Dodgers Acquire Yu Darvish
The Dodgers and Rangers have pulled off a last-minute stunner, striking a deal that sends star righty Yu Darvish to Los Angeles. Second baseman/outfielder Willie Calhoun is the headliner of the return, with righty A.J. Alexy and infielder Brendon Davis rounding out the package going to Texas. To clear a 40-man spot, the Dodgers designated infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman for assignment.
Heading into the deadline, it wasn’t even clear whether Darvish would be available. And as the deadline approached, it seemed perhaps he’d stay with the Rangers — with a high asking price perhaps getting in the way of a swap. But even as the Dodgers added two lefties to the bullpen, they swooped in and added the high-powered righty.
Darvish, 30, was clearly the most impactful pitching rental on the market. While he has only managed a 4.01 ERA on the year — much of that due to an awful recent start — he’s still rolling with 9.7 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. Of greater importance, perhaps, he has managed to provided 137 innings over 22 starts — putting him on pace to approach or top 200 innings for the first time since 2013.
Never a big groundball pitcher, Darvish has been hurt by the flies this year. He has allowed 1.31 homers per nine on a 15.0% HR/FB rate. But he’s still managing a typical 11.9% swinging-strike rate, working in the zone more than ever, and generally pitching like himself for the most part.
Darvish, when pitching to his ability, is one of the game’s top starters. Since he broke into the majors in 2012, Darvish has been one of the twenty most valuable hurlers by measure of fWAR — despite logging far fewer innings than any other pitchers in his company because he missed significant time after Tommy John surgery.
The long-term elbow question is one the Dodgers won’t really need to worry about, as Darvish will be a pure rental. He is slated to hit the open market at season’s end, when he’ll finish the six-year, $56MM pact he signed when he came over from his native Japan. (Texas also paid over $50MM in posting fees.) Darvish is earning $11MM this year and stands to take home quite a bit more thereafter; he’ll now enter free agency free and clear of any qualifying offer-related draft compensation.
Los Angeles surely didn’t need this addition to win the NL West, which it currently paces in a runaway and will almost certainly take for the fifth straight season. Acquiring Darvish is designed with one goal in mind: driving the club to a World Series win for the first time since 1988. The righty will presumably slot among a group of talented lefties, led by Clayton Kershaw (when healthy) and also including Alex Wood and Rich Hill. Los Angeles can also give innings to Kenta Maeda, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu and others, with the precise alignment still to be determined. (It’s worth remembering, too, that Julio Urias was expected to be a major part of the staff; had he not suffered a season-ending injury, this swap may never have taken place.)
Adding Darvish came at a cost, of course, though it did not require the team to part with its most prized prospects. Once the Rangers decided to move the righty — with an eye still to trying to re-sign him in the winter, perhaps — the club surely knew its return would be limited by market forces. While Texas won’t land an elite prospect in the swap, it does add some real talent.
Calhoun is generally the highest-rated prospect in this deal. The 22-year-old is a left-handed hitter who shows big promise at the plate. He cracked top-100 prospect lists entering the season and has responded with an outstanding .298/.357/.574 batting line — with 23 home runs and just 49 strikeouts against 36 walks — over his first 414 plate appearances at Triple-A. The expectation is that he’ll ultimately end up in the grass, where he could combine with Nomar Mazara to make quite a corner outfield pairing for years to come.
The other players in the deal are talented as well. Alexy is a 19-year-old hurler who was taken in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. He has advanced to the Class A level, where he carries a 3.67 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 through 73 2/3 innings. He’s seen as having some projection left in his wiry frame, but is obviously already throwing well at an early stage. Davis, who just turned 20, was a fifth-round selection in 2015. He’s seen as a raw and athletic talent who has a lot of development left, though there are signs of real progress this year. Davis recently earned a promotion to High-A after slashing .245/.357/.403 with eight long balls — with 107 strikeouts but also 47 walks — through 367 plate appearances at Class A Great Lakes.
Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network reported the trade (Twitter links). ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter) said three prospects would go in return, with MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link) and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) providing the names.
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Yankees Acquire Sonny Gray
The Yankees pulled off a long-awaited rotation upgrade, acquiring righty Sonny Gray from the Athletics today for three prospects: outfielder Dustin Fowler, infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo, and righty James Kaprielian. In addition to Gray, the Yankees will receive $1.5MM in international bonus pool money. The teams have officially announced the trade, which was first broken by Jack Curry of the YES Network. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan was first with the return.
Gray joins a Yankees rotation that lost Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery this month, but added Jaime Garcia in a trade with the Twins. With C.C. Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, and Jordan Montgomery also in the mix, the Yankees have a rotation logjam. Yankees manager Joe Girardi nixed the idea of a six-man rotation, so it seems Montgomery will move to the bullpen or to Triple-A, according to Curry. Sabathia and Garcia are headed to free agency after the season, and Tanaka can join them if he chooses to exercise his opt-out clause. Gray adds veteran stability for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Gray, 27, was drafted 18th overall by the Athletics in 2011 out of Vanderbilt. He excelled from 2013-15, posting a 2.88 ERA over 491 innings. 2016, however, was a lost year for Gray as he endured DL stints for a strained right trapezius as well as a forearm injury. This year, Gray is back on track with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts, as well as his best strikeout rate since his rookie year. Gray, who is listed at 5’10”, is one of the most successful starting pitchers of this height since the Dead Ball Era, to this point in his career. With the Cubs having acquired Jose Quintana several weeks ago, Gray was the big prize of the 2017 MLB trade deadline.
In the end, the Athletics were unable to pry loose the Yankees’ top three prospects: Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, and Chance Adams. Fowler, a 22-year-old outfield prospect, suffered a major knee injury in the first inning of his Major League debut last month. The open rupture in his right patella tendon resulted in season-ending surgery. MLB.com ranked Fowler fourth among Yankees prospects, citing a potential five-tool ceiling. Now, Fowler will likely make his first MLB plate appearance in 2018 as a member of the Athletics.
Mateo, 22, was ranked eighth among Yankees prospects by MLB.com. Mateo has what Baseball America describes as “80-grade speed,” and this year he’s spent most of his time at center field and shortstop. He was promoted to Double-A in late June, and has flourished with a .300/.381/.525 line in 140 plate appearances. Mateo was the key to the deal for Oakland, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Kaprielian, 23, was drafted 16th overall out of UCLA by the Yankees in 2015. He suffered a flexor tendon strain last summer that eventually led to Tommy John surgery in April of this year. He is expected to begin a throwing program next month. MLB.com ranks Kaprielian 12th among Yankees prospects. Last winter, Baseball America wrote that the righty had “front-of-the-rotation makeup and stuff with a well below-average delivery.”
Prior to adding Garcia and Gray to their rotation, the Yankees completed a mid-month blockbuster with the White Sox that brought in David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle for bullpen help and Todd Frazier to contribute at the infield corners. The Yankees hold just a half game lead over the Red Sox for the AL East, with a Wild Card berth a possible alternative.
The last-place A’s also shed a pair of bullpen pieces earlier this month, sending Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to the Nationals. The Gray trade is another in which they’ve moved veteran pitchers (and their salaries, although Gray’s salary was not a primary factor in this deal) for younger talent.
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Nationals Acquire Brandon Kintzler From Twins
The Nationals have announced that they’ve acquired Twins closer Brandon Kintzler. The Twins will receive lefty Tyler Watson and the rights to international bonus spending in return ($500K worth, via a tweet from MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand). In a corresponding move, the Nationals have announced that they’ve designated righty Jimmy Cordero for assignment.
Kintzler could take over ninth-inning duties for a Nationals bullpen that has endured late struggles in recent seasons, though GM Mike Rizzo said today the precise bullpen alignment will be sorted out over the coming months. The veteran righty will become the third reliever to make his way to Washington this month, with Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle having arrived previously from Oakland two weeks ago.
