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AL News & Rumors: Rangers, Kela, Beltre, Red Sox, Jays, Vlad Jr., Twins

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There were five teams on hand Saturday to scout Rangers closer Keone Kela, Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram reports. The Diamondbacks and Pirates – both of whom have had previously reported interested in Kela – as well as the Red Sox, Indians and Giants were in attendance, according to Wilson. Kela didn’t pitch, though the 25-year-old has bolstered his trade value this season with a 3.28 ERA/2.85 FIP, 10.85 K/9 against 3.03 BB/9 and 23 saves in 24 chances over 35 2/3 innings. Adding to Kela’s appeal, he’s making a relative pittance this season ($1.2MM) and still has three more arbitration-eligible years remaining. The Dodgers are interested in Kela, too, per the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant, who adds that LA has also been scouting fellow Texas relievers Jose Leclerc, Alex Claudio and Jake Diekman,

  • More on the Rangers, who have yet another potential trade chip in pending free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre. While the Braves have been connected to Beltre this week, one source “downplayed” their interest in the future Hall of Famer to Wilson. Grant passes along different information, writing that the Braves’ interest in Beltre is “serious.” Whether a deal comes together will largely be up to the 39-year-old Beltre, who, as a 10-and-5 player, has full no-trade rights. Beltre spoke about his future Saturday, telling Grant and others in regards to the Rangers: “We have talked. I’ve always been at peace with being here. Obviously, we have talked before [about a trade], and if it makes sense for both parties, I would consider it. But up until now, there’s nothing concrete that we can sit and talk about.”
  • Red Sox manager Alex Cora told Ian Browne of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday that third baseman Rafael Devers is likely headed to the disabled list with a hamstring injury. It would be the second DL placement this month for Devers, who went on the shelf July 12 on account of left shoulder inflammation, thus adding to a disappointing season for the well-regarded 21-year-old. After an impressive debut in 2017, Devers has batted a below-average .245/.295/.425 in 396 plate appearances this season, though he has shown off respectable power (15 home runs, .180 ISO).
  • Blue Jays uber-prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is now one step from the majors, having been promoted from Double-A to Triple-A on Saturday. The 19-year-old third baseman tore through Double-A pitching in 266 PAs this season, hitting .402/.449/.671 with 14 home runs and nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (27) prior to his promotion. Both Baseball America and MLB.com regard Guerrero as the game’s best prospect.
  • The Twins brought third baseman Miguel Sano back to the majors on Saturday. Sano earned a surprise demotion to the minors in mid-June after opening the season with a .191/.247/.353 line with seven home runs and 30 strikeouts against a mere two walks in 73 PAs. The 25-year-old’s only a season removed from an All-Star campaign in which he slashed .264/.352/.507 with 28 homers over 483 PAs.

AL Notes: Allen, Sano, Beckham, Rangers, Claudio

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The Twins have decided to part ways with pitching coach Neil Allen, as La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune writes. While Paul Molitor will remain as the manager after inking a new deal, the organization is now on the market for a new hand to guide the pitching staff. Minnesota is sure to enter the offseason in search of ways to boost the productivity of its rotation after a season in which only two starters (Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios) turned in high-quality overall campaigns. While others showed signs at times — Kyle Gibson finished strong, for example — there’s clearly room to improve through both new acquisitions and internal development.

Here’s more from the American League:

  • In other Twins news, the organization does not presently expect Miguel Sano to require surgery to address his shin injury, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports. Though there have been some prior indications to the contrary, a surgical option would be an “extreme” measure and isn’t on the table at this point, per the report. Berardino adds that young reliever J.T. Chargois is also not under consideration for a surgical approach despite missing virtually all of the season due to elbow problems. You’ll also find some player reactions to the coaching staff decisions at the link.
  • What can the Orioles expect from shortstop Tim Beckham in 2018? Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun takes an interesting look at Beckham’s two months in Baltimore, explaining that Beckham no longer consistently made high-quality contact and reverted to his high-strikeout ways after his outstanding performance in August. All in all, Meoli sees signs of optimism despite Beckham’s inconsistencies. For a team with other significant needs, especially in the rotation, there’s probably little choice but to roll with Beckham — whose deadline acquisition still looks like an excellent move — and hope for the best.
  • Another organization that figures to focus on pitching this winter, the Rangers, need to add volume to fill out their rotation, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reasons. The club likely won’t have the cash needed to add impact arms and needs to account for many spots on its rotation depth chart, beyond the five pitchers that’ll start the year in the rotation. Grant’s discussion drives home the challenge facing the Texas front office and the many moving parts involved.
  • Meanwhile, the Rangers have authorized southpaw Alex Claudio to play in the Puerto Rican winter league despite his heavy usage this year, as Gerry Fraley of the Morning News writes. Claudio has now established himself as a quality late-inning piece after turning in 82 2/3 frames of 2.50 ERA ball, with just 6.1 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9 but a dominating 66.7% groundball rate on the year. While GM Jon Daniels says the club was inclined initially to protect Claudio, he notes that the reliever has succeeded based upon a routine that has long included winter ball stints. This year, moreover, the devastation of Hurricane Maria has pushed back and shortened the schedule.

