Tigers Claim Zach Logue, Designate Angel De Jesus
The Tigers announced they have claimed left-hander Zach Logue off waivers from the A’s. Oakland had designated Logue for assignment earlier in the week. In a corresponding move, right-hander Angel De Jesus was designated for assignment. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported the claim of Logue prior to the official announcement.
Logue, 27 in April, was a ninth round pick of the Blue Jays in 2017 who got added to their 40-man roster after a solid 2021 season. Logue split that year between Double-A and Triple-A, making 24 starts and one relief appearance with a 3.67 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. The A’s were intrigued enough to acquire him, with Logue being one of the four players that came over in the Matt Chapman trade.
Unfortunately, 2022 didn’t go as smooth for Logue. He was able to make his MLB debut, but he posted a 6.79 ERA over 14 appearances for the A’s. He limited walks to a 7.8% clip but only struck out 16.3% of batters faced. Things didn’t go much better in the minors, as he posted an ERA of 8.12 for the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators. That club plays in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but park factors alone can’t completely wave away those results. He also had subpar rate stats, striking out just 15.3% of batters faced there while walking 9.9% of them.
For the Tigers, it makes plenty of sense to put in a claim, even though Logue is coming off a down year. For one thing, Logue still has two option years remaining, allowing him to stay in the minors as depth until he’s needed. Secondly, there’s much rotation uncertainty in Detroit. Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery in June and will likely miss much of the upcoming season. Tarik Skubal underwent flexor tendon surgery in August and is a question mark for 2023. The club added Matthew Boyd and Michael Lorenzen to bolster their rotation, but they are both on one-year deals and could be deadline trade fodder if the Tigers aren’t in contention.
Boyd and Lorenzen should slot into a front five with Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Manning and Spencer Turnbull. However, Manning also dealt with injuries in 2022 and only made 12 starts. Turnbull missed the entire season due to Tommy John surgery and will be an unknown quantity for 2023. If injuries and/or trades put a dent in the club’s rotation throughout the season, they will have depth options such as Joey Wentz, Beau Brieske and Alex Faedo, but Logue will now jump into that mix.
De Jesus, 26 in February, was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November of 2021 and spent 2022 as a frequently-optioned depth arm. He posted a 2.13 ERA over eight big league appearances but spent most of the season in Triple-A. In 47 2/3 innings down on the farm, he registered a 4.15 ERA with a 22.1% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 38.5% ground ball rate. The Tigers will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He still has a pair of option years and could garner interest from clubs looking for extra bullpen depth.
A’s Designate Zach Logue For Assignment
The A’s announced their signing of right-hander Drew Rucinski, making it official. In a corresponding move, lefty Zach Logue was designated for assignment.
Logue, 27 in April, was a ninth round pick of the Blue Jays in 2017 who got added to their 40-man roster after a solid 2021 season. Logue split that year between Double-A and Triple-A, making 24 starts and one relief appearance with a 3.67 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. The A’s were intrigued enough to acquire him, with Logue being one of the four players that came over in the Matt Chapman trade.
Unfortunately, 2022 didn’t go as smooth for Logue. He was able to make his MLB debut, but he posted a 6.79 ERA over 14 appearances for the A’s. He limited walks to a 7.8% clip but only struck out 16.3% of batters faced. Things didn’t go much better in the minors, as he posted an ERA of 8.12 for the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators. That club plays in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but park factors alone can’t completely wave away those results. He also had subpar rate stats, striking out just 15.3% of batters faced there while walking 9.9% of them.
The A’s will now have one week to trade Logue or pass him through waivers. Lackluster season aside, pitching depth is always in demand and Logue still has two option years remaining.
A’s Sign Drew Rucinski
December 21: The A’s made it official today, announcing the signing.
December 20: The A’s are in agreement with starter Drew Rucinski, pending a physical. It’s reportedly a one-year, $3MM guarantee for the Paragon Sports International client. The deal also contains a $5MM club option for the 2024 season.