The 32-year-old Kintzler isn’t a prototypical closer, with strikeout rates of just 5.8 K/9 and 5.4 K/9 in the last two seasons. Nonetheless, he’s enjoyed success in the role those last two seasons, with a 2.98 ERA, a strong 1.7 BB/9 and 45 saves in that span. He throws his fastball in the 94-MPH range and gets good sink, leading to an excellent 57.8 career GB%. He’s making $2,925,000 this season and is eligible for free agency in the fall, making him a pure rental for the Nats.
The 20-year-old Watson earned a $400K bonus after the Nationals selected him in the 34th round of the draft in 2015. He was in the midst of a strong season with Class A Hagerstown, with a 4.35 ERA but with 9.5 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 93 innings. MLB.com rated him the Nationals’ 17th-best prospect, noting that he rarely throws harder than 90 MPH but locates well, throws on a downhill plane and could add velocity as he matures.
Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reported that the Nationals had acquired Kintzler. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweeted that Watson was included in the deal.
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Dodgers Acquire Tony Watson From Pirates
The Pirates have announced that they’ve traded former closer Tony Watson to the Dodgers for infielder Oneil Cruz and righty Angel German. The Dodgers were reportedly interested in the Orioles’ Zach Britton, but appear to have settled on Watson as a backup option — though he’s certainly a talented pitcher in his own right. To clear space for him on their 40-man roster, they’ve announced that they’ve designated journeyman slugger Peter O’Brien for assignment.
The 32-year-old Watson has a 3.66 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 46 2/3 innings this season. He was booted from the Pirates’ closer role in June but has had modest success since then, with a 2.79 ERA, 15 strikeouts and six walks in 19 1/3 innings since June 9.
Watson carries a 2.68 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over parts of seven seasons with the Pirates. The hard-throwing lefty gives the Dodgers another potential late-inning option to complement closer Kenley Jansen and another lefty to pair with Luis Avilan, although there’s no official word yet on what Watson’s role will be. He’s struggled against righties this season, allowing a .294/.360/.525 line against, but he’s had success against them in the past. He makes $5.6MM this season and is eligible for free agency in the fall.
Cruz, 18, was batting .240/.293/.342 with 110 strikeouts and 28 walks while playing shortstop and third base for Class A Great Lakes. He received a $950K bonus when the Dodgers signed him out of the Dominican Republic two summers ago. MLB.com ranked him the Dodgers’ 17th-best prospect, noting that his left-handed swing could eventually produce good power and that his size — he’s 6’6″ — makes him likely to make a permanent move to third base at some point.
The 21-year-old German had a 1.91 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 while pitching 33 innings of relief at Great Lakes. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a low-level reliever, he does not rank among MLB.com’s top 30 Dodgers prospects. Various online reports indicate that he throws in the mid-90s, however.
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the two sides had struck a deal. Jon Heyman of FanRag tweeted a deal was close, with Rosenthal originally tweeting the two sides were discussing a trade. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted the Pirates would receive two minor leaguers.
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Red Sox Acquire Addison Reed
The Red Sox found a bullpen upgrade on deadline day, adding righty Addison Reed from the Mets. Young righties Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan, and Stephen Nogosek will head to New York in return. Boston transferred infielder Josh Rutledge to the 60-day DL to create roster space.
If the move is finalized, Boston would add perhaps the top rental reliever on this year’s market. Reed, who is earning $7.75MM before hitting free agency, would surely become the Sox’ top setup man for closer Craig Kimbrel. Boston will take on all of the remaining $2.6MM or so in salary, per Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (via Twitter).
Of course, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had hoped that it wouldn’t be necessary to acquire such a pitcher during the season. Two recent trade acquisitions — Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg — were expected to be back in action by this point. At this stage, though, Boston won’t be counting on a contribution from either.
