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Athletics Acquire Mike Minor

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2:26pm: Both teams have announced the trade. Texas will also land $133K in international slot compensation in the deal, and it will pay half of Minor’s remaining salary, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets.

1:05pm: Texas will receive outfielder Marcus Smith and third baseman Dustin Harris, Levi Weaver of The Athletic reports. Both players were 2019 draft picks for the Athletics, who took Smith in the third round and Harris in the 11th. MLB.com ranked Smith as the A’s 22nd-best prospect before the trade.

11:32am: The Athletics have acquired left-hander Mike Minor from the division-rival Rangers for two players to be named later, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. The two players are prospects, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

The 32-year-old Minor is only a season removed from serving as one of the American League’s most effective starters (he finished eighth in Cy Young voting), but 2020 hasn’t worked out according to plan. Minor has made seven starts this year and managed a dismal 5.60 ERA/4.83 FIP with 8.92 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 through 35 1/3 innings, all while experiencing a 2 mph drop in average fastball velocity compared to last season. His disappointing production is among the reasons the Rangers are just 12-21 and among the few teams in baseball that look to be completely out of the playoff race.

Now, considering the Rangers’ status as non-contenders, Minor’s prorated $9.83MM salary and his pending free agency, the team’s moving on from him. He wouldn’t have been in line for a qualifying offer because of this year’s poor output, so Texas took what it deemed as the best offer for Minor. We may not know the identities of the players the Rangers are getting for Minor for a while, as only those in teams’ 60-man pools are eligible to be dealt right now.

Meanwhile, the Athletics – owners of the AL’s second-best record (22-12) – are no doubt hoping Minor will return to his previous form in their uniform. He encouraged in his final Rangers start Friday with six shutout innings against the high-powered Dodgers, and will now join an A’s staff that has produced middle-of-the-road results thus far. Jesus Luzardo and Chris Bassitt have logged sub-4.00 ERAs this year; Sean Manaea has registered far better peripherals than run prevention numbers; and Frankie Montas, Mike Fiers and Daniel Mengden have struggled across a combined 15 starts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Indians Designate Domingo Santana

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The Indians announced that they’ve designated outfielder Domingo Santana for assignment. The move makes room for newly acquired outfielder Josh Naylor, catcher Austin Hedges and right-hander Cal Quantrill, whom the Indians got from the Padres on Monday.

The 28-year-old Santana joined the Indians last winter for $1.5MM off back-to-back lackluster seasons with the Brewers and Mariners, but his attempt at a rebound hasn’t worked in 2020. Before the Indians booted him from their roster, Santana batted .157/.298/.286 with a pair of home runs in 84 plate appearances. His contract includes a $5MM option for 2021, but considering his production so far, the Indians surely would’ve bought him out for $250K had they kept him in the fold.

Latest On Christian Vazquez

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1:47pm: The Mets-Vazquez talk “is overblown,” Rosenthal hears.

12:19pm: The Mets are showing interest in Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez, per reports from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com) and Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

While the Mets have gotten off to a subpar 15-19 start, they’re nonetheless in the playoff race in a wide-open National League. And catcher is one of the areas they’re looking to upgrade, as Heyman reports that they’re hoping to at least add depth behind the plate. The club was previously in on Jason Castro before the Padres acquired him from the Angels on Sunday, according to Heyman.

Mets catchers have collectively logged middling offensive numbers this year, largely because starter Wilson Ramos is amid one of the worst offensive years of his career. On the other hand, the normally light-hitting Tomas Nido has posted impressive production, though his success has come over a paltry 26 trips to the plate.

With Ramos likely to become a free agent after the season (New York has a $10MM option or a $1.5MM buyout decision), the Mets could be in the market for a new No. 1 backstop during the winter. In acquiring Vazquez, though, they’d seemingly remove the need to pursue catchers in  the offseason. Vazquez, after all, is controllable next season for $6MM and has a $7MM option (or a $250K buyout) for 2022. As such, there may not be any urgency for Boston to move Vazquez, but the out-of-contention club is at least open to it.

Vazquez, who turned 30 on Aug. 21, hasn’t hit much since his career began in 2014. He seemed to turn a corner in that regard last year with a .276/.320/.477 line and 23 home runs in 521 plate appearances, but he has slumped to a .252/.286/.411 mark with four homers in 112 PA this season. At the very least, though, Vazquez is an accomplished defender – one who has thrown out a whopping 40 percent of would-be base thieves this season and during his career.

