1:14pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Reds owner Bob Castellini “loves” Harvey, which could’ve played a role in the decision to retain him. Heyman agrees, tweeting that Castellini ultimately did not want to trade the right-hander, which could indicate that the Reds will push to re-sign him this winter.
12:20pm: Even more definitively, Reds GM Nick Krall tells C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic that Harvey will remain with the team (Twitter link).
12:15pm: Bob Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Harvey will not be traded to the Brewers before the deadline expires (Twitter link). He’ll start today’s game in a Reds uniform and, presumably, remain with the Reds through season’s end.
7:23am: The Brewers are the team that placed the winning claim on Reds right-hander Matt Harvey on Wednesday, reports Jon Heyman of Fancred (via Twitter). They’ve yet to agree to a trade with the Reds, it seems, though there’s still time to do so before waivers on Harvey expire this afternoon at 1:30pm ET. Harvey recently landed 12th on MLBTR’s latest ranking of the Top 20 August trade candidates in baseball.
Much has been mad about the Brewers perceived need for rotation help, though in truth, all five members of their current rotation have generally outperformed Harvey even since his trade to the Reds. Jhoulys Chacin, Chase Anderson, Junior Guerra, Freddy Peralta and Wade Miley all have ERAs of 4.02 or better, and of that bunch, only Anderson lags behind Harvey’s 4.50 FIP.
[Related: Milwaukee Brewers depth chart]
Having said that, there’s certainly plenty of reason to maintain interest in Harvey all the same; Miley has been injured for much of the season and has totaled just 45 1/3 innings after a pair of dismal seasons in the American League in 2016-17. Peralta, meanwhile, is a rookie who has already thrown a combined 130 1/3 innings between the Majors and minors after totaling 120 frames in 2017. Anderson is among the game’s most homer-prone starters. Guerra has had a solid season but pitched at sub-replacement level in 2017. Adding Harvey to the staff, especially considering the improvements he’s made since being traded from New York to Cincinnati, has plenty of merit even if it can be argued that it shouldn’t be an imperative.
Harvey has unquestionably improved since changing uniforms a first time this season, working to a solid 4.28 ERA with 6.9 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 1.39 HR/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate in 90 1/3 innings. Much of the damage against him came in one eight-run meltdown against the Pirates back on July 22, but the majority of Harvey’s starts with the Reds have at the very least been competitive efforts outside of that showing. He’s still averaging just 5 1/3 innings per start, but Harvey’s velocity has steadily increased with Cincinnati. He’s also seen a modest improvement in his swinging-strike rate (currently 8.9 percent) and seen substantial jump in his chase rate on out-of-zone pitches while also throwing first-pitch strikes at a considerably higher clip (up to 63.3 percent).
There’s little denying that Harvey would at the very least deepen the current pitching staff by adding another serviceable arm to the mix, and that depth is especially important with rosters set to expand in September. Even incremental upgrades for the Brewers should be viewed as important, given that they’re currently 3.5 games back of the National League Central-leading Cubs and a half-game behind the Cardinals in the division as well. Milwaukee is more favorably positioned in the Wild Card hunt — currently tied with Colorado for the second spot and a half-game back of the Cardinals, who hold the top spot.
For the Reds, there’s been no indication that they’d simply let Harvey go via waivers. His $5.6MM salary has about $1.13MM remaining to be paid out, so the financial implications aren’t exactly overwhelming. But if the Brewers are willing to offer even a modest prospect in return, the Reds should be happy to add to their continually improving farm system in exchange for a pitcher who is otherwise set to hit free agency after the season.
Stunning development considering he’s not a SS. Maybe the Reds could include Scooter.
Should be even up for Scooter they already gave him. Dam dumb ass beat me.
wat.
That joke was barely funny the first time you tried it back in June.
Posting it an additional 100 times will not win you extra votes for “Troll of the Year.”
The thing is he thinks he is so funny is he started posting it in Football rumors now too.
Does he know there are no shortstops in football?
Well there are strong safeties, so at least the abbreviation will work.
(spit my coffee laughing at this one)
I really liked the one you posted on hoops rumors yesterday. Caught me off guard.
Which one was that?
Legit snort reading that! If only it were for Andrelton Simmons!
