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NL Notes: Green, Webb, Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals

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While there was no contract length reported at the time of his signing, Padres skipper Andy Green inked a three-year contract when he was named manager of the club, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Green’s deal also contains at least one club option, according to Heyman, who notes that despite the club’s poor record under Green, the team’s decision-makers like him very much. It’s not really fair to judge Green based on the Padres’ record anyhow, given the team’s aggressive rebuild.

A few more notes from around the Senior Circuit…

  • Brewers GM David Stearns chatted with Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel following his team’s acquisition of left-hander Tyler Webb from the Yankees earlier today. The 26-year-old Webb’s history of missing bats and limiting free passes in the minors were points in his favor for the Brewers, per Stearns, whose big league bullpen has had few left-handed options thus far in 2017. “He has three options remaining, which gives us flexibility over the next couple of years, and we think he has the ability to help us in the near term as well,” said Stearns. “We’ve been looking, in general, to improve our depth and potentially upgrade our relief pitching as a whole. Those guys, we’ve used them a lot, asked a lot out of them.” It’s clear that the Brewers do view Webb as a near-term piece, as well, given that Haudricourt also tweeted today that Webb will jump directly into the Major League bullpen tomorrow, with Michael Blazek being optioned to Triple-A.
  • Stearns also spoke with MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand in the wake of the division-rival Cubs’ blockbuster acquisition of Jose Quintana. Asked if the Brewers felt any pressure to quickly “respond” to the trade by swinging a deal of his own, Stearns suggested that he wouldn’t act so rashly. “I think that can be a little bit dangerous,” the GM explained. “We have to make moves that make the most sense for our franchise, and that’s regardless of what a particular rival or another team in our division is doing. … Obviously we’re going to continue to look at the market and see if there’s a fit for us down the road.” Stearns didn’t expressly rule out making a significant addition of his own, though his further comments to Feinsand cast some doubt on how willing he would be to part with his top tier of prospects.
  • Dodgers president Andrew Friedman somewhat downplayed his club’s need to make a move, writes Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times, but McCullough reports that they’re expected to be on the hunt for bullpen upgrades. “[W]e’re a lot more selective than we’ve been in the past,” Friedman said. “Part of that speaks to our organizational talent level, at this point, as well as the depth behind it. But also, the culture that has been created among this group of players — it’s something that’s special. I can’t really see us messing with that, short of doing something that makes an incredible amount of sense to us.” The Dodgers do indeed have interest in Zach Britton, per McCullough, though it’s not clear that the Orioles will make him available. McCullough also adds that the club could take a look at right-hander Walker Buehler in a relief capacity later this season. The 2015 first-rounder has dominated through 10 Double-A starts thus far, but it stands to reason that the Dodgers will want to manage his workload eventually.
  • The Cardinals are in an uncertain position with the trade deadline looming, and president of baseball ops John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’ll have a very open-minded approach at the deadline. “The nuances of trying to determine how we think about improvement between now and July 31st still seems a bit unclear because of our inconsistencies,” said the recently promoted Mozeliak. “…“The point is over the next (18) days we have to be open-minded and really be willing to explore anything that we can put on the table.” Goold writes that while the Cards have a desire to bolster this roster — specifically, by adding a middle-of-the-order bat and/or a shortstop — it’s also possible that they could at the same time sell off some short-term assets like Lance Lynn.

Angels Outright Eric Young

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The Angels announced that outfielder Eric Young Jr. has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. The move opens a spot for Mike Trout to be activated off the disabled list tomorrow. Young has been outrighted in the past, so he’ll have the option to elect free agency rather than accepting the assignment.

Young, 32, inked a minor league contract with the Angels back in January had his contract selected following Trout’s injury. While no one could realistically replace Trout, Young’s performance was likely better than many anticipated. In 110 plate appearances over the life of 34 games, the switch-hitter posted a solid .260/.336/.396 batting line with three homers, four doubles and eight stolen bases (in 11 tries). Both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs agree that Young was worth just under a win above replacement level in that time.

