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Joely Rodriguez

Red Sox Designate Ryan Brasier For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | May 14, 2023 at 11:58pm CDT

11:58PM: Rodriguez will be activated from the 15-day IL to take Brasier’s roster spot on Monday, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey reports.

10:12PM: The Red Sox have designated Ryan Brasier for assignment, as the right-hander himself told reporters (including Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe) tonight in the aftermath of a tough outing against the Cardinals.  Brasier allowed three runs over 2 1/3 innings of relief in a 9-1 Red Sox loss.

No corresponding move is yet known, though manager Alex Cora told reporters over the weekend that Joely Rodriguez was going to be activated from the 15-day injured list on Monday, so the Sox could be clearing room for Rodriguez’s return.  Rodriguez suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain in mid-March during Spring Training, and has yet to pitch this season.

Tonight’s performance inflated Brasier’s season ERA to 7.29 over 21 innings of work out of the Boston bullpen.  There is some level of misfortune in that ERA since Brasier’s strand rate (52.8%) and BABIP (.344) are both skewed, and his FIP is a more moderate 4.38.  That said, he has also posted below-average strikeout and walk rates, and Brasier is near the bottom of the league in hard contact.

The advanced metrics were much more favorable to Brasier last year, but the bottom-line results still weren’t there, as the righty had a 5.78 ERA over 62 1/3 innings in 2022.  With the lack of results stretching into a second season, the Sox have opted to part ways with a reliever who has had his share of ups and downs over six years in Boston, but for the most part was a solid hurler prior to the start of the 2022 season.

After pitching with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 2017, Brasier returned from Japan to sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox, and ended up unexpectedly emerging as an ace reliever for the eventual World Series champions.  Brasier posted a 1.60 ERA over 33 2/3 regular-season innings and then a 1.04 ERA in 8 1/3 postseason innings to help the Sox win the title.

Brasier’s 2019 season was a lot shakier, but he posted better results in 2020-21, with a 3.16 ERA albeit over only 37 innings.  Brasier’s workload was limited by the shortened 2020 regular season, and then a 2021 campaign that saw him miss most of the year due to a calf strain and then a concussion after he was struck in the head by a line drive during a simulated game.

The 35-year-old is in his final year of arbitration eligibility, and is still owed roughly $1.5MM of his $2MM salary for the 2023 season.  It doesn’t seem all that likely that another team will claim Brasier off DFA waivers, so the Red Sox will likely end up eating the salary if they end up releasing the righty, or they could simply outright him down to Triple-A.  If Brasier is signed by a new team after being released, the new club will only owe the prorated portion of the Major League minimum salary, with Boston covering the remainder of the $1.5MM.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Joely Rodriguez Ryan Brasier

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Red Sox’ Joely Rodríguez Diagnosed With Grade 2 Oblique Strain

By Darragh McDonald | March 20, 2023 at 4:15pm CDT

Red Sox left-hander Joely Rodríguez has a Grade 2 oblique strain, manager Alex Cora tells Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Cora declined to provide a timetable for the southpaw, saying only that he would return “whenever he’s ready.” However, even mild oblique strains usually lead to absences of a few weeks, so Rodríguez seems slated to miss significant time.

Rodríguez, 31, was signed in the offseason to a one-year, $2MM deal with a club option for 2024. He spent last year with the Mets, posting a 4.47 ERA over 55 appearances. He walked 12% of batters faced but got strikeouts at a 26.4% rate and grounders at a 53.8% clip. It’s possible that he deserved better than that ERA indicates, as his .303 batting average on balls in play and his 63.3% strand rate were both on the unlucky side of average. His 3.23 FIP and 3.54 SIERA suggest he could be better if his luck were to even out.

Unfortunately, he will have to wait a while to test that luck with his new club, as he’s likely going to be out of action for a while. Though Cora wouldn’t provide any specifics on the estimated return timeline, there are some recent examples with more details. The Rays, for instance, gave an estimate of six-to-eight weeks when Tyler Glasnow recently suffered his own Grade 2 oblique strain. Every injury is different and it can’t simply be assumed that Rodriguez is looking at the same timeframe, but that can at least provide a rough guideline for what might be on the table here.

