Royals Acquire Paul DeJong
4:01PM: The trade has been officially announced, and the Royals have designated righty John McMillon for assignment to create roster space for DeJong. McMillon made his MLB debut with four innings of 2.25 ERA ball with K.C. in 2023, but has struggled in posting a 6.53 ERA across 30 1/3 innings with Triple-A Omaha this year.
2:51PM: The Royals have bolstered their infield depth by acquiring shortstop Paul DeJong from the White Sox, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (via X). Right-handed pitching prospect Jarold Rosado is headed to the Sox in return, as per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. The deal will become official after a medical review. Since the Royals and White Sox are playing each other tonight in Chicago, DeJong might be able to make a quick debut for his new club against his old club.
In a dismal White Sox season, DeJong has been a relatively bright spot, hitting .228/.275/.430 with a team-leading 18 homers in 363 plate appearances. While his 95 wRC+ is still below the league average, it still represents a significant step up from the 73 wRC+ DeJong posted over the 2020-23 seasons, while hitting .200/.273/.352 in 1213 PA for the Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Giants.
DeJong’s strikeout and walk rates are among the worst in baseball, but he still makes a decent amount of hard contact and can generate power when he does square up. Beyond the power-centric offensive profile, DeJong doesn’t offer much in the field, as his glovework has sharply declined after once being one of the sport’s better defensive shortstops.
While the Royals are more than set already at shortstop with Bobby Witt Jr., DeJong brings some extra pop to a K.C. team that ranks 19th of 30 teams in homers. Witt and Salvador Perez (each with 19 round-trippers) are the only Royals players with more home runs than DeJong, so he could bring some power off the bench, or in a part-time capacity at second or third base.
The right-handed hitting DeJong could pair with the left-handed hitting Michael Massey for a natural platoon at the keystone, or DeJong could get some at-bats ahead of the offensively-struggling Maikel Garcia at third base. DeJong hasn’t played much second base in his career and had never played any third before this season, but another infield position might be the better option given the decline in his shortstop work.
DeJong is a free agent after the season, making him one of the more clear-cut players to be dealt by the rebuilding White Sox. The infielder (who turns 31 later this week) signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with Chicago last winter, so the remaining $580K or so on his deal represents a pretty small financial burden for Kansas City to assume.
Rosado just turned 22 earlier this month, and the former international signing has a 1.85 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate, and 7.2% walk rate over 39 relief innings for A-level Columbia this season. Injuries cost Rosado the entire 2022 season and limited him to 10 innings in 2021 and 26 innings last year, but he has looked much sharper and reduced his walk rate significantly in his first healthy pro season.
Mets Acquire Tyler Zuber From Rays
The Rays are dealing righty reliever Tyler Zuber to the Mets for minor league reliever Paul Gervase, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (X link). Reliever Ty Adcock was designated for assignment by the Mets to clear a spot for Zuber, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post.
Zuber, 29, was signed by the Rays to a minor league deal back in May out of the Atlantic League. After striking out a third of the batters he faced at Triple-A over 21 2/3 innings, the Rays selected his contract nine days ago. When Zuber took the hill against DJ LeMahieu and the Yankees earlier this month, it marked nearly three years between big league appearances. Today, he’s been shipped to New York as the Rays make room for Hunter Bigge, acquired in the Isaac Paredes deal with the Cubs. It appears Zuber may fall just shy of three years of Major League service (and arbitration eligibility) if he stays up with the Mets for the rest of their season and remains on their 40-man roster.
Zuber joins a Mets bullpen that also welcomed Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek in trades this month. The Mets designated lefty Jake Diekman for assignment yesterday, calling up Matt Gage. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns also supplemented the club’s rotation today, adding Paul Blackburn in a trade with the A’s.
