NL East Notes: Phillies, Robertson, Nationals, Braves, Musgrove
David Robertson will not appear this season for the Philadelphia Phillies, per Jim Salisbury of NBCSPhilly (via Twitter). The reliever has been shut down from any throwing for the next six weeks. The 35-year-old reliever will now have contributed just seven appearances over the span of the two-year, $23MM deal he signed with the Phillies prior to 2019. Philadelphia has a $2MM buyout option for next season, which one has to think they’d execute after two lost seasons. Otherwise, they’ll be on the hook for $12MM in 2021. Instead, Robertson is likely headed back to the open market to look for a non-guaranteed deal. He could return to the Phillies on that type of deal as Brandon Morrow did after missing the entirety of his contract length due to injury with the Cubs, but it’s not clear now if the Phillies would even be interested in investing more time into Robertson. As we near the trade deadline, let’s check in on a couple of Philly rivals…
- The Washington Nationals have stumbled through a rough first half to their title defense, but don’t expect the champs to sell, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Per Heyman, selling is “not in their DNA.” It certainly hasn’t been an option most seasons for the Nats, who haven’t had a losing season since 2011. In recent seasons, we’ve seen them hold onto Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon instead of moving them before free agency. They did move Daniel Murphy a couple seasons ago to the Cubs, but even then the Nats didn’t pull the trigger until just before the August deadline. Theoretically, the Nats could look to move veterans like Kurt Suzuki, Adam Eaton, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Eric Thames, but Heyman reports that GM Mike Rizzo is more likely to add than subtract.
- The Braves have expressed an interest in Joe Musgrove of the Pirates, per Jason MAckey of PGSportsNow. This isn’t likely to turn your hat around as the Braves have expressed interest in a number of potential rotation targets. Musgrove is one of the more likely to move, though he’s just now returning from injury. The former Astro has been a viable rotation arm throughout his career, despite just 3 starts this season. In 2019, he toed the rubber 31 times for a 11-12 record and 4.44 ERA/3.82 FIP. Lance Lynn is probably the top rotation arm available, but Musgrove fits firmly into the next tier in terms of track record and consistency.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/28/20
Friday’s minor moves…
- The Marlins announced that they’ve sent infielder Logan Forsythe to the 60-day injured list with a right oblique strain. That should wrap up the 2020 season for Forsythe, whom the Marlins signed July 29. He made his Marlins debut Aug. 4 and went on to hit a miserable .118/.211/.235 with one HR in 35 plate appearances before going on the IL. Overall, it has been a rough few years for Forsythe, a once-valuable member of the Rays who has combined for minus-0.3 fWAR since the beginning of the 2018 campaign.
- The Angels outrighted Michael Hermosillo to their alternate training site after he cleared waivers, the team announced. Hermosillo, whom the Angels designated for assignment last Sunday, has slashed a paltry .188/.288/.287 with one home run 118 plate appearances with the Angels since 2018. The 25-year-old outfielder has been far better at the Triple-A level, where he has batted .261/.344/.478 with 32 homers over 748 trips to the plate.
Player Pool Additions: Giants, Mets, Rays, Nats
Teams have been tinkering with their 60-man player pools throughout the 2020 season, at times cutting veterans to make room for prospects and at times cutting bait on some lower-tier organizational pieces in order to make room for more experienced additions (be they via waiver claim, free-agent signing, etc.). There have been several clubs to announce additions to their player pools already Friday, and while such moves seem innocuous, it’s of course worth pointing out that adding a player to the 60-man pool makes him eligible to be traded.
That doesn’t mean all of the players added to pools today are on the trading block — far from it. We’ve also already seen the Marlins (in the Richard Bleier trade) and the Blue Jays (in the Taijuan Walker trade) take advantage of using players to be named later to get around the rule that only players in a 60-man pool are eligible to be traded. Both sent a PTBNL to their trade partner, each of whom is expected to be a non-60-man player that will be announced after the season.
So while not all of today’s additions will change hands, it’s still notable that some of these players now could change hands without needing to be listed as a PTBNL. In that scenario, a new club could get a look at said player at its alternate training site and, if close enough to the Majors, perhaps even promote them in September.
