{"id":38550,"date":"2025-08-01T04:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T04:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/38550\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T04:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T04:27:10","slug":"coby-mayo-brooks-lee-and-others-with-better-playing-time-opportunities-after-mlb-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/38550\/","title":{"rendered":"Coby Mayo, Brooks Lee and others with better playing time opportunities after MLB trade deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the dust settles on a frantic trade deadline<\/a>, much of the attention is on the buyers. Who added the most talent? Who\u2019s got the best bullpen now? Who won the trade deadline<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the real winners of the trade deadline appear in the shadow left behind. With win-now talent out the door, sellers suddenly can offer the lion\u2019s share of playing time to young players to see what they\u2019ve got. There\u2019s opportunity here, and that\u2019s half the battle for players trying to establish their bona fides as major leaguers.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s look at the rosters on the trade deadline sellers and see which young players have a new lease on life. Some of them may get so good they\u2019ll be traded for in future deadlines.<\/p>\n

Coby Mayo, 3B\/1B, Orioles<\/p>\n

So far, Mayo has been hovering around league average with the bat, but that\u2019s laudable for a couple of reasons. One reason is that he\u2019s been playing sporadically. The last week or so he\u2019s been in the lineup pretty regularly, but for the season he\u2019s been up and down between Triple A and the big leagues and in and out of the lineup. The flurry of trades in Baltimore should allow him to play for the Orioles every day, full stop, and maybe even at third base to figure out if he can be the future there.<\/p>\n

The other reason his league-average production has been good so far is that it\u2019s come with a better strikeout rate than you might have expected given his minor-league numbers, and not quite the top-end exit velocities he\u2019s put up in the past. Let him get settled, and the (already decent) Barrel rate will go up, and the power should show. He can hit around .240 to .250 with 30 home run-type power without changing much of what he\u2019s doing under the hood.<\/p>\n

Randy Rodr\u00edguez, RP, Giants<\/p>\n

Among pitchers with 40 innings, Rodr\u00edguez has the eighth-best stuff. He has the second-best strikeout-minus-walk rate, right behind Josh Hader. He throws a 97-mph fastball and an 86-mph slider, and they both have good shapes. He has good enough command, and he\u2019s been used in save situations. He\u2019s probably who the Giants hoped Camilo Doval would be \u2014 he\u2019s probably better than Doval right now and will likely have a chance to take his place in the ninth inning for the Giants now that Doval is a Yankee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Giants won\u2019t miss a beat at closer with Rodr\u00edguez behind the wheel \u2014 but they may get him fewer chances, given they traded other pieces that would have helped the team win. But Rodr\u00edguez is immediately a top-10 closer on talent alone.<\/p>\n

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A natural shortstop, Brooks Lee should return to his defensive home now that Carlos Correa is back in Houston. (Kim Klement Neitzel \/ Imagn Images)Brooks Lee, SS, Twins<\/p>\n

Offensively, the upside for Brooks Lee is not as easy to see as it is for Mayo. Lee doesn\u2019t have the same bat speed, top-end exit velocities or Barrel rates as Mayo, so we aren\u2019t waiting for a ton more power. And the defensive metrics don\u2019t say that Lee will be a top-end defender at shortstop, either. But he\u2019s split time at second and third, the samples are still pretty small to believe those metrics at face value, and now he has the chance to make his case as the starting shortstop for his team with Carlos Correa now in Houston<\/a>. He can make good contact, and spray the ball around with just below-average power, so he might be able to push that batting average into the .275 range, with the type of power and speed that would give him 12-15 homers and five-plus steals over a full season.<\/p>\n

Jack Perkins, SP, Athletics<\/p>\n

If Jack Perkins were a qualified starter, he would slot in between Framber Valdez and Dylan Cease in terms of Stuff+. He\u2019s got a uniquely shaped fastball with good velocity, a great sweeper, a plus changeup and a decent cutter, all from a low slot. The stuff is good. The command might not be. Among 540 pitchers with at least 10 innings, his location numbers are 28th-worst. It\u2019s almost all relievers around him. Which\u2026 OK, maybe he\u2019s the A\u2019s new closer \u2014 that job is open, too. With Mason Miller and J.P. Sears now in San Diego<\/a>, there are a couple avenues in front of Perkins, who was a starter in the minors but has already racked up three saves in a long relief role in the majors. His stuff makes him viable in different ways. It\u2019s a shame about his home park, though.<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s are reportedly<\/a> calling up another young pitcher with high-end talent who has history as both a starter and a reliever: right-hander Luis Morales. Like Perkins, Morales will have opportunities that wouldn\u2019t have been there had the A\u2019s not traded away Miller and Sears.<\/p>\n

Mick Abel, SP, Twins<\/p>\n

At some point, the Twins\u2019 rotation will get healthier. David Festa, Pablo L\u00f3pez and Bailey Ober will pitch again for them this year, probably. And when that happens, there will be a game of musical chairs, and Abel will likely end up in the minor leagues again. For now, there\u2019s a need in the Twins\u2019 rotation, and Abel\u2019s stuff is electric. A 96-mph four-seamer with plus ride given his lower arm slot, plus a high-80s gyro slider, and a low 80s bigger curveball is a great foundation. The Phillies also made sure to give him two fastballs, and hey, even his changeup rates well.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s gotten poor prospect grades for his command in the past, but his location numbers weren\u2019t a problem this year. He\u2019s absolutely going to be interesting if he gets some starts for the Twins over the next few weeks, especially since the Twins are an underrated team for pitching development.<\/p>\n

