Red Sox Notes: Contreras, Casas, Rafaela
The Red Sox landed an impact bat in Willson Contreras on Sunday. The longtime catcher made the move to first base last season, and that’s expected to stick in Boston. “We see him primarily at first base, maybe some DH opportunities. But the more that we can get his bat in the lineup, the better off we’re going to be,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters, including Sean McAdam of MassLive.com.
Contreras bounced around a bit when he first came up with the Cubs, even logging innings at third base and the corner outfield spots, but spent the majority of his time behind the plate. He served as Chicago’s primary catcher from 2017 through 2021. Conteras split his time fairly equally between catcher and DH in 2022. He went to St. Louis in 2023 and continued to play both catcher and DH somewhat evenly. The Cardinals changed course this past season, slotting Contreras in as their primary first baseman. He also made the occasional start at DH.
Heading into 2025, Contreras only had 11 career appearances at first base. He made 119 starts at the position this past season. Contreras delivered fine to solid defensive results, depending on the metric. Outs Above Average looked favorably on Contreras, with a +4 grade. Defensive Runs Saved wasn’t as kind at -1. Given Contreras’ significant contributions as a hitter, Boston will likely be fine with close to average defensive numbers. The 33-year-old has posted a wRC+ of at least 124 in four straight seasons.
Boston has Carlos Narvaez and Connor Wong penciled in as its two backstops. Narvaez had just six games of big-league experience when he was dealt from the Yankees to the Red Sox last offseason. He emerged as a reliable offensive contributor, hitting 15 home runs and slashing .241/.306/.419 across 118 appearances. Wong fell off significantly after a strong 2024. He failed to get on track at the plate after missing most of April with a broken finger. Wong has shown enough in the past to be relied on as a backup heading into next season, and it seems he’ll maintain that role if Boston isn’t interested in playing Contreras at the position.
The Contreras addition immediately puts Triston Casas‘ role into question. For his part, Breslow expressed optimism about Casas’ outlook. “We still have a ton of confidence and belief in Triston. What he needs to do is commit to doing everything possible to get back on the field. He’s doing that right now,” Breslow said, relayed by Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Casas is currently recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon that cost him most of 2025. His status for the start of next season is uncertain.
Casas has frequently come up in trade rumors this offseason, even before Boston acquired Contreras. The fact that the team added a player at his position could increase the chances he’s on the move. The main inhibitor toward a potential deal is Casas’ recent performance, both in terms of production and health. He hit just .182 over 29 games before going down with the knee injury. Casas was better in 2024, but also spent three months on the injury list with a rib strain.
It’s not just Contreras pushing Casas, either. Boston has another DH option in Masataka Yoshida, who’s been squeezed out of the outfield mix by Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony, and Ceddanne Rafaela. Wilyer Abreu also performed well last year, mostly against right-handed pitching. Breslow didn’t sound overly concerned about the potential roster glut. “Those things tend to work out. (It’s an) opportunity to keep everybody fresh, to keep everybody involved and engaged at the same time.”
Sliding Rafaela to the infield could help alleviate some of the roadblocks for Casas and the young outfielders, but that isn’t the current intention of the club. “We’re a better team with Ceddanne in center field, and we’ll try to keep (him) there,” Breslow said, per Ari Alexander of 7News Boston WHDH. Rafaela earned a Gold Glove in center field this past season.
After splitting his time between shortstop and center field in 2024, Rafaela was primarily on the grass this past season. He made 19 starts at second base, but the rest of his appearances came in the outfield. Rafaela was one of the most impactful defenders at any position in 2025. He tied for second with Alejandro Kirk in Statcast’s Fielding Run Value metric. Patrick Bailey was the only player to be more productive as a defender.
Second base is an area of need for the Red Sox at the moment. If the season started today, Boston would likely be rolling with an uninspiring platoon of Romy Gonzalez and Nick Sogard at the position. Kristian Campbell could factor into that mix, though he’ll need to show more in the minors to earn another big-league opportunity.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
Latest On Edward Cabrera’s Market
A pair of potential suitors may have fallen out of the Edward Cabrera race. Houston and Baltimore are no longer trade candidates for the talented right-hander, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Jackson adds that Miami doesn’t want to sell short on Cabrera in a deal.
