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MLBTR Regular Features

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If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, Week In Review posts and Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:

  • MLBTR Chats - Join Tim Dierkes every Tuesday at 2pm CDT to chat about the latest trades, signings and rumblings around the Major Leagues.
  • Baseball Blogs Weigh In - Every Friday, I feature some of the best writing from baseball blogs around the web. Whether it's opinion, stats or something else entirely, you can connect to the best of the blogosphere once a week on MLBTR. If you want to submit a post of yours, you can reach me at zachbbwi@gmail.com.
  • Week In Review - It's remarkable how much happens in seven days. Every Sunday night, MLBTR summarizes the week's biggest stories in our Week In Review posts.
  • MLBTR Originals - Edward Creech gathers all our original analysis and reporting in one place every Sunday night.

Highest Ground-Ball Rates Among 2014 Free Agents

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Earlier in the season, I took a look at the highest ground-ball rates among free agent pitchers. That came several months ago, and over the course of the season the numbers have changed a bit. With nearly a full season under their belts, let's see which qualified pitchers out of this year's crop of free agents has done the best at keeping the ball on the ground (keeping in mind that the league-average ground-ball rate is currently 44.6 percent)…

Starting Pitchers

  1. A.J. Burnett — 56.3 percent
  2. Tim Hudson — 55.8 percent
  3. Roberto Hernandez — 52.9 percent
  4. Joe Saunders — 49.9 percent
  5. Scott Feldman — 49.4 percent
  6. Edinson Volquez — 48.2 percent
  7. Hiroki Kuroda — 48 percent
  8. Ervin Santana — 47.7 percent
  9. Jorge De La Rosa — 47.4 percent
  10. Andy Pettitte — 46.4 percent

Relief Pitchers

  1. Chad Qualls — 66 percent
  2. Matt Albers — 62.8 percent
  3. J.P. Howell — 57.4 percent
  4. Matt Lindstrom — 54.7 percent ($4MM club option)
  5. Jamey Wright — 52.7 percent
  6. Matt Belisle — 51.4 percent ($4.25MM mutual option)
  7. LaTroy Hawkins — 49.7 percent
  8. Fernando Rodney — 49.6 percent
  9. Darren Oliver — 48.7 percent
  10. Jason Frasor — 48.5 percent

Pitchers with strong ground-ball rates will often appeal to teams in smaller ballparks, and oftentimes a lofty ground-ball rate can get a pitcher paid in spite of mediocre strikeout rates. Santana figures to sign the biggest contract of this bunch due to his age and performance, but De La Rosa has quietly enjoyed a 3.1 fWAR season and should be in line for a solid payday as well as he enters his age-33 season.

Jake Westbrook (56.1 percent), Jason Marquis (52.3 percent) and Paul Maholm (50.7 percent) all deserve mention as well, but they don't have enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. Marquis also has little free agent value, as he recently underwent Tommy John surgery.

Introducing MLBTR’s DFA Tracker

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MLB players are designated for assignment regularly.  The transaction, often abbreviated DFA, removes the player from the team's 40-man roster, giving the club ten days to trade, release, or outright him to the minors.  Players who are designated for assignment can be placed on waivers within the first seven days, and the best ones are traded or claimed and added to another team's 40-man roster.

Today we're happy to introduce a new way to monitor these players: MLBTR's DFA Tracker.  The tracker, which will be updated moving forward, lists the player's name, team, date designated, and the date by which a resolution is expected.  A player is assigned one of five statuses: DFA Limbo, Claimed, Outrighted, Released, or Optioned.  Designated players all begin in what we like to call DFA Limbo, where they're off the 40-man roster and awaiting a resolution.  All players will have their status updated from DFA Limbo to one of the other four when appropriate.  Within the tracker, the player name is linked to his original MLBTR DFA post.  You can search for players, filter by teams and/or status, and search within date ranges.

You can find the DFA Tracker here, and the link has also been added to the righthand sidebar under MLBTR Features.  Speaking of which, check out our list of players who have cleared waivers, reverse standings, 2014 free agent list, transaction tracker, and agency database as well.

Would An August 15 Deadline Have Made A Difference?

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We're now two weeks removed from a quiet July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. As it became clear that there wasn't going to be much activity, many commentators suggested that the second Wild Card was to blame. A few writers, including FOX Sports' Jon Morosi, proposed that MLB move its non-waiver deadline, perhaps to August 10 or August 15.

