TBNL: Completed trades, rejected trades, Nick Kurtz has a historic day

Trade season is upon us and the deals have started. MLB’s trade deadline is Friday, July 31, at 6 PM EST (instead of the usual 4 PM).

Yankees address third base need, sort of

Third base has been a black hole for the Yankees. The defense has been streaky and the offensive production has been abysmal, no matter who the team plays there. The team has tried six different players at the position this season.

Yankees third basemen are hitting .216/.292/.353 through 103 games. Just seven teams are getting worse production at third base than the .645 OPS the Yankees have seen.

New York acquired Ryan McMahon from the Rockies on Friday, sending a pair of minor league pitchers, Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz, to Colorado in return.

McMahon spent his whole nine-year career in Colorado, slashing .240/.323/.420 (92 OPS) with 140 home runs in just over 3,800 PA, but he’s also struck out more than 1,100 times (a 29.0 SO%). He’s a mostly reliable defender. Rockies fans were sorry to see him leave on social media, for whatever that’s worth, too.

McMahon is owed just over $4 million for the rest of this season and $16 million in each of the next two seasons, so he, technically, should fill the team’s need at third base for the foreseeable future. Still, it’s puzzling that this was the best solution the team could come up with.

Colorado’s return is on the light side, aside from the salary relief. Herring was New York’s 6th-round pick in 2024 out of LSU. The lefty has shown good results in his first pro season, posting a 1.71 ERA over 89.1 IP between Class-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley with 102 strikeouts, but most scouts think his future is in the bullpen. Grosz was an 11th-round pick in 2023 from East Carolina University. The righty has a 3.97 ERA over 208.2 IP over two seasons in the minors, mostly at High-A.

Mets add a lefty to the bullpen

Mets left-handers A.J. Minter (torn lat) and Danny Young (torn UCL) were both lost for the season in May. Brooks Raley, who is just returning from Tommy John surgery himself, was the only lefty in New York’s bullpen.

That changed on Friday. The Mets sent a pair of minor league pitchers, Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster, to the Orioles for Gregory Soto.

Soto has a 4.24 ERA (101 ERA) over 354.1 IP in his seven-year career. A two-time All-Star with the Tigers, he also pitched for the Phillies before landing in Baltimore. He’s set to be a free agent this offseason.

Foster, a 14th-round pick in 2022 from McNeese State, had a 2.97 ERA in 30.1 IP this season (mostly at Double-A Binghamton) with 39 strikeouts. Aracena has a 2.38 ERA over 64.1 IP at Class-A St. Lucie, also spending most of his time in the bullpen. While he has a lively arm, there are control concerns already showing (6.4 BB/9 in his pro career).

Mariners add a bat; D-backs start to sell

Little has gone right in Arizona this season. Injuries and underperformance have decimated a Diamondbacks team that some thought would challenge the Dodgers in the NL West this season. Instead, they sit at 50-53 and five games out of the last wild card spot with a week to go before the trade deadline.

Arizona traded right-hander Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance pick (No. 70 overall, which was used on high school right-hander Will Hynes) to Cleveland before the season to acquire Josh Naylor. Naylor hit .292/.360/.447 (123 OPS+) with 11 HR over 394 PA with Arizona. Only four others on the D-backs roster have a higher bWAR on the season.

The D-backs traded Naylor to Seattle late Thursday night. Left-handed reliever Brandyn Garcia and minor leaguer Ashton Izzi were sent to Arizona in return. Naylor made his debut for Seattle on Friday, batting cleanup behind MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh.

Garcia just made his MLB debut this week, appearing in two games for the Mariners. The 25-year-old has a 2.94 ERA over 159.1 IP over three seasons in the minors with 184 strikeouts. He was an 11th-round pick in 2023 out of Texas A&M. Izzi was a 4th-round pick in 2022 out of high school. He made 12 starts this year at High-A Everett, posting a 5.51 ERA over 47.1 IP with 54 strikeouts and 21 walks.

Red Sox reject surprising Padres trade offer

The rumored deals that fail to happen are often one of the most interesting parts of the trade deadline. Sometimes the deal would make a lot of sense, but not always.

San Diego has long coveted Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, with reports that they had tried to acquire him going back to last offseason. MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported on Friday that the Padres had made Boston an offer for Duran, centered on right-hander Dylan Cease.

The proposal was quickly shot down.

Boston, as McAdam explains, remains steadfast in their desire to add a controllable pitcher if they are going to move Duran. Cease will be a free agent this offseason.

Cease is struggling this season, with a 4.59 ERA (90 ERA+) and 144 strikeouts over 113.2 IP, but he also finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting in two of the last three seasons.

Salas, who just turned 19 last month, has been one of the most hyped amateur prospects in recent years. The catcher started the season with Double-A San Antonio but only saw 41 PA before landing on the injured list with a stress reaction in his back. Entering the season, all of the major prospect rankings had him in the top 40 (#31 at Baseball America, #33 at MLB Pipeline, #40 at Baseball Prospectus).

