It’s official: The Texas Rangers are going all out.
In less than a month, the defending World Series champions have improved their playoff chances from 5.5 percent to more than 25 percent. The Seattle Mariners’ collapse helped, but the Rangers have also won 12 of their last 16 games, including five in a row. They’re one game below .500, 2 1/2 games out of first place — and in better shape.
The expected returns of Cody Bradford, Dane Dunning, Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom will bolster their pitching staff. What the Rangers want to add, according to sources familiar with their plans, is a hitter — either a left-handed hitting outfielder or a neutral right-handed hitter to the platoon.
Could Yandy Diaz be a good fit for the Rangers? (Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports)
An interesting name: Yandy Diaz of the Tampa Bay Rays, a right-handed hitter with a pretty big OPS this season (.879 OPS vs. left-handed pitching, .678 vs. right-handed pitching) but more balanced numbers in his career (.888-.769). Diaz is currently on the restricted list for personal reasons and hasn’t played since the All-Star break.
The sale of the Baltimore Orioles is expected to close in the “coming days,” according to sources familiar with the process. At that time, the group led by David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti will close on the acquisition of the remaining 60 percent of the team, valued at about $1 billion (the total purchase price was $1.725 billion).
How might all this impact Orioles general manager Mike Elias at the trade deadline?
According to Christopher Ullman, a spokesman for Rubenstein, “David would accept anything Mike Elias recommends.”
The Los Angeles Angels plan to trade right-handed reliever Carlos Estévez and relief pitcher Luis García, both of whom are on expiring contracts.
The comparison between Estévez and Tanner Scott, the Miami Marlins left-handed pitcher and another potential free agent, is interesting. Their expected earned run averages are comparable. Scott has a slightly higher strikeout rate (28.8 percent to 25.8), but also a significantly higher walk rate (14.7 percent to 4). In the playoffs, walks can be particularly damaging.
Both closers are fairly affordable, as is Garcia. Estévez will receive about a third of his $6.75 million salary at the trade deadline, Scott about a third of $5.7 million, Garcia about a third of $4.25 million.
Teams interested in Scott (and possibly Estévez) include the Los Angeles Dodgers, Orioles, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, according to sources familiar with the Marlins’ discussions. The Athletic As reported Wednesday, the Marlins are fielding calls on nearly all of their relievers, and all are available regardless of contract or remaining years of control.
They completed their first reliever deal Thursday night, sending left-hander AJ Puk to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for two prospects, outfielder Deyvison De Los Santos and outfielder Andrew Pintar. Puk is making $1.8 million this season and will be under club control for two more years.
In addition to Estévez and Garcia, the Angels are also open to offers for left-hander Tyler Anderson, infielder Luis Rengifo and outfielder Taylor Ward. All three are under club control beyond this season, however, and will remain attractive options this winter for teams reluctant to pay high prices for free agents. So if the Angels don’t get the offers they want, they can just wait.
Anderson is under contract for $13 million next season. Rengifo will be entering his walk season, but the free-agent class is thin on infielders and he will remain affordable after receiving a raise in arbitration from his current salary of $4.4 million. Ward will have two years of arbitration remaining, with raises from his current salary of $4.8 million.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are seeking Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and left fielder Bryan De La Cruz, according to sources familiar with the move.
Chisholm would make particular sense — the Pirates’ center fielders, primarily Michael A. Taylor and Jack Suwinski, entered Thursday ranked 29th in the major leagues in combined OPS.
Bryan De La Cruz (left) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (right) are both on the Pirates’ radar. (Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports)
Additionally, Chisholm is expected to fit the Pirates’ budget and will be under club control for two more years. He is owed the balance of his $2.625 million salary this season. That figure will likely jump to $5 million in his second year of arbitration and increase again in his third.
The Milwaukee Brewers got some good news Thursday when Christian Yelich opted to rest and rehab rather than undergo season-ending back surgery. But Yelich is on the disabled list and it’s unclear what he could bring for the rest of the season. So the Brewers are looking for a left-handed hitter in addition to a starting pitcher, according to sources familiar with their plans.
Yelich leads the National League in batting average and on-base percentage. The Brewers obviously can’t replace him. But on the left side, they have only Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Jake Bauers, plus Blake Perkins, an ambidextrous hitter. Another left-handed option, corner infielder Tyler Black, is in Triple-A.
The Rangers, San Diego Padres and Houston Astros are the teams that could benefit most from the deal between Major League Baseball and the players’ association that allows the league to dedicate a portion of its competitive balance tax revenue to teams that lose money on television.
All three clubs are revenue-sharing “payers” and are facing declining revenues from their regional sports network. Prior to the CBA adjustment, they were not eligible to receive CBT revenue (only revenue-sharing recipients were). The new plan allows commissioner Rob Manfred to give teams up to $15 million each, regardless of their status in the revenue-sharing program, with an estimated cap of $75 million on those payments league-wide.
CBT revenues will not be determined until after the season and will not be distributed until after the year. Teams can predict what their local media deficit might be and what they might get from the league, but it is unclear whether this increased certainty will affect their behavior come deadline time.
(Top photo of Carlos Estevez: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)