Blue Jays Acquire Ben Revere
2:39pm: Revere acknowledges that he’s been traded, Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News tweets. Pitchers Jimmy Cordero and Alberto Tirado are headed to Philly in return, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports on Twitter.
1:07pm: The Blue Jays have agreed to acquire outfielder Ben Revere from the Phillies, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports on Twitter. He joins a bevy of other additions heading to Toronto in a busy deadline for GM Alex Anthopoulos.
Revere owns a .298/.334/.374 slash on the year and while contributing 24 steals. That’s a fairly typical line for the speedy, left-handed-hitting outfielder. As Steve Adams of MLBTR noted earlier today, that brings something of a different element to Toronto’s high-powered offense.
In spite of his running ability, Revere is not generally considered an excellent defensive outfielder. But he has drawn much more positive ratings from both UZR and Defensive Runs Saved in 2015.
For Toronto, Revere could make sense as a platoon partner for Kevin Pillar in center as well as the team’s combination of Danny Valencia and Chris Colabello in left. All of those players hit from the right side of the plate.
The Phillies will pay the remainder of the $1.2MM owed Revere this season, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweets. The Jays can control him for two more seasons through arbitration.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Twins Acquire Kevin Jepsen
1:44pm: The Twins have announced the trade.
1:27pm: The Rays will be getting minor league righties Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia from the Twins, tweets La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
12:59pm: The Twins and Rays are in agreement on a trade that will send right-hander Kevin Jepsen to Minnesota, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
Bullpen help has been the Twins’ primary need for quite some time, as the team lacks quality setup options for Glen Perkins, with the possible exception of converted starter Trevor May, who has recently been handling the eighth inning in Minnesota. Blaine Boyer, Aaron Thompson, Brian Duensing and Casey Fien have all had struggles at various times this year, with Thompson already having been shipped to Triple-A.
Jepsen, 31, should provide some stability, though he isn’t necessarily an elite upgrade. He has a solid track record dating back to 2012 (3.12 ERA in 187 1/3 innings), but his strikeout rate and control have both taken a step back in 2015. Jepsen’s averaged 4.3 walks per nine against 7.3 strikeouts per nine, both of which are departures from his career marks and his rates in recent seasons. Even without a return to his previous strikeout levels, though, Jepsen will improve the strikeout rate in a Twins bullpen that handily ranks last in the Majors in strikeout.
Jepsen is earning $3.025MM in 2015 and is controllable through the 2016 season, so he’ll likely be ticketed for a raise into the mid-$4MM range or so this winter.
Cardinals Acquire Jonathan Broxton
2:10pm: St. Louis will receive $3MM in the trade, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. But $2MM of that is contingent upon the Cardinals declining Broxton’s 2016 option, meaning that Milwaukee will effectively be picking up $1MM of Boxton’s remaining 2015 tab.
11:13am: The Cardinals have officially acquired reliever Jonathan Broxton from the Brewers, as Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com first reported on Twitter. Outfielder Malik Collymore is going to Milwaukee in the deal, and there will be an unknown amount of cash headed with Broxton to St. Louis (via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, on Twitter).
Broxton represents yet another turnaround reliever candidate acquired by St. Louis in recent years, including Steve Cishek just days ago. The Cardinals had been rumored at times to be seeking starting pitching depth, but ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick notes on Twitter that the team may have elected instead to deepen its pen. That should not only provide additional options as the club waits for the return of Jordan Walden, but will also reduce the burden on its rotation.
The 31-year-old owns an unappealing 5.89 ERA on the year, but his fastball is still averaging better than 94 mph and his peripherals are more encouraging. Broxton has compiled 9.1 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 and a 49.5% groundball rate. SIERA grades his contribution at a promising 2.89 ERA estimation.
Broxton is playing in his eleventh big league season, and he’s racked up 576 innings of 3.25 ERA pitching along the way. He no longer posts quite the gaudy strikeout tallies of his youth, and has had some rough seasons along the way, but all said it’s an impressive overall body of work.
