BPKC Hitter of the Day: Manny Olloque 4-7, 4R, 2-HR, 7 RBI, 2 BB

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Connor Mayes 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 9-1 GO-FO, 83p/60k

NW Arkansas Naturals 11, Arkansas Travelers 10

With the first half title on the line, starting pitcher Scott Blewett struggled, putting the Naturals behind 5-0 after just four innings. Despite that deficit, NW Arkansas answered back in the bottom of the fourth, connecting on a pair of two-run home runs by Jecksson Flores and Alex Liddi to pull within a run. The Naturals kept piling on from there, getting a solo home run from Donnie Dewees in the fifth before a five-run sixth inning put them up 10-5. The big knock in that inning came from Sunday’s hero Erick Mejia, connecting on a two-run triple before scoring in the inning. A seventh-inning single by John Brontsema pushed the lead to 11-5 before Naturals relievers Gabe Speier and Walker Sheller struggled to put the game away, allowing five runs before Andres Machado secured the final out. The two teams will play again tomorrow to decide the division winner of the 1st half.

Anderson Miller: 3-5, 3R
Scott Blewett: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 4-3 GO-FO, 88p/52k
Donnie Dewees: 2-4, HR, BB

Omaha Storm Chasers 6, Reno Aces 4

The Chasers used a pair of three-run innings to defeat Reno on Tuesday. A first-inning double by Frank Schwindel scored one while Lucas Duda and Jack Lopez each singled in a run in the inning. After Reno had knotted the game up with a two-run double off Jason Adam, the Chasers offense countered in the seventh inning. Again, it was Schwindel doubling in a run with fellow first baseman Ryan O’Hearn also getting in the act with a two-run double of his own in the win.

Frank Schwindel: 3-4, R, 2-2b, 2 RBI
Ryan O’Hearn: 1-4, 2b, 2 RBI
Jorge Bonifacio: 3-5, 2R, 3b

Game 1 – Ogden Raptors 11, Idaho Falls Chukars 8
Game 2 – Idaho Falls Chukars 17, Ogden Raptors 0

The Chukars walked 12 hitters after resuming their suspended game, giving up 10 runs to drop a game that they led 3-1 prior to its suspension. The second game got completely out of hand after the Chukars blew it open with a 12-run third inning. First baseman Manny Olloque, who had at-bats with Triple-A Omaha this season, homered twice and drove in seven runs in the blowout win.

Tuesday Boxscores

Wednesday Probables
Omaha – Heath Fillmyer 4-5, 5.75 ERA, 1.63 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Emilio Ogando 4-3, 5.79 ERA, 2.12 WHIP
Idaho Falls – TBD
Burlington – TBD
AZL Royals – TBD

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Gabe Cancel 3-5, HR, 3 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Franco Terrero 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3-1 GO-FO, 32p/24k

Rome Braves 10, Lexington Legends 5

As the 2018 draft nears, the struggles of the 2015 draft class continue in Lexington with starter Nolan Watson giving up nine hits and five runs (1 ER) Tuesday night. The defense made things extremely difficult for Watson and reliever Holden Capps, committing four errors behind the pitchers to lead to nine unearned runs on the ten runs scored by the Braves in their two big innings. The Legends had opportunities but cashed in with just three hits in 11 chances, scoring five runs but stranding 10 baserunners on the night to see the end of their three game winning streak. Outfielder Seuly Matias struggled in his first game back from family leave, going 0 for 5 with five strikeouts.

Nick Pratto: 2-5, RBI, SB (6)
MJ Melendez: 2-4, BB
Cristian Perez: 2-4, R, 2b

Wilmington Blue Rocks 7, Potomac Nationals 4

It appeared as if a four-run inning was going to ruin an efficient start by Anthony Bender, but a late Wilmington rally shook things up in a comeback win. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up seven hits on the night, with four of those hits coming in the fourth inning to plate all four Nationals runs. A second inning two-run home run by Gabe Cancel and a single by Kort Peterson in the sixth inning that scored Emmanuel Rivera after his triple had Wilmington trailing 4-3 in the ninth. This is when an odd comeback would take place as the Rocks loaded the bases on a walk to Nick Heath and a pair of singles. Down to their final out, the Rocks would tie the game on a bases-loaded walk to Peterson. They took the lead when Chris DeVito was hit by a pitch and would score two more times on a wild pitch and a single by Cancel. Bryan Brickhouse held down that three run lead without allowing a threat in the ninth.