Gervase, a 6’10” 24-year-old righty, was drafted by the Mets out of Louisiana State in the 12th round in 2022. He’s punched out 38% of batters faced at Double-A this year, but also walked 14%. In his last 13 appearances, he’s whiffed over 41% of batters. It’s been an interesting journey thus far for Gervase, who you can read more about in this New York Post article by Mark W. Sanchez last October.
Adcock, 27, was drafted by the Mariners in the eighth round back in 2019. He made his big league debut last year, but was designated for assignment in April of this year. The Tigers claimed him on waivers, and lost him to the Mets about a month later in another claim. Adcock made only three appearances for the Mets, most recently allowing six runs in 1 1/3 innings on July 5th at Pittsburgh. Adcock, who averaged 96.5 miles per hour in his brief big league stint this year, has a 5.24 ERA across three different Triple-A teams this year.
Padres To Acquire Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing
3:37pm: The Padres are sending left-hander Robby Snelling and right-hander Adam Mazur to Miami, reports ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez. Mish adds that infielder/outfielder Graham Pauley is also part of the return, and Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that infielder Jay Beshears is the fourth and final player in the return. It’s a major haul that’ll send three of the Padres’ top remaining prospects (Snelling, Mazur, Pauley) to Miami in exchange for the pair of relievers.
3:32pm: The Padres are finalizing a deal to acquire closer Tanner Scott from the Marlins, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald adds that righty Bryan Hoeing is also going to San Diego in the deal.
It’s the latest trade market strike for a Padres club that has already added righty Jason Adam in a deal with the Rays and that picked up Luis Arraez in another early-season blockbuster with Miami. The Scott trade is still pending the medical review of the players involved.
Scott, 30, has one of the lowest ERAs in the majors this season, with a pristine 1.18 mark in 45 2/3 innings of work. He’s averaged 97.1 mph on his heater, fanned 29.1% of his opponents and induced grounders at a hearty 49% clip. The flamethrowing lefty has picked up 18 saves for Miami on the season and tacked on another 12 saves in 2023, when he tossed 78 innings of 2.31 ERA ball.
Impressive as Scott’s earned run average has been, he’s seen a resurgence of the command troubles that plagued him for his entire career prior to the 2023 campaign, when he went from a lifetime 14.2% walk rate to a tidy 7.8% mark. Scott has issued a free pass to a glaring 14.8% of his opponents this season, although a good portion of his command troubles came in the season’s first few weeks. He’s posted a 0.49 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate and more manageable (but still too high) 10.9% walk rate dating back to April 20. At this point, last year’s strong walk rate looks like an aberration.
Scott is playing the season on a one-year, $5.7MM contract. He’s a pure rental for the Friars, barring an extension, and won’t net them any draft compensation, as his midseason trade renders him ineligible for a qualifying offer. The Padres are ponying up on a big offer in hopes of building a dominant bullpen that can help them navigate short postseason series with off-days baked in throughout the schedule. Scott and Hoeing join the aforementioned Adam, Robert Suarez (1.51 ERA in 41 2/3 innings), Jeremiah Estrada (2.92 ERA in 39 2/3 frames), Adrian Morejon (2.74 ERA in 42 2/3 innings) and Yuki Matsui (3.45 ERA in 47 2/3 frames) to round out a formidable relief corps.
Also joining the revamped bullpen is the 27-year-old Hoeing. He’s not nearly as established as Scott and the majority of his new bullpen-mates but is nevertheless enjoying a strong 2024 campaign. In 30 frames, he’s logged a 2.70 ERA with a below-average but respectable 20.2% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate. Hoeing has kept the ball on the ground at a 48.9% clip in part because of a sinker that averages a solid 93.7 mph. He throws that pitch just over half the time and pairs it with a slider-splitter combo — and a rarely-used four-seamer — that helps keep both lefties and, to a lesser extent, righties off balance.
