With more than half the ’24 campaign in the books, it seems Syndergaard is turning his attention to next year. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that the former Mets star will make a comeback effort in 2025. He’ll presumably conduct a few showcases next offseason in hopes of finding a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Syndergaard was one of the game’s most fearsome starters at his peak. His triple digit velocity hasn’t returned since he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020. Syndergaard overcame the diminished stuff to turn in a decent 3.94 ERA in 134 2/3 frames between the Angels and Phillies in 2022. Things went downhill last season, though, as he struggled for both the Dodgers and Guardians.

Over 12 starts with Los Angeles, Syndergaard turned in a 7.16 earned run average. He spent a couple months on the injured list before being flipped to Cleveland in a change of scenery swap sending Amed Rosario to Southern California. Syndergaard returned from the IL and stepped into the Cleveland rotation for the month of August. The new setting didn’t provide much of a turnaround. He allowed a 5.40 ERA over six starts for the Guardians before being cut loose.

Syndergaard closed the year with a 6.50 ERA across 88 2/3 cumulative innings. His strikeout rate fell to a personal-low 14.3% clip. An 8.2% swinging strike rate was similarly unimpressive. Syndergaard still filled up the strike zone, walking fewer than 5% of batters faced, but he did so without anything close to the stuff he wielded at his peak. His four-seam fastball and sinker each sat around 92 MPH.

His camp will hope that a year away from game action can help rebuild some of the arm speed that he has lost over the past couple seasons. Syndergaard turns 32 in August, so there’s still plenty of time for him to resume his career. There should be no shortage of teams that have scouts in attendance if he throws a couple showcases over the winter.

Miami has reportedly entertained interest in starters Edward Cabrera, Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett at various points this offseason. Ballyhooed right-hander Eury Perez, who impressed with a 3.15 ERA through 91 1/3 innings as a 20-year-old rookie in 2023, is widely considered to be off limits.

Of the other Miami arms, Cabrera has generally been considered the “most” available. The 6’5″ 25-year-old is a former top-tier prospect himself but has dealt with command troubles through his first year-plus of big league service time and has not yet as established as the other three hurlers in question. Mackey indeed suggests that Cabrera is the likeliest target, reporting that a deal between the Bucs and the Fish would likely include an infielder such as Liover Peguero, Nick Gonzales or Ji Hwan Bae.

Each of those three have varying levels of trade value themselves. Peguero has garnered the most prospect fanfare of the group but struggled in a 59-game MLB debut last year, hitting .237/.280/.374 in 213 plate appearances. Gonzales is a former No. 7 overall pick and top-100 prospect, but Baseball America now lists him ninth among Pittsburgh minor leaguers. Bae is another once-well-regarded prospect but exhausted his rookie eligibility last year with a tepid .231/.296/.311 showing through 371 plate appearances. All three are middle infielders, though Gonzales and Bae are considered limited to second base (and, in Bae’s case, the outfield).

Any member of that trio would figure to be just one of several pieces going to Miami, should a deal come together. Though Cabrera himself has some questions about his lackluster command, he’s still performed far better in the majors than any of those Pittsburgh infielders, and controllable young pitching is typically the most difficult type of asset to acquire.

Since making his big league debut in 2021, Cabrera has pitched 197 2/3 innings of 4.01 ERA ball. That includes a rocky debut that lasted just 26 1/3 frames in ’21, however. Over the past two seasons, he sports a more encouraging 3.73 mark in 171 1/3 frames. Cabrera has averaged better than 96 mph on his heater, punched out an above-average 26.6% of his opponents and induced grounders at a strong 50.6% clip. Still, fielding-independent metrics are a bit more bearish on him than ERA due to his 13.7% walk rate. In that same 2022-23 window, Cabrera sports a 4.50 FIP and 4.42 SIERA.

If Cabrera can improve his command at all, he has the makings of a clear big league starter. His fastball and changeup give him a pair of above-average to plus offerings, with the change in particular befuddling lefties and thus mitigating typical platoon issues. Southpaws have flailed away at the pitch and produced a hapless .184/.291/.315 batting line in 433 plate appearances against Cabrera. Because his slider hasn’t been as consistently effective, Cabrera has struggled against right-handed opponents. They’ve hit just .231 against him but posted a huge .376 OBP and slugged .422.

Cabrera’s 1.147 years of big league service time put him on track to be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two player next winter. That’d make him arb-eligible four times rather than the standard three, but he’s under club control through the 2028 season regardless.

Beyond their interest in Miami’s starters, the Pirates have seen free agents Domingo German and Noah Syndergaard throw recently, per Mackey. Either figures to be available on a low-cost deal, and it seems entirely feasible that the Pirates could both trade for a pre-arb starter who won’t alter their payroll and still add another low-cost rotation piece on a one-year deal. Other veterans still on the market –beyond top starters Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, who are surely out of Pittsburgh’s price range — include Michael Lorenzen, Hyun Jin Ryu, Mike Clevinger and Eric Lauer.

