Alexi Ogando Opts Out Of Diamondbacks Contract
Right-hander Alexi Ogando has opted out of his minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (via Twitter). The 32-year-old is once again a free agent.
Ogando began the year in the Braves’ bullpen and posted a respectable 3.94 ERA in 32 innings with Atlanta, but walks were an issue for him all season long and he coughed up nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits and nine walks in his final seven innings with the Braves before being designated for assignment. On the year, Ogando averaged 8.2 K/9 but 6.5 BB/9 as well, and his results didn’t improve in Triple-A Reno with the D-backs organization. In 5 1/3 innings with Reno, Ogando served up eight earned runs on 10 hits and seven walks with just a pair of strikeouts to his credit.
While the 2016 campaign has been one to forget for Ogando, it’s notable that he does come with a lengthy track record of success in the Majors. The longtime Ranger entered the 2016 season with a lifetime 3.44 ERA in 471 1/3 innings at the Major League level and has pitched well both as a starter and as a setup man in the past. He’ll look to latch on with another organization and end the year on a high note.
Blue Jays Release, Re-Sign Blake McFarland
The Blue Jays have released and re-signed righty Blake McFarland to a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets. His 40-man spot was needed for the club’s moves today to accommodate their post-deadline roster adjustments.
McFarland, 28, has not appeared this year, though the precise reason why isn’t immediately apparent. Originally signed as an un-drafted free agent, he showed promise last year while working in the upper minors and was added to the 40-man roster over the winter. Over 57 2/3 innings — mostly at the Double-A level — McFarland pitched to a 2.03 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9.
Phillies Designate Andrew Bailey For Assignment
The Phillies announced today that they have designated right-hander Andrew Bailey for assignment and recalled fellow righty Luis Garcia from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Bailey, 32, signed a minor league contract with the Phils back in December, and while he didn’t make the club out of Spring Training, he had his contract selected in mid-April and has been in their bullpen ever since. The former A’s closer pitched quite well through his first 16 appearances with Philadelphia, but he’s been scored upon in seven of his past 10 appearances and has a dreadful 10.26 ERA dating back to June 3. Collectively, he’s logged a 6.40 ERA in 32 1/3 innings this season. Bailey’s averaged more than a strikeout per inning this year but has had some issues with his control (4.2 BB/9) and has been susceptible to the long ball while averaging a career-low 92 mph on his heater.
While Bailey’s career got off to a highly promising start — he was a two-time All-Star and the 2009 American League Rookie of the Year during a three-year run as Oakland’s closer — his career went awry following a 2012 trade to the Red Sox. Bailey required thumb surgery early in his Boston tenure, causing him to miss the majority of the 2012 campaign, and his career since that time has been slowed first by a biceps injury and eventually by 2013 shoulder surgery. Bailey didn’t pitch at any level in 2014, and he logged just 8 2/3 innings with the Yankees last season, so the very fact that he’s been able to take a big league mound with some degree of regularity is a step in the right direction for him. With nearly six years of Major League service time under his belt, Bailey has the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of free agency if he’s put through waivers.
Brewers Promote Orlando Arcia
The Brewers are promoting top prospect Orlando Arcia prior to today’s game, the team announced overnight. Rays outfielder Oswaldo Arcia — Orlando’s older brother — first suggested as much by welcoming his younger brother to the Majors on Instagram.
[Related: Updated Milwaukee Brewers Depth Chart]
Arcia, 21, will take over as the Brewers’ shortstop, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes, thereby pushing Jonathan Villar over to third base. Arcia ranked seventh, 13th, 14th and 16th on the respective midseason rankings of the game’s top overall prospects from Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com, Baseball America and ESPN. Arcia draws huge amounts of praise for his defense at shortstop, his speed and his hit tool, giving him the potential to be a top-of-the-order hitter with Gold Glove caliber defense at a premium position if all pans out. He hasn’t exactly forced his way onto the roster with outstanding play at the Triple-A level like many top-tier prospects do, as he’s batted a modest .267/.320/.403 in a very hitter-friendly environment (the Pacific Coast League’s Colorado Springs). He’s extremely young to already have spent several months in Triple-A, though, and his perhaps underwhelming 2016 results clearly didn’t cause him to slip down prospect rankings much.
“The thinking is it’s time to get him started,” manager Craig Counsell tells McCalvy. “We’ve still got [58] games left, a good chunk of the season left, where we’re hopeful that it gives him good experience going into next year. I think it’s a little shot in the arm for us, a little boost for us, as well.”
