Trade analysis: Orioles fare well in adding Juaron Watts-Brown for Seranthony Domínguez
We have a trade involving a real prospect! Sound the alarm!
The Orioles picked up right-hander Juaron Watts-Brown from the Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Seranthony Domínguez, who is a free agent after the season, so it's hard not to like the deal for the Orioles — they got a prospect for 20 innings or so of a guy they won't even miss.
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Domínguez has long been a righty-killing reliever with enough of a platoon split that he isn't well-suited to the highest-leverage situations; his career line against right-handed batters is .181/.277/.284, and he's been even better than that this year, .127/.266/.177, in a small sample. He's a fastball/slider guy and has been for a while, now working in a split-fingered fastball to try to keep lefties in check, although it hasn't been that effective.
The bigger concern is that he's walked guys at a higher rate than ever this year, particularly righties, with a 16 percent walk rate against right-handed batters in that same small sample (94 batters faced). The Blue Jays' bullpen has been slightly better than the AL median this year, but they're front-loaded, and Domínguez helps them shore up the back half of the bullpen — including the DFA of Chad Green and his 6.21 FIP today — while also perhaps letting them give Yariel Rodriguez and Jeff Hoffman a little more time off between outings.
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Trade grade: Blue Jays acquire Seranthony Domínguez to bolster beleaguered bullpen
Watts-Brown, 23, was the Blue Jays' third-round pick in 2023 out of Oklahoma State. He is a potential starter, definitely some kind of big leaguer, with a pretty easily delivery and a three-pitch mix. His fastball ranges from 91-96, topping out around 96.5, with a 55 slider (on the 20-80 scouting scale) and a curveball that looks like it could be plus but plays more average to above-average — it's a traditional 12/6 and is nice to look at, but that's not what matters in the end. He has a changeup, but barely uses it and doesn't show much feel for it, preferring his downward-breaking slider in changeup situations to lefties. He's had no platoon split this year overall between High A and Double A.
The problem has been that his four-seamer gets hammered when hitters get to it, as they're slugging .443 off the pitch in Double A and putting it in the air the majority of the time. He has thrown just a couple of cutters this year, fewer than 10, and I don't see any evidence he's thrown a two-seamer, either of which might help him get hitters off the four-seamer — or, in the case of a two-seamer, maybe replace it as his primary fastball. Because of the hard contact on the four-seamer, Watts-Brown tends to try to work outside of the strike zone too much with it, leading to an 11.8 percent walk rate in Double A.
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There's just a lot of upside here for the right development group. This Orioles regime hasn't had success with a pitching prospect like Watts-Brown so far, however, making this an interesting choice of a prospect for them to acquire.
(Photo of Watts-Brown at Oklahoma State: Nathan J. Fish / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network)
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New York Times
30 minutes ago
- New York Times
By the numbers: How the Guardians have surged back into the AL playoff chase
CLEVELAND — Every American League team has at least 50 losses. The Guardians have 56 of them. Yeah, they're that close to the best record in the AL. It's been a wild summer. The race is wide open and, somehow, they're firmly involved. How'd it happen? Well, if you were among those who shifted your attention to the Shedeur Sanders experience once the Guardians plummeted to 40-48 five weeks ago, here's a summary of what you've missed: Yes, the same offense that was blanked five times during a 10-game skid is now scoring runs in bunches. The two teams the Guardians trail in that span — the Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers — have been on a summer-long tear. Advertisement Consider the slash lines of each of the three teams over the last five weeks: Toronto: .304/.369/.502 Milwaukee: .286/.354/.449 Cleveland: .244/.322/.423 One of those might look like it doesn't belong, sure, but it illustrates that the Guardians