While there haven’t been an overwhelming number of rumors linked to the Dodgers in the days leading up to this year’s trade deadline, one surfaced on Monday evening that suggested Andrew Friedman and his troops were talking to the Orioles about reliever Mychal Givens.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was among the first to report the rumblings.
The 29-year-old Givens was originally snagged by Baltimore in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft out of H.B. Plant High School in Tampa. According to John Sickels at minorleagueball.com, Givens was drafted as a shortstop, but wasn’t converted to a pitcher until the 2013 season when he was at Single-A Delmarva.
Sickels describes Givens as “having a nasty power sinker at 92-95 MPH, thrown with a low-angle delivery. He also has developed a slider and change-up, both average to plus, and has demonstrated excellent mound presence and unusually good pitching instincts.”
Despite the promising scouting report, the righty has had anything but a stellar 2019 season, his fifth in the majors. Through 33 games, he has posted a 4.23 ERA, a 4.63 FIP and a 1.200 WHIP with 52 punchouts and 17 walks over 38-2/3 innings.
Last year, he tallied an 0-7 record with a 3.99 ERA over 76-2/3 innings pitched in 69 games.
Our good friend Connor Byrne at MLBTR note that “with two-plus years’ team control remaining and a $2.15 million salary, Givens stands out as one of the Orioles’ strongest trade chips. Considering the Orioles are caught in what figures to be a long rebuild, it’ll be a surprise if they don’t part with Givens soon.”
Givens has gone just 8-for-13 in save opportunities this year and has a 1.9 HR/9 rate, the highest of his career.
There’s no question that the Dodgers could probably score Givens cheaply. Yet, based on the way he’s been throwing so far this year, it’s doubtful he would provide much of an upgrade over many in the existing Los Angeles relief crew.
In the meantime, the Dodgers begin a short, two-game set against the Angels on Tuesday evening at Dodger Stadium.
In the opener, Kenta Maeda will face converted righty reliever Felix Pena, who is 7-3 with a 4.92 ERA over 19 appearances, five of which were starts.
In Wednesday’s contest, Ross Stripling will counter right-hander Jaime Barria. The 23-year-old Barra is 3-3 with a monstrous 7.63 ERA over eight appearances, three of which were starts.
Both games are slated for a 7:10 PM Los Angeles start time.
The trade deadline is eight days away.
I read that story too. Does not seem like an upgrade, so I doubt it happens. AF knows he needs a splash here. Gurnick was answering fans questions about the trade deadline and it is his view that if the Dodgers were to trade a catcher it would be Ruiz. Catcher is one of their deeper positions in the minors, and Smith is by all accounts more MLB ready than Ruiz. Ruiz was having the worst offensive year of his career at AA. He also said he doubted they would part with either Lux or May in any trade.
Good article in Forbes by Kenneth Cole featuring most of the relievers being talked about in deadline deals. 15 in all. Should be a couple of future Dodgers somewhere on that list! I’ll be surprised if AF gives up any of the top 4 prospects for a reliever so that eliminates the top 4-5 guys so we shall see!
AF just outrighted Rocky Gale off the 40-man roster. It’s now down to 38. I believe he’s still at OKC but he’s the third string catcher there, at least for a few more days.
Making lots of room for relievers. Only problem is if we’re going to get a premier reliever we may be trading more guys off the roster than we get back. Of course, they could mostly be younger guys who aren’t even on the 40-man yet.
Or maybe we won’t make any trades.
Or maybe…………………………………….this is driving me CRAZY!
Let’s just bring back Axford and Madsen and get it over with.
Then again it could mean someone from the 40 man is not traded at all. No matter what, they would need to send some one from the roster down if and when they do make a deal. Gale had not been playing much anyway and with the arrival of Ruiz he was going to play even less.
What happened to the Dick Thornburg guy?
Was listening to Casey Stern, and Ryan Spilborghs yesterday, they were both were speaking very highly of May, and Lux. It’s one thing to read about them from Dennis and you guys, but to hear them talked about on national radio, I didn’t realize they were that well known. They both seemed to think May, and Lux had a bright future, and should be untouchable.
Givens seems just like the type of guy AF would trade for, buy low, and hope you strike gold. The problem is, for every Morrow there is a dozen axefords. We need more of a sure thing this season, not a crap shoot.
Just remember Keith that in the world of baseball there are no sure things. There are more sure things and less sure things but no absolute sure things. So sayeth me.
I agree Keith!
How about a surer thing than what we have. Oh great Garcia strikes again. Ok Jeff, how about a surer thing than Yimi Garcia.
A surer thing? Sure. AF and I are working on it. It’s mostly me though. Andrew is on vacation with his family for the next couple of weeks. He does have his cell phone with him but he’s on a distant island and I’m not sure what kind of service he can get there. Just letting you know, in case we can’t get anyone surer than Yimi.
Yimi Garcia Dodger fan club just disbanded. All 3 of them!
Yimi has a fan club? We I ain’t one of em. That homer ends up being the deciding run. 2 Dodgers thrown out at the plate. My question is why Ebel sent Cody in the first place. Seager having a good night at the plate and with the game on the line, there was no reason to send Cody on a ball hit that hard. One of the few times I have seen Ebel make a bad decision over there.