Both Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Jon Morosi of MLB Network (video link) have suggested recently that Minnesota could make some further additions before long. The Twins, who’ve scaled back payroll while spending much of the offseason facing questions about their television broadcast rights, aren’t likely to sign Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. The Twins reportedly had interest in Michael Lorenzen prior to adding DeSclafani, and Morosi suggests that pitchers like Lorenzen and Noah Syndergaard are in the general price range the Twins are actively considering.

As things stand, the Twins still have a solid group of starters, though the depth isn’t as strong heading into 2024 as it appeared to be in 2023. Pablo Lopez had the third-most strikeouts in all of baseball last season while finishing ninth innings pitched and logging a 3.66 ERA. He’ll lead the staff, followed by righties Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. The former carried a sub-3.00 ERA with outstanding K/BB marks through his first 15 starts before fading down the stretch. He’ll look for a stronger finish to the 2024 season but has nonetheless cemented himself as a useful big league starter. The latter touts a 3.37 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and 5% walk rate in 200 1/3 frames dating back to 2022.

Beyond that trio, the Twins are hoping to get a full season’s worth of starts from righty Chris Paddack, who returned from Tommy John surgery late in 2023 and pitched well out of the bullpen. The former Padre allowed three runs in 8 2/3 innings between the regular season and postseason, turning in an electric 14-to-1 K/BB ratio in that time (41.8% strikeout rate, 2.9% walk rate). However, the 28-year-old has just 40 2/3 innings total since 2022 (minors and postseason included), and he’s only reached 100 innings in two MLB seasons. Counting on him for 30 starts seems wildly optimistic.

The veteran DeSclafani and 26-year-old right-hander Louie Varland will vie for the final starting job. DeSclafani, 34, has battled injuries over the past two seasons and pitched poorly when on the field, but he gave the Giants 31 starts of 3.17 ERA ball as recently as 2021. The Twins are only on the hook for $4MM of this season’s $12MM salary, with the Giants paying $6MM and the Mariners kicking in $2MM as part of the Jorge Polanco trade with the Mariners that also brought reliever Justin Topa and top prospect Gabriel Gonzalez to Minnesota. Varland has pitched 94 innings of 4.40 ERA ball in the big leagues. He was immensely homer-prone in 2023 (2.12 HR/9), but he boasts strong strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates, leading metrics like SIERA and xFIP (which normalize home-run rate) to peg his 2023 performance at solid marks of 3.77 and 3.81.

It’s a fine top six, but the departure of Maeda and particularly Gray, who finished second in AL Cy Young voting this past season, still loom large. The Twins will surely be banking on more consistency from Ryan and more innings from Paddack, but there’s no getting around the fact that the group looks weaker than it did in 2023 — particularly late in the season, when Gray and Maeda were both pitching quite well.

Barring some type of surprising trade, it doesn’t seem likely that the Twins will find a way to replace the quality of Gray’s innings. Free agents Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery are still out there, but the Twins have been cutting payroll due to their murky television situation. Minnesota formally announced a one-year extension of their deal with Diamond Sports Group/Bally Sports today, though presumably at a lesser rate than they received in 2023. The outlook beyond that point remains unclear, too. A major splash for Snell or Montgomery would come as a shock.

Deepening the group by bringing in someone like Lorenzen probably wouldn’t give the Twins the same type of Game 1 or 2 playoff starter they had in Gray, but springing for quantity has some merit as well. Even adding 150 or so league-average innings would help to safeguard against injury concerns among the current group (Paddack and DeSclafani, most notably), push DeSclafani to a long-relief role to open the season and push Varland to Triple-A, where he could work out of the rotation and be summoned as injuries dictate. Roster Resource currently projects a $123.5MM payroll for the Twins — more than $30MM shy of last year’s season-end mark but in the general $125-140MM vicinity they were reportedly targeting for the upcoming season.

Reports indicated back in November that several teams had already checked in on Syndergaard, though the Pirates and now the Padres are the only clubs publicly linked to the righty’s market.  It is fair to suggest that Syndergaard may be viewed as a fallback option for many of these potential suitors, who prioritized more clearcut rotation upgrades before turning to more speculative bounce-back candidates like Syndergaard.

The 31-year-old threw only 88 2/3 innings over 18 starts with the Dodgers and Guardians last year, as blister problems sent him to the injured list for about seven weeks and Syndergaard’s season ended prematurely when Cleveland released him at the end of August.  An excellent 4.9% walk rate was just about the only highlight of Syndergaard’s 2023 campaign, as he posted a 6.50 ERA and a tiny 14.3% strikeout rate while allowing a lot of hard contact and averaging only 92.2mph of velocity on his fastball.

It was a disappointing step back for the former Mets ace, who was once one of the National League’s top pitchers before injuries took a toll on his career.  A Tommy John surgery cost Syndergaard virtually all of the 2020-21 seasons, though he had at least decent numbers (3.94 ERA, 5.5% walk rate) over 134 2/3 frames with the Angels and Phillies in 2022.  However, the red flags were already in present in drops in strikeouts, velocity, and barrel rate, so Syndergaard ended signing a one-year, $13MM deal with the Dodgers last winter.

