Pitching Rumors: Reds, Bauer, Yanks, Phils, MadBum, Greene, Fish, Nats
The Reds just agreed to acquire right-hander Trevor Bauer from the Indians on Tuesday evening. Could the Reds now turn around and flip Bauer by Wednesday’s trade deadline? Not likely, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Meanwhile, two of Bauer’s new Cincinnati rotation mates – Alex Wood and the previously reported Tanner Roark – have drawn interest from the Phillies. Philly has “taken a very close look at” Wood, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Wood finally just made his season debut Sunday after months of back troubles, but the non-contending Reds could now attempt to get what they can for the pending free agent. The 28-year-old Wood, who’s on a $9.65MM salary, posted quality production with the Braves and Dodgers from 2013-18.
A smorgasbord of other pitcher-related rumors…
- Despite their recent run of excellence, the Giants are fielding calls and “engaging in negotiations” for starter Madison Bumgarner and reliever Will Smith, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Astros are reportedly among the teams chasing Bumgarner, but Smith is the more likely of the two to find himself in a new uniform by Wednesday, Schulman suggests. Although he’s a pending free agent, it’s likely Smith would bring back a significant return. He’s affordable ($4.225MM salary) and enjoying a marvelous season as the Giants’ closer.
- Back to Bauer, who was reportedly one of the Yankees’ preferred targets in their search for starting help. That may have been overblown, though, as the Yankees and Indians didn’t engage in “serious talks” over Bauer, Andy Martino of SNY relays.
- The asking price for Tigers closer Shane Greene is “far more reasonable” than the requests for other high-end relievers around the league, Feinsand tweets. Feinsand points to the Pirates’ Felipe Vazquez, the Reds’ Raisel Iglesias, the Mets’ Edwin Diaz and the Padres’ Kirby Yates as relievers who would be much harder to acquire, which isn’t surprising.
- Reliever Nick Anderson is among Marlins hurlers garnering interest, though he’ll be difficult to pry loose, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com writes. As a 29-year-old rookie, the hard-throwing Anderson has put up a 3.92 ERA with a much better 2.73 FIP in 43 2/3 frames this season. While Anderson has only induced ground balls at a 27.3 percent clip, he has helped offset that by racking up a prodigious 14.2 strikeouts against 3.3 walks per nine. Adding to his value, Anderson’s on a league-minimum salary and won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2021 season.
- The Giants and Nationals “have discussed” southpaw Drew Pomeranz, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. Pomeranz, whom the Giants recently demoted to their bullpen amid a rough season, has also been drawing interest from elsewhere in recent days.
Nationals Designate Justin Miller
The Nationals announced today that they have designated righty Justin Miller for assignment. He had been on the 60-day injured list.
Miller, 32, was working back from shoulder issues. Though he was ready to be activated, the club obviously decided that he wasn’t going to be a significant part of the relief mix going forward. The unit has struggled badly as a whole, but is likely going to receive reinforcements in the next two days.
It’s still possible that Miller will end up clearing waivers and landing at Triple-A with the Nats, though he’d have the right to elect free agency instead. He had a strong comeback showing last year in D.C., but never got things going this season.
To open the current campaign, Miller threw 15 2/3 innings of 4.02 ERA ball with 11 strikeouts and four walks. He did rack up 18 strikeouts without a single free pass in his 12 2/3 total rehab frames, but evidently the Nats did not expect that to carry over into the majors.
Nationals Place Max Scherzer On 10-Day IL
The Nationals have placed ace righty Max Scherzer on the 10-day injured list, per a club announcement. Erick Fedde was called up to take his active-roster spot.
Scherzer is dealing with a mild rhomboid strain, the second seemingly minor upper back/shoulder malady he has come down with this year. The hope remains that the superb starter will not miss too much time, but it was evidently determined he’d be sidelined long enough to warrant a move to bring in another arm.
It’s a balancing act for Scherzer and the Nats. Both would obviously prefer that he be on the mound right now, but the issues he’s experiencing are in a worrying area of the body. The club must also ensure it has Scherzer at full health down the stretch.
Fedde, 26, has delivered 50 1/3 innings of 3.40 ERA ball this year in eight starts and five relief appearances. Unfortunately, he’s also carrying an uninspiring blend of 26 strikeouts and 21 walks. He’ll help hold down the fort for the time being, but the Nats have an obvious need to add hurlers over the next two days.