The Sox were set to have two lefties in their Opening Day bullpen, with Richard Bleier being the other. There are no other lefty relievers on the 40-man roster, but this news will perhaps open the door for someone else to make the club. Ryan Sherriff was signed to a minor league deal this offseason and could be an option. He was reassigned to minor league camp last week but this new info could perhaps increase his chances of making the club.

If the Sox are interested in external additions, the free agent market still features guys like Zack Britton and Ross Detwiler. It’s also possible that some new names will join them on the open market as Opening Day approaches and other clubs make their final roster decisions.

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Boston Red Sox Joely Rodriguez

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Red Sox Notes: Rodriguez, Paxton, Meneses

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2023 at 5:08pm CDT

Red Sox reliever Joely Rodriguez left today’s game with what the team described as right torso pain.  The discomfort was visible, as The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link) described Rodriguez as “groaning in pain as he went to the clubhouse and was holding onto his side.”  The somewhat vague wording of the club’s official announcement is perhaps a positive sign that Rodriguez didn’t suffer an immediate oblique strain, or it could simply indicate that a fuller battery of tests has yet to be run to determine the left-hander’s status.

At the very least, Rodriguez’s injury creates some doubt about his availability with Opening Day just 12 days away.  Rodriguez signed a one-year deal worth $2MM in guaranteed money back in November, and the Sox also hold a $4.25MM club option on his services for the 2024 campaign.  Rodriguez and Richard Bleier (also new to the Red Sox, via a January trade with the Marlins) were penciled in as the bullpen’s left-handed options, but if Rodriguez has to miss any time, minor league signings Ryan Sherriff or Matt Dermody could have a sudden path to the MLB roster, or the Sox could opt for in-house prospects Chris Murphy or Brandon Walter.

More from Boston’s camp…

  • James Paxton threw 25 pitches off a mound today, and told MLB.com’s Ian Browne and other reporters that he felt “good.  I wasn’t thinking about the hamstring at all.”  A Grade 1 hamstring strain kept Paxton off the mound for 15 days, so the southpaw will have to start the season on the injured list to give himself more time to properly ramp up.  The tentative plan for Paxton’s rehab is for one or two more mound sessions, two live batting-practice sessions, and then a return to spring game action.
  • The Nationals got an unexpected breakout from Joey Meneses last season, as the 30-year-old made his MLB debut and proceeded to hit .324/.367/.563 with 13 homers over 240 plate appearances.  While it seemed like Meneses came out of nowhere, he actually came to D.C. after two seasons in the Red Sox organization, and Meneses hit a combined .284/.333/.530 over 369 PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2021.  Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes that while the Sox had interest in bringing Meneses back on another minor league deal, but since Triston Casas was going to be the priority at first base for Triple-A Worchester, Meneses might’ve seen a reduction in at-bats.  “If we had seen this coming, he’d probably still be here,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said.  “Sometimes guys just break through at different points in their career, different ages, different places.  Happy to see him be able to do that and just be able to sustain it in the big leagues and the [World Baseball Classic].”
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Boston Red Sox Washington Nationals James Paxton Joely Rodriguez Joey Meneses Richard Bleier

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Red Sox Sign Joely Rodriguez

By Steve Adams | November 23, 2022 at 11:49am CDT

11:49am: Rodriguez will earn a $500K bonus for reaching each of 30, 60, 90 and 120 days on the active roster in 2023, MLBTR has learned.

10:28am: The Red Sox have signed left-handed reliever Joely Rodriguez to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2024 season, per a team announcement. Rodriguez, a client of L.A. Sports Management, will be guaranteed $2MM in the form of a $1.5MM salary in 2023 and a $500K buyout on a $4.25MM club option for the 2024 campaign, Chad Jennings of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Rodriguez can earn up to $2MM of bonuses based on time spent on the active roster in 2023, plus $250K in each season of the deal based on games pitched. In all, it can max out at $8.25MM over a two-year term. Boston’s 40-man roster is now up to 39 players.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Pirates as a teenager back in 2009, Rodriguez bounced to four different organizations before signing with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball prior to the 2018 season. A strong two-year run with the Dragons (1.85 ERA in 87 2/3 innings) landed Rodriguez a big league deal to return to the Rangers.