Bryan Brickhouse: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 28p/18k
Anthony Bender: 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2K, 10-6 GO-FO, 93p/56k
Khalil Lee: 1-5, R, 2K

NW Arkansas Naturals 5, Frisco RoughRiders 3

Trailing 3-1, NW Arkansas put together a comeback in the eighth to take a win over Frisco. After Scott Blewett allowed single runs in the second, third and fourth innings, Naturals reliever Franco Terrero came in to shut things down, working three scoreless frames with just one hit allowed. Trailing 3-1, the Naturals Corey Toups started the eighth with a double before Erick Mejia singled him in with one out to pull within a run. The next four hitters would reach base with Elier Hernandez doubling in Mejia and Anderson Miller driving in two runs with a single to put NW Arkansas up 5-3. Closer Jake Newberry worked a perfect ninth to secure his seventh save of the season.

Erick Mejia: 2-4, R, 2b, RBI
Nicky Lopez: 2-4, R
Anderson Miller: 2-4, 2 RBI

Omaha Storm Chasers 9, New Orleans Baby Cakes 2

The Chasers offense erupted to snap the five game home losing streak versus New Orleans on Tuesday night. All nine hitters had at least one hit, with Ryan O’Hearn leading the way with two runs scored and another driven in. Starter Heath Fillmyer navigated around three walks and four hits in seven innings, limiting the Baby Cakes to just one run thanks to a pair of double-play balls and a 0 for 9 effort by New Orleans with runners in scoring position.

Frank Schwindel: 2-4, R
Ryan O’Hearn: 2-4, 2R, RBI
Cam Gallagher: 3-4, R, RBI

Tuesday Boxscores

Wednesday Probables
Omaha – Scott Barlow 1-1, 3.60 ERA, 1.48 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Emilio Ogando 3-2, 4.98 ERA, 1.83 WHIP
Wilmington – Ofreidy Gomez 1-3, 4.80 ERA, 1.80 WHIP
Lexington – Carlos Hernandez 2-1, 2.19 ERA, 0.81 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day MJ Melendez 3-5 2b, 2HR, 5 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Carlos Hernandez 5 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 3 BB 5 K 6-5 GO-FO 87p/57k

Lexington Legends 6 West Virginia Power 0

The battery combination the Legends put on the field Friday night dominated the early innings on the way to a win over the Pirates Low-A squad. Starting pitcher Carlos Hernandez backed up a one hit five-inning performance last time out with another five-inning shutout effort in this one. The 6’5 right-hander didn’t allow a hit in that time while striking out five hitters and three walks while avoiding problems most of the time while on the hill. His battery mate MJ Melendez staked Hernandez with plenty of run support, homering in the first to put Lexington up 2-0, driving in a run in the third with a double and homering again in fifth to drive in his four and fifth runs of the night. The 2017 2nd round pick has 18 extra base hits among his 28 while moving up to 3rd in the league in OPS with his .955 to date. Lefty Holden Capps would follow Hernandez, working the next three innings while working around three hits before turning it over to Sal Biasi who tossed a scoreless ninth.

Travis Jones 3-4 3R, 2b, RBI
Cal Jones 1-3 BB
Holden Capps 3 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER

NW Arkansas Naturals 4 Springfield Cardinals 2

The Naturals going into this one had lost fifteen consecutive games at Springfield’s Hammons field so when they were shutout for five straight innings it wasn’t looking great to snap that skid. Fortunately starter Emilio Ogando was able to match that effort and take a tad further, shutting out Springfield for seven innings despite just one strikeout. A sac fly by Donnie Dewees after a leadoff triple by Corey Toups gave the Naturals a 1-0 lead in the sixth. An inning later Corey Toups got ahold of an opposite field home run with a runner on to push the advantage to 3-0 and finally, Erick Mejia’s solo home run in the eighth ran the advantage to four. A scoreless eighth for Yunior Marte ran into trouble in the ninth but newfound closer Luis Vasquez entered to shut things down with a pair of strikeouts.

