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Reds Acquire Zack Littell In Three-Team Trade

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The Reds announced the acquisition of starting pitcher Zack Littell from the Rays in what’ll reportedly be a three-team trade. Righty Brian Van Belle is headed from Cincinnati to Tampa Bay. The Reds are reportedly sending pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers, who’ll trade catcher Hunter Feduccia to Tampa Bay. Reliever Paul Gervase and minor league catcher Ben Rortvedt are headed from the Rays to the Dodgers. As of Wednesday night, only the Littell for Van Belle/Serwinowski portion of the trade has been finalized.

Littell tossed five scoreless innings tonight against the Yankees in his final appearance with the Rays. That lowered his earned run average to an impressive 3.58 mark across 22 starts. Littell turned in a very similar 3.63 ERA in 29 appearances a season ago. He has led the Rays in innings in each of the past two seasons while putting together steady mid-rotation results.

It’s excellent work for a player whom the Rays snagged off waivers from the Red Sox a little over two years ago. Littell had bounced around the league mostly as a middle reliever before Tampa Bay built him up as a starter. His fantastic control played well in a rotation role. Throwing strikes is the 29-year-old’s standout trait. Littell has walked fewer than 5% of opposing hitters in consecutive seasons. He issued four free passes tonight in the Bronx, but that’s only the second time he has done so in the past two years.

Littell doesn’t have eye-popping stuff. He sits in the 91-92 MPH range with both his four-seam fastball and sinker. Neither his slider nor splitter are huge swing-and-miss offerings. Littell had roughly average strikeout and whiff rates a season ago. This year’s 16.6% strikeout rate and 9.1% swinging strike percentage are each subpar. Littell surrenders a lot of hard contact and has had issues with the home run ball throughout his career. That includes an MLB-high 26 longballs allowed this season.

That profile seems a suboptimal fit for a pitcher who’ll now call the extremely hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park home. Littell’s consistency was clearly a plus for Cincinnati. He has worked at least five innings in all but one start this year. He has allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of 22 appearances. Littell has had a better season than Nick Martinez and Brady Singer have managed. Rookie Chase Burns has also been up and down over his first six starts.

Adding Littell will push Martinez to the bullpen. Ace Hunter Greene is on a rehab assignment as he works back from a groin strain. That’ll presumably push Burns back to Triple-A. Cincinnati would have a starting five of Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Littell and Singer at that point.

Littell is playing on a $5.72MM salary for his final year of arbitration. The Reds are taking on a little more than $1.8MM for the final two months. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Tampa Bay wasn’t going to make him a qualifying offer. They’ve played terribly this month and dropped below .500 with tonight’s loss. Their 3.5 game deficit in the Wild Card race isn’t insurmountable, but the team’s performance coming out of the All-Star Break discouraged the front office enough that they’re at least soft sellers.

Trading Littell, their only true impending free agent, is the obvious starting point. Closer Pete Fairbanks and second baseman Brandon Lowe are controllable for next season via club options. Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim has a $16MM player option. Yandy Díaz and Drew Rasmussen are each signed through 2026 with team options covering the ’27 campaign. Lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger is arbitration controlled through 2027. It remains to be seen how aggressively they’ll shop players whom they control beyond this season, but the Rays have the potential to make a significant impact on the deadline.

The Reds part with a couple controllable players to land Littell. Serwinowski, a 6’5″ left-hander, is the more significant loss. The Reds drafted him out of high school in 2022. He has developed into one of their more intriguing low minors pitchers. Serwinowski ranked 10th in the Cincinnati system at MLB Pipeline and 12th at Baseball America. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him as high as sixth in the organization in May. Scouting reports praise his plus fastball-slider combination, crediting him with a mid-90s heater that can touch 97. Like many tall young pitchers, he has below-average command. Serwinowski also doesn’t have a great third pitch, raising questions about his ability to turn a lineup over multiple times.

There’s a decent chance the 21-year-old will end up as a reliever, but it’s easy to see the appeal of a pitcher with this kind of stuff and physical projection. Serwinowski has spent the season in High-A, allowing a 4.84 ERA across 74 1/3 innings. He has punched out an above-average 27.7% of batters faced while walking nearly 12% of opponents. He’s the headliner of the return from the Dodgers’ perspective as a low minors development flier.