Twice traded since that time, the now-31-year-old Rodriguez has spent a season with Texas and both New York clubs, pitching to a combined 4.28 ERA but more encouraging secondary marks. He’s averaged 94 mph on his heater, punched out an above-average 25.5% of his opponents and logged a huge 55.7% ground-ball rate. Despite a higher-than-average 10.3% walk rate, fielding-independent metrics like FIP (3.14) and SIERA (3.51) all feel that Rodriguez has pitched a fair bit better than his more rudimentary ERA would otherwise indicate.

In particular, Rodriguez has excelled at limiting hard contact. Last year’s paltry 85.3 mph average exit velocity, 3.8% barrel rate and 31.8% hard-hit rate were all among the lowest marks in the league. Statcast ranked each in the 91st percentile or better among big league pitchers. Rodriguez carried a notable platoon split with the Yankees in 2021 but, upon ramping up his usage of a sinker/changeup combination (at the expense of most of his four-seamers and sliders) was generally tough on lefties and righties alike in 2022. Left-handers hit .233/.320/.326 against him, while righties were actually even worse, at .220/.325/.300.

If Rodriguez can sustain those gains against right-handed opponents and simultaneously rein in his command a bit — he walked 12% of hitters in 2022 but just 8.7% in 2021 — there’s potential for him to elevate his profile and prove to be a quality bargain on this relatively modest deal.

Rodriguez will step into a Boston bullpen that had otherwise been slated to include just one lefty: Josh Taylor. It’s possible that Darwinzon Hernandez or one of recently selected Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter could eventually work their way into the mix, but left-handed bullpen help was a fairly clear area of need for the Sox. They’ve now made at least one move to address that — though others could certainly transpire — and done so in affordable fashion. With Rodriguez on the books, Boston’s payroll sits at a projected $133.8MM, while their luxury-tax ledger is just north of $153MM.

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Boston Red Sox Newsstand Transactions Joely Rodriguez

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Mets Add Taijuan Walker To Postseason Roster, Joely Rodriguez Removed Due To Shoulder Problem

By Mark Polishuk | October 8, 2022 at 5:18pm CDT

Heading into tonight’s pivotal Game 2 of their Wild Card Series with the Padres, the Mets have made an injury-related change to their roster.  Newsday’s Tim Healey (Twitter link) reports that left-hander Joely Rodriguez has been removed from the 26-man roster due to a shoulder problem, and righty Taijuan Walker has been added as the replacement.

The specific nature of Rodriguez’s injury isn’t known, and he didn’t pitch in yesterday’s Game 1.  Due to the roster removal, Rodriguez is now ineligible to pitch until the NLCS, should New York advance that deep into the postseason.  In the bigger picture, Rodriguez is also a free agent after the season, so a serious shoulder issue could hamper his chances of landing a notable contract this winter.

It’s a tough blow for both Rodriguez and the Mets, as David Peterson is now the lone left-handed pitcher remaining on the Mets’ playoff roster.  New York is on the brink of elimination after losing Game 1, and with the margin of error so slim, Rodriguez’s absence could loom large given the number of several (Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Jake Cronenworth, Jurickson Profar, Trent Grisham) prominent left-handed hitters and switch-hitters in San Diego’s lineup.

The Mets have been thin on left-handed relief pitching all season, with Rodriguez serving as essentially the only reliable southpaw option.  Control was an issue for Rodriguez, as his 12% walk rate helped balloon his ERA to 4.47 over 50 1/3 innings.  A 3.54 SIERA paints a more positive view of Rodriguez’s performance, as other metrics as a 53.8% grounder rate, a solid 26.4% strikeout rate and excellent hard-hit ball numbers helped make him a valuable member of New York’s bullpen.  Rodriguez also had virtually identical numbers against both left-handed and right-handed batters.

