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Trade Chatter: Marlins, Yates, Brewers, Twins, Rays

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The Marlins are drawing interest in relievers Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider, Adam Conley and Brad Ziegler, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, but president of baseball operations Michael Hill acknowledges that he’s placed a lofty price on the former three, each of whom has at least three years of control beyond 2018. “You’re talking about trading one-pluses and two-pluses [years of service time],” says Hill. “If I call and I’m trying to acquire a one-plus, or two-plus, I know it’s going to be costly. Our game is about maximizing value, and control of players.” Hill adds that despite the Marlins’ rebuild — or “build” as the organization is terming it — his goal is to win as often as possible. The Indians, Astros, Red Sox and Dodgers have all been previously linked to Miami’s bullpen.

Furthermore, Frisaro notes that while teams will inquire about catcher J.T. Realmuto in the coming weeks, the asking price remain extremely high. Realmuto may even be approached about a contract extension this offseason, per Frisaro, though that may be a tough sell after the Fish shipped out the Marlins’ entire core last offseason.

More trade rumblings from around the league…

  • Padres reliever Kirby Yates has emerged as a terrific setup option in San Diego, but ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick spoke to one scout who expressed doubts that the Padres would find someone willing to meet their asking price in a trade (Twitter link). “He’s been really good. But he’s not going to get the return they’re asking for, because he kind of came out of nowhere,” the scout said. “It’s hard to give up a pretty good prospect for a guy who’s had three good months.” Of course, it’s worth noting that Yates performed well for the Friars all through the 2017 season as well. However, he didn’t adopt the splitter that has become a wipeout pitch for him until the current season, which is likely the point to which that unnamed scout was alluding. Yates has a ridiculous 1.51 ERA with 11.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.25 HR/9 and a 49.4 percent grounder rate in 35 2/3 innings this season. The 31-year-old can be controlled through 2020.
  • The Brewers have been in contact with the Twins about infielders Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com. There’s no indication that talks are serious or have extended beyond preliminary stages, though the Milwaukee middle infield has been a weak point in 2018. Brewers second basemen entered play hitting a combined .248/.299/.376, while their shortstops have batted just .202/.255/.300. Milwaukee has been heavily linked to Manny Machado, of course, but either Minnesota slugger would represent a less expensive option — both in terms of prospect capital and salary. Reports have suggested that the Twins are open to selling off pieces, but the Twins have also won six of their past seven and play in a weak division.
  • To that end, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN chatted with Minnesota GM Thad Levine about the team’s deadline strategy (Twitter link, with video). Levine acknowledges that the Twins have received interest on numerous players, which he says is to be expected given the number of expiring contracts on the club. However, he doesn’t definitively state that the Twins will be active sellers on the market. If anything, the Twins may move some short-term pieces while also looking to acquire some big league players controllable beyond the current campaign. Levine concedes that “there’ll be opportunities for [the Twins] to make some deals.” Levine also notes, though, that trading pending free agents only creates new holes to fill. “We have numerous times to try to address some of those holes,” he says. “It’s now at this deadline, and it’s this offseason and it’s next Spring Training. We may try to do some of that across all three platforms so we don’t have to do all of our heavy lifting this offseason.”
  • Though the Rays have surprised and as of Tuesday sit four games over .500, they’re still buried in the AL East, and Peter Gammons of the Athletic tweets that their goal this month is to extract as much as they can in trades for Wilson Ramos, Nathan Eovaldi and Adeiny Hechavarria. Gammons notes that the Rays have also been getting inquiries on right-hander Matt Andriese, though, as teams scour the market for relief help. Andriese, 28, is controlled through 2021 and has a 3.63 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 0.87 HR/9 and a 51 percent grounder rate. He’s capable of working both in the rotation and ’pen, as well, so teams likely have interest in him in a variety of roles.

Miguel Gonzalez Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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White Sox right-hander Miguel Gonzalez underwent right shoulder surgery and will require a recovery period of nine to 12 months, the team announced tonight. Per the announcement, doctors “performed a labral repair and debridement” on Gonzalez.

It’s a tough blow for the 34-year-old Gonzalez, who made just three starts and totaled just 12 1/3 innings in what is now an injury-ruined season. He’d performed nicely with the Sox in 45 starts from 2016-17, pitching to a 4.02 ERA with 6.0 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 268 2/3 innings before being traded over to the Rangers at the end of August. Gonzalez’s time with Texas didn’t go well, and he ultimately returned to the ChiSox on a one-year pact this offseason.

