Reds Claim Luke Farrell, Designate Scott Van Slyke
The Reds announced on Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-hander Luke Farrell off waivers from the Dodgers and designated former Dodger Scott Van Slyke for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Farrell has been optioned to Triple-A Louisville, per the Reds’ announcement.
The 26-year-old Farrell is the son of Red Sox manager John Farrell and made his MLB debut with the Royals earlier this year. He was knocked around for five runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings, and that outing still represents his long MLB appearance.
Though his debut was rough, Farrell has produced solid Triple-A results in 2016-17, working to a combined 3.83 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and roughly a 36 percent ground-ball rate in 199 2/3 innings. He has a pair of minor league options remaining beyond this season, which also figures to have some appeal to the Reds.
Van Slyke was acquired alongside catching prospect Hendrik Clementina minutes before the non-waiver trade deadline in the trade that sent Tony Cingrani to the Dodgers. While some may wonder why the Reds didn’t simply acquire Farrell in place of Van Slyke in that trade, it’s likely due to the fact that the Reds took on the remainder of Van Slyke’s salary, thus offsetting some of the financial cost of Cingrani for Los Angeles.
The 31-year-old Van Slyke is earning $1.325MM and has appeared in just 29 games this season (all with the Dodgers), hitting .122/.250/.293 in 48 plate appearances. Van Slyke, of course, has had his share of success in the Majors but hasn’t been especially productive since 2014. He’s also carrying a disappointing .714 OPS in Triple-A this season.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/7/17
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Angels have signed right-hander Branden Pinder, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy in his always-informative weekly Minor Transactions roundup (which includes dozens of moves). Pinder is a known commodity to Angels GM Billy Eppler, having spent his career to date in the Yankees organization, where Eppler was previously an assistant GM. Pinder had Tommy John surgery in 2016 but had worked back to throw 11 2/3 innings in the minors thus far in 2017. He showed promise in 27 2/3 frames with the 2015 Yankees (2.93 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.6 BB/9) and should have a better chance to work back to the Majors with the Halos than he’d have had in New York.
- In a pair of moves from the Dodgers, left-hander Tommy Layne has been released, while outfielder Peter O’Brien has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to Eddy. Layne spent less than a month in the Dodgers’ system after signing a minors pact in mid-July. He threw 5 2/3 frames with their Triple-A club but walked more batters (six) than he struck out (three). He does have a nice track record in the Majors (3.23 ERA in 136 1/3 innings from 2012-16) but was hit hard with the Yankees in 2017. As for O’Brien, he’s bounced around on the waiver wire this season but finally went unclaimed and will return to the Dodgers’ minor league ranks while no longer occupying a 40-man roster spot. O’Brien’s power generated plenty of intrigue a few years ago, but there have long been questions about his defense and plate discipline. He’s also posted a .666 OPS in the minors this season.
- Right-hander Esmil Rogers has signed on with the Nationals on a minor league pact, according to Eddy. Rogers last pitched in the Majors in 2015 and has since spent the second half of the 2015 season and the entire 2016 campaign pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s already made a pair of starts for Washington’s Triple-A affiliate and has thrown well. Rogers has 454 big league innings under his belt, but his success has been sporadic. He’ll give the Nats another veteran arm to potentially join the bullpen in September and could potentially act as a spot starter down the stretch if he continues to show well in Syracuse.
Dodgers Claim Dylan Floro
The Dodgers have claimed righty Dylan Floro off waivers from the Cubs, the Los Angeles organization has announced. A 40-man spot was opened by moving Franklin Gutierrez to the 60-day DL.
Floro, 26, was knocked around in 9 2/3 innings (over three relief appearances) earlier this year with the Cubs. And he has managed just 4.8 K/9 in his 48 2/3 Triple-A frames on the season.
Still, teams obviously remain interested in Floro’s ability to draw grounders. He has induced worm burners on 61.6% of the balls put in play against him this year at Iowa, where he owns a 3.88 ERA.
