These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

• Zack Collins (Guardians)
• Caleb Hamilton (Red Sox)
• Francisco Mejia (Rays)

Infielders

• Matt Beaty (Royals)
• Brandon Dixon (Padres)
• Josh Lester (Orioles)
• Taylor Motter (Cardinals)
• Kevin Padlo (Angels)
• Cole Tucker (Rockies)
• Tyler Wade (A’s)

Outfielders

• Abraham Almonte (Mets)
• Kyle Garlick (Twins)
• Derek Hill (Nationals)
• Bryce Johnson (Giants)
• Cody Thomas (A’s)

Pitchers

• Archie Bradley (Marlins)
• Jose Castillo (Marlins)
• Chase De Jong (Pirates)
• Geoff Hartlieb (Marlins)
• Zach Logue (Tigers)
• Mike Mayers (White Sox)
• Tyson Miller (Dodgers)
• Tommy Milone (Mariners)
• Reyes Moronta (Angels)
• Daniel Norris (Guardians)
• Spencer Patton (A’s)
• Peter Solomon (Orioles)
• Duane Underwood Jr. (Pirates)
• Spenser Watkins (A’s)

12:20pm: Daniel Norris has cleared waivers, and the Guardians have outrighted the veteran left-hander off their 40-man roster.  Cleveland designated Norris for assignment earlier this week.

The next step is for Norris to decide whether or not to accept the outright assignment, since he has the option of instead becoming a free agent.  It was less than two weeks ago that Norris took that very path after another outright assignment, but he then quickly re-signed with Cleveland on a new minor league deal.  Since initially signing with the Guardians back in March, Norris has been DFA’ed and outrighted on three different occasions.

Amidst all those transactions, Norris has made seven appearances with the Guards, posting a 5.68 ERA over 12 innings.  Most of the damage came last Monday, when Norris was charged with four earned runs over two innings of relief work in the Guardians’ 10-6 loss to the Twins.  Norris issued more walks (12) than strikeouts (11) over his 12 frames, and he also has a 10.8% walk rate over 53 innings with Triple-A Columbus this season.

While the small sample size of Norris’ MLB work might be an explanation for the spike in walk rate, his control has been a bit more of an issue over the previous two seasons as well — a 7.8% walk rate over Norris’ first 454 career innings from 2014-20 shot up to an 11.8% total in 115 2/3 innings in 2021-22.  Between the walks and home run problems, Norris’ transition to mostly relief pitching hasn’t been too successful, as he has a 5.68 ERA since the start of the 2021 season.

The Guardians’ pitching depth chart has gotten more crowded with all their recent waiver claims, which could lead to Norris testing free agency again if he thinks opportunities might be scarce on the Guards’ big league roster.  If Norris chooses to accept the outright assignment, he’ll provide more depth at the minor league level and will probably still be one of the first arms in line for a call-up should a need arise in Cleveland’s bullpen.

Norris spent a day on the MLB roster this time around. Cleveland selected his contract yesterday, his third separate stint of the season. Norris was pressed into long relief when the Twins knocked Xzavion Curry from the game early. The southpaw pitched two innings, allowing four runs on a pair of homers.

The 30-year-old has allowed 11 runs (eight earned) in 12 2/3 innings with Cleveland. He has a 5.60 ERA in 53 Triple-A frames on the season. It seems likely Norris will again clear waivers and could explore free agency, as he did a couple weeks ago before re-signing with the Guards on a new minor league pact.

Norris has been on and off the Cleveland roster three times. The Guardians had outrighted him a couple weeks ago, but he quickly returned on a minor league pact. Over his trio of stints, he’s logged 10 2/3 innings of seven-run ball. Norris has walked 11 with 10 strikeouts in that limited MLB look. He has started 12 of 18 outings at Triple-A Columbus, posting a 5.60 ERA. He’s striking out just under 20% of opponents against a lofty 10.8% walk rate at the top minor league level.

The 30-year-old offers a multi-inning relief option for skipper Terry Francona and already entered tonight’s ballgame after Xzavion Curry was knocked out by the third inning. Even if he sticks on the MLB roster through season’s end, he’ll be a free agent next winter.

Norris has spent the 2023 campaign with the Guards. He signed a minor league deal at the end of Spring Training and was called up in mid-June. Norris was DFA within a few days, stuck around after clearing outright waivers, and returned to the bigs at the end of July. He again lost his roster spot last week, as an injury to Cam Gallagher led Cleveland to temporarily devote a 40-man roster spot to Zack Collins as a depth catcher.

