San Francisco trades Melancon to Atlanta
PHILADELPHIA _ Reliever Mark Melancon has been one of the most dominant relievers in baseball since the All-Star break.
Now, he's reportedly headed to the Braves as the San Francisco Giants completed a deal to send their former closer to Atlanta minutes ahead of the trade deadline.
ESPN was first to report that Melancon, who possessed a full no-trade clause, is on the move. According to The Athletic, the Giants are receiving pitching prospect Tristan Beck and right-handed reliever Dan Winkler in return, but it's possible they'll also get some salary relief as they owe Melancon roughly $18 million through the end of the 2020 season.
In his last eight games, Melancon has logged 9 2/3 innings and surrendered just four hits while allowing one run and striking out 10. In 116 games over parts of three seasons with the Giants, Melancon posted a 3.67 ERA and recorded 15 saves.
The veteran right-hander signed a four-year, $62 million deal to join the Giants as the team's closer ahead of the 2017 season but dealt with injury troubles throughout the first two years of his tenure.
Melancon missed three separate chunks of his first year with the club and also spent a significant portion of the 2018 season on the injured list. — Kerry Crowley, The Mercury News
Giants reportedly trade Pomeranz, Black for highly-ranked middle infield prospect
PHILADELPHIA -- The San Francisco Giants have jumped into the trade market in the closing hours, reportedly acquiring highly-regarded prospect Mauricio Dubon from the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Athletic was first to report that the Giants acquired Dubon in exchange for veteran pitcher Drew Pomeranz and right-handed reliever Ray Black.
Dubon, the Brewers' No. 3 ranked prospect according to MLB.com, made his major league debut with Milwaukee this season and is the first player born in Honduras to play a major league game. The right-handed hitting middle infielder, 25, moved to the United State in high school and attended Capital Christian High in Sacramento, Calif.
Pomeranz's value on the trade market improved after a successful transition from the Giants' rotation to the bullpen. Black, 29, appeared in 26 games for the Giants last season and two games this year, posting a 6.02 ERA across 25 1/3 innings since his major league debut.
Dubon went 0-for-2 with the Brewers this season during a brief major league stint and was hitting .297 with a .809 OPS at Triple-A San Antonio this year. — Kerry Crowley, Mercury News
Twins pick up Giants reliever Sam Dyson at trade deadline
MIAMI _ The Twins picked up Giants righthanded reliever Sam Dyson at the Major League Baseball trade deadline Wednesday.
In 49 games this season Dyson is 4-1 with a 2.47 ERA. He has 47 strikeouts in 51 innings and a WHIP of 0.902.
Tyson has also pitched for Toronto, Miami and Texas in his eight-year career. His final year of arbitration eligibility is 2020, so he's under team control through next season.
Three prospects _ Jaylin Davis, Kai-Wei Teng and Prelander Berroa _ will go the Giants in return.
Davis is a 25-year-old right fielder at Class AAA Rochester. Teng, signed as a free agent from Taiwan two years ago, is a 6-4, 260-pound right-handed starter for Class A Cedar Rapids. Berroa, 19, is a right-handed pitcher at rookie league Elizabethton who was signed three years ago out of the Dominican Republic.
Dyson, 31, had a strong 2018 season, pitching 74 games with a WHIP (walks and hits per inning) of 1.081 and an ERA of 2.69. He has appeared in 364 career major league games after being drafted by
the Blue Jays in the fourth round in 2010 out of South Carolina.
His 326 games since the start of 2015 is tied for third most in baseball. — La Velle E. Neal III, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Mariners trade Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland to the Nationals for three pitching prospects
ARLINGTON, Texas _ In the hours before the deadline to complete all trades, the Mariners sent a pair of their more experienced relievers to the Washington Nationals _ a team that somehow had a worse bullpen than Seattle.
Sources confirmed right-hander Hunter Strickland, who started the season as the Mariners' closer before getting injured, and lefty Roenis Elias, who has been serving as the closer the last few months, were shipped to the Nationals in exchange for three pitching prospects _ left-handed pitcher Taylor Guilbeau, left-handed pitcher Aaron Fletcher and right-handed pitcher Elvis Alvarado.
Per MLB Pipeline, Guilbeau was rated as the No. 15 prospect in the Nationals organization, and Fletcher was ranked No. 21. Baseball America had Guilbeau at No. 14 and Fletcher at No. 19.
Guilbeau has split time between Class AA and AAA this season as a reliever, posting a 2.89 ERA in 34 appearances. He has 50 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings pitched. After working as a swing reliever and part-time starter, the move to a full-time reliever has seen Guilbeau's fastball bump up to 95-96 mph. He also has a slider that is effective against lefties. — Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times
Mariners finally complete trade to send pitcher Mike Leake to Diamondbacks
ARLINGTON, Texas _ A trade that they tried to work out in the first week of June was revisited and finalized just before the Major League Baseball trade deadline.
After shopping him during the offseason and reintensifying those efforts in late May, the Mariners have finally traded veteran right-hander Mike Leake.
In a potential deal that was discussed during early June, the Mariners sent Leake and cash considerations to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for infielder Jose Caballero. Leake, who lives in the Deer Valley suburb of Phoenix and played at Arizona State, was happy to waive his notrade clause for a chance to go home.
On June 5, just before he threw a complete game vs. the Astros, the Mariners were trying to finish a deal that would've sent Leake to the Diamondbacks. The framework of the deal was supposedly largely in place and Leake was going to be scratched from the start that evening. However, the deal was scuttled. Multiple MLB sources said Mariners ownership squashed the deal, not liking the timing or the financial commitments being made. — Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times