Dodgers Designate Cole Figueroa
The Dodgers have designated infielder Cole Figueroa for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed for the activation of outfielder Andrew Toles, with righty Carlos Frias optioned to clear active roster space.
Figueroa was claimed off waivers after being designated for assignment by the Pirates. He was optioned to Triple-A upon reporting to the Dodgers organization, and had racked up six hits and three walks in 23 plate appearances heading into today’s action.
A heady and versatile player, Figueroa was re-united with former Rays GM Andrew Friedman in Los Angeles. It’s not difficult to see the attraction given Figueroa’s skillset, and the Dodgers will likely look to keep him in the organization if he can pass through waivers.
White Sox To Sign Ryan Webb
The White Sox have inked a minor league deal with reliever Ryan Webb, per Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago (Twitter link). The veteran righty will report to Triple-A.
Webb, 30, had pitched to a 5.19 ERA over 17 1/3 innings with the Rays before being cut loose. Beneath the surface, though, he has been much the same pitcher as always — a sturdy but hardly dominant middle reliever.
Webb is still generating grounders on about half of the balls put in play against him and is near his career marks with 5.7 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9. The biggest problem thus far, it seems, has been a .417 batting average on balls put in play against him — though Webb’s career-worst hard contact rate (32.3%) suggests that may not just be a result of poor fortune.
For Chicago, the move adds depth in an area where the team has taken some hits of late. The South Siders are still running out a fairly talented overall relief unit, but have lost several useful arms already in 2016.
Top 25 Trade Candidates
It’s time for this week’s iteration of MLBTR’s top trade candidate series. The rumor mill is churning, and teams are jockeying for position in the standings — both of which have a big impact on our new list. In particular, a seven-game winning streak changes the Pirates’ situation — though the club is nevertheless said to be marketing at least one hurler. And Aaron Hill became the latest player to move, going from the Brewers to the Red Sox.
For those who’ll inevitably ask: no, I’m still not ready to put the Yankees on the board. They’d unquestionably have some major trade assets — led by Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, and Carlos Beltran — but the mega-market organization is still too close to contention to make a sell-off appear likely.
Your weekly reminder: we’re not just ranking players by skill alone; we’re looking at overall asset value and trade likelihood. To assess trade value, we’re starting with overall on-field ability — with a premium on the capacity to make an impact in the current season — and then adjusting for contract and market factors. With contenders’ needs in relatively sharp focus, limitations such as future contract status, age, and niche role (platoon bats, relief-only pitchers) tend to have less of a drag on value — though obviously they still matter quite a bit. With regard to the likelihood of a swap, the focus is on potential selling teams’ motivation to deal, with contract status, near and long-term roster fit, and overall competitiveness all weighing heavily. Some teams simply aren’t in a position at present where it makes sense to include their top potential trade chips, but that will evolve over the coming weeks.
Here’s this week’s list:
1. Jay Bruce, OF, Reds — Bruce seems to be drawing fairly broad interest: even teams like the Dodgers and the Nationals — who probably have wants more than needs in the outfield — are said to be checking in.
2. Jonathan Lucroy, C, Brewers — We’re still waiting to hear of serious interest in one of the game’s best catchers. There have been a few notable injuries to back-up catchers, which could open some daylight for demand. And it’s worth remembering that Lucroy brings enough with the bat that he could also see action at first or DH.
3. Rich Hill, SP, Athletics — Hill looked good in his return to the major league mound, and was even better yesterday. He looks to be the best pure rental arm available.
4. Josh Reddick, OF, Athletics — Reddick has thrown some 0-fers on the board since his return, with one big game propping up his numbers. That’s a miniscule sample, of course, but buying teams will be watching closely to see whether his thumb injury has any lingering effects.
5. Jake Odorizzi, SP, Rays — It’s tough to know how to order the controllable starters, but the Rays seem the likeliest team to move one and Odorizzi may offer the right blend of current performance, control length, and cost to facilitate a deal.
