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Blue Jays Rumors

Latest On Marcus Stroman

By Connor Byrne | July 25, 2019 at 6:58pm CDT

Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman has looked like a surefire trade candidate for a while. Even he expects to move before the July 31 trade deadline, having said after his Wednesday start – possibly his last with the Blue Jays – “There’s been no willingness from the front office to sign me, so I’ve just kind of come to terms with it and I’m ready to dominate, wherever that may be, absolutely dominate.”

Now, though, there are conflicting reports on whether Toronto is gearing up to part with Stroman, who’s earning $7.4MM this season and still has another year of arbitration control left. While Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that Stroman is “generally viewed within the industry as the most likely top starter to be traded,” Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets that the Blue Jays have informed teams they may extend the 28-year-old instead of moving him. As Martino notes, though, it may be a negotiating ploy on the part of Toronto, which – as Stroman said – hasn’t shown any real desire to commit to him for the long haul. It’s hard to believe the team will drastically change course on the cusp of the deadline.

The division-rival Yankees are among an array of contenders who have been connected to Stroman of late, but despite the problems in their rotation, a deal doesn’t look particularly likely to come together. New York hasn’t pursued Stroman as ardently as it went after one of his former teammates – fellow starter J.A. Happ – last year, according to Sherman, who reports the Yankees aren’t the perceived front-runners for Stroman right now. The club did land Happ, whom it then wound up re-signing to a two-year, $34MM contract in free agency, but the left-hander has fallen way short of expectations this season. Happ’s struggles are a key reason the league-leading Yankees are in the market for a high-end starter this summer.

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Quick Hits: Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Sogard, Yanks, White Sox

By Connor Byrne | July 25, 2019 at 12:30am CDT

As was the case a couple weeks ago, the Dodgers are “quite interested” in multiple Giants relievers, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported July 10 that Will Smith, Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Reyes Moronta were on the Dodgers’ radar. At that point, San Francisco owned a 41-48 record and looked as if it was sure to sell prior to the trade deadline. However, the Giants were in the early stages of an out-of-nowhere tear that has continued, putting them at 52-51 and calling into question whether they’ll trade any of their top chips in the next week. Even if they do, there’s no guarantee the Giants will deal with the archrival Dodgers, despite the connection between SF president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and LA president Andrew Friedman. Zaidi was Friedman’s top lieutenant with the Dodgers from 2014-18.

More from around the game…

  • The Blue Jays’ Eric Sogard is on the Cubs’ radar with the deadline approaching, but it’s not the first time Chicago has eyed the infielder. The Cubs’ interest in Sogard dates back to the offseason, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com reports. Back then, the 33-year-old Sogard had to settle for a minor league contract with Toronto after a rough season in Milwaukee. It’ll go down as an excellent low-risk pickup by the Blue Jays, who will almost surely flip Sogard for some kind of return by July 31. With a .299/.363/.480 line and 10 home runs in 317 plate appearances, Sogard’s enjoying a career year. His production’s probably not sustainable, but that won’t stop the Jays from finding a trade partner.
  • Injured Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, per George A. King III of the New York Post. Barring setbacks, Maybin could return from his month-plus absence next week. The 32-year-old journeyman had been amid a dream season before suffering a left calf strain June 21. His .314/.391/.500 slash with five homers in 133 PA helped make up for injuries to big-hitting Yankees outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Judge returned just as Maybin went down, while Stanton headed back to the shelf after briefly gracing the Yankees’ lineup last month. Assuming Maybin does come off the IL soon, the optionable Mike Tauchman seems likely to go back to the minors. That would be a tough break for Tauchman, who has joined Maybin in posting surprisingly impressive numbers this year.
  • The White Sox have shifted Nick Hostetler from amateur scouting director to special assistant to GM Rick Hahn, the team announced (via Lamond Pope of the Chicago Tribune). Hostetler will focus on pro scouting in his new role. He had been in his prior job since August 2015, meaning he was influential in the drafting of recent first-round picks and current top 100 prospects Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn. As Pope points out, 12 of the White Sox’s preseason top 20 prospects at MLB.com entered the organization during Hostetler’s amateur scouting reign. They’re now looking for someone to fill his former position.
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Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox Los Angeles Dodgers New York Yankees Notes San Francisco Giants Toronto Blue Jays Cameron Maybin Eric Sogard