If he’s in the Majors for good, Arcia will accrue 62 days of big league service in 2016 and fall well shy of Super Two status down the line. He currently projects to be controllable through the 2022 season and wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration until the completion of the 2019 campaign.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Red Sox Designate Tommy Layne, Michael Martinez
The Red Sox have designated left-hander Tommy Layne and utilityman Michael Martinez for assignment in order to clear spots on the roster for newly acquired southpaw Fernando Abad and newly promoted outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi, as MLB.com’s Ian Browne and Tim Britton of the Providence Journal first noted (links to Twitter).
[Related: Updated Boston Red Sox Depth Chart]
Layne, 31, has a 3.77 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 53.2 percent ground-ball rate in 28 2/3 innings out of the Boston bullpen this season. He posted fairly similar numbers in 2015, but the key difference between the two seasons is his performance against left-handed opponents. Last year, Layne was unhittable in such situations, limiting left-handed hitters to a comical .148/.248/.170 slash in 102 plate appearances. This year, though, lefties batted .259/.355/.333 against him, thus prompting the Sox to look outside the organization for an improvement, which they found by flipping hard-throwing relief prospect Pat Light to the Twins in exchange for Abad.
Martinez, meanwhile, scarcely saw playing time during his brief tenure with the Red Sox. He appeared in just four games and totaled seven plate appearances, going 1-for-6 with a walk and two strikeouts. The 33-year-old is a career .198/.244/.271 hitter in parts of six big league seasons (542 plate appearances). He has experience all over the diamond, having spent time in the outfield and at second base, third base and, to a lesser extent, shortstop.
Red Sox To Promote Andrew Benintendi
The Red Sox are having top outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi meet the team in Seattle tomorrow, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. The move means Benintendi will skip straight from Double-A Portland, where he’s batted .295/.357/.515 in 263 plate appearances this season, to the big leagues.
Benintendi has relatively little minor-league experience, with just 657 career plate appearances on the farm, but it sounds like the Red Sox are confident his lack of repetitions won’t be a significant hindrance. As GM of the Tigers, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski frequently moved top talents to the Majors quickly, whisking players like Justin Verlander, Andrew Miller, Rick Porcello and Jeremy Bonderman through the minors.
“Maybe,” Dombrowski had said Monday when asked whether Benintendi or fellow top prospect Yoan Moncada could join the team at some point this season. “It could be. They’re close enough that they could be. I’m not making that prediction, but they could be.”
Benintendi had been the subject of some speculation at this year’s trade deadline, but it’s unsurprising the Red Sox were apparently reluctant to move such a blue-chip player. Since the Red Sox picked him with the seventh overall selection in last year’s draft, the University of Arkansas product has rocketed through the Sox’ system, posting a .312/.392/.540 career line in four minor-league stops.
MLB.com currently rates Benintendi the second-best Red Sox prospect (behind only Moncada) and the game’s seventh-best overall prospect, praising him for his left-handed swing, plate discipline and all-around offensive game and noting that he could eventually hit .300 with 20 homers per season. (Heading into the season, Baseball America rated Benintendi the game’s No. 15 prospect.) Benintendi is a bit small, at 5’10 and 170 pounds, but there is no reason to think he can’t be an excellent big-league hitter.
It’s unclear how Benintendi will fit into the Red Sox outfield, which already features two top young players in Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley. Benintendi, who has played mostly center field in the minors, could take over left field and free Brock Holt, who also plays infield, to play other positions. If Benintendi sticks in the big leagues, he could become eligible for arbitration after 2019 and free agency after 2022.
Rangers Acquire Jonathan Lucroy, Jeremy Jeffress
The first-place Rangers are all-in, acquiring All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy and reliever Jeremy Jeffress from the Brewers for outfielder Lewis Brinson, pitcher Luis Ortiz, and a player to be named later. Rangers slugger Joey Gallo had previously appeared to be part of the deal, but it turns out he was not included.
[Related: Updated Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers Depth Charts]
Lucroy, 30, provides the Rangers with a massive upgrade behind the plate over incumbents Robinson Chirinos and Bobby Wilson. Drafted out of the University of Louisiana in the third round in 2007, Lucroy spent his entire seven-year career with the Brewers. He made the All-Star team in 2014 and again this year, with a .299/.359/.482 line in 376 plate appearances in 2016. By measure of wins above replacement, the Rangers are getting the third-best catcher in baseball. After the 2011 season, when Lucroy had less than two years of Major League service, the Brewers signed him to a five-year, $11MM contract extension with a $5.25MM club option for 2017. That contract has turned out to be an incredible bargain for the Brewers. The Indians reached an agreement to acquire Lucroy on Saturday, but the catcher exercised his no-trade clause after Cleveland was reportedly unwilling to eliminate his bargain-priced club option. After that trade fell through, the Mets also made a play for Lucroy. The Rangers ultimately won the bidding, and have added both Lucroy and Carlos Beltran to their offense today.
