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Angels Designate Matt Harvey For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have designated righty Matt Harvey for assignment. The move comes on the heels of yet another rough outing for the 30-year-old former ace.

There are several other pitching moves coming for Los Angeles. Righty Jake Jewell was optioned out, creating room for the team to recall right-hander Jaime Barria and first baseman/left-handed pitcher Jared Walsh.

The Halos also announced that Keynan Middleton has been diagnosed with mild ulnar neuritis. While the good news is that he isn’t dealing with a structural issue, the reliever has been returned from his rehab assignment. His timeline for a full return remains unclear.

Harvey has posted brutal numbers for much of the season, struggling to find any kind of consistency. His one-year, $11MM contract has simply not worked out. It’s much the same story for the other veterans inked to one-year contracts over the winter, with Cody Allen ($8MM) long since released and Trevor Cahill ($9MM) limping along at much the same pace as Harvey.

While those signings are all disappointing, it remains particularly jarring to see the former Mets star Harvey struggling to stay afloat in the bigs. He lost yet more velocity this season and was near the bottom of the league in statistics ranging from strikeout percentage (14.7%) to the expected batting average (.302) and slugging percentage (.524) of opposing hitters, as measured by Statcast.

All told, Harvey has managed only 59 2/3 innings of 7.09 ERA pitching this year for the Angels. With 5.9 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 and nearly two long balls per regulation game, ERA estimators did not take a much more optimistic view of his contributions. He graded out with a 6.35 FIP, 5.43 xFIP, and 5.78 SIERA.

It’s not at all clear where Harvey will go from here. Perhaps an effort to rebuild his repertoire or otherwise find a new approach will be necessary. Even if his arm speed won’t ever fully return, there’ll surely be teams interested in seeing if they can unlock some of the immense talent that Harvey showed during his heyday with the Mets.

In a 65-start run from 2012-2015, Harvey threw 427 innings of 2.53 ERA ball for the New York organization that drafted him. That included exceptional work both before and after the Tommy John procedure that cost him the 2014 campaign. After extending himself in the Mets’ 2015 World Series run — he kept pitching down the stretch and threw 26 2/3 excellent postseason innings after a memorable dispute arose over his availability — Harvey’s health took a turn for the worse. He ultimately underwent a procedure to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome in the summer of 2016. While Harvey has had stretches of useful MLB work since, he has never come close to regaining his early form.

Phillies To Sign Drew Smyly

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9:15am: Smyly could make a start for the Phillies as soon as this weekend, tweets Matt Gelb of The Athletic. That’d certainly suggest that his agreement with Philadelphia is of the Major League variety.

6:56am: The Phillies have agreed to a contract with left-hander Drew Smyly, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported last night that Smyly, who opted out of a minor league deal with the Brewers yesterday, was drawing interest from the Phils.

Smyly opened the season with the Rangers, who acquired him at the beginning of the 2018-19 offseason when the Cubs needed to shed his salary in order to exercise their option on Cole Hamels. Smyly had signed a two-year, $10MM contract with Chicago, knowing that his first season would be spent rehabbing from 2017 Tommy John surgery.

At the time, the deal looked like a potential high-reward pickup for Texas. Smyly had solid career numbers prior to his surgery — 3.74 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 — and had shown a penchant for missing bats while limiting walks. A return to that form would’ve given the Rangers at least a solid trade chip and at best could’ve fueled a surprise postseason push.

Instead, the Rangers received a worst-case scenario. In his first MLB work since that Tommy John operation, Smyly was hammered for an 8.42 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 6.0 BB/9 and an eye-popping 3.33 HR/9 mark. Home runs have always been a bit of an issue for Smyly, an extreme fly-ball pitcher, but the league-wide home run boom has proven particularly problematic for the southpaw. Texas ultimately released him last month, and Milwaukee picked him up on a minor league deal on July 1.

His time with the Brewers was brief but a bit more encouraging. Smyly made three starts with Milwaukee’s top affiliate in San Antonio, where he allowed seven runs on 10 hits (two homers) and three walks with 18 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings of work.

