MLB Trade Rumors and News: CBA negotiations currently including discussion over a lower luxury tax threshold with a salary floor

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• The negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA over the new CBA seem to be being productive in the early going. Yesterday, the league came to the table with a proposal regarding new parameters for salary limitations in baseball. While it would lower the luxury tax threshold to $180 million, it would also impose a $100 million salary floor which seems like a good starting point for discussion.
• There was a very scary moment in Tuesday’s Athletics-White Sox game, as right-hander Chris Bassitt was hit in the face by a 100.1 MPH Brian Goodwin line drive and stayed down in pain for several minutes while being worked on by trainers. Bassitt, who remained conscious the whole time, was later taken to a local hospital.
• Right-hander Tyler Chatwood, who has always flashed some of the most intriguing stuff in baseball but has never consistently put it all together, will get another chance to show his worth after he was selected from Triple-A and added to the first-place Giants’ bullpen on Tuesday.
• A successful stint with Team USA in the Olympics earned former All-Star closer David Robertson a job, as he signed a major league contract with the Rays on Tuesday.
• The Dodgers made news yet again, deciding to take a flyer on 37-year-old lefty Cole Hamels, who they signed to a one-year, $1 million deal. However, Hamels suffered a season-ending shoulder surgery while ramping up and won’t throw a pitch for Los Angeles this season. An interesting way to earn $1 million, for sure.
• With Yu Darvish, Dinelson Lamet, and Chris Paddack on the IL, the Padres went out and added a veteran starter (albeit one who has struggled significantly in recent years), signing recently released former Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta.
• Bad news, Mets fans: the Mets have shut Jacob deGrom down for two more weeks with forearm tightness. While the 33-year old is still improving, this is far from the news anyone was hoping for. Manager Luis Rojas remains optimistic that deGrom could be back on the mound in mid-September, but at this point even that is still a coin toss.
• The Giants have signed Brandon Crawford to two-year, $32 million extension. The 34-year old will stay in San Francisco until the end of 2023, and thank goodness for that. He’s currently leading all Giants position players with a 4.5 bWAR—his highest since 2016. Don’t call it a comeback.
• The Giants have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2021 season as they have a healthy four game lead in an NL West division that, before the season, was thought to be a two-horse race between the Dodgers and the Padres. Unfortunately, they are about to be without starter Johnny Cueto for a little bit as he is hitting the injured list with a right flexor strain. It doesn’t sound like he should miss too much time, but its worth keeping an eye on as San Francisco tries to hold off the Dodgers.
• Orioles catching prospect Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft and the top prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, made his Triple-A debut last week, going 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI while guiding a trio of pitchers to a one-hit shutout of the Memphis Redbirds. Considering GM Mike Elias’ propensity for minimizing costs and taking an emotionless, business-first approach to roster management, it would be surprising to see Rutschman promoted to the majors this year, no matter how he does in Triple-A. But this promotion puts him in better position to make an impact in the big leagues next season.
• Mookie Betts headed back to the injured list with a hip injury that has nagged him during the second half. It’s an unfortunate setback for Betts, who has finally started to look like his normal self at the plate in recent weeks.
• The Phillies have battled (or backed?) their way into first place in the NL East this month, doing so recently without their second most impactful hitter, first baseman Rhys Hoskins. They won’t be getting Hoskins back for at least another week, as he was placed on the injured list Tuesday with a groin strain retroactive to August 7. The 28-year-old slugger, who has an .841 OPS with 24 homers this season, hasn’t played since August 5.
• The Angels were already having a rough time of it with Mike Trout’s return from a calf injury getting perennially pushed back, now they will be without another bat that they were counting on this season. Anthony Rendon has been dealing with a right hip impingement and will have surgery that will end of his season.
• Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow underwent Tommy John surgery last week, officially ending his 2021 season and likely ruining his chances of pitching in 2022. Glasnow, 27, has been stellar since joining the Rays in July 2018, and it will be a real challenge for Tampa to get back to the World Series this year without him in the rotation. Glasnow hasn’t pitched since mid-June, when he suffered a UCL tear, though he spent the last six weeks trying to rehab the injury before committing to surgery.
• The Yankees continued their busy trade deadline work as they added Anthony Rizzo in a deal with the Cubs after already grabbing Joey Gallo earlier this week. The Yankees clearly know what they want (lefty power bats) and are going for it this year. Gallo and Rizzo should fit in nicely with that short porch in right.
• Not to be outdone, the Boston Red Sox made a move to bolster their lineup as well as they made a late trade for Kyle Schwarber from the Nationals. It is pretty wild how quickly the Nationals roster has gone from perennial contender to trade deadline fire sale booth, but here we are.
