As Trade Dominos Fall, Fewer Relief Options for Towers

As of this writing, July 29 has already seen two trades of relievers — Angels LHP Scott Downs to Atlanta, and Astros RHP Jose Veras to Detroit.  Despite his current status on the disabled list, White Sox RHP Jesse Crain is also rumored to be on the move, to either Tampa Bay or “another club.”  It has also been reported that a Crain trade could be “a complicated deal involving the Rays and a third team.”  There’s no reason at this time to believe that Arizona is in that mix.

Now that the game of reliever musical chairs is underway, one wonders if GM Kevin Towers may end up being the last man standing.  Several relievers are still in play, but there are still several other teams in search of relief help.  San Diego is reportedly shopping relievers Luke Gregerson and Joe Thatcher, but the Pads may opt to avoid trading to a division rival.  Similarly, San Francisco GM Brian Sabean is soliciting offers for LHP Javier Lopez but may be reluctant to move him to the Dbacks, which is unfortunate because he would fit the bullpen well.

Among veteran relievers that Towers may still target is Milwaukee lefty Mike Gonzalez, who has had middling success this year with a 3.96 ERA.  Gonzalez has walked 17 in 36.1 IP (162 plate appearances), which is a little scary, although his control versus left-handed batters (5 BB in 81 PAs) is a little better.  Gonzalez performed well with the Nationals last season (3.03 ERA), but has ERAs over 4 in the preceding two seasons.  Gonzalez’s best year may have been in 2009 as a member of the Braves, when he dominated as part of a closer platoon with current Nationals closer Rafael Soriano.  Gonzalez is finishing out a 1 year, $2.25M contract and would be strictly a rental.

Even after trading Veras, Houston may be open to trading LHP Wesley Wright.  A 4.30 ERA and 1.46 WHIP is not better than the numbers that Dbacks lefty Tony Sipp has put up so far this year, but Wright is just one season removed from a very good 2012 campaign in which he logged a 3.27 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 52.1 IP.  Like Gonzalez, Wright has faced about as many left-handed batters as right-handers, but has not shown a significant platoon split.  Unlike Gonzalez, Wright would not be a rental.  The pitcher is making $1.025M this year in his first year of arbitration eligibility, and is under team control for two more seasons.

Miami’s Mike Dunn is no lock to be traded, but could also be available.  The 28 year old reliever struggled mightily in 2012, but has been above average this season, with a 2.62 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.  Dunn’s walk rate is nothing to write home about (20 BB in 187 PAs), but he’s done well at avoiding hits, to the tune of a .228 batting average against. Dunn has not yet been eligible for arbitration, and were the Dbacks to acquire him, they’d have him under team control through the 2016 season.

Another possible target is Seattle’s Oliver Perez, a lefty who is a free agent at the end of the season.  Perez reinvented himself as a reliever after parts of nine seasons as a starter; the transition did not pay quick dividends for the Mets in 2010, but since his acquisition by the Mariners, Perez has rediscovered the form that saw him star for Pittsburgh in 2004been (2.12 ERA in 2012, 2.35 ERA so far this season).

The best LHP option out there may also be the most expensive.  The Chicago Cubs have already gotten a king’s ransom for Matt Garza, and the team is likely to wait for their price to be met on James Russell.  Russell started the year by outright dominating lefties, but once the Chicago bullpen crop was thinned midseason, he got a little overexposed to RHB.  The overall numbers (2.68 ERA, 1.24 WHIP) look pretty good, but the July numbers (5.56 ERA, 1.85 WHIP) do not.  In five July appearances, Russell has performed better (3.60 ERA), so his price may be stabilizing.  Russell is relatively cheap at $1.075M this season, but the two extra years of team control will keep up Chicago’s asking price.

The Dbacks could also shore up their bullpen without a trade by signing free agent right hander Brian Wilson, who has yet to land with a team after his deal with the Giants expired last offseason.  Wilson has been slow to heal from Tommy John surgery early in the 2012 season, but the possibility of adding help without trading away a prospect should be attractive to Towers.  Just a few hours ago, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted that the Dbacks are considered front-runners for his services, along with Pittsburgh.  It’s hard to know what to expect with Wilson at this point, but after the Jason Grilli injury, Black Beard may be a better fit with the Pirates than with Arizona.

Although the number of available options has dwindled with the Downs and Veras deals today, there is some reason for optimism, as well.  The Braves helped set the price point for veteran relief help this season; when they picked up Scott Downs (making $5M this season), they did so by trading just a lower-level prospect in Cody Rasmus.  As Keith Law writes, getting Downs at the price makes him an “almost-free left-handed reliever.” Braves blogger @gondeee considered the move “a terrific trade for the Braves,” noting that in Cody Rasmus’s time with the Braves earlier this season, he “wasn’t very impressive or effective.”  If a prospect like Rasmus is the going rate for a veteran lefty right now, it may be that Towers can make a move to help the team in the short term without mortgaging any of the team’s future.