Of course, it may be that quiet trading deadlines aren't a bad thing, and therefore aren't a problem that needs to be solved. Maybe it's better for the game if non-contending teams act like they care for the entire year, not just through July. Maybe we don't want guns-for-hire changing teams right before the home stretch, rendering successful teams unfamiliar and unsuccessful teams irrelevant. Perhaps what happened this year is just fine.

Now that August 15 has come and gone, though, it's worth revisiting Morosi's suggestion. What we find is that it's far from clear that the second Wild Card had any more than a minor impact this year, and that it's unlikely that moving the non-waiver deadline would have had much of an effect on this year's lack of activity. 

Here are the standings as of July 31. In the National League, the Braves, Pirates and Dodgers led their respective divisions, just as they do now. The Cardinals and Reds remained safely ahead of all other teams in the Wild Card race, just as they are now. And the only other team with a significant shot at the playoffs was the Diamondbacks. That's still the case.

In the American League, the Red Sox and Tigers led their divisions and still hold those positions. In the AL West, the Athletics and Rangers have switched positions, but both remain in strong contention for playoff spots. The Rays remain in line for a Wild card spot, just as they did two weeks ago. The Orioles and Indians remain on the fringes of the Wild Card race, and the Yankees aren't any further out of it now than they were then. And despite their much-ballyhooed surge, the Royals are now 5.5 games out of the last playoff spot, only a half a game closer than they were two weeks ago.

In other words, in the last two weeks, there have been few changes in the playoff picture that would suggest a large impact on teams' willingness to trade. Also, the second Wild Card doesn't appear to be much of a factor — it didn't matter much at the deadline, and it wouldn't have if the deadline had been August 15. Since no team is currently running away with the top Wild Card spot in either league, and no team was running away with either of those spots as of July 31, it's hard to imagine the extra Wild Card had much impact on teams' thinking, particularly given that many of the outside-looking-in teams, both then and now, were or are in the running for division titles as well as Wild Card berths. A one-Wild-Card playoff system would have altered the playoff hopes of the Orioles, Rangers, Yankees and Indians to varying degrees at different times, but probably not enough to make any of them sellers, and it would have had virtually no impact on teams' playoff chances in the National League.

This isn't to say that Morosi's proposal was a bad one. It's possible that, in some future season, the second Wild Card really will cloud the playoff picture, and a later deadline really might provide clarity. But those things did not, or would not have, mattered much this season.

So what was the real explanation for the lack of activity at the deadline this year? Shortly before the deadline, MLBTR outlined some reasons why sellers weren't motivated, including the proliferation of long-term contracts for young players and changes to rules governing compensation draft picks. Perhaps the most compelling, though, is that, for business reasons, it didn't make much sense for some non-contenders to give up on their seasons, particularly when the likely reward for trading was minimal.

The Phillies provide a good case study. In prior seasons, a team like the Phils might have sold, but this year, they didn't. In the past few weeks, the Phillies have attempted to make a splash, signing Chase Utley to an extension and reaching a deal with Cuban righty Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez (an agreement that now appears to be in jeopardy). The merit of the Phillies' decision to hold on to their players is, perhaps, somewhat debatable, but based on their trade chips' contracts (Cliff Lee, Jimmy Rollins, Jonathan Papelbon) or performance (Michael Young, Carlos Ruiz) or both, it would have been hard for the Phillies to get much in return. If you're a big-market team with lots of money, there isn't that much value in trading veterans for prospects who might top out as average players.That's especially true if, as in the cases of Lee, Rollins and Utley, the players you have to offer are big-name stars.

The Phillies' situation typified much of what happened at the trade deadline this year. The issue was that they were a big-market team given the unappetizing choice of trading big-name players for what would amount to very little.

Throughout baseball, teams merely shrugged at the deadline, not because of playoff races, but because being active really didn't benefit them. Two of the Giants' main trade chips, for example, were Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence. Both those players are candidates to receive qualifying offers after the season, but they would lose that staus if they were traded. And so the Giants, who won the World Series last year and stood to benefit, from a P.R. perspective, from basking in its glow as long as possible, stood pat.

The Mariners, too, might have been sellers, but most of their tradable veterans (Kendrys Morales, Mike Morse, Raul Ibanez) had little defensive value and didn't fit well with other contenders. So, with little to gain from trading, they too stood pat. The Royals should benefit from pursuing their first winning season since 2003, and so they actively became buyers despite their playoff chances at the deadline being dubious at best.

