Pirates Could Move On From Jung Ho Kang
With the Pirates out of playoff contention and infielder Jung Ho Kang in the throes of an awful season, his time with the organization may be nearing an end. Kang’s Pirates tenure could expire as soon as shortstop Erik Gonzalez comes off the injured list on Aug. 6, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic observes (subscription link).
General manager Neal Huntington admitted Wednesday that it’s “valid” to question Kang’s status with the organization, adding, “It’s a conversation we need to have as a group now that the trade deadline has come and gone.”
Manager Clint Hurdle even acknowledged it’s difficult to give playing time to a hitter whose “bat has not shown up as (much as) we were hoping to get.” Hurdle further noted, “There’s been a lot of swing and miss,” which is true. Kang swung and miss in 8.7 percent of plate appearances from 2015-18, but the number has skyrocketed to 16.0 this season. At the same time, after Kang struck out in 21.2 percent of PA during his first few years as a Pirate, he’s up to an unappealing 32.4 in 2019. The production has been abysmal as a result, with the previously impressive Kang having slashed a miserable .169/.222/.395 (56 wRC+) in 185 trips to the plate despite showing quite a bit of power (10 home runs, .227 ISO).
The fact that Kang’s only 15 PA from earning $625K in incentives could be important to the low-budget Pirates, Biertempfel points out. Kang would also earn an additional $625K by reaching 300, 400 and 500 plate trips. However, those look like unrealistic goals for Kang, who entered the season as the Pirates’ starting third baseman but has since faded into the background behind Colin Moran. Meanwhile, Kevin Newman‘s locking down shortstop – Kang’s secondary position – leaving no obvious spot for the veteran. He could become even less necessary to out-of-contention Pittsburgh with the return of Gonzalez, an offseason acquisition who hasn’t played since April 19 on account of clavicle and hamstring injuries.
Re-signing Kang was also part of the offseason business for the Pirates, who brought him back on a $3MM guarantee after turning down a $5.5MM club option. To this point, the team has stuck with Kang through worse ordeals than lousy on-field output. Kang, whom the Pirates signed out of Korea entering the 2015 season, was accused of sexual assault in 2016 (though criminal charges were never filed). He then missed all of 2017 and almost the entirety of last season because he had trouble acquiring a visa in the wake of his third DUI arrest in his homeland.
Kang was outstanding on the field before he sat out nearly two full years. But with his effectiveness having waned to a significant extent in 2019, it appears Kang’s finally about to run out of rope with the Pirates.
How The Astros Landed Zack Greinke
Just when it seemed like the 2019 trade deadline has passed without any truly major transactions, a blockbuster deal between the Astros and Diamondbacks shook things up when details emerged of the swap shortly after 3pm CT yesterday. The Astros landed one of baseball’s top arms in Zack Greinke (and also $24MM of the roughly $77MM owed to Greinke through 2021), while trading away four interesting prospects in right-handers Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas, first baseman Seth Beer and infielder Joshua Rojas.
The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (subscription required), ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan, and the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome all provided some of the details that led up to the trade, including the fact that Astros GM Jeff Luhnow didn’t get in touch with the D’Backs about Greinke until the day before the deadline. Arizona GM Mike Hazen and his front office wanted four prospects for Greinke and didn’t move from those demands, despite some counters from the Astros. Talks didn’t pick up again until around 35 minutes before the deadline.
“At the end of the day, that was the deal they insisted on, and that was the only deal that was going to get done, and we conceded at the last moment,” Luhnow said in a conference call with Rome and other media members.
It could be that the Astros were willing to bend on the Diamondbacks’ ask since Arizona may have been one of the few teams that didn’t try to pry away Kyle Tucker or Forrest Whitley, Houston’s top two prospects. Luhnow told rival clubs that Tucker and Whitley were “off limits” — the Tigers and Mets are two of the teams known to have asked about Tucker, in discussions around Matt Boyd and Noah Syndergaard.