Yu Darvish Trade Rumors: Deadline Day

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It’s quite possible that today is Yu Darvish’s last day as a member of the Rangers organization. The Texas ace has drawn interest from several teams, with the Dodgers the most prominently linked club. However, Darvish has also been tied to the Yankees and the Indians to varying extents. The Astros are also said to have checked in, though the intra-division roadblock makes that notion a bit tougher. We’ll track all of the latest Darvish chatter in this post between now and the 4pm ET non-waiver trade deadline…

  • At this point, it seems that Darvish will either go to the Dodgers or stay put, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Given other indications that Los Angeles is focused elsewhere, it could be that the righty won’t end up changing hands today.
  • Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter) that it’s “getting increasingly harder” to envision Darvish landing with the Dodgers, as the two sides “simply aren’t matching up.”

Earlier Updates

  • Bowden suggests that the Dodgers could look to pry lefty Alex Claudio away from the Rangers in a package deal alongside Darvish (Twitter link). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News suggests the same, though he notes that it’d still require the Dodgers changing their stance on the inclusion of Verdugo or Buehler. Claudio, though, is just 25 years old and is controlled through 2021, so he’d be a nice long-term piece for L.A. He’s held lefties to a laughable .131/.169/.197 slash this year and has a masterful 70.5 percent ground-ball rate overall in 2017. However, he doesn’t miss many bats.
  • Yahoo’s Tim Brown tweets that the Indians “are not in on Darvish” at this time. Notably, Cleveland was reported by Hoynes to be in pursuit of Orioles closer Zach Britton.
  • ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, however, hears that the Indians and Astros are both “hanging around” in the Darvish picture, but the Dodgers are Texas’ preferred trading partner (Twitter link). The Yankees’ interest in Darvish is dependent on the outcome of their talks for Sonny Gray, Crasnick adds.
  • Bowden tweets that the Astros, Indians and Dodgers are the three teams that are still in the mix for Darvish, and he again mentions Mejia’s name in connection to talks. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets that the Indians are interested in Darvish only if the price tag drops.
  • While the Dodgers have generally regarded as the favorites for Darvish, their talks with the Rangers have essentially reached an impasse, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Los Angeles has reportedly been unwilling to part with the likes of top-ranked prospects Alex Verdugo, Walker Buehler and Yadier Alvarez for a half-season rental of Darvish, and it would seem that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has yet to budge in that regard.
  • The Rangers and Indians have spoken about a “Yu Darvish for Francisco Mejia type” of deal, tweets Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. Including Mejia, the consensus top catching prospect in baseball, would be a steep price for Cleveland to pay for a rental, though the wording of the report leaves some wiggle room for other pieces to potentially be involved. The 21-year-old Mejia is hitting .317/.367/.520 with 10 homers through his first 279 plate appearances in Double-A and ranked as baseball’s sixth-best prospect on Keith Law’s midseason list. MLB.com pegged him 16th overall, while Baseball America had him 18th. Cleveland is on Darvish’s no-trade list, though it remains possible that he could waive that right for a clearer shot at the postseason.

Morning Market Chatter: Verlander, Claudio, Asdrubal, Hand

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While the Tigers have drawn interest in Justin Verlander during the run-up to the deadline, there are no active talks as of this morning, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). As Morosi notes, that’s of added significance given that Verlander possesses full no-trade rights — meaning he’d need to be afforded some time to approve any deal that might take place. Most recent indications have been that Verlander would not end up moving this summer, with his expensive contract and the Tigers’ relatively lofty trade requests posing barriers. But his recent run of solid outings had perhaps made him a more intriguing target, and it remains possible that a late-breaking move could occur. That’s quite unlikely, though, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link) who hears that neither Verlander nor outfielder Justin Upton will be on the move today.

