The Rangers proceed to bolster their pitching ranks, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter hyperlinks) studies that Texas and St. Louis have accomplished a commerce to ship Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton to Arlington. The Cardinals will obtain left-hander John King, in addition to infield prospect Thomas Saggese and right-handed pitching prospect Tekoah Roby. Within the Rangers’ official announcement of the deal, it was famous that Texas additionally obtained a global bonus pool slot from the Cardinals. To create roster house, Texas designated right-hander Joe Barlow for project.
With the Playing cards in vendor mode, Montgomery and Stratton had been seen as two of the likeliest gamers to be moved previous to the deadline, as each pitchers are free brokers after the season. Between this swap with the Rangers and the Cardinals’ transfer to ship Jordan Hicks to the Blue Jays earlier this afternoon, it’s honest to guess that Jack Flaherty (one other pending free agent) may also quickly be headed elsewhere, and St. Louis may additionally look to some surplus place gamers with extra crew management because the Playing cards look to reload for 2024.
As for the Rangers, buying Max Scherzer on Saturday and now Montgomery right this moment all through reinforces the crew’s rotation. Regardless of season-ending accidents to Jacob deGrom and Jake Odorizzi, Texas had gotten stable outcomes from its starters for a lot of the yr, however some cracks have begun to point out. Most prominently, Nathan Eovaldi hasn’t pitched since July 18, and was positioned on the 15-day injured listing right this moment attributable to a forearm pressure.
It’s an ominous prognosis for a pitcher who already has two Tommy John surgical procedures on his well being historical past, and the Rangers clearly aren’t taking any possibilities with Eovaldi’s restoration or of their pitching employees’s means to thrive with out Eovaldi in motion. Supervisor Bruce Bochy advised reporters (together with MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry) right this moment that the crew is “fairly assured” Eovaldi will be capable to return after simply the minimal 15 days, although Eovaldi will go to with a physician for precautionary functions.
Scherzer and Montgomery now be a part of a rotation that additionally contains Martin Perez, Jon Grey, Andrew Heaney, and Dane Dunning, although it stays to be seen if Texas will follow a six-man employees. Retaining an additional starter is perhaps helpful to assist preserve everybody recent for the pennant race (and, the Rangers hope, by October), but shifting Dunning again to a reduction position may also be an choice. Alternatively, Dunning has pitched fairly nicely since his return to beginning work, whereas Perez and Heaney have been far more inconsistent and Grey has been struggling during the last month.
Montgomery was already a part of a notable deadline commerce final yr, when the Yankees despatched the left-hander to the Cardinals in a one-for-one commerce for Harrison Bader. In his first full yr with the Cardinals, Montgomery has a 3.42 ERA over 121 innings, although his SIERA is a less-impressive 4.30. The southpaw has executed his ordinary above-average job of avoiding free passes (6.9% stroll charge) and limiting laborious contact, although Montgomery now has a second straight season of a below-average strikeout charge (21.2%). Whereas Montgomery has by no means been an enormous strikeout pitcher, his whiff charge has additionally taken a tumble to 24.1% in 2023 after years of far more stable outcomes.
If Scherzer is predicted to be extra of a front-of-the-rotation arm, then Montgomery represents a mid-rotation starter who will be relied on to take the ball each fifth (or sixth) day and ship respectable outcomes. Likewise, Stratton received’t be displacing Will Smith because the Rangers’ nearer and even taking on a prime set-up position, however he offers Texas one other good arm for higher-leverage situtions late in video games.
Montgomery and Stratton will every be reuniting with Mike Maddux, who was the Cardinals’ pitching coach from 2018-22 earlier than shifting on to affix the Rangers’ teaching employees this yr. Stratton can also be a identified amount to skipper Bruce Bochy, as Stratton broke into the majors within the Giants group again when Bochy was managing the crew in 2016.
