- Speaking of long-term injury absences, Max Muncy has been out since mid-May with a lingering oblique strain, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told media (including MLB.com) that Muncy is set to take part in a simulated game on August 8. According to Roberts, a visit with a chiropractor helped Muncy finally have a “breakthrough” in overcoming the ongoing discomfort in his oblique. Muncy’s return can’t come soon enough for the injury-riddled Dodgers, as the third baseman was posting his usual solid numbers — nine homers and a .223/.323/.475 — over his first 167 plate appearances of 2024.
Dodgers Rumors
White Sox Claim Gus Varland From Dodgers
The White Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Gus Varland off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. The righty was recently designated for assignment in the wake of the Dodgers making multiple deals ahead of the trade deadline. The Sox had three open roster spots from their own trades and their 40-man roster count now jumps to 38.
Varland, now 27, was able to make his major league debut with the Brewers last year after that club took him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. But he allowed 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings and was sent back to the Dodgers in late May.
The Dodgers selected him to their 40-man roster in August of last year but he has mostly been on optional assignment since then. He made eight major league appearances for the Dodgers last year and seven more this year. Between those and his time with the Brewers, he has a 5.81 earned run average in 26 1/3 innings with a 17.3% strikeout rate, 15% walk rate and 46.5% ground ball rate.
The Sox are surely more interested in his Triple-A output. Last year, he logged 33 1/3 innings for Triple Oklahoma City with a 2.16 ERA while striking out 29.3% of opponents and giving out walks just 6% of the time. This year, the results haven’t been as nice, but with a lot of bad luck. In 32 2/3 innings at Triple-A in 2024, he has a .372 batting average on balls in play and 18.5% home run per flyball rate, which undoubtedly helped produce his 53.1% strand rate. The 7.99 ERA isn’t pretty but his 23.8% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 44.3% ground ball rate are all decent metrics.
The Sox already had one of the weaker pitching staffs in the league and just subtracted from it by trading away Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tanner Banks prior to the deadline. By claiming Varland, they can fill in some of the lost depth with potential benefits down the line. Varland still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, making him a potential long-term play if things break right for him.
MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
- The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
- The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
- The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
- The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
- The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
- Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
- The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
- The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
- The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
- The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
- The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)
Check out our past episodes!
- Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
- Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
- Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Harris: Tigers Were Never Close To Trading Skubal
Throughout the month of July, Tarik Skubal’s name frequently surfaced in reports of teams eyeing rotation upgrades. He was widely considered to be a long-shot trade candidate, at best — we listed him 50th on our Top 50 trade candidate list, noting his unrivaled ability to impact a new club but also the Tigers’ unwillingness to move him — but it seemed as though teams might still try to blow the Tigers out of the water as the deadline drew nearer.
Perhaps other clubs indeed hoped to be able to do so, but Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris made clear in his post-deadline comments that Skubal was never on the cusp of moving. At a press conference to discuss the trades of Jack Flaherty, Mark Canha, Andrew Chafin and Carson Kelly, Harris was asked how close he came to trading Skubal, the presumptive Cy Young front-runner in the American League.
“Not close,” Harris said without hesitation (video link via WXYZ Detroit sports director Brad Galli). “There were a lot of rumors that floated out there. There are a lot of ’unconfirmed reports’ that are just totally inaccurate. We never came close to trading Skubal.”
Harris declined to comment on whether there was ever any temptation or an offer that made him consider the possibility. However, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers, who naturally had strong interest in Skubal, came away with the impression that the left-hander wasn’t available “in any scenario,” writing that one source indicated Detroit “wouldn’t talk about Skubal at all.”
On the one hand, it’s easy to shrug comments and reports along these lines off as irrelevant. What’s done is done, and Skubal is a Tiger. Nothing will change that for the time being. On the other hand, it also offers a potential glimpse into the offseason and the future. Had the Tigers been legitimately entertaining Skubal offers but simply not found an offer to their liking, he’d stand as a logical offseason trade candidate. But with Detroit’s ostensible refusal to even engage in discussions on him, it becomes all the more difficult to envision a scenario where Skubal is genuinely available this winter. If the Tigers wouldn’t even discuss him in July, when the return would theoretically be even higher, there’s little reason to think they’d give strong consideration to trading him a few months from now.