Rucinski returns to the U.S. after four seasons in South Korea. The 6’2″ righty kicked around the majors in the middle of the last decade as a swing option. While Rucinski worked as a starter in the minors, he came out of the bullpen for six of seven appearances with the Angels in 2014-15. Rucisnki spent the next year in Triple-A with the Cubs organization before spending two years as a depth reliever. He pitched twice for the Twins in 2017 and logged 35 1/3 innings over 32 relief appearances for the Marlins the next season.
That marked a career-high workload for the Ohio State product, and he made the jump to the Korea Baseball Organization the next offseason. Rucinski landed with the NC Dinos, kicking off a four-year run in which he’d work as a durable innings eater. The righty started 30-plus games in all four of his KBO seasons, pitching at least 177 1/3 innings in each year. Rucinski was consistent and very effective, posting an ERA between 2.97 and 3.17 in every season.
Rucinski only struck out 16.8% of his opponents during his debut season, but he topped a 20% strikeout rate in each of the next three years. Rucinski topped out at a 24.3% strikeout percentage in 2022, while this year’s 2.97 ERA over 193 2/3 innings marked his lowest with the Dinos. He threw plenty of strikes, walking just 4.3% of batters faced this year. Rucinski also induced grounders on two-thirds of batted balls in each of the last three years, with those dominant numbers earning him another MLB look.
MLBTR placed Rucinski 50th on this offseason’s top free agent list. His one-year pact falls short of MLBTR’s projected two-year, $9MM guarantee. Pitchers like Chris Flexen and Merrill Kelly secured two-year contracts coming over from the KBO, but Rucinski’s age apparently limited him to one year. He’ll turn 34 next week, while Flexen and Kelly each returned to the U.S. before their 31st birthday.
It’s a low-cost flier for the A’s, whose spacious home park figures to play well for a pitch-to-contact arm of Rucinski’s ilk. Cole Irvin and Paul Blackburn look to have secured season-opening rotation spots alongside Rucinski, while players like James Kaprielian, Ken Waldichuk, Adam Oller and Adrián Martínez could battle for spots at the back end. Oakland GM David Forst and his staff could still look to augment that group, even in another rebuilding season.
The A’s still have just $54MM in projected 2023 payroll, per Roster Resource. They’ve added Jace Peterson and Aledmys Díaz on lower-cost two-year deals, while Trevor May, Rucinski and Manny Piña (in the Sean Murphy trade) have been brought aboard with one-year commitments.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported Rucisnki was in agreement with the A’s. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report it was a one-year, $3MM guarantee with a $5MM club option.
A’s Sign Jake Fishman, Deolis Guerra To Minor League Deals
The A’s announced a number of non-roster invitations to Spring Training this afternoon. Among those invited to camp were relievers Jake Fishman and Deolis Guerra, indicating both recently joined the organization on minor league deals. Oakland also signed first baseman Kevin Cron.
Fishman reached the big leagues for the first time with the Marlins in 2022. The southpaw had a few separate stints with Miami and made seven appearances altogether. He tallied 11 innings, allowing five runs while striking out six and issuing three walks. The sinkerballer averaged only 87.5 MPH on his fastball and under 76 MPH on his slider, but he had a nice year in Triple-A.
Through 56 appearances with Miami’s top affiliate, Fishman posted a 2.25 ERA. He induced grounders at an excellent 54.2% clip and struck out a serviceable 23.1% of opponents. The Union College product walked 8.5% of batters faced in the minors, and he held same-handed hitters to an awful .191/.270/.270 line across 142 plate appearances in Triple-A. Despite that strong showing, he was outrighted off Miami’s 40-man roster at the end of the end of the season and qualified for free agency. Also a former member of the Blue Jays organization, Fishman will compete for a situational role similar to the one already held by Sam Moll in Oakland.
Guerra is a familiar face for Oakland fans. The 33-year-old was second on the team in relief innings in 2021, soaking up 65 2/3 frames across 53 outings. He had a solid if unremarkable year, posting a 4.11 ERA while putting up roughly average strikeout and walk rates (23% and 7.4%, respectively). A veteran journeyman who’d previously suited up for the Pirates, Angels, Brewers and Phillies at the MLB level, Guerra looked to have carved out a multi-year role in the Oakland bullpen.