The 30-year-old has made six appearances on the year, allowing seven runs (four of them earned) across 10 1/3 innings. Norris has worked out of the bullpen at the MLB level but started 12 of 18 appearances with Triple-A Columbus. He carries a 5.60 ERA across 53 innings there. Norris has a slightly below-average 19.9% strikeout rate and has walked nearly 11% of batters faced at the top minor league level. His fastball has averaged a personal-low 89 MPH in his limited MLB work.

While Norris hasn’t posted great numbers at either the MLB or Triple-A level in 2023, the Guardians are clearly comfortable with him as a depth arm. The one-time top prospect has pitched parts of 10 years in the majors with five clubs. The bulk of that time was spent in Detroit, where he got extended run out of the rotation between 2016-19.

Norris has worked almost exclusively in relief as a big leaguer over the last three seasons but has stayed stretched out as a starter in the minors. He’ll again serve as a non-roster depth option in Columbus down the stretch and will return to free agency at the start of the offseason.

Norris, 30, is in his veteran currently in the midst of his tenth major league season. Initially selected in the second round of the 2011 draft by the Blue Jays, Norris spent the first several seasons of his career primarily as a starting pitcher, drawing starts in 82 of his 97 appearances between 2014 and 2019. During that time, Norris was a roughly average arm for the Blue Jays and Tigers. His 4.54 ERA clocked in just 1% below league average by measure of ERA+ and was largely backed up by his 4.47 FIP. That being said, Norris eclipsed 100 innings just twice during this period.

Those low innings counts resulted in Norris moving to a relief role starting with the shortened 2020 season, to fairly mixed results. His debut campaign as a reliever went quite well, with a 3.25 ERA (140 ERA+) and an even better 2.87 FIP. He struck out a solid 24.1% of batters faced, while his 6% walk rate was the lowest of his career. Norris struggled in both 2021 and 2022, however, combining for a 5.68 ERA and 5.01 FIP in 97 appearances for the Cubs, Tigers, and Brewers.

Those struggles led Norris to latch on with the Guardians on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 campaign, to familiarly mixed results. While he’s performed acceptably in limited chances with the big league club this year, notching a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings of work, he carries an untenable walk rate of 21.2% in the big leagues this year, leaving him with a 5.98 FIP. While he’s posted a more manageable 10.8% walk rate in 53 innings at Triple-A this year, his 5.60 ERA at the level doesn’t provide much reason for confidence as Norris returns to free agency.

Despite those rather glaring concerns, it seems reasonable to expect Norris to find a spot somewhere on a minor league deal. With the trade deadline having come and gone, pitching depth is a constantly sought-after commodity, particularly in the days leading up to September, at which point players added to the organization are no longer eligible to participate in the postseason.

As for the Guardians, the club has plenty of left-handed options available to them for the stretch run, including Sam Hentges, Tim Herrin, and Joey Cantillo all on the 40-man roster. Amir Garrett and Randy Labaut are also upper-level depth options the club has at its disposal, though either one would require a 40-man roster move to make use of at the big league level.

Gallagher was removed from last night’s game with a potential head injury, per Tom Withers of the Associated Press. It appeared to stem from being struck by a foul ball earlier in the contest, per Bally Sports Cleveland. It seems the issue is significant enough that the club will give him a breather for at least a week.

The Guards have had Gallagher and Bo Naylor as their catching duo in recent days, with David Fry having been placed on the IL due to a left hamstring strain last week and Mike Zunino released earlier in the summer. With Gallagher now set to miss some time, the club needed an extra backstop and has opted for Collins.

The 28-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the offseason and has been with Triple-A Columbus all year so far. In 109 games at that level this season, he’s hit .255/.364/.437 for a wRC+ of 101. He’s struck out in 31.5% of his plate appearances but walked at a 14.5% clip and launched 15 home runs.

That’s somewhat similar output to what he’s done in the majors so far. In 150 games dating back to 2019 with the White Sox, Blue Jays and Pirates, he’s been punched out at a 33.6% clip while walking in 12.9% of his trips to the plate. He has 11 home runs in 459 plate appearances while slashing .185/.295/.327 for a 74 wRC+. He has generally received poor marks for his defense in the big leagues, with -23 from Defensive Runs Saved so far and a score of -16.7 from the FanGraphs framing metric.

Collins is out of options but can be retained for future seasons via arbitration if he continues to hang onto his roster spot. He came into this year with a service time tally of two years and 95 days. He won’t have enough time to reach the three-year mark this year and could therefore be controlled for four future seasons.