Here’s a quick rundown…
- The Giants announced that first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw and righty Melvin Adon were added to the 60-man player pool. Shaw, 26, was San Francisco’s first-round pick (No. 31 overall) back in 2015 and rated among the club’s best prospects for several years. His shine has worn off, however, after some shaky showings in the upper minors and the Majors. Shaw carries a .280/.328/.538 slash in 1092 Triple-A plate appearances but has struck out at a 30 percent clip there. He’s hit .153/.244/.222 in 82 big league PAs. Speculatively, he seems like a change-of-scenery candidate. Adon, also 26, received an 80 grade on his heater at FanGraphs this offseason and was called the hardest thrower in the minors by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel. However, they also gave him just 30 command on the 20-80 scale and called his chances of realizing his ceiling low due to his inability to locate. Adon walked 34 batters, hit another and threw 11 wild pitches in 55 1/3 innings last year.
- The Mets added third baseman Brett Baty, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Baty, 20, was the No. 12 pick in the 2019 draft and is considered to be among the organization’s top prospects. He divided last year between rookie and Low-A ball, where he batted .234/.368/.452 with seven home runs in 228 plate appearances. Now that Baty’s in the fold, the Mets have all of their top five prospects in the player pool — including Andres Gimenez in the Majors — as DiComo points out.
- Right-hander Brent Honeywell has been added to the Rays‘ pool and reported to their alternate site in Port Charlotte, tweets MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. The highly touted Honeywell underwent Tommy John surgery in February 2018, hasn’t pitched since and may not take the mound for the Rays this season. By adding Honeywell to their pool, though, the Rays will give the 25-year-old an opportunity to rehab while facing professional hitters, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes. For now, though, “there are still plenty of boxes” for Honeywell to check before he makes his MLB debut, according to manager Kevin Cash.
- The Nationals already added righty Sterling Sharp and outfielder Jeremy De La Rosa earlier today (as covered here), and this afternoon they announced two more additions: infielders Jackson Cluff and Drew Mendoza. Both have reported to the alternate site in Fredricksburg. Cluff was a 2019 sixth-rounder who spent his first pro season in Single-A, where he batted .229/.320/.367 with five homers and 11 steals in 280 trips to the plate. The 23-year-old is now generally regarded as one of the Nationals’ top 20 prospects. Mendoza, another 2019 draft choice (third round, No. 94), hovers around Washington’s top 10 farmhands at multiple outlets. The 22-year-old also spent 2019 at Single-A, slashing .264/.377/.383 with four HRs and three steals in 239 plate appearances.
NL Notes: Mozeliak, Cards, Pina, Gausman, Bumgarner
While the Cardinals are still going to explore trade deadline opportunities, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told The Athletic’s Mark Saxon and other reporters that his club faces something of a unique roster crunch due to the coronavirus outbreak that ravaged the Cards earlier this month. “I think that’s the biggest issue at hand for us, sort of navigating the health of the club vs. what potentially we could do in a trade,” Mozeliak said. “Candidly, the timing of it [the deadline] is not ideal for us, as we start to unwind people coming off of COVID back onto the roster….What it is to say is we haven’t been a team together, with the exception of the first five days together.”
With a whopping seven players still to be activated from the COVID-19 injured list, 40-man roster considerations will start to become a mounting concern for the Cardinals in the coming days, and certainly not everyone will be back before Monday’s trade deadline. One potential wrinkle, Mozeliak said, is that “other teams might be dealing with roster crunches, too, as they navigate Aug. 31,” and thus these rivals might not be as eager to make claims on any players the Cards might be forced to expose to waivers.
More from around the National League…
- Manny Pina left tonight’s game with a right knee injury, the Brewers announced. Pina suffered the injury while getting back to first base on a pickoff attempt during the second inning, and was replaced by Omar Narvaez. The initial outlook isn’t good, as manager Craig Counsell told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters that Pina is on crutches and is having trouble putting weight on his right leg. Pina is in his fifth year in Milwaukee and has been hitting respectably well, bringing a .231/.318/.410 slash line (roughly his career average) over 44 plate appearances coming into today’s doubleheader with the Reds. Pina’s steady production has been helpful given Narvaez’s struggles this season, so Milwaukee would be particularly hampered behind the plate if Pina has to go on the injured list. Jacob Nottingham and David Freitas are the only catchers with MLB experience at the Brewers’ alternate training site.