Trade Rumblings: Darvish, Marlins, Starters, Tigers, Astros, Iglesias, Hand

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There’s “increasing buzz” that the Rangers will listen to offers on top starters Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels if they don’t open the second half of the season with strong play, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. It’s been previously reported that the Rangers will hold onto Darvish even if they fall out of the race, so that’d represent something of a change of mindset for GM Jon Daniels & Co. Darvish is set to hit the open market at season’s end, so if the Rangers are out of the race and don’t trade him, they run the risk of losing him to free agency (though he’d obviously receive and reject a qualifying offer, affording Texas some draft compensation). Hamels, meanwhile, hasn’t been listed as a potential trade target to date. He’s earning $23.5MM this year and next, and he’s owed at least $6MM as the buyout on a $20MM club option for the 2019 campaign. That contract and a bizarrely low strikeout rate (4.9 K/9) could complicate Hamels’ market, though he’s shown recent improvement with 12 strikeouts in his past 14 1/3 innings of work.

More trade chatter from around the league…

  • The Marlins have told other clubs that they’re ready to sell off assets, a rival executive tells Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller. According to Miller, the Marlins have spoken to more than 10 teams about right-hander David Phelps, and there are two or three clubs that are showing “serious” interest in closer AJ Ramos. “They’re working on it and talking to clubs,” the exec tells Miller. “But the conversations always end with one caveat, that they don’t know that the owner won’t bail at the last minute.” Miller adds that Giancarlo Stanton isn’t likely to move until the Marlins accept that they won’t get someone to take his salary and give prospects back. The industry feeling is that it’d have to be almost a straight salary dump. (Stanton can also veto any deal via his no-trade clause.) Miller’s column features a look at all 30 teams and their possible deadline course as well.
  • Sonny Gray, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole are available in trades, writes Jon Morosi of MLB.com, but the Athletics, Tigers and Pirates have each set a lofty asking price. Perhaps more interestingly, Morosi adds that the Braves have said right-hander Julio Teheran isn’t available, though he’s reportedly been drawing interest and others (including David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports) have said that Atlanta would at least consider offers. In addition to that overview of the market for pitchers, Morosi runs down a position-by-position preview of the market for bats.
  • Heyman reports that there’s little to no genuine interest in Justin Verlander at this time due to his huge contract and underwhelming numbers. Furthermore, he notes that due to Verlander’s status as a legend in Detroit, they can’t accept an underwhelming return and effectively signal to Tigers fans that his trade was a salary dump. There’s also very little interest in Ian Kinsler, according to Heyman, as the he’s struggled in 2017 and few teams are on the hunt for second base help. He adds that Alex Avila, J.D. Martinez and Justin Wilson are all drawing strong interest, however, so GM Al Avila should make some deals in the next 18 days.
  • In his weekly AL Notes column, Heyman reports that with few top starters left on the market, the Astros may instead pursue high-end bullpen help in an effort to shorten the game and load up the relief corps for the postseason. Unsurprisingly, their list of targets would include Zach Britton, if he’s available. (Most clubs in the league would perk up at the notion of acquiring a healthy Britton.)
  • Heyman also notes that Braves left-hander Jaime Garcia is one rental pitcher that interests the Royals. On the subject of Kansas City, he also notes that while the team does have interest in Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon, K.C. would want Miami to pay down some of the roughly $41MM remaining on Gordon’s contract, which the Fish aren’t willing to do. The same is true of the Angels and Blue Jays, he adds, both of whom like the player but not his current salary.
  • Meanwhile, in his NL Notes column, Heyman writes that the Reds are believed to be willing to listen to offers on closer Raisel Iglesias but would only move him for a package that would “blow them away.” The 27-year-old Iglesias has emerged as one of baseball’s best relievers and is controllable through the 2020 season. He’s affordable at the moment ($3.5MM in 2017), but his contract allows him to opt into arbitration once eligible, so his salary is going to balloon quite a bit between now and 2020. Heyman also notes that the Reds would be interested in a two- or possibly three-year deal with Zack Cozart but recognize that he can earn more than they’re willing to pay when he gets to free agency.
  • The Yankees, Nationals, Dodgers, Cubs, Brewers, Royals, Angels and Mariners could all be in the mix for lefty Brad Hand, Heyman reports. Regarding the Dodgers, Heyman and Robert Murray report that San Diego asked Los Angeles for top prospect Alex Verdugo in return, though there’s “no likelihood” of L.A. meeting that price. The Padres are also getting calls on cheap starters Trevor Cahill, Clayton Richard and Jhoulys Chacin, each of whom inked a one-year deal worth $1.75MM this past offseason.