Although Hoeing will turn 28 in October, he’ll finish the season with just two years of MLB service time. That’ll make him controllable for the Padres not only for the stretch run in ’24 but for four additional seasons thereafter. He won’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2025-26 offseason at the earliest, and he still has a pair of minor league option years remaining. That gives them a potential long-term piece in the ‘pen, which the Friars surely coveted in exchange for giving up what looks like an impressive collection of young talent that’ll continue to beef up a rapidly improving Marlins system.
Among the names going to the Marlins in the deal, the 23-year-old Mazur and 23-year-old Pauley have both made their big league debuts. Mazur is the more highly regarded of the two, having been a second-round pick back in 2022. He’s struggled to a 7.49 ERA through his first five big league appearances but has posted a 4.39 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and outstanding 5% walk rate in 55 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season.
Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Mazur as the Padres’ No. 4 prospect, calling him a potential mid-rotation starter on the back of 60- or 70-grade command. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen offered a more measured approach recently, noting that Mazur’s command struggles in the majors and some lost life on his heater have him looking more like a potential reliever. There’s some variance in potential outcomes, as is to be expected with a 23-year-old starter who’s rapidly climbed the minor league ranks, but Mazur has the potential to be a rotation piece for several years in Miami.
Pauley went 4-for-32 in a tiny cup of coffee with the Padres earlier this season and has struggled through a down year in Triple-A, hitting just .228/.342/.390. Even as he’s stumbled there, however, he’s drawn walks at a 13.9% clip and played all over the diamond, logging innings at first base, second base, third base and in both outfield corners.
Again, both BA and MLB.com are more bullish on Pauley, ranking him inside the Padres’ top-six prospects, while FanGraphs pegged him at 13th earlier this month. He raked at a .308/.393/.593 clip across three minor league levels in 2023, and his versatility adds value to his profile.
Pauley was primarily a third baseman early on but began moving around the field as the Padres looked to make him more versatile (understandable with Manny Machado entrenched at the hot corner in San Diego). He won’t face that type of permanent roadblock in Miami — Jake Burger could move across the diamond following the trade of Josh Bell — giving Pauley a potential audition as an everyday third baseman or at least a bat-first utilityman.
While Mazur and Pauley have both reached the majors, it’s arguably Snelling who’s the headliner of the deal. The 20-year-old has struggled in the minors this year, but that’s in large part due to an aggressive assignment to Double-A, where he’s one of the league’s youngest players.
The No. 39 overall pick in 2022, Snelling breezed from Low-A to Double-A last season, posting 103 2/3 innings of 1.86 ERA ball with a combined 28.4% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate as a 19-year-old. He’s been roughed up for a 6.01 ERA in his second shot at Double-A — he only pitched 17 innings there last year — with strikeout and walk rates that have trended in the wrong direction (20.2% and 10%, respectively). Still, Snelling ranks as the game’s No. 44 prospect at MLB.com (though he’s fallen off top-100 lists at FanGraphs and BA).
Rounding out the Marlins’ return is Beshears, a 22-year-old Duke product whom the Padres selected in the sixth round of last year’s draft. He’s hitting .261/.373/.377 between Low-A and High-A this season, with a gaudy 13.6% walk rate against just an 18.7% strikeout rate. He’s a power-over-hit infielder who ranked near the back of the Padres’ top 30 on most publications, in part due to questionable arm strength that makes him a tough fit for the left side of the infield.
The Padres have held firm on their reluctance to trade top-ranked prospects like catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries, but the remainder of their system has been picked over in the past four months thanks to acquisitions of Scott, Hoenig, Adam, Arraez and (in spring training) Dylan Cease. They’re a Wild Card team at best in all likelihood, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has never encountered a star player he didn’t love on the trade market and isn’t deviating from old habits in 2024. With Salas and De Vries still in tow, the Padres have the firepower to make another blockbuster add if they soften their stance on that pair, and the timing of this trade gives Preller a bit more than an hour to survey the remainder of the trade market.