Philadelphia currently has an all-right-handed rotation, and they’ve received particularly shaky work from fourth and fifth starters Nick Pivetta (5.74 ERA in 69 innings) and Vince Velasquez (4.97 ERA in 50 2/3 innings). The Phillies have also gotten 10 starts out of Jerad Eickhoff (5.40 ERA) and three from Cole Irvin (5.60 ERA) with little success to show for it. While Smyly himself is somewhat of a shot in the dark at this point, there’s little harm in taking a look to see if he can help the big league club. The Rangers are on the hook for Smyly’s salary, so the Phillies need only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster.

Phillies Reportedly Extended Klentak, MacPhail Prior To Season

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The Phillies never announced contractual lengths for president Andy MacPhail or general manager Matt Klentak upon hiring the pair to spearhead the organization’s baseball operations department, and Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that the team was similarly quiet about a pair of previously unannounced extensions for that duo. According to Gelb, MacPhail signed a three-year extension back in 2017 that runs through the 2021 season, while Klentak was extended through the 2022 campaign four months ago.

The extension for Klentak came on the heels of an offseason in which he aggressively reshaped the Phillies’ lineup by signing Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen while acquiring several players via trade (headlined by J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura). The Philadelphia offense has improved in 2019, though probably not quite to the extent the front office had hoped. Phillies hitters have posted a combined .245/.323/.423 batting line and scored 460 runs — up from .236/.319/.390 and 411 runs scored at this same point in 2018.

Philadelphia’s defense has seemingly improved as well. After turning in a stunning -146 mark in Defensive Runs Saved and a -8.0 UZR/150 in 2018, the Phillies have logged a collective +3 DRS and +5.1 UZR/150 to this point in the 2019 campaign.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, the pitching staff has gone in the opposite direction. The offseason efforts put into bullpen acquisitions have been torpedoed by a near-unparalleled level of injury among the Phillies’ relief corps. David Robertson, for instance, has been baseball’s bullpen iron man over the past decade. However, since signing a two-year deal with the Phillies due in no small part to that durability, he’s been limited to 6 2/3 innings as a result of elbow troubles. High-priced bullpen pickups from the 2017-18 offseason like Tommy Hunter and Pat Neshek haven’t been able to stay healthy in 2019. Promising younger arms like Seranthony Dominguez (UCL injury), Victor Arano (arthroscopic elbow surgery) and Edubray Ramos (shoulder impingement) have also fallen victim to injury.

As one might expect of a team that has essentially lost an entire bullpen’s worth of solid MLB arms, Philadelphia relievers are tied for the game’s fifth-worst ERA (4.97). But the more alarming struggles have arguably come in a rotation that went largely unaddressed in the offseason. While the modest price the club paid to extend ace Aaron Nola still looks like a shrewd move, the 26-year-old hasn’t been as dominant in 2019 as he was in 2018. Jake Arrieta, meanwhile, is pitching through a bone spur in his elbow with understandably mixed results. Zach Eflin has been solid but not spectacular. Beyond that trio, the Phillies have received a combined ERA well north of 5.00 from the group of Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta and Jerad Eickhoff.

The end result is a Phillies club that has underachieved to the point of falling 8.5 games back of the division-leading Braves. Philadelphia is still three games over .500 and holds a half-game lead over Milwaukee for the second spot in the NL Wild Card race, so the season is far from lost. But the quietly extended front office regime will also have its hands full in endeavoring to address some of the flaws that have led to the current predicament. Gelb writes that, to this point, the Phillies “have not displayed an overwhelming sense of urgency” in their efforts to do so, although they’re hardly the only team that has not jumped into action; to this point in the “trading season,” there have only been three deals of even moderate note consummated (Andrew Cashner, Homer Bailey and Martin Maldonado).

The extent to which the Phillies ramp up that level of aggression could well be dependent on the current roster’s play in the next couple of weeks, but it still seems likely that the club will function as a buyer in the next 14 days.

Mets Place Zack Wheeler On Injured List

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July 16: Wheeler has been formally placed on the IL, the Mets announced. An MRI did not reveal any structural damage, Healey reports, but it’s still uncertain how long Wheeler will be out. Healey tweets that Wheeler declined to put a timetable on his expected return.