have delivered timely hitting, something they were allergic to for the first few months. They rank fifth in walk rate and eighth in strikeout rate over that stretch, two healthy traits for any offense. They're tied for 10th in home runs and tied for sixth in stolen bases. This has been a well-rounded attack of late. Kyle Manzardo has pushed his OPS to .808 (and it stands at .994 over his last 30 games). He's up to 20 home runs, and assuming he belts at least five more before the end of the year, he'll join Asdrúbal Cabrera, Francisco Lindor, José Ramírez, Franmil Reyes, Carlos Santana and Grady Sizemore as the only Cleveland hitters aged 25 or younger with a 25-homer season since the turn of the century. Manzardo's surge has supplied cover for Cleveland's All-Stars. Ramírez went 2-for-25 on the club's road trip, yet the Guardians went 5-1. Steven Kwan has also suffered through a prolonged funk. Finally, however, the Guardians' lineup has some depth. Brayan Rocchio has re-emerged from Triple-A Columbus as a more confident hitter. Daniel Schneemann has settled into the No. 2 spot in the lineup against righties. David Fry and Angel Martínez have feasted on lefties. It's far from a perfect group, but it's performing light years better than it was in the first three months. This seems like a good opportunity to tip the hat to some unheralded members of the pitching staff. Logan Allen: a 3.76 ERA and at least five innings pitched in all 11 starts since a brief bullpen stint in late May Jakob Junis: a 1.31 ERA over his last 19 appearances Matt Festa: two earned runs on four hits over 11 1/3 innings in the last month Advertisement How about the fact that 'where would this team be without Kolby Allard?' is an actual, logical question? The journeyman soft-tosser has posted a 2.63 ERA across 48 innings in a role best described as mop-up/spot start/occasional high-leverage/'You need me? OK, no problem, let me just finish this granola bar and jog out there.' It helps that Cleveland's starters are pitching deeper into games. Before Sunday (and a potentially stat-skewing, three-inning effort from Slade Cecconi), the Guardians ranked second in the majors in innings per start over the last five weeks, behind only the Philadelphia Phillies. That makes life easier on the bullpen. Speaking of … Nic Enright has allowed an earned run in only two of 20 appearances. Erik Sabrowski has allowed two earned runs in 15 outings. For a bullpen desperate for late-inning help to replace Tim Herrin (command trouble) and Emmanuel Clase (career trouble), Enright and Sabrowski have delivered an essential piece to this turnaround puzzle. Sabrowski got a taste of high leverage last season when he joined the team late in the summer. He was perfectly capable then, though he admitted he wasn't sure he even belonged, and he's certainly pitching with confidence now. He owns a 0.64 ERA in 28 1/3 big-league innings. As for Enright, it's not the flashiest stuff (93.3 mph average fastball), but his slider induces a ton of whiffs and he attacks the strike zone. Their background stories reveal a pair of relievers determined not to waste the opportunity. Enright will undergo another cancer treatment after the season; he scheduled it for November to ensure there's time for a deep postseason run. Sabrowski missed nearly four years of pitching because of a pair of elbow surgeries sandwiched around the pandemic. The Guardians scooped him up in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft and now he's Stephen Vogt's go-to lefty. Williams last week nearly tossed Cleveland's first no-hitter in 44 years, a cruelly ironic drought for an organization that has boasted a vaunted pitching factory. In fact, Len Barker, the author of that perfect script on May 15, 1981, was watching Williams' bid for history from Progressive Field, where Barker was working an event as an alumni ambassador. Advertisement The wait for another no-hit masterpiece continues. The wait for another Cleveland ace? That might not take as long. Williams, a first-round pick and consensus top 50 prospect who always oozed frontline starter potential, has looked the part lately. In those six starts, Williams has limited the opposition to seven runs on 19 hits in 38 2/3 innings. Let's rewind even further, though. 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Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
'My phone number is wide-open': Could Kyle Busch make his Indy 500 debut?
NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch has twice come close to an Indy 500 debut opportunity, and he says he'd still be interested. Busch was close to finalizing a deal with Arrow McLaren in the fall of 2022 for a ride that ultimately went to Kyle Larson. Busch: 'I'm not going to be making calls and pushing for it. If somebody calls me and says that they're ready to go ... we'll go do it.' Twice, Kyle Busch has had a major consumer-facing sponsor lined up to foot the bill for an Indianapolis 500 debut, and twice last-minute semantics have derailed his plans yards from the figurative finish line. Is he willing to pursue what remains his last remaining bucket list-type race before he hands up his helmet for the final time? 'Sure, I would do it. I would give it a go, give it whirl,' the 21-year NASCAR Cup series veteran told IndyStar last month. 'I know Kyle (Larson) ran into some terrible luck with some weather, so Mother Nature wasn't on his side, but maybe they'll be on my side. 'But my phone number is wide-open, so (teams): Call me.' Busch is among the favorites, of fans on social media since IndyStar reported that McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown is targeting a 'mega,' 'unreal' candidate to pilot Arrow McLaren's fourth one-off 500 entry next year – a driver Brown and team principal Tony Kanaan hope to get in a car for a rookie oval test in the coming weeks or months before deciding whether there's a fit for both sides. 'Conversations with that are ongoing, and it would be mega,' Brown told IndyStar in Toronto. 'I think we're going to do a test first, and when we do that test, it's going to be a bit of a giveaway on who it is, because I don't think we'll be able to do a top-secret test.' 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I'm sponsoring Kyle, and he's going to drive the car, but I don't want to buy the car,'' Busch said of the conversation. 'It wasn't two weeks later that I'm talking to this sponsor guy, and he says, 'Yeah, I guess we're too late anyways, now that the opportunity is closed because Larson got it.' 'And it was then I found out Larson signed a two-year deal, and we were only going to do a one-year deal.' It had been mid-September of that year when Busch announced his shift from JGR to RCR, and by the first week of October, Brown told reporters that someone within Arrow McLaren had been in touch with Busch about the opportunity. Three months later, Arrow McLaren announced that Larson, Hendrick Motorsports and Arrow McLaren had put together an elongated program that would see the 2021 Cup series champ slowly get up to speed over the ensuing 17 months ahead of a May 2024 Indy 500 debut. 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New York Times
10 hours ago
- New York Times
Dodger Details: A series of missed opportunities foil what could've been a statement weekend
LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani grabbed his helmet as he retreated to the dugout and reared back with it before hesitating. He reared back again but did not let go. It's rare to see Ohtani even feign anger at the plate, but the ninth-inning bases-loaded strikeout provided kindling for a rare outburst. The frustration had nearly boiled over even for the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar as another massive missed opportunity Sunday came and went. Advertisement An opportunity for the whole weekend came and went, too. The Dodgers were five outs away from a sweep over the American League-leading Toronto Blue Jays, and 90 feet on multiple occasions from rectifying a day of self-inflicted wounds. But rather than wash a month and a half of little momentum, they remained stuck in a maddening cycle with a 5-4 loss. They took the series, but have not won more than two games in a row since July 3. They ended the weekend with just a two-game lead in the National League West over the San Diego Padres, the same lead they entered it with. It could've been more, and setting up the kind of run that has seemed to be building for the Dodgers for weeks. But much like they built up innings on Sunday, the payoff didn't follow. The Dodgers stranded a season-high 16 runners. Thrice, they loaded the bases – they got a grand total of two runs in those spots, both on bases-loaded walks. They recorded 10 hits and drew 13 walks, taking five of them against the Blue Jays' erratic closer, Jeff Hoffman, over the final two innings. The last time a Dodgers team accomplished both of those in a nine-inning game and lost? A 9-8 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on May 11, 1982. They've never accomplished both 10 hits and 10 walks in a nine-inning game and scored as few runs as the four they scored on Sunday. 'This was frustrating,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. 'I just felt there's no way we should lose this game today.' The Dodgers had forced Blue Jays starter Eric Lauer to throw 56 pitches in the game's first two innings, but managed just a run on a Freddie Freeman walk before Teoscar Hernández struck out to end the inning. Even after the Dodgers' one-run lead evaporated in the eighth, they continued to churn out baserunners to lure Hoffman for what would've been a four-out save. Freeman again drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, but the scoring stopped there. Michael Conforto pinch-hit and got the 3-1 fastball he wanted – right down the middle from Hoffman. He popped it up into foul territory for an out. '(On) 3-1, you get a pitch that – you couldn't put it on a tee better,' Roberts said. 'We've got to move it forward.' HIS NAME IS MASON FLUHARTY 😤 He strikes out Shohei Ohtani and gets Mookie Betts to ground out to close out the Dodgers 💪 — Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 10, 2025 Hoffman's strike-throwing remained an issue into the ninth, as he walked the bases loaded with one out with a one-run lead for Ohtani and finally drew a pitching change. Soft-tossing left-hander Mason Fluharty needed nine pitches before he finally drew the reigning MVP out of the strike zone, as Ohtani waved over a breaking ball to spoil the chance. Advertisement 'We've got to come up with one right there,' Roberts said. 