The Marlins’ starting rotation has been a frequent subject of trade rumblings throughout the offseason. Reports emerged in early December that the club was listening to offers on all of its starters, outside of Eury Perez. Sandy Alcantara has been the subject of frequent rumors the past few seasons, while Cabrera and Ryan Weathers have been floated as possible trade chips recently. It would take a massive offer to land Alcantara, notes Jackson.
The Orioles were specifically linked to Cabrera a few weeks back. The club has been connected to almost every high-end name in free agency and on the trade market, from Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez to Freddy Peralta and MacKenzie Gore. President of baseball operations Mike Elias was able to land a significant rotation upgrade last week, flipping several prospects and a draft pick for right-hander Shane Baz. Elias has said the organization will continue working to strengthen the rotation, though the recent trade might have ended their Cabrera pursuit, given the capital it took to pry Baz from Tampa Bay.
Baltimore and Miami joined forces on a deal at the 2024 trade deadline that worked out for both teams. The Marlins sent lefty Trevor Rogers to the Orioles for outfielder Kyle Stowers and infielder Connor Norby. Rogers broke out as Baltimore’s top starter this past season, while Stowers delivered an All-Star campaign with his new team.
Houston has been in the market for young, controllable starting pitching this offseason. The club’s rotation was destroyed by injuries in 2025, with Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski, and Brandon Walter all needing Tommy John surgery and Luis Garcia going down with another elbow injury. With Valdez hitting free agency, the Astros entered the offseason with Hunter Brown and a slew of unproven options to fill out the staff.
Just like the Orioles, the Astros made a notable move to address their pitching needs last week, acquiring Mike Burrows from the Pirates in a three-team trade headlined by Brandon Lowe. Similar to Baltimore, Houston spent significant prospect capital to land a young starter. Outfielder Jacob Melton and right-hander Anderson Brito went to the Rays in the deal. Melton was among the organization’s top prospects, while Brito was an up-and-coming name, albeit with minimal professional experience. Parting with both Melton and Brito to land Burrows likely affected Houston’s ability to put together a Cabrera package.
After periods of brilliance frequently cut short by injuries, Cabrera finally put together an extended stretch of strong results in 2025. The 27-year-old recorded a 3.53 ERA across a career-high 137 2/3 innings this past season. Cabrera maintained a solid 25.8% strikeout rate while pushing his walk rate into single digits for the first time.
Cabrera went down with an elbow sprain in early September, but returned in the final week of the season for a pair of outings. The brief comeback could’ve been an audition for trade suitors, showing interested teams that Cabrera was good to go for 2026. The righty is under team control through 2028. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Cabrera to earn $3.7MM in arbitration. An acquiring team would have him for three seasons at a reasonable cost.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Brayan Bello Receiving Trade Interest From Rival Teams
The Red Sox have gotten a lot of calls about right-hander Brayan Bello, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon. The source who shared this information with Rosenthal/Sammon pushed back, however, on the idea that the Sox had “quietly shopped” Bello themselves, as one rival executive framed the situation.
On paper, it would seem odd that the Red Sox are trying to move Bello when they’ve spent most of the offseason trying to reinforce their rotation. Bello is coming off a season that saw him post a 3.35 ERA over a career-best 166 2/3 innings, and the righty has tossed 486 games over 87 games (86 of them starts) for the Sox over the last three years.
Back in March 2024, the Red Sox showed their commitment to Bello by locking him up to a six-year, $55MM extension covering the 2024-29 seasons, and Boston holds a $21MM club option Bello for the 2030 season that includes a $1MM buyout. Bello doesn’t even return 27 until May, so between his age and the long-term contract, it would seem like the Red Sox have a homegrown arm locked into the rotation for at least the remainder of the decade.
As Rosenthal and Sammon point out, however, it makes some sense that the Red Sox might at least be testing the waters about what they could get for Bello, given the value of controllable starting pitching. Even if “control” in this sense reflects Bello’s extension rather than a player’s arbitration or pre-arb years, Bello’s remaining price tag of $50.5MM over the next four seasons seems like a fair price, and potentially even still a bargain.