That was thrown off track before the 2022 season even began, however. Guerra battled some elbow pain in Spring Training, and he underwent Tommy John surgery a week into the regular season. He spent the whole year on the injured list and was non-tendered at the end of the season. While the A’s weren’t prepared to carry him on the 40-man roster all winter after a lost season, they quickly brought him back with a chance to earn a spot yet again. Given the mid-April timing of his surgery, it’s unlikely Guerra will be ready to take the mound in exhibition play. He’ll presumably start the year on the minor league injured list and head to Triple-A Las Vegas after he completes his rehab and builds back to game shape.
Cron, 30 in February, played in 47 games with the Diamondbacks from 2019-20. The right-handed hitter didn’t perform well in that very limited look, but he has mashed at a .319/.405/.651 clip in just over 800 career Triple-A plate appearances (albeit in an extremely favorable environment in Reno). Those monster numbers earned Cron looks in both Japan and South Korea over the past two years, though he didn’t fare especially well at either stop. He hit .231/.270/.431 with NPB’s Hiroshima Carp in 2021 and posted a .222/.255/.420 mark through 259 trips to the plate with the KBO’s SSG Landers this year.
Also included in the list of non-roster invitees are outfielder Cody Thomas and infielder Ernie Clement. Both had been designated for assignment in recent days but apparently went unclaimed on waivers and remained in the organization on outright assignments. Thomas debuted with 10 MLB games this past season, while Clement hit .184/.243/.209 in 70 combined contests between the Guardians and A’s in 2022.
Oakland further announced that infielder Vimael Machín declined an outright assignment after going unclaimed on waivers. He’ll head to minor league free agency, as is his right as a player who has been outrighted multiple times in his career. The lefty-hitting infielder posted a .220/.300/.287 line with one homer through 253 plate appearances this past season. He hasn’t done much at the plate in parts of three big league campaigns. Owner of a far more impressive .307/.400/.468 line through parts of four Triple-A seasons, Machín figures to find a minor league opportunity elsewhere.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/17/22
There’s been a few minor league deals coming through of late, so here’s a quick recap.
- The Dodgers have brought in catcher Patrick Mazeika on a minor league deal, per his MLB transactions log. Mazeika made big league appearances for the Mets over the past two seasons, slashing a combined .190/.236/.279 with a pair of home runs across 159 plate appearances. He was claimed off waivers by the Giants in August, before being released at the end of the season. Across 188 plate appearances between the Mets’ and Giants’ Triple-A affiliates, Mazeika slashed .253/.356/.352 with four home runs. The Dodgers have Will Smith and Austin Barnes tabbed to handle the catching duties this year, so Mazeika will provide some depth in the upper minors.
- Oakland has added right-hander Garrett Williams on a minor league pact, per his MLB transaction log. Williams was originally drafted by the Giants in the seventh round of the 2016 draft, but made his way over to the Cardinals prior to the 2021 season. He showed some promise early on his minor league career, but has struggled in the upper minors. He owns a 4.46 ERA in 240 1/3 Double-A innings, and a 6.75 ERA in 80 Triple-A innings. He has flashed decent strikeout staff, boasting a 10.5 SO/9 in Triple-A, but control has been a huge problem, averaging a 7.9 BB/9 at the highest level of the minor leagues.
- Colorado has signed shortstop Connor Kaiser to a minor league contract, per his MLB transaction log. The Pirates took Kaiser in the third round of the 2018 draft, and he briefly made it up to Triple-A with the Bucs before being released in May of this year. He latched on with the Padres, spending the rest of the year at Double-A and hitting .202/.299/.360 with seven home runs in 207 plate appearances.
- The Nationals have added shortstop Nick Shumpert on a minor league deal, per his MLB transaction log. Shumpert was drafted out of high school in the seventh round by the Tigers in 2015, but he turned that down to go to college. He struggled at college, and wound up being taken in the 28th round a year later by the Braves. After three years in the minor leagues with Atlanta, Shumpert was released and turned to independent ball. The 26-year-old has spent the last four years there, and most recently slashed .265/.310/.421 with eight home runs in 375 plate appearances for the Cleburne Railroaders.