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Ken Giles’ Elite Season

By Connor Byrne | July 22, 2019 at 8:58pm CDT

Blue Jays closer Ken Giles is one of the majors’ top trade candidates going into the July 31 deadline, and for good reason. The right-hander’s eminently effective, making a reasonable salary ($6.3MM), under control for another year after this one, and playing for a rebuilding team that’s likely to move its best trade chips in the next week-plus. The 28-year-old has been connected to four teams in the rumor mill thus far (the Red Sox, Yankees, Twins and Braves), but it stands to reason he’s on even more contenders’ radars. Any club acquiring Giles would be getting an accomplished late-game option who happens to be amid a career year.

Giles entered 2019 off a strong half-decade run divided among the Phillies, Astros and Blue Jays, though he lost his place in the Houston organization amid a somewhat rocky campaign last year. Two-plus months before the Astros traded him to the Jays in a July deal for fellow reliever Roberto Osuna (who hadn’t yet returned from a domestic violence suspension), Giles made headlines for punching himself in the face on the heels of a rough outing against the Yankees. That was one of several uncharacteristically subpar nights for Giles, who pitched to a personal-worst 4.65 ERA across 50 1/3 innings. But hope wasn’t lost for Giles – he saved all 26 of his attempts, posted excellent strikeout and walk rates (9.48 K/9, 1.25 BB/9) and logged a 3.08 FIP.

This season, not only has Giles continued to fan and walk hitters at appealing clips, but his previously enticing ability to prevent runs has returned. A jaw-dropping, career-high 15.55 K/9 – which ranks third among all relievers – has helped Giles pitch to a microscopic 1.64 ERA/1.46 FIP over 33 innings. Unsurprisingly, his swinging-strike percentage (20.8) also ranks among the elite (second).

With Giles missing bats at a ridiculous rate, he has saved 14 of 15 chances, continuing his near-automatic run in that department dating back to last season. Meantime, Giles’ walk rate has more than doubled (2.73 BB/9), but it’s still respectable; it’s also right in line with his career figure (2.72).

As you’d expect from a look at his bottom-line production, Giles has been tough on same-handed and lefty hitters this year. However, it’s righties (.286 wOBA) who have actually caused him more trouble than lefties (.219). Additionally, one would think Giles’ 97 mph fastball has driven his success this season, yet it’s his slider which has flummoxed hitters far more. They’ve put up a pitiful .138 xwOBA/.112 wOBA against Giles’ slider and a much better .367/.340 versus his fastball, according to Statcast. Giles, understandably, has changed how he deploys the two pitches. He turned to his four-seamer almost 59 percent of the time a year ago, but the mark has dropped below 49.0 in 2019. On the other hand, Giles’ slider usage has shot from 40.9 percent to 48.7.

A 7-plus percent decrease in groundball rate has come with Giles’ new pitch mix, but it hasn’t led to more home runs against. To the contrary, his HR-to-fly ball rate (7.1 percent) is outstanding and roughly 4 percent better than it was in 2018. It helps, of course, that Giles has upped his infield fly rate from 7.5 to 14.3 in a year’s time. Pop-ups represent weak contact, so it’s hardly a shock Giles ranks in the league’s upper echelon in hard-hit rate against (71st percentile), per Statcast, which shows his .230 expected weighted on-base average is even weaker than his .256 real wOBA. Just four other pitchers have bettered Giles in the xwOBA category.