6. Danny Valencia, 3B, Athletics — Valencia keeps hitting and offers the most power of any potentially available infielders. With an added year of arb control available, he doesn’t need to be moved, but that also makes him a candidate to be picked up by an organization that wants to fill a 2017 need without going onto a tough market next winter.
7. Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Rockies — We’ve heard that the Rockies will consider dealing their star outfielder, though he has denied reports that he is looking to be moved. The NL West appears to be out of reach, and the Wild Card is a tall task as well. If Colorado is really willing to part with Gonzalez, he’d be one of the top trade pieces available.
8. Ryan Braun, OF, Brewers — With other corner outfield options emerging, the motivation for buyers to work out a complicated deal to land Braun may just not be there.
9. Ervin Santana, SP, Twins — Santana has been pitching quite well of late, and is said to be the likeliest member of the organization to change hands. Minnesota could certainly keep him, but there ought to be plenty of demand for a pitcher who looks like a good bet to contribute a lot of solid innings.
10. Zack Cozart, SS, Reds — Cozart is still the best pure shortstop who can be had, but it’s just not apparent whether any teams need a starter there — or whether any organization will give up enough to add him in a super-utility role.
11. Yunel Escobar, 3B, Angels — Escobar has been on fire at the plate since sitting out a few days, making for another interesting infield option. But Los Angeles isn’t interested in a rebuild, and he could be an important asset for the season to come.
12. Julio Teheran, SP, Braves — The signals from Braves country are that Teheran likely won’t be moved. With an understandably high asking price being placed on the young, controlled righty, and other options emerging, he may stick in Atlanta.
13. Drew Pomeranz, SP, Padres — Here’s another possible target for teams that don’t want to cough up prospects for a pitcher who’ll hit the open market in a few months’ time. San Diego is willing to deal, but probably won’t just take the highest offer for the emerging lefty. It’ll take a very interested buyer to pry loose Pomeranz.
14. Jeremy Hellickson, SP, Phillies — Each of Hellickson’s last three outings has ended with the same bottom-line result: one earned over six frames. He’s allowing less than four earned per nine now for the year after that stretch, and could help shore up a leaky staff. Back-of-the-rotation rentals are frequently swapped in July, and Hellickson looks like a likely candidate.
15. Arodys Vizcaino, RP, Braves — Vizcaino has been roughed up of late, allowing four earned on six hits and six walks while recording just two strikeouts over his last four appearances. If Teheran is pitching too well to be dealt, the opposite could be occurring here.
16. Eduardo Nunez, IF, Twins — Set for a surprise All-Star appearance, Nunez looks like a useful utility infielder now that he’s in the midst of his second-straight season of above-average offensive production. Minnesota doesn’t need to deal him, as he’s cheap and has another year of arbitration yet to come.
17. Melvin Upton, OF, Padres — Speaking of rehabilitated careers, Upton is putting up league-average offensive numbers with 19 steals and a still-useful glove. He’d be a useful fill-in starter for a team dealing with injuries or a nice fourth outfielder, and San Diego will surely like the idea of shedding some of his salary.
18. Matt Moore, SP, Rays — We’ve seen Moore’s name begin to come up in trade chatter despite his uneven performance. As Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs explains, though, Moore has shown signs that he could be harnessing his talent, making him an interesting upside play.
19. Charlie Blackmon, OF, Rockies — Though he isn’t a premium defender, Blackmon is capable of playing center field and is putting up impressive offensive numbers. He isn’t running like he did last year, but remains a valuable contributor on the basepaths, too. The Rockies certainly don’t need to deal him, given the affordable salary and two remaining seasons of control, but may be willing to talk if a contender decides it needs a new option up the middle.
20. Jeremy Jeffress, RP, Brewers — There isn’t much to add beyond what we’ve covered on Jeffress before. Milwaukee probably won’t settle for a solid return for the quality reliever, though his rising arb costs may play a role in the decisionmaking.
