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Enmanuel Valdez

Pirates Claim Michael Helman

By Darragh McDonald | May 14, 2025 at 3:15pm CDT

The Pirates have claimed infielder/outfielder Michael Helman off waivers from the Cardinals, according to announcements from both clubs. There was no previous indication that the Cards had removed Helman from their 40-man roster, so their count drops to 39. The Bucs opened a 40-man spot by transferring infielder Enmanuel Valdéz to the 60-day injured list.

Helman, 29 this month, has a tiny amount of big league experience. He got 10 plate appearances with the Twins last year, collecting three hits while also striking out three times. He was traded to the Cardinals in February for cash.

His 2025 season is out to a rough start. In 73 Triple-A plate appearances, he has a .185/.260/.292 batting line and 50 wRC+, indicating he’s been 50% worse than league average. Perhaps the Cardinals felt that those poor numbers would help Helman sneak through waivers, so they quietly put him on the wire.

However, the Bucs have swooped in and grabbed him, presumably overlooking his 2025 numbers and focusing on his other seasons. Over 2023 and 2024, Helman took 480 minor league plate appearances, hitting 21 home runs and slashing .282/.356/.507 for a 121 wRC+. He still has a full slate of options, so the Pirates can keep him in the minors and see if he bounces back. If he does, he could be a versatile utility piece. He has played every position outside the battery in his minor league career.

As for Valdéz, he landed on the 10-day IL a few days ago due to left shoulder inflammation. His status is unclear but the fact that he has been quickly moved to the 60-day IL doesn’t bode well. He’s now ineligible to return until July.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

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Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals Transactions Enmanuel Valdez Michael Helman

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Pirates Notes: Shelton, Haddad, Cherington, Nutting, Valdez

By Mark Polishuk | May 10, 2025 at 9:30am CDT

9:30AM: The 2025 season marked the final year of Shelton’s contract as manager, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.  The terms of the extension Shelton signed in April 2023 weren’t made public, though the 2023 season was known to be the final year of the four-year contract Shelton initially signed when he was first hired as skipper.

Hiles didn’t mention whether or not any club options were attached to Shelton’s deal beyond 2025, so it seems as though Shelton may have been in a true lame-duck situation heading into this season.  This only adds to the perception that Shelton’s managerial tenure was on thin ice, and Hiles noted that it became increasingly clear during the season that Shelton would be replaced.  “Numerous members within the Pirates organization, including a few within the clubhouse, privately acknowledged as much to the Post-Gazette in the days leading up to his dismissal,” Hiles writes.

8:45AM: The Pirates’ managerial change naturally drew most of the headlines on Thursday, but in addition to letting go of Derek Shelton, the Bucs also moved on from another member of the coaching staff.  The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that Pittsburgh parted ways with Radley Haddad, who had been a game-planning and strategy coach with the team since November 2021.

Haddad (who turns 35 tomorrow) is a former minor league player in the Yankees organization who wrapped up his playing career following the 2016 season.  He then moved into a new role as the Yankees’ big league bullpen catcher, as well as a coaching assistant.  Haddad worked in that capacity until he was hired away by the Pirates following the 2021 campaign.

Between Haddad’s departure and Don Kelly’s promotion from bench coach to manager, the Pirates now have two openings to fill on the staff.  It isn’t known if any other coaching changes may yet be in the offing, as the Bucs continue to figure out how to adjust on the fly amidst a disappointing season.  Kelly’s managerial debut was at least a success, as the Buccos’ 3-2 win over the Braves last night ended Pittsburgh’s seven-game losing streak, though the club still has only a dismal 13-26 record.

Larger-scale changes don’t appear to be coming at least in the near future, as Pirates owner Robert Nutting told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that GM Ben Cherington and president Travis Williams aren’t going anywhere for the time being.  “I think if we make a broad, real restructure of the organization midseason, right now, we will not improve the team for 2025.  I don’t think that makes us better,” Nutting said.  “I’m not willing to give up on what we expected, which involves a significantly better performance than you’ve seen.  I believe we can get to that.  I don’t think that blowing everything up 38 games into the year is gonna help us do that.  I think that would be distracting.  I think that would get us off track. My focus has to be on getting this fixed and getting it fixed as fast as we can.”

Left unsaid was the possibility that Nutting might explore a wider “restructure” down the road if the Pirates don’t start playing better baseball.  Cherington was hired in November 2019 to oversee a major rebuilding process that has brought some premium talent onto the roster, yet the Bucs haven’t delivered a single winning season in Cherington’s five-plus years in charge of baseball operations.

The situation has left the Pittsburgh fanbase openly dismayed and it is clear that both Nutting and Cherington share in those frustrations.  Cherington took his share of the blame when speaking with reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) on Thursday, acknowledging that “I’m more responsible than anyone” for the Pirates’ struggles.

“Certainly not lost on me that my part of that accountability, if I had done my job perfectly for five years, might not be meeting with you today,” Cherington said.  “That’s certainly possible.  I own that completely.  This is not all on Shelty.  And I believe that it became clear to me that this was a choice, however difficult, that we needed to make.  I certainly feel accountable going forward.”