NL Trade Rumors: Gore, Padres, Mets, Leclerc, Nats, Braves, Jays
Some buzz from around the National League as we approach the deadline…
- The Mets‘ surprise acquisition of Marcus Stroman has sparked even more rumors about a possible Noah Syndergaard trade, with the Padres one of the teams (if pessimistically so) still in talks about Syndergaard. While the Padres have a deep farm system’s worth of prospects to offer, one name that isn’t available is top pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets. Gore has been mentioned as a possible trade chip in quite a few speculative deals since the offseason, though the Padres reportedly consider the young left-hander to be next to untouchable. Ironically, the Mets themselves may have contributed to the Padres’ stance on not including Gore in a Syndergaard trade — since the Mets didn’t have to give up even a top-100 MLB.com-ranked prospect for Stroman, San Diego can argue that a consensus top-10 arm like Gore is too much to give up for Syndergaard.
- Also from Morosi, the Nationals have interest in Rangers righty Jose Leclerc. Washington has been connected to a wide range of relievers, and Leclerc boasts a 3.99 ERA, 3.27 K/BB rate, and a huge 13.7 K/9 over 47 1/3 IP for Texas this season, not to mention a long-term contract that could keep him until team control through the 2024 campaign. Needless to say, all these attributes would require a big return to pry him loose from Texas, which could be tricky for a Nats organization that isn’t overly deep on minor league talent.
- The history between Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays led to some speculation that the Jays and Braves were resistant to trading with each other. Though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently noted that Toronto’s “stance has softened,” it might not have dropped altogether, as The Athletic’s David O’Brien tweeted that “the word was that Toronto would deal with him [Anthopoulos], but would ask for more from [the] Braves” in talks involving Marcus Stroman than they would from other teams. Stroman is off the table now, of course, though it would be interesting to know if this reported stance from the Jays extends to other trade chips who could be on Atlanta’s radar, like Ken Giles.
Nationals Option Kyle Barraclough, Recall Adrian Sanchez
The Nationals optioned Kyle Barraclough to Double-A Harrisburg today, recalling well-traveled infielder Adrian Sanchez, the team announced.
Barraclough, 29, represents the “successful” half of the Nats offseason bullpen upgrades. Entering the season, Washington hoped to install the since-departed Trevor Rosenthal as their eighth inning man, with Barraclough targeted for seventh inning setup duties. Obviously, the Nats had to audible not long into the season as Rosenthal imploded like few pitchers can, while Barraclough’s struggles were more pedestrian in comparison. Still, Barraclough ultimately landed on the injured list with nerve irritation in mid-June.
Yesterday marked Barraclough’s return, which he celebrated with a wild pitch before Justin Turner launched a 3-1 get-me-over fastball into the left field bleachers for the game-winning three-run homer. He did retire Cody Bellinger to end the inning, but Barraclough nonetheless finds himself headed back from whence he came not 24 hours after his arrival.
For the season, the Nats called on Barraclough 33 times for 25 2/3 innings with a 6.66 ERA (6.57 FIP). His walk rate (4.2 BB/9) is actually at a career low, while his 10.5 K/9 is his highest mark since 2016. Those improvements have paled in comparison to the regression in terms of quality of contact surrendered, however. Hitters against Barraclough have seen their year-over-year solid contact rates improve from 1.4% to 10.0% and barrel rates from 4.8% to 13.8%. Those contact rates have yielded 11.6 hits per nine innings and 2.8 HR/9.
As for Sanchez, 28, he returns to his place at the end of the Nationals bench. Today marks Sanchez’s seventh stint with the big league club this season, where he serves as the emergency backup shortstop and rarely-used 25th man. For the season he has started just once with 20 total plate appearances. He has four hits and seven strikeouts. Without Sanchez, the Nationals don’t have a backup for shortstop Trea Turner on the roster, but given the rarity with which the Nats put Sanchez to use, one would think a playoff contender like Washington could find a better use for a roster spot.
Max Scherzer Dealing With Renewed Upper Back Issues
After coming off of the injured list to start yesterday, Nationals ace Max Scherzer woke up with renewed stiffness in his back, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports. It is not clear at this point whether he’ll skip his next scheduled start and/or require a return trip to the 10-day IL.
An MRI taken this morning revealed a mild rhomboid strain. That’s a different issue in the same area of the upper back/shoulder. Scherzer had previously been dealing with an inflamed bursa sac in the vicinity of his shoulder blade. To treat the new problem, Scherzer has undergone a stem-cell injection. His response to that will be assessed in a few days.
While the Nats need every single Scherzer outing they can get, the team is also walking a bit of a tightrope. Allowing the fiery veteran to push himself too hard could easily backfire. And Scherzer wasn’t quite at his best in his return start, though he was still effective and did emphasize that he felt at full health going into and during the outing.
