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Rangers, Diamondbacks Complete Jake Diekman Trade

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The Rangers annnounced today that they have acquired minor-league lefty Joshua Javier from the Diamondbacks. He’ll represent the player to be named later from the agreement that sent veteran southpaw Jake Diekman to Arizona at the trade deadline.

Javier, 19, showed well last year in the Dominican Summer League. He reached the Rookie level Arizona League in 2018, marking his first time playing professionally outside of his native Dominican Republic. Through 35 1/3 innings over four starts and six relief appearances, he carries a 2.80 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 15 walks.

Otherwise, there isn’t much information available publicly on Javier, who is a native of the Dominican Republic. He’ll join young righty Wei-Chieh Huang in constituting the return for Diekman. While both pre-MLB hurlers seem to have their share of promise, it doesn’t appear to be a major haul of talent, though neither was one expected for a rental reliever who has his share of demerits on the hill. Of course, the 31-year-old Diekman still brings a mid-nineties heater and has dominated right-handed hitters this year, contrary to his more typical career platoon numbers. He owns a 3.86 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 this year through 42 innings and figures to be a useful asset for Arizona down the stretch.

Rangers, Pirates Complete Keone Kela Trade

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The Rangers will acquire prospect Sherten Apostel from the Pirates, as first reported by John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (via Twitter) and as has since been announced. Apostel was chosen as the player to be named later in the deadline-day swap that sent reliever Keone Kela to the Pirates.

Apostel, 19, has been in the Bucs system for the past three years. The Curacaoan third baseman has put up strong offensive numbers in 2017 and 2018. This year, he’s slashing .259/.406/.460 with seven long balls along with a 42:32 K/BB rate over 175 plate appearances in the Rookie-level Appalachian League.

Though he has many hurdles to clear before he’ll be seen as a likely major-league asset, Apostel has certainly carved out a place for himself on the prospect map. He entered the current season ranked 16th among the pre-MLB players on the Pittsburgh farm by Fangraphs, based upon his intriguing upside. (Truly passionate Pirates supporters will want to consider a subscription over at PiratesProspects.com, where there are loads of stories documenting the progress of Apostel and his now-former prospect brethren.)

It seems, then, that the swap will infuse the Texas farm system with some quality new assets. Lefty Taylor Hearn was already acquired as the headliner of the package and could be a factor in the MLB mix as soon as 2019, if he develops as hoped. Apostel will no doubt be viewed as an increasingly important part of the Rangers’ future if he can continue to progress, though his outlook perhaps hinges most upon the question whether he will be able to handle third base defensively at full physical maturity. (Fangraphs just inserted him at 13th on its current ranking of Rangers prospects, which features Hearn in the #6 slot.)

It always figured to require a reasonably steep package of talent to get Kela, given his strong work this year and remaining seasons of arbitration eligibility. For the Pirates, Kela’s initial performance has at least helped validate the acquisition cost. The still-youthful reliever has allowed only one earned run in six frames for the Bucs, striking out six batters and issuing one walk. He’ll remain under club control through 2020.

Mariners Select Gordon Beckham, Designate John Andreoli

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The Mariners announced today that they have selected the contract of veteran infielder Gordon Beckham. He’ll help the club fill out its infield mix while shortstop Jean Segura is on paternity leave. To create a 40-man opening, the Seattle organization designated outfielder John Andreoli for assignment.

Beckham, who’ll soon turn 32, has played two-dozen MLB games over the past two seasons with the M’s. He has spent most of his time of late, though, at Triple-A Tacoma. This year, the ten-year major-league veteran has posted a strong .311/.411/.479 slash with 52 walks against 46 strikeouts in his 370 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors.

The 28-year-old Andreoli, meanwhile, reached the majors this year only long enough to record his first and only big-league base hit. He’s in his first year in the Mariners org after spending seven professional campaigns in the Cubs system. Andreoli has posted a .287/.397/.401 slash in 388 plate appearances with Tacoma in 2018.

Cubs Place Mike Montgomery On 10-Day DL

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The Cubs have placed lefty Mike Montgomery on the 10-day disabled list, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune was among those to report on Twitter. He’s said to be experiencing shoulder inflammation.

It is not yet clear just how significant an injury Montgomery is dealing with. Clearly, though, it’s a concern with only six weeks of the regular season remaining. He’ll be replaced in the rotation for the time being by Tyler Chatwood, with southpaw Randy Rosario being recalled to take the open roster spot.