Cherington also reiterated that he feels he is still the person to be leading the front office going forward.  Likewise, Nutting defended his own continued ownership of the franchise, stating that he feels the team can and will win again under his stewardship, and feels he can elevate the Pirates’ place in the sport as a whole.

“Given all of the challenges broadly in baseball, there’s been a lot of discussion of the economic disparity in the game. We’re never going to use that as an excuse.  Never have.  Never will.  But I think I’m particularly well positioned right now to be able to help influence change in the economics of the game,” Nutting said.  “Having been around for 20 years, having gone to owners’ meetings for longer than that, having a very strong relationship with the commissioner’s office, I believe that I’m uniquely well positioned to have a louder voice for Pittsburgh as we’re heading into the next [collective bargaining agreement].  I want to make sure that we don’t lose that position.  I don’t think a new owner in Pittsburgh would have the same standing or ability to advocate for the kind of changes that we need.”

Pirates fans can understandably take some skepticism in Nutting’s remarks, and Mackey indeed expressed something of a counterpoint to Nutting’s interview in a follow-up column.  The owner has been frequently criticized for a lack of spending since he bought the team in 2007.  The Pirates have ranked in the bottom five in Opening Day payrolls in all but three seasons of Nutting’s ownership, and the payroll high-water mark remains the Bucs’ $99.9MM payroll at the start of the 2016 season (which ranked 20th out of 30 teams).  As much as Nutting feels his team is at a financial disadvantage against baseball’s bigger markets, the Pirates’ resistance against even moderate spending is an obvious impediment to their desire to become more competitive.

In a bit of on-field news from Friday, the Pirates placed infielder Enmanuel Valdez on the 10-day injured list due to left shoulder inflammation, and recalled infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  A timeline wasn’t given for Valdez, or whether or not he is expected to miss any time beyond the minimum 10 days.

Acquired in a trade with the Red Sox in December, Valdez has hit .209/.294/.363 over 102 plate appearances for the Buccos this season.  Valdez had primarily been a middle infielder with the Sox, but his 26 appearances at first base for the Pirates represent a marked change in his usage, as Valdez’s previous experience at the position consisted of just nine minor league games during his time in the Boston and Houston farm systems.

Since intended first baseman Spencer Horwitz has yet to play this season, the Pirates turned to Endy Rodriguez at first base, and then looked at Valdez as a further backup plan once Rodriguez also hit the 10-day IL.  Rodriguez is still a ways away from returning from a right finger laceration, so Jared Triolo and Matt Gorski now stand as the top first-base options in the interim.  Horwitz has started a Triple-A rehab assignment and might be a week or so away from his 2025 debut, though Valdez’s injury will leave the Pirates even thinner at the position in the short term.

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Notes Pittsburgh Pirates Ben Cherington Enmanuel Valdez Ji-Hwan Bae Radley Haddad

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Pirates Place Nick Gonzales On IL With Non-Displaced Ankle Fracture

By Anthony Franco | March 28, 2025 at 4:10pm CDT

The Pirates announced that second baseman Nick Gonzales is headed to the 10-day injured list after suffering a non-displaced fracture in his left ankle. Fellow infielder Enmanuel Valdez was recalled to take the active roster spot.

Gonzales made his first career Opening Day start at the keystone yesterday. He went 1-3, striking out twice before drilling a two-run home run to left field. That set up a bizarre home run trot, as an obviously hobbled Gonzales limped his way around the bases. The Pirates lifted him for defensive replacement Adam Frazier in the next half-inning. The team initially announced the injury as “recurrent left ankle discomfort,” so it seemingly predates that swing, but the pain clearly became too much to bear.

The seventh overall pick in 2020, Gonzales has appeared in parts of three MLB seasons. He hit .209 in 35 games two seasons ago. Gonzales turned in a nearly league average .270/.311/.398 slash with seven homers through 387 plate appearances last year. His power and walk rates were both middling, but he made enough contact to hit at a .270 clip. Among Pittsburgh hitters with 300+ plate appearances, only Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz and Andrew McCutchen were more productive offensive players by measure of wRC+.

An already light lineup takes a hit with Frazier now in line for the majority of the second base work. The veteran is coming off a .202/.282/.294 showing across 294 plate appearances with the Royals. Frazier was an All-Star during his first stint in Pittsburgh but has hit .236/.301/.336 since being traded to San Diego at the 2021 deadline. The Bucs brought him back on a $1.525MM free agent deal to work in a utility capacity. He’ll now be tasked with regular playing time while Gonzales is out. The Pirates haven’t announced a timetable, but even a non-displaced fracture is surely going to cost him more than the 10-day minimum.