While Bello has been solid over his four MLB seasons, it can be argued that the Red Sox were hoping for a bit more from a pitcher who posted much bigger strikeout numbers in the minors. In the Show, Bello has only a 19.8% strikeout rate over 543 1/3 career innings, and his 17.7K% this season was the lowest of his career. He has an unspectacular 8.3% career walk rate to go along with that lack of missed bats.
Bello has gotten good bottom-line results by limiting hard contact, and inducing a lot of grounders, with a 52.7% groundball rate for his career. His 95.2 mph fastball has solid velocity but Bello’s sinker is his primary pitch, even if the sinker’s effectiveness hasn’t tended to vary in consistency. Over his career, Bello’s 4.09 ERA isn’t much below his 4.26 SIERA, but that gap stretched much wider (3.35 to 4.55) in 2025.
The Red Sox entered the offseason with plenty of big league-ready or experienced arms in their organization, but there was a clear goal of raising the rotation’s ceiling with more established hurlers. To date, Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo have been brought in via trades with the Cardinals and Pirates, respectively, and now project to be part of Boston’s 2026 rotation. Richard Fitts and left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke were dealt to St. Louis for Gray, lower-level righty Jesus Travieso was moved to Pittsburgh as part of the Oviedo trade, plus Boston sent right-hander Hunter Dobbins and two more lower-level arms to the Cardinals in a separate trade for first baseman Willson Contreras.
Whether the Red Sox are actually trying to actively trade Bello or are just listening to offers out of due diligence remains unclear, as the Rosenthal/Sammon item implies. The truth may lie somewhere in between all of the common offseason hot stove terminology. Still, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has said his team is open to moving controllable pitching “in order to address other areas of the roster.”
Trading Bello would be a much different animal than moving a pitcher like Fitts or Dobbins or someone else not even guaranteed of a big league job in 2026, yet in a sense, a Bello deal would be an elevated version of the raise-the-ceiling strategy. If the front office has some misgivings over Bello’s ability to sustain his production, or he is no longer viewed as a pitcher who can reliably be counted on for a playoff rotation, the Red Sox could potentially look to deal Bello. Speculatively, he could be dealt for a more clear-cut frontline pitcher with fewer years of control, or perhaps moved to address a need in the lineup.
Within that same notes post, Rosenthal and Sammon also write that the Red Sox remain engaged with the Cardinals about Brendan Donovan. Boston is one of many teams linked to Donovan’s market, however, and the most recent reports suggested that the Mariners and Giants were the favorites to pry Donovan away from St. Louis. That said, Cards president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has shown plenty of willingness to swing trades with his former Boston team, and Bloom’s time running the Sox front office overlapped with a big chunk of Bello’s career. Speculatively, the length of Bello’s extension could make him a factor in a Cardinals rotation even after the team is through its rebuild period, even if the Cardinals are more likely to explore higher-end prospects in any Donovan trade package.
MLBTR Live Chat
Mark P
- A bonus post-holiday edition of the Weekend Chat, since things got postponed last weekend due to the big Willson Contreras trade. Let’s open up the queue….
Guest
- What is goinf on withe Luis Roberts rumors
Mark P
- It’s hard to say if much or anything has changed about Robert’s market since the summer, except for the fact that his 2026 salary is now guaranteed. My guess is that unless Chicago budges on its asking price, Robert will still be on the south side on Opening Day, as probably more teams view Robert as a Plan B rather than a top option
Mike Elias
- Any chance I’m still in on Kyle Tucker?
Mark P
- Probably not. If the O’s make another big strike, it would likely be for pitching.
Friend
- Do you see Arenado or Castellanos ending up with the Padres?
Mark P
- Arenado makes no sense given Machado’s presence at 3B. Castellanos is a slightly better fit since SD isn’t entirely settled at DH, but if the Padres want an outfield bat, they can do a lot better.
- I guess Preller and Dombrowski might be able to come up with some kind of interesting bad contract swap, but I don’t really see a fit here
Spider
- What ther hold up realmuto
Mark P
- It’s worth noting that the last time JTR was a free agent, he didn’t sign until the end of January. So he seems to be content in taking his time and monitoring the market, since one catching injury or another unexpected development could quickly bring another team into the fold.
Philly has an offer on the table to Realmuto, so it seems like he’s evaluating things to see if any team is willing to match or top it. Chances are Realmuto’s camp will then give the Phillies another chance to up their offer, and overall I expect Realmuto to re-sign
The big Yo
- Are the Vegas A’s going to win it all in ‘28 and is all star week going to be held in Vegas that same year?