Montgomery, 29, has been a godsend since moving into the rotation. In 13 starts, he has provided the club with 73 innings of 3.08 ERA pitching. While his 45:21 K/BB ratio in that stretch isn’t all that compelling, Montgomery does have a strong history of inducing groundballs. He has also consistently outperformed ERA estimators since reaching the majors, holding opponents to a .276 batting average over his career, though it’s certainly debatable whether that’s something we should expect to continue.

Regardless of one’s beliefs regarding Montgomery’s true talent levels, he has unquestionably represented a steadying force for a rotation that has dealt with a fair bit of uncertainty. With Yu Darvish slated to begin a rehab stint this weekend, there is at least the promise that he’ll be able to return before too long. But he’s still likely going to require a few outings and had struggled before hitting the DL. Meanwhile, turning to Chatwood really isn’t all that appealing an option. His control woes have continued since he was dropped from the starting five. In 5 2/3 innings over three relief appearances, Chatwood has allowed four earned runs and handed out five walks to go with three strikeouts.

Of course, the Cubs were not fully committed to utilizing Montgomery as a starter. They had just skipped his most recent outing, though that was said to have been done to keep him fresh. And while Montgomery has previously expressed consternation at being pushed to the pen, he seemed at peace with the possibility of spending time again as a reliever. Even if the plans may have called for an eventual return to the relief corps, though, that doesn’t mean that now was the preferred time. And it certainly does not draw the sting of any time lost due to injury. Montgomery, after all, would be quite useful to have in the bullpen while still constituting a key rotation depth piece. The Cubs will certainly hope he’s able to return to action in relatively short order.

Mets Select Daniel Zamora, Place Bobby Wahl On DL

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The Mets announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Daniel Zamora from Double-A Binghamton and placed right-hander Bobby Wahl on the 10-day disabled list due to a strained right hamstring.

Zamora, 25, came to the Mets in the offseason swap that sent fellow left-hander Josh Smoker to the Pirates. Thus far, he’s enjoyed a strong season in Binghamton — albeit against younger competition. Through 51 2/3 innings of work, Zamora has notched a 3.48 ERA with impressive marks of 12.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 0.52 HR/9 to go along with a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate. He’s allowed a .244/.320/.384 slash to left-handed opponents but held right-handers to a terrible .157/.211/.255 batting line.

Diamondbacks To Re-Sign Randall Delgado

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The D-backs have brought right-hander Randall Delgado back to the organization on a new minor league contract, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). Delgado was designated for assignment on July 25 and subsequently released. Delgado, a client of MVP Sports, will head to Triple-A Reno for the time being, according to Piecoro.

Delgado, 28, missed the vast majority of the 2018 season while recovering from a fairly severe oblique injury that landed him on the 60-day DL and kept him out of action from Opening Day until early July. Once healthy, he yielded four runs on seven hits and three walks through seven innings for Arizona, though he managed just two strikeouts in that time. Delgado’s fastball, which averaged 94.2 mph in 2017, averaged just 91.9 mph in his brief run with the D-backs earlier this season.

Uninspiring as those results might’ve been, Delgado brings a track record of solid bullpen work with him back to the Arizona organization. From 2015-17, he pitched to a 3.78 ERA over the life of 209 2/3 innings and averaged 8.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 with 0.9 HR/9. Given his experience and the organization’s familiarity with Delgado, there’s a decent chance that he’ll get a look as an extra arm in the team’s bullpen when rosters expand in September. He has enough MLB service time to reach free agency at season’s end, so even if he pitches his way back into the front office’s good graces, he’ll likely be exploring the open market once again in the near future.

Reds Place Joey Votto On Disabled List

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The Reds announced this afternoon that they’ve placed first baseman Joey Votto on the 10-day disabled list due to a right knee contusion. Votto, of course, was hit near that knee by Ryan Madson last week in what many believed to be an intentional plunking. A pair of Nationals hitters, including Bryce Harper, had been hit prior to Votto, who was clipped in the leg with two outs in the inning of a game the Reds trailed 6-2. Harper, who was also hit in the knee, had left the game.