Pittsburgh acquired Valdez from the Red Sox after Boston designated him for assignment in December. The career .235/.286/.400 hitter will work behind Frazier in a backup role and is in line for his team debut. They’re both left-handed hitters, so it’s unlikely to be a platoon. Frazier gets the nod tonight, hitting eighth against Miami righty Connor Gillispie.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Enmanuel Valdez Nick Gonzales

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Pirates Acquire Enmanuel Valdez

By Mark Polishuk | December 15, 2024 at 10:35am CDT

The Pirates and Red Sox announced a trade that will see infielder Enmanuel Valdez head to Pittsburgh in exchange for right-hander Joe Vogatsky.  Valdez was designated for assignment by Boston earlier this week.

Valdez has appeared in 125 big league games since making his MLB debut with the Sox during the 2023 season.  A solid .266/.311/.453 slash in 149 plate appearances made a good first impression for Valdez in his rookie year, but he didn’t fare well with more playing time this past year, hitting only .214/.270/.363 in 223 plate appearances.

Of the whopping 11 players who were part of Boston’s revolving door at second base in 2024, Valdez had the most playing time, with 56 starts and 65 total appearances at the keystone.  Pittsburgh’s second-base situation is also far from settled, with Nick Gonzales penciled into a starting role for now, and Nick Yorke and Jared Triolo also fighting for at-bats.  Valdez is the only left-handed hitter among these other righty options, which could give him an opening for a platoon role.

Valdez figures to be part of this mix, though he has a smattering of MLB experience at third base, shortstop, and left field, and he has played all over the diamond in the minors.  This versatility will help Valdez’s chances of winning a job out of Spring Training, and his ability to handle third base might be particularly useful if Ke’Bryan Hayes continues to be bothered by back injuries.  Valdez has a minor league option year remaining, giving the Pirates the ability to use him as minor league depth if the 26-man roster is full.

Vogatsky (who turns 23 later this month) was a 19th-round pick for the Pirates in last summer’s amateur draft, and the right-hander has yet to begin his pro career.  A product of James Madison University, Vogatsky worked exclusively as a reliever in his last two college years, with much better results than his first two NCAA seasons.  This role change likely got Vogatsky drafted, and it seems likely that he’ll stick in the bullpen going forward.

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Boston Red Sox Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Enmanuel Valdez

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Red Sox Acquire Carlos Narvaez From Yankees

By Anthony Franco | December 11, 2024 at 7:28pm CDT

The Red Sox acquired catcher Carlos Narváez from the Yankees for minor league pitcher Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and international bonus pool space. Boston designated infielder Enmanuel Valdez for assignment to open the necessary 40-man roster spot.

Narváez, 26, is a depth catcher who has been on New York’s 40-man roster since last offseason. The Venezuela native reached the majors for the first time in July. He appeared in six games, collecting three singles and two walks in 15 plate appearances. Narváez had a good year in Triple-A, hitting .254/.370/.412 with 20 doubles and 11 home runs through 403 plate appearances. He walked at an excellent 13.9% clip while striking out 26.1% of the time.

The righty-hitting Narváez strikes out a lot, but he walks enough to reach base at a solid rate. Connor Wong was the only catcher on Boston’s 40-man roster. Narváez is now the favorite for the backup job by default, though the Sox will probably look for a more established veteran in the coming months. Narváez has a pair of minor league options and could begin next season at Triple-A Worcester.

New York had five catchers on the 40-man roster. Austin Wells and Jose Trevino form the MLB duo. J.C. Escarra, who finished the season in Triple-A, secured a 40-man spot at the end of the season. Carrying Narváez and Escarra was redundant, so the Yanks cash in the former to take a flier on a young pitcher.

Rodriguez-Cruz, 21, was Boston’s fourth-round pick three years ago. The 6’3″ righty has worked as a starter in the low minors. Rodriguez-Cruz had a nice season between Low-A and High-A, working to a 2.91 ERA with a 27.2% strikeout percentage across 89 2/3 innings. The Puerto Rico native issued free passes at a lofty 11.5% clip. He’ll need to dial in his command if he’s to stick as a starter. He’s an intriguing developmental flier for the Yankees to land for a player who was at the back of the roster.

New York also picks up an undisclosed amount of money it can use to sign an international amateur before the end of the signing period on Sunday. To be clear, the signing bonus space is unrelated to Roki Sasaki. The Japanese star will be part of next year’s amateur class. Teams cannot trade for 2025 bonus allotments until that signing period begins on January 15.

Valdez gets pushed off the roster after a disappointing season. The lefty-hitting infielder posted a .214/.270/.363 slash with six homers through 223 plate appearances. That’s a big drop from last year’s intriguing .266/.311/.453 showing over 49 games as a rookie. Valdez spent a good portion of the season in Worcester, where he had a league average .233/.330/.446 line in 50 contests.

Boston has five days to trade Valdez or put him on waivers. He still has a minor league option remaining and has a career .254/.345/.473 line over parts of three Triple-A seasons. Between that and his ability to bounce between second and third base, there’s a good chance he’ll find a new home within the next week.