Also, as Passan writes, “it dawned on the Astros: No one else was doing anything” on deadline day. The biggest moves for starting pitching were driven by teams that weren’t really contenders in 2019, namely the Reds’ acquisition of Trevor Bauer and the Mets’ acquisition of Marcus Stroman. With teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers having quiet deadlines and other top teams like the Nationals, Twins, and Braves focusing on bullpen moves, Houston felt a Greinke trade would make an even bigger splash than usual due to the relative lack of activity from other World Series challengers.
Speaking of the Mets’ Stroman deal, that surprise trade served as something of a catalyst for the Greinke trade, Passan notes. The Astros had interest in Stroman themselves, and once the right-hander went elsewhere, it broadened Houston’s search into other potentially available arms, including Greinke.
From the Diamondbacks’ perspective, a Greinke deal wasn’t a priority for Hazen, despite constant speculation over the last several years that Greinke’s large contract was simply too much of a burden on the Snakes’ payroll. When the Astros were agreeable to Arizona’s asking price, however, Hazen got the go-ahead from D’Backs owner Ken Kendrick and team president/CEO Derrick Hall.
“This was how the deal came together,” Hazen said. “I think we anticipated, as we’ve gone through the last few weeks, if we were going to get any sizable amount of talent in return that there was going to have to be some compromise financially. That talent return was extremely important to us. We would never have considered trading Zack Greinke without talent (coming back). That would have been a nonstarter.”
With the Greinke trade coming down to the final few minutes before the deadline, the D’Backs were simultaneously in a scramble to replace him in the rotation with another veteran arm in Mike Leake. Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including MLB.com’s Greg Johns) yesterday that the Leake trade was finalized with only 68 seconds remaining before the 3pm deadline.
“Human beings are notoriously bad when deadlines are imposed….For some reason, we don’t ever get to work until there are 20 minutes to go. This was a big one to be tackling with 20 minutes to go,” Hazen joked about the two trades.
Mike Rizzo: Luxury Tax Somewhat “Limited” Nationals At Deadline
Washington acquired three relief pitchers – Daniel Hudson, Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland – prior to Wednesday’s trade deadline, but the club also attempted to bolster its starting staff before then. While the Nationals “were engaged on a starting pitcher Tuesday night,” the other team bowed out of talks, Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post reports. The Nats were in the mix for a No. 5-caliber starter, and had they landed him, they wouldn’t have come away with as many relievers as they did, according to Svrluga.
As expected, the competitive balance tax was a concern for the Nationals as they tried to improve in advance of the deadline, Svrluga writes. The Nationals entered the season reluctant to exceed the $206MM tax, which would’ve meant shelling out a 50 percent surtax for every dollar spent over that figure. Even after the acquisitions of Hudson, Elias and Strickland, they’re at just under $204MM, Jason Martinez of Roster Resource and FanGraphs estimates. Consequently, after exceeding the tax for two straight years, the Nationals are in position to stay below it this season. They paid $2,386,097 for going over the barrier in 2018.
It’s highly debatable whether the Nationals should have been so bent on steering clear of the tax this year. After all, as Svrluga notes, what’s a couple million more for a team spending upward of $200MM on players? But it was nonetheless important for the Nationals, who are slated to reset the tax by avoiding it this season. General manager Mike Rizzo did admit, though, that “it limited us to an extent.”
While Rizzo was seemingly able to improve a bullpen that has been problematic all season, he wasn’t able to address a rotation with concerns of its own. All-world ace Max Scherzer just landed on the injured list Monday for the second time in the past few weeks because of back/shoulder troubles, leaving Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez as the only established pieces in the Nationals’ rotation right now. Erick Fedde and Joe Ross, both unproven at the major league level, are filling out the group at the moment. The Nationals (57-51) are tied for the NL’s second wild-card spot, but we’ll see whether their insistence on dodging the tax comes back to haunt them before the season ends.
Mariners Sign Brian Ellington To Minors Deal
The Mariners have signed right-hander Brian Ellington to a minor league contract. The news was announced by the independent American Association (Twitter link), as Ellington had been pitching for the league’s Kansas City T-Bones since being released from a previous minor league deal with the Red Sox back in June.