Corey Toups 2-4 2R, 3b, HR, 2 RBI
Nicky Lopez 1-3 2b, BB
Emilio Ogando 7 IP 7 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K 9-4 GO-FO 95p/64k

Omaha Storm Chasers 8 Iowa Cubs 6 

The Chasers offense woke up in Des Moines with six extra-base hits and fifteen total hits. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn who entered this game in the midst of a difficult hitting month (.189/.306/.226) connected on a run-scoring double in the first as part of a two-run inning. That lead held up until the third inning when starter Scott Barlow gave up a pair of home runs to fall behind, 3-2. The Chasers would score again before falling behind 4-3 entering the sixth when they would break out for a big inning that would pave them towards the win. Catcher Cam Gallagher opened the inning with a solo home run an was quickly followed by a pair of rbi doubles by Humberto Arteaga and Billy Burns to give Omaha a 7-4 lead. An inning late O’Hearn connected on his second home run of the season to push the advantage to four runs which the Cubs would cut in half before Eric Stout entered to get the final out.

Ryan O’Hearn 2-4 2b, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Humberto Arteaga 3-4 R, 2-2b, 2 RBI
Richard Lovelady 2.1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 3-1 GO-FO 40p/25k

Friday Boxscores

Saturday Probables
Omaha – Glenn Sparkman 4-2 2.72 ERA 1.06 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Andres Machado 0-5 8.40 ERA 2.23 WHIP
Wilmington – Gerson Garabito 1-2 2.34 ERA 1.33 WHIP
Lexington – Garrett Davila 2-1 3.28 ERA 1.35 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Erick Mejia 4-5 2R, 2b, 2 HR, 4 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Garrett Davila 7 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 5 K 10-6 GO-FO 96p/57k

Recent Transactions Lexington – Activated IF Ricky Aracena, Dennicher Carrasco from DL. Optioned to Idaho Falls IF Julio Gonzalez, activated from Arizona LHP Robert Garcia.

Wilmington – LHP Josh Mitchell, Oli Nunez promoted from Lexington, RHP Jared Ruxer and OF Brandon Downes promoted to NW Arkansas

NW Arkansas P Jacob Bodner retired, received RHP Andres Machado from Omaha

Omaha RHP Glenn Sparkman promoted from NW Arkansas

Lexington Legends 7 Greenville Drive 3

The Legends starter Garrett Davila did his job on Sunday, working seven innings of one-run ball. The lefty who had struggled with his control last year at the same level walked just one hitter in the game while tossing 57 strikes on 96 pitches and keeping the ball low in the zone to also earn 10 groundouts. With the game tied 1-1 after six, the Legends broke things open with a two-run triple by Jeison Guzman in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead before putting it away in the eighth. In that eighth frame, Nick Pratto opened the inning with his sixth home run of the season before Dennicher Carrasco’s fourth pushed the advantage to 7-1. The Drive scored a couple in the ninth off Tyler Zuber but it was already over after Lexington’s power display.

Seuly Matias: 0-1 R, 2BB, HBP
Nick Pratto: 1-4 HR
Sebastian Rivero: 2-4 R

Carolina Mudcats 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 3

The Rocks offense struggled for the second game in a row against the Brewers High-A squad, getting just a three-run home run by Emmanuel Rivera for the offense in their second consecutive loss. The loss was also the fifth in their last six games for Wilmington with starter Cristian Castillo surrendering five runs in six innings on eight hits, five of which were of the extra base variety.  Outfielder Kort Peterson continued his hot hitting with two hits, improving his average to .327 on the season with a .908 OPS on the season.

Khalil Lee: 0-3 R, BB
Emmanuel Rivera: 1-4 HR, 3 RBI
Kort Peterson: 2-3 R, SB, HBP

NW Arkansas Naturals 11 Tulsa Drillers 8

The Naturals hot hitting offense was back at it again on Sunday, jumping on Tulsa starter Devin Smeltzer in his four innings of work. Again it was the top four hitters in the lineup doing much of the damage for the Naturals with Erick Mejia leading the charge with a multi-home run game, the second of his career. The bottom third of the order chipped in with six hits including Anderson Miller’s second home run of the season. Starter Emilio Ogando couldn’t escape the fifth frame to earn the win, allowing five runs before yielding to Walker Sheller who allowed a run for the first time at Double-A on a two-out single in the sixth. The NW Arkansas 10-1 lead was eventually slashed to 11-7 on Franco Terrero’s seventh home run allowed in 14 appearances, Tulsa’s fifth against him. Reliever Jake Newberry gave up a run in the ninth before getting a strikeout to end the threat.