Huntington: Kang Unlikely To Play For Pirates In 2017

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Pirates GM Neal Huntington more clearly spelled out what looked to be an increasingly apparent reality on Thursday, telling Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that one can “pretty much eliminate the thought” of Jung Ho Kang suiting up for the Pirates in 2017.

The 30-year-old Kang was arrested and charged with his third DUI in South Korea this past offseason. The resulting sentence called for eight months of prison time, but that punishment was suspended for two years and allowed the infielder to avoid serving any actual jail time so long as he does not violate terms set forth under the suspended sentence. Kang’s appeal was denied, and he has since been unable to secure a work visa after his applications have been rejected by the United States embassy.

“That’s unfortunate,” said Huntington. “The situation is a result of regrettable actions. As far as 2018, we still remain optimistic that we’ll go through the process again this offseason, and perhaps the thought process or the environment will change. But we have to face the reality that it might not.”

The 2017 season is the third of a four-year, $11MM pact that Kang signed with the Pirates, though he has not received any of this year’s $2.75MM salary due to his placement on the restricted list. The contract calls for him to earn $3MM in 2018 and includes a $5.5MM club option with a $250K buyout for the 2019 campaign as well.

In Kang’s absence, the Bucs have turned to David Freese as their primary third baseman, with versatile Josh Harrison also seeing some time at the hot corner. The veteran Freese, who signed to a two-year extension last summer, has responded with a .244/.374/.362 batting line through his first 262 trips to the plate in 2017. In Kang’s first two Major League seasons, the former Nexen Heroes star batted .273/.355/.483 with 36 home runs in 837 plate appearances.

Rays Place Colby Rasmus On Restricted List

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3:53pm: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that there are no new issues with Rasmus, adding that the outfielder may simply wish to spend more time with his family. Rasmus is married and has children and has previously gone on record to state that he likely wouldn’t play even into his mid-30s because of a strong desire to be with them.

2:53pm: Rays outfielder Colby Rasmus has been placed on the restricted list as he has decided to “step away from baseball,” per a club announcement. Rasmus is not expected to return to the organization this year; he had been under contract only for the 2017 season.

Details of the matter are not apparent, with the club stating that it wishes to “respect[] the privacy of Colby and his family.” He had been on the DL already with what was described as a sore hip but had been extremely productive when healthy. Through 129 plate appearances with Tampa Bay, Rasmus hit .281/.318/.579 with nine homers, seven doubles and a triple. Rasmus inked a one-year deal with the Rays this offseason that guaranteed him $5MM on the heels of an injury-plagued second season in an Astros uniform. He will not be compensated for time spent on the restricted list.

Red Sox Release Jhonny Peralta

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The Red Sox have released veteran third baseman Jhonny Peralta, per a club announcement. He had been playing with the team’s Triple-A affiliate after signing a minors deal.

Peralta, 35, was released by the Cardinals earlier this season partway through the fourth and final season of the $53MM pact he inked with the team in the 2013-14 offseason. While Peralta was excellent in St. Louis for the first two seasons of the deal, he missed significant time with a thumb injury in 2016 and hasn’t been productive when healthy enough to take the field in 2017. Through 58 PAs with the Cards, he hit just .204/.259/.204.

