2:26pm: Both teams have announced the trade. Texas will also land $133K in international slot compensation in the deal, and it will pay half of Minor’s remaining salary, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets.
1:05pm: Texas will receive outfielder Marcus Smith and third baseman Dustin Harris, Levi Weaver of The Athletic reports. Both players were 2019 draft picks for the Athletics, who took Smith in the third round and Harris in the 11th. MLB.com ranked Smith as the A’s 22nd-best prospect before the trade.
11:32am: The Athletics have acquired left-hander Mike Minor from the division-rival Rangers for two players to be named later, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. The two players are prospects, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The 32-year-old Minor is only a season removed from serving as one of the American League’s most effective starters (he finished eighth in Cy Young voting), but 2020 hasn’t worked out according to plan. Minor has made seven starts this year and managed a dismal 5.60 ERA/4.83 FIP with 8.92 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 through 35 1/3 innings, all while experiencing a 2 mph drop in average fastball velocity compared to last season. His disappointing production is among the reasons the Rangers are just 12-21 and among the few teams in baseball that look to be completely out of the playoff race.
Now, considering the Rangers’ status as non-contenders, Minor’s prorated $9.83MM salary and his pending free agency, the team’s moving on from him. He wouldn’t have been in line for a qualifying offer because of this year’s poor output, so Texas took what it deemed as the best offer for Minor. We may not know the identities of the players the Rangers are getting for Minor for a while, as only those in teams’ 60-man pools are eligible to be dealt right now.
Meanwhile, the Athletics – owners of the AL’s second-best record (22-12) – are no doubt hoping Minor will return to his previous form in their uniform. He encouraged in his final Rangers start Friday with six shutout innings against the high-powered Dodgers, and will now join an A’s staff that has produced middle-of-the-road results thus far. Jesus Luzardo and Chris Bassitt have logged sub-4.00 ERAs this year; Sean Manaea has registered far better peripherals than run prevention numbers; and Frankie Montas, Mike Fiers and Daniel Mengden have struggled across a combined 15 starts.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Whoa
Interesting. Hopefully, Texas acquired good prospects that will help the team. Now, they could trade Lynn, Todd Frazier, possibly Chirinos, among others.
Players to be named later generally aren’t prospects worth talking about. I hope they got something useful for the future, but it doesn’t sound like a name that would be recognizable.
KidNova, Players to be named later are often dependent on how far a team goes into the post season.
The player to be named later for CC Sabathia was Michael Brantley. If the A’s win meaningful games, the player to be named later will likely be a better prospect.
PTBNL this year are any players not in the 60 man pool
I’ll hold out hope they got something good, but Brantley was the exception, not the norm. You never know though. I just don’t feel the A’s would give up much for a one month rental.
yeesh that kind of leaves it pretty open. Thinking about the Rangers, there are a number of guys that I don’t want to see leave not on our 60-man. I can only imagine what is on Oakland’s, could be lots of guys.
Kid… I’m just saying the better the results, the better the prospect.
We could be talking about stale bread vs moldy bread.
Fair enough. The names have been released now, An OF and 3B prospect. Apparently the Rangers still haven’t figured out that they desperately need starting pitching prospects, but maybe they’ll help that situation later today.
fantastic return for texas
Meh, maybe Oakland didn’t have any flyers we liked in the pitching department. This is the kind of kid I think our new ballpark will play well with. We need alley power and wheels, we are the second best running team in baseball, let’s be the best.
Yeah, looks like Smith has the makings of a good future center fielder. I hope he pans out. Not sure about Harris.
Wow
Hmm…seems like a minor upgrade. I wonder if it was a major haul for the Rangers…
Just stop
Ha!
Hahahahaha
Interested in what the return package would look like
Huh a trade that the padres didn’t make.
I saw this coming… but I was also hoping they might take on Odor for Davis
wow Philly should have jumped in at that point. must be some good PTBNL.
Now i dont think Mike Minor is Clevinger, but 2 PTBNL for Minor vs that massive haul…
Unless theres something else like draft pick players that arent eligible for trade thats awfully light
Minor’s a rental, just one month left in the contract and he’s not pitching well.
