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Austin Nola

Austin Nola Fractures Finger

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Padres catcher Austin Nola has suffered a fractured left middle finger, manager Jayce Tingler announced to reporters (including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and Dennis Lin of the Athletic). The injury occurred when Nola was struck with a foul tip during yesterday’s Spring Training contest, Tingler added. A definitive timetable will become clearer in a couple days.

With less than three weeks until Opening Day, it’s possible Nola will have to open the season on the injured list. If that’s the case, San Diego does have a capable replacement. Backup Víctor Caratini has a .250/.327/.372 line over the past four seasons and has generally rated well defensively. The 27-year-old also has a rapport with Yu Darvish, part of the reason he was acquired alongside the reigning NL Cy Young runner-up in this offseason’s blockbuster with the Cubs. Top prospect Luis Campusano is the only other catcher on the Padres’ 40-man roster. Campusano made his MLB debut last year due to the anomalous nature of the 2020 season but has only played one game above the High-A level.

While the Friars are more equipped than most teams to handle an absence to their top catcher, losing Nola for any extended period of time would be a difficult blow. Despite not making his MLB debut until his age-30 season in 2019, Nola has rather incredibly broken out as one of the sport’s most productive backstops over the past two seasons. He has a cumulative .271/.347/.461 slash between the Mariners and Padres, popping 17 home runs in 451 plate appearances while showcasing high-end glovework behind the plate.

Additional Context On Padres’ Flurry Of Trades

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The Padres were the most active buyer at the 2020 trade deadline — arguably of any trade deadline in recent history — reshaping their roster with additions of Mike Clevinger, Austin Nola, Trevor Rosenthal, Mitch Moreland and Jason Castro, among others. The dizzying sequence of additions hearkened back to the days when Matt Kemp labeled A.J. Preller a “rock star” GM during Preller’s frenetic first offseason on the job, but the biggest trades swung by the Padres over the weekend didn’t necessarily come together in straightforward fashion.

Preller, in fact, was informed Sunday evening that his Padres were “out” of the Clevinger bidding, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). The Indians told the Padres that they were sitting on a better offer and likely to proceed in another direction. That call prompted the club to reconvene and alter its package, ultimately adding infield prospect Owen Miller and catcher Austin Hedges early Monday morning. Those pieces put San Diego’s offer over the top, it seems, as word of Clevinger’s trade to the Friars was out several hours before the 4pm ET deadline.

Hedges and Miller, the final two pieces of the Padres’ six-player package, added quite a bit more near-term value to the arrangement. Hedges is considered one of the best defensive catchers (if not the best) in the game and is controlled through the 2022 season. The 23-year-old Miller has yet to make his big league debut, but he slashed .290/.355/.430 in a full season at the Double-A level last year while playing three infield positions. He’s in Cleveland’s player pool now and could conceivably be an option this month. If not, he’ll certainly be in consideration for a call to the big leagues come 2021. With Cesar Hernandez playing on a one-year deal, it’s possible that Miller could be in the mix for regular playing time next season.

But the Clevinger blockbuster wasn’t the only Friars swap that required some persistent iterations. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters after trading Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres that he didn’t expect to trade Nola this summer (as opposed to Taijuan Walker, whom the M’s fully anticipated moving).

“They had called repeatedly on Austin Nola and we had repeatedly rebuffed that interest until the return just became too big for us to pass up in our minds,”  Dipoto said Monday (link via MLB.com’s Greg Johns).

The key element of the trade for the Mariners was getting both infielder Ty France and outfield prospect Taylor Trammell in the deal. Dipoto didn’t hide his affinity for either player, revealing that he’s contacted the Padres on France repeatedly over the past couple seasons and been similarly drawn to Trammell dating all the way back to the 2016 draft. “As many phone calls as A.J. made to me this last week about Austin Nola, I have made as many to him over the last couple of years regarding Ty France,” said Dipoto.

With Nola and Castro now on hand, the Padres have completely remade their catching tandem midseason, but changes could yet be coming. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (subscription required) that the club is contemplating a September promotion for 21-year-old Luis Campusano — a top-ranked catching prospect who was an in-demand piece himself at this year’s deadline. Per Lin, both the Indians and Rangers asked the Padres about Campusano in trade negotiations, but the Friars clearly weren’t inclined to include him in a deal. Cleveland initially sought Campusano and Luis Patino as centerpieces in the Clevinger deal, while the Rangers were interested in that pair as well as shortstop CJ Abrams when discussing Lance Lynn and Joey Gallo with the Padres.