• It had been clear for a while that one of the bigger bats on the trade market that was also likely to have a new team by the trade deadline was the Rangers’ Joey Gallo. While not a perfect hitter, Gallo gets on base at a high clip and you won’t find greater raw power in the bigs than him. Well, now we will get a chance to see what he can do with that short right field porch in New York as the Yankees acquired Gallo for a healthy haul of prospects.
• If Joey Gallo was likely to be traded, then Starling Marte was a lock to move on given how extension talks with the Marlins quickly broke down. The Athletics were the team that decided to pony up in a big way as they snagged Marte along with some cash in exchange for Jesus Luzardo.
• The Diamondbacks have had a rough season in 2021 and that is being pretty charitable in that description. However, one of the bright spots has been the play of Eduardo Escobar who was the team’s lone All-Star Game representative this year. Now, he has a new team as the Brewers traded for him for a couple of prospects.
• Lefty Tyler Anderson thought he was going from the Pirates to the Phillies, but the deal fell through, apparently due to a medical concern with one of the prospects who was set to go to the Pirates: right-hander Cristian Hernandez and catcher Abrahan Gutierrez. Late Tuesday night, the Pirates pivoted and dealt Anderson to the Mariners for minor league catcher Carter Bins and Joaquin Tejeda. It’s a deal that Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto apparently believes will soothe Mariners fans and players after he traded his closer while the team was one game out of a playoff spot.
• The Anderson deal was Seattle’s second of the day. Before a matchup with the division rival Astros, one night after they came back from a 7-0 deficit to beat Houston 11-8 and pull within a game of a wild card spot, the Mariners dealt star closer Kendall Graveman and recently DFA’d right-hander Rafael Montero to the Astros for infielder Abraham Toro and veteran sidearmer Joe Smith. Mariners players expressed major displeasure at the move, with several crying, one going postal in the clubhouse, and a few anonymously ripping the front office to the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish.
• The Reds took two veteran relievers off the Yankees’ hands, acquiring lefty Justin Wilson and righty Luis Cessa from New York in exchange for a player to be named later. Neither is a surefire solution to the Reds’ bullpen woes, but Cincinnati will take a wild guess and see if they can improve a relief corps that ranks last in the majors in ERA.
• The Padres have acquired Adam Frazier from Pirates. Infielder Tucupita Marcano, who ranked fifth among San Diego’s prospects in the MLB Pipeline rankings, headlines a three-player package going to Pittsburgh.
• The Rays acquired Nelson Cruz from Twins, along with minor league pitcher Calvin Faucher. In exchange, Minnesota receives pitching prospects Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.
• Mets fans, don’t look: Jacob deGrom has hit the injured list with forearm tightness. New York has made it very clear that the time table on this injury is flexible, and deGrom won’t throw until that tightness has subsided. I don’t think I need to tell you how devastating this is for the Mets. Doctors are still doing tests to get to the root of what’s causing this.
• The White Sox have signed Lance Lynn to a two-year, $38 million extension with a club option for 2024. In ten seasons, Lynn has been a solid rotation staple, but this season feels like the comeback most players only dream of. So far in 2021, the veteran is hurling a 1.99 ERA with 105 strikeouts, and only 31 walks over 90.2 innings. Talk about getting your money’s worth.
• The Braves’ outfield has been ravaged by injuries and/or legal issues this season. With prospects Drew Waters and Cristian Pache still getting work in the minor leagues, the Braves decided to make a move to shore that unit up as they acquired Joc Pederson from the Cubs for 1B prospect Bryce Ball.
• But the Braves weren’t done wheeling and dealing quite yet. They then acquired Stephen Vogt from the Diamondbacks, securing another strong leadership presence in the dugout. In return, Atlanta will send 25-year-old first base prospect Mason Berne to Arizona.
• Encouraging news for baseball fans who don’t like the major rule changes instituted over the last two seasons: Rob Manfred says that seven-inning doubleheaders and the runner-on-second rule in extra innings are unlikely to survive beyond the 2021 season, with Manfred saying those changes were instituted for the purpose of limiting time at the ballpark during the COVID-19 pandemic — something that isn’t expected to be a factor in future seasons.
• To say that the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft was a wild one may be a bit of an understatement, as mock drafts were blown up within the first five picks. That started with the number one overall pick as Henry Davis was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in a bit of an upset.
• In devastating news for Braves fans, Ronald Acuña Jr. was injured when trying to make a play on a fly ball. None of the aftermath looked good as Acuña was unable to finish leaving the field and had to be carted off with an apparent knee injury. Sadly, he did not escape major injury this time as it was confirmed that he completely tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.