Walker and Carlos Carrasco were stalwart rotation members during the regular season, and the Mets opted to leave them off the roster in the three-game series rather than force either pitcher into a somewhat unfamiliar role.  With elimination now looming, it’ll basically be all hands on deck for the pitching staff tonight and (the Mets hope) in a potential Game 3, as manager Buck Showalter will undoubtedly be open to all options in getting some critical outs.

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New York Mets Transactions Joely Rodriguez Taijuan Walker

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Mets Trade Miguel Castro To Yankees For Joely Rodriguez

By Darragh McDonald | April 3, 2022 at 11:55am CDT

The Mets have traded Miguel Castro to the Yankees for Joely Rodriguez, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. As noted by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, Rodriguez was signed as a free agent this offseason and thus ineligible to be traded prior to June 15th without his consent. He and his agent gave that consent in exchange for a $500K assignment bonus, which will be paid by the Mets as part of this deal. (Twitter links) Rodriguez is represented by Daniel Szew of LA Sports Management.

For the Mets, they have had an extremely busy offseason, upgrading their lineup with the likes of Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. They also added Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to their rotation and Adam Ottavino to their bullpen. However, the one area of the roster they hadn’t really addressed was left-handed relief. With Aaron Loup joining the Angels, the only southpaws on the roster were candidates for the starting rotation. The club gave minor league deals to veterans like Chasen Shreve and Alex Claudio, but they clearly view Rodriguez as a meaningful upgrade, based on the fact that they were willing to give up Castro to get him.

After a couple of seasons with the Phillies in 2016 and 2017, Rodriguez headed overseas for a stint with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball. After two solid seasons in Japan, Rodriguez was able to come back to North American via a two-year deal from the Rangers. In the shortened 2020 season, he put up an ERA of 2.13 over 12 2/3 innings. Things seemed to be going in the wrong direction last year, as his ERA shot up to 5.93 in July. However, the Yankees seemed to believe that was a small sample blip, as they acquired him as part of the Joey Gallo trade. He fared much better after the swap, with a 2.84 ERA in 19 innings in pinstripes. At the end of the season, the club declined their $3MM option in favor of a $500K buyout, but then quickly re-signed him to a $2MM salary, saving themselves $500K. With this trade and the assignment bonus, Rodriguez has made back that difference.

The Yanks evidently felt they had enough lefties to part with Rodriguez, given the presence Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge, along with closer Aroldis Chapman. For their part, they are receiving Miguel Castro, a right-handed reliever. Despite being just 27 years old, he has appeared in part of seven MLB seasons thus far in his career, spending time with the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles and Mets. Those first couple of seasons were a bit shaky, which is not surprising given that Castro was just 20 and 21 years old during that time. However, over the past five seasons, he’s established himself as a quality big league reliever. Since the start of the 2017 season, he’s thrown 321 innings with an ERA of 3.93. His strikeout rate was just 14.6% over 2017-2018, but has jumped up to 25.2% over the past three campaigns. Walks have been a concern, with his annual rate coming in between 10 and 15% in each of the past five seasons. He and the Mets agreed to a $2.62MM salary for this season, his final arbitration year before hitting free agency at the end of this year. He will slot into a bullpen that will be headlined by Chapman, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green and Clay Holmes.

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New York Mets New York Yankees Newsstand Transactions Joely Rodriguez Miguel Castro

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Yankees Sign Joely Rodriguez

By Darragh McDonald | November 10, 2021 at 9:36pm CDT

The Yankees have signed left-handed pitcher Joely Rodriguez to a one-year contract, per a team announcement. Just three days ago, the club paid him a $500K buyout and declined their $3MM club option for the southpaw, but have now quickly brought him back into the fold. Joel Sherman of the New York Post relays that the new deal is for $2MM, meaning the club saved themselves $500K by letting him reach free agency for a few days. Although Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that there’s also $250K of incentives in the deal.

When the Yankees first acquired Rodriguez as part of the Joey Gallo trade, he had an ERA of 5.93 through 27 1/3 innings with the Rangers. Despite that high ERA, there were reasons for optimism, as he had an excellent 63.9% groundball rate, to go along with average-ish strikeout and walk rates of 23.4% and 9.4%, respectively. After coming to the Bronx, he logged 19 more innings with an ERA of 2.84.