Deadline Retrospective: How Astros Lost Britton; Why Padres Held Hand
The Astros’ lone move this past Monday was the acquisition of Francisco Liriano from the Blue Jays, but multiple reports indicate a significant reason for their lack of activity is due to the fact that an agreed-upon deal for Zach Britton fell through at the eleventh hour. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (here and here), MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal, and FanRag’s Jon Heyman each reported key aspects of the story. You’ll certainly want to read those links in full for all the interesting details, but we’ll cover some highlights here.
Astros owner Jim Crane said in a radio interview with ESPN 97.5 in Houston that his team had multiple trades that were “agreed to in principle” before medical issues led to those deals getting “vetoed at the top.” The Orioles are known to have the most stringent medical standards of any team in the league, though it’s also interesting that Rosenthal reports that Houston also had a deal lined up for an unidentified “high-end” reliever that would have “surprised the industry” upon being traded.
Per Kubatko and Rosenthal, the Britton deal broke down when the Orioles raised medical concerns over two of the players in the deal — believing one to have a “legitimate medical problem” and deeming another to be somewhat questionable. The identity of the prospects in question isn’t known, though Kubatko says the pair were both pitchers and Rosenthal hears that as many as six to seven Astros prospects were deemed off-limits in trade talks for Britton. Ultimately, the Orioles “went dark” on both the Astros and the Dodgers, who were also in the mix for Britton, for several hours before simply telling L.A. that Britton was off the table about an hour prior to the deadline, Rosenthal continues. Baltimore made a last-minute offer to Houston, but the Astros deemed it too steep.
Heyman writes that while many will place the blame on Baltimore owner Peter Angelos, Orioles officials insisted to him that the medical reports on the players the O’s would have received of great enough concern that no deal was ever even presented to Angelos. Heyman spoke to multiple execs from other teams that suggested Houston is too stingy when it comes to surrendering its top prospects in a deal, and that penchant for hanging onto prized young talent ultimately led to a quiet deadline for GM Jeff Luhnow and his staff.
Of course, the Astros had plenty of reason to be cautious when it comes to Britton. The once-elite reliever has missed most of the 2017 season due to a pair of DL stints tied to a forearm injury and at the time of the deadline had only worked back-to-back days once since being activated off the DL (and once during a minor league rehab stint). He posted an 8-to-4 K/BB ratio in 10 July innings before the non-waiver deadline, though it’s perhaps worth noting that he did work on a third consecutive evening the night of the deadline.
Houston did, of course, have other irons in the fire — including the intriguing mystery reliever noted by Rosenthal as well as Yu Darvish. Indeed, it seems the former only fell through at the ownership level from the other team. And Houston’s front office felt it made a stronger offer for Darvish than did the Dodgers, says Rosenthal, who notes the Rangers simply didn’t see it that way (the front office had authority to deal the righty within the state).
Brad Hand of the Padres, though, seemingly represented the most obvious alternative to Britton — at least, after the Cubs grabbed Justin Wilson, in part owing to a wariness of dealing with the O’s on deadline day. But Houston and San Diego just never saw eye to eye on the southpaw’s value, per Rosenthal and Heyman.
Sources from the Pads indicate the club ultimately backed away from seeking top-100-type talent, though not all rival executives seem to have viewed it that way. It seems that San Diego did at least check down from the top-tier prospects it initially sought, though obviously there was still a gap that was never bridged. Details remain scant, though Rosenthal notes the Astros held the same six prospects off-limits for Hand that they did for Britton; per Heyman, the Nationals were no more willing to discuss Carter Kieboom than their top outfielder prospects and the Dodgers preferred cheaper options even though the Padres would’ve taken a package of multiple prospects outside of the Dodgers’ five best.
Ultimately, the fact that both Britton and Hand stayed with their respective organizations leaves some potentially un-done work for all involved. The Astros obviously had intended to do more at the deadline, and could look to find alternatives this August. There’s also an impact on their plans for 2018 and beyond. That’s all the more true for the Orioles and Padres, who’ll likely shop their lefties this winter.
NL West Notes: Giants, Eibner, Dodgers, Hand, Chacin
After watching a last-place team make just one move prior to the non-waiver deadline, Giants fans felt plenty of frustration, but GM Bobby Evans spoke to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle about the front office’s recognition that changes need to be made before the 2018 season commences. “How much we can accomplish between now and the beginning of 2018 remains to be seen,” said Evans. “…Some of that has to be us on alert for what opportunities exist. As we sit here today, we’ve got a lot of ideas where clubs see our guys.” The offseason is a likelier time for significant changes than the August waiver trade season, Evans indicated. Schulman writes that the Giants are lacking both power and defense in the outfield, though the presence of veterans Denard Span and Hunter Pence, both signed through 2018, adds another layer of complexity to the front office’s quest for improvement.