21. Derek Norris, C, Padres — After a sluggish start, Norris has raked since the calendar flipped to June. The 27-year-old is earning just shy of $3MM and comes with two more years of control, so San Diego doesn’t need to move him. But with Christian Bethancourt showing promise and Austin Hedges clamoring for a promotion, a deal seems plausible.
22. Chris Carter, 1B, Brewers — Carter continues to show monster power with episodic stretches where he doesn’t get on base. There are limits to his value, but teams in need of a big bat won’t find many other 30-home-run bats on the market.
23. Jon Niese, SP, Pirates — Last week’s list included some notable Bucs’ players — Mark Melancon and David Freese — who no longer seem likely to be available. (We’re letting this list go where the trade and contention winds take it.) But Pittsburgh is said to be shopping Niese despite its jump back into the postseason picture. The southpaw hasn’t been good, but teams in need of innings could certainly do worse than betting on a turnaround.
24. Jed Lowrie, IF, Athletics — We’ve already seen Kelly Johnson and Aaron Hill move in trades, and the 32-year-old Lowrie could fit a similar profile. He is hitting only .283/.339/.350 on the year, though that’s dampened a bit by his home park, and isn’t particularly cheap ($7.5MM salary with $7.5MM more to go for 2017 and an option buyout). Nevertheless, as the Johnson and Hill trades show, Lowrie is the type of player that contending teams often add to plug a hole and add versatility.
25. Peter Bourjos, OF, Phillies — Bourjos is suddenly laying waste to big league pitching and is a pure rental. Nobody is going to value him at his ridiculous batting line over the last month or so, of course, but the hot streak makes him a plausible chip. Bourjos can play center and run like the wind, so he doesn’t even need to hit much to have use — all the more so as a late-season option after rosters expand.
Keep reading for more names that were considered …
Rangers, Marlins Swap Pedro Ciriaco, Eric Jokisch
The Rangers have announced a deal with the Marlins involving two minor leaguer players. Lefty Eric Jokisch, who had been outrighted to Triple-A by Miami, will head to Texas in exchange for infielder Pedro Ciriaco.
The 26-year-old Jokisch lost his 40-man spot with the Marlins in a recent series of roster moves. He had pitched to a 4.37 ERA in 35 Triple-A frames on the year, but had recorded just 22 strikeouts while issuing 16 free passes.
Ciriaco, meanwhile, has appeared in six straight major league campaigns but has yet to do so in 2016. The light-hitting 30-year-old is known mostly for his high-quality glovework. He was playing on a minor league deal.
Red Sox Designate Sean Coyle
The Red Sox have designated infielder Sean Coyle for assignment, the team announced. His roster spot will go to utilityman Michael Martinez, whose acquisition is now official.
[Related: Updated Red Sox Depth Chart]
Coyle, 24, was originally a third-round selection in the 2010 draft. He had shown plenty of promise in the 2013-14 campaigns, when he posted .800+ OPS batting lines with double-digit home runs at High-A and then Double-A.
Things haven’t progressed quite as well since, however. Following a tough 2015 season, Coyle has posted a meager .165/.263/.280 slash over 250 plate appearances this year while splitting his time between the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
Red Sox Acquire Michael Martinez From Indians
The Indians announced today that utilityman Michael Martinez has been traded to the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations. Martinez had been designated for assignment this past Saturday.
[Related: Updated Red Sox & Indians Depth Charts]
The 33-year-old Martinez has never hit much in the Majors but brings some defensive versatility to the Red Sox’ depth chart. Though he’s just a .199/.244/.272 hitter at the big league level, Martinez does have experience at second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield positions. He batted .283/.306/.383 in 63 trips to the plate with Cleveland this season and is a lifetime .282/.336/.395 hitter in parts of nine seasons at the Triple-A level.
