- Evan White left during the third inning of the Mariners’ 10-7 loss to the Padres due to what the M’s termed as right shoulder discomfort. After the game, Seattle manager Scott Servais told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that White initially suffered the injury while diving for a ball in Tuesday’s game and was trying to play through the pain. The rookie first baseman entered today’s game with only a .168/.238/.379 slash line through his first 105 plate appearances in the big leagues, though White had begun to heat up over the last week.
Mariners Rumors
Blue Jays Acquire Taijuan Walker
The Blue Jays have grabbed the first notable starting pitcher of deadline season, acquiring righty Taijuan Walker from the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later. Both clubs have announced the trade. The PTBNL, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), is someone not currently in Toronto’s 60-man player pool.
To make room for Walker on the 40-man roster, the Blue Jays transferred righty Trent Thornton from the 10-day injured list to the 45-day injured list. He’d been diagnosed with loose bodies in his right elbow and will now miss the remainder of the 2020 season.
Walker, who turned 28 earlier this month, was the No. 43 overall draft pick by the Mariners back in 2010 and spent six years in the organization before being traded to the D-backs in the 2016-17 offseason. He returned to Seattle on a one-year, $2MM deal this season after missing the vast majority of the 2018-19 seasons in Arizona due to injury. That figure is prorated to about $720K in the shortened season, with about $344K of that sum yet to be paid out. Presumably, the Jays are on the hook for that portion of the deal.
Though the reunion was short-lived, Walker looked plenty healthy in his five starts to begin the season. He’s pitched to an even 4.00 ERA with a 25-to-8 K/BB ratio, five homers allowed and a 36.8 percent ground-ball rate. Walker’s most recent outing saw him hold a tough Dodgers lineup to three runs — all solo homers — on four hits and a walk with eight punchouts over seven frames. He’s averaged 93 mph on his heater thus far in 2020, and that number has crept upward of late; Walker sat at 92.6 mph as recently as July 31 but averaged 93.3 mph in his two most recent outings.
Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto said in a radio appearance on 710 ESPN Seattle (Twitter link via 710’s Jessamyn McIntyre) that he hopes to eventually discuss another reunion between the Mariners and Walker. Given Walker’s status as a pending free agent and the Mariners’ distance from postseason contention, however, the move was widely expected. Dipoto added that he’s happy to send Walker somewhere that he’ll have the opportunity to pitch in the postseason.
The Jays will add Walker to a rotation that recently lost Nate Pearson to an elbow injury and has generally struggled beyond top starter Hyun Jin Ryu. Veterans Matt Shoemaker and Tanner Roark have matching 4.91 ERAs — each with an FIP greater than 6.00. Righty Chase Anderson has been solid in a tiny sample, but he only just returned from an oblique injury and has yet to top five innings in a single appearance this year. The Jays have ridden an unexpectedly strong bullpen into the AL Wild Card mix, but it’s been clear that rotation upgrades would be needed for the team to hang onto that opportunity.
General manager Ross Atkins made that much clear a week ago when he acknowledged his plans to focus on win-now moves — specifically those that would reinforce his team’s starting pitching. The Jays were also recently linked to Pirates righties Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl, and it stands to reason that they could yet look into acquiring another starter. For now, Walker represents an affordable rotation upgrade who could conceivably make six or seven starts over the final 32 days of the regular season. He’d likely factor into the club’s playoff rotation as well, should the Jays ultimately qualify.
Onlookers may be a bit surprised to see the return as a PTBNL not in the Blue Jays’ 60-man player pool, although that hardly means the Mariners’ return will be negligible. No team can fit all of its noteworthy prospects into the 60-man pool, of course, particularly given that most clubs — contenders in particular — have some of those slots allocated to veteran depth pieces. (Toronto, for instance, has Ruben Tejada, Caleb Joseph, Jake Petricka and Justin Miller in its pool.)