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Boston Red Sox New York Yankees Transactions Carlos Narvaez Enmanuel Valdez

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Red Sox Place Tyler O’Neill On 10-Day IL, Activate Chris Martin

By Nick Deeds | August 7, 2024 at 7:31pm CDT

The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves this evening, headlined by the club placing outfielder Tyler O’Neill on the 10-day injured list due to a left leg infection. The move is retroactive to August 4. Replacing O’Neill on the active roster is infielder Enmanuel Valdez, who has been recalled to the big league roster, and the Red Sox also activated right-hander Chris Martin from the 15-day IL. Lefty Cam Booser was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Martin.

O’Neill, 29, was acquired from the Cardinals over the offseason and has enjoyed an excellent campaign during his first season in Boston. In 342 trips to the plate this season, the 29-year-old has slashed an excellent .268/.357/.544 (142 wRC+) with 16 doubles and 22 homers. While he’s striking out at a hefty 31.9% clip, he’s paired those strong power numbers with a solid 11.1% walk rate that has given him a more well-rounded profile than he flashed in his career-best 2021 campaign when he crushed 34 homers and posted a 143 wRC+ but walked at a clip of just 7.1%.

The slugger’s performance this year seems likely to line the pending free agent up for hefty raise in free agency this winter, although one red flag for O’Neill has been his frequent trips to the shelf. After suffering hamstring, back, foot, and shoulder injuries during his final two seasons with St. Louis, he’s now made three trips to the shelf with the Red Sox this year: once for a concussion in April, once due to knee inflammation in May, and now today’s most recent ailment that manager Alex Cora described to reporters (including Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe) as a worsening infection on his left leg that has caused swelling.

The silver lining in O’Neill’s repeated trips to the IL this year is that they’ve all been fairly short-lived, and Cora indicated that this one should be more of the same as he’s likely to be activated once eligible to return next week. In the meantime, the Red Sox figure to turn to some combination of Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Rob Refsnyder in the outfield. With Rafaela frequenting the outfield in recent days, Valdez should help to shore up the club’s middle infield mix alongside David Hamilton, Nick Sogard, and Romy Gonzalez. The 25-year-old enjoyed a strong rookie season in 2023 but has taken a step back this year with a .226/.282/.402 slash line in 182 trips to the plate at the big league level.

As for Martin, the right-hander’s return to action is welcome news for a beleaguered Red Sox bullpen that has been second-worst in the majors since the start of July, ahead of only the White Sox. The 38-year-old veteran sports a solid 3.42 ERA with a matching 3.40 FIP in 26 1/3 innings of work this year and is coming off an even better season in 2023 where he dominated to the tune of an eye-popping 1.05 ERA in 55 appearances. Adding Martin to the late-inning mix to be the primary set-up man for closer Kenley Jansen should further shore up a bullpen that got reinforcements in the form of Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia prior to the trade deadline. He’ll take the roster spot of Booser, who heads to Triple-A to become the club’s top depth option with an excellent 2.77 ERA and 2.99 FIP in 39 innings of work this year.

While the bullpen will hopefully be revitalized by the return of Martin, Cora suggested to reporters today (including Abraham) that the Red Sox intend to skip right-hander Nick Pivetta’s next start. While the veteran righty doesn’t appear to be injured, Cora indicated that he’s “not responding well” coming out of his last start and that the club had some concerns about a dip in his velocity. With a day off scheduled tomorrow, the Red Sox will be able to utilize the rest of their rotation on regular rest without needing to call up another arm to take the spot on Pivetta. The righty has a middling 4.44 ERA through 18 starts this year thanks primarily due to a trio of brutal outings his last three times out that have seen him surrender 13 runs (12 earned) in 14 innings of work while serving up six home runs.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Cam Booser Chris Martin Enmanuel Valdez Nick Pivetta Tyler O'Neill

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Red Sox Outright Naoyuki Uwasawa

By Darragh McDonald | July 13, 2024 at 6:33pm CDT

TODAY: The Red Sox outrighted Uwasawa to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (X link).

JULY 9: The Red Sox have selected the contract of right-hander Trey Wingenter, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive on X. Wingenter was acquired from the Tigers on the weekend and had an assignment clause in his contract, meaning he needed to be added to the roster. To make room for him, the club has optioned left-hander Cam Booser and designated right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa for assignment. They also optioned infielder/outfielder Enmanuel Valdéz and recalled infielder/outfielder Jamie Westbrook.

Uwasawa, 30, had spent his entire career with the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball until signing a minor league deal with the Rays over the winter. He wasn’t going to make the Rays’ roster out of camp but had an upward mobility clause in his deal, meaning he would have to be traded if any other club was willing to give him a spot. The Red Sox were interested and sent cash to the Rays to get a deal done, though they have largely kept Uwasawa on optional assignment.

The righty has made two appearances at the big league level this year, with one earned run allowed in four innings. He’s mostly been serving in a swing role at the Triple-A level, with fairly uninspiring results there. He has a 6.54 ERA in 42 2/3 innings over 13 appearances, including six starts. He only struck out 18.5% of opponents while giving out walks at a 12.3% clip. The club tried moving him to a relief role, with his six most recent appearances coming out of the bullpen, but without a significant improvement. He had a 6.32 ERA in his first seven appearances this year and a 7.15 ERA in the last six.

