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Eric Hosmer’s 2019: More Of The Same

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Clearly dissatisfied with yet another season well below the .500 mark, the Padres fired manager Andy Green last weekend. It didn’t come off as an unreasonable decision by the Padres, who didn’t make real progress in the standings in four years under Green (albeit during a rebuild) and who’d surely like to turn around their fortunes in 2020.

Green may have deserved his fate, but it’s difficult to lay all the blame at his feet when the club’s highest-paid players haven’t pulled their weight over the past couple years. Third baseman/shortstop Manny Machado, whom general manager A.J. Preller and the Padres stunningly reeled in for $300MM, has been good but not great in the first season of his 10-year contract. Outfielder Wil Myers received a six-year, $83MM extension after a career season in 2016, but his production has declined to a noticeable extent since. And then there’s first baseman Eric Hosmer, whose contract looks like the most regrettable of the three.

Even though they obviously weren’t going to contend in 2018, and even though there weren’t a lot of clear suitors for him, the Padres handed Hosmer an eight-year, $144MM guarantee prior to that season. At the time, it seemed you either loved the Padres’ bold choice or you hated it. To be sure, Hosmer had his high points as a Royal from 2011-17 – a span in which he helped the team to a pair of AL pennants, won a World Series, picked up an All-Star nod and took home four Gold Gloves. Along the way, the well-regarded Hosmer became one of the faces of baseball for the many who place a great deal of value on intangibles.

On the other hand, Hosmer was far from a consistent producer as a Royal. While Hosmer put up two seasons of 3.5 fWAR or better with the Royals, the other campaigns weren’t nearly as successful. Hosmer posted two years in the negatives in that category while a member of the Royals, and unfortunately for the Padres, that’s the version they’ve gotten since awarding him his payday.

Hosmer began his Padres career with a whimper in 2018, hitting .253/.322/.398 in 677 plate appearances. He managed minus-0.1 fWAR in the process, thanks in large part to his subpar batting line. Hosmer’s wRC+ (95) fell a good distance below the league average of 105 for his position.

This season has been more of the same for Hosmer. With less than a week to go, the soon-to-be 30-year-old has accounted for minus-0.2 fWAR and hit .271/.317/.430 in 649 trips to the plate. Hosmer’s OPS is better than it was a year ago, but his wRC+ (95) hasn’t improved (league average for first basemen in 2019 is 106). That isn’t where the similarities in output end, though, as you’ll see below…

Home runs – 2018: 18; 2019: 21
Isolated power – 2018: .145; 2019: .159
Weighted-on base average – 2018: .309; 2019: .315
Expected wOBA – 2018 – .310; 2019: .318

Hosmer has taken a somewhat different path in arriving at his near-identical production in 2019. He’s swinging a bit more, striking out more, walking less and making less contact. When Hosmer has made contact, he has hit more liners and fly balls, though his launch angle (minus-1.2 in 2018, plus-2.4 this year) remains extraordinarily low. In an era where more and more hitters have focused on elevating the ball (and in what many suspect is a juiced ball era), grounders continue to win the day for Hosmer. While his GB rate (55.9) has fallen by almost 5 percent since 2018, it’s nonetheless the second-highest figure among all qualified hitters.

Hosmer’s struggles putting the ball in the air have somewhat offset the gains he has made in the hard-contact department. He ranks in the league’s 78th percentile in average exit velocity (90.6) and its 87th percentile in hard-hit percentage (45.9), according to Statcast. But a well-struck grounder still typically leads to an out, and it doesn’t help matters that Hosmer’s lacking speed (this could be his first zero-steal season).

A quarter of the way into his expensive union with the Padres, it would be difficult to classify Hosmer’s San Diego tenure as anything other than a disappointment. Hosmer will still be entrenched in the club’s lineup going into 2020, but the Padres are likely going to need far more from their big-money first baseman if they’re going to make a noticeable jump in the standings.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres, Kirby Yates Reportedly Discussing Extension

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No one knows who will manage the Padres in 2020, but that individual is in line to inherit one of baseball’s elite closers. The late-blooming Kirby Yates went on an unexpected tear in 2018 and has been even better this season, his age-32 campaign, with a stunning 1.19 ERA/1.31 FIP and 14.98 K/9 against 1.93 BB/9 against 60 2/3 innings. Considering those numbers, it’s no surprise Yates has been almost automatic in save situations, having converted a major league-leading 41 of 44 opportunities.