Considering Giles’ ERA/FIP and wOBA/xwOBA gaps, not to mention the .365 batting average on balls in play he has yielded, his all-world 2019 production may be unlucky to some extent. No matter what, it’s clear this version of Giles has been on the shortlist of the game’s premier relievers. As a result, the Blue Jays may be in position to add at least one top 100 prospect to their farm system in a Giles trade. Not bad for a Toronto team that got Giles a year ago for a reliever it was eager to cut ties with.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Cubs Have Interest In Jarrod Dyson, Eric Sogard

By Steve Adams | July 22, 2019 at 8:58am CDT

The Cubs have interest in D-backs outfielder Jarrod Dyson and have been “gathering information” on Blue Jays infielder Eric Sogard, according to Patrick Mooney, Sahadev Sharma and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Yesterday, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported Chicago’s interest in outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, and today’s report from Mooney, Sharma and Rosenthal doubles down on that interest while also acknowledging that Castellanos’ remaining salary could make such a move difficult to piece together.

Chicago hopes to land a veteran hitter with quality contact skills, per The Athletic, and both Dyson and Sogard would fit that bill. Dyson is hitting .254/.335/.369 with six homers and 21 steals on the season. His strikeout rate is sitting at 19 percent, which is elevated quite a bit from the 13.3 percent clip he notched across the past three seasons but is still lower than the league average (22.2 percent among non-pitchers). Sogard, meanwhile, is batting .305/.369/.491 with 10 home runs, six steals and a 14.1 percent strikeout rate (career 13.3 percent).

Adding Dyson, 34, to the fray would give the Cubs an excellent defensive outfielder who can handle all three positions. His presence would surely push struggling Albert Almora Jr. out of the lineup against right-handed opponents. Dyson’s career platoon numbers are pronounced, and his left-handed bat makes him a natural pairing with Almora. The 25-year-old Almora has been uncharacteristically awful against lefties in 2019 but is still a career .286/.335/.420 hitter against them. Dyson owns a lifetime .257/.324/.360 line against right-handers.

Dyson is earning a reasonable $3.5MM in 2019 and is still owed about $1.32MM of that sum between now and season’s end. Contrast that with the $3.75MM remaining on Castellanos’ $9.95MM salary, and he’s not only the better defender of the two but the more affordable. Dyson can’t match Castellanos’ bat, though, and the Diamondbacks aren’t the slam-dunk sellers that the Tigers are known to be. It’s certainly possible that Arizona could deal Dyson and other short-term pieces, but at 50-50 through 100 games, the Snakes likely haven’t determined how they’ll proceed over the next nine days. As a pending free agent, Dyson could be moved even as the D-backs look to simultaneously add longer-term parts who can help in 2020 and beyond.

Sogard, 33, seems a near-lock to be traded so long as there’s sufficient interest. His power surge and general offensive production are largely out of the blue — Sogard was released by the Brewers in 2018 and signed a minor league deal in Toronto this winter — but his strong output has likely positioned as a piece the Jays can flip. As a versatile defender capable of handling second base, shortstop, third base and the outfield corners, Sogard could give the Cubs a sort of Ben Zobrist-lite skill set at a time when the organization still isn’t sure when (or if) Zobrist will return. Sogard’s numbers at second are down this season, but he has a long track record of plus defense there. And after inking a minor league pact in the offseason, he’s assuredly an affordable option for the Cubs or any other interested team.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Chicago Cubs Detroit Tigers Toronto Blue Jays Albert Almora Eric Sogard Jarrod Dyson

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Blue Jays Notes: Hudson, Red Sox, Sogard, Pompey

By Mark Polishuk | July 22, 2019 at 12:09am CDT

Daniel Hudson’s strong season is drawing trade attention from the Red Sox and multiple other teams, MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi reports (Twitter link).  The Blue Jays signed Hudson to a one-year, $1.5MM contract over the offseason, and the 32-year-old is on pace to deliver his best season as a relief pitcher, with a 2.72 ERA, 8.8 K/9, and 2.00 K/BB rate over 43 innings.  The Red Sox are known to be looking at the high end of the bullpen market, though it isn’t surprising that they would also be seeking out pitchers like Hudson, who wouldn’t cost nearly as much in the way of prospects.