The Sox will now have a week to trade Uwasawa or pass him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, any potential deal would have to come together in the next five days. His results this year have been poor but teams could perhaps be interested based on his NPB track record. He tossed over 1,000 innings in that league with a 3.19 ERA before making the move to North American ball, though that came despite a fairly tepid 19.7% strikeout rate. The lack of velocity/strikeout stuff was the biggest knock on him before crossing the Pacific and those concerns seem to have been borne out so far.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Cam Booser Enmanuel Valdez Jamie Westbrook Naoyuki Uwasawa Trey Wingenter

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Red Sox Place Tyler O’Neill On Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | May 29, 2024 at 5:50pm CDT

The Red Sox announced to reporters that outfielder Tyler O’Neill has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 26, due to right knee inflammation. Infielder Enmanuel Valdéz was recalled in a corresponding move. Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe was among those to relay the info on X.

O’Neill, 29 next month, started out scorching hot with the Red Sox but has cooled off considerably. He was hitting .320/.433/.693 through the end of April but has hit just .151/.244/.301 since the calendar flipped to May. He told reporters recently that his knee has been bothering him for a bit and was probably affecting his swing, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic on X.

Health, or the lack thereof, has been a major factor in the outfielder’s career. A fully healthy O’Neill is capable of being an elite player, as he showed in 2021. He got into 138 games for the Cardinals that year and hit 34 home runs. His .286/.352/.560 batting line translated to a 143 wRC+, or 43% above league average. He also stole 15 bases and got strong grades for his outfield defense. FanGraphs considered him to have been worth 5.3 wins above replacement and he finished eighth in National League Most Valuable Player voting.

But the two subsequent seasons saw him get snakebit by injuries. He only played 168 games combined over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, hitting .229/.310/.397 for a wRC+ of 98. He went to the IL at various times for a right shoulder impingement, a left hamstring strain, a lower back strain and a right foot sprain.

With just one year remaining before he reached free agency and St. Louis having a clogged outfield yet again, they flipped him to Boston for a couple of pitchers. The Red Sox were surely hoping to get the healthy version of O’Neill, so that he could either help them compete or perhaps be flipped for a larger package than what they gave up. Since then, they have seen both extremes of the O’Neill experience.

How the Sox decide to approach the deadline will undoubtedly be determined by how they fare between now and then. They are currently 28-27 and just 2.5 games back of a playoff spot. If they can hover around there for the next few months, they could keep O’Neill around as part of a playoff push. He could be a candidate for a qualifying offer at season’s end, depending on how healthy and effective he is in the second half. Though if he’s healthy and the team falls in the standings, he would likely be available on the trade market this summer.

The fact that his injury is just being described as inflammation, as opposed to a strain or a tear, is perhaps a sign that he won’t be on the IL for too long. Manger Álex Cora suggested as much earlier today, as relayed by Ian Browne of MLB.com on X. With O’Neill joining Masataka Yoshida on the injured list, the outfield mix will consist of Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Rob Refsnyder for the next little while.

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Boston Red Sox Enmanuel Valdez Tyler O'Neill

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Red Sox Transfer Chris Sale To 60-Day Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | June 9, 2023 at 3:25pm CDT

The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves today, some of which were previously reported, though some were new developments. Outfielder Adam Duvall has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list while left-hander Joe Jacques has had his contract selected. To open two active roster spots, lefty Matt Dermody has been designated for assignment while infielder Enmanuel Valdéz was optioned to Triple-A. To open one more 40-man roster spot, lefty Chris Sale has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. The Sox informed reporters, including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, that Sale has a stress reaction in his shoulder blade. He won’t require surgery but he will be shut down for three to four weeks before being reevaluated.

Sale, 34, was once one of the most dominant pitchers in the league but he has been severely held back by injuries in recent years. He averaged over 200 innings per season from 2012 to 2017 but was held to roughly 150 per year in the two following seasons. He made trips to the injured list in 2018 due to shoulder inflammation then dealt with elbow inflammation the following year. He ultimately required Tommy John surgery in March of 2020, causing him to miss that entire season.

He returned late in 2021 and was able to make nine starts that year. It was hoped he would be set for a return to full-time work in 2022 but he dealt with a stress reaction in his ribs that kept him out until July. He was hit by a comebacker in his second start, fracturing a finger. While on the injured list again, he broke his wrist in a bicycle accident that ended his season.

Here in 2023, it was again hoped that he could perhaps return to a regular starting role. That was the case for a while, as he made 11 starts with a 4.58 ERA, but he landed on the injured list again on June 2 due to shoulder inflammation. He’ll now be ineligible to return until August, though even that seems contingent on a bit of luck in the health department. The aforementioned shutdown period will keep him out of action for most of the rest of June. Even if he’s healthy after that, he’ll need most of July to build back up and go on a rehab assignment.