The utter dominance Yates has exhibited since San Diego claimed him off waivers from the Angels in 2017 has been enough to convince the Padres that they should keep him around for the long haul. The Padres “have begun discussing a contract” with the right-hander’s representatives at Beverly Hills Sports Council, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. It’s unclear whether the sides have made progress in the early stages of their talks, but Yates made it known to Acee that he’s prioritizing his family, the team’s chances of winning and how he’s “going to be valued” as he looks ahead.

“As you get older, you start realizing that if you want to win a World Series you’re running out of time to do it,” said Yates. “I’m going to be 33 years old next year. I want to win a World Series. I’ve never been in a playoff run. I’ve never been in a game in September when games matter going down the stretch being a guy you rely on to make the playoff push. That’s very important to me.”

At 70-86, the Padres have already clinched their ninth straight sub-.500 season and their 13th consecutive year without a playoff berth. With those damning results in mind, no one would blame a championship-oriented player for being reluctant to sign an extension with the club. However, the Padres have enough young talent that they could perhaps be an offseason away from pushing for relevance (that’s likely their front office’s hope at, least). And Yates may have difficulty passing on a sizable multiyear guarantee if one is presented. After all, as Acee points out, he hasn’t been in position to sign a big contract to this point. Yates entered the professional ranks as a 26th-round pick almost a decade and a half ago, going to the Red Sox in 2005, and bounced around a few other organizations before coming into his own in San Diego.

If general manager A.J. Preller doesn’t succeed in locking up Yates, he’ll be on track to play out his final season of arbitration control in 2020. Yates has earned a career-high $3,062,500 salary this year, and with saves being such an important factor in arbitration, his 2019 performance ought to help him to a notable raise if he goes through the process again.

Bruce Bochy Noncommittal On Padres Opening

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Giants skipper Bruce Bochy recently recorded his 2000th victory behind the reins of a big league dugout–a nice capstone to what has largely been expected to be his final season as a manager. However, with the firing of Andy Green in San Diego, speculation has already mounted around a potential Bochy-San Diego reunion. As we previously relayed from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bochy is indeed on the Padres shortlist of potential Green replacements, and reporters, including Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, were quick to press Bochy today on his willingness to don Padre brown in 2020 (link).

“I’m not even going there,” Bochy said when asked about the San Diego opening, “I’m concentrating here right now doing what I’m supposed to do. That’s the last thing on my mind right now, as much as we’re in the last week here.”

While Bochy didn’t even want to entertain the possibility of an intra-division heel-turn, it’s worth noting that he has not necessarily ruled out a return to managing. Back in Spring Training, Schulman relays that Bochy said “Never is a long time” when he was asked if 2019 would truly be his final season as a manager.  As San Diego’s skipper from 1995 to 2006, Bochy amassed a 951-975 managerial record–a stretch that also contained one Manager of the Year award in 1996 and an NL pennant in 1998.

Besides his history with the organization, a few other factors may fuel Bochy-to-San Diego rumors in the short term. For one, the February announcement of Bochy’s retirement coincided with San Francisco’s integration of Farhan Zaidi as President of Baseball Operations this past November; although team officials dispelled notions at the time that Bochy was politely nudged toward the door with Zaidi’s arrival in SF, changes in leadership do often precipitate changes at the managerial level. Secondly, it’s also fair to note that Bochy makes his offseason home in the San Diego exurb of Poway, so speculation will likely continue until he definitively declines consideration for the Padres job.

For what it’s worth, Bob Nightengale of USA Today divulged this afternoon that San Diego was eating about $2.5MM in firing Green with two years left on his contract (link). Terms of Green’s 2017 managerial extension had been previously unreported, so the revelation of his approximately $1.25MM yearly salary may be relevant in trying to pinpoint his potential successor. Bochy has been performing under a $6MM per annum contract with San Francisco since the 2017 season, so a southbound move to San Diego would require either a substantial pay cut for Bochy or an unprecedented budgetary bump from the Padre ownership group.