Dylan Beavers, OF, Orioles<\/p>\n

Everyone wants to know when Samuel Basallo, Keith Law\u2019s No. 8 MLB prospect<\/a>, will get his chance in the big leagues, but Adley Rutschman is still in town. It\u2019s not impossible that they bring Basallo up just to get him major-league at-bats, but the Orioles lineup\u2019s biggest need after sending out Cedric Mullins and Ryan O\u2019Hearn<\/a> is probably at least somewhat outfield-heavy. Beavers hasn\u2019t played as much center as corner outfield this year in the minors, but he can back up Colton Cowser in a pinch. Fantasy leaguers will like that Beavers makes contact, hits for power and also steals bases. Law has questioned Beavers\u2019 hit tool<\/a>, but this has been Beavers\u2019 best year in terms of batting average and strikeout rate, so maybe he\u2019s improved there. Looks like a guy who could hit .250 with 20 homers and 30 steals.<\/p>\n

Tyler Locklear, 1B, Diamondbacks<\/p>\n

The margins for a 24-year-old first-base-only right-handed hitter are razor thin. The few righties at the position who have made it through to free agency have had to be great hitters, not just good ones. And Locklear might just be a good hitter. His contact rates are OK but not great, his strikeout rate is good right now but has been worse in the past, his upper-end exit velocities are decent but his in-game power has fluctuated. If he puts it all together for his new team<\/a>, he could be a .240-hitting first baseman with 20+ homers and 10+ steals, an interesting package at the position. He\u2019s no lock to put up that production, but at least he\u2019s got some runway the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Alan Roden, OF, Twins<\/p>\n

As a 25-year-old outfielder with modest bat speed and poor batted ball numbers so far in the big leagues, Roden was expendable to the Blue Jays, perhaps. But given his plus sprint speed, plus arm strength, and great plate discipline and contact rates in the majors and minors, he was interesting enough to the Twins, who did more selling than was perhaps anticipated.<\/p>\n

They sold so much that James Outman, who came over from the Dodgers for Brock Stewart, may also get a shot in the outfield, and Kody Clemens may get some time at first base. Outman has the best bat speed and power upside, Clemens the second best. But Roden is the most polished at the plate, so the bet is he gets the most playing time, and can hit as well as .260 with a good on-base percentage and approach league-average power.<\/p>\n

Of course at some point, Emmanuel Rodriguez will be healthy and complicate matters.<\/p>\n

Yennier Cano, RP, Orioles<\/p>\n

F\u00e9lix Bautista\u2019s shoulder is so inflamed they have to wait a while to image it again. Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez and Andrew Kittredge are gone in trades. Corbin Martin got the Orioles\u2019 last save, but Cano has gotten opportunities before, has better stuff and has been around for a while in Baltimore. He\u2019ll at least get chances, if not get anointed the closer, the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Riley O\u2019Brien, RP, Cardinals<\/p>\n

JoJo Romero is still in town and has had better results than O\u2019Brien this year, so maybe Romero is just the Cardinals\u2019 closer the rest of the way. But fastball velocity is strongly correlated with saves, and managers tend to prefer righty closers, so O\u2019Brien could easily slip in with his 98-mph fastball and take this job. At the least, it\u2019s probably a co-closer situation in St. Louis from here on out.<\/p>\n

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Blade Tidwell could join the Giants\u2019 staff in the near term. (Rich Storry \/ Getty Images)Blade Tidwell, SP, Giants<\/p>\n

The Giants took a short-term package from the Mets for Tyler Rogers<\/a>, and they may end up putting all three pieces on the field this season. Drew Gilbert has to be put on the 40-man roster this offseason, so they might as well do it now and see if he can help in the outfield. Jos\u00e9 Butt\u00f3 is going right into the Giants\u2019 bullpen. And Tidwell may be a better option as a back-end starter right now than Carson Whisenhunt. While Whisenhunt has a great changeup, he\u2019s largely a two-pitch lefty with a sinker as a fastball, meaning he\u2019s still searching for an arsenal that works against both hands. He also doesn\u2019t throw really hard. Tidwell sits at 96 on his fastball, has a four-pitch mix and needs to prove his command is good enough to start. They might just throw him in the mix right away.<\/p>\n

Heriberto Hernandez, OF, Marlins<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already been playing for the Marlins, but Hernandez may now get everyday playing time with Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez in Houston<\/a>. Hernandez has plus bat speed and makes good swing decisions, but also swings and misses quite a bit. Don\u2019t believe his current batting average, but could he still put up a .320-ish OBP with 25-30 homer power and a handful of steals? Yes, yes, he could.<\/p>\n

Carter Jensen, C, Royals<\/p>\n

He\u2019s only 22 and just got to Triple A, but Jensen has acquitted himself with the bat at every level while improving his defense. Law\u2019s fourth-ranked catcher is now a \u201csolid-average defender,\u201d in Law\u2019s words. He may not hit for a great average but he features power and patience and it might be his turn now that Freddy Fermin has left town<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dennis Santana, RP, Pirates<\/p>\n

Santana is a professional, and he can probably close games for the Pirates for a bit now that David Bednar is a Yankee<\/a>. But with Braxton Ashcraft\u2019s injury history in his rear-view mirror, and the stuff the younger righty has been showing, there may be a future for Ashcraft as a long-term closer. And the Pirates need to think long-term, too. But for now, Santana is likely to get the save calls.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Mayo: Greg Fiume \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the dust settles on a frantic trade deadline, much of the attention is on the buyers. Who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[485,3966,49,48,11142,3981,3965,462,6682,509,512,82,3982],"class_list":["post-38550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-miami-marlins","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}