Little Current Traction Between Mets, Twins In Donaldson Trade Discussions
JULY 9: There’s currently little traction between the Mets and Twins in discussions regarding either Donaldson or right-hander Jose Berrios, writes Dan Hayes of the Athletic.
JULY 4: While the Mets are expected to pursue upgrades in advance of the deadline, a Donaldson trade is not under consideration at this time, hears Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Martino, however, reiterates that the Mets continue to contemplate a potential Donaldson acquisition.
JULY 2: The Mets are targeting third base upgrades as the deadline approaches, and while many of their fans are likely hoping Kris Bryant becomes available, they’re understandably exploring every avenue. SNY’s Andy Martino writes today that the Mets have approached the Twins and “engaged in very preliminary talks” regarding Josh Donaldson.
As always, it’s worth noting that teams inquire on a wide variety of targets every year at the trade deadline and in the offseason, but preliminary talks don’t necessarily portend serious negotiations. Donaldson is in the second season of a four-year, $92MM contract signed in the 2019-20 offseason, so he’d make for an expensive acquisition for the Mets or any other club. As Martino points out, the Donaldson contract would push the Mets beyond the luxury-tax barrier, though owner Steve Cohen hasn’t been shy about his willingness to cross that threshold.
Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez currently has the Mets at about $13.5MM shy of the $210MM luxury barrier. Donaldson’s $23MM annual value — the luxury tax is based on contracts’ average annual value — would bring the Mets about $9.5MM north of the tax line. However, as a first-time offender, their penalty would be rather minimal: a 20-percent tax on the first $20MM by which they exceed the barrier, a 32 percent tax on the next $20MM and a 62.5 percent tax on anything thereafter. (Obviously, at this point in the season, it’s overwhelmingly unlikely that the Mets would take on so much salary that they’d cross the barrier by $40MM or more.)
The penalty on Donaldson alone would, in theory, be about $1.9MM. That’s not prohibitive in and of itself, necessarily, and even if the Mets were to make subsequent additions and cross the tax line by, say, $20MM, they’d still only be paying $4MM in penalties. The greater concern could be that under the current system, penalties increase in the second and third consecutive seasons of crossing the tax line. Taking on Donaldson — or any other players who bring them north of the line, Bryant included — would set the Mets up for stiffer penalties in 2022 and perhaps in 2023. Of course, that assumes the current luxury-tax system will remain in place with the next collective bargaining agreement, and with the current CBA set to expire Dec. 1, we can’t know that to be the case.
Turning to the player himself, Donaldson has been somewhat of a lightning rod in recent weeks (and at various other points in his career) for his outspokenness about pitchers’ usage of foreign substances. The slugger called out Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and pointed to his spin-rate drops following the league’s implementation of umpire checks, and he drew the ire of the White Sox and their fanbase for shouting “It’s not sticky anymore!” after belting a home run against Lucas Giolito this week.
Being outspoken is nothing new for Donaldson, of course, nor is the productive stretch in which he currently finds himself. The 35-year-old went down with a hamstring injury in the first game of the season for the Twins, but he’s been healthy since and has been on a tear at the plate for the past month. Donaldson is hitting .250/.345/.486 with 13 home runs overall, but he’s been on absolute fire since Memorial Day weekend, slashing .291/.383/.646 with eight homers and four doubles in his past 94 plate appearances. From a defensive standpoint, he’s not posting the elite marks that he has in recent years, but he’s been about average at the hot corner in the estimation of most metrics (-1 Defensive Runs Saved, -1 Ultimate Zone Rating, +1 Outs Above Average).
Donaldson’s contract pays him $21MM in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and he’s also owed at least the $8MM buyout of a $16MM club option for the 2024 campaign. We’re at the halfway point of the 186-game regular season today, so as of this moment, Donaldson is owed $10.5MM more on this year’s salary. Notably, his contract does include limited no-trade protection, though it’s not yet clear whether the Mets are on that list.
For the Mets, third base has been an issue all season long, due largely to injuries. J.D. Davis opened the year as the top option at the hot corner, and he posted a mammoth .390/.479/.610 slash in 48 plate appearances through his first 14 games. However, Davis is a sub-par defensive option there and drew some criticism for some key miscues (three errors in 94 innings) before going down to a hand/finger injury from which he’s yet to return. Jonathan Villar, Luis Guillorme, Brandon Drury, Jose Peraza, Jeff McNeil and even backup catcher Tomas Nido (for two innings) have all been part of the Mets’ third base carousel this season.