Acquiring Syndergaard wouldn’t exactly guarantee more stability for the Padres’ collection of arms, given this recent track record.  Expecting a return to his Cy Young candidate form is looking increasingly far-fetched, yet given the Friars’ pitching needs and budgetary limitations, Syndergaard might be the kind of relatively inexpensive veteran who could be a fit at the back end of the rotation.

Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and Michael King line up as the top three in the rotation, though King has a limited track record as a starting pitcher.  Projected fourth/fifth starter candidates Pedro Avila, Jhony Brito, and Randy Vasquez have limited track records in the big leagues altogether — Avila has thrown only 63 2/3 frames across four MLB seasons, and Brito (90 1/3 IP) and Vazquez (37 2/3 IP) only made their MLB debuts with the Yankees last season.  As Acee notes, simply covering innings is going to be a challenge for San Diego even if everyone stays healthy, so signing Syndergaard or a comparable veteran might be almost a necessity to help lessen the workload for the more inexperienced starters.

While it’s unclear which teams are involved in Lorenzen’s market, Pittsburgh is apparently considering Syndergaard as a rebound target. He’ll certainly settle for a one-year contract for a third straight offseason. After locking in a $21MM guarantee from the Angels in 2021-22 and a $13MM pact from the Dodgers last winter, he’s looking at a cheaper deal this time around.

That’s a reflection of Syndergaard’s trouble finding his form since he returned from Tommy John surgery. He underwent the elbow procedure in March 2020, essentially wiping out two seasons. During his first year back, he turned in a 3.94 ERA over 25 appearances for the Halos. While that’s decent run prevention, the righty wasn’t nearly as overpowering as he’d been before the surgery. He fanned just 16.8% of opposing hitters, nearly eight percentage points below his 2019 mark.

The Dodgers hoped that Syndergaard would rediscover that level in his second year after surgery. Instead, the lack of missed bats caught up to him. He was tagged for a 7.16 ERA over 12 starts in Los Angeles. The Dodgers placed him on the injured list and flipped him to the Guardians in a change-of-scenery swap that sent infielder Amed Rosario to Southern California.

Things didn’t get much better in Cleveland. Syndergaard returned from the IL to start six games. He pitched to a 5.40 ERA while allowing 10 home runs in 33 1/3 innings. The Guardians released him at the end of August. He didn’t sign elsewhere and finished his year with a 6.50 ERA across 88 2/3 frames. His 14.3% strikeout percentage and 8.2% swinging strike rate were each personal lows, while he allowed a career-worst 2.23 home runs per nine innings. Once one of the sport’s hardest throwers, the righty has lost a lot of velocity in recent seasons. His fastball was down around 92 MPH on average last year.

Syndergaard is still just 31 years old, so it stands to reason some clubs have optimism about helping him rediscover some of that lost arm speed. He has excellent control and has walked fewer than 6% of opposing hitters in each of the past two seasons. If he can even find the 93-94 MPH he brandished in 2022, he’d be a potential back-of-the-rotation starter.

The Pirates would benefit from that kind of production. Pittsburgh’s rotation is led by Mitch Keller. They’ve already targeted Martín Pérez and Marco Gonzales as rebound fliers, while players like Luis Ortiz, Bailey Falter, Roansy Contreras and Quinn Priester could vie for back-end jobs.

Pittsburgh’s signing of Aroldis Chapman pushes their projected player payroll to roughly $79MM, above last year’s $73MM Opening Day figure. It’s unclear how much budgetary room remains at the front office’s disposal.

It’s understandable why clubs would consider such a move but the reason that Syndergaard is available in a buy-low situation is that his 2023 was so dismal. He signed a one-year, $13MM deal with the Dodgers but posted an earned run average of 7.16 in his 12 starts for that club. He was flipped to the Guardians at the deadline in a swap of struggling players, with Amed Rosario going to the Dodgers. Syndergaard took the ball six times for the Guards with slightly better results, as his ERA was 5.40 in those. But he was nonetheless designated for assignment and released at the end of August. He didn’t sign anywhere else for the final month of the season.

Despite that rough campaign, Syndergaard might be a beneficiary of the robust market for starting pitchers, as various reports suggest that the demand for rotation help is incredibly high. Aaron Nola got a hefty $172MM guarantee over seven years to return to the Phillies. But even Lance Lynn, who was coming off a very poor season, received a guarantee of $11MM on a one-year deal with the Cardinals.

That perhaps gives some hope to Syndergaard, but on the other hand, his strong results are now pretty far in the past. Lynn had a 5.73 ERA in 2023 while allowing 44 home runs but he still struck out 23.6% of batters. He also had a much more palatable ERA of 3.99 in 2022 with a 24.2% strikeout rate. Despite his struggles this year, there are at least some encouraging things under the hood.