Let’s see if the Brewers screw this up. They should have been making pitching moves for starters the last month instead of rostering 74 middle infielders. Blah blah blah someone will post soon saying how awesome their rotation has been when in actuality per ESPN like I mentioned yesterday:
“Somehow, the Brewers are occupying the second NL wild-card spot despite a low-wattage rotation that ranks no better than ninth in the league in ERA, FIP or WAR. Given that none of their starters projects to provide more than 0.3 WAR the rest of the way, Milwaukee may well regret its failure to upgrade at the deadline. Hamels, Happ, Eovaldi — any of them would have provided some improvement.”
If you want to seriously contend Stearns while Harvey isn’t all that spectacular you need him.
Particularly when you realize their farm system doesn’t have difference making pitching in it and it’s actually ranked 22nd overall by BA. Stearns is going to have to look outside the organization if he wants to get better than where they are now.
Are burnes and Peralta not difference making arms?
Ignorance of the Brewers never seems to prevent anyone from offering completely uninformed opinions, whether it’s the national sports press or the commenters on this site. Glad they claimed Harvey and hope they get him, (hope they don’t over pay)but it’s uncertain who he would replace. Major benefit would simply be blocking him from the desperate Cubs.
Haha ok pal the Cubs are desperate for Matt Harvey. Too funny
Um hello my name is Cole Hammels. 5 starts so far haven’t given up more than 1 run. See how easy that was? Brewers could have and should have gotten him. But they were too busy acquiring middle infielders. Like lots. Tons.
He was on their no trade list. Wouldn’t have happened. As far as earlier comments about difference arms, it will be easier for them to develop arms next year at the AAA+ level after getting out of Colorado Springs after this year. Call it an excuse for altitude but look at the Rockies for the past ever. Going into the season the Brewers weren’t built to compete for a WS anyway they were handcuffed by expectations from last year. Too young and dumb to realize they weren’t supposed to push the Cubs. So they made moves available this year in Cain and Yeli that wouldn’t be available this coming off season. Next year they will push more. I’m just happy they look to give the fans competitive baseball late in the year.
Ummm, no….Burnes and Peralta are NOT difference making arms. As you’ll find out soon enough, they will barely be league average. Nice try though and you’ve pointed out that the rhetoric the organization is trying to sell you Brewers fans in order to sell tickets, is actually hitting home with some of you. Keep an open mind…your minor league prospects are not that good.
Hello Cole. Your bubble will burst soon and so will the cubs.
Sure okay sounds great good comeback. I’ll gladly stay here in our bubble of endless NLCS appearances. Kind of used to it. You can come over and watch the NLCS if you want to, just don’t bring the incredibly overrated New Glarus Spitting Cow crap or whatever it is all you Wisconsiners think is the world’s greatest beer is.
Themed Go away stupid Card troll Grow up and get over it.
Cards and the Brewers are the most stupidest teams in MLB letting Murphy even clear waivers. Dumb FO both of them even the sports writers agree. Get over you
He’s a dumb Cards fan. He still mad about 2015 and has watched his team go into ground ever since. That’s the best he can do. On the boards and in real life. Guys a loser and the biggest Cub troll there is.
What do you expect from a mad Card fan
Why?! We have good but not great pitching. He has been terrible the last 2 years and this season 6-5 with a 4.28? Miley, Guerra, Anderson, chacin all have under 4.00 eras and Freddy peralta has a 4.02 after a great outing the other day! That’s 5 starters pitching better then Harvey.
Nit picking. The starters are serviceable at best which is why they are currently just muddling along.
And if i was a brewer fan i wouldnt have confidence in any of those pitchers to give their team a post season start
Typical St Louis type response.
Yeah, only St. Louis fans are aware that you need pitching to win playoff games.
He’s not wrong. Harvey has been to the World Series. He knows the environment he has pitched quite well in the playoffs. Who on the Brewers staff has been to the playoffs?
Harvey was also way better 3 years ago. He’s nowhere close to the 2015 version.
Im sure aancient backup catcher erik kratz was in a minor league championship somewhere along the way and he did pitch an inning for the crew a few weeks ago…
What color is the sky in your world lol
Honestly ,we are just so glad they fired Matheny , we still have hope with the new manager
Hopefully its a block claim.
Much has been mad. Dang rotation.
Harvey is one of those risk-reward guys. If you get him and he’s good you look genius, if you get him and he sucks you look like an idiot.
Harvey has been a stable 4.00 ERA kind of guy. He could suck or he could get his old self back… but I doubt either happens.