- Kevin Gausman allowed two runs on three hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings in the Giants‘ 2-0 loss to the Dodgers today, and with the trade deadline looming on Monday, Gausman might well have thrown his last pitch in the black and orange…at least in 2020. Gausman told Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group and other reporters that he would be open to re-signing with the Giants in free agency this winter, even if the club moves him prior to the deadline. His preference, of course, is to not be dealt at all, though the right-hander’s overall quality work this season and rental player status makes him one of the trade deadline’s top candidates to be sent elsewhere.
- Madison Bumgarner will throw a simulated game Saturday in the next step of his rehab plan, though Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Mark Faller) that the southpaw is still over a week away from returning to action. Assuming all goes well in the sim game, Lovullo said Bumgarner would still need another 7-10 days to ramp up for activation from the 10-day injured list. Bumgarner has been out of action since August 10 due to a back strain.
Injury Notes: Judge, LeMahieu, Yankees, White, Puk, Bowden
The latest on multiple injury situations throughout the game…
- Aaron Judge‘s most recent calf injury “seems like a recurrence of what he had before,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said during an interview with WFAN (hat tip to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). Judge re-injured his calf in his first game back from a minimum 10-day stint on the injured list, and Boone suggested that this latest issue “does seem minor in nature again, but certainly something that could turn into an IL stint again.”
- While Judge is a question mark, the Yankees could potentially have DJ LeMahieu back for this weekend’s series against the Mets. Boone said that LeMahieu took batting practice today at Yankee Stadium and will now report to the club’s alternate training site. Assuming the second baseman is indeed able to return against the Mets, it would represent a slightly early return from the initial 2-to-3 week timeline projected after LeMahieu was initially placed on the injured list with a thumb sprain on August 16. In other Yankees injury news, Boone said Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) also took on-field batting practice today, and that Gleyber Torres (quad/hamstring) is making good progress.
- Evan White left during the third inning of the Mariners‘ 10-7 loss to the Padres due to what the M’s termed as right shoulder discomfort. After the game, Seattle manager Scott Servais told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that White initially suffered the injury while diving for a ball in Tuesday’s game and was trying to play through the pain. The rookie first baseman entered today’s game with only a .168/.238/.379 slash line through his first 105 plate appearances in the big leagues, though White had begun to heat up over the last week.
- The next step in A.J. Puk‘s rehab will take place Friday, as Athletics manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chroncile’s Susan Slusser and other reporters that Puk will throw 30 pitches over two simulated innings against live batters. This will be the second time that Puk has faced actual hitters during his recovery from shoulder woes that have plagued him since Spring Training. There is still no clear timetable on when Puk could make his return to the A’s, though the club has already said that he will be deployed as a reliever in 2020.
- Rockies pitching prospect Ben Bowden isn’t likely to make his MLB debut this season, manager Bud Black told The Athletic’s Nick Groke and other reporters. Bowden suffered another injury he was already recovering from a back problem that sidelined him during Spring Training. A second-round pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2016 draft, Bowden didn’t have a great performance in the hitter-friendly environment of Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2019, though the southpaw has a 3.60 ERA, 13.1 K/9, and 3.15 K/BB over 127 1/3 total minor league innings, all as a reliever.
Cardinals Place Andrew Miller On 10-Day Injured List
The Cardinals placed lefty Andrew Miller on the 10-day injured list due to shoulder fatigue, the team announced. Right-hander Junior Fernandez was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move.
Miller’s IL visit is apparently “just a recovery thing,” manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. Like many other Cardinals players, Miller is still getting back up to full speed following the team’s coronavirus outbreak-driven stoppage in play. To that end, Fernandez himself is returning after a positive COVID-19 sidelined him for much of the season, as the rookie has only appeared in one game this season. Rogers also notes that infielder Edmundo Sosa was assigned to the Cardinals’ alternate training site after being activated today from the team’s coronavirus injured list.