Padres Fire Andy Green

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9:12pm: A Union-Tribune piece from Acee has identified Yankees third base coach and former Padre Phil Nevin as another target of interest for San Diego (link).

4:35pm: Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres have already formed a list of candidates that they would consider for the manager job. Bruce Bochy, Mike Scioscia, Moises Alou, Ron Washington, and Mark Loretta are all receiving consideration, according to Acee. Of course, that list is surely far from final, and the team won’t rush into a decision, but it’s nonetheless noteworthy to see where the club is looking early in its search for a new skipper.

12:58pm: The Padres have relieved manager Andy Green of his duties, general manager A.J. Preller announced today in an official team release. In Green’s wake, bench coach Rod Barajas will serve as the interim manager for the remainder of the season.

Green’s Padres tenure will reach its conclusion after nearly four years at the helm, a span in which his teams compiled a 274-366 overall record. He had two years remaining on his contract, with Bob Nightengale of USA Today noting that the team will absorb roughly $2.5MM that is still owed to Green.

It’s been a disappointing four years, and while the state of the roster over those years has hardly been a strength, it seems that the front office was hoping for the team to show more signs of positive progress under Green, something that seems to have been lost in the second half of the season.

Green failed to lead the Friars to the postseason in each of his seasons as manager, extending a playoff drought that now dates back to 2006.

Though the team won’t hold an official press conference until later tonight, Preller offered the following words regarding the decision:

I want to thank Andy for his tireless work and dedication to the Padres over the last four seasons.  This was an incredibly difficult decision, but one we felt was necessary at this time to take our organization to the next level and expedite the process of bringing a championship to San Diego.  Our search for a new manager will begin immediately.

With Green out of the mix, the door is now open to what figures to be one of the most attractive managerial positions in baseball. Not only will the Padres’ next skipper inherit a bevy of Major League talent that features young stars like Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Chris Paddack, but also one of baseball’s finest farm systems, which could graduate considerable talent to the big-league club in the next couple of seasons. The aforementioned trio could soon be joined by MacKenzie Gore—baseball’s top pitching prospect—and Taylor Trammell, to name just two of the Padres’ top minor-leaguers. Add in an ideal location in San Diego, and the Padres should have their choice of a considerable number of candidates.

This is a Padres team that has seemingly been on the cusp of a breakthrough for the better part of a decade. However, that potential has yet to actualize, with the team failing to win 80 games in each of the last nine seasons. While it’s been easy to preach patience as the Padres wait on promising youngsters to grow into Major Leaguers, many of those top prospects have now made their debuts and expectations are higher than they’ve ever been with Green in the dugout. With the best core of players that the franchise has seen in years, it was no longer an option to fall back on the farm system as a justification for losing. It feels like now is the time to capitalize on the collection of talent in the organization.

Recent actions of the front office have demonstrated exactly that. The high-profile signing of Eric Hosmer prior to 2018 seemed to usher in a newfound sense of urgency in the front office. The following offseason, the Padres doubled down on that aggression and inked Manny Machado to the richest contract in franchise history while also being linked to trade candidates like Trevor Bauer and Noah Syndergaard. While those talks never came to fruition, the team subsequently chose to sacrifice an extra year of team control for top prospects Paddack and Tatis in order to open the season with both phenoms on the active roster.

And after a 45-45 start to the season, it appeared that those decisions were paying off—that the team was not far from finally breaking through. While a .500 record certainly won’t earn a playoff spot, few expected this year—the first with Machado, Tatis, and Paddack—to be the one in which the Padres snapped the streak. Still, the first-half performance was nonetheless a sign that this team was ready to make the jump to contention. However, in the second half, those signs of progress have vanished. With Tatis injured and Paddack limited by concerns over his workload, the team has faltered since the All-Star break, logging a measly 24-40 record.