Ellington tossed 102 2/3 innings out of the Marlins’ bullpen from 2015-17, though after posting some good numbers in the first two of those seasons, his ERA ballooned to 7.25 (thanks in large part to a 7.1 BB/9 and 1.4 HR/9) over 44 2/3 frames in 2017. The righty hasn’t been back in the majors since, after spending an injury-shortened season in the Diamondbacks’ farm system and then tossing 19 combined innings for Boston’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates this year.
Originally a 16th-round pick for the Marlins in 2012, Ellington’s 2017 struggles were a magnified version of the control issues he has battled for much of his career, as he has a 5.6 BB/9 over 275 1/3 career minor league innings. Those free passes come with a lot of missed bats (10.4 K/9) and some decent run prevention (3.96 ERA), though the home run problem was a new one, as Ellington has only an 0.5 HR/9 over his minor league career. Ellington could still have some upside the Mariners could yet unlock, though at worst he’ll be a depth reliever at Triple-A.
Diamondbacks Have Considered Nevada Relocation
The Diamondbacks were at least considering relocating to Henderson, Nev., “as of late February,” Blake Apgar of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes. The franchise and the city of Henderson have engaged in serious discussions for a publicly owned, property tax-exempt ballpark with approximately 32,000 seats and 4,000 standing-room-only ticket holders. Those talks have “stalled,” according to Apgar, though Henderson spokeswoman Kathleen Richards stated this week there’s no “official word” from the team on whether the project will move forward.
The Diamondbacks have been seeking a new stadium in Arizona, where they’ve played since they first began major league action in 1998. The franchise hasn’t received that facility, though, and the stadium lease it agreed to with Maricopa County in Arizona in May 2018 will allow the club to leave its current home – Chase Field – as early as 2022. If the Diamondbacks were to exit Arizona of their own accord then, they’d have to pay between $5MM and $25MM. However, they could depart without penalty if Major League Baseball were to mandate a move.
The Diamondbacks have given real consideration to Henderson, where they’ve “expressed interest in creating a development at a potential new home” worth around $1 billion, Apgar writes. The city even signed a nondisclosure agreement with the team dated July 31, 2018, called “Project Marble.”
“I hope, above all else, (our submission) reflects the pride that we take in our community and our ardent belief that a partnership with Major League Baseball is not only viable but provides great opportunities for our city and your organization,” mayor Debra March wrote in a cover letter to Diamondbacks chief executive officer Derrick Hall.
According to Apgar, Hall emailed Henderson city manager Richard Derrick on Jan. 4, saying, “Have not forgotten you!” Hall added, “Hopefully there is still strong interest there as we go through the MLB motions.” Derrick replied that there’s “very strong interest,” but it doesn’t seem as if the two sides have continued to seriously discuss relocation since the winter. For its part, the team stated (via Apgar) it hasn’t “received permission from MLB” to pursue a new city “and our desire is, first and foremost, to stay in Arizona.”
Cubs Notes: Deadline, Castellanos, Hamels, Morrow
The latest out of Wrigleyville…
- The Cubs’ acquisition of Nicholas Castellanos didn’t become a reality until around 20 minutes before yesterday’s 3pm CT trade deadline, 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine reports. The Cubs and Tigers had been in talks about Castellanos prior to Wednesday, though discussions didn’t reignite until almost literally the last minute, as the trade was finalized with eight minutes to spare. As Cubs GM Jed Hoyer told The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and other reporters, the turning point was ownership’s decision to okay adding roughly $2.5MM of Castellanos’ remaining salary to Chicago’s payroll. The trade pushes the Cubs to the very edge of exceeding the $246MM maximum luxury tax penalty threshold, as Roster Resource estimates the Cubs’ luxury tax number as slightly less than $245.66MM.
- While the Cubs have played some inconsistent ball over the first four months, they’re still tied with the Cardinals atop the NL Central. Since the team was always in contention, Hoyer said his front office didn’t really think about a larger shake-up that would’ve seen Chicago subtract from its Major League roster. “There’s the idea-generation time and then there’s like: What deals are we actually going to work on? None of those deals actually made it to that point. Yeah, of course, people called about our players, but our focus was on trying to add to this group,” Hoyer said.