In order to get Collins onto the 40-man, the Guards have bumped off Norris. The 30-year-old southpaw signed a minor league deal with Cleveland in the offseason and has twice now been selected and then designated for assignment shortly thereafter. He’s made six appearances for the Guards with a 3.38 ERA but has been helped by a .172 batting average on balls in play in that time. He has a 5.60 ERA in 53 Triple-A innings this year.

With the trade deadline now in the rearview, the Guards will have to put Norris on waivers in the coming days. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but he accepted his outright when he was DFA’d in June and could perhaps do the same again this time around.

Bieber was already on the 15-day IL with a retroactive placement date of July 12.  His new 60-day window still starts from July 12, meaning that the right-hander will now be out of action until at least September 10 while recovering from right elbow inflammation.  Earlier reports indicated that Bieber is at least another week away from resuming throwing, and though surgery wasn’t going to be required, the move to the 60-day IL indicates that Bieber still requires plenty of time to recover.

The injury already scuttled any chance that Bieber might be dealt at the trade deadline, as there had been speculation that the Guardians might continue their pattern of moving higher-priced veterans 12-18 months before they reached free agency (Bieber is controlled through the 2024 campaign).  At this point, it’s fair to wonder if Bieber’s 2023 season might be over entirely, either in the event of a setback or if the Guards might simply shut him down early if they’re out of the playoff race by mid-September.

Cleveland enters today’s action with a 49-50 record, but the Guardians are still only three games out of first place in the AL Central and 5.5 games back of the last AL wild card slot.  Catching up to the Twins might be more a realistic path to the playoffs than leapfrogging other teams in the wild card race, but in either case, the Guardians have to play some much more consistent baseball in order to return to the postseason.

Losing Bieber for an extended amount of time won’t help in that regard, as the Guards will have to lean even heavier on a very young group of starters.  With Bieber and Triston McKenzie both on the 60-day IL and Cal Quantrill also injured, Cleveland has three rookies (Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams) backing up Aaron Civale in the rotation.  Peyton Battenfield is close to returning from the 60-day IL, though Battenfield is another first-year pitcher.

Norris might factor into this mix after starting 12 of his 18 games with Triple-A Columbus.  The southpaw signed a minors deal with Cleveland over the winter and has already had his contract selected once, appearing in a single game for the Guardians last month.  Norris was then designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster, and chose to accept the outright assignment rather than test free agency again.

It may have been a wise decision, as Norris now finds himself back on a big league roster.  The Guardians could use Norris as a proper starter, a piggyback starter paired with Battenfield, or perhaps simply as a long relief option out of the bullpen.  This versatility could help the Guardians navigate their rotation questions, though Norris’ performance has been very up-and-down over his 10 MLB seasons, and he has a 5.60 ERA over 53 innings in Columbus.

Eickhoff, 33 next month, returns to affiliated ball in search of an eighth big league season. A former Ranger draftee who was sent to the Phillies in the Cole Hamels trade, Eickhoff broke in as a decent back-of-the-rotation arm in Philadelphia. He struggled between 2017-19 and has only gotten brief looks in the last two seasons.

After making five appearances with the Mets in 2021, Eickhoff took a lone start for the Pirates last year. He was hit hard in those stints, surrendering 34 runs in his last 24 MLB innings. Eickhoff had spent most of last season in Triple-A with the Bucs, posting a 4.96 ERA with solid strikeout and walk numbers (22.5% and 6.3%, respectively) through 114 1/3 frames. He’d been pitching in the independent Atlantic League this year, allowing a 6.16 ERA over 49 2/3 innings.

Smith made 30 appearances for the Diamondbacks between 2020-21. He owns a 5.04 ERA over 85 2/3 MLB frames. The LSU product spent last season in the Rockies’ system. An assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque, a brutal environment for pitchers, didn’t go well. Smith allowed an 8.06 ERA through 92 2/3 innings.

Whether Norris will join Eickhoff and Smith in Columbus remains to be seen. The veteran has more than enough service time to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. Norris signed a minor league contract in Spring Training. He posted a 6.93 ERA with middling strikeout and walk rates in 14 outings (nine starts). The Guardians called him up for a two-inning big league appearance earlier this week but quickly took him back off the roster thereafter.

Norris, 30, was selected to the club’s roster just four days ago. He made one scoreless appearance of two innings but has now quickly lost his roster spot to make way for Williams. Prior to having his contract selected, he was pitching in Triple-A after signing a minor league deal with the Guards in March. He was serving as a swingman at that level, logging 37 2/3 innings over 14 appearances, nine of those being starts. He had a 6.93 ERA in that time, striking out 17.6% of opponents while walking 13.2%.