More from the division…
- The Dodgers had been experimenting with outfielder Brett Eibner as a pitcher, but his season will come to an end due to Tommy John surgery, tweets J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Eibner hadn’t actually gotten into a game in the minors, as he’s been dealing with soreness in his arm for awhile now. The Dodgers’ reported plan for Eibner wasn’t to convert him to a pitcher on a full-time basis but to use him as an outfielder and occasional reliever. Eibner pitched and played in the outfield in his college days but had been exclusively a position player since turning pro.
- While the Dodgers have drawn headlines for their enormous Major League payrolls, their commitment to international spending has played a huge role in their success as well, writes Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times. As Shaikin notes, the Dodgers shipped out three prospects signed as international amateurs yesterday to acquire Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani, and their willingness to spend on that market has persistently left them with ammunition for trades. “The kind of scouting and player development infrastructure you have can pay off in terms of guys rising to the big leagues and impacting your team, or sometimes being able to make trades like this,” said GM Farhan Zaidi. “It’s certainly a credit to our scouting and player development staffs for giving us the players and prospect capital we needed to pull off these deals today.” The new hard cap on international spending will make that strategy more difficult, though the Dodgers have a history of finding creative ways to build up their farm by leveraging financial muscle.
- Padres general manager A.J. Preller chatted with Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune about his lack of trades at the non-waiver deadline — specifically the decision to hold onto lefty Brad Hand and righty Jhoulys Chacin. Preller indicated that he simply didn’t receive an offer that he deemed to bring more value to the organization than Hand, acknowledging that while it’s possible he’ll incur an injury or decline, it’s also possible that Hand sustains or enhances his value with improved performance. His comments on Chacin were more interesting. “I know it’s easy for somebody to say, ‘Well, he’s a free agent at the end of the year. Just take anything,'” said Preller. “We’ve built our (farm) system up to the point where, just to take a non-prospect for the purpose of making a trade, we weren’t interested in doing that.” The Friars could move Chacin in a waiver deal, but they’ll also explore the possibility of signing him beyond 2017, Preller tells Lin.
Post-Deadline Notes: Gray, Cards, Darvish, Britton, Estrada, Braves
The Cardinals “float[ed]” a trade proposal for Sonny Gray before the Athletics shipped him to the Yankees, according to MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal. In concept, at least, St. Louis would have considered sending young outfielder Stephen Piscotty to Oakland along with a promising starter (Luke Weaver or Jack Flaherty), though it seems talks never got going. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks closer at the Cards’ lack of action on deadline day. Top baseball decisionmaker John Mozeliak acknowledged “a level of frustration” that nothing got done, though he also said the team wasn’t inclined to make deals just for the sake of action. Ultimately, momentum never built toward a deal for Lance Lynn, and the club’s other chatter never materialized into a trade. You’ll want to peruse the lengthy column for all the details.
Here are some more post-deadline links of note:
- The Dodgers‘ acquisition of Yu Darvish came together quite late, as Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports explains in fascinating detail. It became apparent the Dodgers wouldn’t get Zach Britton from the Orioles within a half hour of the deadline, but the team had already “abandoned hope” of landing Darvish. The Rangers, meanwhile, had run through their alternative trade partners for the ace righty and found none availing. The paths of the two organizations converged just twenty minutes before the deadline. You’ll certainly want to give the story a full read; Texas fans will also want to check out this piece from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News on the team’s unannounced but still-evident rebuilding path.
- In the end, there just wasn’t that much demand in the marketplace for Darvish, Rosenthal also notes — so much so that the Dodgers were nearly in position to land both Darvish from the Rangers and lefty Zach Britton from the Orioles. That said, there was “some overlap” between the prospects in both potential deals, and it obviously would’ve required a steep overall price to get both arms. Instead, Los Angeles added two different lefties, Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani.