Blue Jays To Acquire Robbie Ray

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The Blue Jays have acquired lefty Robbie Ray from the Diamondbacks, tweets Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun.  The D’Backs will receive southpaw Travis Bergen in return, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca.  Arizona will also be sending over $300K in cash, according to Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic.  Ray has approximately $1.42MM left on his contract this year.

Ray, 29 in October, has pitched the vast majority of his career for Arizona after they acquired him in a December 2014 three-team trade.  He’s long been one of the game’s top strikeout pitchers, with an 11.9 K/9 mark that ranks third in MLB for qualified starters from 2016-19.  Never known for his control, walks have become problematic at times for Ray.  The issue has been particularly bad in this brief 2020 season, as Ray has issued free passes to more than a fifth of the batters he’s faced, easily the highest rate in MLB this year.  The result has been an unsightly 7.84 ERA, through seven starts, well out of line with his career work.  Ray will be eligible for free agency after the season, and in light of his performance this year, it’s unlikely the Diamondbacks would have been willing to issue a qualifying offer.

At present, the 18-14 Blue Jays are in line to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2016.  Ray marks the second addition to Toronto’s rotation in five days, as Executive Vice President, Baseball Operations & General Manager Ross Atkins added Taijuan Walker from the Mariners last Thursday.  Atkins has assembled a veteran group, which also includes offseason pickups Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark, and Chase Anderson.  Matt Shoemaker went down last week due to a lat strain, while uber-prospect Nate Pearson went on the shelf on August 19th for a flexor strain.  That pair hopes to return this year, while Trent Thornton is out for the season with an elbow injury.  The club will hope pitching coach Pete Walker can diagnose Rays’ control issues and help him bounce back over the season’s final month.

Today will mark the third time in Ray’s career he’s received that life-changing phone call from his GM informing him of a trade.  After being drafted by the Nationals in the 12th round in 2010, Ray was the centerpiece of the deal that sent Doug Fister from the Tigers to the Nats in 2013.  Just a year later, Ray landed with the Diamondbacks in a deal that sent Didi Gregorius to the Yankees and Shane Greene to the Tigers.  Ray blossomed into a fine pitcher for the D’Backs, putting together four separate seasons of at least 2.3 WAR and snagging an All-Star nod and seventh-place Cy Young finish in 2017.  By the 2018-19 offseason, Ray was a regular on the rumor circuit, but Executive Vice President & General Manager Mike Hazen didn’t pull the trigger until today, with most of the lefty’s trade value lost.

Bergen, 27 in October, was drafted by the Jays in the seventh round in 2015 out of Kennesaw State and has been used mostly in relief in his pro career.  Though the Giants picked up Bergen in the 2018 Rule 5 draft, they wound up designating him for assignment and returning him in August of last year after he returned from an IL stint for a shoulder injury.  His fastball ticked up to 93.7 mph this year for the Jays, more than three miles per hour than he showed in his rookie campaign.  But with all due respect to Bergen, it would appear this trade was mainly about salary relief from Arizona’s standpoint.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Braves Have Shown Interest In Kyle Seager

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The Braves have “explored” a trade for Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager, but the two teams aren’t progressing toward a deal at this point, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com.

As a 32-year-old who’s on a prorated $19MM salary this season and is due another $18MM in 2021, Seager comes off as a logical trade candidate for a retooling Mariners team. But both the value of his contract and a $15MM club option for 2022 complicate matters. If Seager’s traded, he’ll be able to make a decision on whether to exercise that option, and it seems quite likely he’d so then.

To Seager’s credit, he has long been a quality starter at the hot corner for the Mariners. His production fell flat in 2018, but he rebounded last season and has continued to perform well this year. So far, Seager has accrued 147 plate appearances and batted .272/.347/.472 with five home runs and almost as many walks (15) as strikeouts (19).

The production Seager has posted this year and throughout his career would perhaps be welcome in Atlanta, whose third basemen, Austin Riley and Johan Camargo, have recorded below-average numbers in 2020. But Riley has been hot of late, and that could make acquiring another third baseman – especially an expensive one – less of a priority for the NL East-leading Braves.

Tigers Claim Dereck Rodriguez

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The Tigers announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Dereck Rodriguez from the Giants, who’d designated him for assignment over the weekend. He’s been optioned to the team’s alternate training site.

Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, will get a new opportunity with an organization for which his father starred from 2004-08. The right-hander went from minor league signee to breakout rotation member with San Francisco in 2018 when he turned in 118 1/3 frames of 2.81 ERA ball, but he’s gone considerably backwards since that excellent rookie effort. Dating back to the 2019 season, Rodriguez has pitched to an ugly 5.94 ERA with 23 home runs and 39 walks in 103 innings pitched.

Marlins Have Shown Interest In Archie Bradley, Starling Marte

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1:21pm: The Marlins are also interested in Arizona center fielder Starling Marte, tweets Heyman. Like Bradley, he’s controlled through 2021 and would give the Fish an upgrade this year and next. Numerous clubs figure to have interest in Marte, should the D-backs ultimately move him, although as Heyman rightly notes, Miami has plenty of young pitching to offer. And it’s worth noting, at least tangentially, that the two sides lined up on last year’s Zac Gallen-for-Jazz Chisholm swap.

9:50am: The Marlins are reportedly getting calls asking about their own closer, but they’re more focused on adding to the ’pen than subtracting and have reached out to the D-backs on closer Archie Bradley, tweets MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. The Diamondbacks have fallen into a miserable slump and, at 14-21, could very well sell off some shorter-term pieces in advance of today’s 3pm CT trade deadline. They’re said to be open to offers for Bradley.

Bradley, 28, is in his second season as Arizona’s primary closing option and has been a quality member of the ’pen for the past four years now. The former No. 7 overall pick was long one of the game’s most highly regarded pitching prospects, but he struggled in 34 big league starts before finding a home in the D-backs’ relief corp. Dating back to 2017, Bradley has pitched to a strong 2.98 ERA and 3.17 FIP with averages of 10.1 strikeouts, 3.2 walks and 0.7 homers per nine innings (despite pitching in a hitter-friendly home park).

Controlled through the 2021 season, Bradley agreed to a $4.1MM salary in arbitration this past winter. That’s been prorated to about $1.48MM in this year’s shortened schedule, and roughly $617K of that sum remains to be paid out. He’ll be eligible for arbitration once more this winter.

Frisaro notes that the Fish have expressed interest in “many” relievers around the league as they look to take advantage of a surprising start to the season and the emergence of some well-regarded youngsters who have helped thrust them into contention in a lackluster NL East division. Miami is just 14-15 on the season, but that’s good for a second-place tie in the East. And with the National League as a whole playing at pretty substandard levels — only four of the 15 teams have a winning record — there’s ample opportunity for some surprise clubs to find themselves in this year’s expanded playoff field.

Edwin Diaz Drawing Trade Interest

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As clubs throughout the league look to bolster their bullpens, the Mets have received calls on right-hander Edwin Diaz’s availability, tweets SNY’s Andy Martino. However, the Mets have continually rebuffed offers to this point. ESPN’s Jeff Passan further reports that Diaz could be had, but teams have been making weak offers in an attempt to buy low. Both Martino and Passan indicate that the Mets are loath to sell low on an arm of Diaz’s caliber — particularly given the extraordinary price they paid to acquire him from the Mariners.

The 26-year-old Diaz is sitting on an impressive 2.77 ERA through 13 innings and has struck out a ridiculous 28 of the 60 batters he’s faced in 2020. However, Diaz has also walked eight batters, hit another and served up a pair of homers in that small sample of work. Add in last year’s ghastly season — 5.59 ERA in 58 frames — and it’s not surprising to see clubs hoping to get a deal on the flamethrowing righty.

In Diaz’s three full seasons with the Mariners, he pitched to a collective 2.64 ERA with a 2.56 FIP, 14.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 0.94 HR/9. Along the way, he racked up 109 saves and gave the M’s 191 innings out of the ’pen. While he’s still missing bats at an elite rate — his 16.1 K/9 as a Met is actually an improvement over his Mariners rate — Diaz has seen his walk rate increase and his HR/9 mark soar to 2.15. He’s blown 10 saves in 71 innings as a Met after blowing just 12 in 191 frames with Seattle.

Even with Diaz’s questionable control thus far in 2020, though, the early results do have the makings of a bounceback effort. His 98.3 mph average fastball is stronger than ever, and Diaz’s 21.5 percent swinging-strike rate is not only a personal best but would be the third-best mark of any reliever in a single season over the past decade. With that context, just as it’s easy to see why clubs would try to low-ball the Mets, it’s easy to see why the Mets don’t feel inclined to take a mediocre return.