July 15: The Mets will place right-hander and top trade candidate Zack Wheeler on the injured list today due to shoulder fatigue, reports Newsday’s Tim Healey (Twitter link). Lefty Steven Matz will start in place of Wheeler tomorrow.

It’s still not known precisely how Wheeler’s trade status and value will be impacted. Even if the move is backdated the maximum three days, Wheeler still won’t be able to return until July 23rd. As Healey points out, that’ll give him a maximum of two starts before the trade deadline even in a best-case scenario.

If all goes well, the Mets could still get a haul for their top rental piece. If Wheeler doesn’t bounce back rapidly, or shows anything worrying once he is back on the hill, then all bets are off.

All things considered, the timing couldn’t be much worse for the Mets. The club has endured a miserable season to this point, with rookie GM Brodie Van Wagenen recently acknowledging that the team has “low expectations” for the remainder of the year. The upcoming trade deadline seemingly offered a chance for the club to recoup a consolation prize or two by cashing in some veterans.

Wheeler is not only the team’s best pending free agent, he’s one of the top trade chips in all of baseball. The 29-year-old had finally moved past the health issues that dogged him earlier in his career, finding a new gear in his final two seasons before reaching the open market. While he only carries a 4.69 ERA this year, he has thrown harder than ever before, racked up an impressive 9.8 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9, and logged plenty of innings (119 over 19 starts).

Today’s news threatens to dent that profile of Wheeler as a deadline piece. Buying teams will be especially wary given his prior concerns and the lack of future contractual control. The Mets will have to hope that Wheeler is able to bounce right back and show he’s still throwing well. If not, their options could be limited, particularly given the lack of an August trade period to work with. Teams have in the past swung deals for injured players; the Rays’ 2013 acquisition of Jesse Crain comes to mind. But if Wheeler’s value is harmed sufficiently, it may well end up making greater sense for the team to hold tight and hope he throws well enough down the stretch to warrant a qualifying offer.

2019-20 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings

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We last checked in on the 2019-20 free agent class at the end of April.  No extensions have been signed since then, but otherwise there’s plenty of movement in the rankings.  As always, these players are ranked by my estimate of their 2019-20 open market earning power. To view the entire list of 2019-20 MLB free agents, click here.

1.  Gerrit Cole.  Cole maintains his spot atop this list, earning a second consecutive All-Star nod and cementing himself as one of the best starting pitchers in the game.  We haven’t seen a starting pitcher sign a seven-year deal since Stephen Strasburg inked his $175MM extension in May 2016.  The largest contract signed by a starter remains David Price’s seven-year, $217MM deal from December 2015.  The way free agency has been trending, it’s difficult to say whether Cole can reach the $200MM heights of Price, Max Scherzer, and Zack Greinke.  For more on Cole’s free agency, click here.

2.  Anthony Rendon.  In the midst of his best offensive season yet, Rendon was finally voted into the All-Star game by his peers, though he was unable to participate.  Rendon quietly keeps putting up six-win seasons as the Nationals’ third baseman, and he’s on the cusp of a huge contract.  Rendon’s agent Scott Boras and the Nationals discussed an extension this month, according to Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com, but Boras suggested the ball is in the club’s court.  A six-year deal could be a reasonable goal.

3.  Madison Bumgarner.  Bumgarner is adding another fine season to his resume, if a bit homer-prone.  It’s shaping up to be his first three-win season since 2016.  He’s one of baseball’s most likely trade candidates this month, though the Giants are complicating matters by playing well of late.  San Francisco is only three games out of the Wild Card, and if that holds up over the next two weeks, I can see the club holding onto him.  That’s relevant to this post in that the team would saddle him with a qualifying offer in that case, reducing his earning power.  In such a scenario, an extension with the Giants could begin to make sense.

