The Atlanta Braves acquired right-handers Bronson Arroyo and Touki Toussaint from the Arizona Diamondbacks, the teams officially announced last night. In return, the Diamondbacks have received utility man Philip Gosselin.
Toussaint, 19 yesterday, looks like the headliner in this deal, as he was the Diamondbacks' first round selection last draft, and has already been pitching in Single-A, where he is the youngest player in the Midwestern League. He has pitched to a 2-2 record with a 3.69 ERA in 39 innings, posting a 29 to 15 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Toussaint was rated No. 71 on Baseball America's top 100 prospects prior to this season. The Braves also acquired Bronson Arroyo, a right-hander who continues to recover from Tommy John surgery. He is expected to return sometime this season. Arroyo's Tommy John surgery last season was the first time he had ever been on the DL in his career. The acquisition of Arroyo, who is signed just through this year (barring a 2016 team option), looks like a way for the D-Backs to remove some salary from their books. Despite not the best pitching from their rotation without Arroyo, his loss won't be huge. The dealing of Arroyo saves the Diamondbacks around $10 million, which they could put towards another trade at the Trade Deadline or a free agent signing later this year. In return, the Diamondbacks get the utility man in Gosselin. The 26-year-old has 42 plate appearances thus far this season, slashing .325/.357/.425/.782 (117 OPS+). He will likely continue to serve in his bench role with Arizona. --Devan Fink
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The Atlanta Braves will promote right-handed pitcher Matt Wisler to the Major Leagues tomorrow, a source told Cover Those Bases on Thursday.
Wisler will make his big league debut against the New York Mets on Friday, getting the start on the mound for Atlanta. Coming into the season, the 22-year-old Wisler was rated as the 34th-best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. He was moved from the Padres to the Braves the day before the beginning of this season. The Braves acquired Wisler in the blockbuster deal that sent closer Craig Kimbrel out west. Thus far this season, Wisler's numbers have not been phenomenal, pitching to a 3-4 record with a 4.29 ERA in 65 innings pitched. His strikeout rate of 6.8 K/9 has taken a bit of a dip, but his walk rate of 1.8 BB/9 is also lower than his career average. At his best this season, Wisler had a seven game stretch where he was fantastic. Spanning over a month (from May 5 to June 7), Wisler had a 1.96 ERA, walking just six hitters over a 41.1 inning stretch, striking out 29. Here's the scouting report on Wisler from MLB.com: While Wisler won't overpower hitters, he does have a pair of plus pitches and throws strikes with four offerings. His main two weapons are a 90-95 mph sinker and a changeup with plenty of deception and fade. Both of his breaking balls are effective, with his low-80s slider featuring some tilt and his mid-70s curveball used more to keep opponents off balance."
Wisler's big league promotion is just another promotion of a top prospect within the past few weeks. Byron Buxton, Francisco Lindor, and Carlos Correa are among the more notable promotions, but 2015 has already been coined "The Year of the Prospect," due to all the call-ups this season.
--Devan Fink
The Miami Marlins have had internal discussions and are considering re-signing Ichiro Suzuki following the 2015 season, managerDan Jennings told Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Jennings praised Ichiro, calling him the "most prepared" player he has been around. He also said that Ichiro has been a mentor to younger Marlins players. The 41-year-old Ichiro latched on with the Marlins this offseason on a one-year, $2 million contract to be their fourth outfielder. Due to an injury to Christian Yelich earlier this season, Ichiro found himself some playing time, making 21 starts in left field. Offensively, Ichiro by no means is what he used to be, but he still is a serviceable outfielder, hitting .289/.342/.338/.680 (90 OPS+) over 155 plate appearances, hitting one homer and driving in 11 runs. Ichiro currently stands at 2,885 hits and definitely wants to continue to play in order to get to 3,000. --Devan Fink
June 16: The Padres announced that Triple-A El Paso manager Pat Murphy will handle the manager job on an interim basis for the rest of the season.
The San Diego Padres announced the firing of longtime manager Bud Black this afternoon. Black, 57, is a well-respected baseball mind around the game and has been managing the Padres since 2007, making 2015 his ninth season with the team. Over his managerial career, Black's Padres clubs are 649-713 (.477), which is pretty good considering the small market and payroll that San Diego provides. Black's tenure with the Padres included a National League Manager of the Year award in 2010, when the team went 90-72 and almost snuck into the postseason. Tonight, the Padres will have bench coach Dave Roberts step in and manage the team. An official announcement for interim manager for the rest of the season is expected tomorrow, according to a report this evening. Candidates are expected to include Roberts and Padres' Triple-A affiliate manager Pat Murphy. Black should have no issues finding another job around the league whenever he is ready to return to baseball, whether that would be in a coaching position or in a front office position. --Devan Fink
Welcome to the 21st century.
Today, the New York Times reported that the St. Louis Cardinals have hacked into the Houston Astros' computer system, gaining access to player personnel information. According to the report, internal information about trades, statistics, and scouting reports were comprised. Astros' general manager Jeff Luhnow used to work within the Cardinals organization and is credited with helping to make the team successful. The report states that St. Louis created a master list of passwords Luhnow used with the team to get them into Ground Control, the Astros computer network. The main reason for the hacking is not exactly known, but officials told the New York Times that they believed the hacking was executed by "vengeful" executives who wanted to "wreck havoc" on Luhnow. MLB released a statement regarding the report. "MLB has been aware of and has fully cooperated with federal investigation into the illegal breach of Astros’ database," the statement said. "Once investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement, we will evaluate next steps and make decisions promptly." This is not the first time the Astros' Ground Central system has been hacked. Last year, a Deadspin article cited a leaking of 10 months worth of internal trade discussion on an online hacking forum. Whether these two incidents are related is unknown. If these allegations against the Cardinals are true, there would be some serious backlash. Hacking is criminal offense, so anyone involved could and likely will be arrested. Secondly, this would the first time in sports history where a team has breached the system of a competing team to gain information. How punishment would be given out is unprecedented and therefore could mean anything. Stay tuned at coverthosebases.com and @DevanFink on Twitter for more updates regarding the situation as it unfolds. --Devan Fink |
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