MLB trade rumors and news: Michael Lorenzen achieves a Ruthian feat

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It’s that time of year folks, and I’m not talking about pumpkin spice. Follow along with us in tracking the 2019 September call-ups and keep tabs on your team’s potential postseason hero.

• It hasn’t been an especially exciting season for the Reds, but Michael Lorenzen lightened things up a bit by making history in Wednesday night’s win over the Phillies. The 27-year-old Lorenzen — who got the W while allowing one run over two innings of relief, provided Cincinnati with some much-needed insurance by hitting a two-run homer in the eighth, then stayed in the game and played center field for the ninth inning — became the first major-leaguer since Babe Ruth in 1921 to get the pitcher win, hit a home run, and play in the field in the same game. While he’s probably never going to be Shohei Ohtani, Lorenzen has really turned himself into a multi-faceted weapon who may represent the future as teams try to develop players who can effectively do as many different things as possible.
• In what has been a surprising deep and talented 2019 rookie class, we are starting to get a sense as to who the frontrunners for the Rookie of the Year Award are as the season winds down. Yordan Álvarez from the AL and Pete Alonso from the NL are heavy favorites to win based on a poll done by MLB.com recently. Álvarez received all of the first place votes in this straw poll while Alonso received all but four with Braves rookie pitcher Mike Soroka receiving the other four.
• The Indians announced some fantastic news — not just from a baseball perspective, but from a human interest standpoint — as right-hander Carlos Carrasco was activated from the injured list when rosters expanded Sunday. Carrasco continues to battle leukemia, but the fact that he’s healthy enough to pitch out of Cleveland’s bullpen appears to be great news for his recovery.
• As the season nears a close, our Andersen Pickard has been making the cases for players and teams to either pick up or decline options for 2020. Vote here on whether Aroldis Chapman will exercise his player option and whether the Nationals will pick up Ryan Zimmerman’s club option for next year.
• Less than a month after acquiring him from the Reds for a player to be named later or cash at the trade deadline, the Giants released second baseman Scooter Gennett last week. The decision to part ways with Gennett, a 2018 All-Star, coincided with the call-up of Mauricio Dubón (their No. 8 prospect according to MLB Pipeline), who was acquired from the Brewers at last month’s deadline.
• Royals owner David Glass is finalizing a sale of the team to John Sherman — a local businessman who is currently part of the Indians’ ownership group but was a longtime Royals season-ticket holder — for more than $1 billion.
• Is the home run barrage throughout baseball bad for the game? Our Patrick Karraker explores the possibility that baseball has too many dingers for its own good and what that means for the future of the game.
• Cleveland has placed José Ramírez on injured list with a fractured hamate bone in his right hand. He’ll stay on the 10-day IL for now until a better timeline is fleshed out for his return. The team’s #11 prospect, Yu Chang, was recalled to take Ramírez’s roster spot on a Cleveland team that’s full speed ahead towards October baseball.
• After no-hitting Toronto again, making that the third no-hitter of his career, it’s safe to say that Justin Verlander is the perfect Cy Young candidate for the Juiced Ball Era.
• While this news would have been more exciting a few years ago, the Athletics made a move to bolster their pitching depth as they signed Matt Harvey to a minor league deal. Harvey’s fall from grace has been pretty dramatic going from a potential ace for the Mets to getting unceremoniously booted from there to struggling to stay in the league at all.
• Yu Darvish is one of the big names to watch as the season begins to wind down. The Chicago Cub has a choice to make: opt out of his contract or be under team control for four more years. He’s due to make $22M in both 2020 and 2021, $19M in 2022, and $18M in 2023. And with an ERA over 4.00 and very obvious struggles this past season and a half with Chicago, it’d seem logical for him to opt in. Do you think Darvish will exercise his 2020 option?