4.  Zack Wheeler.  Wheeler’s spot on this list is precarious, as the 29-year-old righty recently landed on the IL for shoulder fatigue.  The timing of the injury gives scant time for Wheeler to re-establish his health in advance of the July 31st trade deadline, and also stings from the pitcher’s standpoint if it leads to a qualifying offer after the season.  Mike Puma of the New York Post suggests a qualifying offer from the Mets “seems unlikely” for Wheeler, but I think if he pitches reasonably well to close out the year, he’ll get one.  Though Wheeler’s ERA is up to 4.69, he’s demonstrated skills that typically lead to something closer to 4.00.

5.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez has the ability to opt out of the remaining three years and $62.5MM on his contract after this season.  He owns a solid 129 wRC+ to date, though that’s short of the lofty standard he set in years prior.  As a DH who turns 32 in August, I don’t believe Martinez would do much better than $62.5MM on the open market, but his earning power still secures a spot on this list.

6.  Aroldis Chapman.  Chapman can opt out of the remaining two years and $30MM on his contract after the season, and there’s a decent chance the Yankees’ closer exercises that right.  The Yankees could also get out ahead of the situation by adding, say, an extra year and $20MM to the deal.  But Chapman turns 32 in February, and the Yankees may be content to let him leave even after another excellent season.  Wade Davis’ three-year, $52MM deal from December 2017 could be a target for Chapman if he hits the open market.

7.  Hyun-Jin Ryu.  Ryu’s 1.97 ERA in 15 starts last year seemed impossible to beat, yet this year his ERA sits at 1.78 and he started the All-Star Game for the NL.  The 32-year-old lefty has walked a mere 2.5% of batters faced this year, best in baseball.  Though Ryu has not pitched 150 innings in a season since 2014, his injuries have not involved his arm or shoulder following his September 2015 elbow debridement procedure.  If Rich Hill can get three years and $48MM heading into his age-37 campaign, it stands to reason that Ryu can get something similar heading into his age-33 season, particularly since he’s ineligible for another qualifying offer.

8.  Marcell Ozuna.  Ozuna is having a respectable bounceback season for the Cardinals, with a 118 wRC+ in 326 plate appearances.  However, he’s a bat-first left fielder and is currently on the IL with multiple finger fractures.  Ozuna will be just 29 in November, but he won’t be hitting the same market that saw Justin Upton snag a five-year, $106MM extension in November 2017.  Ozuna also may come with a qualifying offer attached, and seems like a player who could face a difficult free agency.

9.  Jake Odorizzi.  A new entrant to this list, Odorizzi made his first All-Star team this year and owns a 3.06 ERA through 94 innings.  30 in March, he should be in line for a healthy contract with a strong second half.  However, he may be saddled by a qualifying offer and could fail to reach the new standard of four years and $68MM set by Nathan Eovaldi and Miles Mikolas.

10.  Yasmani Grandal.  Grandal reportedly turned down a four-year offer from the Mets in excess of $50MM during the offseason before signing a one-year, $18.25MM deal with Milwaukee.  He’s matching last year’s excellent offense thus far and won’t have to contend with a qualifying offer this time, and should come out ahead on the gamble.

Honorable mentions: Stephen Strasburg (can opt of remaining four years and $100MM, Kenley Jansen (can opt out of remaining two years and $38MM), Josh Donaldson, Yasiel Puig, Didi Gregorius, Nicholas Castellanos, Will Smith, Dallas Keuchel, Kyle Gibson, Cole Hamels, Mike Moustakas

Cubs Acquire Martin Maldonado For Mike Montgomery

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The Cubs have acquired catcher Martin Maldonado from the Royals, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Left-hander Mike Montgomery’s going to Kansas City in the swap, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. The teams have confirmed the trade.

With Willson Contreras and Victor Caratini having combined to offer excellent behind-the-plate production in 2019, the Cubs don’t look like a fit for Maldonado on paper. However, Conteras is heading to the injured list with a strain of the arch muscle on his right foot, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic was among those to report. The Cubs don’t expect Contreras to need longer than the minimum 10-day IL stint, Sharma adds.

Playoff-contending Chicago’s getting a capable stopgap in Maldonado, whom it showed interest in during the offseason. Maldonado chose against signing with the Cubs over the winter because he wanted to join a team that would offer him more playing time than he’d have gotten in Chicago. It proved to be a wise decision on Maldonado’s part. With Salvador Perez out for 2019, the 32-year-old Maldonado ultimately became Kansas City’s primary catcher after signing for $2.5MM guarantee a few weeks before the season.