Athletics Sign Trevor May, Designate Cody Thomas
1:08pm: May will be guaranteed $7MM on the deal, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets. He can earn an additional $500K worth of incentives.
1:02pm: The Athletics have signed veteran right-hander Trevor May to a one-year contract, the team announced Friday. May is represented by the VC Sports Group. Outfielder Cody Thomas was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
May, 33, will head to the A’s in search of a rebound campaign after an injury-plagued 2022 showing with the Mets. The 6’5″ righty missed three months of the season due to a triceps injury that seemed to hamper him on the mound, as May’s 5.04 ERA in 25 innings was his worst mark since the 2016 season. Even with those rough bottom-line results, however, May retained his velocity (96.2 mph average fastball) and posted a strong 27% strikeout rate against a solid 8.1% walk rate.
From 2018-21, May was quietly one of the top strikeout arms in the league, logging 175 2/3 innings of 3.33 ERA ball as a setup man for the Twins. In that time, May’s 32.6% strikeout rate ranked 13th among 204 qualified relievers, while his 15.1% swinging-strike rate ranked 20th. He coupled that knack for missing bats with a solid 8.6% walk rate, all of which helped May pile up 46 holds and 11 saves as he went from low-leverage innings to a frequent late-inning option for the Twins and the Mets — the latter of whom signed him to a two-year, $15.5MM free-agent deal in the 2020-21 offseason.
May will look to bounce back into form with the A’s, who have no set closer in place at the moment. Given his salary and experience, May should get frequent opportunities in high-leverage spots for Oakland, be it as a ninth-inning option or as a member of manager Mark Kotsay’s setup corps. May immediately becomes the most seasoned arm in the Oakland bullpen, as prior to his arrival the A’s had just one reliever with even two years of Major League service time: lefty A.J. Puk. In addition to May and Puk, the A’s have Zach Jackson, Dany Jimenez, Domingo Acevedo and Sam Moll likely ticketed for bullpen roles. Given the inexperienced nature of that group, it stands to reason that May could be one of multiple relief additions for the A’s this winter.
May is the third free-agent signing for the low-budget A’s in as many weeks, joining infielders Aledmys Diaz (two years, $14.5MM) and Jace Peterson (two years, $9.5MM) as newcomers. Any of the three could become viable trade chips this summer, but May’s track record and status as a one-year signee makes him seem like a particularly plausible summer trade candidate.
The addition of that trio pushes Oakland’s payroll projection to a still (very) modest $51MM. That, somewhat incredibly, is still an upgrade over last year’s Opening Day payroll (just shy of $48MM), but there figures to be some additional spending ahead for the A’s, who could still upgrade in the rotation, bullpen and outfield, among other areas.
As for the 28-year-old Thomas, he made his big league debut in 2022 but only appeared in 10 games and tallied 32 plate appearances, during which he batted .267/.313/.267. He slashed a hearty .289/.363/.665 with 18 homers in just 245 Triple-A plate appearances in 2021, but Thomas missed nearly the entire 2022 season after undergoing spring surgery to repair his Achilles tendon. His plus raw power and that huge 2021 showing in Triple-A might be enough to pique another team’s interest, and the A’s will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Dodgers Acquire Yonny Hernandez
The A’s announced they have traded infielder Yonny Hernandez to the Dodgers for cash considerations. Hernandez was designated for assignment earlier this week.
Hernandez, 25 in May, is a low-power, high-contact player. He has 55 games of MLB experience, including 43 with the Rangers last year and 12 with the Diamondbacks in 2022. He has a tepid .198/.293/.228 batting line in that time, but his 9.8% walk rate and 18.6% strikeout rate are both better than league average.
He spent most of 2022 in the minors, getting into 71 Triple-A games. He hit .241/.349/.324 in that time, walking in 11.7% of his plate appearances while striking out just 15.8% of the time. He also stole 30 bases, along with two more in the big leagues, something that is quite common for him. With the new rules in 2023 that encourage base stealing, that part of his game could become more valuable.
