Zach Britton traded to Yankees

[Eye Black]

From MLB Trade Rumors:

 

The Zach Britton bidding war looks to have come to an end, as the Yankees have reportedly reached an agreement to acquire the left-hander from the Orioles in exchange for minor league pitchers Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll and Josh Rogers. The reported agreement has yet to be announced by either club and is said to still be pending medical reviews — a major final hurdle to clear, especially when considering Baltimore’s previous history of nixing or delaying deals over medical concerns.

[Eye Black]

The Yankees are facing a significant roster crunch this off-season and they traded three players that were set to be Rule 5 eligible this December for Zach Britton. I am guessing they would have placed Dillon Tate on their 40-man roster to protect him, but I have seen estimates that they are set to lose several players in the Rule 5 unless they continue trading from their farm system depth.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The Yankees are facing a significant roster crunch this off-season and they traded three players that were set to be Rule 5 eligible this December for Zach Britton. I am guessing they would have placed Dillon Tate on their 40-man roster to protect him, but I have seen estimates that they are set to lose several players in the Rule 5 unless they continue trading from their farm system depth.

 

Yep, this is exactly what the Brewers need to be looking to do. They are in the same situation with having more good prospects that need protecting than they have 40-man spots for.

 

As for the trade, Tate is more name than production at this point, but he isn't bad. He'll probably slot into the Orioles rotation almost immediately. The other two pitchers look like potential relievers. Not a huge haul, but the Orioles did pretty well.

[Ennder]

It is just so hard to gauge Britton's value right now I get why the package wasn't super amazing.

[adambr2]

Tate was once a very highly rated prospect, was he not?

[trwi7]

It is just so hard to gauge Britton's value right now I get why the package wasn't super amazing.

 

I think this package is pretty amazing for a rental reliever.

[Eye Black]

Tate was once a very highly rated prospect, was he not?

Yes, he was selected #4 overall by the Rangers in the 2015 MLB Draft. He was highly rated, but experienced some struggles and injuries early in his pro career. He has seemingly turned a corner since he joined the Yankees organization in 2016 (he had been traded along with two other pitching prospects for Carlos Beltran). Somewhat surprisingly Tate (24 years old) hasn’t yet pitched above Double-A.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Britton has looked really good over the last few weeks, this was along the lines of a trade package I expected would take to net him.

 

Very glad the cubs didn't find a way to get Britton. Then again, once the bidding war started the cubs had no chance unless they would have used a young mlb piece to headline a deal. Theo did a great job giving them zero 40 man roster logjam concerns by gutting the system...

[reillymcshane]

Tate's a really solid pick up for Baltimore. The guy isn't a top shelf prospect like a couple of years ago, but he's been pitching pretty well. Seems like a solid pitcher who has regained some of his luster.

 

I guess the closest person he'd match up to in the Brewer system is Luis Ortiz.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Tate's a really solid pick up for Baltimore. The guy isn't a top shelf prospect like a couple of years ago, but he's been pitching pretty well. Seems like a solid pitcher who has regained some of his luster.

 

I guess the closest person he'd match up to in the Brewer system is Luis Ortiz.

 

I was thinking Medieros, although Medieros is younger.

[JosephC]

I don't like this trade for the Yankees. Looking at Britton's past performance, there was one year where his Baseball Reference WAR was 4+. Normally his best seasonal WAR sits in the mid-2's. If he's credited as a 2.8 WAR over a full season, which is generous IMO, that means he'd be good for 1.1 WAR the remainder of this season. That puts his value at 10.076 million. He is scheduled to make approximately 4.67 million over the rest of this season, which makes his surplus value about 5.41 million.

 

I have the package going to Baltimore worth 19.46 million. Tate as a top 10 organizational prospect, Carroll as a role-player prospect and Rogers as a fringe prospect.

 

Some things that can be taken into consideration when talking specifically about this trade. Does the 4.67 million that Britton is going to make over this season really matter to a big-money team like New York? Also, as has been mentioned, Dillon Tate has always been a controversial guy because scouts have always been split on if he's a starter or reliever. He has also had some of the minor injury problems and lack of innings that Luis Ortiz has had.

 

I'm a bit surprised that New York threw resources into the bullpen instead of addressing the starting rotation first. Their bullpen ERA is 2.75 which is #1 in MLB. They did have a need for another bullpen lefty though, as their lefty reliever (in addition to Chapman) is Chasen Shreve and he's posted a pretty mediocre 4.25 ERA/1.44 WHIP this year. But currently their rotation is:

Severino = 2.63 ERA/1.05 WHIP (stud, no problem here)

Tanaka = 4.09 ERA/1.06 WHIP (no problem when healthy, but recently came off the DL [hamstrings], and possible elbow problems)

Cessa = 3.00 ERA/1.27 WHIP (only 16 MLB starts so far spread over 3 different seasons)

Gray = 5.34 ERA/1.49 WHIP (has been bad this year)

Sabathia = 3.51 ERA/1.27 WHIP (has a 5.94 ERA in 3 July starts and is 38 years old)

The group is alright as is, but it doesn't look very good if something happens to Tanaka or Sabathia. They do have Loaisiga in the minors so there is a bit of insurance there.

[KeithStone53151]

Tate's a really solid pick up for Baltimore. The guy isn't a top shelf prospect like a couple of years ago, but he's been pitching pretty well. Seems like a solid pitcher who has regained some of his luster.

 

I guess the closest person he'd match up to in the Brewer system is Luis Ortiz.

 

I think Ortiz makes sense as well. Medeiros was drafted higher, but his stock is rising if anything while Tate's is more stagnant...kinda like Ortiz.

 

I don't understand how the Cubs didn't get him, why didn't they simply overpay with all their prospect capital? Oh wait, they did that the last 2 years and don't have any good prospects left...