Van Belle, 28, has yet to make his MLB debut. The Red Sox called him up in June but designated him for assignment a few days later without getting him into a game. Cincinnati added him on a cash deal and has kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Louisville. A former undrafted free agent out of the University of Miami, Van Belle has combined for 81 1/3 innings of 3.21 ERA ball at the top minor league level this year. That comes with a below-average 20.2% strikeout rate but a sterling 3.2% walk percentage. His fastball barely scrapes 90 MPH, but he’s a fantastic strike-thrower who relies mostly on a mid-80s changeup to stay off barrels. He’ll provide the Rays a depth starter or long relief type who is in his first of three minor league option seasons.

Feduccia is the bigger get from Tampa Bay’s perspective. He’s a 28-year-old catcher who had a limited path to playing time behind Will Smith and Dalton Rushing in L.A. Feduccia has held a spot on the 40-man roster for two seasons but has only gotten into seven MLB games. He has been forced to bide his time in Triple-A, where he owns a .277/.387/.450 batting line in more than 1200 plate appearances. A left-handed hitter, he takes plenty of walks and has decent contact skills with minimal power.

Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Feduccia 31st among Dodger prospects in his writeup of the farm system in April. Longenhagen wrote that he struggles to control the running game but is a plus receiving catcher. Tampa Bay has cycled through catchers for years. They swapped out Danny Jansen for Nick Fortes in separate trades with Milwaukee and Miami earlier this week. Feduccia could push the out-of-options Matt Thaiss for the backup job immediately. He’s in his second of three option years and could be assigned to Triple-A Durham if the Rays don’t want to risk losing Thaiss on waivers.

Landing him required sending the 25-year-old Gervase to Los Angeles. A 6’10” righty reliever, Gervase was acquired from the Mets last July. Tampa Bay promoted him a few weeks ago. He has made five appearances, giving up three runs across 6 1/3 innings. He has posted monster strikeout numbers in Durham, fanning nearly 40% of opponents while pitching to a 3.12 ERA across 28 appearances. Gervase has paired that with a 7.5% walk rate that represents dramatically improved control relative to his early minor league work. The LSU product leans mostly on a 93-94 MPH fastball and mixes in a slider and cutter. He’s in his first option year and will begin his Dodger career as middle relief depth.

Rortvedt, who is not on the 40-man roster, backfills L.A.’s lost catching depth at Triple-A. At age 27, he’s actually younger than Feduccia but has far more MLB experience. He’s a .186/.276/.265 hitter in 209 big league contests. Rortvedt hit .095 in 26 big league games this year before Tampa Bay ran him through waivers. He is hitting .183 in 19 Triple-A games. He’ll be a minor league free agent at the end of the season if the Dodgers don’t call him up before then.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the Reds were closing in on a deal for Littell. Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Cincinnati was giving up Van Belle and Serwinowski. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first mentioned the three-team trade, with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic relaying that the Rays were flipping Serwinowski elsewhere. Passan had the Dodgers’ involvement and the full breakdown.

Images courtesy of Imagn Images.

Ben Rortvedt Accepts Outright Assignment With Rays

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Catcher Ben Rortvedt, who was designated for assignment by the Rays last week, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Durham. He had the right to elect free agency but has chosen to accept. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to relay the information.

Players with at least three years of big league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, exercising that right means forfeiting any remaining salary commitments, unless a player has at least five years of service time.

Rortvedt is between three and four years. He qualified for arbitration for the first time after last season. He and the Rays avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.125MM salary for 2025. Rortvedt has pocketed about a third of that already but would have to walk away from the rest of it in order to head to the open market, so it’s not surprising that he has chosen to report to Durham.

For the Rays, they get to keep a bit of experienced non-roster depth behind the plate. Rortvedt had a solid season for them in 2024, getting into 112 games and stepping to the plate 328 times. His .228/.317/.303 slash line wasn’t tremendous, as his 87 wRC+ indicates he was about 13% below league average at the plate. However, catches are usually about 10% below league-wide par, so Rortvedt’s offense was passable enough.

