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Rays Acquire Wesley Wright

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The Rays have acquired left-hander Wesley Wright from the Astros after claiming him off waivers, the Astros announced via press release. The Rays will send cash considerations to the Astros in exchange for the 28-year-old southpaw. Right-hander Philip Humber will have his contract selected from Triple-A to take Wright's spot on both the 40-man and 25-man roster. Wright-Wesley

Wright struggled in the early portion of his career but has been solid since 2011, posting a 3.32 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 51.9 percent ground-ball rate. He's actually struggled against left-handed hitters this season, as they've posted a .305/.372/.463 batting line against him. However, he limited lefties to a .169/.247/.231 line from 2011-12.

Wright, who had been the team's longest-tenured player, is earning $1.03MM this season after going through arbitration for the first time this past offseason. He is under team control through 2015 and will be eligible for arbitration a second time this offseason. He was originally acquired by the Astros from the Dodgers via the Rule 5 Draft back in 2007. With Wright now a member of the Rays, Erik Bedard's $1.15MM salary is the lone salary on Houston's roster that exceeds $1MM.

In a statement to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart, Wright said he is excited to pitch for a contender and offered the following kind words for the Astros organization and the fans of Houston:

“The organization has been great to me and my family throughout the past six seasons. They gave me an opportunity to see what I can do at the big league level. I’m really grateful to the organization and the fans and the city. They were really supportive to me and my teammates. Even in the down years, they supported me and all I can say is thanks to the city of Houston and the fans.”

This is the second move made by Rays general manager Andrew Friedman to bolster the team's bullpen, as he acquired Jesse Crain from the White Sox prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. Crain has yet to appear in a game for the Rays, however, as he works his way back from injury.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Indians To Release Mark Reynolds

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MONDAY: The Indians have requested release waivers on Reynolds for the purpose of granting him his unconditional release, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). Once Reynolds clears waivers, he will be eligible to sign with any team, and his new club will be responsible for only the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.

THURSDAY: The Indians have designated Mark Reynolds for assignment, according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli (on Twitter). Right-hander Preston Guilmet, who had a 1.95 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 55 1/3 innings at Triple-A Columbus, will be recalled to take his roster spot.

Reynolds, 30, signed a one-year, $6MM contract with Cleveland this offseason after the Orioles declined his $11MM club option and non-tendered him in November. He earned $7.5MM last season, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Reynolds to earn $8.9MM through the arbitration process, so his contract with the Tribe represented a notable pay cut.

Reynolds sprinted out of the gates at a blazing pace this April, hitting .301/.368/.651 with eight homers on the month. Since May 1, however, the slugger is hitting just .187/.287/.282 with seven home runs in 289 plate appearances. The former 16th-round draft pick has never been able to recreate his 2009 breakout campaign with the D'Backs, during which he hit .260/.349/.543 with 44 homers and 24 stolen bases.

Koji Uehara’s Contract Contains Vesting Option

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When Koji Uehara signed with the Red Sox this offseason, the contract was reported as a one-year, $4.25MM contract. However, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe recently reported that Uehara has an option that will vest after his next appearance (Twitter link). Alex Speier of WEEI.com spoke with an industry source that pegged the value of the vesting option at $4.25MM.

Uehara, 38, is in the midst of another excellent season, having pitched to a 1.35 ERA with 12.5 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 53 1/3 innings this season. He's stepped up as the team's closer following injuries to both Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey, recording 12 saves thus far. Speier adds that if Uehara finishes 12 more games (giving him 35 total), the value of his option will increase to $5MM.

That Uehara has finished 23 games for the Red Sox this season isn't insignificant in regards to his 2013 salary either; Uehara's contract contains incentives that call for him to earn an extra $125K for reaching 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 games finished (as noted at Cot's Contracts). In other words, he's already boosted his salary to $4.5MM and should see that figure rise noticeably in the season's final weeks.

Rangers Claim Adam Rosales

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The Rangers have claimed Adam Rosales off waivers from the Athletics for the second time in the past 10 days, the team announced via press release.

Rosales, 30, has been designated for assignment by the A's on three separate occasions in the past five weeks. The first time, he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento. Following a July 31 DFA, he was claimed by the division-rival Rangers. Texas designated Rosales for assignment just three days later, however, in order to make room for outfielder Joey Butler.

Oakland reclaimed Rosales, only to designate him again just days later, this time to clear a roster spot for right-hander Sonny Gray. The versatile Rosales is batting .191/.267/.316 in 154 plate appearances with the A's this season. He didn't get an at-bat in his previous three-game stint with the Rangers.