Stratton can also be on the transfer for the second straight yr on the deadline, because the Pirates despatched Jose Quintana and Stratton to the Cardinals final August. Stratton’s 2022 numbers picked up significantly after that deal, and he has considerably continued that kind this season, even when his bottom-line outcomes haven’t been reflective. Stratton has a 4.36 ERA in 53 2/3 innings, although a 3.48 SIERA and three.06 FIP point out some unhealthy luck on Stratton’s half, maybe attributable to an unusually low 61.6% strand charge.
The fitting-hander doesn’t have the high-velocity arsenal related to most relievers, nor are his hard-contact or stroll charges something particular. Nonetheless, Stratton does convey sturdiness in his means to pitch a number of innings, and he has a number of the most elite fastball and curveball spin charges of any pitcher in baseball.
With none studies of cash altering arms between the 2 groups, it appears just like the Rangers will likely be absorbing the rest of the 2023 salaries for Montgomery (roughly $3.5MM) and Stratton (round $1MM). It’s not a giant monetary dedication to a crew that has already been splurging on big-name expertise during the last two seasons, and Roster Useful resource initiatives that Texas remains to be simply barely underneath the $233MM luxurious tax threshold. The Rangers reportedly don’t have any challenge crossing the tax threshold, so if one other improve presents itself earlier than Tuesday’s commerce deadline, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the entrance workplace make one other deal or two.
Among the many gamers going again to the Cardinals, King is the best-known title to followers, because the lefty has a 4.27 ERA over 126 1/3 innings out of the Texas bullpen since he made his massive league debut in 2020. A grounder specialist who has a really spectacular 61.7% profession groundball charge, King is of course extra inclined than most to batted-ball luck, so his enormous .379 BABIP over 18 2/3 innings has been the principle consider his 5.79 ERA.
The Rangers have despatched King forwards and backwards from Triple-A on a few events this season, and he’s underneath crew management by the 2026 marketing campaign. The Cardinals can have the remainder of the yr to check out King and see if he is perhaps an choice for his or her bullpen going ahead, plus in a extra rapid sense King will add some left-handed depth to the St. Louis reduction corps.
That stated, Roby and Saggese are the larger elements of this commerce from the Playing cards’ perspective, as they be a part of the three kids obtained within the Scherzer and Hicks offers as a part of the sudden reload of the St. Louis farm system. MLB Pipeline ranked Roby because the Rangers’ Eleventh-best prospect and Saggese 14th, whereas Baseball America had an analogous tack in inserting Roby thirteenth and Saggese fifteenth.
Roby was a third-round choose for Texas within the 2020 draft, and he has a 5.05 ERA over 46 1/3 innings and 10 begins at Double-A Frisco this season. Whereas he has reduce on his walks and residential runs allowed, Roby’s strikeout charge has additionally tumbled throughout his three professional seasons, although his 25.6% mark this yr remains to be respectable. The scouting studies from each Pipeline and BA pinpoint Roby’s command as his largest challenge, as his total arsenal is stable. Pipeline offers a 55 grade (on the 20-80 scale) to all 4 of Roby’s pitches, although their report notes that the 21-year-old “could not have a real plus pitch” as a go-to providing.
Including Roby will assist St. Louis restock the minor league pitching ranks, whereas Saggese appears to suit the Cardinals’ most well-liked profile of a multi-positional infielder. Saggese has largely performed second and third base over his three professional seasons, whereas additionally getting a superb chunk of motion as a shortstop. He isn’t essentially a standout defender at any place, however Pipeline appreciated his means to stay at second base, and Saggese’s versatility is unquestionably an asset as he climbs the ladder in the direction of the massive leagues.
The 21-year-old was additionally a 2020 draft choose (taken within the fifth spherical), and Saggese has executed nothing however hit within the minors, together with a .314/.380/.514 slash line and 15 homers over 417 plate appearances at Double-A in 2023. The pundits word that Saggese’s aggression on the plate can generally backfire, but he has proven a bit extra endurance this season with an 8.2% stroll charge.
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