Hudson’s performance comes with some red flags, however, as ERA predictors (4.46 FIP, 5.51 xFIP, 4.67 SIERA) hint that Hudson is due for some major regression, and he is allowing a lot of hard contact — 40% of Hudson’s balls in play are hard-hit.  On the plus side, Hudson’s fastball velocity and spin rate both rank in the 89th percentile or better of all qualified pitchers, so a lot of that hard contact is going for naught (or is being converted into relatively harmless fly balls, as his 47.5% fly ball rate is well above his 39.2% career average).

Here’s more out of Toronto….

  • In another tweet from Morosi, Eric Sogard is getting some looks from teams in search of a utilityman, especially clubs turned off by the Royals’ “crazy” asking price on Whit Merrifield.  Sogard is another unheralded offseason signing who has become a big contributor for the Jays, with a .305/.369/.491 slash line (128 wRC+) and 10 homers over 304 plate appearances.  MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently explored how Sogard’s unexpected power surge has been something of a mirage, though Sogard’s solid contact skills and defensive versatility make him an asset even if his bat cools off.  He has worked mostly as a second baseman this year, though also with time at third base, shortstop, and both corner outfield positions.
  • The Blue Jays are facing a decision about Dalton Pompey, Sportsnet.ca’s Arden Zwelling writes, as Pompey’s 20-day injury rehab assignment is up on Monday.  Since Pompey is out of options, the Jays have to either call the outfielder up to the majors, or designate him for assignment.  It isn’t out of the question that Pompey could come through DFA limbo without being claimed, Zwelling notes, as other teams might also not want to spend a 25-man roster spot on his services.  Once a consensus top-50 prospect prior to the 2015 season, Pompey has fallen off the radar after several injury-plagued years, including multiple concussions.  He only returned to action in early July after suffering another concussion during Spring Training.
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Boston Red Sox Notes Toronto Blue Jays Dalton Pompey Daniel Hudson Eric Sogard Jon Paul Morosi

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Minor MLB Transactions: 7/21/19

By Mark Polishuk | July 21, 2019 at 11:52pm CDT

The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Blue Jays outrighted Nick Kingham to Triple-A after the right-handed cleared waivers, according to a team announcement.  Kingham was acquired from the Pirates in mid-June, and he posted a 3.50 ERA over 18 relief innings for Toronto before being designated for assignment earlier this week.  Formerly a top-100 prospect during his time in Pittsburgh’s farm system, Kingham has only a 6.23 ERA over 128 2/3 career frames at the big league level.
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Red Sox Interested In Ken Giles, Kirby Yates

By Mark Polishuk | July 21, 2019 at 10:49pm CDT

While Nathan Eovaldi has been slated to become Boston’s closer, the Red Sox continue to monitor the closer market, with MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi (via Twitter) reporting that the Sox have “active interest” in the Blue Jays’ Ken Giles and the Padres’ Kirby Yates.

The bullpen has been seen as a longstanding problem for the Sox dating back to the offseason, when the team seemed content to let Craig Kimbrel leave in free agency and then more or less stand pat with its relief options.  That strategy has resulted in some pretty inconsistent results from the Red Sox pen this season, with Eovaldi’s recent role change seen as a two birds-with-one stone idea that would both help preserve Eovaldi’s elbow and get him back on a mound quicker, and also address Boston’s need for a stable closer.

Of course, Eovaldi has no experience closing games, so it makes sense that the Sox would at least be checking into options like Yates and Giles to see if another move was possible.  That said, there are a lot of obstacles standing in the way of a trade for either closer.  The Jays have a big asking price on Giles, while the Padres would reportedly only trade Yates for “an overwhelming offer.”  Ergo, acquiring either right-hander would require the Sox to dig deep into an already-thin farm system.