Furthermore, the expectation throughout the industry has been that the return for rental players such as Walker will be even more tepid than usual in a given season. Clubs are typically reluctant to part with high-end prospects even for a full two-month rental of a player in a 162-game season, and parting with notable prospect(s) for half that time is obviously an even tougher sell.
That’s not to say the return for Walker will be negligible. He was among the likeliest pitchers to change hands and surely drew interest from virtually any contender in search of rotation upgrades, so the Jays are presumably parting with a prospect of some note to acquire him. The likelihood is that said prospect was omitted from the 60-man pool either due to a lack of proximity from the Majors or a current injury.
The player’s identity won’t be formally announced by the team until after the season and might not even be settled upon yet; it’s not uncommon for teams to provide lists from which a trade partner can select a PTBNL. There’s also been some speculation that conditional trades — i.e. the PTBNL is X if acquiring team makes the playoffs or Y if the acquiring team does not — could be of increased popularity given the truncated nature of the current season.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the trade (Twitter links).
Multiple Games On Wednesday Postponed
8:28pm: The league issued a statement expressing support for those who opted out of playing Wednesday. “Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight. MLB remains united for change in our society & we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”
8:04pm: Dodgers-Giants has also been postponed, according to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. The plan is for the two to play a doubleheader Wednesday, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area relays.
7:27pm: “We’re likely to play tomorrow,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said (via Jeff Passan of ESPN). The league has since confirmed that the Brewers and Reds will play a doubleheader Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Mariners and Padres figure to do the same, Acee suggests.
6:08pm: The Mariners have voted against playing their game versus the Padres tonight, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. The game has been postponed, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
5:07pm: The Brewers have elected against playing Wednesday’s game against the Reds, Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal reports. The club made the decision in response to the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. The Reds are on board with the Brewers’ choice, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.
The Brewers are the second Milwaukee pro team to make this move, following the NBA’s Bucks, who aren’t playing their scheduled playoff contest against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. The NBA decided after that to postpone all of its postseason games for the day, and it’s unclear if or when the league will resume in 2020.
As the Brewers were deciding whether to play Wednesday, star reliever Josh Hader said (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today): “It’s a tremendous stand. We have to bring light to this situation that we have, it’s a big thing.”
The Brewers and Reds are slated to pick up their series Thursday in Milwaukee, but it’s unknown whether that will happen or whether they’ll play a doubleheader if they do take the field then.
Latest On Yankees’ Search For Pitching Help
8:13pm: The Yankees have called the Giants about righty Kevin Gausman, according to Martino. Gausman, whom the Giants signed to a one-year, $9MM contract last winter, has tossed 31 innings of 4.65 ERA ball (with a far shinier 3.10 FIP) and recorded 12.19 K/9 against 1.74 BB/9 this season. The 29-year-old spent 2013-18 in the Yankees’ division, the AL East, as a member of the Orioles.
8:50am: The Yankees find themselves in a familiar position with just six days until the Aug. 31 trade deadline: battling for first place in the AL East with a pitching staff that has been thinned out by injuries. Luis Severino won’t pitch this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and James Paxton just landed on the IL after weeks of shaky results with diminished velocity. Just as Aroldis Chapman returned for his season debut, Zack Britton went down with a hamstring strain. Tommy Kahnle had Tommy John surgery. Southpaw Luis Avilan is out with shoulder troubles. On top of the injuries, Domingo German’s suspension removes him from the depth chart for 2020.
New York still possesses a deep bullpen, even with Kahnle out for the year and Britton sidelined into September, but the rotation is much shakier. Gerrit Cole has been excellent thus far, but Masahiro Tanaka hasn’t thrown more than 71 pitches in a start. Jordan Montgomery has been shaky in his four starts, and J.A. Happ has yielded nine runs in 12 2/3 frames with more walks (10) than strikeouts (6). Cole and Jonathan Loaisiga, who has thrown a total of 5 1/3 innings, are the only Yankees pitchers who have started a game this year and currently carry an ERA under 4.60.