Jose Altuve Hires Scott Boras
Astros superstar Jose Altuve has changed agencies and is once again represented by Scott Boras, tweets Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. Robert Murray of FanRag Sports first noted the potential change yesterday (on Twitter). The 26-year-old had previously been repped by Boras but left his agency in 2013.
The agency switch won’t have any immediate impact on Altuve, who is in the midst of one of the game’s most attractive contracts (from the team perspective). He’s earning a modest $3.5MM this season in what would have been his second arbitration season, and he’ll take home $4.5MM in 2017 — his would-be third arbitration season. Houston also holds club options valued at $6MM and $6.5MM for the 2018-19 seasons which are, of course, a lock to be exercised barring some form of catastrophic injury. Altuve is currently slated to hit the open market for the first time as he heads into his age-30 season, so he’ll have plenty of earning potential three years down the line as a free agent.
Altuve’s agency switch will be reflected in the MLBTR Agency Database, which contains agent information on well over 2,000 Major League and minor league players. If you see any notable errors or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
Pirates Shopping Jon Niese
The Pirates are actively shopping Jon Niese and have called around to a number of teams to gauge interest in the left-hander recently, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported. Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hears the same and adds that the Bucs are anticipating at least a handful of scouts to be on hand this coming Sunday to watch Niese start the final game of the season’s first half.
Acquired from the Mets this offseason in a one-for-one swap with Neil Walker, Niese has struggled through the worst season of his nine-year career in the Majors. The 29-year-old currently holds a 4.87 ERA — his highest full-season mark of any in his career — and is averaging more walks per nine innings (3.1) than he has since 2010. The main problem for Niese, though, is that he’s been astonishingly prone to the long ball with Pittsburgh, surrendering 19 home runs through his first 98 innings. That mark is already higher than the total number of homers he allowed in the 2011, 2013 and 2014 seasons (individually, not combined), and it sits one behind last year’s total of 20 homers despite the fact that he’s pitched 80 fewer innings.
Of course, there are some positives about Niese’s numbers as well. His 6.2 K/9 rate is an improvement over last year’s career-low rate, his 54.7 percent ground-ball rate is a slight improvement over his career-high, and his average of 89.2 mph on his heater is right in line with the marks he’s put up over the past few years. xFIP, which normalizes his current outlier home run rate, doesn’t actually feel that Niese has been significantly worse than he was in 2015.
Even if you’re squinting to try to salvage some hope for Niese’s season, though, the fact remains that he’s allowed considerably more runs and been much more hittable than the Pirates were hoping when acquiring him in that December trade. And, with young arms like Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault all working their way up to the point of making their MLB debuts, the club has a number of younger options to deploy in favor of Niese and his $9MM salary.
That salary figures to stand as an obstacle to trading Niese, though Pittsburgh could absorb a portion of the remaining $4.23MM on that 2016 income in order to facilitate a trade. The Bucs also hold club options over Niese that are respectively valued at $10MM and $11MM for the upcoming 2017 and 2018 seasons, but Nesbitt writes that the club is likelier to buy out his 2017 option for $500K than pick it up in hope for a 2017 rebound.
His 2016 struggles notwithstanding, Niese was a solid mid-rotation arm for the Mets for many years prior to the trade. From 2012-15, Niese averaged 174 innings of 3.65 ERA ball in Queens, thriving due to strong ground-ball tendencies and a solid, if unspectacular 511-to-197 K/BB ratio. If the Bucs are willing to eat some cash, a team in need of pitching could roll the dice on Niese in hopes of a rebound that would make his club options look like a reasonable price to pay. From a speculative standpoint, the Orioles and Royals make some sense, as both are in need of rotation innings and could stand to add an arm that is controllable beyond the current campaign.
Matt Harvey To Undergo Surgery For Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Matt Harvey has elected to undergo surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder, agent Scott Boras tells ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin. The operation will end Harvey’s 2016 season.