Votto was visibly upset as he limped to first base and yelled some choice words at Madson upon reaching (video link), though he declined to speak much on the incident the following day and would not directly say that he felt Madson had acted with intent (second video link, via the Cincinnati Enquirer). Today’s announcement from the Reds made note of the fact that Votto was hit by Madson last week.

It’ll be the first trip to the DL for Votto since 2014, as he appeared in 158, 158 and 162 games from the 2015-17 seasons, respectively, and had played in 118 games prior to this injury. Votto’s batting average is down a bit and his power numbers are down substantially, but he remains one of the game’s premier on-base threats, as evidenced in his .284/.422/.419 batting line.

The DL placement for Votto comes just one day after the league suspended Marlins right-hander Jose Urena for six games due to what was deemed a clearly intentional plunking of scorching Braves star Ronald Acuna, who had led off three consecutive games against the Marlins with home runs. While Acuna has been able to avoid the disabled list, Votto won’t be as fortunate. It’s probably too late for there to be any disciplinary action taken against Madson, who is on actually now on the disabled list himself, but the juxtaposition of those two events could further fuel the conversation about the possibility of offseason measures to increase penalization for pitchers who have been deemed to intentionally hit a batter.

In Votto’s place, the Reds have recalled outfielder Aristides Aquino from Double-A Pensacola. It’ll be the big league debut for the 24-year-old Aquino, who is batting .249/.313/.452 with 18 homers, 19 doubles and a pair of triples in 416 plate appearances in his second go-around at the Double-A level. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com rank Aquino 16th among Reds prospects, touting his plus-plus arm in right field, strong defense and above-average power. There are concerns about Aquino’s hit tool, though he’s cut his strikeout rate from 28.7 percent in 2017 to 24.7 percent in 2018.

NL Central Notes: Reds Front Office, Bryant, Cardinals, Kuhl

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The Reds are making some changes to their scouting and player development departments, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Scouting director Chris Buckley, who has been in charge of overseeing all aspects of the amateur draft, and director of player development Jeff Graupe have both been reassigned to new positions. It’s not yet clear how the Reds plan to address the new vacancies, with one Reds source telling Nightengale that the team has not yet determined whether it’ll look outside the organization for replacements or promote from within.

A bit more from the NL Central…

  • Though Kris Bryant’s absence has undoubtedly been longer than the Cubs had hoped, the slugger may not be on the shelf much longer. Manager Joe Maddon tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that he expects Bryant back by September, which would give the former NL MVP a month to round into form in advance of a hopeful postseason run. Bryant feels he’ll need only three or four games on a minor league rehab assignment before he’s ready to return. It’s been a “down” season for Bryant, though only by his own lofty standards. Through 358 trips to the plate, he’s hitting .276/.380/.474 with 11 homers, 21 doubles and three triples.
  • Though some Cardinals fans in the past have clamored for third base coach Jose Oquendo to receive managerial consideration, Oquendo tells Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s previously made it clear to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak that he’s not interested in managing. Going further, Oquendo emphatically threw his full support behind current interim skipper Mike Shildt, telling Frederickson that the Cardinals already have “the right guy” and that the front office should “decide now” and make Shildt the permanent manager. Oquendo raved to Frederickson about the manner in which Shildt prepares the team and works with the players.
  • The Pirates believe they’ll have righty Chad Kuhl back at some point in September, writes Kent Youngblood of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said the plan for Kuhl is to start a throwing program during the next homestand before moving up to a minor league rehab assignment. Kuhl hasn’t pitched since late June due to a forearm strain. It’s not clear just yet if there’ll be rotation work available for Kuhl, as the Buccos have Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Ivan Nova, Trevor Williams and Joe Musgrove in the starting five now, with Nick Kingham also in the wings in Triple-A. Kuhl tossed 85 innings earlier this season and worked to a 4.55 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 36.2 percent ground-ball rate in 16 starts.

Players Who Have Cleared Revocable Trade Waivers

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It’s been somewhat quiet on this front in 2018, but we’ll use this post to keep track of the names of all of the players who’ve reportedly cleared revocable trade waivers. As is the case every year, there are a few things that should be re-emphasized before diving into names.

First and foremost, the vast majority of Major League players will be placed on revocable trade waivers this month — many assuredly already have been — with most instances going unreported. By month’s end, there will likely be dozens of players who have cleared waivers without garnering any sort of headlines. It also bears repeating that players can still be traded in September, but Aug. 31 serves as the deadline for postseason eligibility, making it a sort of soft trade deadline. Deals of note are rarely consummated in September, though Juan Nicasio did change hands after Aug. 31 in 2017.