Donnie Dewees: 2-5 2R, 2b
Nicky Lopez: 1-5 R, 2b, RBI
Elier Hernandez: 2-4 R, 2b, RBI, SB (4)

Omaha Storm Chasers 4 New Orleans Baby Cakes 2

The Chasers received a quality start from Glenn Sparkman in his first appearance with Omaha on Sunday in New Orleans. After working through Double-A with just one walk allowed in seven starts Sparkman walked a pair in this one but also limited the Baby Cakes offense to just four hits, allowing only a sixth inning run on a pair of two-out hits. The struggling Chasers offense did enough for Sparkman to earn that first Triple-A win, manufacturing a pair of runs in the fifth with a sac fly and bunt single that scored another. A fielding error in the ninth on a ball hit by Cam Gallagher led to another run before a double play scored the Chasers fourth in the game. Reliever Josh Staumont walked the bases loaded in the ninth but Eric Stout helped him out of the jam by getting the final two outs of the inning with just a run allowed to secure the save for the Chasers.

Cam Gallagher: 2-4 R, RBI, 1-3 CS-Att
Josh Staumont: 0.2 IP 0 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 1 K 0-1 GO-FO 28p/11k
Ryan O’Hearn: 1-3 2R, BB

Sunday Boxscores

Monday Probables
Omaha – Trevor Oaks 2-3 3.67 ERA 1.40 WHIP
NW Arkansas – TBD
Lexington – Dan Tillo 1-1 3.72 ERA 1.13 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day Donnie Dewees 3-4 2R, 2b, 2 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Franco Terrero 2 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 4 K 2-0 GO-FO 35p/20k

Delmarva Shorebirds 9 Lexington Legends 2

Another rough outing for Nolan Watson in this one as the former 1st round pick gave up nine runs on ten hits in five innings. The rough stuff started from the start of the game, allowing the first three hitters of the game to reach including a run-scoring double by T. J. Nichting that led to a two-run first inning. Two more in the second and five more in the fifth with three home runs surrendered for Watson to run his season ERA to 7.88. The offense struggled to get much going on their end getting a two-run home run by Brewer Hicklen but nothing else in the loss.

Brewer Hicklen 1-2 HR, 2 RBI, BB
Seuly Matias 0-3 BB, 2 K
Nick Pratto 1-3 BB, 2 K

Wilmington Blue Rocks 6 Carolina Mudcats 4

The Rocks took an early 3-0 lead in this one with rbi singles by Khalil Lee, Emmanuel Rivera and D.J. Burt in the first two innings. It was a battle for Gerson Garabito on his side with another three walk start from the right-hander but he escaped five innings with two runs allowed to leave with a lead in hand. Unfortunately, reliever Vance Tatum couldn’t lock things down, giving up a pair of runs on a two-out triple in the seventh. The Rocks quickly answered in the eighth with a rbi single by Kort Peterson before loading the bases with the help of an error and getting a bases-loaded walk to Chris DeVito to take the lead back. Reliever Bryan Brickhouse would enter in the eighth, working around a walk but getting the final six outs to earn his sixth save of the season.

Khalil Lee 2-4 2b, 2 RBI, BB
Emmanuel Rivera 1-5 R, RBI
Gerson Garabito 5 IP 8 H 2 R 2 ER 3 BB 6 K 3-2 GO-FO 97p/55k

NW Arkansas Naturals 7 Tulsa Drillers 3

The Naturals kept the hits coming on Friday night, finishing one shy of ten for just the second time in their last eight games but nine was enough on this night. The Drillers scored three unearned runs on a leadoff error and five hits off starter Zach Lovvorn in the first inning. In their half of the inning, the Naturals would quickly counter scoring a pair of runs with rbi singles by Erick Mejia and Nick Dini after the first four hitters in the inning all reached with singles. An inning later Mejia tripled in a pair and Nicky Lopez singled him in to give NW Arkansas a 5-3 lead. From there Lovvorn retired eleven of the final thirteen hitters he would face getting through six innings with just those three runs allowed in the first. The Naturals leadoff man Donnie Dewees having scored two runs earlier in the game drove in a pair in the bottom of the sixth to expand the lead and give more than enough room to hang onto the win.