Asked whether the decision to hang onto Skubal, who’s only controlled for two additional seasons, was an indicator that Detroit would be aggressive in its offseason free agent and trade pursuits, Harris sidestepped and said his focus for now is the final two months of the season.
“It’s July right now,” said Harris. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this year. … We have a lot of young players in the big leagues who need to get a whole lot better. I think you guys are seeing some flashes of it. I think when you see some of these players, what they looked like in April and now what they look like in July, it’s a good example of what we can be as an organization. But we can’t just start looking into the winter right now. We have a lot of work to do in August and September to make sure the players on this and the players that are going to impact this team in the second half are coming up and getting better. That’s where our focus is right now.”
Yankees Reportedly “Backed Out” Of Jack Flaherty Trade Following Medical Review
The Yankees and Tigers had a “preliminary” trade agreement in place that would’ve sent right-hander Jack Flaherty to New York prior to the trade deadline earlier today, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, but the Yankees ultimately pulled the plug on the deal after reviewing the right-hander’s medical records. It’s not clear what the Yankees would’ve traded to Detroit to acquire Flaherty had the deal gone through. The righty, of course, ended up traded to the Dodgers just before the deadline.
Flaherty, 28, was long expected to be one of the most coveted starters on the market this summer after a sensational start to the season with Detroit where he delivered a 2.95 ERA and 3.11 FIP through eighteen starts. He hasn’t been fully healthy this year, however, as he skipped a start due to back discomfort early this month. He’s looked good with a 1.53 ERA and 18 strikeouts in three starts since then, but evidently the Yankees nonetheless had concerns after reviewing his medicals. The club was rumored to be in “extensive trade talks” with the Tigers after Detroit scratched the righty from his scheduled start yesterday, but ultimately no deal came together.
It’s not necessarily a surprise that New York would be somewhat gunshy about the possibility of trading for an injured pitchers. As Rosenthal notes, the club traded for right-hander Frankie Montas in a deal with the A’s at the 2022 trade deadline despite lingering concerns about his shoulder, and Montas ended up struggling in a brief stint with the club before undergoing surgery. Given the fact that the Yankees reportedly planned to shop southpaw Nestor Cortes before the deadline in the event that they landed Flaherty, it would’ve been a substantial risk for the club to deal away an established arm to make room for a pitcher who they had some level of injury concern about. The Yankees instead focused their attention on the bullpen today, shipping out lefty Caleb Ferguson while adding righties Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos.
By contrast, the Dodgers have a deep staff of internal rotation options led by Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw with even more arms like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler expected back from the IL later this year. Given the club’s deep group of starters, it’s understandable why they’d be willing to stomach injury risk in acquiring a rental arm like Flaherty. The addition of Flaherty was paired with the addition of center fielder Kevin Kiermaier in a deal with the Blue Jays today to bolster the club’s depth after the Dodgers added Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech in a three-team trade yesterday, as well as infielder Amed Rosario in a separate deal.
According to Rosenthal, word spread around the league that the Yankees had concerns regarding Flaherty’s medicals in the run-up to the deadline, although the only other team to actually see those medicals for themselves was the Dodgers. It’s unclear to what extent other offers for Flaherty’s services were impacted by concerns coming out of the Bronx about his medicals, though it’s worth noting that Jon Heyman of the New York Post highlighted the Red Sox alongside the Dodgers and Yankees as among the teams known to have interest in Flaherty. Boston’s only established starting pitching acquisition ended up being DFA’d veteran James Paxton as they instead opted to shore up their bullpen with Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia alongside the addition of a young, unproven potential starter in Quinn Priester.