The 21-year-old Campusano has yet to play above Class-A Advanced, but he tore through the pitcher-friendly California League last year, slashing .325/.396/.509 (148 wRC+). If the Padres do bring him up, they could rotate him, Nola and Castro through the catcher slot while maximizing Nola’s versatility with reps at any of first base, second base, third base or the outfield corners.

Suffice it to say, we could’ve seen any number of permutations of the Padres’ deluge of deals this past week. Such is the nature of a win-now team with a deep farm system. The club’s minor league system undoubtedly took a hit with this wave of trades, but San Diego also managed to hang onto the majority of its top-ranked prospects while clearly placing themselves in a better competitive position both now and into at least the 2022 season, after which Clevinger is scheduled to become a free agent.

Padres, Mariners Complete Seven-Player Trade

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The Padres continued their busy deadline activities with a trade large in both numbers and long-term scope.  The Padres and Mariners combined on a seven-player deal that will see catcher/utilityman Austin Nola and right-handers Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla go to San Diego, while Seattle will receive top outfield prospect Taylor Trammell, infielder Ty France, catcher Luis Torrens, and right-hander Andres Munoz.

After already picking up Jason Castro from the Angels in another trade earlier today, the Padres will further bolster themselves behind the plate with Nola, though Nola brings extra versatility to the table.  While Nola has primarily worked as a catcher this season, he has a lot of experience at first base and second base, plus a handful of games as a third baseman and corner outfield.

Austin NolaSince Nola might be considered more of a super-utility piece than as a pure catcher, he will essentially replace both backup infielder France and backup catcher Torrens on San Diego’s roster.  The Padres are likely to use Nola all around the diamond while perhaps still going with Castro and Austin Hedges as their primary catching tandem, though Nola will surely also see some time at catcher.

As Ken Rosenthal speculated, the Padres did move a catcher to Seattle as part of the deal, though it was Torrens rather than Hedges or (the currently injured) Francisco Mejia.  It isn’t out of the question that one of that duo could be traded elsewhere in another future swap for the aggressive Padres.  Besides Castro, San Diego has also added Mitch Moreland and Trevor Rosenthal in deals with the Red Sox and Royals over the last two days, and the Padres remain in the hunt for such big-name pitchers as Mike Clevinger and Lance Lynn.

Originally a fifth-round pick for the Marlins in the 2012 draft, Nola plugged away in the minors before finally making his MLB debut last season at age 29.  Since reaching the bigs, Nola has done nothing but produce for the Mariners, hitting .280/.351/.476 with 15 homers over 377 career plate appearances heading into today’s action.  He is also controlled through the 2025 season, though San Diego might not necessarily view Nola as a long-term asset given that he turns 31 in December.

Altavilla has been a somewhat inconsistent contributor during his five years out of the Mariners bullpen, amassing a solid career 4.08 ERA over 106 innings and missing a lot (9.9 K/9) of bats.  He only pitched 14 2/3 innings in 2019 and had a 7.71 ERA through his first 11 2/3 frames this season.  As a hard-throwing righty, Altavilla will basically fill the bullpen depth spot left behind Gerardo Reyes, who was moved to the Angels in the Castro trade.

Adams could potentially factor into the Padres’ plans in 2020, as the right-hander has been rehabbing in the hopes of a late-season return after undergoing knee surgery in September 2019.  Over 38 career innings with the Nationals and Mariners since the start of the 2017 season, Adams has a 3.79 ERA, 2.33 K/BB rate, and a whopping 14.9 K/9.  MLBTR’s Steve Adams examined the righty’s hidden-gem potential back in April and, as always, the pitcher now going to San Diego is not to be confused with the other right-handed Austin Adams, who is currently with the Twins.

Taylor TrammellTurning to the Mariners’ end of the trade, Trammell is the clear centerpiece, and this is the second time in two years that Trammell has been part of a major deadline swap.  The outfielder was part of the prospect package going to San Diego last July in the seven-player, three-team swap that sent Trevor Bauer to the Reds and Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig to the Indians.  Trammell will now become part of a loaded young outfield core in Seattle that includes Rookie Of The Year favorite Kyle Lewis and top prospects Julio Rodriguez and Jarred Kelenic.

Being dealt twice in 13 months’ time, however, could be an indication that Trammell’s star has somewhat dimmed.  He didn’t perform overly well at the Double-A level last year, hitting a combined .234/.340/.349 in 514 combined PA with the Reds’ and Padres’ affiliates.  MLB.com ranked Trammell as the 16th-best prospect in baseball prior to the 2019 season but dropped him to 57th in their pre-2020 listing, citing “a pull-heavy approach” that didn’t serve him well at Double-A.  Overall, however, the scouting report was still impressed by Trammell’s speed, and his “impressive combination of athleticism, hitting ability and power potential even when he struggled.”