Long known as a tremendous defender with a questionable bat, Maldonado lived up to his reputation with the Royals. In 261 plate appearances in KC, Maldonado hit .224/.288/.359 (71 wRC+) with six home runs. On the other end, he threw out an above-average 33 percent of would-be base stealers and earned quality reviews from Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric.

In exchange for Maldonado, a soon-to-be free agent, the out-of-contention Royals are getting two-plus years of control over Montgomery. A swingman for most of his career and a full-time reliever this year, Montgomery, 30, will slot into the Royals’ rotation immediately, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweets. He’ll also rejoin the organization that spent a first-round pick on him in 2008. Four years later, the Royals traded Montgomery to the Rays in a blockbuster that also included James Shields, Wade Davis, Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi.

Montgomery never pitched for the Rays, instead joining the Mariners in a swap in 2015 – the year he made his major league debut. He lasted with the Mariners for approximately a season and a half, going to the Cubs in July 2016 in yet another deal.  A few months later, Montgomery earned the save in the Cubs’ historic Game 7 World Series win over the Indians.

Montgomery was effective even before his career-defining moment in ’16 and has largely fared well since, but his numbers have taken a significant turn for the worse this year. He logged a woeful 5.67 ERA/6.21 FIP with 6.0 K/9, 4.33 BB/9 and a 43.3 percent groundball rate over 27 innings in his final season with the Cubs.

Overall, Montgomery has pitched to a far better 3.72 ERA/4.21 FIP with 6.87 K/9, 3.47 BB/9 and a 53.9 percent grounder rate across 167 appearances and 56 starts in the majors. The Royals will hope he puts up numbers more in line with his lifetime marks as a member of their rotation, which lost veteran Homer Bailey in a trade with the Athletics on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Cubs had already been in search of a left-handed reliever before trading Montgomery. Therefore, this deal could further put the onus on president of baseball operations Theo Epstein to acquire a southpaw by the July 31 deadline. With Montgomery on a $2.44MM salary this year, the Cubs added a small amount of payroll in this swap.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Chris Taylor Diagnosed With Fractured Forearm

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10:09pm: Taylor said he suffered a non-displaced fracture just above the wrist, which typically comes with a four- to-six week recovery (Twitter link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register).

5:50pm: Dodgers utilityman Chris Taylor has been diagnosed with a fractured forearm, per a club announcement (via Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times, on Twitter). He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Matt Beaty.

It isn’t known at present what kind of an absence the club can anticipate from Taylor, a shape-shifting defender and steady offensive producer. Initial imaging did not uncover the break; whether that’s good, bad, or indifferent isn’t evident.

With the trade deadline landing in two weeks’ time, the Dodgers will have an opportunity to pursue reinforcements. Corey Seager and A.J. Pollock are both back, reducing the pressure. The organization is as laden with depth as ever, with top middle-infield prospect Gavin Lux among the players waiting in the wings in the upper minors.

The Dodgers won’t worry too much about a stretch sans Taylor. With a commanding division lead, the club can focus its deadline efforts on shaping its roster for the postseason. Unless the injury is quite a bit more severe than it seems at first glance, Taylor ought to have time to get back to health and up to full speed before October.

Red Sox Designate Eduardo Nunez For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve designated infielder Eduardo Nunez for assignment and optioned right-hander Hector Velazquez to Triple-A Pawtucket. In a pair of corresponding moves, right-hander Ryan Weber and first baseman/outfielder Sam Travis were called up from Triple-A.

Now 32 years of age, Nunez proved to be an excellent pickup for Boston when the Sox acquired him from the Giants prior to the 2017 non-waiver trade deadline. He gave the lineup a strong jolt that season, hitting .321/.353/.539 through 173 plate appearances down the stretch before his season came to a close with an ALDS knee injury that saw him helped off the field. Nunez re-signed with the Sox for a two-year guarantee, the second season of which was a player option, and simply has not been the same player.