In a pure bidding war for young minor leaguers, it seems unlikely that the Sox would be able to outbid most other interested suitors for either Giles or Yates, and their normal financial might (in terms of taking on money to accommodate trades) is limited by the team’s close proximity to the top luxury tax threshold of $246MM.  Neither Giles or Yates are on particularly big salaries, though every dollar counts considering Roster Resource has Boston’s luxury tax number at just under $244MM.

While high-profile trades between division rivals are usually pretty rare, the Red Sox and Blue Jays combined on a notable deal just last summer, when the Sox acquired future World Series MVP from Toronto.  By contrast, one wonders if the Sox could actually have a tougher time completing a trade with the Padres given the controversy that erupted between the two clubs over the Drew Pomeranz deal in July 2016.  That said, San Diego and Boston have combined on one swap since the Pomeranz trade, the relatively minor deal last November that saw Colten Brewer go to the Sox.

If nothing else, Boston’s interest in Giles and Yates indicates that the team still sees itself as a contender and a buyer at the trade deadline.  At this point, however, it seems like the Sox are vying only for a wild card spot, as Boston sits 11 games behind the Yankees in the AL East race.  The Red Sox are three games behind Oakland for the final AL wild card berth, and with a tough road to travel just to get to a one-game playoff, there has been some suggestion (from both the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham and MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) that the Sox should consider trading some veterans to unload salary and restock on young talent for another run in 2020.

Boston’s next 14 games are all against either the Yankees or the Rays, with eight of those games coming before the July 31 trade deadline.  Both Abraham and Cotillo cite this upcoming stretch as the potential turning point of the Red Sox season, with Abraham describing the team’s July 29 off-day as “the organization’s deadline to decide whether this season is worth trying to save.”

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Latest On Braves’ Trade Targets

By Mark Polishuk | July 21, 2019 at 6:23pm CDT

Reports from earlier this month suggested that the Braves hadn’t had any talks with the Blue Jays about Marcus Stroman, and ten days later, this is still the case, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link).  It could be that the Braves are more focused on another Toronto pitcher in closer Ken Giles, as O’Brien writes that “I get [the] impression Giles could be a target” for Atlanta.

The Braves were one of eight teams who had scouts on hand Friday to watch Stroman’s most recent start, though as with many “scouts were in attendance…” types of reports at this time of year, this could be due diligence as much as a case of genuine interest on Atlanta’s part.  Given that the Jays were facing another out-of-contention team in the Tigers, the Braves could have been more focused on some of Detroit’s trade candidates, in addition to Stroman, Giles, or other trade chips on the Blue Jays roster.  (Giles, for the record, didn’t pitch on Friday through he did toss a scoreless inning for the save in Saturday’s game.)

Beyond just scouting, the Braves obviously have a very well-informed source on all things Stroman in general manager Alex Anthopoulos, whose front office made Stroman the 22nd overall pick in 2012 when Anthopoulos was Toronto’s GM.  There has been some speculation as to whether any hard feelings between Anthopoulos and current Jays management could hamper any trade talks between the two clubs, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links) notes that the Blue Jays’ “stance has softened” about making deals with Atlanta, if a particularly hard line was taken at all.

Toronto is known to be seeking a big return for Stroman, and the “ask is high” on Giles as well, in O’Brien’s words.  Giles is not only under team control through 2020, but he is also one of the very best relievers on the trade market this month.  The 28-year-old righty has a 1.64 ERA, 5.7 K/BB rate, and an enormous 15.55 K/9 over 33 innings this season. 

Armed with a fastball that has above-average spin (as per Statcast) and an average velocity of 97.3 mph, Giles has quietly been one of baseball’s more dominant closers, and is seemingly all the way back to top form after running into some difficulties on the field and off with the Astros in 2017-18.  While postseason struggles were a big part of Giles’ issues in Houston, he still represents a more proven ninth-inning answer than the Braves’ current closer, Luke Jackson.