Unsurprisingly, the Yankees are in the market for arms — both in the ’pen and more importantly in the rotation. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees could be particularly intrigued by deals that could allow them to acquire a starter and reliever in one fell swoop. Most clubs are expected to be a bit more averse than usual to parting with prospects at this year’s deadline, given the shortened amount of time they’ll control the players in 2020 and the fact that ownership groups are less willing to take on salary. The Yankees are no exception, so doubling up in a single deal makes some sense.
SNY’s Andy Martino writes that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has already been in touch with the Indians, who are said to be at least “open” to offers on recently demoted right-hander Mike Clevinger. The 29-year-old has been excellent dating back to 2017 (2.97 ERA, 10.2 K/9 in 464 2/3 innings) and has two years of club control remaining beyond 2020. However, he also angered his organization by violating health-and-safety protocols and taking a flight with the club before the team learned of his actions. Clevinger was limited to 21 starts last year due to a teres major strain and an ankle injury, as well.
Elsewhere, Jon Morosi of MLB.com writes that the Yankees are among the many clubs to have inquired on Mariners righty Taijuan Walker. ]Walker is among the surest bets to move between now and Monday afternoon’s deadline, so it’d be more surprising to learn that the Yankees haven’t kicked the tires, but the initial interest is still worth noting. Walker is on a one-year, $2MM deal in Seattle this season and has pitched to a flat 4.00 ERA with a 25-to-8 K/BB ratio in 27 innings. Once one of MLB’s top pitching prospects, he pitched just 14 innings from 2018-19 due to injuries but has looked healthy thus far. Walker’s most recent start saw him hold the Dodgers to three runs on four hits and a walk with eight punchouts in seven innings.
There are obviously plenty of other places for the Yankees to look, but Cleveland and Seattle represent a pair of logical trade partners. If Clevinger is to move, the Indians will assuredly want immediate Major League help. They’re in second place in the AL Central and in clear win-now mode. Affordable outfield help will be paramount on the team’s wish list, as their current group has woefully underperformed. Speculatively speaking, Clint Frazier is a former top draft pick by the Indians. If Cleveland believes Miguel Andujar can play a competent left field, perhaps he’d be of interest as well. For a pitcher of Clevinger’s caliber, even with his stock down, they’d likely seek some additional prospect value rather than a straight-up swap, though. The rebuilding Mariners, meanwhile, may not be quite as insistent on adding MLB-ready help given that they’re not in the 2020 playoff picture. However, they’re beginning to see the fruits of their rebuild emerge at the big league level, so players who could help in the next year or two still seem likely to be an area of focus.
Blue Jays Acquire Daniel Vogelbach
The Blue Jays have acquired first baseman Daniel Vogelbach from the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations, both teams announced. Vogelbach was designated for assignment earlier this week following an .094/.250/.225 slash line over his first 64 plate appearances of the 2020 season.
It was a little over a year ago that Vogelbach was enjoying a selection to the All-Star Game and seemingly cementing his claim as the Mariners’ first baseman/DH of the future. A red-hot start to the 2019 season was followed by a steep decline, however, as Vogelbach hit only .162/.297/.344 over his final 310 plate appearances.
A second-round pick for the Cubs in the 2011 draft, Vogelbach was a blocked prospect behind Anthony Rizzo in Chicago, and he was sent to the M’s as part of the July 2016 trade that brought Mike Montgomery to the Cubs. Seattle had hopes that Vogelbach would build on his impressive minor league numbers and become a power bat at the MLB level, though that breakout just hasn’t come, as he has a .196/.326/.397 career slash line over 768 PA and has particularly struggled (career .547 OPS) against left-handed pitching.
It’s probably safe to assume that Toronto didn’t surrender much cash in the trade, making this a pretty low-risk acquisition for the Jays. Still, Vogelbach’s addition gives the club a third player (beyond Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez) who can play only first base or DH, plus Vogelbach and Tellez are both left-handed bats. It doesn’t make for much of an obvious fit, unless the Blue Jays simply want to have some extra depth for the bench or even down at their alternate training site.