Gonzalez now, in a best-case scenario, wouldn’t be ready until mid-April of 2019, though the operation could effectively wipe out the first half of the 2019 season for the veteran right-hander as well. He’ll likely generate some minor league offers if not over the winter than early in the ’19 season as teams look to add veteran depth options to their organizations. In 883 2/3 innings between the O’s, White Sox and Rangers, Gonzalez has a 4.06 ERA with 6.3 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9.

Garrett Richards’ MRI Reveals UCL Damage In Right Elbow

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The Angels announced tonight that an MRI performed on right-hander Garrett Richards has revealed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Unlike the case of Shohei Ohtani, the Angels added that Richards has already been presented with “both conservative care and surgical options to treat the injury.” Richards, it seems, is mulling those options. The Angels added that they’ll provide an update on his treatment plan “when appropriate.”

Richards, 30, exited last night’s start after three innings due to what was initially termed forearm irritation, though forearm issues are often a precursor to ligament damage in the elbow. He’s been in a similar spot in the past, having been diagnosed with a partial tear of the UCL in his right elbow back in 2016. At the time, however, he opted for stem-cell and platelet-rich plasma injections in addition to a long period of rest and rehab as a means of avoiding Tommy John surgery.

That proved effective in sparing him from Tommy John, but the rest and rehab program cost him most of the 2016 season. In 2017, he was sidelined by a biceps injury for most of the year and limited to 27 2/3 innings.

The extent of the damage to Richards’ elbow ligament wasn’t specified by the Angels’ announcement, but it’s of note that the club announced that Ohtani had a Grade 2 UCL strain, and GM Billy Eppler has persistently said that surgery has not been recommended by medical professionals. That the Angels immediately announced surgery to be an option for Richards, then, doesn’t paint an optimistic picture moving forward.

Regardless of whether he opts for surgery, this type of injury calls into question his availability for the remainder of the season at a time when the Angels can ill afford to lose one of their best arms. The Halos are 14 games out of first place in the AL West and 10 games behind the Mariners for a Wild Card spot after topping the M’s last night (despite Richards’ abbreviated start and injury). The loss of Richards makes it all the more improbable that the Halos will be able to surmount that deficit.

Furthermore, with Richards’ status as an impending free agent, he’d have been a logical and highly attractive trade chip had the Angels eventually decided to sell off pieces. The Halos won’t be fielding offers on Mike Trout anytime soon, so Richards would’ve been arguably their most appealing commodity to shop around to other teams. He’s pitched to a 3.66 ERA with 10.3 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and a 49.3 percent ground-ball rate so far in 2018. That’s a moot point at this juncture, however, as the injury all but eliminates the possibility of him factoring into the trade market.

And from a personal standpoint, the injury to Richards is devastating for his future earning potential. While his lengthy injury history would’ve no doubt given teams pause on the open market even if he’d pitched a healthy season in 2018, a UCL injury at this stage of his career will torpedo perhaps his best chance at a sizable multi-year deal. It’s true that some pitchers — Drew Smyly  (Cubs) and Michael Pineda (Twins), for instance — have landed multi-year deals while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but those $10MM guarantees, which could be a best-case scenario, pale in comparison to what a healthier Richards would have earned in free agency.

Beyond all of that, the Angels will continue to face scrutiny for the rampant injury troubles that have permeated their rotation in recent seasons. In the last three years alone, the Angels have had Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano, J.C. Ramirez, Keynan Middleton, Blake Wood and John Lamb undergo Tommy John surgery, while others such as Alex Meyer, Nate Smith and Matt Shoemaker have gone under the knife for various other reasons.

Certainly not all of those injuries can be pinned on the Angels. Meyer’s shoulder troubles, for example, date back to his days with the Twins, while Lamb has had injuries of his own and was only briefly in the organization before requiring surgery. But the barrage of pitching injuries the Angels have faced in recent years if undoubtedly something that’ll prompt a deep dive from the front office as it seeks to determine if there’s something more than sheer coincidence and misfortune at play.