He also received solid marks for his work behind the plate. Putting the two together, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.4 wins above the replacement on the year, with Baseball Reference putting him a bit lower at 0.9 WAR.

The Rays were satisfied enough to give him a raise and bring him back for 2025 but his bat has disappeared. Rortvedt slashed .095/.186/.111 in 70 plate appearances before getting designated for assignment last week. A tiny .122 batting average on balls in play wasn’t helping him out but his batted ball metrics all trended in the wrong direction as well. The Rays signed Danny Jansen in the offseason and then acquired Matt Thaiss last week, pushing Rortvedt down the depth chart. Since Rortvedt is out of options, he got pushed off the 40-man entirely.

Though he’s not having a strong season, he should get some regular playing time for Durham and could perhaps get his offense back on track. If he’s able to do so, he could be the first man up if either Jansen or Thaiss suffers an injury. Logan Driscoll is also on the 40-man roster but he started the year on the minor league injured list due to an ankle injury and still hasn’t played an official game this year.

If Rortvedt isn’t called up by the end of the season, he will be able to elect free agency, as is the case with all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a 40-man roster during the season.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Rays Designate Ben Rortvedt For Assignment

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May 28: The Rays announced this morning that Rortvedt has indeed been designated for assignment. Thaiss has been added to the active roster and will presumably be with his new team for this afternoon’s series finale versus Minnesota.

May 27: The Rays intend to designate catcher Ben Rortvedt for assignment, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. That will clear an active roster spot for new backup catcher Matt Thaiss, who was acquired from the White Sox this afternoon. Topkin notes that Rortvedt was bidding emotional farewells to his teammates after tonight’s loss to Minnesota.

Rortvedt is out of options. The Rays cannot send him down without putting him on waivers. They’re not going to carry three catchers or move on from starter Danny Jansen, so the Thaiss pickup made a Rortvedt DFA more or less inevitable. The lefty-hitting Rortvedt went 0-3 with a strikeout tonight and is down to an .095/.186/.111 slash line through 70 plate appearances. His strikeout and walk numbers are solid enough, but he has only managed one extra-base hit while ranking near the bottom of the league in hard contact rate.

Tampa Bay acquired Rortvedt from the Yankees in a three-team deal on the eve of Opening Day 2024. He started a little more than half the team’s games last season, batting .228/.317/.303 across a career-high 328 plate appearances. The Rays signed Jansen to an $8.5MM free agent deal to supplant Rortvedt as the primary catcher. The drop in his already poor offense has now squeezed him off the roster. While Thaiss has very little power himself, he’s at least getting on base at a huge .382 clip over 35 games this year.

A former second-pick of the Twins, Rortvedt is a capable defensive catcher. He has graded as a slightly above-average framer and blocker in his career. He has solid arm strength and has thrown out six of 27 attempted base-stealers. Once the Rays officially announce the DFA, they’ll have five days to explore trade scenarios. They’d place him on waivers if they don’t find a trade partner. An acquiring team would need to plug him directly onto the MLB roster.

Rays Likely To Explore Catching Market

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The Rays dropped to fourth place in the AL East, finishing the season at 80-82. After missing the postseason for the first time since 2018, Tampa Bay baseball operations president Erik Neander spoke Friday about the need for more offense. He specifically pointed to catcher as an area where the club must improve.

“We’ve got to find a way to get more output out of that position than what we got this year,” Neander said (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). “We’ve got to find a way to be better back there, without question, and that’ll be a priority in terms of where our mental energy goes throughout this winter.”

While that’s not quite a definitive declaration the Rays will add from outside the organization, it’s clear they’ll examine the market. Tampa Bay had one of the lightest-hitting catching groups in the majors. The Rays got a .194/.272/.291 batting line out of the position. Only the White Sox had a lower batting average. Tampa Bay was 24th in on-base percentage and 28th (better than just the White Sox and Marlins) in slugging.

