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Austin Davis

Red Sox, Pirates Swap Austin Davis And Michael Chavis

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The Red Sox announced the acquisition of lefty reliever Austin Davis from the Pirates, sending infielder Michael Chavis back to Pittsburgh in a one-for-one deal.

It’s a bit of a surprising pickup for Boston, since an elbow sprain has limited Davis to just 9 2/3 innings this year. He’s allowed seven runs (six earned) in that brief look, striking out eleven and issuing five walks. This is his fourth season seeing some action at the big league level, as the 28-year-old previously pitched for the Phillies and Pittsburgh from 2018-20. Altogether, he has a 5.65 ERA/4.04 SIERA in 71 2/3 innings.

Davis still has a pair of minor league option years remaining and hasn’t yet reached arbitration, though. He’ll give the Sox a flexible southpaw relief option who can be moved back and forth between Boston and Triple-A Worcester so long as he sticks on the 40-man roster.

Chavis was a one-time highly-regarded prospect, so it’s easy to see the appeal for the Pirates. Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington was leading the Boston front office when the Red Sox selected Chavis in the first round of the 2014 draft. The right-handed hitter has bounced on and off the big league roster over the past three years, picking up a little more than the equivalent of one full season’s worth of playing time. Chavis has a .234/.291/.413 line across 622 big league plate appearances to date.

He’s been too strikeout-prone to this point, but there’s little harm for the rebuilding Bucs in giving him a look. Chavis has the minor league pedigree and defensive flexibility — he’s seen time at each of first, second and third base, as well as in left field — to be an intriguing buy-low pickup. Chavis can still be optioned for the remainder of this season and next.

Robert Murray of FanSided reported the Red Sox were acquiring Davis. Keith Law of the Athletic reported that Chavis was going to the Pirates in return.

Pirates Place Mitch Keller On Injured List, Activate Colin Moran

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11:17 am: Pittsburgh isn’t ruling out the possibility Keller could make his next scheduled start Thursday against the Dodgers, GM Ben Cherington said (via Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

9:31 am: The Pirates announced they’ve activated first baseman Colin Moran and reliever Austin Davis from the injured list. Starter Mitch Keller has been placed on the COVID-19 IL, while utilityman Cole Tucker was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Moran has been out of action for just under a month as a result of a left groin injury. Before going down, the 28-year-old had gotten off to a fantastic start at the plate. Moran has hit .297/.352/.468 with four home runs over his first 122 plate appearances. If he continues to produce at that level, he figures to draw some interest from contenders in advance of the July 30 trade deadline. Moran is controllable through 2023 via arbitration, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the rebuilding Bucs were willing to discuss him in trade as they continue to bolster the farm system.

Keller was removed from his start on Friday with what the team termed a “heat illness.” It’s not clear if that issue is related to his current IL placement. The 25-year-old has made eleven starts this season, tossing 44 2/3 innings of 6.65 ERA/6.94 SIERA ball. The team didn’t provide a timetable for Keller’s return.

With Keller going on the COVID injured list, the Pirates created the 40-man roster spot necessary to reinstate Davis. The southpaw hasn’t pitched this year on account of an elbow sprain, spending the entire season to date on the 60-day IL. Davis has a 5.66 ERA/4.04 SIERA in parts of three seasons with the Phillies and Pirates.

Pirates Acquire Dustin Fowler From Athletics

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5:59pm: The teams have announced the trade. To make room for Fowler on their 40-man roster, the Pirates placed southpaw Austin Davis on the 60-day injured list with a left elbow sprain.

4:28pm: The Pirates have acquired outfielder Dustin Fowler from the Athletics for cash considerations, according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. Fowler spent a brief time in limbo after the A’s designated him for assignment Monday.

Pittsburgh will be the third big league organization for the 26-year-old Fowler, who began as an 18th-round pick of the Yankees in 2013. Fowler performed well as a minor leaguer with the Yankees and made his major league debut with the team in June 2017, but he suffered a brutal knee injury in his first game and never donned their uniform again. The Yankees wound up trading Fowler to the A’s a month later in the teams’ deal centering on right-hander Sonny Gray.

Fowler ranked as Baseball America’s 88th-best prospect in 2018, and he rebounded from his injury that year in Triple-A, where he batted .341/.364/.520 with four home runs in 13 stolen bases across 239 plate appearances. While Fowler also earned a good amount of playing time in Oakland that season, he slumped to a .224/.256/.354 line with six homers and a half-dozen steals in 203 PA and hasn’t appeared in the majors since. Fowler slashed .277/.333/.477 with 25 homers and 12 stolen bags over 606 tries during the most recent Triple-A campaign in 2019.