Mark P
- I’d expect MLB isn’t going to schedule the All-Star Game for Vegas until the stadium is fully up and running. Seems like 2028 will be in an AL ballpark just because the 2025-27 games are all in NL parks, and Toronto is apparently lobbying hard to host another ASG soon
Giants Sign Nick Margevicius To Minor League Deal
The Giants have signed left-hander Nick Margevicius to a minor league contract, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Margevicius will receive a $825K salary if he reaches the majors, MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams reports. Margevicius will receive an invitation to San Francisco’s big league Spring Training camp.
It has been over four years since Margevicius’ last MLB game, as the southpaw made five appearances for the 2021 Mariners before his season was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome. Margevicius spent the 2022-23 seasons in the minors pitching in the Seattle and Atlanta farm systems, then spent 2024 abroad pitching for the TSG Hawks of the Chinese Professional Baseball. Returning to North America last year, Margevicius began the 2025 campaign in the Mexican League before catching on with the Tigers on a minors contract.
This return to Triple-A ball went pretty well, as Margevicius posted a 3.89 ERA, 22% strikeout rate, and 5.7% walk rate over 74 innings (starting 14 of 17 games) with Triple-A Toledo. It was a big step up from the ugly numbers the left-hander posted in his last Triple-A stint in 2022-23, and to some extent a continuation of the strong work Margevicius delivered with the Hawks and in Mexico. While still not a hard thrower, Margevicius upped his fastball velocity a tick to 91.9mph, and he has incorporated a cutter into his repertoire.
Margevicius’ work didn’t earn him a look on Detroit’s MLB roster, but the Giants were apparently intrigued enough to issue the the southpaw a non-roster invite. Margevicius could be a spot starter or perhaps just a pure Triple-A depth option, or the Giants could conceivably use him as more of a long reliever if his contract gets selected. San Francisco’s fifth starter competiton features a host of younger arms without much big league experience, though Margevicius’ 32 games with the Padres and Mariners from 2019-21 doesn’t really give him much of an edge in this department given how it was so relatively long ago.
Phillies Sign Mark Kolozsvary To Minor League Deal
The Phillies have signed catcher Mark Kolozsvary to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports. The deal contains an invitation for Kolozsvary to attend Philadelphia’s big league spring camp.
Kolozsvary has played in only 11 Major League games, and none since the 2023 season. Rafael Marchan and Garrett Stubbs are the only other catchers in the Phillies organization with any big league playing time at all, so the 30-year-old Kolozsvary adds some experience to the depth chart. J.T. Realmuto‘s continued stay in free agency remains the biggest question hanging over the Phillies’ catching situation, but given how Marchan and Stubbs also haven’t shown much at the MLB level, adding another catcher to the Spring Training backup competition was likely on the Phils’ to-do list with or without Realmuto back in the fold.
A seventh-round pick for the Reds in the 2017 draft, Kolozsvary’s time with his original team culminated in 10 MLB games and 21 plate appearances during the 2022 season. The Orioles claimed Kolozsvary off waivers from Cincinnati following the 2022 campaign, and Kolozsvary ended up making a single appearance as a late-game defensive sub during a brief stay on Baltimore’s active roster in June 2023. The O’s designated him for assignment shortly thereafter and Kolozsvary caught on with the Twins on a minor league deal, and he then spent the 2024-25 seasons playing in the Red Sox farm system.
Kolozsvary has a reputation as a very solid defensive catcher, which has helped him extend his career despite a modest .194/.309/.338 slash line over 407 plate appearances at the Triple-A level (let alone his .200/.238/.450 slash in the small sample size of his 21 PA with the Reds).
Kolozsvary has two minor league options remaining, which is a notable detail because both Marchan and Stubbs are out of options. While the Phillies avoided arbitration with Marchan and Stubbs by signing them to guaranteed salaries for the 2026 season, neither contract is expensive, and Stubbs’ deal is a split contract. This opens the door for Kolozsvary to possibly supplant Stubbs as the top depth catcher, though the Phillies’ catching mix remains fluid as long as Realmuto remains unsigned.