Of course, another significant issue with the veteran is his contract. Broxton is owed $9MM this year as well as a $1MM buyout on his $9MM option for 2016. It remains unknown how the financials will shake out, but St. Louis will likely receive some money along with the right-hander.
For the Brewers, moving salary was undoubtedly the primary motivation in striking the deal. The club has now shipped out a variety of veteran players, adding prospects and saving money along the way. It still has several possible trade pieces in its holster, including first baseman/DH Adam Lind and closer Francisco Rodriguez.
In Collymore, Milwaukee adds a 20-year-old outfielder who has played exclusively in the low minors over three years in the St. Louis organization. He’s only compiled 347 total plate appearances in that span, putting up a .286/.360/.429 slash, though he has not hit well in limited time in the Appalachian League this season. His stronger output in Rookie ball last season did earn him the 27th ranking on Baseball America’s pre-season Cardinals prospect list. BA says that he has some upside and raw power, but he has yet to show much in-game pop (at least in terms of home run tallies) and is still somewhat without a home on the defensive side of the equation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins Release Jeff Baker
The Marlins announced that they have released veteran infielder Jeff Baker. The 34-year-old is in the second season of a two-year, $3.7MM deal signed with Miami.
Baker has long been a weapon against left-handed pitching, but his numbers against southpaws dipped overall this year. He batted .208/.288/.375 in 80 plate appearances this season. Baker has been in the Majors for parts of 11 seasons and is a lifetime .296/.350/.509 hitter versus left-handed pitching.
Yankees Designate Garrett Jones
The Yankees announced they have designated first baseman/outfielder Garrett Jones for assignment. The team also outrighted lefty Chris Capuano and reinstated outfielder Slade Heathcott from the 60-day DL and optioned him to Triple-A. Jones, 34, joined the Yankees in the December Martin Prado trade with the Marlins. He hit .215/.257/.361 in 152 plate appearances for the Yankees.
New acquisition Dustin Ackley will report to the team tonight.
Blue Jays Acquire Mark Lowe
1:07pm: Lefty Rob Rasmussen is the final minor leaguer headed to Toronto, the Blue Jays revealed in officially announcing the trade.
12:55pm: Left-hander Jake Brentz is also in the package for Lowe, Heyman tweets.
12:45pm: Class-A left-hander Nick Wells is one of the three players heading to Seattle, Heyman tweets. Wells was the Blue Jays’ third-round pick in 2014.
12:24pm: The Mariners are netting three minor leaguers in the deal, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
12:16pm: The Jays have acquired Lowe, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation.
12:12pm: The Blue Jays are moving towards a trade that will acquire veteran right-hander Mark Lowe from the Mariners, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter).
Lowe’s name doesn’t leap off the page as an exciting target based on his track record, but he’s in the midst of an astounding breakout season. Lowe has a pristine 1.00 ERA with 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 36.5 percent ground-ball rate in 36 innings for Seattle this season, and his 95 mph average fastball is the best heat he’s shown since 2011.
By adding Lowe, who signed a minor league deal this winter, the Blue Jays have secured a relief upgrade that comes with the most minimal of financial commitments. One would think that played a factor in the decision to target him (in addition to his excellent numbers), as the Blue Jays have been said to be on a limited budget and took on quite a bit of cash to acquire David Price yesterday. Lowe will be a rental for the Mariners, as he’s logged well over the necessary six years of big league service required to qualify for free agency at season’s end.
Orioles Acquire Gerardo Parra
The Orioles have officially acquired Brewers outfielder Gerardo Parra, as first reported by Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). Prospect Zach Davies will go to Milwaukee in return.
Milwaukee drew fairly wide interest in Parra, though other teams with reported interest (such as the Angels) had already opted to move for other pieces. The club had been hoping to add two prospects in exchange for Parra, but ultimately decide to take one more highly regarded prospect from Baltimore, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets.