Mets Release Marcos Molina

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The Mets have released right-hander Marcos Molina in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for the previously announced selection of outfielder Matt den Dekker, tweets Tim Britton of The Athletic. He’d recently been placed on the disabled list in Double-A, which prevents the Mets from placing him on outright waivers or designating him. The organization could yet try to re-sign Molina to a new minor league pact to keep him in the organization while clearing some 40-man space; such moves are fairly common practice throughout the league.

Molina, 23, has battled arm injuries throughout his career, most notably missing the bulk of the 2015-16 seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned with a solid effort in 2017, pitching to a 3.21 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and 0.5 HR/9 to go along with a 46 percent ground-ball rate through 106 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A.

Heading into the 2018 season, in fact, Molina ranked seventh among Mets farmhands, per Baseball America, and eighth per MLB.com. But he’s struggled through a disastrous year between Double-A and Triple-A, as opponents have hammered him for a combined 6.94 ERA (with the vast majority of that work coming at the lower of those two levels). Molina had never averaged higher than 2.4 BB/9 prior to the 2018 season, but he’s issuing 3.7 walks per nine frames in the minors in 2018 (15) than he had in his entire professional career combined prior to this season (13). There’s been no announcement as to exactly what injury had landed Molina on the DL, though his results are certainly indicative of a pitcher who hasn’t been fully healthy.

Diamondbacks Release Fernando Salas

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The Diamondbacks have released veteran right-hander Fernando Salas, the team announced. The 33-year-old was designated for assignment last week when fellow righty Randall Delgado returned from the disabled list.

Salas got off to a strong start in 2018 after making the D-backs’ roster as a non-roster invitee in Spring Training. The former Cardinals/Angels reliever posted a 1.56 ERA and 3.30 FIP through the end of April and possessed solid season-long numbers through the end of June. To that point, Salas had a 3.58 ERA with 6.9 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 0.96 HR/9 to go along with a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate. ERA alternatives weren’t quite as bullish but felt he’d pitched reasonably well (3.85 FIP, 4.29 xFIP, 4.06 SIERA).

Salas, though, was tagged for runs in each of his three appearances in July, ultimately yielding five runs in 2 1/3 innings to balloon his ERA up to 4.50. Generally, while he hasn’t exactly pitched poorly in 2018, he’s taken a step back in a few key areas, most notably in his overall strikeout percentage (21.3 percent in 2017 compared to 17.7 percent in 2018), his swinging-strike rate (12.9 percent to 9.3 percent) and in his average fastball velocity (91.1 mph to 90.5 mph).

He’ll now be available to latch on with any club on a new contract, and given his 3.90 ERA over the life of 487 big league innings dating back to 2010, Salas should at the very least find an opportunity to report to a new organization’s Triple-A affiliate and attempt to work his way back up to the MLB roster.

Twins Place Addison Reed On 10-Day DL

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4:20pm: An MRI revealed an impingement in Reed’s right elbow, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter links). The Twins don’t believe there to be any structural damage in the elbow, but it’s not clear just when they expect Reed will be recovered and return to the bullpen.

10:09am: The Twins announced that they have placed righty Addison Reed on the 10-day disabled list. He’ll be replaced by Alan Busenitz, who has been recalled from Triple-A.

Reed is said to be dealing with right triceps tightness. It’s not clear at this point whether this is a worrying injury for the veteran reliever. He certainly has not been himself of late.

It seemed entering the season that the Twins had done quite nicely to land Reed for only a $16.75MM guarantee over two seasons. And through the month of May, he had more than held up his end of the bargain, despite disappointing overall results for the team.

Since the calendar flipped to June, though, Reed’s numbers are well off their typical levels. In ten outings that month, he allowed nine earned runs and recorded just four strikeouts against four walks. He made two solid appearances to open July but has surrendered four more runs — including a pair of long balls — in his two most recent outings. Along the way, he has exhibited some worrying velocity trends.

That poor run may already have taken Reed out of trade consideration, though his track record is good enough that teams surely would have considered him if he had bounced back. Now, even if Reed is able to return to action before the end of July, he’ll be carrying quite a bit more uncertainty.

Braves Release Mauricio Cabrera

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The Braves have released right-hander Mauricio Cabrera from the organization, tweets David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Cabrera, 24, made a big impression with the 2016 Braves, tossing 38 1/3 innings of 2.82 ERA ball and showing a blistering fastball that averaged 100.1 mph and would routinely touch 102 mph. However, Cabrera didn’t post the strikeout rates one might expect to go along with that heat, averaging just 7.5 K/9 with a solid but not overpowering 11.7 swinging-strike rate. He also walked 19 batters in those 38 1/3 frames (4.5 BB/9), hit another and threw a pair of wild pitches.