Diamondbacks Sign Luken Baker To Minor League Contract
The Diamondbacks have signed first baseman Luken Baker to a minors deal, Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton reports. Baker qualified for minor league free agency at the end of the season, and he chose to test the open market rather than stick in the Dodgers’ organization.
A second-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2018 draft, Baker spent most of his career in the St. Louis organization before he was claimed off the waiver wire by the Dodgers in early August. Baker never saw any MLB playing time in Los Angeles, so his big league resume remains his 73 games played with the Cardinals over the 2023-25 seasons, with a .206/.317/.338 slash line and four home runs to show for 189 plate appearances.
This lack of production didn’t exactly merit more playing time, yet Baker was also blocked to some extent by the presence of Paul Goldschmidt, Willson Contreras, Alec Burleson, and others at first base. Baker is limited by his lack of defensive versatility, as he has played only first base and DH during his pro career. This made him an expendable piece even on a Cardinals team that is turning into a rebuild, as Baker is entering his age-29 season.
Baker got his first call-up to the majors on the strength of a huge season with Triple-A Memphis in 2023, when he hit .334/.439/.720 with 33 home runs over 380 PA. He followed that year up with a 32-homer campaign and a lesser (.231/.345/.535) slash line in Memphis in 2024, but his numbers continued to tail off, as Baker hit only .223/.335/.441 with 18 homers over 409 combined PA with the Cardinals’ and Dodgers’ top affiliates in 2025. While Baker’s numbers improved greatly after his move from Memphis to Oklahoma City, this may have had less to do with a change of scenery and more to do with the move to the pitcher-friendly Pacific Coast League.
The Diamondbacks’ Triple-A Reno club is also in the PCL, so it wouldn’t be a shock if Baker posts some numbers in 2026 that look pretty gaudy on paper. There’s no risk for the Snakes in seeing what Baker can do in at least a depth capacity, and if he can turn his raw power into any sort of consistent production at the big league level. In terms of the MLB roster, the right-handed hitting Baker could be a fit in a platoon situation with the lefty-swinging Pavin Smith at first base and DH, and the D’Backs may be hoping that Baker can follow Smith’s example as a late bloomer who didn’t start to break out in the majors until his late 20s.
Signing Baker to a non-guaranteed deal shouldn’t prevent the D’Backs from exploring more prominent right-handed bats for this role, such as former Arizona star Paul Goldschmidt. The Diamondbacks’ infield situation in general remains in something of a state of flux, as rumors continue to swirl that Ketel Marte could be traded, and that the D’Backs could be a dark horse suitor for Alex Bregman. Such moves wouldn’t necessarily impact the first base role, unless another first base candidate or right-handed bat was potentially brought on board as part of a Marte trade package.
NPB’s Hanshin Tigers Sign Carson Ragsdale
The Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball announced that right-hander Carson Ragsdale has signed a one-year contract. Ragsdale hit the open market after being non-tendered by the Braves last month.
The move to Japan concludes a whirlwind five-month stretch for Ragsdale that saw the 27-year-old change teams four times on the waiver wire, and make his Major League debut. His breakthrough in the Show consisted of two appearances with the Orioles in September, with very different outcomes — Ragsdale was torched for eight earned runs over three innings in Baltimore’s 11-2 loss to the Blue Jays on September 14, but he rebounded for two scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 6-1 loss to the Yankees on September 27. As a result, Ragsdale’s career line as a big leaguer is a 14.40 ERA over five innings of work.
These two games represent two separate stints for Ragsdale in an Orioles uniform. Claimed off waivers from the Giants in early August, Ragsdale was designated for assignment by the O’s after his rough MLB debut, and then claimed by the Braves. He lasted just over a week in Atlanta’s organization since the Braves DFA’d Ragsdale in order to clear roster space for Charlie Morton, and Ragsdale was claimed again by the Orioles, paving the way for his second outing on a big league mound. The yo-yo continued for Ragsdale when he was designated at the start of November, and then claimed once more by the Braves.
Signing a guaranteed deal with the Tigers represents some stability for Ragsdale in the wake of this transactional flurry, and a chance to showcase that he can do as a starting pitcher. Ragsdale has a 5.15 ERA, 21.24% strikeout rate, and 11.73% walk rate over 143 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level, with most of that time spent in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League pitching with San Francisco’s top affiliate. The 2025 season saw Ragsdale post only a 19.5% strikeout rate, after he easily cleared the 30% threshold earlier in his career while pitching in the lower minors.