'Chasing a ball down below is something that we can't have happen.' Mookie Betts' soft dribbler to end it capped off a day where the Dodgers went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position – and missed a chance to build on something. 'When you're creating those opportunities, you're doing something good as an offense,' Max Muncy said. 'You just have to finish the job.' Less has been asked of the Dodgers' bullpen of late, but it's still hard to envision who the team will ultimately trust in the biggest spots even when they get whole. Blake Treinen was quick to provide another reminder of that on Sunday afternoon. He has not looked right whatsoever since returning from a flexor issue that had kept him out since April. Twice, he's loaded the bases and been forced to exit a save situation. Of the first 18 batters he'd faced since his return, 10 had reached safely. Much of his struggles came from a lack of strike-throwing. Then came Sunday, when he got punished in the strike zone. He entered a one-run game in the eighth and hung an 0-2 sweeper down the heart of the plate that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. pulverized into the pavilions to tie the game. Two pitches later, he spun another sweeper that drifted right down the middle. Addison Barger launched it into the stands to give Toronto its first lead since the fifth inning on Friday night. 'I thought my stuff today was great,' Treinen said. 'It's a location thing. I mean, literally as center-cut as you can throw them is where they hit 'em.' An inning later, Ernie Clement ambushed a first-pitch Alex Vesia slider to retake a lead. It marked the 65th home run the Dodgers' bullpen has allowed this season – third-most in the major leagues. Ernie Clement sends the first pitch he sees over the fence 💪 And the @BlueJays lead again! — MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2025 'I thought we did great (as a team) today,' Vesia said. 'Honestly, the offense was really good. It's the bullpen that – we need to get our stuff figured out.' This group is getting healthier. Michael Kopech (on Monday) and Kirby Yates (on Wednesday) are about to start facing hitters, with Tanner Scott not far behind them. Kyle Hurt has been facing hitters down in Arizona in his return from Tommy John surgery. Brusdar Graterol still looms in the background. But the existing options have continued to be unsteady. Roberts left the door open for Treinen to be used in lower-leverage spots, but it's hard to envision the bullpen being where it needs to be without him pitching well. Even Vesia, the club's most reliable arm this season, has now allowed runs in consecutive outings. For at least a precious 10 days in August, the Dodgers have constructed the version of this starting rotation that they dreamt of. That feeling might be fleeting, but it's created a foundation to believe in. It was Tyler Glasnow's turn on Sunday, turning in the latest strong start in what would be a TK win. He followed a standout performance from Blake Snell, who had watched Clayton Kershaw continue to turn back the clock while slowing down the radar gun the night before. Through nine games so far this month (49 1/3 innings), this starting staff has yielded a 1.46 ERA. Advertisement This was the goal. The Dodgers have sold themselves on a vision; they have constructed a better roster than the one that led them to a World Series a year ago. The genesis of that confidence starts with starting pitching. They limped into last October with a patchwork starting staff, with their three main postseason starters leaving margin for doubts. Jack Flaherty's velocity had waned over the season's final month. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was still working his way back from a strained rotator cuff that had cost him a significant chunk of his first season in Major League Baseball. Walker Buehler, off his second Tommy John surgery, had a 5.38 ERA. Last year's rotation limped to the finish. The start of this season saw the group turn into a liability, forcing the bullpen into the largest workload in the sport while being wiped out due to injuries. Even after Sunday, their 3.99 season ERA ranked 15th and 545 2/3 innings ranked dead last. Now, they're finding what they'd hoped for. This time around, Glasnow is healthy and seemingly freed from the mental hurdles that have sunk so many starts that marred the early part of his season. He did not appear to be in his best form on Sunday. His fastball velocity sat closer to 96 mph rather than the elevated velocity he has shown in his five starts since returning off the injured list. His command was erratic as he issued four walks and had several more misfires. Still, he did not unravel. He got through 5 2/3 innings while allowing just two runs, clicking back closer to his usual velocity and command as the start progressed. 'It's not in the back of mind, something feeling weird or feeling off,' Glasnow said. 'Just able to go out and compete a bit more. Just my mental headspace is in a better place competition-wise, focusing on how to get the hitter out.' Glasnow's emergence only adds to a group that has finally clicked into place. Snell, the prized free-agent signing, has looked like his two-time Cy Young-winning self. Yamamoto has gone wire to wire so far and could earn votes of his own. Shohei Ohtani's return from a second major elbow procedure has gone as well as anyone could have ever hoped; he might be pitching the best of this group right now. Kershaw has a 3.14 ERA and continued to show his craft. Even Emmet Sheehan has looked as good as anyone could expect off his Tommy John surgery. A year after struggling to get three healthy starters to October, they have at least six going well. Again, fleeting. There is still a lot to survive and answer by the time October comes around. But the Dodgers finally appear to have what they expected to be a strength. (Top photo of Shohei Ohtani: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