It’s been a career-year thus far for the 28-year-old, who owns a .328/.369/.517 slash over 351 plate appearances. He’s added nine home runs and nine steals as well. While Parra has graded surprisingly poorly in the outfield, he has a sterling reputation in that regard and has generally received above-average ratings from metrics.
If teams believed that level of production was sustainable, of course, Parra would have drawn much more interest. But his track record suggests he’s more of a league-average bat, and he has benefited quite a bit from a .372 BABIP.
Regardless, Parra looks like a quality rental piece for a contender — he’ll be a free agent after the season — and Baltimore will be the one to take the plunge. Though the O’s already have left-handed-hitting platoon outfielders in Travis Snider and David Lough, but both have been underwhelming.
Baltimore had to part with its eighth-rated prospect, per Baseball America’s mid-season ranking (subscription link), to get the deal done. He’s not an overpowering pitcher, but gets by on finesse and is near to the big leagues, per BA’s Josh Leventhal. Davies has posted excellent results this year at Triple-A, racking up 101 1/3 innings of 2.84 ERA pitching with 7.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9.
Nathan Bishop of Lookout Landing suggested just this scenario could be in the works on Twitter yesterday. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted that the deal was close. Roch Kubatko reported this morning that it was in the works.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rangers Acquire Cole Hamels In Eight-Player Deal
JULY 31: The deal is official, as the teams have announced the swap.
JULY 30, 9:35pm: Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that the league has officially approved the trade, meaning an official announcement shouldn’t be too far off.
JULY 29: After months of rumors, Phillies ace Cole Hamels has reportedly been traded to the Rangers in an eight-player deal. The Rangers acquired Hamels, reliever Jake Diekman, and $9.5MM in cash for veteran lefty Matt Harrison, pitching prospects Jake Thompson, Alec Asher, and Jerad Eickhoff, catching prospect Jorge Alfaro, and outfield prospect Nick Williams.
Tonight’s win left the Rangers four games out in the AL Wild Card, but the Hamels deal was likely completed with future seasons in mind as well. Hamels is signed through the 2018 season and is guaranteed $82.1MM through the end of his contract, plus a 2019 club/vesting option. Hamels finished his illustrious Phillies career with a flourish, pitching a no-hitter against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Saturday. The Phillies had drafted Hamels out of high school in the first round in 2002, and he won 114 games for them with a 3.30 ERA, three All-Star Game appearances, and four top-eight Cy Young finishes. The 31-year-old also sports a 3.09 ERA across 13 postseason starts and was NLCS and World Series MVP when his Phillies won it all in 2008.
Hamels will pair with Yu Darvish, who is presently recovering from Tommy John surgery, atop the Rangers’ rotation, thereby giving Texas a formidable one-two punch to compete in the AL West next year. Joining that pair will be some combination of Martin Perez, Derek Holland, Chi Chi Gonzalez and Nick Martinez.
The Giants, Red Sox, Astros, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Cubs, and Yankees had also been linked to Hamels in recent days. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the lefty wielded his no-trade clause to reject a deal to the Astros. The Phillies did not need Hamels’ consent to trade him to Texas. With the Royals adding Johnny Cueto on Sunday, teams still seeking an ace in advance of Friday’s trade deadline may turn to the Tigers’ David Price.
Thompson and Alfaro, each top 50 prospects in the game depending on who you ask, are the best pieces coming back to the rebuilding Phillies. Originally a second-round pick by the Tigers in 2012, Detroit traded Thompson to the Rangers a year ago in the Joakim Soria deal. Thompson, currently pitching in Double-A, was labeled a “potential No. 2 or 3 starter” by Baseball America prior to the season. Alfaro, also last seen at Double-A, was labeled “one of the minors’ best catching prospects” recently by ESPN’s Keith Law despite a significant ankle injury suffered in June. Williams is known for an “explosive tool set,” per BA, and he’s currently hitting .300/.357/.480 at Double-A. The Rangers got quantity in this deal too, as MLB.com says Eickhoff could become a No. 3 starter and BA says Asher profiles as a potential No. 4 starter.