On the heels of three losing seasons to start his first managing gig, it was no secret entering 2019 that Green was going to be scrutinized heavily by Preller and other decision-makers in the organization, especially given the increased spotlight that landed on the team after the addition of Machado. Evidently, the dissatisfaction with Green finally came to a head with the Padres losing eight of their last nine games. While the complete rebuild in San Diego is not quite over, a change in leadership may ignite the team as it climbs it way out of mediocrity.

Padres’ Andy Green Reportedly On Hot Seat

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Even though the Padres made a huge splash in free agency last winter with the signing of Manny Machado for $300MM over 10 years, only a select few pegged them as playoff contenders entering 2019. Now, with the season nearing a conclusion, the Padres own a 69-84 record and will miss the playoffs for the 13th straight campaign. Their latest failings could lead to the end of manager Andy Green’s tenure in San Diego, as Dennis Lin of The Athletic (subscription link) writes that the 42-year-old’s seat “is unmistakably hot.”

Green’s close to ending his fourth season with the Padres, who hired the former professional utilityman, minor league manager and Diamondbacks third base coach to oversee their dugout entering 2016. The Padres have gone a woeful 274-365 since then, though it wouldn’t be fair to judge Green solely on win-loss results. After all, Green joined an organization in the throes of a significant rebuild. The Padres were impressed enough with Green’s initial work to award him an extension through 2021 back in August 2017, so they’d have to eat an undisclosed amount of money in moving on from him.

The Green-led Padres fared better than most though they would over the first few months of this season, as they owned an even 45-45 record going into the All-Star break. The second half of 2019 has been forgettable, though, with San Diego having gone 24-39 to plummet from the National League wild-card race. Relatively disappointing performances from Machado, first baseman Eric Hosmer and outfielder Wil Myers – the Padres’ three highest-paid players, who are on contracts worth a combined $527MM in total value – haven’t helped matters. And the fact that phenom Fernando Tatis Jr., a shortstop who spent a large portion of the season looking like one of baseball’s premier rookies, went down for the year Aug. 13 with a back injury only added to the Padres’ problems.

Whether Green or someone else manages the club in 2020, it’s obvious GM A.J. Preller has his work cut out for him heading into the winter. Thanks in large part to their collection of young talent, the Padres look to be on the upswing. However, they’ve got plenty to address on the big league roster if they’re going to make a run at a playoff berth next season.

Health Notes: Hill, Pham, Nats, Padres

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Let’s check in on a few notable health situations from around the majors…

  • Dodgers southpaw Rich Hill’s strained left MCL looked like a possible season-ender when it happened last week, but the 39-year-old will manage to rejoin the club before the playoffs. The plan is for Hill to take a major league mound again next Tuesday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. Although he has missed a substantial amount of time this year, Hill has yet again been one of the Dodgers’ most effective starters in 2019. It’s unclear how much length he’ll be able to give the team for the rest of the season, though. Manager Dave Roberts told Gurnick and other reporters that the Dodgers’ pitching situation for Game 4 of the NLDS – which Hill had been lined up to start – looks “cloudy.” The team expects to take an “unconventional” route with its pitching staff in that contest, Roberts added. Of course, if the Dodgers sweep their first-round opponent in three games, it’ll prove to be a moot point.
  • If the Rays weren’t in the American League playoff race, banged up outfielder Tommy Pham would “one thousand percent” have shut it down for the season by now, he said (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Pham’s dealing with injuries to his right hand and elbow that don’t figure to heal until the offseason, and he hasn’t been a consistent presence in the Rays’ lineup lately as a result. But Pham has nonetheless been productive in his recent appearances and throughout the season, as he owns a .276/.373/.455 line with 20 home runs and 22 stolen bases (25 attempts) in 616 plate appearances.
  • Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki has been out with right elbow troubles since Sept. 7, and a return still doesn’t look imminent. While Suzuki is able to hit and catch again, he remains “days away” from receiving clearance to throw, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com writes. Suzuki seems optimistic he’ll be back sometime soon, but meanwhile, the playoff-contending Nats will continue to rely almost exclusively on Yan Gomes behind the plate.
  • The Padres have shut 20-year-old reliever Andres Munoz down for the season, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The rookie righty tossed a professional-high 58 2/3 innings this season between the majors and minors, more than doubling the previous best of 24 2/3 he logged at the lower levels a year ago. Munoz impressed in 23 frames with the Padres this season, as he notched a 3.91 ERA/3.17 FIP with 11.74 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9. Plus, as Acee points out, Munoz’s average fastball velocity of 99.9 mph sits second in the league.

