NY sent Chapman to Chicago (NL); Ivan Nova to Pittsburgh; Andrew Miller to Cleveland; and Carlos Beltran to Texas in exchange for top prospects, some long-time minor leaguers, and at least two “players to be named later”.
Advertisement
A 39-year-old switch-hitter, Beltran has been the Yankees’ top offensive player, leading NY with a.304 batting average, 22 homers and 64 RBIs.
Boston had legitimate interest in acquiring Beltran, according to a baseball source, though the Yankees ultimately traded the slugging outfielder to Texas for prospects. Beltran provides a short term replacement for both Shin-Soo Choo who has been on and off the DL in right field and Prince Fielder as the DH who had season ending surgery. Although they haven’t exactly been World Series favorites the past few years, they’ve at least been competitive, and that’s typically the minimum level of success that will be tolerated from a Yankee ball club.
New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi pauses during a news conference before an interleague baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in New York.
To make room for Jeffress, Texas optioned infielder Hanser Alberto to Triple-A Round Rock, the club announced Wednesday.
The Orioles, of course, have reawakened during the Buck Showalter-Dan Duquette era after suffering through a string of 14 losing seasons, having not finished below.500 since 2011.
The Rangers officially turned the Yankees into sellers by picking up 39 year old Carlos Beltran.
Jonathan Lucroy is another all-star that will bring a big bat to the lineup at the position of catcher. With two other prospects (outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford) going to the Yankees as well as a reunion with Adam Warren, it’s a near consensus that the Bronx Bombers won the trade. He is hitting.300 on the season with 13 home-runs and is considered to be one of the best catchers in the game. The two biggest names were Luis Ortiz who looked like would be in the starting rotation day 1 of the 2017 season and Lewis Brinson who has been an impressive outfielder for the Frisco Roughriders and should be a big part of the young rebuilding Milwakee Brewers. This team got older and after watching the early performances of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, it was crystal clear that this team wasn’t primed to win the American League East this season.
“Now, moving on to the @Rangers let’s take this bad boy to the ‘ship!” Really excited and cant wait to get after it!.
Speaking before Tuesday’s game at the Mets, A-Rod says “Whatever they do, I’m at peace” and “I hope I can stay here for the remainder of my contract”. Lucroy’s numbers have been better than the combined play that Bobby Wilson and Robinson Chirinos were performing at. “If it was my choice, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere”, Beltran said later, adding that he’d be open to a return as a free agent next season – at age 40.
Texas has an AL-high 62 wins, and is coming off a four-game series sweep of the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals.
The Astros were 10 games behind Texas on July 29, but the deficit is now 5 1/2 games.
In the same move, the Yankees did right by Beltran, who for three years has done everything they’ve asked of him and more. Most remarkably, just one of those players – shortstop Orlando Arcia – was with the team prior to the 2015 draft.
Advertisement
Oritz was the 30th overall pick in 2014. Swanson has gone 6-4 with a 3.43 ERA (31 ER/81.1 IP) and one save over 19 games/15 starts for Low-A Hickory in his third pro campaign.