More market chatter:

  • The Rangers are “reluctantly willing” to engage in trade talks on reliever Alex Claudio, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). He becomes the latest Texas player to hit the rumor wire, joining fellow relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Keone Kela (though as Grant notes, Jeffress may just end up being DFA’ed). Among those hurlers, Claudio — a 25-year-old southpaw — is likely the one that Texas is least inclined to deal. While he doesn’t record many strikeouts, Claudio allows few free passes and has turned into a groundball monster over the past two seasons. He’s also cheap and controllable for four more seasons. Grant hints that Texas could consider attempting to package Claudio with Yu Darvish if that’d move the needle significantly in the effort to achieve a big return for the star hurler. That could indeed present an intriguing potential package for a team eyeing Darvish, providing a quality and controllable pen lefty to go with the rental starter, though such a swap would no doubt still be tricky to work out.
  • Despite prior indications that the Mets would find a taker for Asdrubal Cabrera by the deadline, the team is “way less optimistic” of that possibility today, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Indeed, that may well extend to other veterans (beyond those already dealt, of course), per Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter). As Sherman explains, hanging onto Cabrera past the deadline doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be traded, as he and other Mets veterans carry large enough salaries (on short enough terms) to clear waivers in August. Of course, making deals after the non-waiver deadline generally means working under additional constraints with reduced leverage. And in the Mets’ case, keeping the veterans would complicate the club’s roster plans.
  • The Padres are still telling interested teams they will hold firm on their asking price or wait to deal lefty Brad Hand, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). That’s unsurprising at this point, though perhaps some have believed San Diego would begin to draw back the sticker price on deadline day. So far as has been reported, no teams are ready to hand over the kind of top-tier talent the Pads want for the controllable and excellent southpaw.
  • The Twins now seem likely to deal righty Brandon Kintzler as the volume of phone calls increases, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand suggests on Twitter. The opposite is true of Marlins starter Dan Straily, Feinsand tweets. While Straily continues to be discussed, there hasn’t been any evident traction.

Rangers Place Yu Darvish On 15-Day DL

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The Rangers have placed star righty Yu Darvish on the 15-day DL with ongoing shoulder and neck issues, per a team announcement (via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, on Twitter). Reliever Alex Claudio will take his place on the active roster.

Darvish had only just returned from a Tommy John rehab stint, providing Texas with an ace-level arm as it seeks to capture the AL West. The 29-year-old was excellent in three starts, allowing just five earned runs and a dozen hits over 15 2/3 innings, with 19 strikeouts against six walks.

The disabled list placement isn’t necessarily a grave concern in and of itself, as the team will understandably be cautious with its prized righty. But the nebulous injury concerns that have led to it could be a major problem. It’s unclear at present what the timeline and prognosis is for Darvish.

Depending upon how things play out, Darvish’s injury status could impact the trade deadline. Texas was already said to have some interest in looking at controllable starters this summer, and the impetus could grow if Darvish misses a significant amount of time.

Rangers Place A.J. Griffin On DL With Shoulder Stiffness

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The Rangers have placed right-hander A.J. Griffin on the disabled list with shoulder stiffness, tweets the team’s executive vice president of communications, John Blake. In a corresponding move, Texas recalled left-handed reliever Alex Claudio from Triple-A Round Rock.

Griffin will undergo an examination Monday in Arlington, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link), after exiting his start in the third inning Saturday. Injury troubles are nothing new for Griffin, who missed the previous two seasons because of elbow and shoulder problems. Griffin bounced back well prior to his latest issue, posting a 2.94 ERA, 7.49 K/9 and 3.74 BB/9 in 33 2/3 innings, and will leave a void in a Rangers rotation whose results (3.57 ERA) have been vastly superior to its peripherals (4.52 FIP, 4.67 xFIP).

With Griffin unavailable for what might be an extended period of time, the Rangers could aggressively pursue free agent Kyle Lohse, in whom they’re reportedly interested.

Rangers Designate Roman Mendez For Assignment

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The Rangers have designated right-hander Roman Mendez for assignment, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Additionally, left-hander Alex Claudio has been recalled from Triple-A Round Rock and placed on the Major League 60-day disabled list to clear another 40-man roster spot. The Rangers have announced that those roster spots will go to Drew Stubbs and Ross Ohlendorf. Additionally, Joey Gallo and Luke Jackson.

The 25-year-old Mendez has totaled 11 2/3 innings with the Rangers in 2015, working to a sub-par 5.40 ERA with nine strikeouts against seven walks (one intentional). He did enjoy success in 2014, posting an excellent 2.18 ERA over the life of 33 innings, although that strong mark came with underwhelming peripherals. Mendez averaged 6.0 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 last year, benefiting from a minuscule and unsustainable .194 BABIP (to say nothing of a bloated 86 percent strand rate).

Claudio, 23, has a 2.89 ERA with 8.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 54.3 percent ground-ball rate. He’s been slowed by injuries in 2015, but he could potentially be a lefty specialist for Texas in future seasons. He’s held lefties to a .212/.250/.365 batting line over the course of his career, but he’s been roughed up by righties, who have knocked him around at a .273/.359/.473 clip.

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