Rangers Acquire Andrew Chafin
The Rangers announced they’ve acquired lefty reliever Andrew Chafin from the Tigers. Pitching prospects Joseph Montalvo and Chase Lee are going to Detroit. Texas designated righty Jonathan Hernandez for assignment in a corresponding move.
The 34-year-old Chafin is in the midst of yet another solid season. He’s pitched 37 innings of 3.16 ERA ball with a big 30.9% strikeout rate, a 9.9% walk rate and a 35.8% grounder rate. He’s been particularly dominant of late, rattling off 17 innings of one-run ball with a 26-to-5 K/BB ratio dating back to early June.
That 35.8% grounder rate is an uncharacteristically low mark for Chafin, who’s changed up his pitch usage this year. He’s throwing more sliders than ever before (46.4%) and missing more bats as a result but also yielding more balls in the air and a few more walks than in recent years. Chafin’s velocity is down a bit from its 93-94 mph peak, however, sitting around 92 mph on average this year with both his four-seamer and sinker. It’s possible the change in repertoire was borne out of the diminishing life on those harder offerings. Regardless, it’s been an effective recipe for the well-traveled southpaw, who’ll now suit up for the sixth team of his 11-year career.
Chafin is playing on a one-year, $4.75MM contract, although the Rangers are picking up another year of possible control over him in the form of a 2025 club option valued at $6.5MM (a net $6MM decision after factoring in a $500K buyout). He’s owed about $1.42MM of his $4.25MM base salary but has a handful of incentives approaching that could boost the value of that contract. Chafin would earn a $125K bonus for pitching in his 50th game — he’s at 41 appearances — before taking home $250K bonuses for reaching 55 and 60 games, a $300K bonus for 65 games and a $325K bonus for reaching 70 appearances. The last of those milestones could be hard to reach, but the Rangers will be on the hook for some additional incentives of note, which will all come with a 30% tax given their luxury-tax status.
With Chafin’s acquisition and Cody Bradford‘s return from a 60-day IL stint, a Rangers bullpen that has lacked an established left-handed option for much of the season will suddenly have two quality options in that regard. Chafin will join a late-inning mix including Kirby Yates, David Robertson and Jose Leclerc. He’s held lefties to an awful .180/.261/.213 batting line this season, and while righties are enjoying more success at .293/.366/.390, they’re not managing much power against the southpaw. In his career, Chafin has yielded only a .234/.313/.361 line to right-handed opponents, though much of that came with a more vibrant fastball and different mix of his three pitches.
The trade for Chafin underscores the fact that yesterday’s trade of Michael Lorenzen to the Royals was less about selling off in the midst of a disappointing season and rather opening space for the return of several other veteran starters (e.g. Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, Dane Dunning and, further down the road, Jacob deGrom). Much of the cost-savings from that trade of Lorenzen — earning $4.5MM with incentives of his own — will now be reallocated to the comparably priced Chafin.
Montalvo is the more highly regarded of the prospects headed to Detroit. Baseball America ranked him 19th on their most recent update of the Texas system, crediting him with a plus changeup and the ability to spin his low-90s fastball. He’s dominating lower minors opponents, striking out nearly 30% of batters faced with a 2.44 ERA in High-A. Lee is an upper minors reliever who’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft next offseason if he’s not added to the 40-man roster. He lost the first couple months of this season to injury but had a 3.98 ERA in Triple-A last year.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Rangers were finalizing a deal for Chafin. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal confirmed an agreement was in place. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported the Tigers would receive Montalvo and Lee.
Twins Acquire Trevor Richards
The Twins have acquired right-hander Trevor Richards in a trade with the Blue Jays, as per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes (via X). Minor league infielder Jay Harry is heading to Toronto on the other end of the deal, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi report (X link).
A veteran of seven MLB seasons, Richards has now been traded four times in his career, and came to the Jays along with Bowden Francis in a July 2021 deal that saw Rowdy Tellez swapped to the Brewers. 2021 was also the year that saw Richards fully assume a bullpen role after working mostly as a starter earlier in his career, and Richards has been a long relief option (with the occasional start in a bullpen game) over his stint in Toronto.