- As regards Britton, Rosenthal had some stern words for how things played out. The Orioles spurned not only the Dodgers but likely also the Astros. For Baltimore, the deadline approach “was disturbingly short-sighted,” by Rosenthal’s reckoning. And when Houston wasn’t able to find another top-end arm, says Rosenthal, its body of deadline work became a “lost opportunity.” It does seem worth bearing in mind, particularly regarding the Astros, that the August trade period appears to be full of opportunities for making further moves if the need is there.
- Over in Toronto, the Blue Jays ended up holding onto righty Marco Estrada and then watched him turn in a strong outing last night. As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca writes, Jays GM Ross Atkins suggested yesterday that the organization may yet see Estrada as a part of the team’s future — though his contract is up at year’s end and he perhaps remains a plausible August trade piece. With Estrada remaining in Toronto through the deadline, said Atkins, “we’ll start thinking about not only how he impacts us now, but how he can potentially impact us beyond 2017.”
- Be sure also to check out the trade deadline rundown from Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, who assesses some winners and losers from the day’s action. ESPN.com’s Buster Olney also issued deadline grades in an Insider piece.
- With the Braves holding on deadline day, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman takes stock of the months to come. Second baseman Brandon Phillips, reliever Jim Johnson, and starter R.A. Dickey could all be possible August trade chips, he notes, while the inclination of the organization remains to consider deals involving first baseman Matt Adams over the offseason. Meanwhile, Atlanta continues its long-standing pursuit of controllable pitching, though that’ll surely await the end of the current season.
MLBTR Poll: Grading The Yu Darvish Trade
Yesterday’s last-minute Yu Darvish swap represented perhaps the most dramatic move of deadline day for a host of reasons. It not only broke after the deadline itself, but represented a major shift for the Rangers and left the Dodgers with another ace on a loaded pitching staff. While the trade doesn’t really impact the picture in the NL West — the Dodgers were seemingly running away with things without him — it could well change the complexion of the postseason.
The rights to employ Darvish over the next few months — but, mostly, to have him for the NLDS (and, the Dodgers hope, beyond) — came at a cost. Just how much that’ll sting is debatable and perhaps also largely remains to be seen. While the Dodgers held onto the prospects they evidently cherish most (Alex Verdugo and Walker Buehler), they gave up an intriguing, near-majors hitter in Willie Calhoun while also sacrificing two high-upside youngsters in A.J. Alexy and Brendon Davis.
It doesn’t make much sense to approach a deal like this by contemplating which side “won;” after all, they were both in very different positions. The Rangers essentially decided they did not need Darvish through the end of his contract, since a postseason run was unlikely. And the Dodgers took quite the opposite position, with a willingness to sacrifice pre-MLB talent to add the established hurler.
Instead, given the organizations’ varied approaches, it seems worth polling the MLBTR readership for grades on the deal from the perspective of each side. First, the Rangers: do you think the return will prove significant enough to justify the lessened possibility of a Wild Card, any (perhaps minimal) reduction in the potential to re-sign Darvish, and the draft compensation (a choice at the end of the second round) that would have accrued had Darvish declined a qualifying offer and signed elsewhere? (Link for app users.)
Grade the Rangers Trade of Yu Darvish
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B 42% (5,549)
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A 27% (3,554)
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C 21% (2,750)
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D 5% (721)
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F 4% (564)
Total votes: 13,138
And for the Dodgers … was it worth giving up Calhoun and more for a starter on a team loaded with them? Ought these or other players have been used to acquire a better left-handed relievers than those (Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani) that were acquired? Etc. (Link for app users.)
Grade the Dodgers Acquisition of Yu Darvish
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A 56% (6,596)
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B 25% (2,956)
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C 12% (1,470)
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D 4% (445)
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F 3% (327)
Total votes: 11,794
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/31/17
Here’s a wrap-up of some recent minor league moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post.
- Right-hander Al Alburquerque cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent, the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd tweets. The Royals designated Alburquerque for assignment last week and requested release waivers on him two days ago; Alburquerque was previously DFA’ed earlier this season, though that time he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A. The righty signed a minors deal with Kansas City last winter and has a 3.60 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 over 10 innings out of the Royals bullpen.