Harrison’s inclusion has a financial element, since the 29-year-old southpaw is owed more than $32MM through 2017. The Phillies will be on the hook for all of that, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Phillies taking him back may have improved their prospect return, as Harrison has made only nine starts since 2013 due to injuries. Most recently, he had spinal fusion surgery in his lower back in June of last year and returned to a big league mound this month.
Diekman, a 28-year-old southpaw, has struggled out of the Phillies’ bullpen this year with a 5.15 ERA in 36 2/3 innings. He has posted strong strikeout rates throughout his career, but this year his walks ballooned and his batting average on balls in play jumped to .381.
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first noted that the Rangers and Phillies were moving closer to a Hamels agreement, and MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan said the two sides were getting close. Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Grant, and Sullivan added further details. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the amount of money going to the Rangers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Giants Acquire Mike Leake
The Giants and Reds have announced a trade that will send right-hander Mike Leake to San Francisco in exchange for 21-year-old Class-A Advanced right-hander Keury Mella and corner infielder Adam Duvall.
Leake, 27, is in the midst of his third straight season of solid run prevention in one of baseball’s most hitter-friendly atmospheres. The free-agent-to-be currently sports a 3.56 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 51.5 percent ground-ball rate in 136 2/3 innings. Dating back to 2013, Leake has cemented himself as a durable source of quality innings. He made 64 starts from 2013-14, totaling 406 2/3 innings in that time, and he’s made 21 starts this year, averaging 6.5 innings per appearance.
The Giants have cycled through eight different starting pitchers this season and received an ERA south of 4.00 from only two of them, creating a good deal of uncertainty in the rotation, particularly in light of injury struggles for Matt Cain, Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson. The emergence of Chris Heston has been a boon to the San Francisco pitching staff, but the club has reportedly been on the hunt for arms to shore up the staff, and Leake will certainly help.
In Leake, the Giants have picked up an asset whose limitations — specifically a below-average strikeout/swinging-strike rate in Leake’s case — are minimized by their home park and provided the team some much-needed stability in the rotation. While Leake isn’t on the same level of other rumored Giants target such as David Price and Cole Hamels, he’s an upgrade to the team and, perhaps most importantly, could factor into a potential postseason rotation for the reigning champs. Leake will also improve the Giants’ chances of keeping up with the Dodgers in the division and thereby avoiding a one-game playoff. A half-game currently separates the two clubs.
The move to San Francisco will be advantageous for Leake in multiple ways. First and foremost, Leake will move into a much better pitching environment for the final push toward his first bout with free agency, which should lead to improvements in his overall run prevention numbers. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is that the trade makes him ineligible to receive a qualifying offer. Set to reach free agency after this season, before his age-28 season, Leake would’ve been a lock to receive a QO despite his status as more of a mid-rotation arm than a front-of-the-rotation piece. Now, however, he’ll hit the open market as one of the youngest players available and without the burden of draft pick compensation, which figures to work quite nicely in his favor.
The move to the rotation for Leake means that one of Hudson, Peavy or Cain will be demoted from their spot, and Giants GM Bobby Evans tells reporters, including Andrew Baggarly, that it will be Hudson who will be departing from the starting five (Twitter link). While Hudson has a 4.80 ERA in 101 innings this season and has not pitched near the level he did in a brilliant debut campaign with the Giants in 2014, it’s nevertheless unusual to see him heading for a bullpen. Hudson has appeared in 475 games over the course of his Major League career, and 474 of those contests have been starts. The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea tweets that (per Evans) Hudson “ultimately wants to see this club excel, have success and win and told me he’d do whatever it takes for that to happen.”