Dodgers Designate Nick Ramirez, Gus Varland For Assignment
After a busy deadline day, the Dodgers cleared some space on the 40-man roster by designating left-hander Nick Ramirez and right-hander Gus Varland for assignment. Ramirez has previously been outrighted in his career, so if he clears waivers, he can opt to reject another outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Ramirez came to L.A. in a trade from the Yankees back in early April, and he has a 6.35 ERA over 11 1/3 innings this season amidst several trips back and forth from the majors and Triple-A Oklahoma City. Because he has been recalled the maximum five times from the minors, Ramirez no longer be sent down again without first clearing outright waivers, so the Dodgers may be parting ways entirely by simply pursuing a DFA route.
Over 162 2/3 innings in parts of five Major League seasons, Ramirez has a 4.20 ERA, a 47% grounder rate, 18.5% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate. He has been a pretty durable reliever capable of pitching more than one inning, and his big league tenure was highlighted by a 2.66 ERA over 40 2/3 IP with New York last season.
Varland is in his second MLB season, and he has also been a frequent visitor on the Triple-A shuttle though he hasn’t hit his maximum number of recalls. The righty has made seven appearances and posted a 3.00 ERA in six relief innings for Los Angeles, though with more walks (four) than strikeouts (three) in that small sample size. A member of the Dodgers organization since 2021, Varland briefly went to the Brewers via the Rule 5 Draft in 2023 and he made his big league debut in a Brewers uniform, but Milwaukee returned him to Los Angeles later in the season.
With the trade deadline now passed, either pitcher could have an increased chance at being claimed off waivers, as teams can now no longer freely pursue trades in order to add new arms to their depth charts. Ramirez in particular might have extra appeal as a left-hander, which could make him more apt to elect free agency should he clear waivers.
Dodgers Acquire Jack Flaherty
The Dodgers and Tigers are in agreement on a trade sending right-hander Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. The Tigers will receive catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo and shortstop Trey Sweeney, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. The Dodgers have now officially announced the trade.
After much speculation, the Dodgers add the best pitcher to be traded at the 2024 deadline. Flaherty, 29 in October, sports a 2.95 ERA in 18 starts this year. Among pitchers with at least 100 innings, his 32 K% ranks fifth in all of baseball. He’s also trimmed his walk rate to a career-best 4.6%.
A first-round pick by the Cardinals out of high school a decade ago, Flaherty earned a fifth-place Rookie of the Year finish in 2018. He followed that up by finishing fourth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2019, capped by a run of 16 starts in which he had a 0.93 ERA.
After stumbling in the shortened COVID season, Flaherty was limited to 78 1/3 innings in 2021 due to oblique and shoulder strains. The shoulder issues persisted into 2022, a season in which Flaherty pitched just 36 innings.
Flaherty avoided the IL last year, but was ineffective for the Cardinals and was shipped to the Orioles in a deadline trade. His struggles in Baltimore were enough that the club moved him to the bullpen before the end of the season.
Seeking to rebuild his value and re-enter free agency, Flaherty inked a one-year, $14MM deal with the Tigers last December. He missed a few starts due to back pain, but otherwise Flaherty has been an ace for the Tigers. At seven games out in the wild card, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris opted for a pair of prospects from the Dodgers rather than a qualifying offer and draft pick compensation.
With Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the IL for a triceps injury, the Dodgers sought a front of the rotation arm to pair with Tyler Glasnow. They may have it in Flaherty, and the club also saw Clayton Kershaw make his season debut last week. Righty Gavin Stone, who opened the season as the Dodgers’ fifth starter, has been a mainstay all year. Yamamoto may yet return, while Walker Buehler is currently on a rehab assignment for hip inflammation. Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and Emmet Sheehan are all out for the season, pushing rookies Justin Wrobleski and River Ryan into the Dodgers’ rotation. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman shipped veteran starter James Paxton to the Red Sox last week.
The Dodgers, who also added Kevin Kiermaier, Amed Rosario, Tommy Edman, and Michael Kopech in recent trades, sought an impact arm this month and were also linked to Garrett Crochet of the White Sox. Crochet, who was not ultimately traded, would’ve fit better with the Dodgers’ hefty payroll, but his October availability was in question. Flaherty has about $4.67MM left on his contract this year, on which the Dodgers will pay a 110% tax.
The Dodgers had three prospects on Baseball America’s recent top 100 list, and none of them were required to rent Flaherty from the Tigers for the remainder of the season.