- Infielder Nick Franklin cleared waivers and was outrighted to the Angels‘ Triple-A affiliate, the team announced on Twitter. Franklin was designated for assignment two days ago, and it was his third DFA of 2017 — he was designated by the Rays in April and then claimed by the Brewers, then designated by the Brewers and traded to the Angels in late June. After posting above-average production in a part-time role with Tampa Bay last season, Franklin has been unable to get things going this year, with a combined .179/.269/.283 slash line over 119 PA with the Angels and Brewers.
- The Diamondbacks released catcher Hank Conger, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. Conger signed a minor league deal with the Snakes last winter and has a .239/.316/.394 slash line over 206 PA at Triple-A Reno.
- Also from Eddy, the Rockies released outfielder Domonic Brown. Colorado signed Brown to a minors contract in the offseason. Once considered one of baseball’s top prospects when coming up in the Phillies system, Brown was an All-Star in what looked like a breakout season in 2013, though badly struggled in his next two seasons and hasn’t since returned to the big leagues. Brown did hit a decent .304/.327/.449 over 171 PA at the Triple-A level this season, though in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
- Earlier this week, the Marlins announced that first baseman Chris Parmelee had been signed to a minor league deal. Best known for his stint as a part-timer with the Twins from 2011-14, Parmelee appeared in just eight MLB games last season (with the Yankees) and has yet to reach the Show this season after being released from a minors contract with the A’s in June.
- Catcher Eric Fryer elected to become a free agent last week, the Cardinals announced. Fryer was designated for assignment on July 21 and had been outrighted to Triple-A before opting to hit the open market. The light-hitting catcher has played in parts of seven seasons in the bigs, most recently serving as Yadier Molina‘s backup in St. Louis.
- The Rangers released veteran southpaw Wesley Wright earlier this month. Wright posted a 4.16 ERA in 307 innings over eight big league seasons from 2008-15, though he hasn’t been back to the majors since, plus he’s struggled at the Triple-A level in the Texas and Boston organizations over the last two seasons.
- Earlier this month, the Dodgers signed left-hander Tommy Layne to a minor league deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Layne posted good numbers out of the Red Sox and Yankees bullpens in 2015-16, though his career-long struggles with control plagued him this year, as Layne posted a 7.62 ERA over 13 IP for New York, with eight walks against just nine strikeouts.
Dodgers Acquire Yu Darvish
The Dodgers and Rangers have pulled off a last-minute stunner, striking a deal that sends star righty Yu Darvish to Los Angeles. Second baseman/outfielder Willie Calhoun is the headliner of the return, with righty A.J. Alexy and infielder Brendon Davis rounding out the package going to Texas. To clear a 40-man spot, the Dodgers designated infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman for assignment.
Heading into the deadline, it wasn’t even clear whether Darvish would be available. And as the deadline approached, it seemed perhaps he’d stay with the Rangers — with a high asking price perhaps getting in the way of a swap. But even as the Dodgers added two lefties to the bullpen, they swooped in and added the high-powered righty.
Darvish, 30, was clearly the most impactful pitching rental on the market. While he has only managed a 4.01 ERA on the year — much of that due to an awful recent start — he’s still rolling with 9.7 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. Of greater importance, perhaps, he has managed to provided 137 innings over 22 starts — putting him on pace to approach or top 200 innings for the first time since 2013.
Never a big groundball pitcher, Darvish has been hurt by the flies this year. He has allowed 1.31 homers per nine on a 15.0% HR/FB rate. But he’s still managing a typical 11.9% swinging-strike rate, working in the zone more than ever, and generally pitching like himself for the most part.
Darvish, when pitching to his ability, is one of the game’s top starters. Since he broke into the majors in 2012, Darvish has been one of the twenty most valuable hurlers by measure of fWAR — despite logging far fewer innings than any other pitchers in his company because he missed significant time after Tommy John surgery.
The long-term elbow question is one the Dodgers won’t really need to worry about, as Darvish will be a pure rental. He is slated to hit the open market at season’s end, when he’ll finish the six-year, $56MM pact he signed when he came over from his native Japan. (Texas also paid over $50MM in posting fees.) Darvish is earning $11MM this year and stands to take home quite a bit more thereafter; he’ll now enter free agency free and clear of any qualifying offer-related draft compensation.