Turning to the Reds’ side of the deal, Mella ranks first on MLB.com’s midseason list of Giants top prospects and second on Baseball America’s version of the same list. ESPN’s Keith Law tweets that he considered Mella the best arm in San Francisco’s system as well. MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo write that Mella has the best combo of stuff and pitchability of any arm in San Francisco’s system, making him a candidate to rise quickly through the minors. He’s 93-95 mph with his fastball regularly, touching 97 when needed, per their report, and has the potential for three average-or-better pitches. BA notes that a scout has likened his sinking fastball to a bowling ball, and that movement helps him limit homers. Still, some see the bullpen in Mella’s future, BA adds.
The 26-year-old Duvall doesn’t rate as highly on San Francisco prospect lists, but MLB.com still pegged him 25th. Duvall made his big league debut with the Giants in 2014 and has already blasted 26 homers at the Triple-A level in 2015, albeit in the extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Callis and Mayo feel that power is Duvall’s lone tool, making him best suited for a utility role or first base duty. Given his strong Triple-A numbers and the fact that he’s already appeared in the bigs, I’d think Duvall could emerge as a bench option for Cincinnati in short order. (For those that enjoy a good anecdote, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer points out that Duvall homered in his first career game … a solo shot off of Leake.)
The rebuilding Reds have now moved two of their most desirable assets — Leake and Johnny Cueto — and netted a quartet of promising arms in addition to a potential big league bench piece. Mella and Duvall are joined by lefties Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed in an improving Reds farm system.
FOX’s Jon Morosi first reported that the two sides were in discussions. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweeted that Leake would go to the Reds, adding that Cincinnati would net two minor leaguers. Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area reported Mella’s inclusion (on Twitter), and Morosi reported that Duvall was in the deal, too (on Twitter).
Astros Acquire Carlos Gomez, Mike Fiers For Four Prospects
The Astros and Brewers are announced a blockbuster trade on Thursday that will send center fielder Carlos Gomez, right-hander Mike Fiers and an international bonus slot (valued at $287,500) to Houston in exchange for outfield prospects Brett Phillips and Domingo Santana, right-hander Adrian Houser and lefty Josh Hader. The Astros did not have to make a 40-man move to add either player, as they had an open spot, and Santana was already on the 40-man.
Gomez, of course, was believed to be headed back to the Mets last night in a swap that would’ve sent Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores to the Brewers, but the trade fell through after names were agreed upon due to a combination of medical concerns pertaining to his hip and perhaps financial elements as well.
Adding Gomez to the outfield mix should result in a significant improvement for the Astros over the remainder of the season. Despite hamstring issues that cost him three weeks earlier in the year, Gomez’s defense remains above average, and if he’s 100 percent healthy, he has a track record as one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball.
Plus defense has long been part of Gomez’s game due to his excellent range, but Gomez over the past three-plus seasons has turned himself into a genuine offensive weapon at the plate as well. Dating back to Opening Day 2012, Gomez is a .275/.335/.474 hitter that has averaged 24 homers and 38 stolen bases per 162 games played. Wins above replacement pegs Gomez at an average of five to five-and-a-half wins per year in that time, depending on your preferred version of the metric. Houston center fielders have been sound from a defensive standpoint this season, but they’ve combined to bat just .226/.285/.370, making Gomez an upgrade on both sides of the ball.
In addition to his strong all-around game, though, Gomez made for an appealing trade candidate due to his contractual situation. He’s the rare Scott Boras client that took an extension as opposed to waiting for free agency, and while he should still secure a $100MM+ contract with ease following the 2016 season, he’s currently in the midst of a three-year, $24MM pact that has worked out beautifully for the Brewers. Gomez is earning $8MM in 2015 — of which about $3.02MM remains — and he’ll earn $9MM in 2016. Provided he remains healthy, the Astros will pay about $12MM for as many as 221 games of Gomez’s career.