The Rays opened the season with René Pinto as their starter. That didn’t last long. Tampa Bay optioned Pinto after 19 games. He spent most of the year in Triple-A, where he hit .191 with a .257 on-base mark. Ben Rortvedt, whom the Rays acquired from the Yankees on the eve of Opening Day, ended up taking the majority of the playing time. The lefty hitter turned in a middling .228/.317/.303 slash over 328 plate appearances. Tampa Bay had Alex Jackson backing Rortvedt up from early May until designating him for assignment in September. Jackson hit .122 in a career-high 58 games. September call-up Logan Driscoll also struggled in his limited MLB work.

Like most clubs, the Rays have generally prioritized defense at the position. Rortvedt graded reasonably well as a receiver. Statcast credited him with better than average framing and blocking metrics. He also showed strong pop times, although his 16.2% caught stealing rate was subpar. Rortvedt presumably showed enough to hold an offseason roster spot. He’s out of minor league options, so the Rays would need to keep him in the majors or make him available to other teams to open the season. Driscoll still has a full slate of options and seems likely to start next season in the minors.

Jackson already elected minor league free agency after clearing waivers last month. Pinto remains on the 40-man roster but may have a tenuous hold on that spot. He’ll be out of options next season. It’s unlikely the team runs things back with a tandem of Rortvedt and Pinto; the latter might find himself on waivers at some point this winter.

The free agent catching class is light at the top. That’s not a huge issue for the Rays, who probably wouldn’t have made a huge splash even if the market were stronger. There are a handful of right-handed hitting backstops who should be available on one- or two-year deals. Kyle Higashioka, Carson Kelly, Danny Jansen, Jacob Stallings (whose deal with Colorado contains a mutual option) and Elias Díaz are among the top options. Anyone from that group could be a realistic target to share time with the lefty-hitting Rortvedt. Each should at least provide more offense than Jackson managed in that role.

Rays Outright Rob Brantly

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August 27: Brantly cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Triple-A Durham, per the MLB.com transaction log. It isn’t clear whether he’ll elect free agency or rejoin the Bulls for the rest of the season.

August 24: The Rays announced that catcher Rob Brantly was designated for assignment.  Catcher Ben Rortvedt was activated from the team’s family emergency list in the corresponding move, and Rortvedt will resume his usual share of the catching duties with Alex Jackson.  Rortvedt was initially placed the paternity list last week, but Bally Sports’ Tricia Whitaker reported (via X) that Rortvedt was moved to the family emergency list in order to spend a bit of extra time with the newborn baby.

Brantly’s minor league contract was selected to Tampa’s roster at the time of Rortvedt’s departure, and Brantly’s brief stint with the Rays saw him make nine plate appearances over three games.  It marked his first Major League playing time since he appeared in a single game with the Yankees during the 2022 season.

A third-round pick for the Tigers in the 2010 draft, Brantly was traded to the Marlins in July 2012 and he appeared in 98 games with 356 PA for Miami over the 2012-13 seasons.  That initial dose of playing time remains the bulk of Brantly’s MLB resume, as he has since received 109 PA in 39 games spread over seven different seasons, while bouncing around the league as catching depth.  Tampa Bay signed Brantly to a minor league contract this past offseason, making the Rays the 12th different organization Brantly has been part of since the start of his pro career (plus he has been with the White Sox on two separate occasions).

This journeyman career has included multiple outright assignments, so if Brantly clears waivers and the Rays outright him to Triple-A, the 35-year-old has the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency.  Brantly’s reputation as a solid defender who works well with pitchers could earn him interest from yet another club in free agency or on the waiver wire, or Brantly might just opt to remain with the Rays at the Triple-A level.

Rays Select Rob Brantly

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8:40pm: Manager Kevin Cash told reporters that Fairbanks would be shut down from throwing entirely for two to four weeks (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). That makes it seem unlikely he’ll be able to return this season, though Cash didn’t officially rule his closer out for the year.

5:20pm: The Rays announced a series of roster moves today, including selecting catcher Rob Brantly to the roster. He’ll take the active roster spot of fellow backstop Ben Rortvedt, who has been placed on the paternity list. The club already had a 40-man vacancy and won’t need to make a corresponding move there. The Rays also placed right-hander Pete Fairbanks on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain, as was reported yesterday, with righty Joel Kuhnel recalled to take his spot. There’s still no word on exactly how long Fairbanks will be out of action.