The uncertainty surrounding Scherzer comes at an interesting time for the Nationals. There was already a case to be made that this team could use a starting pitcher. There’s all the more reason to do so now, if only to buy some time to give Scherzer ample rest.
One route would be to grab a fill-in rotation piece that can check down to a relief role. Derek Holland might’ve made sense in that capacity, particularly since the Nats could use a southpaw and he has been so nasty against opposing lefties. But the team didn’t jump on the opportunity, with Holland landing today with the Cubs. Similar hurlers could yet make sense. The tough thing for the D.C. organization will be to balance the imperative to buttress the rotation with a still-glaring need for multiple, quality relief arms.
Latest On Nationals’ Bullpen Pursuits
4:10pm: The Nats are also in touch with the Blue Jays regarding their relief arms, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). Both Ken Giles and Daniel Hudson are said to be of interest to D.C.
11:40am: The Nationals are known to be on the lookout for multiple relievers following their meteoric rise back up the standings, and ESPN’s Buster Olney writes that the team’s preference is to add a left-handed reliever. General manager Mike Rizzo won’t limit himself to only southpaws, though, and to that end, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that the Nationals are in active pursuit of White Sox righty Alex Colome and Tigers righty Shane Greene.
Washington’s interest in Greene isn’t new; it’s been reported on multiple times in the past and is also a relatively obvious match simply from a common sense standpoint. The Nationals figure to have checked in on virtually every reliever’s asking price by now, and MLB.com’s Jamal Collier recently reported that the Tigers made the sky-high ask of top shortstop prospect Carter Kieboom in initial talks with the Nationals. One can hardly blame the Tigers for aiming high, but that price point indeed seems rather lofty. Still, the fact that Washington is still showing interest suggests that the two sides could come to terms on a deal just yet.
Whether the White Sox were keen on moving Colome earlier this month wasn’t clear, but the South Siders’ poor play of late has dropped them to 10 games under .500. The club is making efforts to move beyond its rebuild and plans to make a push in 2020, so perhaps the preference is to retain Colome. Still, he’ll likely top $10MM in arbitration earnings next season, so it’d also be reasonable for Chicago to cash in if GM Rick Hahn can find a trade partner willing to make a decent offer.
Both Greene and Colome are controlled through the 2020 season, with Greene’s $4MM salary checking in considerably lower than Colome’s $7.325MM rate. As such, even though Greene is having a better season, his salary next year will likely be more affordable.
In 37 innings, Greene has posted a pristine 1.22 ERA with 10.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 1.22 HR/9 and a 54.3 percent ground-ball rate. Colome, meanwhile, has a rather pedestrian 7.0 K/9 mark against 2.8 BB/9 and 0.93 HR/9. Both closers have benefited tremendously from unsustainable averages on balls in play (.180 for Greene and .153 for Colome) and strand rates near 83 percent. Greene’s lower salary and superior strikeout and ground-ball rates make him to more appealing of the pair but also mean that he’ll probably come with a higher asking price. And even with some degree of regression likely for both pitchers, each is still a quality arm who’d give the Nats a much-needed upgrade to a setup corps that has been problematic all season long.
Royals Working On Jake Diekman Trade
12:02pm: The Dodgers stood out as the likely “frontrunners” from the start, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. However, he adds that the Nationals and Phillies both still have Diekman on their radar.
11:53am: The Royals “could be getting closer” to a trade involving left-handed reliever Jake Diekman, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Both the Braves and Dodgers have been showing strong interest in the southpaw, he adds.
Diekman, 32, is playing out the season on a one-year, $2.25MM contract, though he’s also owed a $500K buyout on a $5.75MM mutual option that doesn’t seem likely to be exercised (as is the case with virtually all mutual options). That puts the remaining obligation to Diekman around $1.3MM between now and season’s end.
While Diekman’s 4.75 ERA isn’t going to excite most fans, he’s also notched a hefty 13.6 K/9 mark and kept the ball on the ground at a 48-4 percent clip. Left-handed opponents have batted just .213 and slugged .255 against him. As has oft been the case for Diekman throughout his career, though, control has been an issue. He’s averaged five walks per nine innings pitched this season and plunked another eight hitters. As such, Diekman has yielded an overall .213/.362/.255 line to lefties and a .211/.331/.358 line to right-handed hitters.
Diekman is technically controlled beyond the 2019 season, but mutual options are almost never exercised by both parties. Typically, if a player performs well enough to justify that salary, he’s inclined to test the open market. And if a player doesn’t perform up to that standard, the club will of course buy the option out. Perhaps the changing landscape of free agency will make a player such as Diekman — one with limited earning power but who could justify a net $5.25MM decision with a strong finish — more likely to exercise his half of the provision, but there’s limited historic precedent.