Jose Dariel Abreu Defects From Cuba

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11:28am: Dionisio Soldevila of ESPN Deportes tweets that Abreu is currently in Haiti after defecting from the Cuban national team.

MONDAY, 8:27am: Baseball America's Ben Badler cautions that it could be months before Abreu is eligible to sign with a Major League team. As is the case with all Cuban defectors, Abreu will need to establish residency in a new country and then be cleared by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) before becoming recognized as a free agent by MLB.

Badler adds that some Major League scouts are split on whether or not Abreu's power will translate to MLB. Some consider his bat speed to be merely "fair," and he also has unorthodox setup and double toe tap in his approach at the plate.

SUNDAY: Slugging first baseman Jose Dariel Abreu has escaped from Cuba and is elsewhere in the Caribbean, Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald reports. It is unclear where Abreu is now (Ebro notes that various reports have placed Abreu in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti), but one agent with whom Abreu has had contact confirms that he is not in Cuba.

If in fact Abreu can make his way into the MLB free agent market, he'd have an enormous impact, likely earning the largest contract ever given to a Cuban player. The 26-year-old hit .453/.597/.986 in Cuba's Serie Nacional in 2010-2011 before hitting .394/.542/.837 in 2011-2012 and .382/.535/.735 in 2012-2013. Also in 2013, he hit .360/.385/.760 in six games for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic.

Those are, of course, stunning numbers, and ESPN Deportes' Jorge Morejon notes that Abreu will likely also benefit from a rising tide of good play by Cuban defectors like Yasiel Puig and Yoenis Cespedes. Grantland's Jonah Keri wrote in 2012 that Abreu "just might be the best hitter in the world," and Abreu's entry into the free agent market would surely be accompanied by a tidal wave of hype. Major League teams may not think quite the same way — Keri notes that Abreu isn't particularly athletic, which might dampen teams' enthusiasm somewhat. But he quotes Athletics assistant GM David Forst comparing Abreu to Ryan Howard, which would still make Abreu a very valuable commodity.

Since Abreu is over 23 and has played Cuban professional baseball for more than three years, he would enter the market as an unrestricted free agent. He would appear to be in excellent position to receive more than Puig, who got seven years and $42MM from the Dodgers last June.

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.

Transaction Retrospection: The Mark Reynolds Trade

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It's been more than two and a half years since Mark Reynolds was traded to the Orioles from the D'Backs, but it was interesting to see each of the key players in the trade pop up in headlines last week. Reynolds was designated for assignment by the Indians, while setup man David Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A Reno by the D'Backs.

Those weren't the only names involved in the trade, of course. Arizona also sent backstop John Hester to Baltimore, who sent right-hander Kameron Mickolio to the D'Backs as well. Let's take a look at each player in the deal and how they panned out with their new teams…

  • Mark Reynolds: Reynolds was 27 at the time of the trade and just a season removed from the finest year of his Major League career. In 2009, he hit .260/.349/.543 with 44 homers and 24 stolen bases in 155 games. ReynoldsWhile he led the NL in strikeouts, the breakout campaign led to lofty expectations, of which Reynolds fell very short in 2010. Reynolds followed up his monster season by hitting .198/.320/.433, prompting GM Kevin Towers to ship him to Baltimore. With the O's, Reynolds hit .221/.328/.458 with 60 homers in two seasons before being non-tendered last November. He hit a blistering .247/.352/.532 with 15 homers in the season's final 52 games last year, helping the O's stave off the Rays and earn a Wild Card berth. But in 22 postseason at-bats, he collected just three hits and struck out 10 times. Reynolds' defensive limitations outweighed his power, as Fangraphs pegged him as a below-replacement-level player in Baltimore (-0.2 WAR).
  • John Hester: Hester never appeared in a game for the O's, who ultimately released him last season. He batted .254/.324/.341 in 82 games for Triple-A Norfolk in 2011 and appeared in 10 more for Norfolk before his release and subsequent signing with the Angels.
  • David Hernandez: Hernandez was outstanding for the Snakes in 2011-12, posting a 2.94 ERA with 11.4 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 137 2/3 innings. He picked up 15 saves while filling in as the closer as J.J. Putz was on the DL in those seasons as well. However, Hernandez has seen his command worsen and his swinging-strike rate drop in 2013, leading to a drop in strikeouts. He's also become increasingly homer-prone, which explains the large discrepancy between his 5.59 ERA and 4.17 xFIP. He's controlled for two more seasons after this one, so he has time to sort things out and return to his status as one of the game's best setup men. Hernandez's 3.5 fWAR from 2011-12 ranked seventh among MLB relievers.
  • Kam Mickolio: Mickolio was one of the pieces that Baltimore received in the Erik Bedard heist with Seattle, but he never caught on in Baltimore and didn't fare any better with the Diamondbacks. He appeared in just six games for Arizona in 2011, allowing five runs on 10 hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings. He was slightly better at Triple-A, where he posted a 4.97 ERA in 58 innings with the Reno Aces. Mickolio, now 29 years old, has potentially revived his career by posting a 2.65 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 over his past 98 1/3 innings of relief. The only problem for Arizona is that he's done it for the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Pro Baseball, as he was released following the 2011 season and signed in Japan.