Nicky Lopez 2-4 RBI
Erick Mejia 2-4 2R, 3b, 3 RBI
Jake Newberry 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 1K

Iowa Cubs 5 Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Omaha entered this game with the worst offense in the PCL in OPS and did very little to change that, getting shutout on just three hits through eight innings. This made Heath Fillmyer the likely loser after allowing four runs (3 ER) in six innings, giving up eight hits and three walks with a pair of two-run innings in the third and sixth innings. An insurance run in the ninth off Mike Broadway made it 5-0 heading into the last of the ninth for Omaha. Cubs reliever Dillon Maples quickly walked the bases loaded and walked in a run with one out to leave the Chasers an opportunity at a comeback. With a new reliever in the game, Paulo Orlando singled in a pair to get Omaha within a pair of runs but Humberto Arteaga would strikeout and Billy Burns would groundout to end the rally and the Chasers 1-7 homestand.

Ryan O’Hearn 1-3 R, BB
Hunter Dozier 0-2 R, 2BB
Richard Lovelady 2 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K 0-5 GO-FO 30p/18k

Friday Boxscores

Saturday Probables
Omaha – Scott Barlow 1-0 1.08 ERA 1.20 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Scott Blewett 1-3 4.40 ERA 1.73 WHIP
Wilmington – Arnaldo Hernandez 4-0 2.61 ERA 1.48 WHIP
Lexington – Carlos Hernandez 0-1 11.57 ERA 2.57 WHIP

Frank Schwindel

This is the obvious one as Schwindel finished the spring on an absolute tear and tied for the Cactus League lead in home runs. I still don’t really see much of a future with Schwindel, but on a team searching for talent, I guess they could do worse than to see what he can do. On the plus side, he doesn’t strike out much and he has a ton of power, so the fact that he makes a lot of contact helps. This spring, he struck out just twice. He had just a 15.4 percent strikeout rate in the minors last year. Of course, he makes Paulo Orlando look patient. And when you combine that with the fact that he really only plays first base, I just don’t see a long big league future ahead. That said, his spring put him on the radar for call-up if and when one of the first basemen or designated hitters gets traded or hurt in the big leagues.

Ryan O’Hearn

O’Hearn, to me, is a better bet for big league success than Schwindel, but I’m also pretty apathetic about him. A 1.000 SLG in spring training with some serious opposite field power may have re-established some of his prospect prowess. I think there’s too much swing and miss in his game, but he can work a walk and he does flash some big power, so maybe there’s a future there. His ability to play first base and corner outfield could be valuable. Even though I see him more as a Clint Robinson type player if he makes it at all, his spring, like Schwindel’s, put him at the top of mind if an opening arises in Kansas City.

Erick Mejia

The Royals picked up the 23-year old middle infielder as part of the deal that rid them of Joakim Soria’s contract and Scott Alexander. I don’t know if the organization necessarily loved what they saw, but I was impressed by Mejia. He handled the bat well, ran the bases well and looked pretty solid defensively. The profile isn’t that of star and probably not even of a starter, but I expected to see an organizational guy, and I think he could be a quality utility guy. His bat was much quicker than I expected and had a little more thump. For a little guy, he looked like someone who could certainly hold his own in the big leagues and provide some value.

Glenn Sparkman

I wrote about Sparkman when I was in Arizona, and while the 6.2 scoreless innings jump out at you in the stats, he impressed a lot. His fastball sat in the 92-95 range with a changeup that can definitely do some damage against big league hitters. He doesn’t have a closer profile, but he showed in spring that he can get big league hitters out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sparkman up in the next wave of relief arms at some point this summer.