Eighty of Ragsdale’s 89 career games in the minors came as a starting pitcher, and it can be assumed that the Tigers will give Ragsdale a look in their rotation. The righty will try to become the latest hurler to re-invent himself with a move to Japan, and performing well in more of a generally pitcher-friendly environment could help boost Ragsdale’s stock for a possible return to North American baseball down the road.
The Opener: Soderstrom, Imai Countdown, Upcoming Moves
Now that Santa has put away the sleigh for another year, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on today…
1. The Athletics lock up Soderstrom
In a rare bit of major news breaking on Christmas Day, the A’s have agreed to a seven-year, $86MM extension with left fielder Tyler Soderstrom. Between his increasingly strong numbers at the plate and the successful transition to left field, Soderstrom cemented his place as a building block for an Athletics team as they approach their next era in Las Vegas. The Soderstrom extension highlights a busy week for the A’s that has also included the Jeff McNeil trade and the Mark Leiter Jr. signed. The next step might be adding starting pitching, as the A’s have yet to do much to address a rotation that was a weak link in 2025.
2. Imai’s posting deadline approaches
January 2 at 4pm CT marks the end of the 45-day posting window for Tatsuya Imai, as the right-hander will be spending the 2026 season with the Seibu Lions if he can’t finalize a deal with a Major League team within the next week. Such teams as the Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, Orioles, Giants, and Mets have been linked to Imai’s market, though in the case of the latter two clubs in particular, it remains to be seen if the Giants or Mets are willing to make a long-term commitment to any starting pitcher. MLB Trade Rumors projected a six-year, $150MM for Imai as he makes the jump from Japan to North American baseball, and given the number of larger-market teams reportedly interested, it would seem like Imai should be able to land a substantial payday. The Jan. 2 deadline creates a bit of urgency for Imai’s suitors, and his situation might be resolved before other free agent starters (i.e. Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Zac Gallen) come off the board.
3. A busy end to 2025?
The final week of the year tends to be relatively quiet in terms of transactions, as many front office executives take the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day as something of an unofficial break. Of course, as we just saw with Soderstrom’s deal, the hot stove can suddenly heat up at any given time, so you never know when a big extension, trade, or signing might be just around the corner. A big free agent who spent the holidays weighing offers, for instance, might be ready to make a decision now that Christmas is over. Besides Imai’s posting period, Kazuma Okamoto‘s posting deadline is also coming up on January 4, so that’s another Japanese star whose arrival in MLB could be determined in short order.
T.R. Sullivan: A Retrospective On The Frank Robinson-Milt Pappas Trade
T.R. Sullivan was a legend on the Rangers beat. He retired in December 2020 after 32 years writing for the Denison Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and MLB.com. T.R. is also a friend to MLBTR, and recently he kindly offered up a retrospective on the Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas trade. “I just felt like writing it,” T.R. explained. We’re proud to publish it!
Of all the thousands of baseball trades made down through the decades, only one was brought up by Annie Savoy in her opening soliloquy for the movie Bull Durham.
“But bad trades are part of baseball – now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God’s sake?” Savoy said in discussing the off-the-field attributes of various Minor League players.
Such titillating comparisons aside, it is now 60 years since the Cincinnati Reds traded Robinson to the Orioles not only for Pappas but also reliever Jack Baldschun and young outfielder Dick Simpson.
It is one of the most significant and possibly lopsided trades in baseball history. Robinson, now in the Hall of Fame, was one of the best players in the National League, right up there with Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente.
When he went to Baltimore, he turned the Orioles from a contender into a dynasty by leading them to four pennants and two World Series titles in a six-year span. His 1966 season was the best year of his career as he won the Triple Crown by hitting .316 with 49 home runs and 122 RBI. Not only was he American League MVP but World Series MVP with two home runs in the Orioles four-game sweep of the Dodgers.
So, what were the Reds thinking in making such a foolish trade? Were they that stupid? Was it really because Robinson was going to be an “old 30” as Reds general manager Bill DeWitt suggested after the trade.