Liranzo, 21, has split his time between catcher and first base for the High-A Great Lakes Loons this year. He’s got a 106 wRC+ in 314 plate appearances this year after raking in A-ball last year. Liranzo represented the Dodgers at the Futures Game earlier this month. MLB.com assigned Liranzo a 50 grade, calling him “one of the best young catching prospects in baseball.” Prior to the season, Baseball America also assigned a 50 grade to the switch-hitting Liranzo, saying he “projects to be an average defender overall” with above-average power and a below-average hit tool.
Sweeney, 24, was drafted 20th overall by the Yankees back in 2021 and was sent to the Dodgers last December in a deal for reliever Victor Gonzalez. As Oklahoma City’s shortstop, Sweeney has an 87 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League this year. MLB.com gave him a 45 grade, noting that he has “stayed at shortstop longer than most scouts expected.” BA also put a 45 on Sweeney prior to the season, saying he “has the ceiling of a second-division shortstop.”
Projecting prospects is tricky business, which is why I defer to the experts. But compared to the returns for Trevor Rogers and Yusei Kikuchi, the Tigers’ side of this trade feels underwhelming. At any rate, the first-place Dodgers have significantly bolstered their rotation as they look to return to the World Series for the first time in four years.
The Tigers’ rotation now features little beyond Cy Young frontrunner Tarik Skubal, with Reese Olson on the IL with a shoulder injury. The Tigers seemingly never got close to trading Skubal, though they did move veterans Mark Canha, Andrew Chafin, and Carson Kelly along with Flaherty in the last two days.
Dodgers Acquire Kevin Kiermaier
The Dodgers acquired Kevin Kiermaier and cash considerations from the Blue Jays for lefty reliever Ryan Yarbrough. Toronto is reportedly paying down $1.66MM of Kiermaier’s remaining salary.
Kiermaier, 34, is in the midst of a thoroughly disappointing season, batting .195 with a .546 OPS. While his defense in the outfield has been stellar as always (10 OAA, 9 DRS), it has not been enough to make up for his career-worst offensive numbers. He has been worth just 0.2 Wins Above Replacement according to FanGraphs. The four-time Gold Glove winner went unclaimed on waivers earlier this month, with no team willing to claim him and take the remaining portion of his $10.5MM salary off of the Blue Jays’ books. Now, however, just over two weeks later, the Jays found a club willing to take Kiermaier off their hands, and they got a left-handed long-man for the bullpen in return.
The Dodgers have not gotten much production from the center field position this year, ranking 27th in OPS and wRC+ and dead last in FanGraphs WAR. James Outman has struggled to replicate his success from his excellent rookie season in 2023, while top prospect Andy Pages has underwhelmed at the plate (.675 OPS, 92 wRC+) and in the field (-8 DRS, -1 OAA). Kiermaier won’t help the offense, but he will be a terrific defensive replacement off the bench. What’s more, if there is any team that can put up with his bat in the starting lineup on occasion, it’s the Dodgers, who lead the NL in OPS and wRC+ despite mediocre production from center field all season.
Kiermaier has already announced his intention to retire following the 2024 campaign. Joining the powerhouse Dodgers will give him one more chance to compete for a World Series championship, an accomplishment that has eluded him throughout his 12-year career with the Rays and Blue Jays. Kiermaier went 7-for-19 with a 1.137 OPS in the 2020 World Series, but despite his efforts, the Rays fell to the Dodgers in six games.
As for the Blue Jays, they have elite defender Daulton Varsho to slide into center field, and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that lefty batting outfielder/first baseman Joey Loperfido, acquired from the Astros in the Yusei Kikuchi deal, will take Kiermaier’s spot on the active roster. Presumably, Loperfido will take over from Varsho in left field, at least in games with a right-handed starting pitcher. Meanwhile, Yarbrough should slot in as a reinforcement for a Blue Jays bullpen that has lost several contributors in recent days, including Yimi García, Trevor Richards, and Nate Pearson. Toronto may be out of contention this year, but the team still needs live arms to get through the season.