Diaz’s 2020 salary clocks in at $5.1MM — prorated to $1.84MM — and he’s still controlled for another two seasons beyond the current campaign. His outrageous strikeout totals will only further drive up his arbitration price, as will any saves he accrues, although he’s only picked up two of those so far in the current season.

Rangers, Red Sox Have Discussed Rougned Odor-Nathan Eovaldi Trade

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The Rangers and Red Sox have discussed a trade that would send second baseman Rougned Odor to Boston for right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. It’s unclear whether the trade would include Texas taking on extra money or if prospects would be in the deal, according to Grant.

Odor, who’s making a prorated $9MM in 2020, is in the fourth season of a six-year, $49.5MM contract that includes a remaining $27MM. The deal also features a $13.5MM club option for 2023, but the way Odor’s career has gone, his employer’s sure to buy him out for $3MM. When Odor signed his pact in 2017, he was coming off back-to-back 2.5-fWAR seasons, but he has seldom revisited that form since then. In fact, going back to the first season of the contract, Odor has slashed a less-than-stellar .216/.281/.412 with 81 home runs, 38 stolen bases and 0.6 fWAR across 1,853 plate appearances. His 17 wRC+ this season over 86 trips to the plate ranks next to last among 224 hitters who have amassed 80-plus PA.

Eovaldi, whom the Red Sox acquired from the Rays in 2018, was one of their many standouts during their run to a World Series that year. He was on the cusp of free agency at the time, but his down-the-stretch success convinced Boston to hand him a four-year, $68MM contract during the ensuing offseason. Unfortunately for both sides, though, the move hasn’t gone well. Eovaldi, 30, missed a large portion of last season with injuries and, despite 97 mph velocity and 8.65 K/9 against 1.57 BB/9, hasn’t done well to keep runs off the board this year. Overall, he has pitched to a woeful 5.65 ERA/5.45 FIP in 102 innings since landing his big payday. He’ll be due another $34MM after this season, and his annual $17MM luxury tax bill is another negative for a Red Sox team trying to avoid the line, as Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe notes. Odor’s CBT bill comes in at a much more palatable $8.25MM.

Should this change-of-scenery swap go down, the Red Sox would be landing a potential second base starter who’s still just 26. The injury-plagued Dustin Pedroia has barely been a factor since 2018, and he may never play again because of knee issues. And his year’s primary second base options – Jose Peraza and Jonathan Arauz – have mustered weak production. Meanwhile, Eovaldi would at least give the Rangers another arm in a rotation that’s in flux. The Rangers just parted with Mike Minor in a trade with the Athletics on Monday, and it appears Lance Lynn could also move before the 3 p.m. CT deadline.

Latest On Lance Lynn Trade Talks

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The Rangers have already shipped out starter Mike Minor to the A’s, so now all eyes are on righty Lance Lynn.  The 33-year-old righty sports a 3.33 ERA in 41 starts for the Rangers since they signed him prior to the 2019 season, and he’s under contract for just $8MM in 2021.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post hears that the Rangers may be motivated to avoid repeating the mistake they made with Minor, holding him last summer when he was at peak value with control remaining.

  • The Braves, who picked up lefty Tommy Milone in a deal with the Orioles yesterday, have been in contact with the Rangers regarding Lynn within the last 48 hours, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network.
  • The Yankees have also been involved in Lynn’s market during that time, tweets Morosi.  Lynn’s resurgence began with his two-month stint with the Yankees back in 2018.  MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan notes that the Rangers “would love RHP Deivi Garcia from the Yankees but he is likely out of reach.”  On a similar note, Sherman hears the Yankees don’t have an appetite to move Garcia, to date.
  • The Padres “explored separate trades” with the Rangers for Lynn and outfielder Joey Gallo before acquiring Mike Clevinger from the Indians, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.  I would speculate that with Clevinger tow, it’s (relatively) safe to assume the Padres are out on Lynn.  Similarly, the A’s were previously connected to Lynn but have since landed Minor.
  • Previous connections to Lynn have been made for the Twins, Blue Jays, and White Sox, so those teams may still be in play.  According to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca, the Jays had been linked to Minor before he was dealt to Oakland, and the Rangers “are intrigued by [the] Jays’ young catching.”

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