The Reds couldn’t have been too stupid. Earlier that year, in the first ever June amateur draft, they selected high school catcher Johnny Bench in the second round. They took Bernie Carbo in the first round and Hal McRae in the sixth round. The 1965 Reds already had two other future Hall of Famers in Pete Rose and Tony Perez in place.
It came down to one thing for a team that had finished 89-73 in 1965 and eight games out of first place.
“The name of the game is pitching,” DeWitt said in announcing the trade. “The lack of it, especially in the bullpen, beat us last season.”
Pitching was the name of the game for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965. They won the World Series with a rotation led by Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen and Johnny Podres, plus relievers Ron Perranoski and Bob Miller.
The Dodgers had the best pitching across the board with a team ERA of 2.81 and WHIP of 1.117. The Reds had the second highest ERA (3.88) and WHIP (1.333) in the National League.
That’s where you start when you sit back on the 60th anniversary of one of baseball’s most famous trades and try to figure out how it went down.
Offensively, the Reds led the N.L. by scoring 5.09 runs per game. The Braves were second at 4.37. Robinson, who hit .296 with 33 home runs and 113 RBI, was just part of the Reds offensive arsenal.
Rose had a breakout season as the Reds 24-year-old second baseman, hitting .312 with 117 runs scored, 35 doubles, 11 triples and 11 home runs. He batted second most of the year behind outfielder Tommy Harper, who hit .257/.340/.393 while stealing 35 bases and leading the league with 126 runs scored.
Vada Pinson batted third, the center fielder who played 18 years in the big leagues and put up near-Hall of Fame career numbers. He hit .305/.352/.484 with 22 home runs and 94 RBI in 1965. He was also 27 at the time of the trade and perceived to be at the top of his game.
The big bat to replace Robinson in the middle of the lineup was third baseman Deron Johnson, a former failed Yankees and Athletics prospect. The Reds had bought him from Kansas City in April of 1963, and he spent that entire season at Triple A San Diego. He joined the Reds lineup in 1964 and had a career year in ’65, hitting .287/.340/.515 with 32 home runs and a league-leading 130 RBI.
In 1966, the Reds moved Johnson to left to join Pinson and Harper in the outfield. Tommy Helms took over at third base and was Rookie of the Year. Perez platooned with veteran Gordy Coleman at first.
Three-time All-Star catcher Johnny Edwards (two Gold Gloves) and shortstop Leo Cardenas, a five-time All-Star who had won a Gold Glove in ’65, also helped make it a formidable lineup. Behind all of this were two excellent hitting prospects in Lee May and Art Shamsky, and a highly regarded infielder in Chico Ruiz.
When you look at all that, the Reds had reason to believe they would be fine offensively without Robinson in their lineup. They wanted arms. They had two of them.
Jim Maloney and Sammy Ellis were top of the rotation starters. At least they presented that perception and with Maloney, there was no doubt. He was 25 years old and was 20-9 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 1965. He struck out 244 in 255 1/3 innings with a fastball in the upper 90’s and a good curve.
On June 14, he struck out 18 and walked one in a 1-0 loss to the Mets in 11 innings. The Mets didn’t get a hit until the 11th. On Aug 19, he pitched a 10-inning no-hitter with a 1-0 victory over the Cubs. He walked 10 and struck out 12.
Ellis wasn’t in Maloney’s class. He was a 22-game winner in 1965 but with a 3.79 ERA. He gave up 111 earned runs, the most in the league and his ERA-plus was 99, slightly below average. That he benefitted from offensive support is obvious. But in 1965, if you won 22 games, you were considered an elite pitcher.
The Reds next two starters had once been elite pitchers until falling off in 1965. Left-hander Jim O’Toole had won 81 games from 1960-64, including 19 in 1961 when the Reds won the pennant. Joey Jay won 21 that season and 21 in ’62. But in 1965, O’Toole was 3-10 with a 5.92 ERA while Jay was 9-8 with a 4.22 ERA. Fifth starter Joh Tsitouris was 9-8 with a 4.95 ERA.
The Reds figured either O’Toole or Jay could bounce back in ’66. They still wanted one more prime starter in the era of four-man rotations.