Donaldson would, of course, help to stabilize that roller coaster — provided he can remain healthy. He’s been on the injured list in three of the past four seasons, owing primarily to calf injuries. He did stay healthy for the duration of the 2019 season with the Braves, however, and Donaldson’s early trip to the injured list in 2021 wound up lasting just 11 days.
It’s been a miserable season for the Twins, who opened the year as expected contenders but instead find themselves at 33-46 — fresh off a sweep at the hands of the AL Central-leading White Sox. With the Twins now 14.5 games back from the division lead and 13 games out of an American League Wild Card spot, they look increasingly likely to be deadline sellers. Donaldson’s contract probably makes him too costly for most teams to consider, but the deep-pocketed Mets are at least a plausible suitor in a potential swap.
Marlins Pick Up Don Mattingly’s Option For 2022 Season
Don Mattingly will return as the Marlins’ manager in 2022. General manager Kim Ng announced on today’s broadcast that Mattingly’s mutual option for the 2022 campaign has been picked up by both parties (Twitter link, with video, via Bally Sports Florida).
“Donnie’s been steady at the helm,” Ng said when asked about the job Mattingly has done. “I think that’s one of his greatest attributes. He’s incredibly patient. I think he’s got a great way with the young players. He’s very positive with them.”
The 2022 season will be Mattingly’s seventh as the Marlins’ manager. He joined the Fish in 2016 on the heels of a five-year run as the Dodgers’ skipper and has since managed the team to a 345-446 record. Of course, the manager of a club that has gone through yet another broad-reaching fire sale, turned over its front office and gone through an ownership change can’t be judged solely on wins and losses. Mattingly has stuck with the club through all of those sweeping changes, convincing multiple front offices and ownership groups alike that he’s the right person to be leading an up-and-coming Marlins club.
Mattingly’s Marlins made a surprise postseason bid last year in the expanded format and did so in spite of a Covid outbreak that gutted the roster and left him with a host of replacement players for several weeks. That unexpected playoff berth contributed to Mattingly’s first NL Manager of the Year win. His club toppled the NL Central champion Cubs in the Wild Card round of play before falling to the Braves in the NLDS.
The 2021 season hasn’t gone exactly according to plan for the Marlins, who’ve fallen into a prolonged stretch of losses and dropped to 38-47 in the standings. The loss of touted young right-hander Sixto Sanchez due to shoulder surgery has been a particularly tough hit for Miami, and they’ve also been without third baseman Brian Anderson and promising righty Elieser Hernandez for much of the 2021 campaign as well.
Still, there are some important pieces in place for the franchise moving forward. Jazz Chisholm is enjoying a nice season in the middle infield, and the Marlins’ rotation has the makings of an impressive group, headlined by Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and 2021 Rookie of the Year candidate Trevor Rogers. Miami has several interesting prospects just breaking into the Majors or on the cusp of doing so, including outfielders Jesus Sanchez and JJ Bleday. Last year’s first-round pick, righty Max Meyer, has utterly dominated the Double-A level and could be a quick-to-the-Majors arm.
Mattingly will get the chance to work with that upcoming wave of talent, and if all goes according to plan next season, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see Ng, principal owner Bruce Sherman and CEO Derek Jeter extend Mattingly beyond the 2022 campaign.
Eloy Jimenez To Begin Rehab Assignment
The White Sox announced this morning that slugger Eloy Jimenez has been cleared to begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. Jimenez, who suffered a ruptured pectoral tendon during Spring Training and has yet to play in 2021, will start out with Class-A Advanced Winston-Salem.
Minor league rehab assignments can last up to 30 days, so this doesn’t necessarily mean that Jimenez will be back with the Sox in the very near future, but it effectively places a clock on his return to the roster (barring any kind of setback). Assuming all goes well with the rehab, it seems he’s on track to return on the more optimistic end of the four- to five-month recovery period the White Sox placed on him after he underwent surgery back on March 30.
