As the end of 2018 draws near, there were some hot stove rumblings from around Major League Baseball on Saturday. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking.
Arizona’s Ray Attracting Attention
Despite earlier reports that Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray was not attainable via trade, it appears that hasn’t deterred teams in search of a rotation upgrade.
On December 10, Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports tweeted “several teams who checked in with [Arizona] say that [Ray] is not available”. On Saturday, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported that the Phillies and Astros have shown interest in the 27-year-old southpaw.
Over 24 starts in an injury-shortened 2018 campaign (oblique), Ray pitched to a 6-2 record with a 3.93 earned-run average, 1.350 WHIP, and a 2.36 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.
Realmuto Still Drawing Interest
Jon Morosi of MLB Network provided an update in the ongoing J.T. Realmuto trade saga, which has seemingly been dragging on since the 2017 offseason in some aspects, on Saturday.
“[The] Astros [are] still interested in [Realmuto], but Marlins have yet to move off Forrest Whitley or Kyle Tucker as the centerpiece of a possible trade,” Morosi tweeted. “Thus, there’s been no traction in trade discussions.”
A host of teams have been linked to Realmuto at one time or another this offseason, including the Mets, Dodgers, and Reds, among others. Some teams, like New York, have moved on, choosing to upgrade in another fashion — like the Mets signing Wilson Ramos to a two-year, $19 million deal instead of paring their young core in a deal for Realmuto, for instance.
The 27-year-old Marlins backstop slashed .277/.340/.484 with 21 home runs, 74 runs batted in, 30 doubles, a .353 weighted on-base average, 126 wRC+ rating, and a 131 OPS+ rating for Miami last season.
Angels Stay Busy
On Friday, Jon Heyman of FanCred Sports and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports confirmed the Los Angeles Angels’ signing of 32-year-old catcher Jonathan Lucroy to a one-year, $3.35 million deal with incentives that could increase the value of the contract to $4.525 million, as per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
On Saturday, the team announced the signing of Lucroy and announced that they had designated 26-year-old right-hander Austin Brice for assignment as the corresponding move.
Brice spent his last two seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before being designated for assignment and picked up off waivers by Los Angeles on November 2. Last season, the righty pitched to a 5.79 ERA with 1.393 WHIP and 2.46 strikeouts-to-walks over 33 relief appearances (37.1 innings).