Richards’ performance has been inconsistent, as he leaves the Jays with a 4.75 ERA over his 221 2/3 total innings with the team. This season, Richards has a 4.64 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with a subpar 11% walk rate and a 22.5% strikeout rate that is around league average. The latter number is way down from the 31.3K% Richards posted in 2021-23, though his barrel rate is much improved from the previous three seasons.
It should be noted that Richards had a 2.44 ERA as recently as July 3, but he has been torched for 15 runs over his last eight appearances. Richards might’ve had somewhat limited trade value anyway as a rental reliever who isn’t usually used in high-leverage situations, but this rough stretch in the last few weeks certainly didn’t help the Blue Jays’ efforts to move the 31-year-old.
Richards has about $710K remaining on his $2.1MM salary for the 2024 season, making him a pretty inexpensive addition to Minnesota’s relief corps. Recent reports indicated that the Twins don’t have much money to work with for deadline upgrades, as their estimated (as per RosterResource) $128.5MM payroll could represent something closer to the upper limits of what ownership is willing to spend. Concerns over broadcasting revenue have been a big story for the Twins over the last year, resulting in both a pretty quiet offseason and what had been a quiet deadline push — the Twins were the last team to swing a trade within the week.
These financial limitations add another layer of difficulty to the Twins’ plans to upgrade a team that is in possession of an AL wild card berth. For the Jays, their deadline semi-fire sale continues, as Richards joins Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Yimi Garcia, Danny Jansen, and Nate Pearson as players moved in the last couple of weeks.
Harry was a sixth-round pick for the Twins in the 2023 draft, and he just turned 22 years old within the last couple of weeks. The Penn State product has a .214/.306/.349 slash line over 340 plate appearances for high-A Cedar Rapids this season, playing primarily at shortstop and second base while also getting some time at third base and in all three outfield positions. This versatility might help Harry’s chances of climbing the minor league ladder as a super-utility man, though naturally he’ll need to show a bit more at the plate.
Yankees Trade Caleb Ferguson To Astros
The Astros have acquired lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Yankees in exchange for minor league pitcher Kelly Austin and international signing bonus space, according to an announcement by New York. Houston is reportedly sending $750K in bonus room.
New York acquired Ferguson from the Dodgers over the offseason. He has had a difficult season, pitching to a 5.13 ERA over 42 appearances. That’s in part because of poor sequencing, as he has only stranded 62.2% of baserunners. Yet Ferguson has also been somewhat homer prone and is issuing walks at an elevated 10.3% clip.
Ferguson is still missing a decent number of bats. He’s striking out 26.5% of opponents behind an 11.5% swinging strike rate. Those are each in line with his career marks, although his 93.7 MPH average fastball speed is a bit below the 95-96 MPH range he’d posted over the previous two seasons.
Over parts of five seasons with the Dodgers before last winter’s trade, Ferguson turned in a 3.43 earned run average. He had an identical mark across 60 1/3 frames last season. Ferguson doesn’t have much in the way of a platoon split for his career, so he’s not an ideal fit as a situational specialist, but he’s only a year removed from being a solid overall middle reliever.
The Astros have been light on left-handed relief for the past few seasons. They signed Josh Hader to a five-year contract last winter, but he’s obviously holding down the ninth inning. Houston hasn’t had much in the way of a middle innings option for manager Joe Espada, though that generally hasn’t been a priority for their front office. Aside from Hader, only rookie Bryan King and Parker Mushinski have logged any action out of the bullpen as southpaws.
New York is similarly light on left-handed bullpen options, though they might take a bigger swing on the trade market in the next three hours. Tim Hill stands as the only southpaw in their current relief mix. The Yanks could be involved on top rental lefty Tanner Scott or a less exciting target like Tanner Banks or old friend Justin Wilson.