It’s hard to say the same for Syndergaard, who struck out just 14.3% of batters faced in 2023. Like Lynn, his ERA was much better in 2022, coming in at 3.94. But he did that despite striking out just 16.8% of opponents in that season. He missed all of 2020 and most of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery so a bit of rust was to be expected but he’s yet to show signs of returning anywhere near his pre-surgery form.

From 2015 to 2019, he posted a 3.31 ERA over 716 innings. In the process, he struck out 26.4% of batters faced, walked just 5.7% and kept 49.1% of balls in play on the ground. Prior to the surgery, his four-seam fastball and sinker each average between 97 and 99 mph but the past two years have seen him average in the 92-94 mph range. His slider averaged 92-93 mph before he went under the knife but he’s been around 85 mph since. Those diminished weapons have naturally reduced his ability to punch out big league hitters and he’s now had four straight years of either being injured or posting middling results.

Now 31, it’s fair to wonder if there’s a path to turn things around. The Dodgers and Guardians are two organizations with strong reputations for getting the most out of pitchers but each gave up on Syndergaard last year. Though if the market for starters is as strong as the reporting indicates, the contracts for the top guys will be wild and there figures to be strong competition for even mid-rotation arms and back-end guys. More than half the league has reportedly checked in on Seth Lugo while, as mentioned, Lynn got an eight-figure guarantee coming off a nightmare season. Perhaps that will lead some club to taking a flier on Syndergaard and hoping for the best.

Cleveland acquired the former All-Star in a swap of underwater contracts at the deadline, sending infielder Amed Rosario to the Dodgers in hopes that a change of scenery could help get Syndergaard back to form. Syndergaard, who’d pitched to a 7.16 ERA in 55 1/3 innings with Los Angeles, signed a one-year, $13MM deal with the Dodgers over the winter. Rosario, an impending free agent who’d been the Guardians’ primary shortstop since 2021, was hitting just .265/.306/.369 at the time of the swap. Neither player has gotten his performance back up to previous levels since the exchange, however.

The Guards might’ve at least hoped that Syndergaard could stabilize an injury-plagued rotation down the stretch, taking some of the innings that were lost when Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie or Cal Quantrill went down with long-term injuries. That hasn’t happened. Syndergaard made six starts with Cleveland, pitching to a 5.40 ERA with a 12.4% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 33 1/3 innings. That 12.4% strikeout rate is the lowest of any pitcher since the time of the trade (min. 30 innings).

Now 31 years old, Syndergaard was one of the most promising power pitchers in the sport early in his career, breaking out as a legitimate Cy Young contender early on. Through his first 518 1/3 big league innings, the 6’6″ righty notched a 2.93 ERA, fanning 27.1% of his opponents and averaging 98.2 mph on his heater along the way. Unlike so many flamethrowers, Syndergaard possessed pristine command, too; his 5.5% walk rate in that stretch was outstanding. His ERA spiked to 4.28 in 2019, but Syndergaard retained premium velocity, strikeout and walk rates while logging a career-high 197 2/3 innings.

Unfortunately, the present-day version of Syndergaard doesn’t look much like that peak version. Tommy John surgery wiped out the 2020 and 2021 seasons for Syndergaard, who serves as something of a cautionary tale and reminder that for as common as the procedure has become, a return to form following such a major surgery is by no means a foregone conclusion. He still boasts outstanding command — he’s walked just 4.9% of his opponents this year — but Syndergaard’s fastball averaged 92.8 mph in Los Angeles and was down to just 91.9 mph during his brief stint with Cleveland. The once-wicked slider that averaged a ridiculous 93.1 mph is down to 85 mph in each of the past two seasons, and his peak 14.2% swinging-strike rate has plummeted to a well below-average 8.2%.

Syndergaard will now hit the market as a depth option for postseason hopefuls. He’ll cost a new club only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. With active rosters set to expand from 26 to 28 players tomorrow, he’ll have a clearer path back to a big league roster, although a team in the midst of a tight postseason race would likely be wary of plugging him right into the rotation. Many have wondered what Syndergaard might look like coming out of the bullpen — he’s only made two relief appearances in his career — and that could be another avenue for him to join a contender’s staff.

The 38th overall pick in the 2010 draft by the Blue Jays, Syndergaard made his major league debut with the Mets in 2015 and immediately had the look of a clear top-of-the-rotation arm. While he battled injuries throughout his Mets tenure, he posted a 3.31 ERA and 2.92 FIP in 716 innings of work alongside Jacob deGrom at the front of New York’s rotation from 2015-2019, with a 26.4% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate, and a 49.1% groundball rate. His best season came in 2016, when he dominated to the tune of a 2.60 ERA with an MLB-best 2.29 FIP, a strikeout rate of 29.3% and a groundball rate of 51.2%.

Syndergaard’s career hit a major snag in March of 2020, when the then-27-year-old righty underwent Tommy John surgery. He would miss the entire shortened 2020 campaign and almost all of the 2021 campaign as well, recording just two September relief appearances that year before hitting free agency.