It’s a welcome development for a White Sox club whose roster has been hammered by injuries to key players. Center fielder Luis Robert suffered a Grade 3 hip flexor strain in early May that came with a 12- to 16-week recovery period. Nick Madrigal‘s season is over due to a torn hamstring that required surgery. Yasmani Grandal underwent surgery to repair a tendon in his knee this week.
Despite losing some of their best players for half the season or more, the Sox have run away with the feeble American League Central. The rival Twins have been perhaps baseball’s most disappointing team in 2021, while the Indians have lost their top three starters to injury and have plummeted in the standings while their replacements have posted a combined 6.87 ERA over the past month. Kansas City’s offseason spending hasn’t produced a winner on the field, and the Tigers are in what they hope to be the final stages of what has felt like an interminable rebuild.
That’s not to detract from what the ChiSox have accomplished. Few would have been surprised to see the team wilt with so many major injuries. The front office deserves credit both for bringing in veteran Brian Goodwin, who has helped to stabilize the outfield with a .253/.349/.493 batting line in his first 22 games, and for generally cultivating a deep farm system over the past several years. Prospects Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger have both hit the ground running in their big league debuts, for instance.
The Chicago pitching staff, meanwhile, has been the backbone of the club’s success. Spearheaded by offseason acquisition Lance Lynn and a remarkable breakout by Carlos Rodon, Sox starting pitchers rank seventh in the Majors with a collective 3.62 earned run average.
The general thought has been that the White Sox will be looking for help in the outfield and/or at second base in the three weeks leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. That Jimenez is already on the mend and perhaps on track to be back in the lineup by early August could directly impact the team’s strategy. The Sox recently designated Adam Eaton for assignment, but they’ve been more prominently linked to infield acquisitions thus far — namely Eduardo Escobar and Adam Frazier. An apparently looming Jimenez return can only make GM Rick Hahn and his staff feel better about the outlook in the outfield, whereas second base is still a fairly obvious area to upgrade.
Trevor Rosenthal To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery
Athletics reliever Trevor Rosenthal tore a labrum in his hip and will require surgery, manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News). He won’t pitch at all in 2021.
It will go down as a completely lost season for Rosenthal, who began the year on the injured list with shoulder soreness. Further evaluation revealed he’d need to undergo surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, which he did in early April. The hope had been that Rosenthal would be able to return at some point in August, but his new injury obviously forecloses that possibility.
It’s a horrible development for Rosenthal, who has had a few recent seasons derailed by injury. The former Cardinals closer suffered a UCL tear in 2017 that required Tommy John surgery. He lost all of 2018 rehabbing and looked nothing like himself when he returned the following season. Rosenthal walked an astounding 30.6% of opposing hitters with the Nationals and Tigers that year, forcing him to settle for a minor league contract with the Royals over the 2019-20 offseason.
Remarkably, Rosenthal completely reversed his fortunes to be among the top relievers in baseball last year. He cracked the Kansas City roster and pitched well enough to attract the interest of the contending Padres, who acquired him in advance of the trade deadline. Between the two clubs, Rosenthal pitched to a 1.90 ERA over 23 2/3 innings, striking out a whopping 41.8% of opponents while walking a lower than average 8.8%.
That positioned Rosenthal as one of the top free agent relievers in last winter’s class. He lingered on the market until late February, when the A’s stepped up and landed him on a one-year, $11MM contract. It was a surprising reversal from Oakland’s otherwise thrifty offseason, which included the team declining to make $18.9MM qualifying offers to star reliever Liam Hendriks and shortstop Marcus Semien.
The A’s will ultimately get no return on that investment, as Rosenthal’s unfortunate injury woes will keep him from donning the green and gold in a meaningful game. His contract contained a series of deferrals — Rosenthal is making just $3MM in 2021, followed by $3MM in 2022 and $5MM in 2023 — but he’ll again reach the open market this winter.
It’s not yet clear whether Rosenthal is expected to be ready for Spring Training in 2022. Given the injury-wrecked campaign, it’s plausible he’ll need to throw in front of scouts to demonstrate his health before he lands a new deal. Rosenthal is still just 31 years old and was brilliant when last able to take the mound, so it stands to reason there’ll be interest from teams if/when he works his way back to full strength.
Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On Injured List With Forearm Inflammation
The Dodgers announced they’re placing ace Clayton Kershaw on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his left forearm. Righty Mitch White has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.
No timeline has been placed on Kershaw’s return, but any injury to a pitcher’s forearm is obviously of some concern. It’s particularly alarming when that pitcher is a player of Kershaw’s caliber. While he’s no longer the best pitcher in the sport like he was at his peak, the three-time Cy Young Award winner remains a highly-effective hurler. Through 106 1/3 innings this season, Kershaw has worked to a 3.39 ERA with fantastic strikeout and walk rates (30.1% and 4.5%, respectively).
An IL stint for Kershaw only adds to the likelihood the Dodgers acquire some starting pitching depth in advance of the July 30 trade deadline. The reigning World Series champions are still amidst a three-way battle in the NL West. Los Angeles trails the Giants by half a game and sits three games up on the third-place Padres.
Getting Kershaw back for the stretch run is obviously of paramount importance for the organization as they look to defend their championship. It’s also pivotal for Kershaw personally, as he’s slated to hit free agency at the end of the season. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes slotted the 33-year-old southpaw ninth on his most recent free agent power rankings last month.
Sixto Sanchez To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
TODAY: Marlins general manager Kim Ng provided some more detail on Sanchez’s timeline, telling MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters that the team is hopeful Sanchez will be able to resume throwing in three months. Pitching in winter ball, however, is “probably not in his cards,” Ng said.
JULY 5: The Marlins announced Monday that right-hander Sixto Sanchez will undergo season-ending surgery after an MRI revealed a small tear in the posterior capsule of his right shoulder. The hope is that he’ll be ready for Spring Training 2022.
It’s an awful development for the Marlins and for Sanchez himself, who has long been touted as one of the game’s most promising young arms. That potential was on full display in 2020, when the Fish called Sanchez up for his MLB debut and he turned in a 3.46 ERA through his first seven big league starts — despite having just turned 22 years of age.
Sanchez averaged 98.8 mph on his power sinker, and while he didn’t rack up strikeouts at the level some might’ve hoped (20.9 percent), he showed above-average control (seven percent walk rate) and ranked seventh among 158 MLB starting pitchers (min. 30 innings) with a 58 percent ground-ball rate. There was certainly some hope for more missed bats down the line, too. Sanchez’s 12.8 percent swinging-strike rate was quite sound for a starting pitcher, and his 38.7 percent chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone ranked fourth in that same set of 158 starters.
Unfortunately, Sanchez won’t end up throwing a single pitch for the Marlins in 2021. His start this spring was delayed due to Covid protocols, and the Marlins optioned him late in camp after he threw just 8 1/3 innings in Spring Training. While many immediately jumped to the service time argument, it was clear that wasn’t the case. Sanchez would’ve needed to be held down until the end of this month in order to push back his free agency, and there’s no chance that’d have happened had he been healthy. (They also had no qualms about top prospect Jazz Chisholm breaking camp as the everyday second baseman, even though it’d have been far easier to delay his free agency than that of Sanchez.)
The target for Sanchez was a mid-April 2021 debut, but he cut a workout at the team’s alternate site short in early April after complaining of shoulder discomfort. His throwing program was paused for more than a month. Upon restarting, Sanchez again quickly pushed pause, although this time general manager Kim Ng (in retrospect, somewhat ominously) indicated that the new discomfort Sanchez had felt was unrelated to the initial inflammation with which he was diagnosed back in April.
The end result of the entire sequence, unfortunately for Sanchez, is that he won’t accrue big league service time in 2021. If he indeed sustained his injury while throwing on the minor league side, that would seem to boil down to little more than awful timing. The Miami Herald’s Craig Mish tweets, however, now suggests that a tear was discovered in Sanchez back in March, but rehab was recommended. Sanchez was optioned to the team’s alternate site on March 29. If there’s some form of documentation indicating that a tear was discovered prior to being optioned, that sort of situation is the type that will often result in a service-time grievance.
It should be noted that it’s still possible for Sanchez to reach a full year of MLB service in 2021, however. He entered the season with 103 days of service time, meaning he’d only need 69 days on the MLB roster in order to pass one full year of service and remain on track for free agency after the 2026 campaign. If the Marlins were to call Sanchez to the MLB roster and place him on the 60-day IL in order to open a 40-man roster spot, he’d receive service time for any days spent on the Major League injured list. Were such a move to happen on or before July 26, he’d still end up with a year-plus of service time (though his camp could conceivably still push for retroactive service to secure MLB pay for the season’s first few months).