This year’s left-handed relief market doesn’t have a lot of standouts, with Aaron Loup, Brooks Raley, Andrew Chafin and Tony Watson representing the cream of the crop. The Yankees have acted quickly and scooped up one of the options that they saw up close and clearly liked enough to bring back, as long as the price was right.

This acts as a sort of early birthday present for Rodriguez, as he will be turning 30 in four days. He’ll slot into a Yankee bullpen alongside other lefty options such as Aroldis Chapman, Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge. The club’s 40-man roster is now full.

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New York Yankees Transactions Joely Rodriguez

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Yankees Decline Club Option On Joely Rodriguez

By Mark Polishuk | November 7, 2021 at 4:36pm CDT

The Yankees announced that they have declined their $3MM club option on Joely Rodriguez for the 2022 season.  The left-hander will instead receive a $500K buyout and enter free agency.  In another move, New York added catcher Donny Sands to the team’s Major League roster.

Rodriguez pitched quite well for the Bronx Bombers after being acquired as pat of the Joey Gallo blockbuster at the trade deadline.  The left-handed had posted a 5.93 over 27 1/3 innings with the Rangers to begin the season, but then had a 2.84 ERA over 19 innings with New York.  An extreme groundball pitcher, Rodriguez had a high BABIP with both teams, but reduced his walk rate and some of his hard-contact numbers once he arrived in the Bronx, though he also had a lower strikeout rate.

At the net cost of $2.5MM, the Yankees might have felt there was too much variability in Rodriguez’s grounder-heavy arsenal to count on a repeat performance in 2022.  With Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge (not to mention closer Aroldis Chapman) all slated to be part of next year’s bullpen, the Yankees could have also felt they were set with enough left-handed relief depth.

Rodriguez’s numbers have been inconsistent over his four MLB seasons, though he has shown some flashes of quality, especially on the few occasions he has paired his big grounder rates with above-average number of strikeouts.  The lefty also pitched very well with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball in 2018-19, which drew attention from the Rangers and led to Rodriguez’s return to North American ball.

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New York Yankees Transactions Donny Sands Joely Rodriguez

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Rangers Trade Joey Gallo, Joely Rodriguez To Yankees

By Anthony Franco | July 29, 2021 at 11:00am CDT

11:00am: The Yankees have formally announced the trade.

7:55am: Texas is also paying Rodriguez’s salary, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

July 29, 7:20am: The Rangers are paying all of Gallo’s remaining contract, tweets Jim Bowden of The Athletic. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that Texas will pay “most” of the deal. Either way, the Rangers’ inclusion of cash and the Yankees’ recent trade of Justin Wilson suggests they’re still angling to remain under the luxury tax. Getting financial help from Texas will free them to continue pursuing other additions.

July 28: The Rangers and Yankees are reportedly nearing agreement on a deal that would send Joey Gallo and Joely Rodríguez to the Bronx in exchange for a four-player prospect package. Once finalized, the expectation is that Texas will receive infielders Ezequiel Duran, Josh Smith, Trevor Hauver and right-handed pitcher Glenn Otto in return. (Initial reports had suggested outfielder Everson Pereira and righty Randy Vasquez might also be involved, but the expectation is now that those two players will remain with New York).

It’s a bold strike for the Yankees, who have hovered a bit above .500 for much of the season. New York entered play tonight 8.5 games back of the Red Sox in the American League East and three behind the Athletics for the final Wild Card spot (with the Mariners also ahead of them in the standings). That the Yankees aren’t leading the division — as many anticipated they would coming into the year — is largely a reflection of a lineup that has been more decent than great over the course of the season. The front office is looking to remedy that by adding another of the game’s most prodigious power bats to an order that already includes Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

Gallo deservedly earned his second career All-Star nod this summer amidst a tear between June and July. Overall, he’s hitting .223/.379/.490 with 25 home runs across 388 plate appearances. As he has throughout his career, Gallo has been prone to strikeouts and hit for a low batting average, but his power and plate discipline more than offset the swing-and-miss concerns.