Mariners Select Aaron Fletcher, Activate Yoshihisa Hirano
The Mariners on Friday announced a trio of moves involving pitchers. The club selected southpaw Aaron Fletcher from its alternate training site, reinstated right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano from the injured list and placed lefty Taylor Guilbeau on the 10-day IL with a shoulder strain.
The Mariners will get their first look at Fletcher, a 14th-round pick of the Nationals in 2018. Along with Guilbeau and Elvis Alvarado, Fletcher joined Seattle last summer in a trade that delivered relievers Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland to Washington. The 24-year-old Fletcher combined for a 3.72 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 over 19 1/3 innings during his Double-A debut last year, and now ranks as the Mariners’ No. 21 prospect at MLB.com.
Like Fletcher, Hirano’s now in line to make his first appearance as a Mariner. The former Diamondback, 36, signed with the M’s for $1.6MM during the winter, but he hasn’t pitched this season as a result of a positive coronavirus test. He’ll bring a 119 1/3 innings of MLB experience with a 3.47 ERA/3.85 FIP, 9.05 K/9 against 3.39 BB/9, and a 47.7 percent groundball rate to the Mariners’ bullpen.
In terms of run prevention, Guilbeau has been excellent this year, as he has yielded only one ER and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings. However, he has managed just three strikeouts against six walks.
Mariners Place Erik Swanson On IL With Forearm Strain
- The Mariners sent righty Erik Swanson to the shelf with an ominous-sounding injury – a forearm strain. Despite averaging almost 96 mph on his fastball and totaling seven strikeouts against one walk, Swanson has allowed nine earned runs on seven hits and three HRs in 5 1/3 innings.
Mariners Designate Dan Vogelbach, Outright Bryan Shaw
The Mariners have designated first baseman/designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach for assignment and outrighted reliever Bryan Shaw to their alternate training site, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. The club also recalled a pair of players – outfielder Braden Bishop and utilityman Sam Haggerty – and optioned reliever Art Warren to their alternate site.
This continues a rapid fall from grace for Vogelbach, who seemed to be amid a breakout season just over 12 months ago. He began the 2019 campaign as a .238/.375/.505 hitter with 21 home runs in the first half. That production earned Vogelbach an All-Star nod, but his numbers have fallen off a cliff since he earned that honor. Vogelbach only managed a .162/.286/.341 line with nine homers in the second half of the season, and and although he did end up with 30 HRs in 558 plate appearances, his .208/.341/.439 showing was a significant letdown considering how the first few months of his year went.
Vogelbach and the Mariners no doubt hoped he’d rebound from 2019’s disastrous finish, but he has instead gotten worse this season. The 27-year-old took 64 PA prior to his designation and batted a ghastly .094/.250/.226 (40 wRC+) with two long balls. His .132 isolated power number represents a .100-point drop-off from last season’s mark. As such, Vogelbach began losing DH time recently to Tim Lopes, who also hasn’t offered much production.
Seattle will now have a week to trade, release or outright Vogelbach, who is out of minor league options. However, he is on a minimum salary this season and comes with four years of arbitration eligibility. He’s slated to make his first trip through the arb process during the upcoming offseason.
Shaw, meanwhile, had the option of declining his outright, but he’ll remain with the M’s organization. He was blown up for 12 earned runs on 13 hits and six walks in six innings before Seattle designated him Aug. 15.
Mariners Acquire Jimmy Yacabonis
The Mariners announced that they’ve acquired non-roster right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis from the Padres in exchange for cash. He’d been in San Diego’s 60-man player pool at their alternate training site and will now head to the Mariners’ alternate site.