The lefty once seemed like a capable big league starter, finding himself on top 100 prospect lists while with the Blue Jays. He was traded to the Tigers as part of the 2015 deal that sent David Price to Toronto and he posted an ERA of 3.38 for the Tigers the next year. But injuries and underperformance gradually pushed him to the bullpen in subsequent seasons.

He’s shown flashes of promise at times but various clubs have tried to unlock it without much success. He’s bounced to the Brewers, Cubs, back to the Tigers, then the Reds and Guardians in recent seasons. But those opportunities have resulted in a 5.58 ERA dating back to the start of the 2021 season. He struck out 24.5% of batters in that time but walked 12.3%.

The Guards will now have a week to trade Norris or pass him through waivers. He has way more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency in the event that he clears waivers, so it’s possible he’ll be back on the open market in the coming days.

6:30pm: The Guardians are making a series of roster moves ahead of tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks, as noted by Zack Meisel of The Athletic. The club is placing right-hander Triston McKenzie on the injured list with a right elbow sprain, designating right-hander Touki Toussaint for assignment, selecting the contract of left-hander Daniel Norris, and recalling left-hander Tim Herrin from Triple-A. Meisel also notes that the club is recalling catcher Bo Naylor, as previously expected.

McKenzie, who was scratched from yesterday’s start with elbow discomfort, now heads to the IL with a sprain in his right elbow. While further details have not yet been made available, it’s certainly an ominous diagnosis for the 25-year-old hurler, particularly after missing the first two months of the season with a teres major strain. McKenzie made just two starts before returning to the IL, striking out ten over five scoreless innings against the Twins before getting lit up for five runs in five innings against the Astros at home last week.

Of course, McKenzie was a key factor in Cleveland’s success last season as he threw 191 1/3 innings with a 2.96 ERA and 3.59 FIP. McKenzie posted an excellent 25.6% strikeout rate against a walk rate of just 5.9% as he helped to lead the Guardians to a surprising AL Central crown before the club fell to the Yankees in the ALDS. The club has struggled to replicate its 2022 campaign this year, with a record of just 32-37 that leaves them three games back of the Twins in a weak AL Central division.

Some of those struggles can be attributed to the uncertainty facing the club’s starting rotation, as only Shane Bieber has managed to stay healthy and effective as a starter throughout the entire season to this point, though youngsters Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee have done well following in-season promotions. Unfortunately, that uncertainty appears poised to continue with McKenzie headed back to the injured list with what could be another lengthy absence, though his timetable for return will remain uncertain until the club provides additional clarity on the situation.

Joining the club’s pitching staff as McKenzie exits is a pair of left-handers. Herrin, a 26-year-old who made his MLB debut for the Guardians earlier this season, struggled to a 6.39 ERA and 4.54 FIP in ten major league appearances but has posted more palatable numbers at the Triple-A level with a 3.93 ERA in 18 1/3 innings of work. Norris, meanwhile, signed with the Guardians on a minor league deal back in March. He’s struggled to a 6.93 ERA in 14 appearances (nine starts) at the Triple-A level this season, though the veteran has pitched in parts of nine major league seasons and has been roughly league average by measure of ERA+, with figure of 99 in 569 2/3 career innings of work.

Making room for Norris on the active roster is Toussaint, who departs the Guardians after making a spot start last night in McKenzie’s stead. The 27-year-old former first round pick allowed two runs on three hits and five walks over 3 2/3 innings of work while striking out two against the Diamondbacks yesterday. The Guardians now figure to either attempt to swing a trade involving the right-hander or attempt to pass him through waivers. If successful in doing so, Cleveland could outright Toussaint to Triple-A, where he would continue to serve as pitching depth for the club going forward.

June trades of note are admittedly rare — particularly over the past ten years or so — but we’re fast approaching the portion of the season where trade needs, potential trade candidates and many other deadline-adjacent minutiae begin to crystallize. It’s common for fans of rebuilding and/or underperforming clubs to begin to wonder just what sort of returns their favorite team might be able to eke out for veteran players with dwindling club control.

Some of the most common questions we’re asked in chats at MLBTR these days center around what a team might be able to get for a certain player — rentals in particular. Names like Lucas Giolito, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery and Jeimer Candelario were just a few readers asked me about this past week. To be clear, it’s not a given that all or even any of those specific names will change hands in two months’ time (or sooner), but it’s obviously a hot topic that’s on people’s minds.

As such, it only seemed natural to take a look back through recent history and look at some high-profile trades of rental players and see which panned out the best for the team selling off the veteran player in question. Over the next couple weeks, we’ll roll out a look at the ten “best” returns for rental players in recent trade deadline history.