Yarbrough, 32, was designated for assignment by the Dodgers on Monday. While his 3.74 ERA this season is respectable, he has the lowest strikeout rate (13.9%) and the highest walk rate (8.9%) of his career. His 4.98 SIERA would also be a career-worst. That said, his ability to pitch multiple innings and his recent work as a starter (he started nine games in 2023, nine in 2022, and 21 in 2021) will make him an asset for a last-place Blue Jays team that is simply looking to get through the rest of the season without further embarrassment. Like Kiermaier, Yarbrough will be a free agent at the end of the year.
Robert Murray of FanSided reported the Dodgers and Jays were swapping Kiermaier and Yarbrough. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reported the cash considerations.
Garrett Crochet Rumors: Deadline Day
White Sox ace Garrett Crochet has been the hottest name on the trade market this month, both because of the Sox’ own failed attempt to extend him and because his camp has since indicated that the left-hander wants an extension before pitching in October for a new club. Crochet’s 114 1/3 innings this season have already eclipsed his prior career total. He’s said to be against a move to the bullpen, believing that staying on a starter’s routine is best for his health, and aiming for financial security before pushing his workload even deeper into postseason waters.
It’s rubbed many fans the wrong way to see such a business-like approach, and it’s taken many in the industry aback — White Sox GM Chris Getz included, apparently. Via Sox Machine’s James Fegan, Getz spoke with reporters yesterday and acknowledged that he was “surprised and taken back” by how Crochet’s camp handled the situation, particularly as he’d had a conversation with the left-hander’s agent at CAA just the night before.
“I think most fans and even players without knowing everything, it makes sense,” said Getz. “We understand why a stance would be taken. Now how you go about expressing that is what was a bit hurtful, quite honestly, considering I felt like we could have handled it a little bit differently and still I think everyone accomplished what they wanted to accomplish. … But Garrett and I are fine, we are good. I’ll continue to be one of his top supporters. In regard to how it affects the coming days, tough to tell.”
We’ll round up today’s Crochet chatter here and break out any major developments into their own posts…
- USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the White Sox have become increasingly optimistic that they’ll find someone to meet their asking price on Crochet even in the wake of his extension revelation. Per Nightengale, the Sox believe that they’ll trade Crochet between now and the 5:00pm CT deadline but expect to hang onto center fielder Luis Robert Jr. — as was reported to be the case regarding Robert just last night.
- Both Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Bruce Levine of 670 The Score suggest that Crochet’s market remains strong. Rosenthal lists the Padres, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, Red Sox and Orioles as teams with varying levels of interest. Levine echoes much of that same list and quotes an executive from a rival AL club stating the relative obvious: “You don’t get a chance to find a top pitcher like that often. You must get creative.”
- The Yankees inquired on Crochet at some point but were told in those initial talks that the two parties “didn’t match up” in a trade, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Yankees could always revisit talks, particularly with so many alternative rotation options off the board. New York has been tied to Tigers righty Jack Flaherty as well, and the Yankees are seeking a rotation upgrade as they simultaneously explore the possibility of moving Nestor Cortes in a separate deal.
Dodgers Notes: Duran, Kikuchi
- The Dodgers inquired about Jhoan Duran’s availability but couldn’t find a match with the Twins, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports (links to X). Unsurprisingly, Minnesota wanted a ton in exchange for a closer who is controlled through the 2027 season, and Hayes writes that the Twins are specifically looking for players who can help them win immediately. Los Angeles, by contrast, was only interested in moving prospects rather than MLB-ready talent. As it happened, the Dodgers did move one young player with big league experience as part of a larger trade to obtain relief pitching today, as Miguel Vargas and two prospects were sent to the White Sox as part of the three-team deal with the Sox and Cardinals that brought Michael Kopech and Tommy Edman to Los Angeles.
- Before the Blue Jays traded Yusei Kikuchi to the Astros earlier tonight, the Dodgers and Padres were among the teams showing interest in the left-hander, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (X link). Both NL West teams are known to be looking for starting pitching help, and it’s probably safe to assume that basically any club with rotation needs at least called the Jays about a clear trade candidate like Kikuchi.
