The Cincinnati Reds will trade starting pitcher Mike Leake to the San Francisco Giants for two minor league players, Fox Sports has confirmed. As it stands now, that final slot would seemingly be occupied by Peavy, who has led the Giants to wins in each of his last three starts and owns a 2.84 ERA since being activated off the disabled list on July 3. Leake will beef up a good-but-not-great Giants rotation and give the club a reliable starter down the stretch. Cincinnati is simply looking to move some pieces, and Leake was one of the main guys that they wanted to trade.
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“A bittersweet moment”, Leake tweeted early Friday morning “I am extremely thankful to reds organization and will miss teammates, coaches, ballpark folks and most of all the fans”.
Leake, 27, posted a 9-5 record this year for the Reds. So does location. And I’m obviously not talking about pitch location; I’m talking about where a pitcher finds himself plying his wares.
Leake will make his Giants debut on Sunday at Texas. “I wanted to give Tim a heads-up this likely would affect his status immediately”.
The Pirates have the second-best ERA in the majors behind St. Louis but have seen starters Charlie Morton and A.J. Burnett struggle since the All-Star break. Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Duvall played college ball for Western Kentucky University and the University of Louisville before the Giants picked him up in the 11th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft. The 26-year-old corner infielder is hitting.279, with 26 homers and 79 RBIs for the Giants’ triple-a team. This year with the San Jose Giants, the 22-year old has gone 5-3 with a 3.31 ERA and just over one strikeout per inning. Ironically, the only run Leake gave up was a solo home run by Adam Duvall! The 27-year-old veteran is due to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and, given the Giants lack of interest in “rental players”, it could be expected that they have serious interest in re-signing the San Diego native.
The Reds’ rotation has been decimated in the last eight months.
The team had been linked to Leake a few weeks ago, but not much progress had been made on a potential deal until things came together quickly on Thursday.
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Miami got three minor leaguers from the Dodgers and sent a draft pick to Atlanta. Homer Bailey had Tommy John surgery and won’t be back until sometime next season, leaving rookie starters to finish out the season.
