The Cleveland Indians have acquired outfielder and first baseman Brandon Moss from the Oakland Athletics for second base prospect Joe Wendle, as Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports first reported. The Indians trade for Moss had been in the works now since last week. The deal appeared to fall through, but talks rejuvenated at the Winter Meetings, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reported. Wendle was the piece that the Athletics were getting in the prior deal, so it's hard to see where the deal did trail off. However, the Indians will be receiving one of the best utility players in the game in Moss. Moss spent time at first base, right field, left field, and designated hitter in 2014, primarily playing first. But with right field being the weakest of the three outfield spots for Cleveland, expect Moss to play there. The 31-year-old Moss slashed .234/.334/.438 en route to his first career All-Star appearance this past season. He hit 25 home runs, drove in 81, and posted a .772 OPS in 580 plate appearances. Moss has completely rejuvenated his career with the Athletics, hitting 76 homers in three years (1381 plate appearances) with Oakland, while hitting just 15 from 2007 to 2011 (749 PA). Moss loves Progressive Field in Cleveland. He has hit .324/.425/.706 there with two homers and 10 driven in over just 40 plate appearances. He had six hits in ten at bats there this season. However, Progressive Field tends to be a pitcher's park, maybe even as much so as O.CO Colosseum, where the Athletics reside. Moss was selected in the 8th round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the Red Sox and has hit .248/.326/.460 with 91 homers and 298 runs batted in over eight big league seasons with Boston, the Pirates, Phillies, and Athletics. The A's have paid Moss, who isn't a free agent until 2017, just $5.7 million over the past two years. With arbitration again looming, that appears to jump tremendously. In return for Moss, Oakland gets 24-year-old second base prospect Joe Wendle, who hit .253/.311/.414 with eight homers and 50 runs batted in over 370 plate appearances with Double-A Akron. The trade of Moss is just another deal for the Athletics, as they have quickly turned from contenders to what it looks like rebuilders. They dealt Yoenis Cespedes in late July to get Jon Lester, but merely four months later they are dealing Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss for prospects. Billy Beane definitely knows what he's doing, but the Athletics' roster has taken a huge swing recently. --Devan Fink
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have acquired right-hander John Axford off waivers from the Cleveland Indians, the teams announced on Thursday. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the claim. The Indians let Axford go to the Pirates for nothing, as while they could not get a trade done, they decided to let Pittsburgh be on the hook for the rest of his salary this season, which is approximately $1.1 million. After being non-tendered by the St. Louis Cardinals last season, Axford agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million contract with Cleveland. In 49 games with the Indians, Axford is 2-3 with a 3.92 ERA, 4.71 FIP, and a 1.466 WHIP. He has a troubling 51 to 30 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his 43 2/3 innings pitched. Earlier today, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish reported that the Pirates outrighted fellow relief pitcher Ernesto Frieri to Triple-A Indianapolis. To fill that void, the Pirates do not have to give up anything besides taking on the $1.1 million that Axford is owed for the rest of the year. And while Axford has shown his struggles this year with command, the Pirates bullpen that has the sixth-highest FIP in the league could use anyone they can find. In 2011, Axford was a primer closer for the Milwaukee Brewers. He led the National League with 46 saves that year, posting a 1.95 ERA and a 2.41 FIP in 73 2/3 innings pitched. His 202 ERA+ was a career high. In the three years since that time, Axford has a 4.25 ERA and a 4.32 FIP in 178 innings, while saving just 45 games. Prior to this year (he has 10 saves this year), he had not saved a game since 2012. The Pirates currently sit tied for second place in the National League Central race. At 64-57, they are 2 1/2 games behind the leading Milwaukee Brewers. They hope Axford can shut down opponents late in games to help lead to more victories. That is something their bullpen has struggled with this year. Follow Devan on Twitter @CoverThoseBases for more updates on the latest news and rumors. The Cleveland Indians have traded shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, according to Paul Hoynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Cabrera is headed to the Washington Nationals, according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. They will be receiving shortstop Zach Walters from the Nationals, according to Nick Camino of Newsradio WTAM 1100. I recently wrote about why the Indians should have dealt the shortstop, noting that they have Francisco Lindor as a very good replacement for him, while also getting perhaps a good return for him. While Zach Walters is not a fantastic return, he does have some major league experience and perhaps could help the Indians out at third base or even in the outfield, as Michael Bourn is on the disabled list. The 24-year-old Walters has seen limited action in the major leagues with the Nationals, making only four starts in the 40 games he has played in, and only appearing in the field 12 times. Over his brief 52 plate appearances, Walters is hitting a triple-slash line of .234/.308/.489 with three home runs and six runs batted in. Walters is a traditional shortstop, but has seen time at second, third, and in the outfield at the minor league level. It will be interesting to see how the Indians utilize him. The Nationals will be getting their man in Asdrubal Cabrera to help fill in during Ryan Zimmerman's disabled list stay with a grade three hamstring strain. It appears as if Cabrera will slide over to second base, and Anthony Rendon will fill in at third. On the season, in 416 plate appearances, Cabrera is hitting a triple-slash line of .246/.305/.386 with nine home runs and 40 runs driven in. In his 1341 2/3 innings at second base, Cabrera has registered a higher UZR/150 (-1.7) than in his 6,300 1/3 innings at shortstop (-10.4). By moving him back to second, the Nationals may be getting a better defender. Cabrera, along with Justin Masterson, were the two Indians that had an expiring contract after this season. While the Indians did not get an overwhelming return for either of them, getting a return in general is better than getting nothing at all. For the Nationals, they will be getting three months of Asdrubal Cabrera and then may see him head elsewhere. But for now, he is in Washington to win a World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to acquire right-hander Justin Masterson from the Cleveland Indians, Peter Gammons reported Wednesday afternoon. Outfield prospect James Ramsey is headed to Cleveland, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Reports said the Indians were opening up to listen about Masterson a short time ago, but nobody expected that the deal would get done before Thursday's 4 pm trade deadline. Considering the large contract extension that Masterson wants (he is a free agent after this season), and the fact that he has endured some struggles as of late, many expected the Indians to hold on to the hurler through the deadline. That drastically changed on Wednesday. Masterson is in the third and final year of his arbitration eligibility. He agreed to a one-year, $9.76 million contract with the Indians prior to this season. While he is a free agent at the end of the year, Masterson wanted to sign an extension with the Tribe, but the sides agreed to halt extension talks until the endif the 2014 season. At the time, Masterson was looking for a deal worth about $17 million annually. This year, he has not pitched like a pitcher that is worth $17 million. To put it plainly, Masterson has struggled mightily. In 19 starts, Masterson has pitched to a 4-6 record with a 5.51 ERA, 4.08 FIP, and a 93 to 56 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 98 innings pitched. His 68 ERA+ is the lowest of his career. He will make his first start for the Cardinals on Saturday. He has been on the DL since July 8th with knee inflammation, but will be eligible to come off on Friday. In return, the Indians will be getting Cardinals' prospect James Ramsey. St. Louis drafted the 24-year-old back in the first round of the 2010 MLB Draft. He is currently with Double-A Springfield. In 281 plate appearances, Ramsey is hitting .300/.389/.527 with 13 home runs and 36 runs batted in. He looks like an intriguing prospect. The Cardinals have had a lot of outfielders in their system, which may have hurt the growth of Ramsey. But now with Cleveland, the path to the big leagues should be a lot clearer for him. The Cardinals do get their man in Justin Masterson to help out the rotation. They have been looking at other options, including the likes of Jake Peavy and David Price, to fill out their staff, but they found a buy-low guy in Justin Masterson that may be able to pay huge dividends for them down the stretch. Cleveland gets an intriguing prospect in return. But the Cardinals continue to make the tightly packed NL Central a more interesting one, as the plot continues to thicken. But for now, Justin Masterson is a St. Louis Cardinal. And that is all he has to worry about for the time being. Welcome to international signing day. Today is the day when 16 year olds from the countries of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Korea, and many more countries around the world sign their first major league contract. Although this seems irrelevant to a team's success, many of these players could turn into the next major league superstar. Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox was signed as an international free agent in 2009. Abraham Almonte of the New York Yankees was signed as an international free agent in 2005. Melky Cabrera of the Toronto Blue Jays was signed by the Yankees as an international free agent in 2001. There are major league players that have come from this background, starting off in professional baseball as a baby-faced 16-year-old, and turning into a good major league player. The international signing day has its top prospects too, just like the MLB Draft and the minor leagues. Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com posted his top-30 international signing prospects, all of which are expected to sign and begin their professional baseball career today. I will be running a tracker posting all of the top-30 signings throughout the day today. International signing day is really crucial to a major league team's future success. There are some rules to the day, however. Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com wrote a nice piece on all of the rules. Here a few to take note of; a player must be 17-years-old by September 1, 2015 (the completion of their first full minor league season); players who are 23-years-old or older and have been playing professional baseball for three years are exempt from international signing pools (e.g. Yasiel Puig); every team must remain in its individual signing pool amount (consequences occur if not done so). Teams are able to trade for extra pool money. Adams shared a good example of teams trading for extra pool money. The White Sox have a $4.273 million total pool and are allowed to acquire 50% of it, which evens out to about $2.1 million. The Cubs cannot trade the White Sox $2.1 million, they have to trade them one of their slot values, which are $2.288 million, $458,000, $309,000 and $207,000. The first slot value would be too expensive for the White Sox to acquire, so they would have to trade a slot of theirs that is of small value to even it out. Ben Badler of Baseball America reported the international signing pools for every team back in April. The Houston Astros, being the worst team in 2013, get the largest total pool value, as they can spend up to $5,015,400 in international free agents. The pool amount for every team following the Astros is a little bit smaller. The pool values follow the 2013 records (just like the MLB Draft), so the St. Louis Cardinals round out the pack, with only $1,866,300 to spend. Every other team's pool value is somewhere in between. Be sure to follow along with the international signing day using my international signing day tracker, which I will update throughout the day. Expect a fun day of projections of players' future performances, money offered to unknowns, and just watching your team build for the future. |
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