Brantly, 35, is a veteran depth catcher who has frequently carved out part-time roles in the major leagues. He has already appeared in eight major league seasons, suiting up for the Marlins, White Sox, Phillies, Giants and Yankees, with minor league appearances for several other clubs. But all those stints have been fairly brief, as his career highs for games and plate appearances were set with the 2013 Marlins, when he got into 67 contests and stepped to the plate 243 times.

He signed a minor league deal with the Rays this offseason and has been with Triple-A Durham all year so far. He has appeared in 45 games for the Bulls, hitting .262/.323/.418 for a wRC+ of 91. That’s a bit better than his major league track record, which consists of a .225/.287/.326 line and a 68 wRC+ in his 456 plate appearances.

The Rays have split most of their playing time behind the plate between Rortvedt and Alex Jackson this year. René Pinto is also on the 40-man roster but he was placed on the minor league injured list at the end of July and hasn’t played in the past few weeks. With Rortvedt now stepping away for a few days, Brantly will slot in next to Jackson to share the catching duties for the time being. Brantly is out of options, so he may end up getting designated for assignment when Rortvedt returns.

Yankees Acquire Jon Berti From Marlins, Trade Ben Rortvedt To Rays In Three-Team Deal

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The Yankees, Marlins and Rays have come together on a three-team swap just 24 hours before the season is set to commence. Miami is trading infielder Jon Berti to the Yankees, who are sending catcher Ben Rortvedt to the Rays. The Marlins will pick up a pair of outfield prospects in the deal, one from each team: New York’s John Cruz and Tampa Bay’s Shane Sasaki. All three clubs have officially announced the deal.

Berti will give the Yankees an option to open the season at third base, with DJ LeMahieu (bone bruise in foot) and Oswald Peraza (shoulder strain) slated to hit the injured list, and he can back up nearly any spot on the diamond once LeMahieu returns. He’s fresh off a strong .294/.344/.405 batting line (103 wRC+) with seven homers and 16 stolen bases in a career-high 424 plate appearances with the Fish in 2023.

While Berti doesn’t bring any power to the table — last season’s seven homers were a career-high — he’s been a roughly league-average performer at the plate throughout his career thanks to an above-average walk rate, lower-than-average strikeout rate and plus speed that helps him leg out his share of infield hits (and stretch some would-be singles into doubles). Overall, Berti is a career .258/.337/.368 hitter — about 4% worse than league-average (by measure of wRC+) when weighting for the Marlins’ quite pitcher-friendly home environs.

Berti swiped 41 bags in just 102 games back in 2022, and while he ran less often in 2023, that didn’t have anything to do with a drop-off in speed. Statcast ranked Berti in the 95th percentile of MLB players with an average sprint speed of 29.3 feet per second last season.

Defensively, Berti has played every position other than catcher or first base. He’s spent more time at third base than any other position (1050 innings), but he’s also logged 792 innings at second base, 764 innings at shortstop and 577 frames in the outfield (281 in left, 231 in center and 65 in right). Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average agree that he’s been a plus defender at each of third base, shortstop and left field.

Given Berti’s experience at the hot corner and the injuries to both LeMahieu and Peraza, there’s a strong chance that the Yankees’ newest acquisition will start tomorrow’s season opener at third base. He’ll likely be the team’s primary third baseman in the short term, and the versatility that both Berti and LeMahieu bring to the table will give manager Aaron Boone plenty of lineup options once the bone bruise in LeMahieu’s foot mends.

From a financial standpoint, Berti’s contract surely held plenty of appeal to a Yankees club that is a third-time luxury payor who’s in the top tier of penalization. They’re taking a 110% tax on any dollars added to the payroll at this point. Berti is earning $3.6MM in 2024 — the second season of what became a two-year, $5.725MM deal when the Marlins exercised a club option on him for this year. The 2022-26 CBA stipulates that only the remainder of a traded player’s contract is counted for luxury tax purposes, however, so the Yankees will pay the tax on this year’s $3.6MM salary rather than the contract’s $2.86MM AAV. That means Berti will come with $3.96MM worth of taxes, bringing his total expenditure to $7.56MM.

