7% swinging-strike rate in that time is tied for 11th among 146 qualified relievers in that time.

Various reports over the past year have illustrated just how high Pittsburgh’s asking price on Reynolds has been. The Miami Herald reported in March that the Pirates asked the Marlins for a package headlined by recent first-rounders Kahlil Watson and Max Meyer over the winter (in addition to other piece). The Seattle Times reported last October that the Pirates’ asking price from the Mariners last July began with Julio Rodriguez.

Requests of that nature are the reason that Reynolds and Bednar occupied the final two spots on MLBTR’s Top 50 trade candidate rankings last week, as opposed to more prominent listing that would be commensurate with their talent and potential impact. It’s always possible that a team absolutely overwhelms the Pittsburgh front office, but the far likelier outcome is that the Bucs move some veterans with minimal team control remaining (e.g. Jose Quintana, Ben Gamel).

Braves Acquire Robinson Cano

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July 11: The New York Post’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Braves are planning to add Cano to the roster today in advance off their series against Cano’s former Mets teammates.

July 10: The Braves have acquired infielder Robinson Cano from the Padres for cash considerations, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter link).

After being released by the Mets in May, Cano signed a big league deal with the Padres soon thereafter, but was then released again after he turned down the team’s request to go to Triple-A.  Cano’s veteran status gave him the right to opt into free agency, but after checking his options on the open market, he re-signed with San Diego on a minor league deal.

Since reporting to Triple-A El Paso, Cano has hit well, posting a .333/.375/.479 slash line over 104 plate appearances.  While obviously the minor league setting (and hitter-friendly environment) have to be taken into account, Cano’s performance does give some hint that he still has something left in the tank at age 39, and after missing the entire 2021 season due to a PED suspension.  Cano batted only .149/.182/.189 over 77 combined PA with the Padres and Mets at the MLB level this season.

The Braves obviously saw something they liked, and will now bring Cano back to the NL East to see if he can revive his career.  Atlanta has developed a knack for striking gold on struggling veterans, and it was only a year ago that the club picked up several such players (i.e. Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall) who ended up fueling their run to the World Series title.  As poor as Cano looked earlier this season in New York, Mets fans must have some trepidation over Cano suddenly catching fire and helping Atlanta overtake the Mets in the NL East.

Atlanta is thin on left-handed hitting, and there is a vacancy at second base since Ozzie Albies will be out until at least mid-August while recovering from foot surgery.  On paper, Cano is an interesting platoon fit alongside the right-handed hitting Orlando Arcia at second base, and another righty swinger in Marcell Ozuna at designated hitter.

It wasn’t long ago that Cano was still among the game’s most feared bats, as he posted an .896 OPS over 182 PA for the Mets during the shortened 2020 season.  While his positive PED test inevitably casts some doubt upon those numbers, there isn’t much risk for Atlanta in picking up Cano to see what he can contribute.  Of the $24MM owed to Cano for the 2022 season, the Braves will have to cover just the prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary once Cano hits the active roster, as the Mariners ($3.75MM) and Mets are covering the rest.

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