He’s @$$
Better than the rest of your garbage rotation except Chacin
If only we could just buy everyone we wanted like your team…..
I get it….you only count championships if they come from home grown players. Which is why all those flags are adorning your precious Miller Park. Try this instead….you and the Minnesota Vikings can share a trophy case. and never need it serviced….unless of course you want to throw in that Braves thing as part of your franchise.
The next 30 games are shaping up to be extremely important to quite a few ball clubs. And I couldn’t be happier so many games to watch.
No disrespect but an era of 4.28 is not “solid”. Given the small park he’s now pitching in, he has certainly pitched better and there are far worse options. I just believe word choice is important and the word “solid” should be saved for others that are more deserving.
Concur with word choice. Grammar and vocabulary are, indeed, vital.
At some point during this season each player has been “solid” enough to warrant a roster spot.
I like the word choice. To me, the word solid says not one of the best, but someone that doesn’t need to be replaced. I think that suits Matt Harvey’s 4.28 ERA. Not great, but not someone barely hanging onto a job either. Or solid.
What you described Hiflew is being average for a major leaguer. Average to me is not “solid”.
Average is exactly solid. Teams do not go out of their way to replace average players which indicates their jobs are on solid ground. Average players fill out rosters. Teams replace below average players which says they are on thin ice or less than solid ground.
Average is not solid. Above average is solid.
Agreed and average or solid, I don’t understand why Harvey is still in Cincinnati. Even letting him go on waivers would have given minor salary relief and allowed the team to look at someone else. Regardless, they should have seen enough this year to weigh making him an off season offer if that’s their future plans.
Cubs fan with a trade proposition. Who hangs up?
Brewers get Harvey
Reds get LHP Wilfred Salaman, RHP Justin Bullock, and SS Luis Avila. Choose two of the three.
Little pricy for a 2 month rental….maybe one of the three.
Fair enough, and thanks for the response and consideration.
It has to be at least one major league player. The reds wont take less than 3 players.
Has to be?
The Reds are in a rebuild. Prospects would seem the likely way to go.
They might as well ask for a CF. billy Hamilton is pretty much gone. After this year.
Doubt theyll get a deal done. The game starts in about 2 hours 40 mins.
Keon Broxton might not be a bad idea. The Reds might not even mind since he is just Billy Hamilton-lite.
They get nothing at the end of the year or if they pull him off of revocable waivers. The teams need each other. I don’t know the players mentioned but both sides would it seems to be foolish not to make a deal. Does Milwaukee have better options? The Reds will get salary relief if a deal is done. Regardless of the amount it partially offsets what they gave the Mets to balance out the original trade.
See comment just posted above. I guess it’s not for fans like me to understand.
Do you even follow baseball? 3 players for 2 months of Matt Harvey? Either that or you’re drunk mid-morning.
I’m not drunk. But I am high. I forgot harvey is a rental and a free agent to be.
thanks for clarifying. Had me laughing that you felt the need to confirm you weren’t drunk. If you were, there would have been countless typos…
I have seen “2 months of Matt Harvey” on here several times. At this point it could be as little as 5 weeks. MIL hasn’t yet clinched a playoff spot.
Major league players going both ways is unlikely. The player going back to the reds would also have to clear waivers. Fair or not if the brewers dont make it past the wild card one game playoff the city is going to blame stearns. Take all the prospects you gave for moose schoop and harvey and you’re telling me you couldn’t use all those guys for one good starting pitcher? Value trades only work in the minors and offseason because you have the full season to extract the 1 or 2 WAR, you need to make big deals if you want to compete with the deep pockets of the cubs and cards etc. They were never going to be serious without a healthy Jimmy Nelson which brings up the question why did you make these half@$$ deals in the first place instead of saving the prospect bullets?
He’d only have to clear if he was on the 40-man roster, so if it was a low-level minor-league “lottery ticket”, they could trade him.
Yeah thats why the first thing in my post says major league players. You are correct in what you say though.
Lottery ticket is about the return that CIN can expect. Not necessarily a bad deal if you are in their position, though.
Don’t care about numbers.To the eye Harvey is slowly improving and he’s on track to be his old self again,he is worth taking a low risk on for the Post Season if they get there and maybe resign him for next year?
The odd thing is that Harvey is scheduled to pitch against the Cubs at 2:20 today and the deadline ends around 1:30. Brewers may prefer that he stay and try to beat the Cubs.