Hernandez brings a fair bit of defensive versatility to the table, having played the three infield positions to the left of first base, as well as left and center field. He only has five minor league home runs in his career and none in the majors, but he has a good eye at the plate and can move around the field. He also still has a pair of option years remaining, allowing the Dodgers to keep him in the minors if they so choose.
The A’s claimed him off waivers from the Diamondbacks in November but designated him for assignment when they made their signings of Jace Peterson and Aledmys Díaz official. The Dodgers’ infield took a few hits in recent months when Trea Turner and Hanser Alberto hit free agency, they declined their club option on Justin Turner and non-tendered Edwin Ríos. Hernandez will give them a versatile depth option as they build out their roster for the coming season.
A’s Designate Ernie Clement, Yonny Hernandez For Assignment
The Athletics announced Tuesday that they’ve designated infielders Ernie Clement and Yonny Hernandez for assignment. Their spots on the 40-man roster will go to veterans Jace Peterson and Aledmys Diaz, each of whom signed a two-year contract with Oakland last week. That pair of deals has now been formally announced by the team.’
Clement, 26, was a late-September waiver claim out of the Guardians organization and appeared in six games for the A’s down the stretch, going 1-for-18 in that tiny sample. He’s appeared in 109 big league games across the past two seasons and tallied 312 plate appearances, albeit with just a .204/.261/.264 slash to show for it. Clement, however, has drawn outstanding defensive grades in a limited sample of 313 innings at third base (plus-5 Defensive Runs Saved, plus-7 Outs Above Average). He’s long been viewed as a player whose game is more built around speed and defensive versatility, though if he’s to eventually carve out a role as utility player he’ll need to hit more than he has.
In parts of three Triple-A seasons, Clement carries a much more palatable .261/.311/.419 batting line, and he has a minor league option remaining as well. He’s spent time at all four infield positions and in both outfielder corners as a professional, even tossing a pair of mop-up relief innings in the Majors. He also logged a fair bit of time in center field in college at the University of Virgina.
Hernandez, 24, is a similarly versatile player in the speed-and-defense utilityman mold. The A’s claimed him off waivers from the D-backs earlier this winter. He’s managed just a .198/.293/.228 batting line in 194 Major League plate appearances but carries a .245/.384/.324 batting line in 549 Triple-A plate appearances. Hernandez walks at a high clip and rarely strikes out, though his contact-oriented approach is entirely devoid of power, so the balls he puts into play are rarely hit hard — evidenced by the fact that he has just five home runs in 586 professional games (all in the minors).
That said, Hernandez has drawn plus marks for his glovework at three positions, per Defensive Runs Saved: third base (6 in 299 innings), second base (2 in 84 innings) and shortstop (2 in 39 innings). He’s also swiped 32 bases in each of the past two seasons. While Clement has one minor league option remaining, Hernandez has two.
The A’s will have a week to trade either player or else place them outright waivers, at which point they can be claimed by any other team willing to commit a 40-man roster spot. Should they clear waivers, both players could be retained as Triple-A depth without requiring a 40-man roster spot.
A’s To Sign Yohel Pozo To Minor League Deal
The A’s are in agreement on a minor league contract with catcher Yohel Pozo, reports Alden González of ESPN. Pozo will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Pozo, 26 in June, has spent almost his entire career with the Rangers thus far. He was very briefly a Padre, having signed a minor league deal in November of 2020 but then was selected back by the Rangers in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft just a couple of weeks later.
Pozo has been compared to Willians Astudillo, since the players have a similar penchant for putting the bat on the ball. Pozo has never posted a walk rate of 8% or higher and has never struck out at anything higher than a 13% clip. He seemed to have a nice breakout in 2021, hitting 23 home runs in 77 Triple-A games, which led to his major league debut. In 21 big league games, he hit .284/.312/.378 for a wRC+ of 89, roughly league average for a catcher. Despite that nice year, he was non-tendered and re-signed to a minor league deal for 2022. He hit .320/.352/.474, which amounted to a wRC+ of 104 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
For the A’s, they made a very notable subtraction to their catching depth yesterday, trading Sean Murphy to Atlanta. They did get Manny Piña back in that deal, though he is a veteran placeholder who turns 36 next year. Their true path forward behind the plate will likely be forged by Shea Langeliers, who made his MLB debut last year, or Tyler Soderstrom, who made it to Triple-A. However, anyone in that group struggles or gets injured, Pozo will give the A’s a unique depth option. If he makes it onto their 40-man roster, he has a full slate of options.