Yacabonis, 28, spent parts of the 2017-19 seasons in the Orioles’ bullpen but has yet to find his footing in the big leagues. He’s tallied 101 2/3 innings but carries a 5.75 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 5.0 BB/9 in that time. The former 13th-round pick averages about 94 mph on a fastball that generates above-average spin, and he has a solid enough track record in the minor leagues despite his lack of success in the Majors. He’ll give the Mariners a bit of bullpen depth and may eventually emerge as an option to join a bullpen that could undergo some changes between now and the Aug. 31 trade deadline.
Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto On Trade Deadline Expectations
The expanded playoff field and the tightly bunched middle class of MLB clubs, so to speak, leaves few defined sellers, even with under two weeks until this year’s Aug. 31 trade deadline. It’s become increasingly common in recent years for analytically driven front offices to wait until the final day or two to make significant moves anyhow, but that could be all the more true in 2020. Baseball’s most active general manager on the trade front, Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto, spoke with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM recently (Twitter link, with audio) to discuss that notion and his expectations for a unique deadline season.
“A lot of teams are still trying to sort out whether they are actually in this or not and how much they want to push the chips into the middle of the table,” says Dipoto. “We’ve received a handful of phone calls, particularly on the pitching, which is where we may have some attractive targets toward the end of the month. We’re open, as we always are, to any type of inquiry and discussion.”
Seattle indeed has some arms that seem like obvious targets. Righty Taijuan Walker is healthy again and out to a decent start while playing on a cheap one-year deal. Reliever Matt Magill was blown up for five runs in his latest outing, but he’s pitched well for Seattle since last season outside of that nightmare appearance. It’s overwhelmingly unlikely that a team would be able to pry Marco Gonzales away from the M’s — he’s signed affordably through 2024 with a 2025 club option — but it’s only logical to think that clubs have at least inquired (and been rebuffed).
Dipoto, though, gives the impression that around the league — and not specifically with the Mariners — there could be a different vibe and a different trend at this year’s deadline. Without directly acknowledging the revenue losses brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic (but clearly alluding to them), Dipoto suggests that arbitration-eligible players and those on expensive, guaranteed contracts aren’t likely to change hands all that much. There’s already been plenty of speculation about a huge wave of non-tenders this winter as teams look to recoup their losses, and picking up such mid-range players only adds another pricey line item to an ownership group’s budget.
“It’s likely to be a little bit more young-player driven than normal trade markets,” Dipoto says. “…I think you’re going to see a lot of the typical moves where a pending free agent is moved on at the trade deadline, and you’re going to see at least some rumblings about young-player-for-young-player ’challenge’ deals, because the middle ground — the established veteran players either in the arb system or already generating high-level paychecks — I think those guys are likely to stay still. But the pending free agents and the younger players, I think have a chance to be movers in these last two weeks.”
Dipoto is but one general manager of course, and it’s notable that his club in particular doesn’t have many arb-eligible players who’d represent trade pieces at the moment. Injured players like Mitch Haniger, Tom Murphy and Carl Edwards Jr. aren’t going to be moved, and Mallex Smith was optioned to the team’s alternate training site yesterday after a dismal start to the year. J.P. Crawford is considered a long-term piece. That said, Dipoto surely has a sense of what’s going on elsewhere in the league, and a slow-moving market for arb-eligible players aligns with previous reports and speculation.
Viewed through that lens, perhaps this will be a relatively quiet deadline in Seattle. A deal involving Walker certainly seems feasible, but it’s tough to see the Mariners agreeing to part with much in the way of young pitching. Justus Sheffield is pitching well but is also controlled through 2025, just as Gonzales is. Parting with either would be more a step backward than forward. Swapping out a promising young arm who’s struggled (e.g. Justin Dunn) for a position player in a similar rut could fit the “challenge” deal mold that Dipoto referenced, but that’s reading pretty heavily into what appeared to be a broader statement about the league as a whole.
Whether the Mariners play a prominent role or not, trade chatter figures to ramp up considerably in the coming days. Dipoto’s comments offer an interesting glimpse into the type of rumors that could begin to swirl and the deals that could come together.