Like many other teams, the Braves aren’t keen on giving up their top prospects for rental players, making Stroman (who also has an arbitration year remaining) and Giles more palatable trade targets since they can also help the club in 2020.  Just one year of control, however, might not be enough to pry away some of the Braves’ top prospects from their highly-rated farm system.  Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution lists right-handers Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright and outfielders Cristian Pache and Drew Waters (the Braves’ top four minor leaguers, according to MLB.com’s rankings) as the youngsters that could be closest to untouchable in trade discussions.  None would be dealt “unless it’s for a controllable difference maker,” Burns writes, and it remains to be seen if the Braves would consider Stroman or Giles at that level.  This is purely my opinion, but I doubt Atlanta would deal any of those prospects for a reliever, even one as talented as Giles.

It’s easy for fans or armchair GMs to argue that the Braves should be more forthcoming to deal from their large wealth of prospects, though ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (subscription required) noted that these minor leaguers are particularly important to a Braves organization that is more than a little hamstrung in the international market due to the signing violations that cost former GM John Coppolella his job in 2017.  Since the Braves front office also seems to be operating with a mid-level payroll at best, it makes the pipeline of talent like Pache, Anderson, Wright, and Waters all the more important to the team going forward.

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Pitcher Notes: Braves, Stroman, Mets, Wheeler, Fulmer, Giants

By TC Zencka and Connor Byrne | July 21, 2019 at 10:40am CDT

The Braves were among the teams present to scout Marcus Stroman’s latest outing, per David O’Brien of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Braves are in many ways the perfect partner for a team with a moveable asset like the Blue Jays, as Atlanta is flush with near-ready major league arms, but lacking the consistency it desires as a team positioned for the playoffs. The asking price for Stroman is said to be high – in the area of what the Pirates surrendered for Chris Archer – but Toronto is likely taking the call even if Atlanta starts with one of its ready-but-struggling arms, depending on whom the Blue Jays favor from the group of Max Fried, Bryse Wilson, Sean Newcomb, Touki Toussaint and Kyle Wright. Landing in Atlanta would reunite Stroman with Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who was the Jays’ GM when they drafted the hurler 22nd overall in 2012.

More on a few other noteworthy pitchers…

  • Mets righty and prime trade candidate Zack Wheeler went on the injured list with a shoulder impingement on July 15, but it doesn’t appear that’s going to stand in the way of a possible deadline deal. Wheeler could throw a full bullpen session Sunday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports. If that goes well, there’s potential for Wheeler to return in time to make two starts by the July 31 cutoff for trades, Puma observes. As things stand, the Mets are still optimistic Wheeler would net “a solid return” in a deal, according to Puma.
  • Tigers righty Michael Fulmer provided an update Saturday on his recovery from the Tommy John surgery he underwent in March, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News relays. “Everything is going according to plan,” said Fulmer, who added he probably won’t pick up a baseball until October or November. The hope is that Fulmer will make it back to the Tigers’ rotation sometime next summer. While lefty Matthew Boyd is Detroit’s top trade chip nowadays, that honor belonged to Fulmer a couple years ago. However, thanks to the former Rookie of the Year’s recent downturn in performance, multiple injuries and his TJ procedure, Fulmer’s trade value is nil at the moment. Still just 26, Fulmer has another three years of arbitration eligibility left, so he could yet reemerge as a valuable starter for the Tigers.
  • The Giants added righty Jandel Gustave to their 40-man roster Thursday, in part because he has an opt-out in his minors deal and was drawing interest from other teams, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets (sorry, Henry, but Gustave’s placement on the Giants’ 40-man is not the most obscure transaction MLBTR has covered thus far). As Schulman notes, Gustave possesses an enticing high-90s fastball. The 26-year-old hasn’t been able to harness his stuff into positive results with the San Francisco organization yet, however. Gustave has pitched to a 6.56 ERA/6.08 FIP with 9.26 K/9, 4.24 BB/9 and a 48.6 percent groundball in 23 1/3 Triple-A innings this season.
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Atlanta Braves Detroit Tigers New York Mets Notes San Francisco Giants Toronto Blue Jays Jandel Gustave Marcus Stroman Michael Fulmer Zack Wheeler