The Rays will get the only other player with big league experience in this three-team swap, though Rortvedt is rather limited in that regard. Formerly a second-round pick of the Twins, Rortvedt is a defensive-minded backstop who landed in the Bronx by way of the 2022 trade that sent him and Josh Donaldson to the Yankees in exchange for Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez.

Rortvedt only appeared in 32 games with the Yankees over his two-year stint with the club, thanks to a series of injuries. An oblique strain limited him during spring training in 2022, and Rortvedt underwent knee surgery that May after beginning the season in the minors. Last spring, he underwent surgery to address an aneurysm in his shoulder that had been contributing to pain and numbness in his hand.

In all, Rortvedt only has 177 big league plate appearances between the Twins and Yankees, and he’s posted a dismal .146/.234/.255 batting line in that time. He hit well in 124 Triple-A plate appearances last year (.286/.395/.505), but Rortvedt is surely being acquired by the Rays because of their belief in his defensive chops.

The Rays tend to prioritize defense over offense at the catching position, and over the years Rortvedt has turned himself into a plus defender behind the dish. Baseball America named him the best defensive catcher in the Twins’ system from 2018-20, and the 26-year-old boasts an outstanding 34% caught-stealing rate in his career — including a 39% mark in his limited MLB action. Baseball Prospectus credits him with plus framing marks throughout his time in the minors, and he’s graded well there in the big leagues as well.

Because of all his time on the injured list, Rortvedt has more than two years of big league service time in spite of his minimal playing time. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on Tampa Bay’s roster this season. That means he’s all but certain to open the season splitting time with Rene Pinto behind the dish. Non-roster invitee Alex Jackson, who’d previously been the favorite for the backup job, will instead head to Triple-A Durham. If Rortvedt lasts the whole year, he’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time in the 2024-25 offseason. The Rays can control him through the 2027 season via that process.

Turning the Marlins’ return for Berti, they’ll acquire a pair of outfield prospects — a position that’s regularly been a weakness for them in recent years. Sasaki, 23, was limited by injury to 68 games last season and hasn’t played above High-A. He went unselected in this past December’s Rule 5 Draft. Baseball America still tabbed him 21st in the Rays’ system, touting his 65-grade speed (on the 20-80 scale) and ability to play plus defense in center field or left. He’s a hit-over-power prospect who turned in a strong .301/.375/.465 batting line with seven homers and a dozen steals in 293 plate appearances at High-A last year.

Given his success in High-A last year, Sasaki seems likely to open the 2024 season in Double-A with his new organization. With a strong showing early in the year, a bump to Triple-A or perhaps even to the big leagues could be well within reach. Miami has been looking for a long-term center fielder for years now. Sasaki’s lack of power means he’ll need to continue to draw walks and hit for average in order to profile as a regular, but he at least gives Miami someone with a reasonable chance to become that everyday center fielder they’ve sought — albeit with a perhaps greater chance he settles in as more of a fourth outfielder.

As for Cruz, he’s a much further-off value add to the Marlins organization. The 18-year-old ranked 25th among Yankees prospects at Baseball America and 28th at MLB.com. He’s yet to advance to full-season ball, having spent the 2022 campaign in the Dominican Summer League and the 2023 season with the Yankees Rookie-level complex league affiliate. He’s hit well at both stops, posting a combined .260/.394/.465 batting line with 15 home runs, 19 steals, a huge 16.4% walk rate and a 24.9% strikeout rate.

Scouting reports credit the 6’3″ Cruz with above-average power and speed but raise some questions about swing mechanics and pitch selection at the plate. He’s played primarily center field to this point but could wind up moving to a corner as he continues to fill out his frame. He’s a yearslong project but one with a fair bit of ceiling — as well as a good bit of risk.