Lastly, for those who aren’t familiar with the inner-workings of waiver trades or simply need a quick refresher, MLBTR published a full explanation of how August trades work to kick off the month. We’ll keep this post updated throughout the remainder of the month for those who wish to bookmark it.

Onto the names…

(Last update: 8/29)

  • Jerry Blevins, Mets (link): Blevins has a long track record of shutting down left-handed opponents, but lefties have clobbered him so far in 2018 while righties have been unusually ineffective. He’s a specialist who’s owed $1.23MM through season’s end before reaching free agency, making him an expensive piece with a fairly limited role.
  • Kendrys Morales & Marco Estrada, Blue Jays (link): Both relatively expensive veterans went unclaimed, with Morales still owed $13MM through the end of the 2019 season and Estrada owed more than $2.5MM through the end of the current campaign. Morales has been one of baseball’s hottest hitters but comes with no defensive value, largely limiting him to an AL club or an NL club with an opening at first base. Estrada has pitched through back struggles for the past couple of seasons and recently acknowledged that he’s been playing through discomfort again recently. He has an ERA north of 6.00 dating back to July 30.
  • Josh Harrison, Pirates (link): A run of success in advance of the non-waiver deadline led the Bucs to add two controllable pitchers, but the team has since sunk in the standings. That could lead to some late-August salary dumping, with Harrison among the most likely candidates to be moved. He’s not hitting much this year and is playing on a fairly hefty $10MM annual salary, but it’s certainly possible to imagine a contender adding the scrappy, athletic, and versatile utilityman. It seems likely the Pirates will be paying Harrison $1.5MM in buyouts at season’s end regardless, so perhaps the team will cover that expense while trying to offload Harrison’s remaining 2018 salary.
  • Alex Cobb & Andrew Cashner, Orioles (link): Both Cashner and Cobb have struggled through disappointing seasons after signing multi-year deals this past winter. Cobb, in particular, was a lock to clear waivers with three years remaining on an ill-fated four-year deal that promised him $57MM. Cashner’s two-year deal is worth a more palatable $16MM in total, but he’s barely been able to keep his ERA under 5.00 while delivering middling K/BB numbers and career-worst 42.6 percent ground-ball rate.
  • Gio Gonzalez, Matt Wieters & Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals (link): A trio of expensive Nats vets reportedly cleared waivers at the same time, though there’s virtually no chance that Zimmerman is moved with more than $23MM owed to him through next season and full trade veto power via his 10-and-5 rights. Wieters hasn’t hit enough to make himself a very desirable trade chip, though perhaps a contender would add him as a backup if the Nats absorbed most of the just over $2MM remaining on his contract. Gonzalez is the most plausible of this bunch, though, as very few starters have made it through waivers. While he was still owed about $2.5MM at the time he was reported to have cleared and is having a down season, Gonzalez still misses bats and induces grounders, and he has a lengthy track record of solid mid-rotation work.
  • Andrew McCutchen, Giants (link): Cutch was owed $3.155MM at the time he cleared waivers, and while he’s not the MVP-caliber bat he was in his mid-20s now that he’s approaching his 32nd birthday, he’s still a solidly above-average hitter. In 538 plate appearances with the Giants, he’s slashed .255/.353/.412 with 14 home runs, 26 doubles and two triples. McCutchen’s 44.6 percent hard-hit rate is the best of his career and ranks 22nd among qualified hitters. The Giants would likely be willing to pay down some of his deal to get a decent prospect, and there should be trade interest.
  • Starlin Castro, Marlins (link): Castro is owed the balance of this year’s $10MM salary plus another $11MM in 2019 and at least a $1MM buyout on a $16MM option for the 2020 season. He’s given the Marlins slightly above-average offense with respectable defense at second base, but there aren’t too many contenders looking for upgrades at second base. Even if he’s not moved in August, the Marlins will likely shop him again this winter.
  • Justin Smoak, Blue Jays (link): It’s at least a moderate surprise that Smoak, an affordable switch-hitting slugger in the midst of a productive season, cleared waivers. He was hitting .255/.365/.463 with 18 homers at the time he was reported to have cleared, and while that’s not up to his Herculean 2017 levels, it’s still plenty productive. He’s earning $4.1MM in 2018 and has a cheap $6MM club option for the 2019 season that the Jays will surely pick up if he is not dealt.