He’s signed through next year at 9.8M
Hes a FA at the end of the year
BBRef says he’s a free agent for 2021, no options.
Lynn has another year on his contract, Minor is a FA after this season.
5.40 ERA with about 5 starts left. He’s not bringing back anything of value.
That ‘massive’ haul is being reported by many outlets as quantity over quality.
Yea they got fleeced. Didn’t fill their biggest need
Yeah, just like how Michael Brantley was a minor piece in the C.C. Sabathia/ Matt Laporta trade when C.C. was a pending FA.
OK but who is the Michael Brantley type coming back to the tribe in the clev deal?
Also what did Brantley do for the tribe honestly… 9/10 times he was hurt and then they let him walk to the astros
Well, it could be Owen Miller, Arias, or Cantillo. Maybe Naylor and/or Quantrill develop into the players they were projected to become. Remember that Clevenger was not a big name as a minor leaguer either….some players develop a little later than others and some exceed expectations, like Brantley did. The Indians could end up with 2 above average starting pitchers, 3 starting infielders and a top notch defensive backup catcher…could also end up with 6 worthless players or anything in between. You can’t fairly judge a trade like this until at least 2 years have passed.
I was kinda confused about what the A’s would do, given that they’re first in the West. Moves like this are typical for them, acquiring players who are free agents after this season is over.
Minor for minor-leaguers?
Ok, there’s the first one. I will miss Minor, he liked Texas, and I though he did very well.
For two ptbnl??? Grab your pitchforks I’m coming for jd… Not even a named player it’s that insignificant
how much did you expect to get for a one month rental?
Isn’t he signed through next year?
no thats Lance Lynn.
Isnt he signed through next year?
No, he is a rental. Lynn is signed through next season.
Nope he’s a free agent. I am happy to get anything for him.
Two guys not in Oakland’s 60 man player pool.
Could be huge. Could be minimal.
Likely the latter.
Meh, PTBNL guys are sometimes pretty good just young, or they have high ceilings but with lost of questions. There have been some really crazy PTBNL guys. David Ortiz comes to mind.
Ranger fan here. Minor is useless to us. Free agent at the end of the year. In hindsight we should’ve dealt him in 2019 but wanted to try and contend this year (LOL).
It’s sad. So many things had to break right for them to have a shot, specifically Kluber returning to form, Gallo continuing his improvement from last season, and Odor doing ANYTHING. Unfortunately nothing as worked out this season aside from Lance Lynn’s performance. Blow it up, and give JD his walking papers.
Also a lot of people think the price has changed on Lynn… it hasn’t. the Indian got exactly what they want. long term pieces with major league experience and quality control i think the Rangers will do fine
The tribe got fleeced. Yea they got alot of bodies but failed to get the great outfield bat they need
Most, if not all of their more intriguing prospects are already at the alternate site, so if they’re not getting one of those…
Jordan Diaz.
The A’s have a logjam of solid prospects in the AA/AAA range. I’m a little surprised they didn’t try to unload some of those.
Ahh yes! Almost forgot about him!
That’ll put’em over the top!
Solid. Likely they didn’t give up much. If anyone can get him back to pitching more like his career average it’s the A’s
Kinda figured something like this was going to go down after the Eickhoff signing.
Picked the wrong alliteratively named starting pitcher from the rangers to trade for.
Could’ve gotten way more last season JD. Thanks for that.
Yup I’m ready to call for his head. But this is his track record. He kept profar, has kept Gallo, and minor just to name a few. All could have been traded for much more (assuming he messes up if/when he trades Gallo)
I’m fine keeping Gallo. Still lots of control there and we should be able to lock up a good contract for him. So he’ll still be very tradable in the future. Minor made no damn sense. We weren’t good last year and his value was sky high.