Ultimately, it’s a needs-based trade for all teams involved (rather than the more standard swap of a veteran for the best prospects available, regardless of position). The Yankees acquired an affordable and versatile infielder who checks multiple needs: everyday third base option in the short term and backup shortstop option in the long term. The Rays added some needed catching depth and defense without increasing an already franchise-record payroll. The Marlins, who didn’t have regular at-bats for Berti after signing Tim Anderson and acquiring Jake Burger, Nick Gordon and Vidal Brujan via trade over the past several months, moved him and his salary in exchange for a pair of outfield prospects who provide organizational depth and upside at a position of need. Sasaki’s relative proximity to the majors at least creates the possibility that all three clubs will see some MLB benefit from the trade before season’s end.

Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald first reported that Berti had been traded to the Yankees. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Cruz’s inclusion in the deal. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com broke the news that it was a three-team deal with the Rays and that Sasaki was headed to the Marlins as well.

Yankees Could Look To Trade Kyle Higashioka, Ben Rortvedt

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The Yankees were surely glad to have some catching depth when Jose Trevino needed season-ending wrist surgery just after the All-Star break. Kyle Higashioka took over the starting role, while Ben Rortvedt earned a call back to the majors to serve as the backup. When Rortvedt struggled to hit big league pitching, the team had more depth at Triple-A in the name of Austin Wells, who ended up earning the bulk of the starts behind the plate over the final month of the season.

With Trevino progressing well in his rehab, the Yankees are set to have four catchers competing for playing time next season. Trevino will likely return to his regular role, and Wells played ably enough to merit a spot on the Opening Day roster. That leaves Higashioka and Rortvedt on the outside looking in. Higashioka has been a capable backup in New York for several years, but he is a finished product and a known quantity. Rortvedt, meanwhile, will be 26 next season, and he hasn’t shown an ability to hit at the MLB level.

Therefore, it comes as little surprise that the Yankees could look to deal either or both of Higashioka and Rortvedt this offseason. According to Andy Martino of SNY, the team is “signaling” to other clubs that both catchers are available in a trade.

Higashioka is the longest-tenured player on the Yankees, having joined the organization in 2008 and played for the club in every MLB season since 2017. The 33-year-old has earned more regular playing time over the past two years, appearing in 175 games and starting 143 behind the dish. While his bat is below average, even for a catcher, his terrific defense makes up for his offensive shortcomings. The metrics from Baseball Savant, FanGraphs, and Baseball Prospectus all agree that he is an excellent pitch framer, saving several runs with his glove in each of the past three seasons.

The veteran is eligible for his final year of arbitration this winter and is projected to earn $2.3MM. That’s hardly more than a drop in the bucket for the Yankees, but still, they might try to trade him before the non-tender deadline, to avoid making a decision about tendering him a contract for next season. He would be a good fit for a team in search of a veteran stopgap to fill in behind the plate until a top prospect is ready to take his place. The White Sox, who have already expressed interest in trading for a veteran catcher (namely Salvador Perez), could be a match.

Rortvedt made his debut for the Yankees this past May, after coming over from the Twins last March as part of the deal that brought Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to New York in exchange for Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela. While the Yankees intended for him to compete for playing time with Higashioka and Trevino, he spent the first four months of the 2022 season on the injured list before he was optioned to Triple-A without having played a game. The 2023 campaign marked his third and final option year, and thus, he cannot be sent to the minors next season without being designated for assignment and placed on outright waivers.

Like Higashioka, Rortvedt has demonstrated an aptitude for pitch framing, but unfortunately, his bat has been nonexistent at the big league level. In 171 plate appearances across 2021 and ’23, he has hit just .146 with seven extra-base knocks, good for a career 38 wRC+. The offensive bar is low for backup catchers, but he’ll need to hit more if he wants to stick around in the majors. He would fit in best as a backup on a rebuilding club that can afford to give him a chance to prove himself, despite his substandard offensive production so far. The Mets will need a backup catcher if they choose to move on from Omar Narváez, as will the Tigers if they don’t exercise their option on Carson Kelly.

Martino also mentions that trading Trevino or Wells isn’t off the table for the Yankees, although it’s much more likely they deal Higashioka or Rortvedt instead. Wells would net the most valuable return, while the team could move on from Trevino if they think Wells is ready for a full-time role.