In 676 plate appearances for the Sox over the past two seasons, Nunez has scuffled to a dismal .255/.277/.366 batting line with a dozen homers and steals apiece. His struggles and Dustin Pedroia’s career-altering knee injury prompted the Red Sox to also trade for Ian Kinsler last summer in a move that now looks quite lopsided. Boston won last year’s World Series, so the end result of all their moves was as good as can be hoped, of course; but Kinsler didn’t hit much with Boston, and the Sox would surely like to have righty Ty Buttrey in their bullpen this season following his breakout with the Halos.

The Red Sox will have a week to trade Nunez, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and retain his salary even in the event that he clears waivers, so this seems likely to spell the end of his time with the organization. Nunez is still owed about $2.07MM of this season’s $5MM salary, making it a near certainty that he won’t be claimed. In all likelihood, he’ll soon become a free agent and be granted the ability to explore opportunities with other clubs.

Athletics Acquire Homer Bailey

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The Oakland Athletics have closed on a deal to acquire Kansas City’s Homer Bailey, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter) that a trade was imminent. The Royals will receive minor-league infielder Kevin Merrell in return, according to an official Athletics release.

Bailey, 33, will go down as another bargain-bin acquisition for the playoff-hungry Athletics, who sit six games behind the first-place Astros, but currently slot in as the second Wild-Card team in the American League. Much like last season, when the team won 97 games and landed in the Wild Card game, the Athletics will hunt for affordable pitching help (which came in the form of Mike Fiers in 2018) to boost the club to back-to-back postseason berths. Rarely a team to make splash acquisitions, the A’s will likely remain on the periphery of the discussions surrounding marquee starters like Noah Syndergaard and Trevor Bauer. Of course, that doesn’t mean that value can’t be found elsewhere on the trade market.

Evidently, David Forst, Billy Beane and company believe that Bailey represents such a value. With the Dodgers, who acquired and immediately released Bailey in a December blockbuster with the Reds, paying the remainder of his hefty salary, the Royals snagged the veteran on a minor-league deal, meaning that the Athletics will only owe about $250K to Bailey.

Though he was maligned last season for his 1-14 record, Homer Bailey has shown some encouraging signs this year, and has posted his lowest ERA since 2014. He’s striking out 8.1 batters per nine innings, and home runs have come less often than last season. This isn’t an acquisition that can transform a pitching staff overnight, but Bailey will step in as a low-cost veteran who could pay dividends in the stretch run.

It’s been pitching that has concerned the Athletics all season, and many anticipated the team pursuing upgrades on the mound this summer. With a myriad of injuries preventing promising southpaws Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo, and A.J. Puk from contributing thus far, Oakland has had to patch together a makeshift rotation to carry them through the first half. Not to mention breakout star Frankie Montas, who won’t be eligible for postseason play after a PED suspension. And while the staff hasn’t plummeted to the bottom of the league—Mike Fiers, Brett Anderson, and Chris Bassitt have held their own—it’s hard to put much confidence in that group winning a playoff series, especially against the juggernauts of the American League.

Expect more to come from Oakland this trade season, especially on the pitching front. The front office, though garnering a reputation as frugal, can be aggressive when it senses a window for contention, and the club is in a good spot. Other veteran starters may still be in play, but it seems that with Bailey in the fold, the team’s focus will shift to the bullpen. The existing group has a solid track record between Liam Hendriks, Blake Treinen, and Lou Trivino, though consistency has been lacking in that department this season.

As for Kansas City, it seems unlikely that this is the last we’ll hear from Dayton Moore and the front office this July. The 32-61 Royals have been rumored to be open to trades involving just about anybody on the roster, with a few exceptions. Adalberto Mondesi and Hunter Dozier appear to be two cornerstones that the franchise is intent on keeping around, though a steep asking price for Whit Merrifield might make it difficult to pry him away from KC. Alex Gordon, meanwhile, may have redeemed some of his value with a renaissance season, but the veteran seems keen on playing out his career with the Royals, the franchise that drafted him.