Shildt feels Miller will be back after the 10-day minimum stay, saying that “he’s been a warrior and just was honest and said, ‘I could probably keep going and pushing through it,’ but I think we’d all feel better if we could get it behind him.”
Miller has a 4.76 ERA through 5 2/3 innings this season, with the bulk of that damage coming in one tough outing (two earned runs over one-third of an inning) against the Cubs on August 19. The left-hander has held opponents scoreless in five of his other six appearances this season.
Even a minimal visit to the injured list will create a bit of extra drama in regards to Miller’s contractual status. His original two-year, $25MM deal carries a $12MM club option for 2021 that was originally set to become guaranteed with at least 110 games pitched over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Rogers writes that Miller is seven games short of triggering his vesting option, meaning that the 37 appearances he still required (after pitching in 73 games in 2019) was prorated down to 14 appearances, as per the normal prorated rate of a 60-game schedule. Assuming Miller is back in 10 days or not much beyond, however, he should still have time left to bank his remaining seven games, though his usage down the stretch could be worth observing in the season’s final weeks.
AL Notes: Yankees, Pillar, Choo
Yankees left-hander J.A. Happ needs 10 starts and 62 innings this season in order for his $17MM option for 2021 to vest. Happ isn’t on pace to reach either milestone – he has three starts and 12 2/3 frames thus far – and he suggested the Yankees are trying to prevent him from reaching those marks. “It actually doesn’t take too much to figure out sort of what could be going on,” Happ said of his usage (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). “I think I can help our team. I’d like to be out there every five days.” Even if Happ’s right, it’s hard to blame the Yankees for not wanting him around at such a lofty salary in 2021. After struggling in 2019, the first guaranteed campaign of a two-year, $34MM guarantee, the 36-year-old Happ has yielded nine earned runs on 10 hits (including four homers) with six strikeouts against 10 walks this season.
- Outfielder Kevin Pillar hopes to remain with the Red Sox, but the soon-to-be free agent understands he’s a trade candidate as the Aug. 31 deadline approaches (via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom informed Pillar that he’ll listen to offers for the 31-year-old in the coming days. It would be a surprise if Pillar’s still a member of the Red Sox on Sept. 1, considering their status as non-contenders, Pillar’s waning team control, and the fact that he’d be more useful to a playoff-caliber club. Since signing a one-year, $4.25MM contract with the Red Sox last winter, Pillar has lined up at all three outfield positions and batted a playable .257/.316/.419 in 114 plate appearances.
- As a pending free agent, Rangers designated hitter/outfielder Shin-Soo Choo realizes he could pop up in trade talks with Monday looming, as Jeff Wilson of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram writes. “Every year, it’s been, ‘Trade Choo, trade Choo,’ but this year I have a very strong feeling,” Choo said. From the Rangers’ standpoint, though, finding a taker for Choo would likely be difficult. The 38-year-old, normally a quality offensive player, has slumped to a .216/.306/.365 line with three home runs in 85 plate appearances this season. That’s unappealing production at any price, let alone the prorated $21MM Choo is earning. Regardless, as someone who has procured 10-and-5 rights, Choo has the ability to veto any trade.
- More on the pitching-needy Yankees, who seem likely to promote right-handed prospects Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia over the weekend for their major league debuts, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post suggests. Either Schmidt or Garcia could be trade bait for the club before Aug. 31, observes Davidoff; if not, they may be able to help the Yankees’ staff. The 24-year-old Schmidt and Garcia, 21, are regarded as a pair of the Yankees’ top farmhands, with MLB.com ranking the former second in their system and placing the latter at No. 3.
Pitching Notes: Hader, Bumgarner, Pearson, Dodgers, Beeks, Wright
On a night in which White Sox ace Lucas Giolito fired the first no-hitter of 2020, let’s check in on several other notable pitchers…
- The Brewers are “listening” to offers for star reliever Josh Hader, but it’s not likely the club will trade the 26-year-old left-hander before the Aug. 31 deadline, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link). Milwaukee was also willing to entertain proposals for Hader last winter, but it elected to retain him heading into this year – his first of four potential arbitration seasons. For a bargain price this season (a prorated $4.1MM), Hader has given the Brewers 9 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings with 13 strikeouts and five walks. He’s obviously not someone the Brewers are going to give up for anything less than a massive offer.