Reed came to New York in a mid-season trade back in 2015, but that one took place at the end of August — reflecting his standing at the time. He became a pleasant surprise that blossomed into quite a bit more for the Mets, who tendered him contracts for the ensuing two campaigns.
All told, the 28-year-old has provided the Mets with 142 innings of 2.09 ERA ball, backed by 9.9 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9. Though he hasn’t run up quite as many strikeouts this year as last, Reed is actually generating swinging strikes at a better clip (12.6%). And the former White Sox and D-Backs closer slid into that role again when Jeurys Familia went down, providing New York with 19 saves.
For the Mets, the deal offered a chance to get three fresh arms into a system that has graduated or traded away quite a bit of pitching in recent years. All three of the newly added hurlers rated among Boston’s top thirty prospects in MLB.com’s most recent ranking, though all profile as future relievers. Among them, Callahan is the most advanced: he’s pitching at Triple-A Pawtucket while the others are still in A ball. Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweets that Nogosek, last year’s sixth-round pick, could be something of a quick riser through the system given his experience as a closer in college.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the deal (Twitter links), with Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) saying it was for three prospects and MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo (Twitter links) and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter) naming them.
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Astros Acquire Francisco Liriano For Nori Aoki, Teoscar Hernandez
The Astros have added lefty Francisco Liriano from the Blue Jays in exchange for veteran outfielder Nori Aoki and younger outfielder Teoscar Hernandez.
Houston is said to view Liriano as a reliever for the remainder of the season. While the 33-year-old Liriano has had a poor season in the Toronto rotation, he’s maintained his velocity and his effectiveness against left-handed opponents. That’s led to plenty of speculation, both here and elsewhere, that the veteran southpaw could emerge as a possible bullpen option for teams unwilling to meet the asking prices on the market’s top relievers.
[Related: Updated Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros depth charts]
Through 63 plate appearances this season, left-handed opponents are batting just .230/.254/.361 against Liriano. The lefty has a 17-to-1 K/BB ratio in those matchups and has averaged nearly 93 mph on his fastball this season. One would imagine that in moving to a short relief role, that velocity could tick upward a couple of notches.
Liriano is a free agent at season’s end and is earning $13MM in the final campaign of a three-year, $39MM contract. He’s still owed about $4.48MM of that sum.
Aoki, 35, is earning $5.5MM in 2017 and is owed $1.89MM of that sum through the end of the year. It’s not clear if there’s additional cash in the deal, but as it stands, the Jays will be saving about $2.59MM this this swap. Considering Houston is sending a minor leaguer as well, though, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise for Toronto to pick up some of all of the remaining tab on Liriano.
Aoki has batted .272/.323/.371 through 224 plate appearances this season. While he’s under club control through the 2018 campaign via arbitration, his age and lack of offensive output make him a non-tender candidate after the season, as he’d likely be in line for a raise that would send his salary north of $6MM.
The 24-year-old Hernandez ranked ninth among Houston farmhands on MLB.com’s midseason top 30 list and is a more or less MLB-ready commodity. He’s hitting .279/.369/.485 with a dozen homers and a dozen steals through 347 Triple-A plate appearances this year.
Hernandez hasn’t exactly thrived in a small sample of 113 MLB plate appearances, but he’s held his own with a .230/.304/.420 slash. The Astros likely deemed Hernandez somewhat superfluous, however, with George Springer, Josh Reddick and Derek Fisher all in the Majors, to say nothing of top prospect Kyle Tucker lurking in the upper minors.
MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the two sides were in talks (via Twitter). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale said the two sides were close to a deal (on Twitter). Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reported the agreement (on Twitter). Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported that Aoki and a minor leaguer were going to Houston (Twitter link). Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi (on Twitter) had Hernandez’s inclusion.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Dodgers Acquire Tony Cingrani
The Dodgers have added another lefty, picking up Tony Cingrani from the Reds. In return, Cincinnati has acquired outfielder Scott Van Slyke and catcher Hendrik Clementina.