To be clear, none of this is to imply any nefarious plot on the Marlins’ part. The team, after all, called Sanchez up in the first place last year when it could’ve at least defensibly kept him at the alternate site. The aforementioned Chisholm promotion is another example of forgoing service time manipulation when an opportunity otherwise presented itself.
The timing of the tear’s discovery, relative to the timing of Sanchez being optioned out of big league camp, will prove crucial. So, too, will the timing of a theoretical placement on the MLB 60-day IL — if the Marlins go that route at all. Opting not to do so would be tantamount to finishing out the season with a 39-man roster, however, so it’s in their interest to make such a move at some point. The question is just whether it’s made in time for Sanchez to reach one-plus years of service in 2021.
Yasmani Grandal Undergoes Knee Tendon Surgery
JULY 7: Grandal underwent knee surgery to fix his torn tendon, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (Twitter link). In an official statement from the White Sox, the team stated that surgery was required for Grandal after further examination by doctors. Grandal is still expected to play again in 2021, though the club’s statement mentioned that an “updated timeline” would come soon, so there could be some adjustment to the initial four-to-six week projection.
JULY 6: The White Sox announced they’ve placed catcher Yasmani Grandal on the 10-day injured list with a tendon tear in his left knee. He’s expected to miss four-to-six weeks. Fellow catcher Seby Zavala has been recalled from Triple-A Charlotte in a corresponding move.
Grandal has been nagged by left calf tightness in recent days, keeping him out of action over the weekend. He returned to the lineup last night but left early after hurting his knee on a check swing. Obviously, the new injury will lead to a significantly longer absence.
It’s another blow for the White Sox, who have also lost their presumptive starting left fielder (Eloy Jiménez), center fielder (Luis Robert) and second baseman (Nick Madrigal) for significant chunks of the season. Jiménez and Robert have been out for months after suffering injuries early in the year, while Madrigal was lost for the rest of the season after going down last month.
It’ll be tough for the Sox to replace Grandal’s production in the coming weeks. While the 32-year-old is only hitting .188, his power and incredible patience have made him a highly productive player. The switch-hitting backstop is reaching base at a fantastic .388 clip thanks to a league-best 24.4% walk rate. He’s popped 14 home runs (tied for third-most among catchers) en route to a decent .436 slugging percentage. Grandal has also earned a reputation as one of the game’s elite pitch framers in recent years, although Statcast suggests he’s only been average in that regard this season.
It now seems the Chicago catching situation will fall to the younger tandem of Zack Collins and Zavala. The recently-optioned Yermín Mercedes could also play his way into the mix, but the Sox were fairly reluctant to give him much time behind the dish when he was tearing the cover off the ball earlier in the year and have turned to Zavala before Mercedes in the immediate aftermath of Grandal’s injury. It’s possible they look to acquire a more experienced backstop from outside the organization before the trade deadline, but Chicago’s six-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central could give them enough confidence to roll with their in-house options until Grandal returns.
White Sox Designate Adam Eaton For Assignment
The White Sox have designated outfielder Adam Eaton for assignment, the team announced. The move clears a roster space for another outfielder in Adam Engel, who was activated off the 10-day injured list.
Eaton only just returned from the IL himself earlier this week, after missing two weeks with a hamstring strain. However, the White Sox had clearly seen enough from Eaton after he hit only .201/.298/.344 over 219 plate appearances, marking his second straight year of subpar offensive production after a similarly lackluster season with the Nationals in 2020.
That said, it still counts as a bit of a surprise to see the White Sox so abruptly cut ties with Eaton, in part because of the team is still so shorthanded in the outfield with Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez both still on the injured list. Until those stars return (or unless the Sox make a notable trade deadline addition), Chicago will go with a mix of Engel, Andrew Vaughn, Brian Goodwin, Gavin Sheets, Billy Hamilton, and utilitymen Leury Garcia and Danny Mendick as their outfield options.