A few caveats of note! At times, it can take three, four, five years or even longer for a team to begin reaping the benefits from such a deal. An immediate return isn’t always apparent, particularly when you’re only selling two months of a player or players. As such, we’re not considering trades completed at last year’s deadline for our top ten, even though they could well prove excellent as soon as 2024 or 2025. It’s simply too soon to evaluate those swaps. Also, these rankings are subjective; they’re not based on a hard-and-fast WAR criteria or anything of the sort. If you think we should’ve ranked No. 7 higher and No. 4 lower, let us know. It’s all part of the fun.

While I said we’re omitting last year’s deadline from our top ten, that doesn’t mean we’ll completely ignore the results of the 2022 deadline. To kick off the series, here’s a quick look at three honorable mentions from 2017-21 as well as a handful of 2022 trades that will be worth keeping an eye on in the years to come. Present-day impact of these 2022 trades has either been minimal or nonexistent, but each brought the “selling” team some nearly MLB-ready help that could be impactful as soon as this season. These honorable mentions and 2022 swaps aren’t ranked — they’re just sorted alphabetically by the last name of the player who was traded.

Let’s begin!

Honorable Mentions

Orioles acquire RHPs Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll and LHP Josh Rogers from the Yankees in exchange for LHP Zack Britton (7/24/18)

Two-thirds of this return for Baltimore wound up making little to no impact, but the acquisition of Tate, a former No. 4 overall draft pick, wound up paying dividends. Though Tate isn’t the rotation piece the Rangers hoped for when drafting him or the Yankees envisioned when acquiring him for Carlos Beltran, he’s emerged as a quality setup man at Camden Yards. The O’s gave Tate just ten starts after the trade before moving him to the bullpen, and while his rookie effort in 2019 left plenty to be desired, he’s since pitched quite well.

Dating back to 2020, Tate has a 3.65 ERA in 158 innings of relief, adding 25 holds and eight saves along the way. Tate’s 19.1% strikeout rate is below-average, but his 6.8% walk rate is better than average and his 57.9% grounder rate is outstanding. In 2022, he pitched to a pristine 3.05 ERA through 73 2/3 frames, tallying five of those saves and 16 of those holds. A forearm strain has kept Tate out of action this year, however.

Tate isn’t peak Britton and likely never will be, but trading two months of an elite reliever and winding up with six years of club control over an above-average reliever isn’t a bad outcome for Baltimore. As for the Yankees, they got the tail end of Britton’s prime. He notched a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings down the stretch and re-signed on a three-year deal with a fourth year option (that had to be exercised after the contract’s second season to prevent a Britton opt-out). Britton posted a sub-2.00 ERA in both 2019 and 2020, but he pitched just 19 innings over his final two years in New York due to injuries.

Rays acquire LHP Jalen Beeks from the Red Sox in exchange for RHP Nathan Eovaldi (7/25/18)

Few could’ve predicted what an impactful trade this would end up being at the time it was made. At the time of the swap, Eovaldi was in his first season back from Tommy John surgery and had pitched 57 innings of 4.26 ERA ball for Tampa Bay. He’d long intrigued teams with his power arsenal but was inconsistent and carried a career ERA that more or less matched that season total.

Eovaldi took off in Boston, however, tossing 54 frames of 3.33 ERA ball as the Sox marched to the postseason, where he cemented his status in Red Sox lore. Eovaldi was a star that October, tossing 22 1/3 innings of 1.61 ERA ball with a 16-to-3 K/BB ratio. Those are impressive numbers on their own, but they only tell part of the tale. Eovaldi won his first two starts of the playoffs before moving to the bullpen and picking up a pair of holds. But it was Game 3 of the World Series, where Eovaldi gutted out six innings of relief in an 18-inning marathon and finished out the game, that many will remember. The Dodgers wound up winning when Eovaldi’s 97th (!) pitch out of the bullpen was deposited in the seats by Max Muncy, but he saved the Boston bullpen with six innings of one-run ball that night. The Sox went on to win the World Series in five games.

As for the Rays, they came away with a lefty who’d come up through Boston’s system as a starter but would be used in a jack-of-all-trades role in St. Petersburg. Beeks has served as a long reliever, a setup man and an opener in parts of five seasons with Tampa Bay, totaling 258 innings of 4.12 ERA ball along the way. He’s been the type of versatile arm whose value can’t be neatly encapsulated in what looks like an otherwise modest WAR total. Beeks has handled just about any role the Rays could ask, and he’s generally been effective in doing so. He’s not a star, but he’s been an important member of their pitching staff for a half decade now and is still under team control through the 2024 season.