France has been an under-the-radar contributor for the Padres, hitting .314/.375/.510 in his first 56 plate appearances.  The 26-year-old was something of an unheralded 34th round pick out of San Diego State in 2015, but France did nothing but hit in the minors and has acquitted himself well at the plate in the big leagues.  France has played mostly corner infield positions during his career, though he also has experience at second base, so his right-handed bat could spell both the left-handed hitting Shed Long Jr. and even Kyle Seager when a southpaw is on the mound.

Though Torrens only has 70 big league games (including seven this season) to his name, he is now the most experienced receiver in a Seattle catching corps that consists of rookie Joseph Odom and Joe Hudson.  Tom Murphy is currently on the 45-day injured list recovering from a fractured metatarsal in his left foot, leaving the door open for the Mariners’ other backstops to make an impression.  A veteran of seven pro seasons with the Yankees and Padres, Torrens has a solid .272/.343/.404 slash line in 1584 career minor league PA, though just a .479 OPS over 168 PA with San Diego at the big league level.

Munoz is a longer-term asset for the Mariners, as the 21-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery last March.  With a fastball that sits just a hair below 100mph, Munoz made his MLB debut last season, posting a 3.91 ERA, 2.73 K/BB, and 11.7 K/9 over 23 innings for the Padres.  Control has been a slight issue for Munoz (5.5 BB/9) over 106 career minor league innings, but there is definitely closer-of-the-future potential if he can fully harness his heater.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was the first to report that the Mariners and Padres were “in active talks” about a Nola trade, and also later reported Torrens’ inclusion and that players on both sides were being informed of their involvement.  ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reported that the trade had been completed, and that it was a seven-player swap that included Trammell and Adams.  As for the other players in the trade, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times was first on Altavilla, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden was first on France, and The Athletic’s Dennis Lin was first on Munoz.

Photographs courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Mariners Select Joe Odom

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The Mariners announced that they have selected catcher Joseph Odom’s contract and sent left-hander Taylor Guilbeau to their alternate training site. Guilbeau will remain a part of their taxi squad.

The Odom addition gives the Mariners a full 40-man roster, and it could put the 28-year-old in position to make his major league debut. Odom entered the pro ranks as a 13th-round pick of the Braves in 2013, but they lost him to the Mariners a few years later in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft. He has little experience at the Triple-A level, though, and generally hasn’t produced much as a hitter in minor league ball. Through 1,668 plate appearances – including 100 in Triple-A – Odom has batted .239/.305/.366 with 34 home runs.

Now that he’s on his way to Seattle, Odom will give the team another backstop option alongside Austin Nola and Joe Hudson (though the M’s scratched Nola from their lineup Tuesday for an unknown reason). The Mariners have been without starting catcher Tom Murphy so far this year because of a broken bone in his foot.

Latest On Mariners’ Roster

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9:24pm: Dipoto announced that Murphy has a broken bone in his foot, Jen Mueller of ROOT Sports reports. The team’s optimistic it won’t take long for Murphy to heal, but he’ll start the season on the injured list.

7:15pm: The Mariners are in the process of finalizing their 30-man roster for their season opener, but it appears they’ll begin without a couple notable players, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3).

Reliever Austin Adams won’t be available when the Mariners’ season kicks off Friday, as he’s still working back from the right knee surgery he underwent last September. Meanwhile, catcher Tom Murphy is battling a left ankle problem that hasn’t responded well to treatment, and the Mariners won’t know until Thursday morning whether he or reliever Bryan Shaw (whom they agreed to sign this week) will be immediately available. As Divish writes, Shaw has to pass coronavirus intake requirements before he’s able to join the team.

Both Adams and Murphy proved to be worthwhile scrapheap pickups for the Mariners last year. The club landed the right-handed Adams in a minor trade with the Nationals, and as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in April, it paid dividends. In his first season in Seattle, Adams posted a 3.77 ERA/2.96 FIP with 14.8 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 31 innings.

Murphy, acquired from the Giants heading into last season, also emerged as a shrewd addition, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco noted this past spring. He slashed an impressive .273/.324/.535 with 18 home runs and 3.2 fWAR in just 76 games and 281 plate appearances while backing up Omar Narvaez. Now that Narvaez is a member of the Brewers, Murphy’s in line to get the lion’s share of playing time at catcher, but that will obviously depend on his health.