Miguel Almonte

There was a time that I thought Almonte had a chance to be a really good starter for the Royals. He has yet to impress in the big leagues, but he still has the big fastball and he still has the changeup that I thought would make him a solid starter. He was fantastic in the minor leagues last season and showed enough in the Cactus League that I was a bit surprised when he got optioned during spring training. A lot of that is roster math because he reinforced to the big league club that he can be an option for them and maybe as soon as there’s an open spot in the big league bullpen.

Those are the five who I think made the best impressions on the front office and coaching staff to help them maybe find a non-Opening Day roster spot on the big league club in the near future. I’m not sure we’ll see Mejia in the big leagues this year with Ryan Goins and Ramon Torres for sure ahead of him as utility options and maybe even Nicky Lopez (though he had a rough go in spring), but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see all of the rest, and maybe even before the All-Star break.

• The deal to send Scott Alexander to the Dodgers and Joakim Soria to the White Sox for Trevor Oaks and Erick Mejia was unexpected and interesting. Clint did a fantastic job writing up the deal yesterday, but I wanted to throw my two cents in. I like Oaks because I think cheap starters who can give innings are really important, especially for rebuilding teams. His upside isn’t especially great, but a quality number four starter is worth plenty. Just think if the Royals didn’t need to hit the free agent market for one in Jason Hammel. I like that he gets ground balls and I think he’ll be a nice fit with the Royals. Speaking of Hammel, if I had to guess, I’d say he’s dealt within the next few days. One year of Hammel can absolutely be traded. And that’ll clear a little more salary, which would make room for that Hosmer deal we’ve been talking about this week. I’ll get to that in a second. I’ve believed pretty strongly that the Royals needed to add rotation depth, and while this definitely does that, I don’t think they should be done. Though I will say that Oaks, Scott Barlow, Brad Keller and incumbents Eric Skoglund, Foster Griffin and others do give the Royals a lot of options at the very least.
• There was a pretty mixed reaction from Royals fans when thinking about the idea that the Royals had offered that kind of money to Hosmer, and I run the risk of being a fence sitter here, but I see both sides. On one hand, why spend that kind of money for those kind of years on a player who isn’t likely to put the team over the top in any of the next few seasons? On the other hand, signing a player who is coming off the best year of his career when he’s theoretically in the middle of his prime years is something every team wants to do. My belief is that it’s best to let him go elsewhere and take the draft compensation to add the pick and about $2 million to the draft pool. But in trying to see it from the Royals perspective, I have to say that I at least understand their side. In Hosmer, they have a face of the franchise and someone who they’ve deemed a great leader. With young players likely to be coming to the big leagues over the next few seasons, it helps to have that. It also gives them a veteran to slot in the middle of the order to take pressure off these young players as they arrive so they don’t have to be “the guy” right away.
• There is another longer-term factors. You may scoff now, but if he plays long enough, there will be a Hall of Fame case for him. He currently has 1,132 hits, 127 home runs and 206 doubles. If he can get to 3,000, 300 and 500, I think it’d be hard to keep him out, no matter what you think of counting stats. And if he plays through his age-38 season, that’s 11 more years. Basically if you see three more seasons like his 2017, he’s up to 1,700 hits, 300 doubles and 200 homers, giving him eight seasons to average 162 hits, 25 doubles and 13 homers. There are a lot of factors that will stop him from getting there. It’s just hard to last that long for anyone, especially a player with a long swing like Hosmer has. And it also counts on him continuing what he did in 2017 for multiple seasons in a row when he’s yet to put together even back-to-back above average seasons to this point. So yeah, I’m not saying it’s the likeliest path, but the numbers are there that if he can consistently put it together year to year, he’s on a path to at least being a big argument on a ballot in like 2034. There’s value in having another player in the franchise who at least could be a Hall of Famer. That was kind of rambling, but there’s an argument to keep him for sure.
• The Royals payroll is an interesting talking point because they keep mentioning that they have a budget of around $115 million or so for the 2018 season. They’re already up against that, as we all know, but other than having to be creative this season and in 2019, things actually do open up a bit moving forward as they have just about $46 million committed in 2020 and $30 million committed in 2021 before going down to $0 in commitments in 2022 as of right now. There are arbitration eligible players who will factor in and all that, but we can only go by what we know right now. The point is that if they can shed a little salary this season and maybe some for next season, they could fit in a big contract moving forward. I would guess the organizational belief is that the roster will feature enough 0-3 players that the payroll can be top heavy with guys like Danny Duffy, Salvador Perez and a big contract like Hosmer would command. That may be pie in the sky thinking, but that’s the way it’ll have to work if it’s going to work. So fast forward to 2020, if the Royals have $46 million for Duffy, Perez, Jorge Soler and Ian Kennedy and were to add, say, $23 million for Hosmer, they’d have $69 million for five players. Add in some combination of Khalil Lee, Michael Gigliotti, Donnie Dewees, Raul Mondesi, Nicky Lopez, Jake Junis Josh Staumont, Griffin, Chase Vallot and any other young guys in the bullpen, and they could be looking at about $8 million for 12 or so guys with eight spots left to fill. If they’re willing to run a $130 million payroll (and that might be light if there’s a new TV deal), they’d have $50 million or so for those eight players. Sure it would take some shrewd signings/trades, but that’s doable. Is it likely? I don’t think so, but that’s not what the question is here.