Padres To Shut Down Chris Paddack

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As expected, the Padres have brought an early end to star rookie Chris Paddack’s season. The right-hander’s start against the Brewers on Tuesday will go down as his last of the year, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Paddack concluded his season in excellent fashion, tossing five innings of one-run, one-hit ball with nine strikeouts against a single walk in the Padres’ loss in Milwaukee. It was the fourth straight outstanding performance by the 23-year-old Paddack, who yielded a mere two earned runs and totaled 32 strikeouts versus four walks in his last four appearances – a 23 1/3-inning span.

After joining the Padres in a heist of a trade with the Marlins back in 2016, Paddack quickly rose up the ranks to become one of the game’s most coveted young arms. And though Paddack underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after switching organizations, it’s evident he’s all the way back at this point. The 2015 eighth-round pick amassed a professional-high 140 2/3 frames this year, notching a 3.33 ERA/3.96 FIP with 9.79 K/9 and 1.98 BB/9 in the process.

Now, with San Diego out of contention as the season winds to a close, the team understandably wants to preserve a hurler who could be a front-line starter for the long haul. The Padres’ playoff drought will sit at an embarrassing 13 years after this season, but if they’re going to return to relevance sometime soon, it seems likely Paddack will have quite a bit of say in it.

West Notes: Posey, Leclerc, La Stella, Padres

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This has been a career-worst offensive season for Giants catcher Buster Posey, but the hip surgery the potential Hall of Famer underwent a year ago may be among the reasons for his decline at the plate, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle observes. If so, there’s hope Posey will bounce back in 2020, when he’ll turn 33. “It’s at least a year before you get back closer to what you were. Hey, this guy wasn’t able to do much during the winter,” outgoing manager Bruce Bochy told Shea. “We had to watch his workload this spring, and we’ve done it during the season, to be honest.” If Posey doesn’t come close to revisiting his prior form early next year, it could give the Giants all the more reason to hasten the promotion of their No. 1 prospect, catcher Joey Bart, whom they chose second overall in the 2018 draft. Whenever Bart does arrive in San Francisco, he’ll have a tremendous mentor in Posey. “One of the greatest gifts you can give to a young player is to have his back and support him whenever he gets here and try to help him grow,” said Posey, who expresses a willingness in Shea’s piece (which is worth a full read) to eventually see more time at first base if necessary. The 2020 campaign will be the eighth season of a nine-year, $167MM contract for Posey, owner of a full no-trade clause.

  • Rangers right-hander Jose Leclerc was one of baseball’s standout relievers in 2018, but this season got off to a horrific start for the 25-year-old. After he yielded 10 earned runs on 13 hits and eight walks (with 13 strikeouts) in 8 1/3 innings in April, the Rangers removed Leclerc from the closer’s role at the outset of May. Leclerc has since revived his season and regained the job, though, and odds are that he’ll enter 2020 as the Rangers’ go-to game-ending option, according to manager Chris Woodward (via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). “As of right now, yeah,” Woodward said when asked if Leclerc’s the in-house favorite to close next year. The presence of Leclerc – he of the 4.10 ERA/3.66 FIP with 13.15 K/9, 5.09 BB/9 and 13 saves on 17 tries over 63 2/3 innings – should enable the Rangers to focus on more pressing needs when the offseason arrives, Wilson writes.
  • Injured Angels infielder Tommy La Stella was aiming for a mid-September return just a couple weeks ago, though he still hasn’t come back from the fractured right tibia he suffered July 3. Now, with just two weeks left in the Angels’ season, there’s still no timetable for a comeback, Bill Ladson of MLB.com relays. It seems possible we’ve seen the last of La Stella in 2019, which would put him in company with a few notable out-for-the-year Angels in Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Justin Upton. The 30-year-old La Stella unexpectedly earned the first All-Star nod of his career before landing on the IL, on the strength of a .300/.353/.495 line with 16 home runs and 2.2 fWAR in 312 plate appearances.
  • Padres catcher Luis Torrens hasn’t played in the majors since 2017, the season after the club acquired him during the Rule 5 Draft. Torrens, then 21, was clearly in over his head that year. He batted a meager .163/.243/.203 in 139 plate appearances in the bigs, but the Padres still haven’t given up on him a couple years later. And Torrens performed so well at the Double-A level this season that he’ll be in the mix to win a major league spot next spring, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune suggests. Not only has Torrens hit .300/.373/.500 with 15 homers in 397 trips to the plate this year, but his defensive progress has impressed the San Diego organization. “The video I see, his energy behind the plate is incredible,” said Padres bench coach Rod Barajas, a former MLB catcher. “He’s a spark plug back there.” It seems Torrens will be part of a battle that will also consist of Francisco Mejia, Austin Hedges and Austin Allen next spring. In the meantime, he’ll start “a few” games in the majors before this season ends, per manager Andy Green.