And if the Reds lose they just lost a pitcher.
One potential cubs loss would not make up for 5-6 starts with Milwaukee. If they really think he will be an upgrade
A “potential” cubs loss is worth exactly “NOTHING.” Every game is a “potential Cubs loss.” At this point he might have a better shot at beating the Cubs than whoever the Reds might throw if they trade him. But he might not.
That is the point I am making…
Yep, that’s brilliant Brewer minds at work! Let’s hope he can beat the Cubs today rather than get him in our team where he can beat them for us! That’s why Brewers are Brewers.
Cards are going to be in rough stretch for years…right pleepleus18
Yea sure pal that was the secret plan of the Brewers. They said hey we want him BUT he is pitching against the Cubs so lets not do the deal.
Of course Cubs won again anyway
Brewers fans- would you rather have him or let him start for the Reds against the Cubs at 2:20 today?
He is staying with the Reds
They have less than 3 hours to make a deal. Santana and shaw just to start. Cubs should have claimed him. And send. 30mil and chatwood to the reds.
Cubs never had a chance to claim him. Waiver order goes in ascending order of record, so Milwaukee would’ve had to have passed on him first.
You cant send back other major league players in august deals or they would also have to clear waivers. Shaw would definitely be claimed before that trade idea went through. Nevermind how much ofan overpay it is, the constraints on august deals would not allow it.
Given the Reds’ place in the standings and reverse-order waivers priority, it would definitely be possible for one or more major-league players to go to Cincinnati if the Reds FO made winning claims on those players.
I agree with the spirit of that argument but the players listed would not work. BallwasBryzzo listed shaw and Santana and they would not make it past the Marlins or Padres. I know he was being a silly dilly but i gotta get involved in these convos sometimes.
Both of them have to clear waivers to be Trade.
Haha yea the Cubs should send $30 million to the Reds for Matt Harvey. Too funny
No thanks on Harvey! I’d rather go get Gio! At least then we’d have a lefty.
Thwy wont get either. Wade miley is your ace at #4.2. (Hes one of 2 #4 pitchers for the brewers.
You want a Lefty? Fransisco Liriano is available. Numbers not as strong as Harvey but they are AL stats. He has a stat line against LHB of .138/.233/.225/.458, so at worst you get a similar SP for the season and a Loogy for the BP in the playoffs. You can also get a real solid SS in Jose Iglesias without losing much if any offense. He is leading the majors in RBI’s coming from the #9 spot in AL. I bet the Brewers could get both for almost the same “package” they would need to offer to get Harvey. Tigers could eat some of the $$$ difference to close a deal.
Brewers desperately need infield help. future HOF Refsnyder should be good.
maybe catching, too. O’Brien?
Third place Brewers getting desperate huh?
16 minutes left
No deal. He is staying with the reds.
Milwaukee hates giving up players of value yet again during the deadline. If he played SS he’s already be a Brewer.
You easily are the biggest troll on this site. Did you ever think maybe once the reds saw it was a team in the division they said overpay or we won’t trade him to you? Didn’t realize you were so close to the talks between teams
Now that caseypartner is gone the running is wide open.
Did casey’s partner get banned or something?
LMAO
why did the reds keep him? There is like, zero reason – he was a project that can get you something for nothing who is a FA at season’s end and it’s not like it hurts the red’s playoff odds to get rid of him.
Exactly. This presumably means that the Brewers didn’t offer anything of any value. There’s no point in trading a guy with some value for a 26 year old AA utility infielder (for example)
Harvey is a 5 week rental. What exactly did they expect to get for him? Not like he’s a big time difference maker either.
I disagree. If this trade doesn’t/didn’t go through it is a complete ball-drop by both teams. There is minimal leverage on both sides.
To me the whole point of the Reds getting Harvey was to trade him for something. There was some risk that he would completely tank. He hasn’t. He won’t be garnering any CYA votes but he didn’t completely make a fool of himself. He has/had some value. If it means you have to swallow getting a 26-year-old utility infielder at AA then that is better than “nothing” which is the alternative.
yeah but unless you are trying to court him to re sign, I just don’t get it – but maybe it is because I am a giants fan and a 26 year old AA utility infielder would actually be an add in our system.
Agreed. This is not a win for the Reds and to be honest it’s not a loss for Milwaukee.
Sweet stay with Reds and beat the Cubs!