Cingrani joins Tony Watson as southpaw bullpen additions for Los Angeles, which came into the deadline looking to bolster that facet of the relief corps. The 28-year-old Cingrani has posted a mediocre 5.40 ERA on the year, but he’s carrying 9.3 K/9 with 2.3 BB/9 to go with it. The real issue thus far has been a monumental home run problem: Cingrani is allowing 3.47 per nine, with 29% of the fly balls he permits leaving the yard.
Oddly, Cingrani has struggled badly against same-handed hitters, allowing six long balls from just 43 lefties he has squared off against. That figures to balance back out somewhat, though, as he has limited lefty hitters to a .218/.305/.407 slash over his career (including this year’s ugly results).
Assuming those issues can be brought under control, Cingrani will add a power arm to the L.A. pen. He carries a 12.4% swinging-strike rate and is averaging a healthy 94.6 mph with his fastball. Cingrani represents an affordable option with some future value, too. He is earning just $1.825MM this year and can be offered arbitration over the next two seasons.
Van Slyke, 31, is another powerful corner outfield option that the Reds have added from the NL West. It’s not immediately clear whether he’ll have much function on the roster, though, and he’ll mostly offset Cingrani’s remaining salary obligations. The real motivation for Cincinnati was surely to add the twenty-year-old Clementina. He’s a Curacaoan backstop who has turned it up at the plate this year in Rookie ball, slashing .370/.439/.554 in a limited 108 plate appearance sample.
Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Cingrani was on the move (via Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (Twitter link) connected him to the Dodgers, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted the return.
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Pirates Acquire Joaquin Benoit
The Pirates acquired veteran reliever Joaquin Benoit and cash considerations from the Phillies for right-handed relief prospect Seth McGarry, according to a team announcement.
Benoit, 40, has a 4.07 ERA, 9.2 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.07 HR/9, and 31.5% groundball rate in 42 innings this year, missing ten days in June with a knee sprain. The Pirates will be the eighth team for which Benoit has pitched. As a long shot for the playoffs, the Pirates wouldn’t appear to have a strong need for a rental like Benoit, who has about $2.6MM left on his contract this year. But perhaps Benoit is meant to replace Tony Watson, who the Pirates sent to the Dodgers earlier today.
McGarry, 23, was drafted by the Pirates in the eighth round in 2015 out of Florida Atlantic University. This year in High-A, he owns a 1.34 ERA, 8.5 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9 with just one home run allowed in 40 1/3 innings.
Cubs Acquire Justin Wilson, Alex Avila
TODAY: The deal is official, with both clubs announcing it. For Detroit, catcher John Hicks and righty Joe Jimenez will come up to fill the roster openings.
YESTERDAY, 11:45pm: The sides have completed the medical review, though an announcement is still forthcoming, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter links).
10:55pm: The Cubs are finalizing a deal to acquire two more pieces for the stretch run. If the swap is finalized, both southpaw reliever Justin Wilson and catcher Alex Avila will reportedly head from the Tigers to Chicago in exchange for infielder Jeimer Candelario and young shortstop Isaac Paredes, along with cash or a player to be named later.
[RELATED: Updated Cubs & Tigers Depth Charts]
Of course, the Chicago (N.L.) farm has been raided of late, with numerous talented players streaming onto the MLB roster as well as to other organizations. The Cubbies are pushing the pedal to the floor once again, hoping to capitalize on a wave of momentum coming out of the All-Star break that has swept the defending World Series champs back into the NL Central lead.
Though Wilson has perhaps elevated his profile this year, owing to a move into the ninth inning for the Tigers, he hasn’t really changed his baseline performance level. He still works off of a mid-to-upper-nineties heater and is generally slightly more successful against right-handed hitters than lefties. And ERA estimators still value him as a low-to-mid-3’s performer.