Harvey was placed on the disabled list earlier this week, and it was reported soon after that he was to be evaluated for thoracic outlet syndrome — a compression of nerves and blood vessels in the shoulder area that is often alleviated by the removal of a rib in the patient. Twins right-hander Phil Hughes underwent the same procedure earlier this week, and other recent examples of players to undergo the procedure include Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia and Chris Young.
The injury has undoubtedly contributed to Harvey’s down season. The 26-year-old has posted a 4.86 ERA with diminished strikeout (7.4 K/9), walk (2.4 BB/9) and ground-ball (40.8 percent) rates while also seeing a 1.5 mph dip in his fastball velocity. Harvey has reportedly been experiencing numbness in his hand while pitching and, via Newsday’s Marc Carig (on Twitter), told manager Terry Collins following his most recent start (in Collins’ words): “My shoulder’s dead. My arm’s dead. There’s no energy there. I couldn’t feel the ball.”
The loss of Harvey is magnified by the fact that two of the Mets’ excellent young starters, Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard, are pitching through bone spurs in their elbows. Matz’s spur is said to be the larger and more severe of the two, and surgery has been mentioned as an option for him as well, though he’s hoping to delay the procedure until the offseason, as going under the knife would essentially end his 2016 campaign as well. Right-hander Zack Wheeler, too, has suffered some setbacks in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and doesn’t currently have a projected return date.
For now, the Mets will utilize Syndergaard, Matz, Jacob deGrom and Bartolo Colon as their front four starters, with right-hander Logan Verrett stepping into the rotation this weekend. Additional alternatives include lefty Sean Gilmartin and right-handers Rafael Montero, Robert Gsellman, Gabriel Ynoa and Seth Lugo (as can be seen on their depth chart), though several of those pitchers have struggled while pitching in the hitter-friendly environs of Triple-A Las Vegas this season.
Pirates To Promote Josh Bell
The Pirates will promote top first base prospect Josh Bell to the Majors to make his big league debut tonight, according to multiple reports (Logan Stout first tweeted word of Bell’s promotion).
[Related: Updated Pirates Depth Chart]
In Bell, the Pirates are promoting a player that ranks 38th on Baseball America’s just-updated Top 100 prospects list (published today). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com currently have Bell rated as the game’s No. 43 prospect. A 23-year-old switch-hitter that was selected 61st overall in the 2011 draft, Bell has had a monster season at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .324/.407/.535 with 13 homers, 19 doubles and four triples in 359 plate appearances. BA notes that Bell’s defense at first base is somewhat questionable — he just transitioned to the position in 2015 after previously playing right field — but both BA and MLB.com write that he could be a difference-maker at the plate and has middle-of-the-order potential. The 2016 season marks the first in which Bell has truly tapped into the power potential that led the Bucs to give him an over-slot bonus of $5MM back in 2011 when he slipped out of the first round due to signability concerns.
Bell’s promotion could mean that incumbent first baseman John Jaso will move into a bench role. Jaso, inked to a two-year, $8MM contract as a free agent this offseason, has provided his typical brand of steady production against right-handed pitching, but he’s limited to a strict platoon and is more good than great against righties (.285/.362/.413 this season). As Bell’s excellent Triple-A production (which recently landed him on Jason Martinez’s “Knocking Down the Door” series) indicates, he carries significantly higher upside at the plate. And, with an OPS north of .900 against both lefties and righties in Triple-A this season, Bell could be a long-term option that doesn’t require a platoon partner.
Bell becomes the latest top prospect to join the Pirates’ ranks, as they’ve promoted Top 100 mainstays Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow this year and also called up highly regarded organizational prospects such as Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault to make their big league debuts. Even if he’s in the Majors to stay, Bell will accrue just 86 days of big league service time in 2016, which would leave him well shy of eventually achieving Super Two designation. If this promotion to the big leagues proves to be permanent, the Bucs will control Bell through the 2022 season and he won’t be arbitration eligible until the completion of the 2019 campaign.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.