Ferguson is making $2.4MM in his final year of arbitration. There’s a little less than $800K in salary for the stretch run. The Yankees are paying a 110% tax on salary, so offloading Ferguson saves them around $2MM. Houston is in the second luxury tax bracket, so they’re paying a 32% tax — around $250K — to pick him up. He’ll be a free agent next offseason.
Austin, 23, is a former undrafted free agent out of UCLA. He has worked out of the bullpen in the low minors this season, turning in a 2.21 ERA across 36 2/3 innings. The 6’0″ righty has dominated low minors competition, striking out 31% of opponents while issuing walks at a meager 4.7% clip.
Jack Curry of the YES Network first reported the Astros were acquiring Ferguson for a minor leaguer and international bonus pool space. Chandler Rome of the Athletic identified the player as Austin and reported the $750K figure.
Mets Acquire Paul Blackburn
The Mets strengthened their rotation depth, acquiring Paul Blackburn from the A’s for pitching prospect Kade Morris. Both teams have announced the deal.
New York was pressed into looking for a starter by the recent injuries to Christian Scott and Kodai Senga. New York was contemplating dealing from their rotation as recently as a few weeks ago. Scott went down with a UCL sprain while Senga’s return from the injured list was short-lived. He strained his calf in his season debut and might miss the rest of the year.
Blackburn has missed a good chunk of the year himself. He was shelved from early May onward by a stress reaction in his right foot. The A’s only reinstated him from the injured list last week. Blackburn tossed five innings of four-run ball against the Angels in his final start in an Oakland uniform. Including his eight appearances before landing on the shelf, he owns a 4.41 ERA through 51 innings.
The 30-year-old Blackburn made an All-Star team a couple seasons ago. He’s nevertheless more of a solid back-end arm than a high-end starter. Blackburn doesn’t throw especially hard and typically doesn’t miss a ton of bats. Last season’s 22.4% strikeout rate was a personal high, though that number typically lands closer to this year’s 18.3% mark. Blackburn attacks the strike zone and keeps the ball on the ground at an average or better clip.
Blackburn has posted an ERA in the low-4.00s in three straight seasons. While the A’s have used him exclusively out of the rotation, the Mets could give him a look in long relief. New York’s starting five consists of Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, David Peterson and Tylor Megill. Blackburn could stay stretched out for multiple innings in the bullpen or displace one of Peterson or Megill from the rotation. José Buttó is also on hand but the Mets seem to prefer him in a relief role rather than stretching him back out for starting work.
It comes at a fairly modest financial cost. Blackburn is playing on a $3.45MM arbitration salary, around $1.132MM of which remains. He’ll be eligible for what should be a slight raise next season before reaching free agency after the ’25 campaign. New York is paying a 110% tax on whatever salary they take on this summer, so this will cost them roughly $2.38MM for the stretch run.
Morris, 22, was New York’s third-round pick a year ago. The University of Nevada product has combined for a 3.51 ERA in 92 1/3 innings between two A-ball levels. He’s striking out an above-average 24.1% of opponents against a 7.6% walk rate. Baseball America ranked the 6’3″ righty as the #26 prospect in the New York farm system. BA credits him with a solid four-pitch mix and above-average athleticism and control. There’s no headline offering in the arsenal, but Morris has the makings of a potential starter down the line.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Mets and A’s were nearing a Blackburn trade. Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirmed that agreement was in place. Will Sammon of the Athletic first reported the A’s would get Morris in return.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Royals Acquire Lucas Erceg
The Royals have acquired right-hander Lucas Erceg from the Athletics, per announcements from both clubs. The A’s receive right-handers Mason Barnett and Will Klein as well as outfielder Jared Dickey.
Erceg took an unusual path to being a midseason trade target. He was drafted by the Brewers as a third baseman back in 2016 but flamed out as a hitter and eventually moved to the mound. In 2021, he tossed 47 2/3 innings at the Double-A level, allowing 5.29 earned runs per nine. As you might expect for a new convert to pitching, control was an issue at first. Erceg gave out walks to 16.4% of batters faced that year but he also got strikeouts at a decent 21.1% clip and grounders at a strong 56.8% rate.