Early Trade Deadline Re-Assessment: NL West

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It has only been about six weeks, so it’s too soon to judge with finality how this year’s trade deadline maneuvers will play out. That said, we’re already most of the way through the period — the regular season portion, at least — for which rental players were acquired. Even players with future control are usually added first and foremost for their immediate contributions (though there are some exceptions). It’d be awfully premature to say anything conclusive about the prospect side of any deals, but we do now have some additional information with which to work.

So, that’s why we’re going to take a glance back over our shoulders at the moves (and major non-moves) that organizations made in the run-up to this year’s trade deadline. We already covered the AL Central, NL Central, AL East, NL East, and AL West. Now we’ll finish things off in the NL West …

Dodgers

With visions of Felipe Vazquez as the trade deadline approached, many fans likely came away thoroughly underwhelmed by the Dodgers’ efforts. But if making that deal would’ve cost Gavin Lux, then he wouldn’t be in the lineup right now.

Plus, the Dodgers are awfully good even without another high-end relief arm. The bullpen has some big questions, to be sure, but the L.A. organization is loaded with starting pitching options that can all be deployed in various ways come October. There’s no question that there’s a possibility we’ll look back and think the Dodgers should have done more, but it’s likewise impossible to argue with the organization’s process or results in recent years.

So, what did the team do? On deadline day, the headliner was … trading for lefty reliever Adam Kolarek. That seemed ho-hum, but he has been quite useful, allowing just one earned run in 10 1/3 innings over 21 appearances. Yep, he’s being utilized judiciously, but that makes sense. Kolarek has been bombed by righties this year but has held opposing southpaws to a meager .183/.227/.269 batting line. The player sent out to get him, outfielder Niko Hulsizer, acquired in return, didn’t really have enough action to change his outlook in any meaningful way.

Otherwise, the moves were even lower-stakes arrangements. Utilityman Kristopher Negron has chipped in well since his acquisition and the Dodgers probably won’t miss Daniel Castro, who hasn’t hit much in the upper minors and wasn’t likely to play a significant role this year or next. The Dodgers haven’t gotten anything from Tyler White, but also probably haven’t seen anything from Andre Scrubb to cause major regret from that trade. Jedd Gyorko hasn’t hit well since coming over, but that didn’t cost much either. Young righty Jeffry Abreu, sent in the swap along with the contract of Tony Cingrani, hasn’t yet thrown competitive innings with the Cardinals. The Dodgers also picked up international spending capacity and cash considerations in the deal.

Diamondbacks

The major move came at the very last minute, with the D-Backs parting with veteran righty Zack Greinke. It’s hard to imagine that free agent contract having a softer landing. In addition to shedding much of the remaining financial obligation, the Arizona organization added four high-quality prospects.

Only one of those new players, infielder Josh Rojas, has ascended to the majors. The 25-year-old owns only a .232/.318/.337 slash in 107 trips to the plate, but his monster season in the upper minors still makes him an intriguing player going forward. The other three were even more highly regarded talents. Slugger-in-training Seth Beer struggled after the swap but still holds ample promise. Talented righties Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas will be looking to bounce back, respectively, from Tommy John surgery and a bit of a down season in the results department.