And of course, Gomez isn’t the only piece the Astros are receiving in this deal. By persuading the Brewers to include Fiers in the contract, they’ve landed a rotation piece that can potentially be controlled through the 2019 season. In fact, he won’t even be eligible for arbitration until after the 2016 season, meaning that Houston can control him for roughly the league minimum.
Fiers, 30, is a soft-tossing righty and a pronounced fly-ball pitcher, but he’s performed well overall despite an average of just 88.8 mph on his fastball. He’s somewhat of a late bloomer but has a 3.89 ERA in 118 innings this season and a lifetime 3.66 mark in 341 2/3 innings as a Major Leaguer. Fiers has averaged 9.2 K/9 despite his pedestrian heater, and he’s paired that ability to rack up K’s with solid control (2.8 BB/9). He should step directly into the Houston rotation behind ace Dallas Keuchel, rental acquisition Scott Kazmir and right-handers Collin McHugh and Scott Feldman. Fiers drew quite a bit of interest from the Blue Jays earlier this month, though Toronto has obviously gone a different route and made a splash of their own with the acquisition of David Price.
From the Brewers’ perspective, Phillips is the clear prize of the deal. A sixth-round pick by the Astros out of high school in 2012, the 21-year-old has risen to the Double-A level and shown no signs of being overmatched by the pitching he’s faced. Phillips is hitting .320/.377/.548 with 16 homers and 16 stolen bases this season while appearing primarily in center field. He entered the season as one of the Astros’ top prospects, but his excellent first half propelled him to rank 21st on Baseball America’s midseason Top 50, 35th on the midseason Top 50 of ESPN’s Keith Law and 39th on the midseason edition of MLB.com’s Top 100 prospects. Law calls him a “true five-tool” player with the potential to remain in center field, and MLB.com gives him above-average tools across the board, with his speed and arm rating as the top tools in his profile. He should immediately become the club’s No. 2 prospect behind shortstop Orlando Arcia.
The 22-year-old Santana, originally acquired by the Astros in the 2011 Hunter Pence trade with the Phillies, went hitless in a 17-at-bat big league debut in 2014 but has fared better in another limited sample in 2015, hitting .256/.310/.462 with a couple of homers in 42 plate appearances. A corner outfielder by trade, he could potentially step right onto the Brewers’ big league roster. He’s slashed .305/.400/.515 in 195 Triple-A games — part of the reason for his No. 7 ranking on MLB.com’s midseason Top 30 for the Astros and No. 87 on their overall Top 100. Santana has everyday upside but there are plenty that worry about his penchant for strikeouts; he’s whiffed at a 29.9 percent rate throughout his minor league career.
Hader came to Houston alongside L.J. Hoes from the Orioles in the 2013 trade that sent Bud Norris to Baltimore. He ranked eighth among Astros farmhands at the time of the swap, per BA, and 14th on MLB.com’s list. BA notes that Hader’s delivery at times draws comparisons to Chris Sale, and MLB.com writes that his velocity gets up to 96 mph but is paired with inconsistent secondary pitches. Hader has a 3.17 ERA with 69 strikeouts and 24 walks in 65 1/3 innings at Double-A as a 21-year-old this season.
Houser has a 5.10 ERA split across two levels (Class-A Advanced and Double-A) this season, and he’s worked as both a starter and a reliever. He’s averaged 8.5 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 this year, and MLB.com rated him 21st among Houston prospects prior to the trade. Their scouting report praises his mid-90s fastball and ability to generate grounders but notes that the 22-year-old’s control has plenty of room for improvement.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports first reported (via Twitter) that Gomez and Fiers were going to Houston. The Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich reported that there would be four to five prospects in the return (Twitter link). Lookout Landing’s Nathan Bishop nailed the return (on Twitter), and Heyman added that all of the medicals had been approved.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.