- While an official announcement has yet to come from the team, it is looking like Cole Hamels will be activated off the injured list to start Saturday’s game, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. Hamels has been on the IL since June 29 due to an oblique strain, and has completed two rehab outings in the minors. Prior to his injury, the veteran southpaw was looking good in his first full season as a Cub, posting a 2.98 ERA, 8.76 K/9, 2.77 K/BB rate and a 51.1% grounder rate over 99 2/3 innings.
- Brandon Morrow‘s status is much less certain, as Hoyer said that while the Cubs are still “cautiously optimistic” that the reliever will be able to contribute, it would “be foolish at this point to make any decisions assuming that he was going to be a big part of this bullpen.” Morrow hasn’t pitched since July 15, 2018 due to a biceps injury and then offseason elbow injury. The former closer has experienced at least one setback during his recovery process from that procedure, and with only two months remaining in the season, Morrow is running out of time to get healthy and fully prepared for a return to Major League action.
Details On The Twins’ Trade Deadline Talks
Sam Dyson and Sergio Romo represented the sum total of the Twins’ midseason additions as the club tries to hold its lead atop the AL Central. While Dyson and Romo address needs in the bullpen, Minnesota was also very aggressive in looking for starting pitching, though ultimately came up short in reinforcing the rotation.
Rival teams continually asked the Twins about top prospects Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff, with the Mets among the multiple clubs who asking for both youngsters. New York wanted both Lewis and Kiriloff in discussions about Noah Syndergaard, and if premium minor league talent wasn’t available for the ace, the Mets were also focused on adding Major League players, to the point of asking Minnesota about Byron Buxton in a possible Syndergaard deal.
Lewis and Kirilloff were also on the mind of the Blue Jays’ front office, as Toronto was looking for either of the prospects in exchange for Marcus Stroman. Minnesota turned down this initial request, and The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that the Jays never called back with any other offers before trading Stroman to the Mets. This would seem to indicate that the Jays were only interested in Lewis and Kirilloff specifically, though Hayes writes that “the Twins were disappointed when Toronto didn’t give them a chance to match an offer they believed they could have outdone.”
Beyond the prospects, Hayes tweeted that Luis Arraez was “everyone’s favorite ask” amongst teams who were offering rental players to Minnesota. Arraez has been a revelation for the Twins over his first 43 Major League games, as the rookie is hitting .349/.422/.445 over 166 plate appearances. Arraez has long boasted strong averages and on-base numbers in the minors, and while regression is inevitable, his .361 xwOBA isn’t far off his .388 wOBA. With this much potential, it isn’t hard to see why the Twins were reluctant to part with a 22-year-old, multi-positional talent for only a rental player (or potentially anyone).
Hayes reports that the Twins were considering both Robbie Ray and Mike Minor, though concerns about Ray’s durability and Minor’s July struggles diminished the interest. On the relief front, the Twins also had interest in Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez.
“It was one of the most unique trade deadlines I’ve ever experienced,” Twins GM Thad Levine told Hayes and other reporters. “One error I made was assuming that early in the trade cycle that the leverage was towards the seller. I assumed that there was going to be a little bit of a shift of that see-saw back to the buyer as we got closer to the deadline. I’m not sure we ever saw the shift in the see-saw. The sellers felt pretty emboldened. They set the prices high, which is very normal in a trade deadline. But I’m not sure they moved off of those high asks at any point, and as a result, there were just a finite number of players that meaningfully changed the fortunes of playoff-contending teams.”
Early talks with the Giants involving multiple players (including Dyson, Madison Bumgarner, and Will Smith) did result in the late Dyson trade. Minnesota and San Francisco re-engaged in talks just 45 minutes before the 3pm CT deadline, medicals on the four players in the deal were exchanged at 2:50pm, and the trade was finalized with just five minutes to spare.
Jameson Taillon Expected To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Pirates right-hander Jameson Taillon is tentatively scheduled to undergo surgery on his elbow flexor tendon sometime in the next few weeks, The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel reports (subscription required). The procedure will keep Taillon out of action for roughly seven to nine months, so he could be back on the mound for Pittsburgh sometime in May if everything goes according to plan.
