Here’s the latest out of Cincinnati…
- Closer Raisel Iglesias has drawn trade interest with the deadline approaching, though the Reds would unsurprisingly seek an “astronomical” return for the 27-year-old, a source tells ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). With that in mind, Crasnick suggests that Cincy’s deadline talks are more likely to revolve around veteran rentals like shortstop Zack Cozart, starter Scott Feldman and reliever Drew Storen than Iglesias. The flamethrowing right-hander could be a core piece for the Reds, as he’s on a reasonable contract through 2020 and has dominated over 41 2/3 innings this year (1.73 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 3.46 BB/9 and a 46.2% ground-ball rate).
- Anthony DeSclafani is reporting good progress in rehab process, the right-hander tells MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. After spraining his right UCL during the spring, DeSclafani has slowly begun ramping up a throwing process that didn’t begin until midway through May. “I’ve made every scheduled throwing session, bullpen, flat-ground. It’s been going well so far, so hopefully it stays the course,” said DeSclafani, who is three bullpen sessions into a schedule of one bullpen every three days. He remains on track for a return in August, matching the tentative timeline set in June by Reds manager Bryan Price.
- Left-hander Tony Cingrani has moved from Dishman Sports Group to the Bledsoe Agency, reports FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter). Cingrani, who’s controllable via arbitration through 2019, has combined for a 4.38 ERA, 8.28 K/9 against 5.26 BB/9, and a 44.3% grounder mark across 113 innings since he became a full-time reliever in 2015. MLBTR will make note of Cingrani’s representation change in our Agency Database, which keeps track of agent information on more than 2,500 major league and minor league players. If you see any notable errors or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
Can Iglesias be the next Chapman?
In a word, no.
His era is under .5 if you take out one game this year. Hes possibly more dominant
That one game must be seagers grand slam
Yes, but he will do it in a different way. He will be just as dominant, but throwing a bit slower (96-100 FB) with more quality offspeed and breaking stuff. Off the field, hopefully he won’t have the same issues as Chapman though.
Sure, he “can” be. Will he be? Highly doubtful.
Just for reference, Iglesias has a 2.53 FIP this year, which is almost a full point lower than his previous career low (3.38 last year). If that was Chapman’s FIP, it’d be the second highest of his career, trailing only his sophomore year’s 3.29. Chapman’s career FIP is 1.84… In other words, he’s absolutely ridiculous.
Prior to about halfway through last season, Iglesias was a starter. You need to look at just his reliever FIP to be accurate. He’s been far more dominant since moving to the bullpen, and I’m sure his FIP also reflects that.
Can’t find his reliever FIP, but his reliever ERA of 2.07 is fairly significantly lower than his starter ERA.
Fair enough. After doing a little more digging, I found his reliever ERA was actually 1.98, not 2.07 last year. His FIP as a reliever was still 3.21 though. Slightly better than what I said, but not much.
I still stand by my original comment though. Iglesias is an excellent bullpen piece and a fantastic trade chip, but I don’t see him ever turning into a pitcher as dominant as Chapman.
I would much rather have Iglesias than Chapman. He doesn’t have the speed of Chapman, but he has better quality stuff and better control.
Iglesias seems to be the better athlete of the two. I think his command could make him a top 5 Closer without the triple digit fastball
For a rebuilding team yes. But a team that wants to win now would rather have Chapman
If the reds trade cozart and Iglesias to the nationals they could get an ungodly amount of prospects ehile the nationals become World Series favorites the next four years.
Would certainly need to get either Robles or (in the unlikely event that he’s available) Trea Turner for that to happen. I’m thinking Robles + Fedde + Severino + 1 more would be a good starting point. Maybe throw in Joe Ross as a reclamation project?
Jeeeez…. I mean, why not ask for the mascot too?
Is the mascot available? We’ll take him too!
Chapman’s trade from the Yanks last year returned Gleyber Torres and he was a rental. Miller had 2.5 years of control and returned 2 top-100 prospects in Frazier and Sheffield. Iglesias is under cheap club control for 5.5 more years (FA after 2022), so he would certainly return more than Miller or Chapman did.
Something that like is going to be what it takes Iglesias is under team control until 2020 I believe.
Four years is a bit of a stretch because they get a great closer and a rental shortstop. Odds are that they lose Bryce Harper during that time as well. This year, sure. Four years? Try again.
The Nats should make every effort to land Iglesias as a long term solution to their closer problem. It’s pretty clear no reliever within the organization has emerged to claim that role, and while Matt Albers is somewhat serviceable in the role, you don’t wanna go into the post season with Albers as the closer.