Beyond the immediate on-field impact, the Sox will now almost surely have to eat the remainder of Eaton’s contract. The outfielder inked a one-year deal worth $8MM in guaranteed money ($7MM salary, $1MM buyout of an $8.5MM club option for 2022) during the offseason, and while Eaton didn’t play well in 2020, it wasn’t a bad investment for the White Sox to make considering his above-average play over the majority of this career. Since it seems quite unlikely that another team will claim Eaton off DFA waivers and absorb the rest of his salary, Chicago’s front office will have to chalk the signing up as a misfire.
While many fans wished for a more substantive outfield addition last winter, the club’s plan of having Robert, Jimenez, and an Eaton/Engel platoon in the outfield (with Vaughn in the wings as an outfield/first base/DH candidate) seemed at least decent on paper, though injuries quickly altered the situation. The White Sox have still build a big lead in the AL Central even despite all their injury woes, but the outfield clearly seems like an area of need heading into the trade deadline.
Since another team would only have to pay Eaton the prorated minimum salary, it seems probable that the veteran will land somewhere else once he clears DFA waivers and is cut loose by the White Sox. Speculatively, a return to Washington might not be out of the question, as the Nationals are in need of outfield help with Kyle Schwarber sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Rays Promote Vidal Brujan
The Rays are expected to promote highly-regarded infield prospect Vidal Bruján before tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Indians, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). While Bruján’s first call will be as the “27th man” allotted for doubleheaders, Topin adds that he’s likely to stick around beyond Wednesday.
Bruján will become the latest arrival to a Rays infield that has already welcomed Taylor Walls and Wander Franco this season. Bruján isn’t quite the caliber of prospect Franco is (no one is, since Franco is the game’s consensus top rookie talent), but he’s an extremely promising player in his own right. Each of Baseball America, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs, and Keith Law of the Athletic slotted him among the game’s top 60 prospects entering the year, with Longenhagen placing him 24th.
All three outlets praise Bruján’s combination of athleticism, straight-line speed and bat control. Both Longenhagen and Law suggest he could eventually mature into an All-Star caliber player, with Longenhagen suggesting he bears some some similarities to Ozzie Albies and Ketel Marte at the same age. Bruján’s not a towering physical presence — he’s listed at 5’10”, 180 — but evaluators write that the switch-hitter’s athleticism enables surprising bat speed and power, particularly from the left-handed batters box.
Bruján’s minor league numbers support those visual evaluations. He’s been a better than average hitter at every stop, slashing .290/.374/.423 with 28 home runs and 166 stolen bases (in 217 attempts) across parts of six seasons. Bruján has spent this year with Triple-A Durham and hit a productive .259/.344/.471 over 216 plate appearances in his first crack at the minors’ highest level.
Just as importantly, Bruján has walked almost as often as he’s struck out throughout his time in the system. Over the course of his career, he’s drawn free passes at a strong 10.6% clip while punching out a minuscule 11.6% of the time. His strikeout percentage has jumped to a career-high 15.7% in Triple-A this year, but that’s still far better than the 23.2% major league average.
At 49-36, the Rays have fallen 4.5 games back of the Red Sox in the American League East, but they hold a four-game advantage over the Mariners in the Wild Card race. Bruján’s high minors performance seemed likely to get him an opportunity to contribute to Tampa Bay’s playoff push at some point regardless, but the immediate impetus for his promotion is an injury to center fielder Manuel Margot. Margot suffered a hamstring injury yesterday that seems likely to lead to an injured list stint, opening up active roster space for the 23-year-old Bruján. He was already added to the 40-man roster last offseason to keep him from selection in the Rule 5 draft.
The deadline has long since passed for Bruján to accrue a full year of major service, as has the expected window for Super Two qualification. Even if he sticks in the majors from here on out, he’ll be controllable through 2027 and won’t reach arbitration eligibility until the 2024-25 offseason.
Brewers Acquire Rowdy Tellez
The Brewers have been baseball’s most active team on the trade front so far, and they’ve now struck up another deal to bring in some infield depth. Milwaukee is trading reliever Trevor Richards and minor league righty Bowden Francis to the Blue Jays in exchange for first baseman Rowdy Tellez, the two teams announced Tuesday.