His work in the minors this season hasn’t been much better, as he’s batter .237/.246/.373 in 61 PAs between Class-A Advanced and Triple-A. Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweets that the Sox and Peralta’s camp had an understanding at the time of his signing that the team would make a decision on whether or not to promote him during the All-Star break. Peralta’s play didn’t impress the team enough to dislodge Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin for the time being, so Peralta will head back to the open market. It’s been rumored that Rafael Devers is on the verge of moving up to Triple-A, as well, and this will clear more playing time for him at that level once that move takes place.

Brewers Acquire Tyler Webb From Yankees For Garrett Cooper

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1:01pm: Milwaukee has announced the swap, adding that Webb will open his tenure with the organization at Triple-A. The same holds true of Cooper, per the Yankees’ announcement.

12:28pm: The Brewers and Yankees have lined up on a minor deal with potentially significant ramifications, as both teams seemingly met needs while dealing from areas of depth. Per Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter), lefty Tyler Webb is headed to Milwaukee. Minor-league first baseman Garrett Cooper is going in return in the swap, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports hinted (via Twitter) and Jon Heyman of Fan Rag confirms (in a tweet).

Webb, 26, will give the Milwaukee pen another southpaw option. He made his MLB debut for New York this year after spending spring camp with the Pirates as a Rule 5 pick. Webb put up 33 1/3 impressive Triple-A innings upon his return to the New York organization, posting 47 strikeouts against just three walks in that span.

The major league sample is quite a small one. Webb has thrown only six innings in seven appearances, allowing three earned runs but only three total base hits. He has struck out five and walked four. Webb only checks in with a low-nineties fastball, but also utilizes a change and slider — to good effect, evidently, at least in the upper minors.

Cooper, who’s also 26 years of age, has enjoyed quite a productive season thus far in the hitter-friendly environs of Colorado Springs. Through 320 plate appearances on the year, he owns a .366/.428/.652 slash with 17 home runs. That’s a big power jump for the former sixth-round pick, who has also drawn 33 walks against just 48 strikeouts on the year.

Clearly, the right-handed hitter offers an alternative to Greg Bird, who’s injury status has left the team in flux at first base. Whether additional trade targets could still also be pursued isn’t immediately clear, but seemingly remains plausible.

Beltway Notes: Buy Or Sell, Britton, MASN, Solis

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Here’s the latest from the broader beltway region:

  • Some in the Orioles front office apparently see the merit in weighing at least a partial sell-off if the club’s fortunes don’t change before the trade deadline, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag writes. But that will still require the sign-off of owner Peter Angelos, who Heyman notes may not be inclined to give up on the current season. Though the O’s are still within sight of the Wild Card chase, there’s no indication at present that the team’s starting pitching woes will really improve. Then again, the organization has managed to surprise quite a bit in the recent past.
  • Even if the O’s do begin marketing some pieces, Heyman says there’s no indication they’ll be willing to part with their core position players. But relievers could be fair game, he suggests, with late-inning arms Zach Britton, Brad Brach, and Mychal Givens all generating phone traffic from rival organizations. The Dodgers are one team with interest in Britton, Heyman writes, as Los Angeles looks into the possibility of adding a big-time lefty to the pen. It seems the Nationals may also be at least looking into Britton, though obviously relations between the Nats and O’s aren’t exactly sunny.
  • Indeed, the long-broiling MASN television rights fees dispute between the Orioles and Nationals is still ongoing. But it did reach an important point today, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post notes on Twitter. A New York appellate court ruled that the proper arbitral forum for the dispute is MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee — the same body that gave the Nats an award for past years’ rights fees that spurred the current legal battle. That ruling itself can still be appealed, of course, and even then it seems the sides could still need to go through another arbitration process (barring settlement but also possibly subject to its own appeal). While that appears to be a nice win for the Nationals, then, it’s not as if the team will suddenly gain access to the money it has long sought from the Orioles, who control the jointly owned television network.
  • Meanwhile, as the Nats weigh all manner of bullpen possibilities, the team has officially announced that lefty Sammy Solis was optioned to Triple-A. He had only just been activated from a lengthy DL stint, but was hammered in four outings since his return. Presumably, the Nats will hope to work out the kinks for the power lefty over the next few weeks, but his struggles could feature prominently in the team’s thinking at the deadline.