Since the non-waiver deadline, there have been several trades, the highest-profile of which was the Rangers' deal for Alex Rios. But buyers have been remained circumspect, as shown in Jeff Todd's list of players who have cleared waivers. The list includes players like Dan Haren, Justin Morneau and Matt Lindstrom, who are in the last years of their contracts and would appear to offer at least some chance of helping a contender down the stretch. Haren and Morneau aren't nearly the players they once were, but to claim them and assume the remainder of their contracts would only have cost contending teams only a few million dollars per player. No team bit. That Lindstrom passed through waivers might be even more surprising, since he's owed less than $1MM for the rest of the year, plus a $500K buyout. While he isn't having his best year, he's a perfectly functional big-league reliever who gets ground balls and throws in the mid-90s. And yet no one wanted him.

So what's going on here? This year, teams that traditionally would have been sellers had other priorities — keeping the team together, pursuing a winning season, and so on. Teams that traditionally might be buyers were circumspect, guarding their prospects and, in some cases, their wallets. Maybe the conditions that shape the market will change next year. Having so many bigger-market teams, like the Phillies, Giants, Mets and Mariners, out of the running probably didn't help this season, for example. But the second Wild Card wasn't much of a factor in 2013, and moving the deadline to mid-August probably wouldn't have changed much, either. It doesn't matter when you schedule the dance if no one wants to go.

MLBTR Seeks Mobile Website Developer

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Are you an avid MLB Trade Rumors reader with experience developing mobile websites?  With an increasing percentage of readers coming to MLBTR via mobile devices, we're looking to improve the experience with a new mobile site.

The developer will be paid on a flat fee for this project, which may include a similar mobile website for Hoops Rumors.  If you or your company is interested in creating MLBTR's new mobile website, please send an email to mlbtrmobile@gmail.com with your qualifications and examples of mobile websites you've created.  

Readers: if you have suggestions on what the perfect MLBTR mobile site needs, please leave them in the comments.

How To Use MLBTR

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An explanation of the many ways to enjoy MLB Trade Rumors:

  • If the main site doesn't load perfectly on your cell phone, try the more mobile-friendly mlbtraderumors.mobi.  It's a simple page that shows you just the headlines and lets you click through to what you want to read.
  • Be sure to pick up the MLBTR app for the latest news and rumors on the iPhone or Android.
  • If you want only the hard news in the form of transactions, our transactions page is the ticket.  You can also get only the transactions via Twitter or RSS. 
  • To return to the main page at any time, just click on the title or the Home button on the navigation bar below the title. 
  • The navigation bar will cover many of your needs.  Use the About dropdown to learn about this site or any of its writers. 
  • The Contact button takes you to a page where you can write an email message to the MLBTR writers.  If you have a link to a rumor we've missed, please send it in through the Contact page!  Also use the Contact page to inquire about advertising on MLBTR.
  • The Archives dropdown shows you 15 months worth.  If you need to go back further, click on Site Map at the very bottom of the page.  Site Map also lists out every MLBTR post category, including players, teams, and features.
  • The Tools dropdown takes you to a number of different places. The MLBTR Widget allows website owners to easily add a constantly updated box with all of MLBTR's headlines to their sites.
  • Also under the tools tab is our Transaction Tracker, which enables you to search about anything and everything to do with baseball trades, signings and extensions. 
  • Under the tools tab, you'll find a link to our Forums, a message board community of MLBTR readers with over 9,100 members.  You can discuss any baseball-related topic on the Forums, and start your own thread too.
  • MLBTR's Agency Database lets you know which agencies represent which players. It's searchable by team, agency or player, so be sure to check it out.
  • Feeds By Team is a very useful dropdown.  Hover over it to see all 30 teams.  Click on the team name to bring up a page of every post containing information about that team, with the latest on top.  These are the same pages you'll find if you go to the Rumors By Team section on the sidebar and select A's Rumors, Angels Rumors, etc.  
  • Also under the Feeds By Team dropdown, you'll find RSS and Twitter buttons.  Those links allow you to follow a single team's rumors via RSS or Twitter.  Did you know we have a separate Twitter account for each of the 30 teams?  For example you can follow @mlbtrtigers, where you would get the latest Tigers updates.
  • You can also follow Tim Dierkes on Twitter for more MLBTR content.
  • On the far right of the Navigation bar, you'll see buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and RSS.  MLBTR has over 286,000 Twitter followers, over 70,000 Facebook fans, and over 53,000 RSS subscribers.  Sign up for these and you'll be the first to receive all of our posts.
  • Be sure to check out your favorite team's MLBTR page on Facebook so you can receive and comment on the latest rumors.
  • On to the sidebar.  It begins with a list of our Top Stories, which our writers update any time major hard news occurs.  Go here for a quick update on the most important stories.  Below that is the site's Search Box, where you can type in any player's name and get the latest on him. 
  • MLBTR Features has all kinds of goodies, including our free agent lists.  Many of the MLBTR Features are constantly updated by our writers, so be assured that our free agent lists are always fresh. 
  • Below Features you've got headlines for all the Recent Posts, in case you'd rather not scroll to see all the headlines.  Then there's a box for our Mailing List, where you can sign up to receive a daily email containing MLBTR's posts.  Use this option if you don't need the news as soon as possible.
  • Next we have Featured Posts, where you'll find original work from MLBTR writers we consider noteworthy. 
  • There's also a contact form in case you need to reach MLBTR.

