MLB trade deadline season is here. Plus, a former batting champ gets DFA’d

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Trade season begins in earnest as the Brewers scoop Aaron Civale from the Rays. Also: Ken checks in with Bo Bichette’s trade market, Jordan Montgomery’s injury is the latest setback in Arizona, and a former batting champ gets DFA’d. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!

Trade Days: Brewers acquire Aaron Civale

The Brewers have officially kicked off trade deadline season, acquiring RHP Aaron Civale from the Rays in exchange for 20-year-old infielder Gregory Barrios.

For the Brewers, it’s another step toward shaking off an offseason that many expected to be the beginning of a rebuild cycle. After losing manager Craig Counsell to the Cubs and trading pitcher Corbin Burnes to the Orioles, the trend appeared clear. Instead, they’re 51-35, six games up in the NL Central.

All of this in spite of relatively middling results from their starting rotation, which ranks in the bottom half of the league in fWAR (3.4, 26th out of 30 teams), strikeouts per nine innings (7.96, 24th) and ERA (4.19, 17th). They could really use a Burnes type! Alas, if they could afford that, they would have kept the Burnes they’d had.

Enter the 29-year-old Civale, who currently sits at 2-6 with a 5.07 ERA. He’s not the brand-new Ferrari of the trade deadline, but check out this list of pitchers who have started a game for the Brewers this year, via Baseball Reference:

Their top three are actually pretty good! They don’t need a Ferrari, so much as they could use a reliable 2015 Ford F-150 to anchor the back of the rotation.

Civale appears capable of that, and has occasionally shown flashes of something more. Last year, he had a breakout first half for Cleveland, who promptly flipped him to Tampa Bay for Kyle Manzardo in the “most interesting deal” of the deadline — one that didn’t quite pay off for the Rays, as he struggled to match that performance in the second half.

As for Barrios, the Rays are getting a shortstop with good speed, who cracked Keith Law’s top 20 Brewers prospects list in 2023 (No. 15), but fell just outside the top 20 this year. He’s hitting .325/.367/.429 with just 24 strikeouts (13 walks) in 231 at-bats in High A this year.

More deadline: Jim Bowden answers 30 trade questions as July 30 nears.

Ken’s Notebook: Bo Bichette’s fit with the Dodgers

From a recent trade deadline watch with The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Patrick Mooney:

Bo Bichette looks like an ideal fit for the Dodgers if the Blue Jays decide to trade him. There’s just one problem: his defense at shortstop.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, going back to his days with the Rays, is a stickler for defense. Think back to the Dodgers’ biggest position-player acquisitions — Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado at the 2018 deadline. All were strong defenders.

Bichette, 26, is not.

Rival evaluators say Bichette can get careless at short, rushing at times. He also has been on the injured list with leg injuries three times in the past calendar year, perhaps contributing to his diminished range.

The leading defensive metrics offer a discouraging picture. Bichette entered Sunday ranked 23rd among shortstops in Outs Above Average and 28th in Defensive Runs Saved. The previous two seasons, he was 30th and 28th in OAA and 33rd and 12th in DRS, respectively.

It’s possible Bichette’s offensive struggles are carrying over to his defense — his .623 OPS entering Sunday was the eighth-lowest in the majors. It’s also possible he is frustrated with the Jays’ performance and would benefit from a trade to an established powerhouse. With the Dodgers, he would lengthen a top-heavy lineup and allow Betts to return to second base.

Betts’ defense also was an issue before he went on the injured list with a fractured left hand. But his main problem was his throwing, and the Dodgers believe that can be corrected. Betts’ replacement, Miguel Rojas, is an above-average defender, and at 35 is enjoying one of his best offensive seasons. Gavin Lux at second is rating well defensively, but contributing little offensively.

A middle infield of Bichette and Betts would be dynamic, and for the right acquisition cost the Dodgers surely would jump. But the Jays are not certain to sell — much less sell low — on Bichette, who is under club control through next season. With no other quality shortstops expected to be available, the Dodgers might be left to figure out the best combination of Betts, Rojas and Lux in their middle infield.

More here on buzz around potential Brewers, Dodgers and Marlins moves.

Rough Years: D-Backs’ Jordan Montgomery hits IL

Before Game 1 of last year’s World Series, Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen made a confession: He felt he hadn’t taken full advantage at the trade deadline.

“The one thing I didn’t bring back was a starter, which I wish we had done,” Hazen said. “Having Jordan Montgomery would have helped us a ton.”

In retrospect, there’s a lot to unpack in that quote. Hazen was right: The lack of starting pitching depth ultimately contributed to the D-Backs losing the World Series in five games. (Ironically, their one win against Texas came against Montgomery in Game 2.) Finally, Hazen followed through with the sentiment. Montgomery — one of last winter’s “Boras Four” — signed with Arizona just a couple of days before Opening Day.

Alas, it has not gone to plan.

• Montgomery has posted career worsts* in ERA (6.44), WHIP (1.675), opponents’ batting average (.320) and a slew of other stats. And then, yesterday, he went onto the IL with right knee inflammation.
• Meanwhile, the D-Backs got off to a horrendous start, going 25-32 through May. They’ve perked up since, going 16-12 since June 1, but they’re still under .500.

* In a few stats, Montgomery was worse in 2019 with the Yankees, but only pitched four innings in the big leagues that year.

Based on their aggressive offseason, that’s certainly not where they had planned to be. In addition to Montgomery, they also signed LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, while keeping most of their offensive core in place and trading for third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Montgomery surely viewed his one-year contract as a prove-it “pillow deal” that would help him sign a longer-term contract this offseason.

Thus far, neither plan has worked out. In addition to Montgomery’s disappointing season, Rodriguez has been a non-factor, suffering a shoulder strain that prevented him from throwing a single pitch for the D-Backs. And Corbin Carroll (.210 average, .612 OPS) and Suárez (.198, .596) have massively underperformed.

But as we mentioned, June was better, and the NL wild-card race is still kind of a mess — Arizona is just three games out. Getting catcher Gabriel Moreno back from the IL will help a bit, but a healthy second half from Montgomery and Rodriguez would certainly be a welcome relief.

Declines: Marlins DFA Tim Anderson

There was a moment last month when I briefly wondered if Tim Anderson might be playing himself into some trade value. From June 11-21, the Marlins shortstop had hits in nine out of 10 games, posting a .405 batting average.

A closer look raised a red flag, though. His on-base percentage over that stretch: also .405, meaning he didn’t work a single walk. Most damning? His slugging percentage was, at the risk of being repetitive, also .405. 

Anderson had gone 17-for-42, with 17 singles.

That’s something, but it wasn’t enough to overcome what had come before, or what happened over the next seven games: a 2-for-27 stretch (both hits were singles). Anderson hasn’t walked since May 27 — a stretch of 91 at-bats.

He has now been designated for assignment.

The 31-year-old’s decline has been a real bummer to watch. Perhaps it’s a cheap shot to pick on walks; Anderson has never had a walk rate over 5 percent. But he hit 20 home runs with the White Sox in 2018, then won the AL batting title in 2019, hitting .335 and kicking off a four-year stretch in which he hit over .300 in each season.

The decline began last year, when he hit just .245 (with a .582 OPS). The White Sox declined their club option, and Anderson signed with the Marlins. Even with the short-lived hot streak, he still hit just .214 (.463 OPS) for the year.

Handshakes and High Fives

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(Photo: Brad Rempel / USA Today)