The 27-year-old has always been a patient hitter, but he’s taken that aspect of his game to new heights in 2021. Gallo’s 19.1% walk rate is a career best, and it’s the highest such mark of any player with 250+ plate appearances this year. That abundance of free passes has allowed Gallo to reach base far more often than the .320 league average. The 27-year-old’s ISO (slugging minus batting average) is a whopping .268, and only five players top his home run total. Altogether, Gallo owns a 140 wRC+, indicating he’s been forty percentage points better than average at the plate this season.

Gallo’s low-contact, high-power approach resembles those of a lot of hitters in the Yankees lineup. That could lead to some concerns among fans about a lack of stylistic diversity. That said, Gallo’s lefty bat helps to balance a lineup that otherwise skews heavily right-handed. And Gallo’s production this season has neared or bettered that of anyone already on the New York roster. Only Judge (147) has a higher wRC+ than Gallo among Yankees with at least 100 plate appearances.

Unlike many sluggers, Gallo also offers quite a bit of value on the other side of the ball. Advanced defensive metrics have long pegged him as a plus right fielder, and he won a Gold Glove award last season. He’s best suited in the corner outfield, but Gallo also held his own during a run of center field play in 2019, and has plenty of experience at first base as well.

Throughout last offseason and this summer, the Yankees have worked to keep their payroll south of the $210MM luxury tax line. Gallo’s playing this season on a $6.2MM salary, about $2.2MM of which remains to be paid. Rodíguez, meanwhile, is making $2.5MM this year — about $900K of which is still owed — and has a $3MM club option for the 2022 campaign. If the Yankees assume the remainder of Gallo’s and Rodríguez’s salaries, their luxury tax figure would land at approximately $209.4MM, in the estimation of Roster Resource.

Gallo is controllable via arbitration for one additional campaign. He’ll pick up a nice raise given how well he’s played this season, but his 2022 salary will still be a bargain relative to the caliber of player he is. It’s not clear whether the luxury tax will be such a concern for Yankees brass next winter, if they can limbo under the threshold this season and reset their tax payor status. (The current CBA contains escalating penalties for teams exceeding the threshold in multiple consecutive seasons).

For this season, the current luxury tax projections suggest the Yankees have almost no room for further additions unless ownership allows the front office to cross the threshold. That said, it’s possible the Yankees explore creative ways to clear funds off the books. New York offloaded the salaries of relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to the Reds last night, and they could look to make other similar moves before Friday afternoon’s trade deadline.

The Cessa/Wilson trade could’ve also been a precursor to this evening’s Rodríguez pickup. New York thinned out their bullpen depth yesterday but they’ll replenish that a bit by adding the 29-year-old southpaw. (Initial reports suggested the Yankees were likely to acquire John King alongside Gallo, but a last-minute shuffling will apparently result in Rodríguez landing in the Bronx instead).

Rodríguez has tossed 27 1/3 innings of 5.93 ERA ball this season, a disappointing follow-up to a brief but productive 2020 campaign. His peripherals, though, are far better. Rodríguez has a 3.40 SIERA, with average strikeout and walk numbers but a huge 63.9% grounder rate. Clay Holmes, whom the Yankees acquired from the Pirates earlier this week, has similarly strong groundball tendencies — as does King. Based on their pattern of acquisitions, it seems the the Yankees front office is particularly keen on relievers who are consistently able to keep the ball down.

Assuming the deal eventually gets across the finish line, it’ll mark the end of Gallo’s nine-year tenure in the Rangers organization. Texas selected Gallo 39th overall in the 2012 amateur draft, and he’s been a fixture on the major league roster since 2015. It’ll no doubt sting Rangers fans to see Gallo depart, although it’s hardly a surprise he wound up on the move this summer.

With Texas’ window of team control dwindling, the team’s last-place standing in the AL West, and recent reports that extension talks weren’t progressing, Gallo’s name was bandied about in plenty of trade rumors. He was also linked to the Padres, Blue Jays and Braves in recent days, but the Yankees ultimately put forth the offer that the Texas front office deemed the strongest.

Indeed, it seems the general opinion from public prospect evaluators is that the Rangers did well in this deal. Texas didn’t get a marquee headliner, per se, but they added a group of talented young players to an already-deep farm system.