That said, there are a number of Royals who could find themselves in different uniforms by the time the calendar turns to August, with Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy, Jake Diekman, and Jorge Soler perhaps the most realistic trade candidates. Diekman has apparently already attracted some interest from the Nationals, and other contending clubs could be drawn to Kennedy’s resurgence as a high-leverage reliever. Of course, in the cases of Kennedy and Duffy, the Royals would likely have to eat considerable portions of their remaining contracts to facilitate a trade.

Kevin Merrell, who heads to Kansas City in this swap, was a 2017 draft selection of the Athletics in Competitive Balance Round A. Ranked by MLB.com as the Athletics’ 17th-best prospect, Merrell is touted for his speed on the bases, with questions surrounding his bat. In general, his profile keeps with the Royals’ trend of acquiring speedy athletes, and Merrell, 23, has the potential to grow into a multi-positional depth role with Kansas City. With a crop of impressive young position players and an influx of college pitchers from the 2018 draft, the team may find its way out of the rebuilding phase quicker than anticipated.

Red Sox Acquire Andrew Cashner

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7:35pm: The Orioles are picking up exactly $1.78MM, per Rosenthal. They’ll also cover “most” of the performance bonuses Cashner could earn, according to Sean McAdam of BostonSportsJournal.com.

5:30pm: Baltimore will pay approximately half of the ~$3.36MM in guarantees left on Cashner’s deal, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. The Orioles also owe Cashner $1.5MM in signing bonus money in both 2020 and ’21.

4:32pm: The Red Sox have acquired righty Andrew Cashner and cash considerations for prospects Elio Prado and Noelberth Romero, the Orioles have reported.

Cashner, 32, was famously swapped straight-up for Anthony Rizzo in a 2011 trade between the Cubs and Padres. After a breakout 2013 campaign, in which the hard-throwing righty posted a 3.09 ERA/3.35 FIP (2.6 fWAR) in 26 starts, it’s been mostly unfulfilled promise for the former first-rounder. The TCU product was smashed in the first season of a two-year, $16MM deal he signed with Baltimore prior to the 2018 campaign, with a near-league-low 5.82 K/9 against 3.82 BB/9 en route to a 0.6 fWAR season in 28 starts.

He’s been better this year, though his K rate remains among the league’s lowest and peripheral markers (4.25 FIP, 4.88 xFIP) are non-believers in the sustainability of his 3.83 ERA. Cashner’s average fastball velocity, once an eye-popping 98.8 MPH in predominant relief for the 2012 Padres, now sits at a barely-above-league average 94.0. He’s mostly scrapped the bread-and-butter sinker he featured so prominently from 2013-18, overhauling his repertoire back to the four-seam/changeup/slider mix with which he began his career. Returns have been positive: his 8.7% swinging-strike rate is his highest since transitioning full-time to a big-league rotation, and his chase rate’s bettered the standard he established from 2016-18. Cashner’s grounder-heavy repertoire should play well in Fenway Park, with any opposite-side power somewhat neutralized by the ballpark’s spacious right-field dimensions.

Andrew Cashner

Our own Steve Adams offered ample justification for transitioning the righty back to a late-inning role, but it appears such a move won’t be in the short-term cards for the Bo Sox. Cashner will apparently start Tuesday’s game for Boston, with GM Dave Dombrowski noting that the move eases the undue stress the club’s bullpen has endured thus far. Cashner’s two-year deal includes a $10MM vesting option for 2020 should the righty eclipse the 187 inning mark this year, a fact of which his acquiring club is surely aware.

Boston’s rotation has been solid this season, though it’s true that the fifth spot has been a sore one. Hector Velazquez, Brian Johnson, Ryan Weber, Josh A. Smith and Darwinzon Hernandez have each tried their hands, to less-than-stellar results, and the club had no clear fill-in at the minors’ upper levels. Nathan Eovaldi is set to return soon, but the team expects to plug him straight in to its beleaguered closer’s role.

Both Prado and Romero, 17, will transition from the Red Sox Dominican Summer League affiliate to that of the Orioles. Neither are big-time bonus babies, and reports are scarce, but Orioles GM Mike Elias does have ample experience scouting in Latin America from his time with the Cardinals and Astros organizations.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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