Team Facebook/Twitter/RSS

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If you prefer your MLBTR fix limited to only your favorite team, we've got you covered.  Below are links to our team Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds.

AL East

AL Central

AL West

NL East

NL Central

NL West

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

August Trade Candidates: Relievers

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It's still possible to trade for relief help in August, as we've seen Matt Lindstrom, Jose Mijares, Pat Neshek, and Mike Gonzalez moved in the last few years.  Some trade candidates to consider this month, listed by team:

Keep in mind that availability varies by player – the Padres may not be open to moving Street, even though he could clear waivers.  Relievers who are under control cheaply beyond this year stand a good chance of being pulled back if claimed.  Papelbon, the biggest name here, would clear waivers but would prove difficult to trade.  I haven't listed relievers from the Yankees or Nationals in this post, but if those teams slip further, they could be willing to make a few deals later this month.

Reverse Standings

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Nearly half the teams in baseball have virtually no chance of making the playoffs.  For fans of those teams, the offseason can't come soon enough.  However, MLBTR has a feature that can help those people get through the next few months: our reverse standings.

The reverse standings, which are updated automatically each morning, serve as a projection of the 2014 amateur draft order.  With a 36-74 record at present, the Astros are in good position to draft first overall for the third consecutive year in 2014, a sustained level of being the worst team in baseball that has never been done since the draft was instituted in 1965.  The White Sox could jeopardize Jeff Luhnow's dream of adding Carlos Rodon to his stash next June, however, as our standings show they're only 4.5 games "behind" the Astros.  The last first overall White Sox pick worked out pretty well, as they drafted Harold Baines in 1977.  There's also a tight race for the fourth overall pick.  The Brewers project to get that at the moment, but ten teams are within five games of them.

Our reverse standings are also a good way to track which teams project to get protected first-round draft picks, meaning one in the top ten.  You can always reference these standings on the right-hand sidebar under MLBTR Features.  Enjoy!  

Commenting Policy

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MLBTR is increasing efforts to enforce our commenting policy.  The goal is to raise the level of discourse in the comments, part of which involves eliminating inappropriate language and insults.

Comments of this nature are not allowed:

  • Attacks or insults towards other commenters, the post author, journalists, teams, players, or agents.
  • Inappropriate language, including swearing and related censor bypass attempts, lewdness, insults, and crude terms for body parts, bodily functions, and physical acts.  Overall, we don’t want any language that a parent would not want their kid to see.
  • Juvenile comments or extensive use of text message-type spelling
  • Writing comments in all or mostly caps
  • Spam-type links or self-promotion.  Please submit to our weekly Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature if you have a website or blog.  Currently, permissible links in the comments are limited to MLB.com, Cot’s Baseball Contracts, FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America, and MLB Trade Rumors.  Comments linking to other sites will be deleted.
  • Comments about how you're sick of this topic or it's not newsworthy
  • No inappropriate avatars or images are allowed
  • Please limit comments to approximately 200 words
  • Anything else we deem bad for business may be removed.
  • Corrections for errors made in our posts are welcome and appreciated; please be cordial in doing so.

If you see comments that violate our policy, please flag them and/or contact us.  Bans may be handed out liberally by our moderators, without second chances or warnings.  Remaining civil is not that difficult, though, and most commenters have no problems doing so as well as helping rein each other in.  We at MLBTR are grateful for long-time commenters and readers, though this policy applies equally regardless of tenure.  This policy is always available at the bottom of the site, and will be re-posted monthly.

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