Trading a hitter for a pitcher worked for the Dodgers the previous winter when a seven-player deal with the Senators sent power-hitting outfielder Frank Howard to Washington for left-hander Claude Osteen. That gave the Dodgers a reliable third starter and Osteen won 15 games. He also threw a five-hit shutout in Game 3 of the World Series after the Dodgers had lost the first two games in Minnesota.
“I’d still have say the Reds had the strongest starting lineup in our league last season,” Giants manager Herman Franks told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Outside of pitching, the Dodgers didn’t compare with the Reds position for position.”
Pappas had been a solid starter for the Orioles for eight years. He was 18 when he broke into the Orioles rotation in 1958 and had averaged 13.8 wins over seven seasons with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. He was good for 200 innings a year but hardly overpowering. He averaged 5.2 strikeouts and 2.9 walks per nine innings.
The Orioles were willing to do the deal because they were loaded with young pitchers, many like Dave McNally, Wally Bunker, Jim Palmer, Dave Leonhard, Eddie Watt and Tom Phoebus who would become part of the budding dynasty in Baltimore.
Obviously, Pappas for Robinson was not a fair trade. But Annie Savoy forgot to mention the Reds also got reliever Jack Baldschun and outfielder Dick Simpson.
Point of interest: The Orioles had just acquired Baldschun and Simpson in separate trades earlier that month from the Phillies and Angels. Orioles general manager Harry Dalton later insisted those deals were not made so the two players could be included in a deal for Robinson.
The Reds had every reason to believe Baldschun, 29, would be a big help to their bullpen. He had spent five seasons in the Phillies bullpen, averaging 66 appearances and 108 innings per season. His ERA in that stretch was 3.18 with a 1.34 WHIP. A reliever of that quality was a valuable commodity. The trade was intended to reinforce both the Reds rotation and the bullpen.
Simpson, 22, was no throw-in. He spent 1965 at Triple A Seattle in the Angels organization and hit .301/380/.523 with 24 home runs and 29 stolen bases. Speed and power in a guy just 22 years old was not a bad addition to the trade. That he struck out 148 times might have been a red flag, but he was No. 3 in the deal. DeWitt compared him to Tommy Harper.
So, there you have it. For Frank Robinson, the Reds picked up a No. 3 starter behind Maloney and Ellis, proven relief help and an outfield prospect.
So what did everybody say to their local reporters.
“I am thrilled with the deal,” Dalton said in the Baltimore Sun. “Because it gives us the power hitter we have sought for so long.”
“We hated to give up Robby,” DeWitt said in the Cincinnati Post. “But you’ve got to give up something to get something good and we would rather sacrifice an older player than a younger player. A top-flight starter and a top-flight reliever was just too attractive a package to turn down.”
The trade turned out to be a disaster for the Reds. They went from winning 89 games in 1965 to 76-84 in ’66. Manager Don Heffner was fired after 83 games.
So what went wrong?
Pappas was not a top-of-the-rotation starter. He had a nice career, winning 209 games, but No. 2 or 3 at best. In 1966, he was barely that, going 12-11 with a 4.29 ERA in 209 innings. He won 16 in 1967, then was traded to the Braves in 1968. He was traded to the Cubs in 1970 where manager Leo Durocher founded him to be a “clubhouse lawyer” and disruptive personality.
Baldschun? The Reds discovered what everybody should understand in baseball. Relievers are a risk because of their heavy workloads and erratic usage over multiple seasons. Baldschun went 1-5 with a 5.49 ERA, either because of a tired arm or hitters were no longer fooled by his screwball. But he was done as an effective reliever.
Simpson was no Frank Robinson or Tommy Harper. He was a classic “4A player” who could run but couldn’t hit at the big-league level. His less than memorable seven-year career covered six organizations and ended with a .207 batting average.
The Reds offense suffered without Robinson, scoring 133 less runs. Their pitching wasn’t any better as the team ERA went up from 3.88 to 4.08. Ellis was 12-19 with a 5.29 ERA, a bigger disappointment than Pappas or even Baldschun.
But again, the Reds weren’t dumb. They were just a few years away from the greatest era in franchise history when the Big Red Machine won four pennants and two World Series from 1970-76. Over a 21-year period from 1961-81, the Reds had 19 winning seasons.
It just comes down to what Annie Savoy said. Bad trades are a part of baseball.