Syndergaard split his 2022 campaign between the Angels and the Phillies, looking more like a soft-tossing back-of-the-rotation arm than the flamethrowing ace he had been earlier in his career. The results were still solid, however, as Syndergaard posted a 3.94 ERA and 3.83 FIP in 134 2/3 innings of work that year in the regular season. He then went on to pitch for the Phillies during their run to the World Series, allowing three runs in 8 1/3 postseason innings of work.

That solid if uninspiring return to action in 2022 earned Syndergaard a one-year deal with the Dodgers last December. While the sides were hopeful that Syndergaard would be able to build on his 2022 performance and regain some of his lost velocity another year removed from Tommy John, the 2023 campaign didn’t go how either party imagined it would. Through 12 starts with the Dodgers, Syndergaard looked completely outmatched with a disastrous 7.16 ERA across 55 1/3 innings of work, less than five innings per start.

Between Syndergaard’s troubling run prevention numbers and inability to pitch deep into games, the Dodgers moved on from him rather quickly even in spite of an injury-plagued season that saw every other member of their Opening Day rotation spend significant time on the injured list. LA placed Syndergaard on the IL himself with a finger blister in early June and did not appear in the majors again until he was dealt to Cleveland just before the trade deadline in a change-of-scenery swap that shipped Amed Rosario to the Dodgers.

Syndergaard ended up making five starts for the Guardians prior to the club’s decision today to move on from him. While his ERA improved with the club relative to his time with the Dodgers, his 4.94 figure was still 16% below average. To make matters worse, he struck out just 12.5% of batters faced while giving up a whopping seven homers in just 27 1/3 innings of work.

Given those brutal peripheral numbers, it’s hardly a shock that the club has decided to move on from Syndergaard in favor of seeing what they have in youngsters like Xzavion Curry, Hunter Gaddis, and Peyton Battenfield. It’s a particularly reasonable course of action considering the 62-69 Guardians, six games back in a weak AL Central with a 9-15 record so far in August, have seen their hopes of returning to the playoffs this year become considerably fainter over the past month since the club acquired Syndergaard.

As for Syndergaard, assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers he’ll have the opportunity to return to the free agent market and look to catch on with another team. Brutal as his results have been this year, teams are always on the lookout for potential depth options, particularly on a no-risk minor league deal like the one Syndergaard would presumably command. To be eligible to participate in the postseason with his new club, Syndergaard will have to sign before September 1.

Essentially, it’s a change of scenery trade between two clubs hoping to balance their rosters for the stretch run. Each of Rosario and Syndergaard will be free agents at season’s end. Neither player was a candidate to receive a qualifying offer — Syndergaard is ineligible for the QO having previously received one in his career, while Rosario simply wasn’t playing well enough.

Rosario’s time in Cleveland wraps up after two and a half seasons. Cleveland acquired the former top prospect from the Mets in the Francisco Lindor blockbuster going into the 2021 campaign. Andrés Giménez has been the best part of that deal for Cleveland, but Rosario has capably held down shortstop for a couple seasons.

The right-handed hitter posted average offensive numbers in each of his first two seasons with the Guardians. He connected on 11 home runs in both years while hitting around .280, though meager walk totals kept his on-base percentage right around league average. Over the two-year stretch, he combined for a .282/.316/.406 line in over 1200 trips to the plate.

Rosario’s third season with the Guardians hasn’t been as productive. In 94 games, he’s hitting .265/.306/.369. That’s largely attributable to a frigid start, as he put up a .233/.280/.327 slash through the end of May. Since the calendar flipped to June, he owns a much more impressive .301/.335/.415 line.

By and large, Rosario’s underlying marks align with his career trajectory. His 5.3% walk rate and 18.7% strikeout percentage are right in line with his career averages. His 42.1% hard contact rate and 88.6 MPH average exit velocity are at the higher end of his overall marks. Middling start aside, Rosario seems mostly the same offensive player he’s been throughout his time in Cleveland — a high-contact hitter with an aggressive approach and fringe power.

That hasn’t been the case on the other side of the ball. Rosario’s defensive ratings have cratered this year. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast have rated him as the worst shortstop in the majors, pegging him somewhere between 12 and 15 runs below average. He has committed the sixth-most errors (11) at the position.

Public defensive metrics have generally pegged Rosario as a below-average defender throughout his career. This year’s marks are a personal-worst, though, and it seems likely the Dodgers will bounce him around the diamond. Rosario has brief experience in the outfield. He’s never played an infield position aside from shortstop, but the majority of shortstop-capable players can kick over to second or third base without issue.

As with Enrique Hernández, whom the Dodgers acquired from the Red Sox last night, Rosario adds a flexible right-handed bat to Dave Roberts’ roster. He has an excellent .304/.346/.475 slash in 463 plate appearances against left-handed pitching dating back to the start of 2021. The Dodgers have been clear about their desire to add some balance to a lineup in which incumbent righty-swinging middle infielders Miguel Rojas and Miguel Vargas have underperformed offensively.