Los Angeles surely didn’t need this addition to win the NL West, which it currently paces in a runaway and will almost certainly take for the fifth straight season. Acquiring Darvish is designed with one goal in mind: driving the club to a World Series win for the first time since 1988. The righty will presumably slot among a group of talented lefties, led by Clayton Kershaw (when healthy) and also including Alex Wood and Rich Hill. Los Angeles can also give innings to Kenta Maeda, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu and others, with the precise alignment still to be determined. (It’s worth remembering, too, that Julio Urias was expected to be a major part of the staff; had he not suffered a season-ending injury, this swap may never have taken place.)
Adding Darvish came at a cost, of course, though it did not require the team to part with its most prized prospects. Once the Rangers decided to move the righty — with an eye still to trying to re-sign him in the winter, perhaps — the club surely knew its return would be limited by market forces. While Texas won’t land an elite prospect in the swap, it does add some real talent.
Calhoun is generally the highest-rated prospect in this deal. The 22-year-old is a left-handed hitter who shows big promise at the plate. He cracked top-100 prospect lists entering the season and has responded with an outstanding .298/.357/.574 batting line — with 23 home runs and just 49 strikeouts against 36 walks — over his first 414 plate appearances at Triple-A. The expectation is that he’ll ultimately end up in the grass, where he could combine with Nomar Mazara to make quite a corner outfield pairing for years to come.
The other players in the deal are talented as well. Alexy is a 19-year-old hurler who was taken in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. He has advanced to the Class A level, where he carries a 3.67 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 through 73 2/3 innings. He’s seen as having some projection left in his wiry frame, but is obviously already throwing well at an early stage. Davis, who just turned 20, was a fifth-round selection in 2015. He’s seen as a raw and athletic talent who has a lot of development left, though there are signs of real progress this year. Davis recently earned a promotion to High-A after slashing .245/.357/.403 with eight long balls — with 107 strikeouts but also 47 walks — through 367 plate appearances at Class A Great Lakes.
Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network reported the trade (Twitter links). ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter) said three prospects would go in return, with MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link) and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) providing the names.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Dodgers Acquire Tony Watson From Pirates
The Pirates have announced that they’ve traded former closer Tony Watson to the Dodgers for infielder Oneil Cruz and righty Angel German. The Dodgers were reportedly interested in the Orioles’ Zach Britton, but appear to have settled on Watson as a backup option — though he’s certainly a talented pitcher in his own right. To clear space for him on their 40-man roster, they’ve announced that they’ve designated journeyman slugger Peter O’Brien for assignment.
The 32-year-old Watson has a 3.66 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 46 2/3 innings this season. He was booted from the Pirates’ closer role in June but has had modest success since then, with a 2.79 ERA, 15 strikeouts and six walks in 19 1/3 innings since June 9.
Watson carries a 2.68 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over parts of seven seasons with the Pirates. The hard-throwing lefty gives the Dodgers another potential late-inning option to complement closer Kenley Jansen and another lefty to pair with Luis Avilan, although there’s no official word yet on what Watson’s role will be. He’s struggled against righties this season, allowing a .294/.360/.525 line against, but he’s had success against them in the past. He makes $5.6MM this season and is eligible for free agency in the fall.
Cruz, 18, was batting .240/.293/.342 with 110 strikeouts and 28 walks while playing shortstop and third base for Class A Great Lakes. He received a $950K bonus when the Dodgers signed him out of the Dominican Republic two summers ago. MLB.com ranked him the Dodgers’ 17th-best prospect, noting that his left-handed swing could eventually produce good power and that his size — he’s 6’6″ — makes him likely to make a permanent move to third base at some point.
The 21-year-old German had a 1.91 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 while pitching 33 innings of relief at Great Lakes. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a low-level reliever, he does not rank among MLB.com’s top 30 Dodgers prospects. Various online reports indicate that he throws in the mid-90s, however.
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the two sides had struck a deal. Jon Heyman of FanRag tweeted a deal was close, with Rosenthal originally tweeting the two sides were discussing a trade. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted the Pirates would receive two minor leaguers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.