While Taillon faces a lengthy recovery period, it represents a more optimistic timeline than Tommy John surgery, which was the initial concern when Taillon was shut down with forearm pain last week. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like a TJ procedure (which would be Taillon’s second) is necessary, outside of “a small chance” more damage is found within Taillon’s elbow during the tendon surgery. Taillon’s elbow, however, appeared to be intact after being examined by Dr. David Altchek earlier this week; Altchek also performed Taillon’s original Tommy John surgery back in 2014.
Injuries have limited Taillon to just 37 1/3 innings this season, a disappointing follow-up to what seemed like a breakout year for the right-hander in 2018. Taillon posted a 3.20 ERA over 191 innings for the Pirates last year, and certainly seemed to be stepping up as the ace of Pittsburgh’s rotation. Hopes that Taillon would pitch again in 2019 were dashed by last week’s news, though it seems as if he’ll be able to return to active duty for at least most of the 2020 campaign. Tommy John surgery, of course, would have sidelined Taillon for 12-15 months, all but certainly keeping him on the injured list until 2021.
Taillon’s abbreviated 2019 campaign will obviously have a significant impact on his future salary, as he will be eligible for arbitration for the first of three times this offseason. He’ll still receive a big bump beyond the minimum salary, albeit much less than he would have earned if he’d been able to replicate his 2018 numbers this season.
The Pirates can go into their offseason plans with the expectation that Taillon will, for now, be back at the front of the rotation for much of 2020, though the team is likely still going to look into adding pitching (almost surely of the lower-cost variety) over the winter.
Braves Notes: Pitching, Greinke, Jackson
The latest from the ATL…
- While the Braves were heavily linked to the starting pitching market, GM Alex Anthopoulos told reporters (including Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that the team was “never even remotely close” to landing an arm for the rotation. “At the end of the day, where we thought there were deals that made sense for us, we felt like the bullpen made the most sense,” Anthopoulos said. “We definitely tried for other areas, but we obviously couldn’t line up on a deal that made sense for our organization.” Of course, the Braves already made a noteworthy starting pitching addition in June when Dallas Keuchel was signed, and Anthopoulos’ front office heavily bolstered the pen over the last two days with trades for Shane Greene, Mark Melancon, and Chris Martin.
- One of the starters the Braves had interest in was the biggest name moved at the trade deadline, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports (Twitter link) that the “Braves were in on” negotiations about Zack Greinke with the Diamondbacks. However, Atlanta ultimately decided “it was just too pricey, and too much risk on an older pitcher.” The Astros ended up landing Greinke for a big trade package that included four prospects and covering $53MM of Greinke’s salary obligations.
- Speaking of the Greene deal, the Braves were able to make that trade without including catcher Alex Jackson, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports that Atlanta turned down the Tigers‘ ask for the 23-year-old prospect. Jackson is ranked as the the 26th-best prospect in Atlanta’s system by MLB Pipeline, and is in the midst of a huge season at Triple-A (.887 OPS in 283 PA). Picked sixth overall by the Mariners in the 2014 draft, Jackson’s prospect stock dropped after a slow start to his pro career, though a position switch to catcher three years ago and this season’s hitting breakout has gotten him back on the radar.
Tigers Select Travis Demeritte’s Contract
The Tigers have selected the contract of outfielder Travis Demeritte from Triple-A Toledo, as per a team announcement. Righty Eduardo Jimenez has also been called up from Toledo.
Demeritte is set for his big league debut just a day after joining the Tigers. The 24-year-old was dealt to Detroit yesterday along with southpaw Joey Wentz in the trade that sent Shane Greene to the Braves. It marked the second time in Demeritte’s young career that he was part of a late-July deadline deal, as he was also sent to Atlanta as part of a three-player swap back in 2016.
Selected 30th overall by the Rangers in the 2013 draft, Demeritte has been an inconsistent offensive player over his career, though he had his share of decent numbers. This includes a great stretch at Triple-A Gwinnett this season, as Demeritte posted a .286/.387/.558 slash line and 20 homers over 399 plate appearances. While never a premium prospect, Demeritte is interesting enough to merit a look from a Tigers club that is open to all possibilities (particularly in the outfield) as it continues a rebuild. Demeritte began his career playing all over the infield, though he has almost exclusively been a corner outfielder over the last two years.