The Snakes figured to take a step back sans Greinke, but they actually managed to stay relevant in the Wild Card race. Young righty Zac Gallen has had a big say in that, having thrown 43 2/3 innings of 2.89 ERA ball since arriving in exchange for touted infielder Jazz Chisholm. That’s immensely promising for the Arizona organization, which will hope Gallen can sustain his breakout year. On the other side of that deal, it’s fair to note that the 21-year-old Chisholm put his struggles behind him to finish with a strong .284/.383/.494 (156 wRC+) run after going into the Miami system.

With a continued eye to making sound baseball decisions for sustainable competitiveness, the Diamondbacks finally hammered out a swap for sturdy but unexciting starter Mike Leake. The veteran righty had a no-trade clause and personal reasons to prefer pitching in Arizona, which may have helped the Snakes work out a solid deal that cost only $6MM in total salary obligations and Jose Caballero. The young infielder struggled to a .256/.339/.333 batting line at the High-A level after the deal.

The D-Backs got some cash in exchange for catcher John Ryan Murphy, but otherwise that was it for mid-summer roster moves. It’s easy to like the overall slate of changes, though we’ll need to track them to see how it all shakes out over the long haul.

Giants

Also busy were the Giants, who faced a tricky deadline situation owing to a hot streak that had the club in Wild Card contention. Ultimately, the team decided not to sell of quality lefties Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith — each of whom might have brought back significant returns. The former is sure to receive a qualifying offer and the latter is a candidate as well, so there are still some paths to achieving future value, but the organization knew it was making some sacrifices by holding on to these pitchers.

The San Francisco denizens did move quite a few other hurlers. Chief among them was righty Sam Dyson (link), who will be eligible for arbitration one final time in 2020. Unfortunately, he has struggled badly in just a dozen appearances with the Twins and is now under consideration for a season-ending shoulder procedure. That doesn’t look great for Minnesota, though questions remain on the other side of the swap as well. Power-hitting outfielder Jaylin Davis laid waste to Triple-A but has struggled in his first, brief foray into the majors. We won’t know for quite some time what the Giants really have in young pitching prospects Kai-Wei Teng and Prelander Berroa.

The well-timed reemergence of southpaw Drew Pomeranz allowed the Giants to package him with power righty Ray Black in a deal that landed long-lauded infield prospect Mauricio Dubon. Pomeranz has been useful in Milwaukee but is a pure rental; Black still hasn’t shown his big heat can consistently retire MLB hitters. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old Dubon has turned in an impressive .302/.327/.547 run in his first 55 plate appearances at the game’s highest level. That showing could make him the favorite to handle second base next year in San Francisco. The club made way by dropping veteran Scooter Gennett, who had been acquired as a buy-low replacement for Joe Panik.

The other significant reliever swap involved high-priced veteran Mark Melancon. It was surprising to see the Giants shed all of the veteran’s remaining salary obligations. He has a strong 20:2 K/BB ratio in 15 2/3 frames since the deal, along with ten saves, but hasn’t consistently kept runs off the board. The Giants have to be pleased with what they saw from the player they added in that swap. Young righty Tristan Beck threw 35 2/3 innings of 2.27 ERA ball, with 9.3 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9, for the club’s High-A affiliate.

Rounding things out for the Giants, the team took a shot on outfielder Joe McCarthy, who has not yet figured things out at Triple-A. The cost was younger prospect Jacob Lopez, who is still in the low minors but generated solid results this year.

Padres

The deadline turned out to be all about one man: Taylor Trammell. Long considered an uber-talented outfielder, the former first-round pick was plainly targeted by the Padres. It took a complicated, three-team arrangement to make it happen, but the San Diego organization now has a player that it views as the center fielder of the future.

Trammell remains an unfinished product. He wrapped up the season on a hot streak but ultimately carried only a .229/.316/.381 slash in his 133 Double-A plate appearances after the swap. The Friars are betting on their ability to finish off his development and surely hope they bought at a relative low point.