White Sox Receive
Joakim Soria RH Reliever
Luis Avilan 

The White Sox add a pair of relievers who they can put toward the back end of their bullpen without having to give up any major prospects in the process. For a team in a major market, just a couple years into their rebuild, the $9m the White Sox take on in the Soria contract isn’t a whole lot for a team that prior to this deal lacked a closer candidate. Will he get them over the top? No, but he offers them a veteran reliever they can lean on while their young arms develop.

Dodgers Receive
Scott Alexander LH Reliever
Jake Peters 3b

The Dodgers clearly get the jewel of this deal in Alexander, one year after the left-handed reliever established himself as a true fireman last season for Ned Yost. Despite the Dodgers being unwilling to take on payroll, they get an extreme groundball pitcher with five years of team control in his inexpensive seasons for a pair of prospects that are fringy and weren’t likely to see the light of day on a roster stacked to the brim.

Royals Receive
Trevor Oaks RHP Triple-A
Erick Mejia Utility Infielder Double-A
Soria $9m salary relief

This deal is just as much about the $9m the Royals are trimming from payroll as it is the players that they are getting in return. Losing Soria’s contract off the payroll lowers the outgo to approximately $109m for the Royals which gets them one step closer to freeing up the necessary space needed to resign Eric Hosmer.

Trevor Oaks – An athletic right-handed starter, Oaks fits into what is becoming quite the logjam of fringe major league starters between Kansas City and Omaha. Last season Oaks was limited by an oblique strain but was solid for the Triple-A squad when healthy, creating a 51% groundball rate against a 4-1 K-BB rate. The fastball works low to mid 90s, touching 96 next to his cutter/slider and sinker. The fastball and sinker work as a pair to attack hitters and get groundballs before he tries to finish off hitters with the slider. In addition to that mix, he also works in a changeup that lagged behind without use but could develop into an average major league pitch. Oaks goes to the front of the line in a competition among Eric Skoglund, Scott Barlow, Andres Machado and a few others in an attempt to take the 5th or 6th man in the rotation.

Erick Mejia – Originally acquired by the Dodgers for Joe Wieland in 2016 Mejia clubbed seven home runs this past season after hitting just five during the previous five seasons. An above average runner with a tick above average arm he likely tops out as a major league utility guy who can play second, third and shortstop while providing some speed off the bench. Expect him to head to Omaha this season to add a little depth and protection behind Raul Mondesi and alongside Ramon Torres and Nicky Lopez should Mondesi continue his struggles at the major league level. The best possible comp is likely that of Erick Aybar, the former Angels shortstop.

Overall this deal is all about creating salary space in order to re-sign Eric Hosmer while adding to the depth of their current backend rotation. Left-handed relief is a position of strength for Kansas City with Eric Stout ready to compete for a spot in the bullpen and Richard Lovelady pushing hard behind him. This offseason’s theme thus far for GMDM has been to add young and controllable backend rotation starters with Oaks adding to Barlow, also of the Dodgers, with Rule 5 arms Burch Smith and Brad Keller. Expect another deal of a Royals starting pitcher to be coming very soon behind this one.