Tigers acquire RHP Reese Olson from the Brewers in exchange for LHP Daniel Norris (7/30/21)

The 23-year-old Olson made his big league debut on Friday when he stepped into the Detroit rotation to take the spot of the injured Eduardo Rodriguez. As far as debuts go, it was nearly as good as a young pitcher could ask for. Olson carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before being tagged for a pair of runs and departing five frames of two-run ball in the books.

Olson isn’t regarded among the sport’s top 100 prospects and isn’t even universally considered to be among the Tigers’ top 10 prospects, but he’s missed bats consistently in the upper minors and is regarded as a potential long-term rotation piece if he can improve upon the command of his fastball. Scouting reports at Baseball America, FanGraphs, The Athletic and MLB.com praise Olson’s secondary pitches, particularly his changeup, which he’s begun using effectively even in right-on-right situations.

Detroit has seen a lot of turnover in the baseball operations department since this trade, but former GM Al Avila, AGM David Chadd and others will be in line for some praise if the Tigers get a viable big leaguer in exchange for two months of the veteran Norris, who was sitting on a 5.38 ERA in 36 2/3 innings at the time of the deal. Norris had been tough on lefties, and the Brewers surely felt they could coax a higher level of performance out of him with some tweaks. That didn’t happen, however, as Norris was rocked for a 6.64 ERA in Milwaukee, walking 15 of the 63 batters he faced (23.8%) and serving up five homers in 20 1/3 frames (2.2 HR/9).

2022 Deadline Swaps to Watch

Pirates acquire RHP Johan Oviedo, INF Malcom Nunez from the Cardinals in exchange for LHP Jose Quintana, RHP Chris Stratton (8/2/22)

Yes, technically this isn’t a pure rental. Stratton had an additional year of club control, and that surely factored into the return. But he was also sitting on a 5.09 ERA at the time of the deal, and this was largely a trade centered around getting Quintana to land some much-needed rotation help in St. Louis.

The Cardinals got just what they wanted out of this deal — and then some. Quintana stepped into the rotation and not only solidified the staff but pitched to a brilliant 2.01 ERA in 62 2/3 frames down the stretch. The lefty was so excellent that St. Louis wound up tabbing him as the Game 1 starter in last year’s National League Division Series. Quintana had signed a one-year, $2MM deal in the offseason and was acquired as a back-end starter but pitched like an ace. The script doesn’t get much better for the acquiring team.

That said, this trade also has the makings of a winner for Pittsburgh. The 25-year-old Oviedo has been inconsistent but shown flashes of brilliance with the Bucs. He’s throwing fewer fastballs and more breaking pitches — particularly more curveballs, which has been an extremely effective offering for him through 11 starts. Oviedo’s 4.50 ERA in 58 innings looks pretty pedestrian, but he’s upped his ground-ball rate and improved his velocity even in a rotation role. He’s allowed one or zero runs in six of his 11 starts this year. The Pirates can control Oviedo for four more years beyond the current season, and if he’s a legitimate starter or even a multi-inning relief piece, that’ll be a fine return for their modest Quintana flier. Nunez, meanwhile, hit .286/.381/.476 in Double-A following the trade and is at .255/.338/.369 in 160 Triple-A plate appearances this year.

Cubs acquire RHP Ben Brown from the Phillies in exchange for RHP David Robertson (8/2/22)

Robertson was one of the most in-demand relievers — or trade candidates in general — at last year’s deadline, and the rebuilding/retooling Cubs needed to get their return right. So far, it looks like they’ve done just that. Brown is out to a sensational start in the upper minors this year, pitching to a combined 2.63 ERA with a 35.5% strikeout rate against a less-appealing 11.7% walk rate. Baseball America ranked him sixth among Cubs prospects heading into the season, and The Athletic’s Keith Law called him a “heck of a get for two months of a 37-year-old reliever.” FanGraphs currently has him ranked 87th on their top-100 prospect list, and MLB.com moved him into its top-100 just this morning.

Despite Brown’s wide-reaching acclaim, the Phillies might not even regret making the swap. Robertson struggled with his command following the trade but still posted 22 1/3 innings of 2.70 ERA ball and saved six games for Philadelphia down the stretch in a tight Wild Card race that saw them edge out the Brewers by exactly one win. The Phillies needed every single victory, and if they’d held onto Brown and targeted a different reliever(s), who knows whether they’d have reached the playoffs? Were it not for Robertson — who pitched 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the playoffs — the Phils may never have experienced J.T. Realmuto’s NLDS inside-the-parker, Rhys Hoskins’ four-homer NLCS, or Bryce Harper’s iconic NLCS-clinching bomb.

