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Justin Lange

Yankees Trade Luke Voit To Padres

By Steve Adams | March 18, 2022 at 11:10am CDT

After months of speculation, Luke Voit’s time with the Yankees organization drew to a close Friday. The Yankees and Padres agreed to a trade sending the slugging first baseman to San Diego in exchange for minor league right-hander Justin Lange, according to announcements from both clubs. The Padres moved right-hander Michel Baez to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster Voit.

Luke Voit | Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The writing for Voit has been on the wall at least since New York re-signed Anthony Rizzo — and quite arguably longer than that. The Yanks acquired Rizzo last summer while Voit was on the injured list for the third time that year alone, and since the 2021 season ended they’ve been connected to Rizzo, Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson as they made no secret about pursuing alternative options to the incumbent Voit.

Voit’s trade marks the culmination of a swift shift in the organization’s stance on him. Just one year ago, Voit was heading into Spring Training as the clear everyday first baseman, having just led the Majors with 22 home runs during the truncated 2020 season. However, a knee injury in camp led to meniscus surgery that kept Voit out of action for the season’s first six weeks. Voit returned in early May, but just two weeks later he headed back to the 10-day IL due to an oblique strain. That issue kept Voit out another three-plus weeks, and he lasted only a month before going back on the IL in mid-July due to lingering inflammation in his surgically repaired left knee.

All told, Voit was limited to just 68 games and 211 plate appearances in 2021. When he was on the field, Voit remained somewhat productive, slashing .239/.328/.427 (111 wRC+), but his offensive output was nowhere near its peak levels. Looking beyond leading the Majors in long balls during the brief 2020 season, Voit had raked from the moment the Yankees acquired him from the Cardinals in exchange for relievers Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos.

Largely blocked from regular playing time in St. Louis, Voit immediately proved to be a hidden gem unearthed by the Yankees. He belted 14 home runs in less than two months down the stretch in 2018, and in 892 trips to the plate as a Yankee from ’18-’20, he batted .279/.372/.543 with 57 home runs, 31 doubles, a triple and an 11.5% walk rate against a 26.3% strikeout rate. Even adding in his “down” year this past season, Voit’s time with the Yankees will draw to a close with a stout .271/.363/.520 batting line in 1133 plate appearances.

That type of production would be a boost to any lineup, and the Padres in particular could use some thump of that nature at first base and/or designated hitter. San Diego first basemen, led by Eric Hosmer, hit a combined .275/.337/.412. That’s not terrible production by any means, but the resulting 106 wRC+ ranked 20th in the Majors. Of more concern was that the Padres, as a team, hit just .241/.324/.380 against left-handed pitching (94 wRC+, 24th in MLB). Voit, a career .264/.344/.516 hitter against left-handed pitching, ought to be particularly helpful with regard to that deficiency — though it’s important to note that he shouldn’t be regarded as a platoon player. To the contrary, Voit actually has slightly better career numbers against right-handed pitching.

Productive as he’s been at the plate throughout his Yankees tenure, Voit is a below-average defender at first base. The Yankees have made improving the defense a clear priority of late, evidenced not only by bringing Rizzo back but also moving Gleyber Torres to second base, acquiring Isiah Kiner-Falefa to take the reins at shortstop and moving Gary Sanchez to the Twins in favor of what currently projects to be a glove-first pairing of Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt (acquired in that deal with the Twins).

Voit now heads to the Padres not only for the 2022 season but perhaps all the way through 2024. He’s still arbitration eligible, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $5.4MM in 2022 before earning a pair of raises on top of that sum. It’s an eminently reasonable price to pay for a hitter of Voit’s caliber, particularly if he can boost his production away from his 2021 output and closer to its 2018-20 levels.

As for the Yankees’ return, they’ll acquire a 20-year-old righty who can reach triple digits with his fastball but has drawn questions from scouts about his command. The 6’4″, 220-pound Lange was the No. 34 overall pick in the 2020 draft and made his pro debut with the Padres’ Rookie-ball club in 2021. There, he pitched 22 innings with a 6.95 ERA, a 28.4% strikeout rate and a bloated 14.7% walk rate. When ranking Lange 13th among San Diego farmhands, The Athletic’s Keith Law wrote that the righty has “huge stuff and a workhorse build” but questionable command in addition to a recent knee issue.

Lange adds a power arm to the lower levels of the Yankees’ system, albeit a high-risk one who’ll be a bit of a project for their development staff. Trading Voit drops the Yankees’ projected 2022 payroll a bit south of $240MM, although in terms of luxury-tax obligations, they’re still a bit over $253MM, which places them squarely in the new new CBA’s second tier of penalization.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the Padres’ interest in Voit. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman first reported that Voit had been traded to the Padres (Twitter link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the return (Twitter link).