Tellez, 26, brings another powerful left-handed bat to a Brewers club that recently lost first baseman Daniel Vogelbach to a hamstring injury. He’s shuffled between Triple-A and the big leagues with the Jays in recent seasons, at times looking like a possible long-term answer at first base/designated hitter for the Jays.
However, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s shift across the diamond from third base to first base cut into Tellez’s opportunities, and the team’s signing of George Springer created a four-man carousel between the outfield and DH when everyone is at full strength; Springer, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Teoscar Hernandez and Randal Grichuk are all in line for regular at-bats when the lineup is healthy. That, coupled with the fact that Tellez hit just .209/.272/.338 in 151 plate appearances earlier in the year when Springer was on the injured list, likely prompted to the Jays’ willingness to move on from Tellez.
Those struggles notwithstanding, Tellez is an intriguing bat on which to buy low for Milwaukee. He mashed at a .283/.346/.540 clip with eight homers and five doubles in 127 plate appearances with the Jays in 2020 and belted 21 home runs for them in 2019. Entering the season, Tellez carried .250/.309/.488 batting line with 33 homers, 33 doubles, a 6.9 percent walk rate and a 25.7 percent strikeout rate in 609 trips to the plate.
Tellez struggled in his first exposure to Triple-A ball as a 22-year-old back in 2017, but his production at that level has steadily increased; he’s hitting .298/.400/.638 in 55 plate appearances there so far in 2021 and batted .366/.450/.688 in 26 games (109 plate appearances) there back in 2019 as well.
The hope for the Brewers is surely that Tellez can provide an immediate boost at a position that has been a point of frustration so far in 2021. Keston Hiura struggled with the move to first base and has twice been optioned to Triple-A Nashville, although to his credit, Hiura has been hitting quite well since his latest recall. Vogelbach was helping to solidify the position with a strong showing for the first few weeks of June, but the aforementioned hamstring injury came with a recovery timetable of at least six weeks.
It’s not clear just how the Brewers will divide the playing time up — particularly once Vogelbach is healthy — but Hiura and Tellez ostensibly form an intriguing platoon. Tellez can also be freely optioned for the remainder of the current season, so he could be an up-and-down piece in Milwaukee for now, just as he was with the Jays. Looking longer term, he’s under club control for three more years beyond the current campaign and will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter.
For the Blue Jays, this marks the second under-the-radar reliever they’ve picked up in the past week or so. They’re not even a week removed from acquiring Adam Cimber and injured outfielder Corey Dickerson (whose left-handed bat could potentially replace Tellez on the depth chart if he makes it back this season) in a trade that sent Joe Panik and minor league righty Andrew McInvale to the Marlins.
Richards, like Cimber, wasn’t an obvious trade candidate. He’d only just joined the Brewers in mid-May, coming over from the Rays as part of the Willy Adames trade, and is controllable through the 2024 campaign. So far in 2021, the 28-year-old has tallied 31 2/3 innings of 3.69 ERA ball while striking out 31.7 percent of his opponents against a 9.8 percent walk rate. He gives the Jays a pitcher with ample experience as both in the bullpen and in the rotation, having started 48 games between the Marlins and the Rays from 2018-19.
The 2020 season was a miserable one for Richards, who limped to a 5.91 ERA for Tampa Bay while posting career-worst strikeout and home-run rates. That came in a sample of just 32 innings, however, and he’s bounced back nicely through the season’s first three months. Overall, Richards owns a 4.34 ERA, 23.1 percent strikeout rate and 9.5 percent walk rate in 325 1/3 innings at the MLB level.
Francis, 25, was Milwaukee’s seventh-round pick in 2017 and has posted a solid season between Double-A and Triple-A thus far. He’s worked exclusively as a starter, tallying 59 2/3 innings with a 3.62 ERA, a 27.3 percent strikeout rate and a 7.1 percent walk rate. Francis is an extreme fly-ball pitcher who ranked 25th among Milwaukee farmhands on last week’s rankings from Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs. Longenhagen notes that a newly added slider quickly became the best of Francis’ four pitches in 2021 and calls him a potential back-of-the-rotation arm with a excellent feel for pitching but mostly fringe stuff on the mound.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that Tellez was headed to the Brewers in exchange for Richards (Twitter link). Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi tweeted that Francis was also going to the Jays in the deal.