Making the deal cost the Pads a few quality assets. Young outfielder Franmil Reyes hasn’t yet settled in with his new team, posting 56 strikeouts in 161 plate appearances, but he comes with loads of cheap control and ample potential. Southpaw Logan Allen has mostly struggled this year, but he is another player that could soon be a quality MLB contributor. The Padres also parted with far-away youngster Victor Nova. Clearly, the San Diego end of this swap will take many years to evaluate in full.

It was otherwise a fairly quiet deadline period. The Padres got nothing from Carl Edwards Jr. after adding him from the Cubs; he seems a non-tender candidate this fall. Meanwhile, lefty Brad Wieck has been a surprising contributor in Chicago since that swap was completed. The 27-year-old has eleven strikeouts without a walk in 5 1/3 appearances. Also heading out of San Diego was righty reliever, Phil Maton, who has thus far been useful but unremarkable in Cleveland.

Rockies

Typically, when a team enters a season intending to contend and finds itself buried by the trade deadline, there’s a sell-off. Not so in Colorado — and for good reason. The club just didn’t have any assets that made sense to move. The higher-priced veterans haven’t performed well enough to generate appreciable cost savings, while the club’s core talent can’t be shipped out without leaving un-fillable holes. While some Charlie Blackmon explorations reportedly took place, that never seemed likely to result in a move and in the end fizzled out.

So … all we’re left with was this stirring blockbuster with the Yankees: the acquisition of right-hander Joe Harvey for minor league left-hander Alfredo Garcia. Harvey is a MLB-ready reliever who has shown some strikeout ability in the minors, though his initial transition to the highest level of the game hasn’t been especially promising. Garcia generated good results on both sides of the swap, but he’s a low-A player who is a long way from the bigs.

West Notes: Richards, Trout, Piscotty

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When the Padres signed erstwhile Angels ace Garrett Richards to a two-year, $15.5MM deal in December, expectations were that Richards would return in time to lead their young staff in 2020–and, if everything broke right in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, that Richards might squeeze in a few September frames. Apparently, that vision is coming into focus now, as the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee reports that Richards is expected to take the ball in his club’s matchup with the Brewers on Monday (link). “Getting him healthy on the mound, competing at the big-league level is going to set him up for success next year,” Padres manager Andy Green told Acee. “We look at it like get him on the mound, make sure he knows going into the offseason he’s ready to go and he doesn’t have a question in the back of his mind — that he’s stared down a few major league lineups and he’s been back on the big stage and he’s ready to go.”

Though Richards will be limited to 60-65 pitches on Monday, it will surely be a welcome sight for a San Diego team short on battle-tested rotation options. Aside from Richards, the club will be heading into 2020 with a collection of starters who remain largely unestablished. Though fronted by impressive rookie Chris Paddack, San Diego’s current rotation features recent returnees from injury (Dinelson Lamet), unproven projects (Ronald Bolanos), and stagnating sophomores (Eric Lauer, Joey Lucchesi). Though the 31-year-old Richards, who has been limited to 138 2/3 frames since the beginning of 2016, could hardly be called a rotational stalwart, he did hold a 3.15 ERA over his last five seasons of pitching–a number which was good enough for third-lowest in the American League during that timeframe.

More notes from just right of the Pacific…

  • Angels outfielder Mike Trout was out of today’s lineup as he continues to deal with a foot issue, and MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger relays that the MVP candidate will likely be limited to DH duty in the immediate future (link). Trout underwent a procedure to address a neuroma in his foot last week, and his continued presence in the Los Angeles lineup is largely a question of pain tolerance. The Angels have already been eliminated from playoff contention, but Trout will, hopefully, be able to return to action–if only to stave off a possible MVP run from players like DJ LeMahieu and Alex Bregman.
  • Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty is ramping up activity, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Slusser reports that Piscotty, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury since Aug. 25th, was taking batting practice with the team today (link). He had better hurry in his recovery–Oakland entered play today with just a .5-game lead for the top spot in the American League Wild Card race. Piscotty, 28, holds a .252/.312/.416 slash this year in 389 plate appearances, representing roughly league-average offensive output (95 wRC+).
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