Cubs Acquire Jose Quintana

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In a stunning development, the Cubs have acquired lefty Jose Quintana from the crosstown rival White Sox, per club announcements. Top prospects Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease are going in return, with first baseman Matt Rose and infielder Bryant Flete also included in the package.

On its face, the deal is rather a straightforward one: The defending champion Cubs needed starting pitching, with a controllable arm making obvious sense. And the White Sox have marketed Quintana since last fall, holding out for a big prospect return.

Jose Quintana | MLBTR Photoshop

But that hardly accounts for the true drama inherent in this transaction. There has been chatter of late as to whether the two Chicago stalwarts would do business with each other; clearly, any such questions have been answered.

The scuffling Cubs have said the main focus is on internal improvements, but have now acted forcefully in advance of the deadline. As for the White Sox, they now possess a bevy of elite prospects after swinging yet another significant trade. And those wondering about Quintana’s trade value now have their answer as well.

This time last year, the Cubs were lining up another deal that sent out an elite prospect (Gleyber Torres, in the Aroldis Chapman deal) in hopes of spurring a World Series run. This time, though, the piece coming back isn’t a rental. Quintana is just 28 years old and will remain under the Cubs’ control through 2020. His extension includes a $8.85MM guarantee for 2018 and successive options ($10.5MM and $11MM, respectively) for the ensuing two years. In addition to bolstering the Cubs’ staff now, Quintana will also help cover the organization as starters Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, and Brett Anderson reach free agency after the season.

Quintana has not been quite at his best in 2017, with a 4.49 ERA over 104 1/3 innings thus far. But most indicators suggest he has mostly been his usual self, and his recent good form helps support that view. Quintana owns a 15.5% K%-BB% mark on the year, just as he has in recent years while consistently posting low-3 ERAs. And he has racked up 45 strikeouts with a 2.70 ERA over his last forty innings.

The deeper history is yet more promising, of course. Since landing with the South Siders as an utterly unheralded free agent, he has done nothing but produce results. Quintana carried a 3.41 lifetime ERA entering the 2017 season and has not missed a start over the past five seasons. With the contract control baked in, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs just ranked Quintana the 42nd most valuable trade asset in the game.

Eloy Jimenez | Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Understandably, then, the Cubs paid a hefty price to draw the southpaw up town. Jimenez, clearly, is the headliner. A consensus top-ten prospect leaguewide, the twenty-year-old corner outfielder is viewed as a future middle-of-the-order bat. He has impressed thus far in his first attempt at the High-A level, posting a .271/.351/.490 batting line with eight home runs over 174 plate appearances.

The package doesn’t end there, though. Cease is also generally valued as one of the game’s hundred best pre-MLB players, making him arguably the Cubs’ second-best overall prospect and most promising young hurler. While he’s seen as something of a risky asset, given his injury history and relative lack of polish, Cease is tabbed with top-line upside. He carries a 2.79 ERA with 12.9 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 at the Class A level.

Rose and Flete aren’t without their interest, either, though neither registers as a significant prospect at this stage. The former is a corner infielder who has slashed .227/.281/.481 with 14 long balls through 254 plate appearances this year as a teammate of Jimenez at Myrtle Beach. The 24-year-old Flete has also played there, putting up the best season (.305/.355/.425) thus far in his minors career while playing all over the diamond (including at shortstop).

The move leaves quite a few other teams still looking for controllable starters, with one key asset now off the market. Sonny Gray of the Athletics is perhaps the clearest alternative trade candidate, while quality arms such as Gerrit Cole, Michael Fulmer, and Chris Archer do not appear to be as readily available. Organizations such as the Yankees, Brewers, Twins, and Astros will be looking hard at those and other possibilities over the next two-and-a-half weeks. Today’s big intra-city swap sets an important market marker for those talks.

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