Giants win again and move into 2nd place 14.5 games back. If the Dodgers only play .500 ball the rest of the way they would have 97 wins. Giants would need to be 45-15 to just catch them. Dodgers have 57 games left and the Giants 60. That being said, losing like this is pitiful. Maeda was not good and the BP let the Angels score when the Dodgers closed the gap to one. BP needs to be addressed ASAP.
I don’t think the giants will make the playoffs. Do you? In fact, I don’t think any from the West, other than the Dodgers, will make the playoffs.
No Scoop. I don’t think SF will make the playoffs at all. I don’t think they can keep up the pace they have played at the last couple of weeks. The rest of the NL west is tanking. Everyone is looking for relief pitching it seems. Chapman in the Yankee game walked 3 in the 9th and blew the save, Ottovino walked 3 in the 10th. Robles last night let the Dodgers back in the game, but Cody being thrown out at the plate ended that. The biggest hole right now is the 8 spot in the batting order. Martin and Barnes are not hitting a lick. Maeda even got a hit last night.
I agree with both of you that the Giants won’t make the playoffs. Question is will Farhan swallow hard and sell off his assets or will he bow to fan pressure and possibly ownership pressure and go for it. If he doesn’t trade guys like Madbum and the relievers and they don’t make the playoffs that will have cost him a few years in his rebuild. Logically there is no way that team is good enough for a wildcard spot, but I guess you could say that logically they never should have won three WS in five years, so what do I know (that’s a rhetorical question, no need to answer)
Dodgers go to DC for 3 after this series and a day off on Thursday for travel, then they head to Coors to take on a reeling Rockies team who’s pitching has gone into the toilet. That’s where they will be for the deadline. Then they come home for 4 with the Padres, who are also falling apart, 3 with the Cardinals who are playing a little better of late, and 3 with the D-Backs. 3 at Miami, then 3 with the Braves. Come home to a 6 game home stand against the Blue Jays and Yankees. The end the month and start September with a 7 game road trip to SD and Arizona. Hopefully the bullpen will have been addressed at the deadline and we will see what kind of team we are against the Yanks Cardinals and Braves. They end the year on the road, seems to me like they do this every year, against the Pads and the Gnats.
Trout is pretty good
Maeda wasn’t good. Bullpen gave up 2 earned in 4.2. 3.85 ERA. Nor did they slam the door when Maeda got knocked out. That’s who they are. Your starter doesn’t go 5 you probably shouldn’t win. Angels were better last night. It happens.
Yeah and he crushed that homer. I have seen one other ball hit there. A guy named Howard hit it in the World Series off of Whitey Ford. On a site we used to frequent a lot they are griping that the Dodgers are willing to spend to upgrade the ball park, but not the pitching staff. Sour grapes in my book. I know they will do something, just don’t know what. And the drawings I have seen of what it is going to look like after the redo are pretty awesome.
Awesome. You know what would be awesomer? Public transportation in and out of that place and tv access for EVERYBODY across the world willing to pay for it.
Maybe they’ve added several lanes out of there since I last visited. They sure as hell have added them in Orange County. I counted 8 eastbound lanes on the corner of El Toro and Rockford. I have also, while living in Arizona paid around $90 to see every Dodger game through MLB. That’s about the same as I pay for HBO. Why there is no way for me to view my team is mind boggling to me. Nobody wants my money? That is un-American. Where I live my only choice of provider is Direct. Why the hell they don’t offer the Dodgers is inexcusable. They offer the Angels,and they offer several other teams, The Braves, Brewers, Tigers, Twins, Reds, Astros, Nationals etc. Dodger games have even been blacked out on ESPN.
So, yeah, sure, make the experience at the park that much better for all those able to pay the escalating FCI. It’s at $275 now and I’m just not in on that. So it’s games on my iPad or nothing. That pisses me off. Add it to the list of things that piss me off in Southern California.
I have to agree with you there. The way traffic in LA is just makes the problem worse. All the lanes when you exit are open. But getting back to the freeways is a hassle. Just getting out of the parking lot can take up to 45 minutes when the place is packed. But the freeways that the lanes exit too have not gotten any bigger. They have no room to expand them. The 5 is what it is and the 110 is the same way. Other route out is Sunset Blvd to the freeway and that is usually a parking lot after the games. My sister has Spectrum so when I was out there we got all the games. I use MLB.TV here. Only their games against the Rocks are blocked out. Too close to Denver. Some stupid rule that you need to be like 250 miles away to get them. Since I was in Cali when the season began, I did not order MLB.TV until I got back home and I got it for 40 bucks when they had a sale over the 4th of July. Oh yeah, all that cost is why I do not live there anymore. I really like my quiet little 16,000 population town.
Angels pitcher has an ERA north of 7. He gave up 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings in his last start. Dodgers should murder this guy. Surprise, the only Angel to homer off of Chicken Strip……..Trout, twice. rumor mill in full swing, Cubs sent Russell down. They supposedly are in on every multi position infielder in the majors.
This cable thing is all about direct tv, at one point the dodgers offered to take less money per subscriber than direct is, for the freakin Seattle Mariners. We are stuck in the middle of a war about satellite tv trying to put cable tv out of business.
I was slightly off, direct tv owns the rights to the Mariners games, and they are charging the other cable companies more than what the dodgers were willing to negotiate down to.
Greedy f****. All of them. What do the Dodgers care? They lead the league in attendance and are second only to the Yankees YES Network ($385mm to $334mm) in AAV. All the suits got just what they want.