Duran is batting .254/.321/.428 (107 OPS+) on the year and leads the AL with 10 triples. Boston has an option in his contract for next season at $8 million, but he’ll still be arbitration-eligible for two seasons beyond that.

While Duran has a lot of value, Boston already has more outfielders than it can field daily. Trading from that surplus would only seem logical if it allows the team to address other needs. Many would think that one of the game’s best rental arms (Cease), best young prospects (Salas), and additional prospects would be an appealing return to help alleviate a roster crunch.

It wasn’t enough for Boston (the Padres don’t have a deep farm system, so whoever the other prospect(s) were wasn’t enough to move the needle), who understandably would prefer to move Duran for a pitcher with similar team control remaining (even though they could likely extend him if they wanted to).

Have a day, Nick Kurtz.

The Athletics rookie first baseman (who was drafted 4th overall last summer out of Wake Forest) had a historic game on Friday at Houston’s Daikin Park.

Kurtz singled to left in the first inning. He’d score three batters later on Tyler Soderstrom’s double.

Kurtz homered to left in the second, with Max Schuemann on base.

Kurtz doubled to center in the fourth, driving in Carlos Cortes. He’d score two batters later on a Shea Langeliers home run.

Kurtz homered to left in the sixth.

Kurtz homered to right in the eighth.

Kurtz, finally, homered again to left in the ninth, scoring Gio Urshela and Cortes.

The 22-year-old went 6-for-6 on the day with 4 HR, 8 RBI, and scored six times.

Kurtz is the 20th player in MLB history with a 4-homer game. He’s also the first A’s player and first rookie to do so.

With 19 total bases, Kurtz also tied Shawn Green (2002, the only other instance in MLB history where a player went 6-for-6 with four homers) for the most in a game all-time.

Pirates draft pick chooses college

Pittsburgh took an unusual path with its first selections in last month’s draft. The Pirates used each of their first two picks on high school right-handed pitchers — arguably the most volatile group in every draft class (partly why no HS righty has ever gone with the first-overall pick).

The Bucs selected Seth Hernandez with the sixth pick in the first round and then took Angel Cervantes in the second round (pick No. 50 overall). Baseball America draft writer Carlos Collazo (who I’ve known since he was finishing high school; Carlos wrote for me a long, long time ago at the old job before he moved on to bigger and better things) called the pair the top high school arms in this year’s class.

Hernandez has signed, agreeing to a $7.25 million bonus. Cervantes, however, has surprisingly turned the Pirates down and will follow through on his commitment to UCLA.

As The Daily Bruin’s Gabriela Garcia wrote, Cervantes himself broke the news on Twitter/X on Wednesday. Cervantes is expected to compete for a spot in the Bruins’ weekend rotation as a freshman.

Pittsburgh not only loses Cervantes but will also forfeit the $1.93 million slot value of that pick. They will get a compensation pick next year in the second round (likely pick No. 51).

Two vets hang up the spikes

Western Massachusetts native, UConn graduate, and 12-year MLB veteran Nick Ahmed announced his retirement on Thursday. The longtime defensive whiz was never a big threat with the bat, hitting just .233/.286/.370 (74 OPS+) in more than 3,400 PA.

Ahmed spent ten years playing shortstop for the Diamondbacks, winning a pair of Gold Glove Awards.

Veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez also announced his retirement on Thursday. Initially a 42nd-round pick in the 2002 Draft by the Rangers, Chavez pitched for nine teams over an 18-year career. He pitched more than 1,100 innings over 657 games (85 starts), finishing with a 51-66 record, nine saves, and a 4.27 ERA (98 ERA+).

While never dominant, Chavez was always considered reliable. He was traded nine times in his career and was often a favorite of the Atlanta Braves, an organization he joined eight separate times (two trades, a waiver claim, five free agent signings). It has long been rumored that Chavez has a coaching role with the Braves, promised to him when his playing days were over.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• This week’s edition of “Stupid Stuff the Country Does” focuses on youth baseball. Next month’s Senior League World Series (ages 13-16, held in Easley, SC — this is different from the Little League WS that is played in Williamsport, PA each year) will be without one of the international qualifiers. The team from Venezuela has been denied visas by the US government. There is no appeals process for visa requests, so tournament organizers were forced to shift gears and invite the runner-up team from Mexico instead.

• Concession stand vendors at Fenway Park officially went on strike on Friday, before Boston started a series at home against the Dodgers. The labor union has been fighting for a new contract for months, primarily citing low wages and an increase in AI usage, which is in turn eliminating jobs. It’s unclear how long the strike might last (Aramark had plenty of warning before it became official). The early indications are that fans will be allowed to bring food and drink into Fenway for the foreseeable future.