Vargas’ struggles pushed him back to Triple-A. Rojas remains the favorite for shortstop playing time on the strength of his glove. Rosario offers a bat-first alternative at the position who could cut into the playing time for utility types like Chris Taylor and Yonny Hernández. Adding a couple righty-swinging infielders also enables the Dodgers to use Mookie Betts more frequently in the outfield than at second base against lefty pitching, further limiting David Peralta’s and James Outman’s exposure to same-handed arms.

Cleveland figures to turn shortstop over to one of a number of younger players in the upper levels of the organization. Tyler Freeman, Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio are all fairly recent highly-regarded prospects who have reached the big leagues. Freeman, who is currently on the MLB roster, might be the first choice thanks to an excellent .329/.468/.482 showing in Triple-A. He’s a stellar contact hitter who has experience throughout the infield. He’s perhaps better suited for second base, but Giménez could kick across to the left side of the infield.

Arias is also currently on the big league club. He’s viewed as a plus defensive option at shortstop but hasn’t produced much offense in a multi-positional role. In 162 trips to the plate, the right-handed hitter owns a .179/.290/.300 line while striking out more than 32% of the time. Rocchio is in Triple-A, where he has a solid .295/.385/.419 slash over 83 games.

The Guardians are comfortable enough with that group of youngsters to relinquish Rosario in exchange for a buy-low roll of the dice on Syndergaard. The right-hander hasn’t managed to recapture his All-Star form since undergoing Tommy John surgery in advance of the 2020 season. He missed almost all of 2020-21, then returned with a fine but unexceptional 3.94 ERA in 25 appearances between the Angels and Phillies last year.

Los Angeles took a shot on a rebound in free agency. The Dodgers inked Syndergaard to a one-year, $13MM guarantee and installed him into the season-opening rotation. The move didn’t pan out, as he had a rather forgettable 12-start stint in Dodger blue. Through 55 1/3 innings, he posted a 7.16 ERA. A blister on his right index finger sent him to the injured list on June 8 and marked the end of his L.A. tenure.

Syndergaard began a minor league rehab stint two weeks ago. He’s made a couple Triple-A appearances, reaching 77 pitches in a start last Friday. It stands to reason he’ll be able to make a return to a big league rotation in the near future.

A few months ago, the notion of the Guardians trading for a short-term rotation upgrade would’ve seemed far-fetched. Cleveland has been hit hard by injuries, though, losing each of Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill to extended issues. That leaves Aaron Civale and the rookie trio of Gavin Williams, Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee starting games for now.

The Guardians become the latest team hoping to get Syndergaard back on track. He still boasts excellent control, walking fewer than 4% of opposing hitters. Yet the high-octane arsenal that earned him the ’Thor’ moniker at his peak has dwindled. Syndergaard’s fastball is averaging 92.6 MPH this season, nowhere near the upper-90s of his pre-surgery days. His cutter isn’t missing bats the way his slider once had. Syndergaard has punched out only 15.4% of opposing hitters, a career-low mark that’s more than six percentage points below league average for starters.

The Dodgers hold a 3 1/2 game lead over the Giants in the NL West. Cleveland sits two games behind the Twins in the AL Central. There are presumably more moves on the horizon for both, but they’ll each roll the dice on a veteran having a down year in hopes of getting a spark for the final couple months.

Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN first reported the Dodgers were nearing a deal for Rosario. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic confirmed a Rosario trade was in place, pending medical reviews. Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated reported the Guardians were receiving Syndergaard in return. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report the Dodgers were including cash, which Zack Meisel of the Athletic specified made the deal a wash financially.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

With clear starters entrenched all across the infield and outfield, the clearest hole in the club’s lineup appears to be at designated hitter. The club recently released Nelson Cruz, and fellow offseason signing Matt Carpenter has struggled similarly with a 76 wRC+ in 191 plate appearances this season. Rougned Odor and Brandon Dixon have also mixed in recently, though both are also hitting well below league average. Given this need at DH, the Padres should have plenty of options on the rental market. Speculatively speaking, Tommy Pham woulld certainly improve the club’s production at the DH spot, while a more versatile player like Cody Bellinger could do the same while also mixing in at all three outfield spots and at first base.