He has generally made positive progress in each season since as he has become more accustomed to his new career path. In 2022, he logged 61 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.55 ERA, a decent step forward from the prior season. His strikeout and walk rates also improved to 24.4% and 13.1%, respectively.
In 2023, he started the year back at Triple-A before he was traded from Milwaukee to Oakland in a cash deal, with the A’s adding him to their roster shortly thereafter. He tossed his first 55 major league innings last year with a 4.75 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 14.3% walk rate and 46.1% ground ball rate. The control was still an issue but it was an encouraging debut nonetheless, especially for a guy with such a limited track record on the mound. He averaged 98 miles per hour with both his four-seam fastball and his sinker while also throwing a changeup, slider and cutter.
His second major league season has seen him continue to grow. His 26.3% strikeout rate is a slight drop from last year but he has cut his walk rate all the way down to 8.3%, with his ground ball rate also creeping up to 50.5%. That’s resulted in a 3.68 ERA in 36 2/3 innings, with Erceg racking up three saves and 12 holds on the year.
The A’s didn’t necessarily have to trade Erceg now. He came into this season with less than a year of service time, meaning he can still be retained for five seasons after the current campaign, but there are also logical reasons why they were tempted to make him available.
Due to his unusual trajectory, Erceg is now 29 years old. With the A’s deep in a rebuild, he will be in his early 30s and into his arbitration seasons by the time they are likely to be competitive again. Relievers are generally considered pretty volatile in general and that might be even more true with Erceg, who has such limited experience relative to most of his peers. Rather than hold him and take the risk that his performance takes a downturn or he suffers an injury, the A’s decided to make him available at this deadline, while the industry consensus has generally been that the acquisition costs for pitching have been quite high.
The Royals have surged back into contention after many years of struggles and have been aggressive in bolstering their roster for a playoff push. The bullpen has naturally been a target area for the club this year, as their relievers have a collective 4.30 ERA that places them 24th in the majors. Their 18.6% strikeout rate is actually second to last, ahead of only the Rockies.
They acquired Hunter Harvey from the Nationals recently and this trade for Erceg will give them a couple of fresh arms who both have big punchout potential. They also added Michael Lorenzen as a swingman to bolster the group in general, as he can help them in multiple ways.
Considering the A’s just got Erceg in a cash deal last May, they are likely quite happy to cash him in for three younger players barely over a year later. Barnett, 23, was a third-round pick of the Royals in 2022. He made 23 starts last year between High-A and Double-A with a 3.30 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. His ERA has jumped to 4.91 at Double-A this year but with similar peripherals. His .336 batting average on balls in play and 64.2% strand rate are probably masking those underlying metrics, as he has a 27.4% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. Baseball America currently lists him as the #11 prospect in the Royals’ system while FanGraphs has him slightly higher at #7.
Klein, 24, is a reliever who made his major league debut this year. He has 5 2/3 innings in the show so far with a 6.35 ERA. Command appears to be the biggest issue with him. Since being selected in the fifth-round of the 2020 draft, he has tossed 216 minor league innings with a 5.17 ERA. His 30.7% strikeout rate is quite impressive but he’s also given free passes to 16.1% of batters that have come to the plate. BA and FG both put him at #16 in the system.
Dickey, 22, was just drafted in the 11th round last year. He’s slashing .269/.360/.424 in High-A this year for a wRC+ of 127 and has also stolen eight bases. Neither BA nor FG have him on their KC prospect lists.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported on X that Erceg was headed to the Royals. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the return on X.
Mariners Acquire JT Chargois
The Mariners have landed right-hander JT Chargois in a deal with the Marlins, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (X link). In return, the Marlins will receive minor league right-hander Will Schomberg, as reported by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (X link).
