Daily Briefing: Trades Starting to Trickle In

The FanGraphs Newsletter, July 27, 2021 [READ IN BROWSER]( By Jeffrey Bellone - July 27, 2021 TRADE RELIEF: The Oakland Athletics acquired left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor leaguers Greg Deichmann and Daniel Palencia. []( BULLPEN BOOST: The New York Yankees added right-handed reliever Clay Holmes from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league infielders Diego Castillo and Hoy Park. []( GRAND RALLY: Dylan Moore's pinch-hit, two-out grand slam in the eighth inning capped an epic comeback for the Seattle Mariners, who stunned the first-place Houston Astros by winning 11-8 after falling behind 7-0 early in the game. []( OFF THE BENCH: It was a night of pinch-hit heroics. We talked about Dylan Moore above. Chicago Cubs shortstop Javier Báez also came off the bench to hit a dramatic home run last night, turning the first pitch he saw from Cincinnati Reds reliever Amir Garrett into a ninth inning long ball to give the Cubs a 6-5 win. []( WALK OFF: Andrew McCutchen hit a walk-off, three-run home run off Washington Nationals closer Brad Hand to power the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-5 victory on Monday. The Phillies are 3.5 games back of the Mets for first place in the NL East. []( FINGER SPRAIN: Minnesota Twins reliever Taylor Rogers, who could be a key target for teams at the trade deadline, exited Monday's game with a sprained middle finger. []( 📈 STAT OF THE DAY: Shohei Ohtani collected a hit, an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base in the first inning of the Los Angeles Angels' win on Monday night against the Colorado Rockies. It was only the fourth time in the past 30 years that a pitcher has done so in an inning, per [ESPN Stats & Info](. Ohtani started and pitched seven innings of one-run ball. 🗣 QUOTABLE: "To me, it's not even close," Angels manager [Joe Maddon said]( of Ohtani being a favorite for the American League MVP Award. "When people talk about it being close -- it's not. It's not. What he's doing is so unique. It's just so different compared to anybody else right now." This newsletter is made possible due to the generous support of our members. If you are reading this email or use FanGraphs in your daily baseball routine, please consider supporting us. [BECOME A FANGRAPHS MEMBER]( HOLMES CORRECTION: Clay Holmes owns the [highest groundball rate in baseball]( at 72.8%. It’s well above Holmes’ career rates, but he’s also experienced a [3 mph uptick]( in velocity to his fastball, cutter and curveball. For a pitcher generating a league-leading rate of groundballs, his HR/FB rate, a whopping 18.8%, feels unusually high and seems likely to regress to his career mean or below, considering how sinkery his improved, harder fastball is playing. 👉 [The Pirates Plunder Yankees Infield Depth in Clay Holmes Trade, by Eric Longenhagen]( PLAYOFF PUSH: As of now, the Padres are a clear underdog, with a projected divisional probability that has faded from the 43.5% in the preseason, when it was expected to be a two-team race, to 11.2% before taking into account this trade ... With Adam Frazier on board, the Padres’ divisional probability bumps to 16.9%. 👉 [Padres Snag Adam Frazier as They Make an NL West Push, by Dan Szymborski]( PULLED WITH A NO NO: Of the five highest occurrences of pitchers being pulled with a no-hitter since 1901, four have occurred in the past four seasons, and that’s with an abbreviated 2020 campaign and an incomplete 2021 one; the only other season that can crack the top five is 1991, which had six. 👉 [The Weekend in No-Hit Bids and the Effect of the Sticky-Stuff Crackdown, by Jay Jaffe]( 📚 RECENTLY PUBLISHED [A's Acquire Reliever, Like Always]( by Ben Clemens [FanGraphs Power Rankings: Trade Deadline Edition]( by Jake Mailhot [Connor Brogdon, Garrett Whitlock, and Cade Cavalli on Learning and Developing Their Changeups]( by David Laurila [A Proposal for the "Veteran Player-Coach" Position]( by Bernard Ozarowski [New Everyday Starters -- July 27, 2021]( by Mike Podhorzer [Roto Riteup: July 27, 2021]( by Justin Mason [Bullpen Report: July 27, 2021]( by Jason Martinez ⚾️ ROSTER REPORT For the latest roster information, please visit our [RosterResource]( pages. [What Jeff Passan is hearing as Friday's MLB trade deadline approaches]( by Jeff Passan ESPN [Concerns about Trevor Story; what Max Scherzer’s unique contract means; more trade deadline notes]( by Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic ($) [Anthony Bender is Going Crazy]( by Kyle Horton, Pitcher List [The Playoff Chase Is Mostly Over]( by Robert Arthur, Baseball Prospectus ($) [What The Padres Are Getting From Adam Frazier on D]( by Mark Simon, Sports Info Solutions Blog [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2021 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](