More from around the NL West…

• Sticking with the Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. exited play against the Phillies today with an apparent injury. As noted by Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune, manager Bob Melvin told reporters that Tatis suffered a twisted ankle on the warning track and left the game after his ankle began to swell. Tatis is currently considered day-to-day, though given Tatis’s injury history and importance to the Padres, it would hardly be surprising if the club decided to sit him for a game or two to ensure the issue doesn’t become more significant.
• Giants left-hander Alex Wood is slated to take the ball for a start tomorrow against the Pirates, as noted by Susan Sussler of the San Francisco Chronicle. Across 50 innings of work this season, Wood sports a 4.68 ERA and 4.74 FIP. He was moved to the bullpen at the end of June and sports a 3.09 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work since then, including two five-inning, scoreless appearances. Now, Wood will get another opportunity as a member of the club’s starting rotation where he will be joined by Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, and Ross Stripling.
• The Dodgers have struggled to keep their starting pitchers healthy this season as each of Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Noah Syndergaard, Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, and Gavin Stone have spent time on the injured list throughout the season. Fortunately for LA, the club appears poised to get reinforcements from the injured list in the near future, with both Syndergaard and Pepiot beginning rehab assignments with Triple-A Oklahoma City per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Pepiot made his first appearance since Spring Training with Oklahoma City yesterday, allowing one run over two innings while racking up two strikeouts. Syndergaard, meanwhile, allowed two runs on four hits over five innings of work in a start this evening, striking out six without issuing a walk. Both pitchers, if healthy and effective, figure to impact a Dodgers club that has surged to recapture the lead in the NL West race in recent days.

Wainwright, 41, is currently in the midst of his twentieth season as a member of the Cardinals organization and his eighteenth pitching for the big league club. After posting the numbers of a solid middle of the rotation starter over the past few seasons, with a 3.57 ERA and 3.90 FIP in 635 1/3 innings since the start of the 2019 campaign, the wheels have fallen off for the veteran hurler in 2023. Through ten starts this season, Wainwright has posted a ghastly 7.45 ERA that’s 41% worse than league average by measure of ERA+ with a 5.47 FIP. His strikeout rate has dropped from 17.8% last season to a measly 10.7% figure this season, a figure that’s actually lower than his sky-high barrel rate of 10.9%.

With Wainwright headed to the IL, the Cardinals figure to look toward one of Steven Matz or Dakota Hudson to join the starting rotation in Wainwright’s stead. Matz has struggled to a 5.72 ERA in ten starts this season, but has shown signs of life since moving to the bullpen with an excellent 1.98 ERA in 13 2/3 innings of work as a multi-inning relief arm. Hudson, meanwhile, has spent most of the 2023 campaign in the minors with an unsightly 6.00 ERA in 48 Triple-A innings, but the righty impressed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen recently, a performance that could earn Hudson another look on the major league pitching staff.

More from the National League…

• Dodgers right-hander Noah Syndergaard could return in the near future, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the LA Times) that Syndergaard is scheduled to throw live batting practice later this week and that, if it goes well, he could advance to a rehab assignment shortly thereafter. Syndergaard struggled mightily to a 7.12 ERA with a 5.55 FIP across 12 starts prior to his placement on the injured list a month ago. Despite those ugly numbers, if Syndergaard has managed to get right during his time on the shelf, he could be an asset to a Dodgers rotation that recently saw Clayton Kershaw head to the IL and Dustin May’s season end with an impending elbow surgery.
• Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. went on the injured list yesterday with a left oblique strain just a week after returning from a six week IL stint due to turf toe. Fortunately for Miami the young outfielder, Chisholm’s MRI results came back today and showed only a mild strain, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. That’s excellent news, as mild strains can often be resolved fairly quickly. Chisholm will have the upcoming All Star break to rest and rehab and while no timetable for his return has been announced, it’s possible the 25 year old could return to big league action shortly thereafter.

Muncy’s return figures to provide a huge boost to a beleaguered Dodgers club that’s been outscored 44-29 since he last played on June 11. While the 32-year-old slugger has hit above the Mendoza line just once in the past four seasons, his overall slash line of .214/.342/.450 is good for a wRC+ that’s 18% better than league average during that time frame. That’s thanks to Muncy sporting a combination of power and plate discipline that stands among the game’s best. Since joining the Dodgers in 2018, Muncy ranks 4th in the NL in both walk rate (15.4%) and home runs (157). Michael Busch has held down the fort at third base while Muncy was on the shelf.

Also set to re-join the club in the coming days is lefty Julio Urias, who Hoornstra notes is expected to return to the club during next weekend’s series in Kansas City. A free agent at season’s end, Urias will look to improve upon the uncharacteristic 4.39 ERA and 5.30 FIP he posted across his first 11 starts of the season prior to hitting the injured list. Urias figures to be among the top free agents available this offseason behind Shohei Ohtani, even after his struggles to start the season, given his pedigree as a hurler with a career ERA of 2.95 who won’t turn 27 until August.

Hoornstra adds that, according to Roberts, young right-handers Emmet Sheehan and Bobby Miller both figure to remain in the rotation even after Urias is activated. Roberts heaped praise on the pair of youngsters, describing their performance at the big league level so far as “100th percentile” when it comes to handling the opportunity to pitch in the majors. Entering play today, Sheehan has posted a 1.50 ERA across two starts with the club while Miller has impressed to the tune of a 2.83 ERA in five starts.

That figures to leave right-hander Noah Syndergaard without a job in the rotation going forward. As noted by Hoornstra, the right-hander threw three simulated innings prior to today’s game against the Astros, without being hindered by the blister that sent him to the 15-day IL earlier this month. That being said, Roberts described Syndergaard’s session today as simply “checking a box” for the right-hander, adding that “we’re still a ways away” from Syndergaard returning to the active roster. After signing a one-year deal with the Dodgers this past winter, Syndergaard has struggled badly with a 7.16 ERA in 55 1/3 innings of work.