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Trade Candidate Faceoff: Bauer Vs. Stroman Vs. Minor

By Connor Byrne | July 20, 2019 at 2:01am CDT

Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer, Blue Jays righty Marcus Stroman and Rangers lefty Mike Minor have been among the most popular names in the rumor mill in advance of the July 31 trade deadline. All three are quality starters who are under control through 2020, so a slew of contenders have predictably shown serious interest in each of them. But who’s the most desirable of the trio?

Perhaps it’s the 28-year-old Bauer, who started his major league career in 2012 with the Diamondbacks. The third pick in the 2011 draft, Bauer was something of a can’t-miss prospect coming up. It took him longer than expected to find his footing in the majors, though, and it didn’t happen in Arizona. It occurred in Cleveland, which acquired Bauer in a three-team trade prior to the 2013 season. Bauer was a useful starter with the Indians from his first full season in 2014 through 2017, but he truly put it all together last year. Across 175 1/3 innings, Bauer notched a 2.21 ERA/2.44 FIP with 11.34 K/9 and 2.93 BB/9 en route to a sixth-place finish in the AL Cy Young voting.

Bauer probably won’t wind up in Cy Young contention this season, though he has turned in another above-average performance. No major league starter has amassed more innings than Bauer, who has delivered 144 2/3 frames of 3.67 ERA/4.29 FIP pitching with 10.58 K/9 against 3.48 BB/9. But home runs have been a major problem for Bauer compared to last year, when he yielded them on just 6.2 percent of fly balls. The rate has shot to 15.2 this season, while Bauer’s groundball percentage has shrunk from 44.5 to 38.5. He is, however, averaging a personal-best 94.8 mph on his four-seam fastball.

Stroman, also 28, has never encountered trouble racking up grounders in the majors. Since debuting in 2014, Stroman has posted a tremendous 59.7 percent grounder rate, including 57.9 this year. The ability to induce worm burners has long made Stroman effective at preventing runs, even though he’s hardly a strikeout-heavy pitcher. Stroman has fanned just over seven per nine in his career and this season, and has also logged a sub-3.00 BB/9 during those spans. The package of skills has helped Stroman to a praiseworthy 3.06 ERA/3.60 FIP in 117 2/3 innings this season.

Minor, 31, fared nicely as a Braves starter from 2010-14, but injuries knocked his career off course thereafter and kept him out of action from 2015-16. When he returned the next season with the Royals, Minor was a reliever – and an excellent one at that. But after signing a three-year, $28MM contract with the Rangers going into 2018, he returned to a starting role. The results were closer to average than exceptional then, though Minor has made notable strides since. His ERA’s an outstanding 2.86, albeit with a less inspiring 4.08 FIP, in 129 innings. Minor fanned 10 Astros and walked one in seven innings of a losing effort Friday, improving his K/9 to 9.14 and his BB/9 to 3.14. Although Minor hurt his cause by allowing four home runs, he has generally kept the long ball at bay this season.

It’s clear Bauer, Stroman and Minor are all appealing starters, but one can’t simply compare their performances when talking about them as trade candidates. Their salaries also play a key part in the discussion. Bauer’s easily the most expensive of the group this year ($13MM) and could end up in the $18MM to $20MM range during his final trip to arbitration over the winter. Minor comes in next at $9.5MM, but another $9.5MM salary is already etched in stone for 2020. Stroman’s making $7.4MM this season, though he’ll certainly join Bauer in getting a raise in his last year of arbitration.

Weighing all the factors – performance, age, price and what you think each would cost in a trade – which of these hurlers would you most want to acquire in the next week and a half?

(Poll link for app users)

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Cleveland Guardians MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays Marcus Stroman Mike Minor Trevor Bauer

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