- After throwing a 70-pitch bullpen session Sunday, Diamondbacks southpaw Madison Bumgarner could be closing in on a return from the injured list, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Bumgarner has been on the IL since Aug. 9 with a mid-back strain, but he came out of his bullpen session unscathed, which manager Torey Lovullo called “very encouraging news.” The former Giant’s first season as a Diamondback has been anything but encouraging, though. After inking a five-year, $85MM contract in the offseason, Bumgarner has logged a 9.35 ERA/8.79 FIP with 6.75 K/9, 3.63 BB/9 and a 23.7 percent groundball rate in 17 1/3 innings. The 31-year-old averaged a career-worst 87.8 mph on his fastball during that four-start stretch, but Lovullo revealed Bumgarner’s “velo ticked up a little bit” during sim games.
- Right-hander Nate Pearson, whom the Blue Jays placed on the IL on Aug. 19, has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN. He’s hoping to play catch this weekend, Mitchell reports, though it remains unclear if the rookie will return in 2020. Pearson struggled to a 6.61 ERA/7.60 FIP with 7.71 K/9 and 6.61 BB/9 over four starts and 16 1/3 frames before going on the shelf.
- Dodgers righty Joe Kelly has been on the IL since Aug. 10 with shoulder inflammation, and a return isn’t imminent for the reliever. Manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday (via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) that Kelly remains “a ways away” from rejoining the Dodgers. When Kelly does come back, he’ll have to serve a five-game suspension stemming from a July 28 dustup with the Astros. Meanwhile, Dodgers lefty Alex Wood won’t come off the IL before the end of the month, Gurnick tweets. Wood, who’s also dealing with shoulder inflammation, has only made one appearance this year (on July 25).
- The Rays’ injury-laden pitching staff may have lost yet another hurler Tuesday, when southpaw Jalen Beeks left their game with an elbow/forearm issue. Manager Kevin Cash didn’t come off as optimistic afterward, saying (via Juan Toribio of MLB.com), “It sounded similar to Kitt, but we don’t know anything yet.” Cash was referring to righty Andrew Kittredge, who went on the 45-day IL on Aug. 12 with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. A similar fate would be a season-ender for Beeks, who has been terrific in 2020. The 27-year-old has notched a 3.26 ERA and a much more impressive 1.74 FIP with 12.1 K/9 against 1.86 BB/9 across 19 1/3 innings.
- Veteran knuckleballer Steven Wright hasn’t taken a major league mound since July 13, 2019, but the former Red Sox righty informed Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he’s not ready to call it a career. “I just don’t want to sit back in a few years and wish I had tried it,” said the soon-to-be 36-year-old Wright, who threw 35 pitches from a mound last week and told Abraham, “I’m throwing two bullpens a week and I’m feeling healthy for the first time since 2016.” Wright was an All-Star that year, but he then faced knee problems, Tommy John surgery, a performance-enhancing drugs suspension and an arrest on domestic violence charges (which led to a 15-game ban) during the ensuing seasons.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/25/20
Checking in on the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted reliever Deolis Guerra. The 31-year-old righty had been in limbo since the Phillies designated him for assignment last Saturday. Guerra threw 7 1/3 innings and allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits, two walks and eight strikeouts from Philly’s bullpen this season before the club booted him from its roster. In all, Guerra has combined for 103 major league frames with a few teams and put up a 4.81 ERA/4.78 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.
Earlier:
- The Giants have added first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw to their 60-man player pool, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. Shaw was a 2015 first-round pick (No. 31) who spent the subsequent few seasons as one of the Giants’ top prospects, but the 26-year-old hasn’t made a mark in the big leagues yet. Across 82 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, Shaw has batted .153/.244/.222 with one home run. But Shaw did enjoy a productive 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined for a .294/.360/.559 line and 28 homers in 492 trips to the plate.