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New York Yankees Newsstand San Diego Padres Transactions Justin Lange Luke Voit Michel Baez

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Player Pool Additions: Phillies, Brewers, Padres, Orioles

By Steve Adams | September 4, 2020 at 1:55pm CDT

We’ll track the latest additions to teams’ 60-man player pools in this post…

  • The Phillies added lefty Jeff Singer to their pool, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports (via Twitter). The 26-year-old signed with the Phils as an undrafted free agent in 2016 and has steadily risen through their system, reaching the Double-A level in 2019. Last year, Singer tossed 61 2/3 frames with a 74-to-22 K/BB ratio, a 2.34 ERA and a 2.77 FIP. Singer isn’t considered to be among the club’s top-ranked prospects but will get some developmental reps in Allentown and could conceivably even be an option later this month, given his success in the upper minors.
  • The Brewers announced three new additions to their player pool: infielder Gabe Holt, outfielder Carlos Rodriguez and righty Bowden Francis. Their 60-man group is up to 59 players. Holt, 22, was a seventh-round pick out of Texas Tech in 2019 and hasn’t played above Rookie ball, so his addition is purely developmental. That’s also true of Rodriguez, a 2017 international signee out of Venezuela who is considered among to be the organization’s top 20 prospects. Francis, meanwhile, was a 2017 seventh-rounder and split the 2019 season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A. In a combined 142 2/3 innings, Francis pitched to a 3.97 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. Francis seems like a viable candidate to debut over the final three-plus weeks of the 2020 season, as he’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft this winter anyhow.
  • Righty Justin Lange and catcher Blake Hunt have been added to the Padres’ player pool, tweets Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Sanders adds that outfielder Jorge Ona was also quietly added to the pool “some time” ago. The 18-year-old Lange was taken with the No. 34 overall pick in this year’s draft, but as a high school draftee, he obviously won’t be considered for an MLB look this month. Hunt, 21, was the Padres’ second-rounder in ’17 and hit .255/.331/.381 in 376 Class-A plate appearances last year. The 23-year-old Ona was a high-profile signing out of Cuba. He was sidelined for much of the 2019 season but put together a huge .348/.417/.539 slash through 103 plate appearances in a pitcher-friendly Double-A environment last year. He’s already on the 40-man roster after having his contract selected last November.
  • The Orioles announced that lefty Zac Lowther has been added to their player pool in Bowie. Lowther, 24, was the Orioles’ second-rounder in 2017 and posted a 2.55 ERA with 9.4 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 0.49 HR/9 and a 40.1 percent ground-ball rate in 148 innings. He’s generally considered to be among the Orioles’ 15 best prospects.
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60-Man Player Pools Baltimore Orioles Milwaukee Brewers Philadelphia Phillies San Diego Padres Transactions Bowden Francis Jeff Singer Jorge Ona Justin Lange Zac Lowther

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Padres Sign 34th, 45th Overall Draft Picks

By Connor Byrne | June 24, 2020 at 9:04pm CDT

The Padres have signed supplemental first-round pick Justin Lange and second-rounder Owen Caissie, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets (links: 1, 2). Lange will earn $2MM, while Caissie agreed to a bonus worth $1,200,004.

As the 34th overall pick, Lange’s selection came with a recommended value of $2,148,100. The Texas-based high school right-hander and Dallas Baptist recruit’s stock rose over the past year, thanks in part to a fastball that has skyrocketed to the 95 to 100 mph range. According to Baseball America, which ranked him as the 50th-best player in this year’s draft class, “Lange has all of the foundational pieces to be an impact pitcher at the next level.” That said, there are concerns about his command and his slider, per BA.

Caissie – the 45th choice – also signed for below slot, as his pick came with a recommended value of $1,650,200. The Canadian high school outfielder, who committed to Michigan before the draft, brings “super-projectable power,” above-average running and a big arm to the table, per Callis. BA only ranked Caissie as the 180th overall player before the draft, though MLB.com was much more bullish in placing him 75th.

With the Padres having secured Lange, Caissie and three other picks, they’re down to one unsigned selection – third-round righty Cole Wilcox. Money shouldn’t stand in the way a deal, though, as Wilcox’s pick (No. 80) carries a slot value of $767,800 and, as Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune points out, the Padres can still spend up to $3.3MM more.

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2020 Amateur Draft 2020 Amateur Draft Signings San Diego Padres Transactions Justin Lange Owen Caissie

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