Angels acquire OFs Mickey Moniak, Jadiel Sanchez from the Phillies in exchange for RHP Noah Syndergaard (8/2/22)

This trade might not have gone as well as the Phillies hoped. Syndergaard was decent down the stretch, pitching to a 4.12 ERA in 10 appearances, nine of them starts. He started just twice in the postseason and made one relief appearance. Syndergaard pitched like a fourth or fifth starter but saw his already diminished velocity and strikeout rate step even further back following the trade. Again, the Phils needed every last win to get to the playoffs, though, so it’s hard to say they’d definitively have done anything different. They won six of Syndergaard’s nine starts and also picked up the victory in the lone game they used him out of the bullpen, when he tossed two scoreless frames.

At least thus far, Angels fans can’t complain about the return. Moniak isn’t going to sustain a .429 batting average on balls in play, but he’s hitting .327/.340/.694 in 50 plate appearances. The BABIP and a 34% strikeout rate scream for regression, but the former 1-1 pick has already hit as many homers through 50 trips to the plate with the Halos (four) as he did in 167 with the Phillies. He’s played good defense, run well and given some hope that he can carve out a role moving forward.

Red Sox acquire INF Enmanuel Valdez, OF Wilyer Abreu from the Astros in exchange for C Christian Vazquez (8/1/22)

Trading Vazquez was part of a disjointed Red Sox trade deadline that saw Boston trade away their longtime catcher and lefty reliever Jake Diekman while also acquiring Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham. It wasn’t clear that their 2023 roster was improved, and the decision to hold onto other trade targets while adding Pham’s salary left them just over the luxury tax line (thereby reducing their compensation for qualifying offers extended to Xander Bogaerts and Nathan Eovaldi).

Digression aside, the swap might prove beneficial to the Sox in the long run. Valdez has already made his big league debut, and although his bat faded after a hot start, he’s still sporting a passable .244/.292/.422 batting line (91 wRC+) in his first 97 big league plate appearances. He’s picked up four homers, four doubles and three steals (in four tries) while subbing in at second base in the wake of a slew of middle-infield injuries. Valdez posted absolutely massive numbers in 205 Double-A plate appearances last year (.357/.463/.649) before moving up to Triple-A and hitting .265/.327/.488.

Abreu, meanwhile, was added to the 40-man roster over the winter and is hitting .264/.379/.479 in 40 Triple-A games so far. He’s regarded as a potential plus outfield defender, and his success in Triple-A and status on the 40-man roster mean the Red Sox could possibly have two MLB contributors within a year or so of trading Vazquez.

It’s hard to say anything moves the 2022 Astros made “didn’t work out,” as the team won the World Series in the end. But Vazquez took a backseat to Martin Maldonado both in the regular season and the playoffs, hitting just .250/.278/.308 in 108 regular-season plate appearances following the swap (plus .235/.316/.235 in just 19 playoff plate appearances).

Norris had been in camp with the Reds but was released on Monday. That came on the heels of a tough Spring Training, as he’d allowed six runs (five earned) over 6 2/3 innings with seven walks and five strikeouts. That predictably wasn’t enough to earn a season-opening roster spot in spite of a Cincinnati bullpen that only has one lock for left-handed relief (Reiver Sanmartin).

A veteran of parts of nine big league campaigns, the 29-year-old Norris split last season between the Cubs and Tigers. He threw 58 2/3 innings over 41 outings, pitching to a 5.22 ERA with an above-average 26.4% strikeout rate and a lofty 11.6% walk percentage. It was a tail of two seasons, as Norris had plenty of punchouts and walks in Chicago before trimming both numbers later in the year with Detroit.

The Guardians will be without top southpaw Sam Hentges to start the season, as he’s battling shoulder inflammation. That thinned the left-handed bullpen depth. Cleveland informed reporters this afternoon that 26-year-old Tim Herrin will break camp in the MLB bullpen (relayed by Zack Meisel of the Athletic). He’ll be the only southpaw in Terry Francona’s Opening Day relief corps.

Herrin, a 29th-round draftee out of Indiana in 2018, split the 2022 campaign between Double-A Akron and Columbus. He worked 69 1/3 frames, allowing a 4.02 ERA. Herrin’s strikeout and walk numbers were much more eye-catching than the run prevention. He fanned 34.1% of opponents against a 7.8% walk percentage. Cleveland added him to the 40-man roster over the offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’s now going to get a chance to make his big league debut after striking out 11 with two walks in 9 2/3 frames of five-run ball in camp.