In the short term, the Red Sox will be figuring out how to proceed without Sale. They have recently been running out a group with veteran James Paxton alongside younger pitchers like Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, while struggles from Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta got both of those guys pushed into the bullpen.

In the long-term, the Sox will have to wonder what they can expect from Sale going forward. He is playing this year on a salary of $27.5MM and will make that same figure next year as part of the extension he and the club signed going into 2019. There’s also a $20MM club option for 2025 with no buyout. Due to his carousel of injuries, he’s pitched just over 100 innings since the end of the 2019 campaign.

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Boston Red Sox Newsstand Transactions Adam Duvall Chris Sale Enmanuel Valdez Joe Jacques Matt Dermody

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Best Deadline Rental Returns In Recent History: Honorable Mentions

By Steve Adams | June 5, 2023 at 4:25pm CDT

The calendar has flipped to June, and more than one-third of the season is in the rearview mirror. While there’s still plenty of time for the standings to change in dramatic fashion — just ask the 2022 Phillies or 2019 Nationals — the “early” portion of the season is a bit behind us. As the weather heats up and playoff pictures begin to take a more definitive shape, the baseball world inherently turns its focus to a few things: the looming All-Star Game, the upcoming amateur draft and, of course, the annual trade deadline.

June trades of note are admittedly rare — particularly over the past ten years or so — but we’re fast approaching the portion of the season where trade needs, potential trade candidates and many other deadline-adjacent minutiae begin to crystallize. It’s common for fans of rebuilding and/or underperforming clubs to begin to wonder just what sort of returns their favorite team might be able to eke out for veteran players with dwindling club control.

Some of the most common questions we’re asked in chats at MLBTR these days center around what a team might be able to get for a certain player — rentals in particular. Names like Lucas Giolito, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery and Jeimer Candelario were just a few readers asked me about this past week. To be clear, it’s not a given that all or even any of those specific names will change hands in two months’ time (or sooner), but it’s obviously a hot topic that’s on people’s minds.

As such, it only seemed natural to take a look back through recent history and look at some high-profile trades of rental players and see which panned out the best for the team selling off the veteran player in question. Over the next couple weeks, we’ll roll out a look at the ten “best” returns for rental players in recent trade deadline history.

A few caveats of note! At times, it can take three, four, five years or even longer for a team to begin reaping the benefits from such a deal. An immediate return isn’t always apparent, particularly when you’re only selling two months of a player or players. As such, we’re not considering trades completed at last year’s deadline for our top ten, even though they could well prove excellent as soon as 2024 or 2025. It’s simply too soon to evaluate those swaps. Also, these rankings are subjective; they’re not based on a hard-and-fast WAR criteria or anything of the sort. If you think we should’ve ranked No. 7 higher and No. 4 lower, let us know. It’s all part of the fun.

While I said we’re omitting last year’s deadline from our top ten, that doesn’t mean we’ll completely ignore the results of the 2022 deadline. To kick off the series, here’s a quick look at three honorable mentions from 2017-21 as well as a handful of 2022 trades that will be worth keeping an eye on in the years to come. Present-day impact of these 2022 trades has either been minimal or nonexistent, but each brought the “selling” team some nearly MLB-ready help that could be impactful as soon as this season. These honorable mentions and 2022 swaps aren’t ranked — they’re just sorted alphabetically by the last name of the player who was traded.

Let’s begin!

Honorable Mentions

Orioles acquire RHPs Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll and LHP Josh Rogers from the Yankees in exchange for LHP Zack Britton (7/24/18)

Two-thirds of this return for Baltimore wound up making little to no impact, but the acquisition of Tate, a former No. 4 overall draft pick, wound up paying dividends. Though Tate isn’t the rotation piece the Rangers hoped for when drafting him or the Yankees envisioned when acquiring him for Carlos Beltran, he’s emerged as a quality setup man at Camden Yards. The O’s gave Tate just ten starts after the trade before moving him to the bullpen, and while his rookie effort in 2019 left plenty to be desired, he’s since pitched quite well.

Dating back to 2020, Tate has a 3.65 ERA in 158 innings of relief, adding 25 holds and eight saves along the way. Tate’s 19.1% strikeout rate is below-average, but his 6.8% walk rate is better than average and his 57.9% grounder rate is outstanding. In 2022, he pitched to a pristine 3.05 ERA through 73 2/3 frames, tallying five of those saves and 16 of those holds. A forearm strain has kept Tate out of action this year, however.

Tate isn’t peak Britton and likely never will be, but trading two months of an elite reliever and winding up with six years of club control over an above-average reliever isn’t a bad outcome for Baltimore. As for the Yankees, they got the tail end of Britton’s prime. He notched a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings down the stretch and re-signed on a three-year deal with a fourth year option (that had to be exercised after the contract’s second season to prevent a Britton opt-out). Britton posted a sub-2.00 ERA in both 2019 and 2020, but he pitched just 19 innings over his final two years in New York due to injuries.