He just really needs to go… He’s had some good signings I guess but most were bad. And trades he got fleeced most times. How many chances does this man get? He totally screwed the off-season after telling everyone that we were going to finally spend that money and get good players… That should have been his last day as gm
I partially agree, but Minor really liked it here and wanted to stay and I can see the ownership saying “put a good team on the field for the new stadium.” This year it feels different, I think they have finally realized the halfhearted swipe at a rebuild didn’t really work. We are still hurting from all of those trades during the world series and constant playoff runs. It just took it’s toll on the farm.
If they wanted a good team on the field, they would have opened the bank for free agents… How many 3b did we miss out on and had to settle for Todd Frazier. I know not all of those options were free agents but how bad did they want to put a good team on the field when the best thing they got was kluber. I understand he was a good investment on paper, but if they let him go after this year, and classee becomes good, then add it to the loss column.
I’m incredibly glad that they didn’t! A big free agent signing at the wrong time can hamstring a franchise. How different would this conversation be if all the rotation injuries/ poor performance had still happened and they had made a huge investment in a 3B, and they played in LA, with the best player in the world, and still couldn’t win games… cough* cough.* Honestly I am with you, if it’s time for JD to go, fine. But all things considered I think things have worked out pretty well for us. JD dodged some landmines with Arenado and Rendon, lets be happy about that.
Yea angels should have gone after pitching. But their fans should know that yes this season is lost for them due to injuries but next year if they go after pitching and recover from injuries I think they will be scary.
In some ways I see what you’re sayin about dodging a landmine. It’s just sad to have a shiny new stadium and a crap team playing in it. they at least need to save face and bring kluber back. Maybe then there will be something worth watching next year. Trade Lynn if you must but at least bring kluber back.
Going into the season, everyone was saying the A’s had great pitching. Well, almost everyone.
Fiers, Lazardo, Puk, Montas and Manenea. Bassit was an afterthought. Young pitching is hard to develop. I’m not surprised they have had their share of setbacks.
What the A’s have done incredibly well, where the Angels stumble year after year after year and have shown to be utterly incompetent is Relief Pitching.
The rangers are the opposite. We can’t find starters in house, but man can we develop fireballers out of the pen. That’s why I could care less about Clase for Kluber, we have Montero, J Rod, Hernandez and Garcia and Hearn right behind him.
Chris44
I’ve always loved that 72 Rangers logo.
Yeah me too, ironically almost 2 decades before I was born but whatever I can be retro haha!
I remember listening to their very first game. Of course it was against the Angels, and he Angels won in a walk off.
Good times.
Interesting… Wonder who the ptbnl are and what the reasoning is to be named later…
You have to be on the 60 man roster right now to be named in a trade. It’s probably just low level prospects that aren’t rostered.
The players the Rangers got for Mike Minor are so bad that they can’t even be named to avoid embarrassing Jon Daniels…
Yup exactly
I like it. Now braves please get some other starter besides tommy milone
We need 2 other starters. I’m predicting Bundy as one.. and I bet we way overpay… like giving up a Waters for him. Idk if we’ll get a 2nd starter, but I’m not sure who it would be. Maybe Gonzalez from the Mariners, or Musgrove from the pirates? Idk be happy with those. I’d be delighted if we someone have those guys and still have Pache and Waters come tomorrow
Marco Gonzalez would tickle my jollies
if Puason or Soderstrom isnt one of the 2 PTBNL The rangers managed to sell at the absolute bottom of Minor’s value. He was a solid arm in 2018/2019 and hes signed under 10M/yr through next year.
Yeah you’re not gonna get two prospects that will be on the top 100 soon for 5 starts from a guy with a 5.40 ERA.
My mistake i thought he had another option year on his contract.
No Mike Minor is a true one month rental. Not sure who the PTBNL will be but its still fine for the Rangers.
hes a free agent after the current season..
The A’s are really trying to win a playoff series this year.
Didn’t see this one coming. For two ptbnl means two players not currently on their 60 man player pool. Interesting because I thought Texas would have gotten more than that.
Why? He only has a month left on his contract. I am totally fine with this. PTBNL guys can be high lottery picks or super young guys that you wait 5 years on, this is fine as far as I am concerned.
