The Wednesday Minor Moves Roundup

Not every deadline trade is a dramatic one, but that’s OK — teams need to make low-key moves, too. Do you think James Bond saved the world every day? No! Some days, he had to do paperwork. Some days, he had to go to the dentist, or take the car to the gas station to vacuum up the leftover Cool Ranch Doritos crumbs on the floor after they spilled out on his drive from Baltim… I mean Bristol. So let’s catch up on some of Wednesday’s smaller moves.

The Seattle Mariners acquired left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates for right-handed starter Jeter Martinez

The Mariners have been operating with a shortage of southpaws this season, with Gabe Speier mostly being the only lefty on the active roster. Speier’s been good, holding lefties to a .609 OPS this season, but he can’t pitch in every playoff game, and Andrés Muñoz, who handles lefties quite well, generally doesn’t make his entrance before the ninth inning, so a depth-targeted upgrade to give the team another option down the stretch and during October makes a lot of sense. Caleb Ferguson has shed some strikeouts this year as he’s more heavily integrated his sinker into his repertoire, but he’s compensated for that loss by shedding a walk per nine from last season and becoming one of the hardest pitchers in baseball to make good contact against. Of all the pitchers with at least 30 innings this season, only Adrian Morejon has allowed a lower hard-hit percentage. Ferguson gives the Mariners a second lefty in the ‘pen they can count on, something they couldn’t really say about Joe Jacques or Tayler Saucedo.

Ferguson is a free agent this offseason, so naturally the Pirates didn’t acquire any elite prospects in return. Jeter Martinez is built like a prototypical starter and throws in the high 90s, but as noted by fellow FanGrapheteer Eric Longenhagen, he’s raw and doesn’t throw strikes. Most pitchers of this type don’t work out in the end — if they did, they’d fetch more than Ferguson — but lottery tickets do pay off on occasion, and it’s not hard to envision Martinez becoming really interesting if something clicks with his command. He’s already got a first name that will give him some fans.

The New York Yankees acquired outfielder Austin Slater from the Chicago White Sox for right-handed starter Gage Ziehl

With Aaron Judge out with a flexor strain, and initially set to be limited to designated hitter after his return, it made sense for the Yankees to beef up their outfield depth at the deadline. While calling up the blazing hot Spencer Jones would seem to be the more exciting, ambitious option on its face, Jones has missed several games with back spasms, and playing a reserve role doesn’t allow him to keep ironing out his still-present contact issues. Austin Slater is a pure role player, a guy who can beat up on a southpaw while being boringly competent at all three outfield positions. His .236/.299/.423, 99 wRC+ line with the White Sox this year is about what the Yankees ought to expect from him.

Gage Ziehl is a 2024 draftee with decent control and a solid slider, but a rather run-of-the-mill fastball. He hasn’t really missed bats at the rate that you’d hope a 22-year-old in A-ball would manage, and while it’s not implausible that he’ll be good Triple-A depth who can take an emergency start or two, it’s harder to see any dazzling upside. The White Sox aren’t doing a lot well these days, but the front office and pitching coach Ethan Katz have done a shockingly good job at piecing together a relatively adequate starting rotation out of spare parts this year, and if there’s something more in Ziehl, they might actually find it. Ziehl probably has a better chance of contributing to an actually good White Sox team than a 32-year-old fourth outfielder does.

The Detroit Tigers acquired right-handed reliever Rafael Montero from the Atlanta Braves for infielder Jim Jarvis

A former starting pitcher prospect with the Mets, Rafael Montero had a nice little run from 2019 to 2022 and earned himself a World Series ring in the process. Then his bête noire, walks, came back to haunt him, and he started seeing less and less success using his four-seamer as his strikeout pitch. He reshuffled his offerings this year, going almost entirely fastball/splitter, with decidedly mixed results. He’s probably better than his bloated 5.40 ERA, but probably worse than his 3.87 FIP, which is helped by him allowing only three home runs. Montero is still at least mildly interesting, but I’m not sure I’d want him in high-leverage innings. He’s good depth, but hopefully the Tigers have more in store to shore up their bullpen than Montero, the recently signed Luke Jackson, and Paul Sewald.

Atlanta’s farm system is generally light on infielders, but even without a lot of competition, Jim Jarvis is likely organizational depth for the upper minors. While he can credibly play anywhere on the infield, he has a .652 OPS at Double-A at age 24, and though he has good plate discipline, he lacks the power to really leverage that skill meaningfully. The Braves probably weren’t going to get a better prospect for Montero.

The Atlanta Braves acquired right-handed reliever Tyler Kinley from the Colorado Rockies for right-handed reliever Austin Smith

Sneaking into this group of trades meant to bolster teams for this season is one that has almost nothing to do with 2025. The Braves are far beyond the point where they’re putting stock in a miracle comeback, so here they’re looking at a reliever who may be part of their 2026 bullpen. Tyler Kinley’s results have been disappointing since his elbow surgery a few years ago, but there are still things to like in his profile: He gets a lot of swings and misses (71% compared to a league average of 77%), and when hitters do make contact, it typically isn’t hard (31% hard-hit rate). He’ll eat up some relief innings for a few months while the Braves evaluate him and decide whether they see enough to pick up his $5 million option or else pay a $500,000 buyout.

Given the Rockies’ dire straits, they have little need of a veteran reliever potentially heading to free agency, so the goal here is just to get someone who could at least possibly have some kind of impact on the roster in the future. Austin Smith is your basic fastball/slider guy without eye-popping velocity, and he’s already on the old side; he was 22 when he was drafted and has missed most of his professional career so far as a result of Tommy John surgery. He could stand to shed a walk per nine, and still has yet to debut in Triple-A, so he’s no slam dunk to make Colorado’s bullpen in the next few years, but he’s at least an option.