Rays acquire LHP Jalen Beeks from the Red Sox in exchange for RHP Nathan Eovaldi (7/25/18)

Few could’ve predicted what an impactful trade this would end up being at the time it was made. At the time of the swap, Eovaldi was in his first season back from Tommy John surgery and had pitched 57 innings of 4.26 ERA ball for Tampa Bay. He’d long intrigued teams with his power arsenal but was inconsistent and carried a career ERA that more or less matched that season total.

Eovaldi took off in Boston, however, tossing 54 frames of 3.33 ERA ball as the Sox marched to the postseason, where he cemented his status in Red Sox lore. Eovaldi was a star that October, tossing 22 1/3 innings of 1.61 ERA ball with a 16-to-3 K/BB ratio. Those are impressive numbers on their own, but they only tell part of the tale. Eovaldi won his first two starts of the playoffs before moving to the bullpen and picking up a pair of holds. But it was Game 3 of the World Series, where Eovaldi gutted out six innings of relief in an 18-inning marathon and finished out the game, that many will remember. The Dodgers wound up winning when Eovaldi’s 97th (!) pitch out of the bullpen was deposited in the seats by Max Muncy, but he saved the Boston bullpen with six innings of one-run ball that night. The Sox went on to win the World Series in five games.

As for the Rays, they came away with a lefty who’d come up through Boston’s system as a starter but would be used in a jack-of-all-trades role in St. Petersburg. Beeks has served as a long reliever, a setup man and an opener in parts of five seasons with Tampa Bay, totaling 258 innings of 4.12 ERA ball along the way. He’s been the type of versatile arm whose value can’t be neatly encapsulated in what looks like an otherwise modest WAR total. Beeks has handled just about any role the Rays could ask, and he’s generally been effective in doing so. He’s not a star, but he’s been an important member of their pitching staff for a half decade now and is still under team control through the 2024 season.

Tigers acquire RHP Reese Olson from the Brewers in exchange for LHP Daniel Norris (7/30/21)

The 23-year-old Olson made his big league debut on Friday when he stepped into the Detroit rotation to take the spot of the injured Eduardo Rodriguez. As far as debuts go, it was nearly as good as a young pitcher could ask for. Olson carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before being tagged for a pair of runs and departing five frames of two-run ball in the books.

Olson isn’t regarded among the sport’s top 100 prospects and isn’t even universally considered to be among the Tigers’ top 10 prospects, but he’s missed bats consistently in the upper minors and is regarded as a potential long-term rotation piece if he can improve upon the command of his fastball. Scouting reports at Baseball America, FanGraphs, The Athletic and MLB.com praise Olson’s secondary pitches, particularly his changeup, which he’s begun using effectively even in right-on-right situations.

Detroit has seen a lot of turnover in the baseball operations department since this trade, but former GM Al Avila, AGM David Chadd and others will be in line for some praise if the Tigers get a viable big leaguer in exchange for two months of the veteran Norris, who was sitting on a 5.38 ERA in 36 2/3 innings at the time of the deal. Norris had been tough on lefties, and the Brewers surely felt they could coax a higher level of performance out of him with some tweaks. That didn’t happen, however, as Norris was rocked for a 6.64 ERA in Milwaukee, walking 15 of the 63 batters he faced (23.8%) and serving up five homers in 20 1/3 frames (2.2 HR/9).

2022 Deadline Swaps to Watch

Pirates acquire RHP Johan Oviedo, INF Malcom Nunez from the Cardinals in exchange for LHP Jose Quintana, RHP Chris Stratton (8/2/22)

Yes, technically this isn’t a pure rental. Stratton had an additional year of club control, and that surely factored into the return. But he was also sitting on a 5.09 ERA at the time of the deal, and this was largely a trade centered around getting Quintana to land some much-needed rotation help in St. Louis.

The Cardinals got just what they wanted out of this deal — and then some. Quintana stepped into the rotation and not only solidified the staff but pitched to a brilliant 2.01 ERA in 62 2/3 frames down the stretch. The lefty was so excellent that St. Louis wound up tabbing him as the Game 1 starter in last year’s National League Division Series. Quintana had signed a one-year, $2MM deal in the offseason and was acquired as a back-end starter but pitched like an ace. The script doesn’t get much better for the acquiring team.

That said, this trade also has the makings of a winner for Pittsburgh. The 25-year-old Oviedo has been inconsistent but shown flashes of brilliance with the Bucs. He’s throwing fewer fastballs and more breaking pitches — particularly more curveballs, which has been an extremely effective offering for him through 11 starts. Oviedo’s 4.50 ERA in 58 innings looks pretty pedestrian, but he’s upped his ground-ball rate and improved his velocity even in a rotation role. He’s allowed one or zero runs in six of his 11 starts this year. The Pirates can control Oviedo for four more years beyond the current season, and if he’s a legitimate starter or even a multi-inning relief piece, that’ll be a fine return for their modest Quintana flier. Nunez, meanwhile, hit .286/.381/.476 in Double-A following the trade and is at .255/.338/.369 in 160 Triple-A plate appearances this year.