If Murphy’s unable to start the season, the Mariners are likely to turn to Austin Nola and Joe Hudson behind the plate, but Divish reports that general manager Jerry Dipoto is keeping an eye on the free-agent and waiver markets for outside help. Russell Martin is easily the best free-agent backstop available, but there’s no word on whether the M’s are interested in him or if the 37-year-old wants to play this season.

Murphy, Nola To Split Time Evenly At Catcher For Mariners

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While most clubs deploy a clear starter and backup with regard to their catching tandem, the Mariners will have a much more balanced workload behind the plate in 2020, manager Scott Servais told reporters this week (link via Greg Johns of MLB.com). Tom Murphy and Austin Nola will split time in a roughly “55-45” timeshare, per Servais, who acknowledged that Murphy will likely get the nod on Opening Day (and, presumably, receive the slightly larger workload at catcher).

Both Murphy, 28, and Nola, 30, were plucked from relative obscurity by Seattle — the former in a minor trade and the latter on a minor league deal. Both turned in productive efforts in limited time in 2019, as well. Murphy was a clear backup to Omar Narvaez (traded to Milwaukee this winter), catching 67 games while hitting .273/.324/.535 with 18 home runs in 281 plate appearances.

Statcast graded Murphy’s framing efforts nicely behind the plate, and in spite of below-average pop time, Murphy was able to nab 39 percent of the runners who attempted to steal against him. The former top prospect was cut loose by the Rockies organization without ever being afforded an extended look in the Majors, landing with the division-rival Giants on a waiver claim. Four days later, the Giants traded him to Seattle for minor league righty Jesus Ozoria.

As for Nola, the older brother of Phillies righty Aaron Nola, he was simply cut loose by the Marlins organization after making the transition from infielder to catcher while in Triple-A. He functioned more as an infielder with the Mariners in 2019, catching only seven games but appearing in 59 games at first base and another 15 at second base.

However, Nola is focused “strictly” on catching in 2020, per Johns, which is surely due in no small part to the expected emergence of prospect Evan White as the Mariners’ Opening Day first baseman. White signed a six-year contract with three club options before ever appearing in a big league game and is poised to break camp with the club. But even with first base now spoken for, it seems Nola’s strong showing in 2019 will earn him an extended audition elsewhere. Nola ripped through the Pacific Coast League with a .327/.415/.520 slash (134 wRC+) in 55 games last year before being called to the Majors — a promotion to which he responded with a .269/.342/.454 slash (267 plate appearances, 114 wRC+).

Given Nola’s versatility, it’s still possible he’ll see time at other positions, but with Narvaez out of the picture, he’ll have his first extended run as a catcher at the MLB level. Eventually, top catching prospect Cal Raleigh could push his way onto the MLB scene, although at that point, one can imagine Nola as an ideal candidate for the newly created 26th roster spot, given his experience at catcher, first base, second base and third base (as well as a couple of corner-outfield cameos). The 23-year-old Raleigh was Seattle’s third-round pick in 2018 and batted a combined .251/.323/.497 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last year.

Quick Hits: Mariners, Narvaez, Stewart, Padres, Pomeranz

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Shake off your tryptophan coma with a few quick bursts of baseball-related action…

  • The availability of catcher Omar Narvaez in trade talks can be directly linked to the Mariners’ recent extension with first base prospect Evan White, suggests Greg Johns of MLB.com (link). While that may seem like a logical leap at first glance, White’s forthcoming presence on the club’s major league roster should allow GM Jerry Dipoto to utilize Austin Nola as a backup catcher. Nola, a catcher by trade, was mostly used in combination with Daniel Vogelbach at first last season. Johns also notes that the club’s recent signing of Patrick Wisdom, though minor in nature, gives the club yet another option at first in the event of an injury to White. As explored earlier, the bat-first Narvaez should only look more appealing as a trade target as this offseason progresses; as of Friday, open market catchers Yasmani Grandal, Travis d’Arnaud, Tyler Flowers, and Yan Gomes have all been spoken for.
  • Carter Stewart’s foray into the Nippon Professional Baseball ranks is covered in a recent profile from Jim Halley of Baseball America, with several interesting notes on the youngster’s on-and-off-field adjustments in Japan. Beyond the obvious cultural adjustments that a nineteen-year-old American would face in moving to Japan, Matt Skrmetta, a scout with Stewart’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, relays that the right-hander is currently adapting to the league’s more contact-oriented hitters.  For those who may not remember, the 6’6 Stewart was originally the 8th overall draft pick of the Braves in 2018, although a longstanding wrist injury led the club to only offer him a signing bonus at less than half of the pick’s $4.98MM slot value. The righty spurned that offer and spent a year pitching in the JuCo ranks before a lack of interest at the top of the 2019 draft led Fukuoka to come calling with an unprecedented long-term deal.
  • For the time being, the Padres are penciling in Drew Pomeranz and Kirby Yates as their back-end bullpen options, conveys The Athletic’s Dennis Lin in a recent mailbag. While there were Twitter rumblings this week that Pomeranz’s acquisition only made an offseason trade of Yates more likely, Lin notes that an extension with the 32-year-old Hawaiian is still an entirely plausible scenario. For what it’s worth, Pomeranz and Yates compiled 89.1 innings of a combined 1.41 ERA as relievers last year, potentially setting San Diego out with a thoroughly effective–if pricey–backend. MLBTR projects Yates to receive a $6.5MM award in a final pass through arb, while Pomeranz’s deal included an $8MM signing bonus in advance of a $4MM 2020 salary.