Nationals Activate Max Scherzer
The Nationals announced Thursday that they’ve activated ace Max Scherzer from the injured list. Catcher Raudy Read was optioned to Triple-A to open a spot on the active roster.
Scherzer hasn’t taken the mound since July 6 due to a mid-back strain. His return will be a boost for an already-surging Nationals club that has flipped the script after an awful April/May showing raised questions about the team perhaps operating as a seller. The Nats needed a dramatic turnaround, and they managed to author exactly that, as they’ve played at an outstanding 30-13 pace dating back to June 1. Washington now finds itself just four games back of the Braves in the NL East and in possession of an NL Wild Card spot.
Getting a healthy Scherzer only strengthens a powerhouse roster. The three-time Cy Young winner, who’ll turn 35 in two days, is putting together one of the best seasons of his career. Through 129 1/3 innings, Mad Max has posted a 2.30 ERA with 12.6 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9. Even though he hasn’t pitched in nearly three weeks, he’s still leading the National League with 181 strikeouts — a total that ranks fourth in all of baseball (behind Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Chris Sale).
Scherzer’s return isn’t the only news pertaining to the Nats’ pitching staff today, however. An MRI of right-hander Austin Voth‘s ailing shoulder revealed tendinitis, manager Dave Martinez announced to reporters (Twitter link via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). He’s been shut down for the time being, and Martinez specified that the club will be “very careful” with the righty. Voth has made four starts and posted a 4.35 ERA through 20 2/3 innings with the Nats in 2019. He also has a 4.40 ERA and nearly 10 punchouts per nine innings pitched through 61 1/3 Triple-A frames, making him a key depth piece for the Nationals.
Quick Hits: Scherzer, F. Vazquez, Broxton, Reds
The Nationals are expecting ace Max Scherzer to return from the injured list by Thursday or Friday, Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com reports. Scherzer, out since July 13 with right shoulder bursitis, threw a full bullpen session Monday and offered an encouraging assessment afterward, per Kerr. The Nationals have maintained a playoff spot during Scherzer’s absence, but the three-time Cy Young winner is their MVP and someone they likely can’t go without for much longer. The 34-year-old Scherzer was amid another all-world season before hit hit the shelf, with a 2.30 ERA/2.02 FIP, 12.6 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 and 5.5 WAR in 129 1/3 innings.
More on a few other clubs…
- Back on July 1, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington downplayed the possibility of trading closer Felipe Vazquez. The Bucs have lost 10 of 16 since then, putting them six games out of playoff position, but Huntington’s mind hasn’t changed. He once again made it clear Sunday that the Pirates expect to push for contention in the near future with Vazquez on their roster (via Adam Berry of MLB.com). On a potential Vazquez trade, Huntington said: “If we were expecting to lose 100 games next year, then it’s a different approach. But our expectation is to be right back in this — if we don’t get there this year — to be right back in this next year, and to have a guy like that in the back end is really important.” The Pirates haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, the year before they acquired the electric Vazquez, and appear as if they’ll extend their drought this season. Vazquez is controllable through 2023, giving the Pirates time to take advantage of his presence; on the other hand, Vazquez’s team-friendly contract is one of the reasons he’d bring back so much in a trade. Huntington appears to have no interest in giving up one of the greatest acquisitions of his tenure, though.
- When the Orioles designated center fielder Keon Broxton for assignment Sunday, manager Brandon Hyde suggested the O’s would lose him, saying (via Joe Trezza of MLB.com): “I’m hoping he’ll get picked up by somebody, especially someone who needs outfield defense and baserunning for the postseason. I wish Keon the best.” It appears Broxton will indeed end up elsewhere in the coming days, as Trezza reports “a few teams” have checked in on the 29-year-old. Broxton can run and defend, as Hyde noted, though horrid hitting has torpedoed his value in 2019. Broxton has struck out in 43 percent of his 165 plate appearances, thus limiting him to a .184/.244/.289 line (42 wRC+). With no minor league options left, both the Mets and Orioles have given up on the once-promising Broxton this season.
- The Reds put right-hander Tyler Mahle on the injured list Monday with a left hamstring strain and recalled fellow righty Sal Romano from Triple-A Louisville. The 24-year-old Mahle’s IL placement came after a pair of rough starts that saw him allow a combined 14 runs (10 earned) in 9 2/3 innings in losses to Colorado and St. Louis. Mahle has now mustered a 4.93 ERA in 102 1/3 innings, though he has also logged a much better 4.32 FIP, posted 9.32 K/9 against 2.29 BB/9 and notched a 45.6 percent groundball rate.