Shaky control and lack of missed bats weren’t necessarily catastrophic red flags considering the fact that Cabrera was a 22-year-old rookie. But Cabrera had some elbow soreness in Spring Training the following season, and his control in the minors in 2017 proved to be disastrous. Cabrera didn’t return to the Majors last season and ultimately walked 46 batters in 45 innings across four minor league levels.

Things haven’t improved for Cabrera in 2018. To the contrary, his startling inability to locate the ball has worsened, as he’s tossed 31 innings but yielded a staggering 41 walks while spending the entire season in Class-A Advanced.

Given Cabrera’s youth and velocity, it’s certainly possible that other clubs will have interest in trying to chip away at the young flamethrower’s control issues. Then again, Cabrera also went unclaimed on waivers back in Spring Training, and that was before he averaged nearly 12 walks per nine innings pitched in A-ball this season. Given the alarming extent of his control issues, it’s not surprising to see the Braves move on from the once-promising right-hander.

Astros Option Ken Giles To Triple-A

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The Astros have optioned righty Ken Giles to Triple-A, per a club announcement. Southpaw Cionel Perez will take his place on the active roster.

Giles, 27, was originally acquired to be the Astros’ closer in a 2016 blockbuster that sent Vince Velasquez, Mark Appel, Tom Eshelman, Brett Oberholtzer and Harold Arauz to the Phillies. After an up-and-down first season in Houston, Giles looked to be emerging as the dynamic late-inning weapon the ’Stros had hoped to acquire in 2017, tossing 62 2/3 innings of 2.30 ERA ball with 14 strikeouts per nine innings against 3.4 BB/9.

The postseason, however, proved to be another story, as Giles yielded runs in all but one of his seven playoff appearances and eventually fell behind both Lance McCullers Jr. and Charlie Morton when manager A.J. Hinch was looking for late-inning relief options late in Houston’s eventual World Series run. The inconsistencies have carried over to 2018, as Giles had already largely ceded ninth-inning duties to Hector Rondon and will now carry a 4.99 ERA through 30 2/3 innings with him to Triple-A Fresno.

To his credit, Giles owns a superlative 31-to-3 K/BB ratio so far in 2018 and has allowed only two home runs on the season. But he’s also seen his hard-contact rate rise by roughly 10 percent and been generally more hittable, averaging 10.6 hits per nine innings pitched against last year’s mark of 6.3. Giles’ .368 BABIP undoubtedly has played a role in those struggles, but a spike in that regard should be expected when surrendering considerably more hard contact to opponents.

The tipping point for Giles may well have come last night. Given a three-run lead in the ninth inning, Giles allowed three consecutive singles to open the frame before being pulled by manager A.J. Hinch. A frustrated Giles visibly appeared to cuss as he left the mound, potentially at Hinch, though there’s been no confirmation of that. After the game, Hinch told reporters (Twitter link via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle): “That stuff happens in the heat of battle. I didn’t hear anything. He can let me know if it was directed at me. … If it turns out it was at me, we’ll talk about it.”

From a service time vantage point, there’s little implication for Giles’ long-term future. He entered the season with three years, 113 days of service time and has already been in the Majors long enough to have surpassed the four-year mark. As such, he’ll still be eligible for arbitration twice more before qualifying as a free agent following the 2020 season, regardless of how long he spends in Triple-A.

Dodgers Claim Zac Rosscup, Designate Edward Paredes

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The Dodgers announced today that they have claimed lefty Zac Rosscup off waivers from the Rockies. In a corresponding move, the club designated fellow southpaw Edward Paredes for assignment.

Rosscup, 30, racked up ten strikeouts without a walk in seven frames last year in Colorado, but had yet to reach the majors this year while working back from finger troubles. He has been effective in limited action at Triple-A, allowing just one earned run on four hits while registering nine strikeouts against three walks in 8 1/3 innings.

The 31-year-old Paredes, meanwhile, managed an 8:2 K/BB ratio but also allowed five runs in his 7 2/3 frames in the majors this year. He has also experienced some walk problems at the Triple-A level, however, issuing 15 free passes in 18 frames.

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