The Rangers also acquired Jeffress, a 28-year-old right-handed reliever with 27 saves on the season. Jeffress was drafted by the Brewers in the first round in 2006 and went to the Royals in the December 2010 Zack Greinke blockbuster. After struggling with that organization, the Blue Jays acquired Jeffress for cash considerations in November 2012. By April of 2013, he was removed from the Jays’ 40-man roster. After another stint on and off the Jays’ roster, Jeffress became a free agent and signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in April 2014. He joined the big league team in July of that year, and that’s when his career began to blossom. Armed with a fastball that averages over 95 miles per hour, Jeffress ascended to the Brewers’ closer job this year and has posted a 2.22 ERA in 44 2/3 innings. He’s controllable through 2019 for the Rangers. While the Rangers’ bullpen has struggled overall this year, Jeffress, Sam Dyson, Tony Barnette, Jake Diekman, and Matt Bush are a formidable unit.
In Brinson, the Brewers added a 22-year-old minor league outfielder universally regarded among the top 30 prospects in the game. He’s hitting just .237/.280/.431 at Double-A this year, battling a shoulder strain. Still, according to ESPN’s Keith Law, “Brinson is an elite defensive center fielder who doesn’t have to hit much to have value in the majors and who has All-Star potential if he hits enough to get to his plus-plus power.” The Rangers also added Ortiz, generally regarded as a top 60 prospect. The 20-year-old righty currently has a 4.08 ERA in Double-A, and Law says he “shows an above-average fastball, plus changeup, and above-average control already.”
Brewers GM David Stearns has had an active trading season as he looks to rebuild his team. Stearns has shipped out Aaron Hill, Will Smith, Lucroy, and Jeffress since the beginning of July.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, T.R. Sullivan and Jon Morosi of MLB.com, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News broke the story. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blue Jays Acquire Francisco Liriano, Two Prospects For Drew Hutchison
The Pirates have announced that they’ve received righty Drew Hutchison from the Blue Jays in exchange for lefty Francisco Liriano, outfielder Harold Ramirez and catcher Reese McGuire. The deal comes as a shock, as the Bucs gave up two legitimate prospects in exchange for a marginal rotation option and relief from the approximately $18MM remaining on Liriano’s contract.
[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays Depth Charts]
Liriano was a top performer in the Pirates’ rotation in 2013 through 2015, but he has struggled badly in 2016, with a 5.46 ERA and a league-leading 69 walks. The Bucs, much-praised for their reputations for fixing struggling pitchers, evidently felt they wouldn’t be able to fix Liriano, who is making $13MM both this year and next.
Hutchison, formerly a regular in the back end of the Jays’ rotation, has spent most of the 2016 season with Triple-A Buffalo, where he’s posted a 3.26 ERA, 9.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9. He’s had considerably less success in his four-year big-league career, with a 4.92 ERA, although with a reasonable 8.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. He’s making $2.2MM this season. He’s eligible for arbitration for two more years after this one, should the Pirates choose to keep him.
The 21-year-old Ramirez was batting .306/.354/.401 for Double-A Altoona. He has a stocky build and hasn’t yet developed much home-run power, but is relatively close to the Majors at a young age and has always hit well for average. MLB.com ranks him the Pirates’ ninth-best prospect.
Ramirez’s inclusion in the deal was surprising enough, but the inclusion of McGuire is downright strange — McGuire’s bat hasn’t developed, but he’s a very highly regarded defensive catcher who rated as the Pirates’ No. 8 prospect. MLB.com notes that his plus defense makes him a likely future regular, with potential to be more than just a defensive-minded player depending on how his bat develops. The 21-year-old has batted .259/.337/.346 for Altoona this season.
Overall, the deal is reminiscent of the Diamondbacks’ 2015 trade of Bronson Arroyo and top prospect Touki Toussaint to the Braves for Phil Gosselin and relief from Arroyo’s salary. The Diamondbacks’ end of that trade was harshly criticized by most analysts, and the Pirates’ end of this deal seems likely to suffer a similar fate.
Robert Murray of Fan Rag was first to tweet that a deal had been struck. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweeted that the Jays would receive two prospects. Gideon Turk of BP Toronto tweeted that Hutchison was involved, with Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noting Ramirez’s involvement.
Mets Acquire Jay Bruce
After a snag in the medical reviews of a Mets prospect derailed an earlier version of the trade, the Mets and Reds announced today that Jay Bruce has been traded to Cincinnati in exchange for minor league second baseman Dilson Herrera and minor league left-hander Max Wotell. Top outfield prospect Brandon Nimmo was originally said to be in the deal, and while he wasn’t the player whose medicals sank the first iteration of the trade, he is no longer included in this version.