That said, there are some notable changes. Through 40 1/3 innings this year, Wilson carries a career-high 14.3% swinging-strike rate and has averaged 12.3 K/9 — well over any prior full-season mark. He’s also allowing more walks (3.6 BB/9) and home runs (1.12 per nine) than usual, with less grounders (38.4%) than ever before. A general shift northward with his pitch location seems to explain the differences, though it’s hard to say it has made him a materially better pitcher.
Regardless of whether one prefers the Wilson of old or the current iteration, he looks to be a high-quality reliever at a bargain rate. He’ll step into a setup role alongside righties Carl Edwards, Koji Uehara, Pedro Strop, and Hector Rondon. Chicago currently features two other southpaws, Brian Duensing and Mike Montgomery, with the former likely continuing to function as a lefty specialist and the latter as a long reliever. That said, Wilson makes for a ninth reliever when right-handed Justin Grimm is counted, so it seems someone will need to depart the active roster. Edwards and Grimm are both optionable, but the latter is likeliest to go given his struggles this year; his 40-man spot could also be in jeopardy.
Wilson will take home just $2.7MM this year and comes with another season of arb control. Though he’ll surely command a healthy raise, particularly given that he has picked up a few saves in Detroit, Wilson will promise to deliver surplus value over his salary in 2018 as well.
Not to be lost in the shuffle is Avila, who is putting on his best season since 2011 at thirty years of age. He’ll represent a quality option to share time with young stalwart Willson Contreras for the remainder of the year while Victor Caratini goes back down to finish his development at Triple-A. Over 263 plate appearances thus far in 2017, Avila owns a .271/.392/.472 batting line. While he has benefited from a .375 BABIP, Avila has traditionally carried lofty batting averages on balls in play. And he has finally returned to the power he showed as a younger player (11 home runs, .202 isolated slugging) while continuing to carry an outstanding walk rate.
Avila delivered plenty of value to the Tigers for the one-year, $2MM contract he signed over the winter after dealing with health problems in recent campaigns. That deal, of course, was agreed to with his father — Tigers GM Al Avila, who also engineered this swap. Whether the elder Avila can pull off any further trades before tomorrow’s deadline remains unclear, but this is another meaningful deal for an organization that hopes to get younger and trim some salary before the start of the 2018 season.
The aim in Detroit, of course, is to field a contender in the relatively near term without requiring the kind of budget-busting expenditures that had become commonplace in recent seasons. Finding affordable, controllable asset is the key to such an undertaking, and Avila will hope he can accmplish that here.
Candelario currently sits just inside the top 100 prospects leaguewide, according to MLB.com, which calls him a serviceable defender at third who can be a quality offensive threat. He’s also ready to contribute in the majors right now, having briefly cracked the bigs in each of the past two seasons. The 23-year-old owns a .266/.361/.507 slash through 330 Triple-A plate appearances this year.
While Candelario may be seen by some as the headliner, Baseball America recently tabbed the 18-year-old Paredes as the better prospect among the two, reflecting that outlet’s lower grade on the former and higher grade on the latter. A well-regarded defensive shortstop from Mexico, Paredes has slashed .261/.341/.399 with seven home runs this year through 380 plate appearances at the Class A level.
This transaction puts down a notable market marker with several other top lefties still available via trade. Zach Britton of the Orioles is more expensive and comes with equivalent control rights to Wilson, though perhaps Baltimore will hold out for a greater return given Britton’s sheer excellence over the prior two seasons. And the Padres are said to be placing a big asking price on Brad Hand, who comes with an additional season of control and has emerged as a top-quality reliever.
Jon Heyman of Fan Rag first said a deal was close (via Twitter), after Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted the Cubs were “closing in” on Wilson and that Candelario may be involved, with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link) confirming Candelario’s inclusion. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand noted Avila’s involvement on Twitter, with Ken Rosenthal saying he would indeed go to Chicago (via Twitter). Bruce Levine of 670theScore.com reported the inclusion of Paredes on Twitter. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweeted the cash/PTBNL detail to complete the prospective swap, with Heyman tweeting its finalization.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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