Although Fowler’s career hasn’t gone according to plan so far, there’s no real harm in taking a chance on his potential from the Pirates’ standpoint. Fowler may have a legitimate chance to earn a roster spot with outfielder-needy Pittsburgh, but with no minor league options remaining, the club won’t be able to send him down without potentially losing him.

Pirates Announce Three Trades

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The Pittsburgh Pirates announced a trio of trades today. The first deal completes their August deal for Austin Davis, which the Phillies announced earlier today. The Pirates sent right-hander Joel Cesar to Philadelphia to complete that transaction. Davis, 27, has 3 scoreless appearances since joining the Buccos.

The other two trades helped build the Pirates’ 2019-2020 international pool money. The Pirates sent left-hander Domingo Robles to the St. Louis Cardinals and right-hander Connor Loeprich to the Baltimore Orioles in separate trades for international pool money.

Robles, 22, signed with the Pirates on the first day of the international signing period in 2014. Across 5 seasons in the Pittsburgh system, Robles owns a 27-36 record with a 3.76 ERA and 6.4 K/9 to 2.1 BB/9. The Dominican southpaw made it as high as Double-A as a 21-year-old in 2019, going 4-6 with a 4.02 ERA across 103 innings. He was not among the Pirates top 42 prospects listed by Fangraphs at the start of 2020, nor the top 30 listed by Baseball America.

Loeprich turned 23-years-old this month, and he’ll now report to a new team in the Baltimore. Loeprich made it to High-A in 2019, though he spent the greater part of the year with Single-A Greensboro. In two seasons since being drafted out of St. Mary’s College of California, the 6’3″ right-hander sports a 3.68 ERA over 124 2/3 innings with 9.1 K/9 to 2.8 BB/9. Loeprich has largely worked out of the bullpen with only 8 starts out of 55 total minor-league appearances.

Phillies Acquire Joel Cesar To Complete Austin Davis Trade

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The Phillies announced that right-hander Joel Cesar has been acquired from the Pirates.  Cesar acts as the player to be named later from the August 26 trade that sent Austin Davis to Pittsburgh.

Cesar was a member of the Pirates’ 2015-16 international signing class, and the righty has posted some solid results over four seasons on the farm.  Cesar has a 3.18 ERA, 2.06 K/BB rate, and 8.7 K/9 over 138 2/3 innings, working as a reliever in 87 of his 90 career games.

The 24-year-old has yet to pitch beyond the Double-A level, though a Triple-A assignment would have been likely had there been a 2020 minor league season.  Cesar wasn’t included in Pittsburgh’s 60-man player pool, though he’ll now join Philadelphia’s 60-man mix and report to the Phils’ alternate training site.

Phillies Trade Austin Davis To Pirates

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The Phillies have traded lefty Austin Davis to the Pirates in exchange for cash and a player to be named later, per a club announcement. He was designated for assignment last Friday after Philadelphia acquired righty David Hale from the Yankees.

The 27-year-old Davis has spent parts of the 2018-20 seasons in the big leagues with the Phillies but hasn’t found an extended run of success just yet. He’s been rocked for a 5.86 ERA in 58 1/3 Major League innings, including seven runs in three frames this season. With 27 walks and five hit batters in his young career, control has been an issue, but it’s encouraging that the former 12th-rounder (2014) has also whiffed 64 hitters in those 58 1/3 MLB frames.

Davis has also been solid in Triple-A, where he’s logged a combined 2.69 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 through 82 2/3 innings of relief. He’s long posted strong strikeout numbers and impressive control in the minors, so there’s some hope he’ll improve in the bigs. Davis’ fastball averages 93.5 mph, and he has a pair of minor league options remaining (including this season), so he gives the Bucs some flexibility in that regard. It seems he’ll join Pittsburgh’s big league roster for the time being, however, as the Pirates’ announcement made no mention of optioning him to the alternate site.

Phillies Designate Austin Davis For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that they’ve designated left-hander Austin Davis for assignment. The move opens a spot on the 40-man roster for righty David Hale, whom the Phillies acquired in exchange for pitching prospect Addison Russ (as reported earlier today).