It’s been a tough spring for Norris, who’s appeared in seven games with the Reds but been tagged for six runs (five earned) in 6 2/3 innings of work. Opponents have collected a dozen hits against the veteran southpaw, and he’s shown some troubling command issues as well. Norris has walked seven of his 40 opponents and plunked another three.

The 29-year-old Norris was once regarded as one of the top prospects in all of baseball, even headlining the Tigers’ return for David Price (alongside Matthew Boyd) when trading him to the Blue Jays at the 2015 trade deadline. He’s shown promise at varying points — 3.55 ERA in 129 1/3 frames with the Tigers from 205-16 — but Norris has also been slowed by injuries and a frightening battle with thyroid cancer, which he thankfully overcame.

Norris split the 2021-22 seasons between the Cubs, Tigers and Brewers but turned in a sub-par 5.68 ERA in 115 2/3 innings during that time. He was far more impressive with Detroit during the shortened 2020 season, logging a 3.25 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate and strong 6% walk rate in 27 2/3 innings out of the bullpen.

Overall, Norris has a 4.71 ERA in 569 2/3 big league innings. He’s fanned just under a quarter of his opponents over the past three seasons — an improvement from his early-career levels — but those increased punchouts have came with an increase in walks as well. Norris walked hitters at an 8.6% clip through 2019 but has issued free passes at a 10.7% rate over the past three years. He’ll look for opportunities elsewhere, and while teams in need of a left-handed reliever could well have interest in him as a depth piece, he might have to take another minor league deal and pitch his way onto a big league roster with a strong showing in Triple-A.

As far as the Reds’ bullpen is concerned, Norris’ release could bode well for lefty Alex Young. The former D-backs and Giants hurler is also in camp on a non-roster deal, but he’s had a much stronger showing, allowing just two runs with a 9-to-2 K/BB ratio in eight innings. Either Young or waiver claim Bennett Sousa would give manager David Bell a second lefty alongside Reiver Sanmartin. Sousa is already on the 40-man roster.

Helsley pitched on back-to-back days eight times in 2022, with eighteen of his 54 appearances lasting longer than 1.0 IP, though just nine of his appearances involved pitch counts greater than 25. Whatever one makes of his durability, however, Helsley certainly turned in a dominant 2022 season as he pitched to a sterling 1.25 ERA good for a 306 ERA+, meaning he was more than three times more effective than the league average pitcher in 2022. That performance was backed by a strong 2.34 FIP thanks to Helsley’s fantastic 39.3% strikeout rate and solid 8.4% walk rate. His K-BB% of 31 ranked fourth best in the majors last year among those with at least 60 innings of work.

For his part, Helsley told reporters that there were “no hard feelings” between himself and the organization, though he noted that the arbitration process was a tough one and that he and other players “wish it was a little different.”

Elsewhere in the NL Central…

• Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson will likely see more time off from his duties behind the plate this year, manager David Bell tells reporters, including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Bell plans for Stephenson to catch around 65 games this season, with about 80 games split between the DH slot and first base, allowing him to play around 140-50 games this season. Stephenson was limited to just 50 games and 183 plate appearances in 2022 due to injuries, but he hit well in those appearances, slashing .319/.372/.484, good for a wRC+ of 134. That overall line was likely helped by an inflated .409 BABIP, but as a career 119 wRC+ hitter, Stephenson still figures to be a key cog in the Reds lineup in 2023 as long as he can stay healthy. The Reds are no doubt hoping that less time behind the plate will help Stephenson stay on the field this year, while still allowing him to primarily be a catcher. The Reds expect to roster three catchers headed into Opening Day, with Curt Casali and Luke Maile both signed to big league deals.
• Sticking with the Reds, Bell tells reporters, including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, that his hope is to have more than one left-handed reliever in his bullpen this year. Reiver Sanmartin is the only lefty currently expected to be part of Cincinnati’s Opening Day bullpen, coming off a difficult season where he posted a 6.32 ERA (71 ERA+) in 57 innings with the big league club. Two potential options to join Sanmartin in the bullpen this year are Daniel Norris and Alex Young, both of whom are in camp on non-roster invitations. Norris struggled in 2022, posting a 5.22 ERA (76 ERA+) in 58 2/3 innings split between the Cubs and the Tigers last year. Young, however, found success in 2022 pitching for the Guardians and Giants. The lefty posted a 2.36 ERA (175 ERA+) with a 2.89 FIP in 26 2/3 innings, almost all of which came in San Francisco.