Nice block from Cubs
Maybe the Brewers weren’t really interested anyway. Maybe they claimed Harvey to keep the Cubs from claiming him. One could make a case that Harvey is as good as their #s 4 and 5 starters.
Honestly I would let contenders get Harvey because he doesn’t make any contending team batter.
Reds not smart enough.
The Reds are not smart enough to do that.
They want to play someone who will not be with the team next year,
a whole lot.
No viable pitching in the upper minors for the Reds.
Hunter is probably going to need tommy john surgery.
Very frustrating
Who says he won’t be with the reds next year. He’s finally finding success again in Cincinnati, it’s small market with no media attention and he says he likes it here
Agent is Scott Boras, and he’ll be asking way over a legitimate price for Harvey. I don’t know why the Reds want to keep him, frankly.
Several insightful comments in a row. It’s a win – win for the Brewers. They don’t have to pull someone pitching better than Harvey from the rotation to make room for him, but the Cubs are still choosing between Chatwood and Montgomery each time the 5th spot comes up…assuming they’re not both on the DL st the same time..
The Cubs are not choosing between anyone and Chatwood. Chatwood will not throw another meaningful pitch this season and there is no use for a 5th Starter. Cubs were never choosing between Chatwood and Monty. Nice try pal. Chatwood got one start when Monty went on DL. Otherwise it was Monty in the rotations every time.
Cubs had no interest in Harvey either. Why would they. Where would he pitch?
But hey if you think you “blocked” the Cubs good for you. With your sorry ass team I guess you need to cling to something
Ok kiddhoff I would like you to support that statement. How is Harvey a number 4 for the Cubs
Surprise!! Yet another FAIL from the Brewers front office. Being relevant until Sept. is good enough. They’re not really in it to win.
Yah sure, reds ownership love him until his agent Boras asks for 4 years at 60 m. Lol.
The Reds are way overestimating their present-talent and underestimating the amount of time their talented farm system will need to develop. It sounds like Senzel will be ready to go next year, but to expect the current roster to immediately gel with new prospects by 2019 is completely delusional. Given the talent above them in the division and the regression that is set to hit some of the well-performing players from this year, I think the Reds totally botched their approach, this season. That’s not to say they can’t improve in the ladder by 2020, but Harvey isn’t sure to re-sign nor is he all that good. Gennett could have brought in at least one decent prospect, and parting with one or two pieces of a stacked-bullpen could have done the same. I just don’t understand how they think they can win in less than five years, with their current squad in the NL Central.
A hands-on owner running roughshod over a baseball decision. That always works out well.
Don’t really get the love affair. I know Harvey hasn’t been the disaster he was for the Mets but when I look at his peripherals I see a pitcher just a tick Bellow mediocre.
The only way to convince yourself that Harvey is a keeper is if you only compare him to Homer Bailey. Otherwise I’m just not seeing what the FO is seeing when I look at him.
Oh Brewers you stupid, stupid team. Cain and Yelich were smart signings and as a Cubs fan I was like wow they are showing up this year. Every single thing since that point has been the wrong decision.
Good luck trying for a wild card guys and then oh yeah starting what “ace” in that game.
I’ll write u back from the 4th straight NLCS.
Yelich was a trade…
Wait until reality sets in that there are few, if any difference makers in their ML system. Others have already recognized it….they and their fans haven’t. This is as good as it gets for Milwaukee….and they’ve whiffed at improving. I know, I know….”they weren’t expecting to contend this year”. I hope they expect to contend next year and then see the regression that is in order….it will be funny. Again.
Castellini seriously needs to retire. This is almost as bad as when they held onto Cueto and Leake for too long, botched the Chapman situation and refused to trade Zack Cozart when the alternative was to lose him for nothing. If they really wanted to sign Harvey, trading him wouldn’t have stopped them.
I don’t see why the Reds would want to keep him, unless they think he’s starting to show leadership qualities and they want to keep him around. Their rotation isn’t good but it’s not like they’re in the hunt right now. Not sure why a 5 inning pitcher who sometimes gets lit up is considered valuable. Then again my Pirates traded off the farm for a 5 inning pitcher, yay.
The reason they keep him is because management has openly said that they want to compete next year. Most of us will disagree with them, however.
Not surprising that Harvey was pulled from waivers. If I’m the Reds’ GM, there’s no way I’m letting him go to a division rival. As for the Brewers, stick a fork in them. I don’t see them passing the Cardinals.