Cubs acquire RHP Ben Brown from the Phillies in exchange for RHP David Robertson (8/2/22)

Robertson was one of the most in-demand relievers — or trade candidates in general — at last year’s deadline, and the rebuilding/retooling Cubs needed to get their return right. So far, it looks like they’ve done just that. Brown is out to a sensational start in the upper minors this year, pitching to a combined 2.63 ERA with a 35.5% strikeout rate against a less-appealing 11.7% walk rate. Baseball America ranked him sixth among Cubs prospects heading into the season, and The Athletic’s Keith Law called him a “heck of a get for two months of a 37-year-old reliever.” FanGraphs currently has him ranked 87th on their top-100 prospect list, and MLB.com moved him into its top-100 just this morning.

Despite Brown’s wide-reaching acclaim, the Phillies might not even regret making the swap. Robertson struggled with his command following the trade but still posted 22 1/3 innings of 2.70 ERA ball and saved six games for Philadelphia down the stretch in a tight Wild Card race that saw them edge out the Brewers by exactly one win. The Phillies needed every single victory, and if they’d held onto Brown and targeted a different reliever(s), who knows whether they’d have reached the playoffs? Were it not for Robertson — who pitched 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the playoffs — the Phils may never have experienced J.T. Realmuto’s NLDS inside-the-parker, Rhys Hoskins’ four-homer NLCS, or Bryce Harper’s iconic NLCS-clinching bomb.

Angels acquire OFs Mickey Moniak, Jadiel Sanchez from the Phillies in exchange for RHP Noah Syndergaard (8/2/22)

This trade might not have gone as well as the Phillies hoped. Syndergaard was decent down the stretch, pitching to a 4.12 ERA in 10 appearances, nine of them starts. He started just twice in the postseason and made one relief appearance. Syndergaard pitched like a fourth or fifth starter but saw his already diminished velocity and strikeout rate step even further back following the trade. Again, the Phils needed every last win to get to the playoffs, though, so it’s hard to say they’d definitively have done anything different. They won six of Syndergaard’s nine starts and also picked up the victory in the lone game they used him out of the bullpen, when he tossed two scoreless frames.

At least thus far, Angels fans can’t complain about the return. Moniak isn’t going to sustain a .429 batting average on balls in play, but he’s hitting .327/.340/.694 in 50 plate appearances. The BABIP and a 34% strikeout rate scream for regression, but the former 1-1 pick has already hit as many homers through 50 trips to the plate with the Halos (four) as he did in 167 with the Phillies. He’s played good defense, run well and given some hope that he can carve out a role moving forward.

Red Sox acquire INF Enmanuel Valdez, OF Wilyer Abreu from the Astros in exchange for C Christian Vazquez (8/1/22)

Trading Vazquez was part of a disjointed Red Sox trade deadline that saw Boston trade away their longtime catcher and lefty reliever Jake Diekman while also acquiring Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham. It wasn’t clear that their 2023 roster was improved, and the decision to hold onto other trade targets while adding Pham’s salary left them just over the luxury tax line (thereby reducing their compensation for qualifying offers extended to Xander Bogaerts and Nathan Eovaldi).

Digression aside, the swap might prove beneficial to the Sox in the long run. Valdez has already made his big league debut, and although his bat faded after a hot start, he’s still sporting a passable .244/.292/.422 batting line (91 wRC+) in his first 97 big league plate appearances. He’s picked up four homers, four doubles and three steals (in four tries) while subbing in at second base in the wake of a slew of middle-infield injuries. Valdez posted absolutely massive numbers in 205 Double-A plate appearances last year (.357/.463/.649) before moving up to Triple-A and hitting .265/.327/.488.

Abreu, meanwhile, was added to the 40-man roster over the winter and is hitting .264/.379/.479 in 40 Triple-A games so far. He’s regarded as a potential plus outfield defender, and his success in Triple-A and status on the 40-man roster mean the Red Sox could possibly have two MLB contributors within a year or so of trading Vazquez.

It’s hard to say anything moves the 2022 Astros made “didn’t work out,” as the team won the World Series in the end. But Vazquez took a backseat to Martin Maldonado both in the regular season and the playoffs, hitting just .250/.278/.308 in 108 regular-season plate appearances following the swap (plus .235/.316/.235 in just 19 playoff plate appearances).

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Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Chicago Cubs Detroit Tigers Houston Astros Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers MLBTR Originals Milwaukee Brewers New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Washington Nationals Ben Brown Chris Stratton Christian Vazquez Cody Carroll Daniel Norris David Robertson Dillon Tate Enmanuel Valdez Jadiel Sanchez Jalen Beeks Johan Oviedo Jose Quintana Josh Rogers Malcom Nunez Mickey Moniak Nathan Eovaldi Noah Syndergaard Reese Olson Wilyer Abreu Zack Britton

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