Mariners To Select Austin Nola’s Contract

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12:23pm: The Mariners have officially announced Nola’s addition to the roster.

12:09am: The Mariners will call up catcher/utility infielder Austin Nola to the majors, manager Scott Servais told reporters following tonight’s game.  Nola will take the roster spot left open after Edwin Encarnacion was traded to the Yankees earlier today.

This will mark the first time that the 29-year-old Nola has appeared in the big leagues, following an eight-year professional career largely spent in Miami’s farm system.  Originally drafted in the fifth round by the Marlins in the 2012 draft, Nola (the older brother of Phillies righty Aaron Nola) has a modest .252/.340/.339 slash line over 3085 PA in the minors, though he has broken out in his first season in the Mariners’ organization.

After being let go by the Marlins after the 2018 campaign, Nola has hit an impressive .327/.415/.520 with seven home runs over 229 PA for Triple-A Tacoma.  While Nola is older than a lot of his competition and it’s probably unlikely he’s a late bloomer, his success has nevertheless earned him a trip to the Show.

Nola brings some unusual versatility to Seattle’s bench, as he shifted to catching in 2017 after primarily playing middle infield for his first several seasons.  Most of Nola’s work has come behind the plate over the last three seasons, though he has also seen time at both corner infield spots.  At the very least, he can spell first baseman Daniel Vogelbach against tough lefties, while also backing up third base and giving the M’s more catching depth behind Omar Narvaez and Tom Murphy.

Marlins Outright Severino Gonzalez, Austin Nola

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The Marlins announced this morning that they have outrighted righty Severino Gonzalez and catcher Austin Nola to Triple-A. Both players cleared waivers after recently being designated for assignment.

In other moves, the Fish put outfielder/first baseman Garrett Cooper on the 10-day DL with a right wrist contusion. He’ll be replaced by outfielder Braxton Lee, who was recalled.

Gonzalez was brought up for only a single game and did not end up entering. It is not clear whether he has accepted the assignment, but he would have the right instead to elect free agency. Gonzalez owns a 6.68 ERA in his 66 career frames in the majors, all with the Phillies in 2015 and 2016, but did manage 8.5 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in that span.

As for Nola, the 28-year-old has played all over the infield, including behind the dish, making him an interesting potential asset. But he has never really advanced with the bat. In 750 career Triple-A plate appearances, he carries only a .259/.320/.353 batting line.

Marlins Designate Austin Nola For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated catcher/infielder Austin Nola for assignment and placed Rule 5 right-hander Brett Graves on the 60-day disabled list, tweets MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. The Miami Herald’s Clark Spencer adds that moves clear 40-man spots for the addition of veteran catcher Bryan Holaday, infielder Yadiel Rivera and right-hander Jacob Turner, each of whom has made the Opening Day roster.

Nola, the 28-year-old brother of Philies right-hander Aaron Nola, has yet to reach the big league level after coming off the draft board as a fifth-round selection of the Marlins back in 2012. While he began his pro career playing shortstop, the elder Nola eventually gathered a fair bit of experience at second base and third base before making the even larger jump to catcher last season in the upper minors. To his credit, Nola halted 27 of 65 stolen base attempts against him (42 percent).

Versatility in the field aside, Nola simply hasn’t produced much at the plate as a pro. He’s a career .243/.330/.320 hitter in parts of six minor league seasons, including a .259/.320/.353 slash in 750 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

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