All four prospects Texas is expected to acquire appeared on Baseball America’s midseason ranking of the top 30 prospects in the Yankees system, with Duran (6th) and Smith (8th) checking in among New York’s ten most promising farmhands. Eric Longenhagen and Kevin Goldstein of FanGraphs have already slotted the group among Rangers prospects. The aforementioned quartet all checks in among Texas’ top 40, with Duran and Smith again among the top ten.

FanGraphs pegs Duran as a 50 FV, the equivalent of a top 100 overall prospect. Ranking him third in the Rangers system, Longenhagen writes that the right-handed hitting second baseman has plus raw power and some chance to stick at the position. He’s mashing this season at High-A, hitting .290/.374/.533 with twelve homers as a 22-year-old.

Smith, meanwhile, was a second-round draft choice out of LSU in 2019. He’s also performed at an incredible level in the low minors and had an even better .320/.435/.583 mark in High-A this year. He’s not especially toolsy, and he’ll turn 24 years old next month, but Longenhagen writes that Smith has a chance to be a plus hitter and should at least develop into a high-end utility option.

There are similar stories for Hauver and Otto. Both are having stellar seasons in the low minors and project to be at least solid role players. It’s a well-regarded group of young talent, and it’s likely at least one or two will wind up important contributors when the Rangers are better positioned for contention a few years from now.

Levi Weaver of the Athletic was first to report that the Yankees were set to acquire Gallo. Jack Curry of YES Network was first to report the final terms of the deal. Jeff Passan of ESPN was first with the inclusion of the four prospects involved. Curry reported prior to the deal being agreed upon that the Yankees were making a push to land Gallo.

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New York Yankees Newsstand Texas Rangers Transactions Ezequiel Duran Glenn Otto Joely Rodriguez Joey Gallo John King Josh Smith (1997) Trevor Hauver

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AL Injury Notes: Lewis, Buxton, Rangers

By Connor Byrne | April 16, 2021 at 9:30pm CDT

Mariners center fielder Kyle Lewis has been out all month with a deep bone bruise in his right knee, but he could make his 2021 debut within the next few days, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times relays. Manager Scott Servais said the Mariners hope Lewis will return during their homestand – which runs from tonight through Tuesday – while GM Jerry Dipoto told ESPN 710 that he’s likely to come back Monday. Lewis won AL Rookie of the Year honors in 2020 on the strength of a .262/.364/.437 line with 11 home runs and five stolen bases in 242 plate appearances. The Lewis-less Mariners have used Taylor Trammell in center, but he has slumped to a .132/.283/.316 mark over 46 PA.

More injury updates on a pair of other AL clubs…

  • Twins center fielder Byron Buxton, who hasn’t played since Tuesday, is dealing with a mild hamstring strain, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com tweets. Buxton was out of the Twins’ lineup again for their game in Anaheim on Friday, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll need to go to the IL. The 27-year-old has gotten off to an otherworldly start this season with a .469/.528/.1.094 line and five homers in 36 trips to the plate. He has already posted 1.2 fWAR, which matches the figure he put up last year in 99 more PA (135).
  • The Rangers could reinstate outfielder/designated hitter Willie Calhoun from the 10-day IL on Saturday, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Calhoun suffered a groin injury over a month ago and hasn’t made his 2021 debut as a result. After putting up encouraging offensive numbers two years ago, Calhoun endured a disastrous 2020 that included a fractured jaw in spring training and then a .190/.231/.260 line in 108 regular-season plate trips.
  • Sticking with the Rangers, the team announced Friday that it activated left-handed reliever Joely Rodriguez from the 10-day IL and optioned righty Josh Sborz. Rodriguez hasn’t been able to pitch this regular season because of a sprained left ankle. Although he only threw 12 2/3 innings last season, Rodriguez impressed with a 2.13 ERA, 17 strikeouts against five walks, and a 51.7 percent groundball rate. He held his own against lefty and righty hitters alike, limiting batters to a pitiful .174/.255/.239 line.
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Minnesota Twins Notes Seattle Mariners Texas Rangers Byron Buxton Joely Rodriguez Kyle Lewis Willie Calhoun

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