Chargois began the 2024 season on the injured list due to neck spasms and did not make his 2024 debut until mid-June. Since his return from the IL, the 33-year-old has put up excellent surface-level numbers, having allowed just three earned runs over 16 2/3 innings. However, he has struck out only 12 batters (16.9% K%) while walking seven (9.9% walk rate), and all three runs he has given up have come on home runs. What’s more, he is inducing groundballs at just a 34.6% rate, well below his 52.9% career average entering the season. As a result, Chargois’s underlying numbers are not nearly as impressive as his sparkling ERA; he has a 4.74 SIERA and 5.21 xERA, both of which would be the worst of his career. Even more worrisome, his fastball velocity has decreased significantly. His sinker, which averaged 96.3 mph last season, is down to 94.4 mph this year.
With all that said, Chargois has been an effective reliever in the recent past. Over 211 2/3 career innings with the Twins, Dodgers, Mariners, Rays, and Marlins, he has a 3.40 ERA and 3.84 SIERA. He was particularly effective from 2021-23, following his return from a brief stint in NPB. Across those three seasons, the righty went 9-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 3.99 SIERA over 118 1/3 innings. Perhaps a return to Seattle – an organization known for developing excellent pitching – will help Chargois get back on the right track. After all, it was the Mariners who took a chance on him in 2021 after his difficult 2019 season with the Dodgers (6.33 ERA in 21 1/3 IP) and poor performance in Japan (4.58 ERA in 35 1/3 IP). He pitched to a 3.00 ERA in 30 IP with Seattle over the first four months of the season before he was traded to Tampa Bay at the deadline.
Chargois will presumably slot into a middle relief role in the Mariners’ bullpen. Seattle ranks 12th in MLB with a 3.76 bullpen ERA and sixth with a 3.54 bullpen SIERA this season. Every reliever currently on the team’s active roster has a SIERA under 3.70, but the Mariners surely understand that there is no such thing as too much bullpen depth down the stretch. Chargois, who is earning $1.285MM this season, will be eligible for arbitration one more time in 2025.
Schomberg signed with the Mariners organization as an undrafted free agent in July of 2023. He has split the 2024 season between Single-A and High-A, pitching to a 2.83 ERA and 4.23 FIP in 19 starts (92 1/3 innings). Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs included Schomberg among the “other prospects of note” beyond his top 34 prospects in the Mariners system earlier this month. Longenhagen praised the righty’s “elite breaking ball spin,” noting the success he had “throwing a lot of cutters and curveballs” before his promotion to High-A.
Yankees Scratch Gerrit Cole With Body Fatigue, To Select Will Warren
The Yankees scratched Gerrit Cole from tonight’s scheduled start against the Phillies due to general body fatigue. Well-regarded pitching prospect Will Warren is getting the call for a spot start in what’ll be his major league debut. The Yankees will need to select him onto the 40-man roster, which has two vacancies pending their deadline activity.
There’s no indication this is anything more than a day-to-day issue. Yet it’s at least worth monitoring after Cole missed the first half of the season with elbow inflammation. Cole has made seven starts since being reinstated in the middle of June. He owns an uncharacteristic 5.40 ERA thanks largely to nine home runs allowed.
If the Yankees are at all concerned about Cole’s health, it could impact their approach to the deadline over the next two hours. They’ve already been tied to starting pitchers, including to Jack Flaherty at the top of the market. There are rumblings the Yanks could even add an impact starter like Flaherty and look to flip Nestor Cortes.
Warren, 25, is a former eighth-round pick who has developed into one of New York’s top prospects. He ranks seventh among Yankees farmhands at Baseball America. Warren’s arsenal is headlined by his mid-90s fastball and potential plus slider. He has a shot to be a mid-rotation starter. The Southeastern Louisiana product has started 20 times in Scranton. His 6.11 earned run average is disappointing, but Warren has an impressive 27.1% strikeout rate against a manageable 8.2% walk percentage.