  • C.J. Cron, Rays (link): Cron has rewarded the Rays for buying low on him this past offseason, delivering a career-best .250/.317/.480 slash with a personal best 24 home runs through 454 plate appearances as of the time he was reported to have cleared waivers. He’s earning just $2.3MM in 2018 and is controlled for another two seasons, though he doesn’t bring any defensive or baserunning value to the table. Cron also doesn’t walk at an especially high clip, so he’s unlikely to emerge as a serious on-base threat.
  • Wilmer Flores, Mets (link): Flores has experience at all four infield positions and was hitting .275/.326/.444 at the time he was reported to have cleared waivers. But he’s been unusually inept against left-handed opponents in 2018 and is due a raise on this season’s $3.4MM salary in arbitration this offseason. He could deepen a team’s bench, but contenders would likely have had more interest were he performing well against southpaws. The Mets maintain that they’re aiming to contend in 2019, so perhaps they prefer to hang onto Flores.
  • Lucas Duda, Royals (link): Duda has played far too much against lefties in 2018, dragging down his overall numbers, but he’s still a threat against right-handed opposition. He’s limited to first base, but with a $3.5MM salary he’d be an affordable bench bat for any contending club.
  • Logan Forsythe, Twins (link): Forsythe, acquired in the Brian Dozier trade largely as a means of offsetting the duo’s identical $9MM salaries, wasn’t even a lock to stick around with Minnesota after being acquired, but he’s batted .361/.418/.426 through his first 67 PAs in Minnesota, helping to rebuild some stock after a miserable season in L.A. He won’t net the Twins much of anything in a trade if he’s moved, but the Twins might not mind simply shedding the remaining $2.1MM on his salary (as of Aug. 19).
  • Adam Jones, Orioles (link): Jones was reported to have cleared waivers on Aug. 16 and was owed $4.27MM of his $17MM salary at the time. While he’s eligible to be traded to any team, it’s entirely up to Jones whether he moves. The five-time All-Star has 10-and-5 rights (10 years of MLB service, the past five with one team), meaning he can veto any trade. Jones reportedly already exercised those rights rather than approving a trade to the Phillies. He’s hitting .285/.317/.438 as of this writing and is in the midst of a torrid hot streak, but he has family and charity reasons (among others) for wanting to remain in Baltimore.
  • Curtis Granderson, Blue Jays (link): Now 37 years of age, the Grandy Man isn’t the star that he once was, but he remains a reasonably productive bat against right-handed pitching. He’s playing the season on a one-year, $5MM deal and is still owed about $1.23MM of that salary as of this morning. While Granderson is largely limited to the outfield corners, he could be a useful bench piece for contending clubs down the stretch.
  • Francisco Liriano, Jose Iglesias & Jordan Zimmermann, Tigers (link): It was a 100 percent certainty that Zimmermann, still owed $55.9MM through 2020 (including the remainder of this year’s salary) would clear waivers. Even with improved results this season (4.36 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 in 88 2/3 innings), there’s virtually no hope of the Tigers shedding that salary this month. It was less certain that rentals like Liriano or Iglesias would clear, however. Liriano’s ERA ballooned to 4.72 last night after he was roughed up by the Twins, but he’s held left-handed pitching to a terrible .141/.247/.239 slash through 81 plate appearances. With $984K still owed to him through the end of the year, he’d be a reasonably affordable lefty specialist for a contending team’s bullpen. As for Iglesias, it seems quite likely that he’ll be moved to a contender. He’s hitting a respectable, albeit unspectacular .264/.306/.389 while playing terrific defense at shortstop. He’s owed $1.54MM of his $6.275MM salary through season’s end.
  • Joe Mauer & Logan Morrison, Twins (link): Morrison won’t be going anywhere after having season-ending hip surgery last week, and it seems likely that the Twins will buy out his 2019 option after a disappointing all-around season. Mauer, like Jones, has the right to veto any trade and wouldn’t be in much demand anyhow. After a strong .305/.384/.417 slash in 2017, he’s posted a more pedestrian .272/.352/.358 line in 2018 — the final season of his eight-year, $184MM contract.

MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Mazara, Matz, Paxton, Pham, Ramos

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(August 15th-August 16th)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

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FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

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