Braves Acquire Sean Murphy, Brewers Acquire William Contreras In Three-Team Trade
The Braves, Brewers and A’s have agreed to a three-team blockbuster that will see each team get a new catcher with nine players involved in total. The full trade is as follows:
Braves get catcher Sean Murphy, giving up Kyle Muller, Royber Salinas, Justin Yeager, Freddy Tarnok, Manny Piña and William Contreras.
Brewers get William Contreras, Joel Payamps, Justin Yeager, giving up Esteury Ruiz.
A’s get Kyle Muller, Esteury Ruiz, Freddy Tarnok, Royber Salinas and Manny Piña, giving up Sean Murphy and Joel Payamps.
The deal is official, with the clubs all making announcements.
This move finally brings an end to a trade saga that has been going on for about a year now. After the 2021 season, the A’s leaned hard into a rebuild that saw them trade away Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt before Opening Day, with Frankie Montas getting flipped at the 2022 deadline.
Murphy was widely seen as the next to go for a number of reasons. Firstly, he just crossed three years of MLB service time in 2022 and will now be making higher salaries via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected that Murphy will jump to $3.5MM in 2023 with two further bumps before reaching free agency after 2025. Secondly, the A’s received a highly-touted catching prospect from Atlanta in the Olson deal in Shea Langeliers. He had an excellent season in Triple-A and carried himself well in a 40-game debut in the majors. Given all those factors, it seemed more and more likely that the A’s would hand the job over to Langeliers and trade Murphy for improvements elsewhere on the roster.
By taking this path, the A’s are parting with one of the best catchers in the game. The 28-year-old Murphy has 330 games in the big leagues under his belt thus far and has performed well in just about every facet of the game. He’s hit 46 home runs and has a combined batting line of .236/.326/.429. That production leads to a wRC+ of 116, indicating he’s been 16% above the league average hitter and even further ahead of the average catcher, since they generally come in a bit lower than others. He also took a step forward at the plate in 2022, striking out in just 20.3% of his plate appearances after being above 25% in his career prior to that.
Defensively, Murphy gets rave reviews as well. Since the start of 2020, he’s posted 13 Defensive Runs Saved behind the plate, a number that places him in the top 10 in the league. FanGraphs’ framing metric gives him a 19.5 in that timeframe, the third-highest such tally. Those all-around contributions have allowed him to produce 10 wins above replacement in those three seasons, according to FanGraphs, second among all MLB catchers with only J.T. Realmuto ahead of him.
Taking all that into consideration, it’s hardly surprising that Murphy garnered plenty of interest around the league. The Diamondbacks, Astros, Cubs, Guardians, Twins, White Sox, Red Sox, Rays, and Cardinals were some of the teams connected to him at various points in recent months. It was reported about a week ago that the Braves were getting close to acquiring him but president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos shot down those reports, saying that he didn’t anticipate a trade. That was either a bluff or something drastically changed in the past week since Atlanta have now indeed closed the deal. This is now the third huge deal Anthopoulos has negotiated with the A’s, though David Forst has since taken over baseball operations from Billy Beane. He acquired Josh Donaldson when he was working for the Blue Jays and has now nabbed Olson and Murphy for the Braves.
Atlanta always seemed a curious fit for Murphy given that they already had three viable catchers on the roster in Contreras, Piña and Travis d’Arnaud. They have cleared out that logjam and acquired Murphy in one fell swoop by including two of those catchers in the deal. On the surface, it seems that the club was keen to swap out Contreras for Murphy as a way of improving behind the plate. However, since the A’s seem set to give Langeliers a shot, it’s possible they were less interested in Contreras, which necessitated Milwaukee’s involvement.