- The Marlins have outrighted catcher Ryan Lavarnway to their alternate site, per a team announcement. Lavarnway got off to a 4-for-11 start at the plate this year, but the Marlins designated him for assignment last week to make room for the return of starting backstop Jorge Alfaro from the injured list. The 33-year-old Lavarnway has now seen regular-season action with seven teams since his career began in 2011.
- The Brewers announced that left-hander Aaron Ashby is now part of their player pool. Ashby, a 2018 fourth-rounder, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 126 innings between Single-A and High-A last season. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranks Ashby as the fifth-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system, writing that the 22-year-old has “nasty” stuff that could work out of the team’s rotation or bullpen down the line.
- The Rays have outrighted southpaw Sean Gilmartin, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. This is the second time this year the Rays have outrighted Gilmartin, who will head back to their alternate site. He has thrown 4 1/3 innings of four-earned run ball this season with seven hits and four walks (five strikeouts).
Trade Deadline Notes: Royals, Moore, Rays, BoSox, Angels, Eppler, Orioles
Trevor Rosenthal and other Royals relievers are already drawing interest from trade suitors, though GM Dayton Moore hasn’t ruled out being a deadline buyer. “We wouldn’t hesitate to add to this team,” Moore told Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star. “This team is talented enough to be one of eight teams representing the American League in the playoffs….So I’m not even beginning to think about dismantling or moving players that help us win at this point. I believe that this group of players is extremely talented and very much capable of being a playoff team.”
The Royals are last in the AL Central with an 11-18 record, and they sit four games back of the Blue Jays for the last AL wild card slot. While they’d have to leapfrog a lot of teams to cross the postseason line, even one brief winning streak could greatly improve Kansas City’s chances in the shortened season. As Worthy notes, the Royals haven’t yet had their entire ideal roster together at one time, as multiple key players have been sidelined due to injuries and COVID-19. It doesn’t seem likely that K.C. will make any kind of big deadline push, though those expecting a mini-fire sale might also be disappointed.
More trade buzz from around the league…
- There is no doubt that the Rays are planning on being deadline buyers, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that “other teams say the Rays are being very aggressive in” trade talks. It stands to reason that Tampa Bay is targeting pitching given all of their injured arms, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rays swing some creative deals to address multiple needs. In July 2019, for instance, Tampa landed Nick Anderson, Trevor Richards, Eric Sogard, and Jesus Aguilar in separate deals with the Marlins, Blue Jays, and Brewers respectively, while five other lower-level trades were also consummated.
- The Red Sox are willing to include some money to accommodate trades, Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal writes (subscription required). We’ve already seen the Sox kick in $815K to the Phillies as part of the Brandon Workman/Heath Hembree trade last weekend, and McAdam speculates that Boston could potentially eat larger sums for higher-paid players like J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, or Christian Vazquez in order to land a better prospect return.
- Though the Angels‘ 9-21 record is the worst in the American League, their approach at the trade deadline could be impacted by front office uncertainty, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman said in an appearance on the MLB Network (video link). “There is probably not a general manager on thinner ice…right now than Billy Eppler,” Sherman notes, as the Halos are looking at their fifth straight losing season in Eppler’s five-year tenure. Since Eppler’s contract is up after the season, Sherman wonders if the GM would have the green light to trade anything beyond rental players. Dylan Bundy and Andrew Heaney, for instance, would draw a lot of trade interest if shopped, though both pitchers are also arbitration-controlled through 2021 and the Angels plan to contend next season.
- The Orioles have a .500 record and are in the mix for a playoff berth, though both The Athletic’s Dan Connolly and the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli figure that the team isn’t likely to make any splashy rental acquisitions. As Connolly puts it, “general manager Mike Elias is focused on his big-picture plan and he’s not going to alter that for the immediate gratification of a seventh or eighth seed in a short season.” Meoli, meanwhile, wonders if the O’s will be particularly active either as a buyer or seller at the deadline, noting that Elias didn’t swing many significant deals at the 2019 trade deadline and instead waited until the offseason to move the likes of Bundy and Jonathan Villar. Between many teams’ uncertain financial situations and the lack of many defined buyers or sellers, there might even more reason this year for the Orioles to hold off until the winter.