Overall, the trade looks better for the Diamondbacks than it does the Orioles, even if neither of the key components is a factor in the clubs' current playoff pushes. Baltimore received some added pop to its lineup, but that power came at the expense of Reynolds' poor defense, limiting his overall value to the team. Shedding Reynolds' remaining $13MM in salary was a win for Arizona looks now to have been a victory in its own right, and Hernandez's presence tips the scale in their favor rather decisively, even if he never regains the form he showed in his age 26-27 seasons.

Click here for more entries in the Transaction Retrospection series, and remember that you can use MLBTR's Transaction Tracker to look back on trades and analyze them at any time. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Quick Hits: Trout, Pirates, White Sox

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MVP awards are supposed to be based on a player's value to his team, but voters don't ordinarily take contract considerations into account, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports notes. If they did, Passan says the Angels' Mike Trout, who is making just $510K this year compared to Miguel Cabrera's $21MM, would likely win the AL MVP this year. The next-most-valuable player, when considering performance and salary, would be Matt Harvey, who is making $499K. Of course, players like Cabrera and Clayton Kershaw, who have higher salaries but also provide spectacular performance, are still extremely valuable even after factoring in their contracts. But Passan quotes Padres analyst Chris Long, who makes a distinction between value (that is, the degree to which a player outperforms his salary) and mere performance. Most MVP debates only consider the latter. Here are more notes from around the Majors.

  • Pirates GM Neal Huntington says that he believes fewer players are being placed on waivers than last August, and that more players are being claimed, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review tweets. That might suggest it will be difficult for the Pirates, and perhaps other teams as well, to pull off August trades.
  • GM Rick Hahn has the White Sox on the right course, Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. Hayes argues that Hahn's trading has added high-level prospects (particularly Avisail Garcia, acquired from the Tigers in the Jake Peavy deal) and depth (in the form of the other three prospects acquired from the Red Sox in the same deal). Hahn also cleared salary by trading Peavy, Alex Rios, Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain. "Although this wasn’t how we wanted to spend the July and August trading periods, overall we are pleased with both the return talent-wise as well as the flexibility created by the deals," says Hahn.
  • With their trades, the White Sox cleared $10.7MM in salary in 2013 and $27MM in 2014, Baseball America's Matt Eddy notes. Eddy has compiled a list of what each team traded at the deadline, and what it received in return.

Minor Moves: Jake Fox, Francisley Bueno

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Here are Sunday’s minor moves from around MLB:

  • The Diamondbacks have signed 1B/OF/C Jake Fox, Fox writes on Facebook. Fox has been assigned to Triple-A Reno. He had been playing for the independent Somerset Patriots, for whom hit .310/.387/.572 in 2013, with 25 home runs in 374 at bats. Fox played in the Pirates and Phillies systems in 2012, and last appeared in the Majors with the Orioles in 2011.
  • The Royals have announced, via Twitter, they have optioned left-hander Francisley Bueno to Triple-A Omaha. The 32-year-old was designated for assignment yesterday less than 24 hours after making his season debut with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit relief against the Red Sox. Bueno has excelled at Triple-A this year posting a 2.93 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 31 games (one start) covering 58 1/3 innings.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Rays Release Kyle Farnsworth

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SUNDAY: The Rays have released Farnsworth, according to the team's transaction page.

FRIDAY: The Rays have designated right-hander Kyle Farnsworth for assignment, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). Josh Lueke will be recalled from Triple-A Durham to take his place on the roster.

Farnsworth, 37, served as the Rays' closer back in the 2011 season and posted a masterful 2.18 ERA with 25 saves, but it's been downhill since then. He posted a 4.00 ERA last season and has pitched to a 5.76 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 29 2/3 innings this season. His fastball is averaging a career-worst 92.5 mph. Farnsworth signed a one-year, $1.25MM contract with the Rays back in February.

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