That’s not to say that Contreras isn’t an exciting young catcher in his own right. It’s just that, as mentioned, Murphy is one of the best in the game. Contreras will now join his older brother Willson Contreras, who recently signed with the Cardinals, in the NL Central. The younger Contreras has gotten into 153 games in his career so far, hitting 28 home runs and producing an overall batting line of .260/.338/.471 for a wRC+ of 121. His defensive work isn’t as highly rated as his bat, but he’s still quite young, turning 25 later this month. Even with subpar defense, he’s produced 2.5 fWAR in his brief career thus far, meaning any developments in that department would make him tremendously valuable. It had been recently reported that the Brewers were interested in catching upgrades, but since the club has been paring back a tight payroll, they never seemed like candidates for a big free agent splash. Instead, they’ve acquired a young backstop who has yet to reach arbitration eligibility and has five years of club control remaining. The club has also added a couple of depth arms in Payamps and Yeager.
For the A’s, it’s been reported that they have been prioritizing MLB-ready talent in their trade talks and they have achieved that here. Muller, 25, has appeared in each of the past two major league seasons, logging 49 innings so far. He has an unimpressive 5.14 ERA in that time, but he’s fared much better in the minors. He’s made 40 Triple-A starts in the past two years and has a 3.40 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. Baseball America recently ranked him the top prospect in Atlanta’s system.
Ruiz has spent most of his career in the Padres’ system but he went to the Brewers in the Josh Hader trade last year. He has some MLB experience, having played in 17 games this year between the two clubs. In 114 minor league games, he hit .332/.447/.526 while stealing 85 bases in 114 games. BA has not yet published their list of top Milwaukee prospects for this offseason, but Ben Badler of BA tweets that Ruiz was going to be in the #8 slot.
Tarnok also has very limited MLB experience, with 2/3 of an inning on the books so far. He threw 106 2/3 innings in the minors this year with a 4.05 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. He ranked #9 on the BA list of top Atlanta prospects. Piña is a 35-year-old veteran who is likely to serve as insurance in case Langeliers struggles or needs some veteran guidance. He signed a two-year, $8MM deal with Atlanta but required season-ending wrist surgery in May. He’ll earn $4.5MM in 2023 with a $4MM club option for 2024 with no buyout.
The one prospect who isn’t likely to help the big league club immediately is Salinas. He turns 22 in April and split the most recent season between Single-A and High-A. He posted a 3.55 ERA over 25 starts with a huge 37.6% strikeout rate but a 13.5% walk rate. Baseball America recently placed him #7 on their list of Atlanta prospects.
The Braves were facing a challenge in the NL East despite having won the division in five straight seasons. The Mets and Phillies have been been spending wildly to upgrade for the coming season. The Mets have added Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, José Quintana and David Robertson, in addition to re-signing Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz. The Phillies have signed Trea Turner, Taijuan Walker and Matt Strahm. The Braves were going to face a challenge in keeping up with that pace since they were nearing the luxury tax. As is his wont, Anthopoulos has turned to the trade market to make his upgrades. The club still has a question mark at shortstop, with Dansby Swanson having departed for free agency. They could always bring him back though they reportedly haven’t been talking much this offseason. After this trade, the club’s CBT figure is at $229MM, per Roster Resource, just shy of the $233MM luxury tax threshold for next year.
For the Brewers, they’ve parted with an outfield prospect they just acquired but have added an exciting young catcher, something they would be challenged to do in free agency with their payroll constraints. For the A’s, they have parted with yet another established major leaguer, adding to the list of quality players they’ve sent out the door. In exchange, they’ve brought in one veteran backstop and four young players that they hope can be a part of forming the next competitive core in Oakland.
Talkin’ Jake of Jomboy Media first reported that the Braves, Brewers and A’s were lining up on a deal, as well as the involvement of Contreras (Twitter links). Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported Murphy going to the Braves, as well as the involvement of Piña and the eventual final deal. Robert Murray of FanSided first mentioned Ruiz and Tarnok (Twitter links). Joel Sherman first mentioned Payamps and Yeager on Twitter. Kiley McDaniel first had Muller’s name on Twitter.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.