Davis, 27, has spent parts of the past three seasons in the Majors with the Phillies but has yet to establish himself as a consistent option. He’s allowed seven runs in three innings this season and pitched to an overall 5.86 ERA in 58 1/3 MLB frames. Davis has punched out 64 hitters in that time, but control has also been an issue, as evidenced by the 27 walks he’s allowed and the five batters he’s hit.

A 12th-round pick back in 2014, Davis has a sharp Triple-A track record, having compiled a 2.69 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 83 2/3 innings of relief at that level. Throughout the upper minors, he’s generally posted above-average strikeout numbers with solid control. He’s also averaged 93.5 mph on his heater in the Majors and has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season, so it’s possible another club will have interest in hopes that a change of scenery can help get him on track.

Phillies Designate Robert Stock For Assignment, Set Opening Day Roster

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The Phillies set their Opening Day roster this morning, announcing within their press release that righty Robert Stock was designated for assignment. The club has selected the contracts of veteran infielder Neil Walker and right-handers Trevor Kelley and Ramon Rosso. The Phils also reinstated Scott Kingery, Hector Neris, Tommy Hunter and lefty Austin Davis from the injured list. The Phils’ initial roster only includes 29 players, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki notes, but it seems they could yet add veteran infielder Phil Gosselin to the mix. They’ll first need to make another 40-man move to clear space on the roster, however, which is likely the reason he has not yet been included.

Stock, 30, averages nearly 98 mph on his heater and posted a 4.11 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate in 50 1/3 innings with the Padres between 2018-19. That’s a solid-enough resume, but he’s still bounced from St. Louis, to Houston, to Pittsburgh, to Cincinnati, to San Diego and Philadelphia since being a 2009 second-round pick and has only these past two seasons of MLB work on his resume.

Injuries have played their role, but Stock also has struggled to locate the ball throughout his time in the minor leagues (career 5.5 BB/9). He has a pair of minor league options remaining and was claimed by the Phils the last time he hit waivers, so perhaps another club will speculate on his powerful right arm.

It was already known that the veteran Walker would make the club’s Opening Day roster. The former Pirates stalwart has long been a steady producer and has recently added more positions to his repertoire, appearing at third base, first base and in the outfield corners. The switch-hitter batted .261/.344/.395 in 381 plate appearances with the Marlins last year and won a spot on the Phillies over veterans Logan Forsythe and Josh Harrison, among others.

Rosso, 24, has a strong minor league track record as a starter but seems likelier to operate out of the bullpen early in the season. It’ll be his MLB debut whenever he gets into a game. Kelley appeared in the big leagues with th Red Sox last year and was a waiver claim by the Phils, who later outrighted him off the 40-man but kept him in the organization. He pitched his way back into the mix this summer and will get his first MLB look with the Phils in the near future.

Phillies Release Bud Norris

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The Phillies have released veteran righty Bud Norris, per a club announcement. He had been with the organization on a minor-league deal.

The team also has added southpaw Austin Davis and catcher Rafael Marchan to the 60-man player pool. Both had been sidelined for undisclosed reasons.

Norris, 35, sat out the 2019 season after failing to receive an offer to his liking. He was effective in 2018, so it stood to reason he had a realistic shot at earning a job with the Phils. Norris allowed four earned runs in the four Grapefruit League frames he threw this spring.

Phillies Option Six Players To Triple-A

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The Phillies shuffled six players off of their 26-man roster, according to a team announcement. They are lefties Austin Davis and Cole Irvin, righties Edgar Garcia and Reggie McClain and outfielders Kyle Garlick and Nick Williams

On what was originally scheduled to be Opening Day, the big baseball action of the day has instead been reruns of past games and procedural moves such as this one. None of these moves are particularly surprising.

The four pitchers all saw some time in MLB in 2019. But since they all posted ERAs north of 5.75 in their respective seasons, they will all have to go back down to the minors and wait for their next opportunity.

As for Garlick and Williams, they each had a decent shot of earning a roster spot a couple of weeks ago. But that was because Andrew McCutchen was not going to be ready to rejoin the team until April and therefore open the season on the IL. Now that the start to the season has been delayed until at least May, McCutchen should be able to get healthy in time to reclaim his regular role in left field. And with Bryce Harper, Adam Haseley, Jay Bruce and Roman Quinn also on the roster, that seems to push Garlick and Williams down the depth charts and into the minors.

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