The 2023 season has been an abject nightmare for Syndergaard. The former Mets powerhouse inked a one-year, $13MM contract with the Dodgers in hopes of rebounding from last year’s pedestrian showing between the Angels/Phillies and returning to the market in stronger standing. Instead, the 30-year-old righty has floundered through the worst season of his big league career. In 12 starts, Syndergaard has averaged just 4 2/3 innings per outing, sitting at a total of 55 1/3 frames on the year. In that span, he’s been rocked for a 7.18 ERA with a career-worst 15.4% strikeout rate.

Syndergaard averaged a career-low 94.5 mph on his heater in 2022, and though he voiced confidence in his ability to push that mark toward his pre-Tommy John Surgery levels of 97-99 mph upon signing with the Dodgers, his heater has continued to diminish. He’s sitting at an average of 92.8 mph in 2023 (93.3 mph over his three most recent starts). As that four-seamer has deteriorated, Syndergaard has added a new cutter and increasingly favored his sinker. Neither pitch has been effective, however. Opponents are hitting .366/.381/.537 against that freshly implemented cutter, while plate appearances ended with his sinker have produced a .309/.380/.529 slash. Per Statcast, the only of Syndergaard’s five pitches that has a better-than-average “expected” wOBA is his curveball — his least-used offering (12.2%).

Syndergaard’s walk rate remains elite, checking in at an outstanding 3.7% this season. That’s the fourth-best mark in MLB (min. 50 innings), trailing only George Kirby (2%), Zack Greinke (3.3%) and Zach Eflin (3.5%). However, Syndergaard’s 15.4% strikeout rate is tied for eighth-lowest in that same set of pitchers — a remarkable fall for a pitcher who fanned 26.5% of his hitters through his first five MLB seasons. Compounding the problem is that Syndergaard’s average of 1.95 homers allowed per nine innings pitched is the eighth-worst mark among the 98 pitchers with at least 50 innings in 2023.

Were the Dodgers healthier as a team, perhaps they might’ve already had their hand forced with regard to the struggling Syndergaard. They’ve been hit hard by injuries on the pitching side of the roster, however, with each of Julio Urias, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove requiring notable stints on the injured list. That’s perhaps bought Syndergaard some extra time, but Urias is expected to return this weekend. At that point, the Dodgers will have Clayton Kershaw, Urias and Gonsolin in their top three spots, with impressive rookie Bobby Miller tightening his hold on that fourth spot.

Syndergaard would join Grove and top prospect Gavin Stone as a candidate for that fifth spot, and at least for the time being, neither of those two younger options has seized the job. But with Pepiot and May expected back this summer and the trade deadline now about seven weeks away, there’s no certainty Syndergaard will have a long leash to prove himself as one of the team’s five best options.

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).

Grove will start today’s game against the Yankees, which will mark his fifth start of the season.  One of the Dodgers’ top pitching prospects over the last few years, Grove made his MLB debut with 29 1/3 innings in 2022, and has 16 frames under his belt thus far in 2023.  The results haven’t been there, as Grove has a 5.96 ERA over his 45 1/3 innings in the bigs, including an 8.44 number this season.  Grove’s struggles were then compounded by a groin strain that has kept him on the IL since April 21.

The righty will get another look in the rotation for at least one more start, though the Dodgers’ ongoing battle with pitching injuries could very well mean that plans change yet again.  Some notable reinforcements could be coming in the form of Julio Urias, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) that Urias had a bullpen session today that involved around 30 pitches.  Urias has been out until May 19 due to a hamstring strain, but might be in line to return next weekend if all goes well with a live batting practice session slated for Tuesday.

Noah Syndergaard will start Wednesday’s game, with Roberts telling the L.A. Times’ Mike DiGiovanna and other media that despite Syndergaard’s struggles, “we want to continue to bet on him.”  With a 6.54 ERA over 11 starts and 52 1/3 innings, Syndergaard hasn’t been at all what the Dodgers expected after signing him to a one-year, $13MM free agent contract.  Roberts’ statement might well indicate the club’s continued faith that Syndergaard might turn things around, yet the other issue is that L.A. doesn’t really have any ready-made replacements on hand, due to all of the injuries.  If Urias returns as planned and Grove can impress in his next start or two, the Dodgers could potentially give Grove a longer look at Syndergaard’s expense.

Bickford has a 7.33 ERA over 27 innings out of the Dodgers’ bullpen, though his much more palatable 3.70 SIERA indicates that Bickford has been somewhat unlucky.  His .362 BABIP and a 56.8% strand rate haven’t been in his favor, but Bickford’s 52.7% hard-hit ball rate and 13.5% barrel rate are both amongst the highest in the league, so it isn’t as though the righty has simply been the victim of some batted-ball luck.