Bruce, 29, now has the chance to join Cespedes in the New York outfield. The career-long Red is in the midst of not just a resurgent season at the plate, but the finest offensive season he’s ever produced. Bruce is batting .265/.316/.559 with 25 homers, 22 doubles and six triples this season while playing on a reasonable $12.5MM salary. He’s still owed about $4.3MM of that sum through season’s end, and his contract comes with a $13MM club option for the 2017 season as well.
Cincinnati came close to moving Bruce during Spring Training in a supposed three-team deal, but medical reviews of some of the minor leaguers involved torpedoed the deal. That looks quite fortuitous for Cincinnati now, as Bruce’s huge season has rebuilt his trade stock substantially. Bruce underwent arthroscopic knee surgery early in the 2014 season and rushed back in less than a month, and he didn’t look like himself at the plate in either 2014 or 2015 (combined .222/.288/.406 slash line). Now, he’ll be moved for a stronger package of young talent than he’d have fetched about four months ago.
Bruce will provide the Mets with a power bat to slot into the corner outfield mix, although his acquisition likely pushes some combination of Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto into center field due to Yoenis Cespedes‘ now-infamous preference to remain in left field. Certainly, that defensive alignment is sub-optimal, as Bruce’s defensive ratings have plummeted this season, but the Mets have long appeared more concerned with ratcheting up their offensive production (e.g. placing Yoenis Cespedes in center field, signing Asdrubal Cabrera to play shortstop) and seem content to live with a sub-par defensive alignment in order to achieve that end.
Herrera, 22, is no longer considered a “prospect” because he’s tallied 169 big league plate appearances, but he becomes a vital future piece for the Reds and is the unequivocal centerpiece of this deal. The 22-year-old has batted just .215/.308/.383 in his limited big league playing time, but he’s yet to receive an opportunity to play on a regular basis. One would imagine that the Reds will afford him with that opportunity in the near future, giving them a look at a player that has been pegged by many scouting reports as a possible big league regular. Herrera is a career .300/.354/.485 hitter in 753 Triple-A plate appearances, displaying a blend of power and speed that has resulted in 24 homers and 19 steals at that level. Brandon Phillips is blocking him at second base, but it’s conceivable that the Reds’ long-term middle infield tandem will consist of Herrera and Jose Peraza. Whether or not that duo lines up in the middle infield, they both figure to be key factors in the Reds’ emerging young core.
Wotell, 19, has already been slotted in as Cincinnati’s No. 22 prospect by Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis at MLB.com. He’s yet to pitch above Rookie ball since being selected in the third round of last season’s draft, though he has a solid 3.57 ERA with 10.5 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9 in 40 1/3 innings between the Gulf Coast League and Appalachian League. Callis and Mayo write that he sits 90-91 mph with his heater but can touch 95 and has room to add to his 6’3″ frame. Wotell’s breaking ball has plus potential but he needs to smooth out his delivery and work on his command, the MLB.com duo notes.
Buster Olney and Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, FOX’s Ken Rosenthal and Joel Sherman of the New York Post did a great deal of the reporting on the initial trade. Olney reported that a restructured deal was close to completion (Twitter link). Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported originally called the Mets the favorites and said that the restructured deal was done (via Twitter). Rosenthal tweeted that Herrera was in the deal instead of Nimmo. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo tweeted that Wotell was the second player going to Cincinnati.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Orioles Acquire Steve Pearce
The Orioles acquired infielder Steve Pearce from the Rays, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. The Rays will receive 21-year-old High-A catcher Jonah Heim in return, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Orioles have officially announced the deal.
Pearce, 33, had a successful run with Baltimore from 2013-15 before signing with Tampa Bay on a one-year free agent deal. He’s owed about $1.6MM for the rest of the season, plus incentives once he reaches 400 plate appearances. Pearce, a right-handed hitter, has an excellent .309/.388/.520 line in 232 plate appearances on the season. He’s done a lot of damage against lefties, crushing five home runs and four doubles in just 63 plate appearances. For the Rays, Pearce has mostly served as a first baseman, second baseman, and designated hitter. He’s played the outfield as well, and Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said today on MLB Network Radio that the veteran’s versatility will allow the club to carry an extra pitcher. You can check out the Orioles’ updated depth chart here.
Heim has struggled offensively at High-A this year, hitting .216/.300/.344 in 329 plate appearances. MLB Pipeline ranked him 13th among Orioles prospects, praising his defense and makeup. The Rays will hope the switch-hitting Heim progresses offensively in the coming years. The Rays made two additional trade deadline deals today, sending Matt Moore to the Giants and Brandon Guyer to the Indians.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.