I was predicting minor to be a Braves. Minor miss on my part :). But no seriously… I did
PTBN are probably guys outside the 60 man player pool. Remember only people in the pool are eligible to be traded right now. Rangers fans who want JD’s head need to calm the heck down.
It really isn’t gonna be much. This is likely guys in our 10-30 range prospects going back.
Would Buelvas and Baum be too high an ask here?
No it wouldn’t.
Would have loved to see Dustin Fowler get a change of scenery, Texas would have been a great landing spot. But PTBNL means he’s not in the deal.
After this theyre definitely going to move Lynn so that they can capitalize on his value at peak.
Not saying these PTBNL aren’t going to have any value, but hindsight 20/20 they should have moved Minor earlier when his value was higher and that’s going to impact their desire to get a Lynn deal done.
JD has sucked at making trades that involves rebuilding…..he constantly has this mindset that if he puts mediocre talent on the field that they will always catch lightning in a bottle instead of just breaking down the team and doing a complete rebuild . I’m so sick of it, I was saying at last years deadly they NEED to trade Minor while his value was at an all time high and yet here we are. He needs to be replaced, he can’t face the facts that this team needs a full on rebuild and without it they will never be a true contending team
Say it again for the people in the back 🙂
I don’t know if it’s JD or ownership that can’t face these facts, but either way a new approach is needed. JD should get his pink slip after this season.
Amen
I thought that there would be a lot more small deals, like a rental player for a smaller PTBNL by this time today, but we’ve only seen 2 trades today. Hopefully we see some more movement in the next 3 hours.
Marcus Smith and Lazaro Armenteros is my guess for the ptbnl.
1/2 right
Dang good call, Smith looks promising. Probably 4th outfielder material someday. Hard to tell with a 19 yearold.
Who is going to be the next Mike to be traded today?
A;’s Billy Beane is the master of all trades. This one can turn around nicely for Oakland with 2 Minor value prospects going to the Rangers…
As a longtime A’s supporter, I think your take on Beane is wrong. If you look at his trade history, it’s actually pretty horrible. We’ve gotten some good value from other team’s scrap heaps, and some good “one & done” productive players, but the rest? Blah! And god forbid we trade real assets, as those have backfired for as far back as I can remember. Other than Luzardo, and that was sheer luck. Take a risk on enough guys with arm problems, you’re bound to get lucky eventually (Karsay, Harden, Hahn, Parker, Kaprelian, et al).
Semien/Bassitt for 1 season of Samardzija, 3 years of Lowrie for a guy who quit baseball because of meth, Canha rule 5, Laureano because Houston was gonna lose him in rule 5, Hendricks for 1 year of Jesse Chavez, Piscotty for a couple lottery tickets, Montas for 2 months of Hill/Reddick. And that’s just off the top of my head in recent years.
He might whiff on some trades, but to pretend he’s actually bad at this is ridiculous.
What the heck happened to Montas? He started out the season solid, but has crapped the bed in his last three starts?
A’s are going for it this year.
I think there is an injury here that isn’t being disclosed. His go to pitch last year and early this year was his split-finger, and I haven’t seen it much in the last 3 starts. I’m wondering if the neck/back injury is actually a disc, and it hurts too much to throw that pitch. Without it, they just sit on the fastball, which is what has happened the past 3 starts.
great job by the Rangers. good young players who are raw but have potential
Should of traded him last year. Could of gotten a decent prospect haul for him. Hopefully they move Lynn next and then trade Gallo in the offseason.
I think the prospects you got are both pretty solid for a one month rental of a pitcher that has been pretty terrible this year. Both of these kids raked last year in rookie ball, both 2019 draft picks and young. For Minor, I think the best Daniels was going to get would be those “lottery tickets” that Billy Beane always loves but never seem to pan out for him. Hopefully, once of these kids will be a regular down the line for Texas.
Jon Daniels, what deal with the devil did this guy make to have a job as a GM? As a Rangers fan, it just seems like it’s his mission to destroy the teams ability to compete
Exactly. Glad I’m not the only one that thinks he needs to go