Jose Trevino To Undergo Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

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The Yankees announced that they have placed catcher Jose Trevino on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 18, due to a right wrist tear. Fellow catcher Ben Rortvedt has been recalled in a corresponding move. Trevino tells Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter links) that he’s done for the season and will require surgery. He’s apparently had the issue since Spring Training and has been trying to fight through it. He expects to be ready for next year’s Spring Training, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Hoch also relays that the specific nature of the injury is a torn triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) ligament.

Trevino, 30, is having a poor season offensively, with the wrist issue perhaps explaining why. He hit .248/.283/.388 last year but has dipped to a line of .210/.257/.312 here in 2023, that latter line amounting to a wRC+ of 58. In terms of his glovework, he’s not on pace to match last year’s elite 21 Defensive Runs Saved, but he still has 6 DRS this year, putting him in the top 10 among all catchers in the league. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus give him strong marks for his framing, while Statcast considers him an above-average strong blocker.

Trevino may not be a star player but he’s a solid defensive option and was decent at the plate last year. Frustrating injury absences have been a key storyline for the Yanks this year. The most prominent example is Aaron Judge but they’ve also seen Harrison Bader, Carlos Rodón, Frankie Montas, Nestor Cortes, Josh Donaldson and many others miss time. That’s part of the reason why the club is having a disappointing summer, having slipped to 50-47 and four games back of a playoff spot.

The club may now have to make some difficult decisions about how aggressively to approach the deadline, which is on August 1. FanGraphs currently pegs their playoff odds at 28.3%, certainly not a hopeless situation but definitely a challenging one. Catching upgrades are generally tricky during a season, as a new backstop would have to learn the entire pitching staff on the fly. But if the Yanks want to add for a postseason push, it might be something to look into. They might have some competition within the division, as the Rays lost Francisco Mejía to a knee sprain earlier today.

For now, the Yanks will proceed with Rortvedt and Kyle Higashioka, the only two other backstops on the 40-man roster. Rortvedt has dealt with his own injury issues in recent years, getting into just 48 minor league games last year and then 38 contests so far this year between the majors and minors.

In terms of non-roster depth, the club has promoted Austin Wells to Triple-A, per Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune. Wells was the Yankees’ first-round draft pick from 2020 and was recently ranked their #3 prospect by Baseball America. He had been hitting .237/.327/.443 in Double-A prior to the promotion.

Yankees Place Harrison Bader On Injured List

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11:50pm: Bader is expected to miss at least “a few weeks,” Boone said after tonight’s win over the Mariners (relayed by Chris Kirschner of the Athletic).

8:20pm: The Yankees placed center fielder Harrison Bader on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain before this evening’s game in Seattle. New York also optioned catcher Ben Rortvedt to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Fellow backstop Jose Trevino has been activated from his own IL stint, while Franchy Cordero was recalled to take Bader’s spot in the outfield.

Bader’s IL placement comes as little surprise. Manager Aaron Boone acknowledged it was a possibility this morning after Bader had left last night’s game. He underwent an MRI this morning. It’s not clear how significant the strain is or how long the Yankees expect him to be sidelined, but he’ll be out for at least a week and a half.

It’s the second time this year in which Bader has landed on the shelf. He missed the first month of the season with an oblique strain. Since returning, he’s been one of New York’s best players. Bader is hitting .267/.295/.511 with six homers and stolen bases apiece in 26 games. He’s paired that with characteristically excellent defense over his 205 1/3 innings of center field work. When healthy, Bader has shown the ability to be a very productive two-way outfielder. He’s unfortunately been no stranger to the IL, though, as he’s yet to surpass 427 MLB plate appearances in a season.

That combination of productivity but a checkered injury history will make Bader an interesting free agent case next winter. Alongside Cody Bellinger and the older Kevin Kiermaier, he’s slated to top the center field class. His market will obviously be determined in large part by how quickly he makes his return and his form down the stretch.

Aaron Judge got the bulk of the center field work last time Bader was on the shelf. Greg Allen, who wasn’t on the roster last month, is getting the nod there tonight. Judge is in right field with Isiah Kiner-Falefa manning left against Seattle righty Logan Gilbert.

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