TRADE: Devils Acquire Eovaldi

The Mt. Diablo Devils and Mission Viejo Maulers struck a last minute deal Monday morning as GM Jason Watson announced the acquisition of right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (3/$1). The move will include six picks changing hands with the Devils landing the 15th, 37th, 87th and 102nd picks in exchange for the 6th and 21st picks overall.

After making 32 starts the previous season, Nathan Eovaldi was limited to 20 outings as he lost time early with back inflammation and then down the stretch with shoulder tightness. His four-seam and cutter velocity dropped, perhaps explaining a 22.4% strikeout rate, the lowest level since 2017. Eovaldi's biggest issue was a return of gopheritis as he yielded 21 homers in only 109.1 innings. His cutter and slider were particularly ineffective as they accounted for 41% of his homers allowed despite being thrown a combined 22% of the time. In contrast, Eovaldi upped his split finger usage to 21% and he surrendered only one homer with the pitch. Other than 2021, Eovaldi has missed at least a quarter of each season, so durability is an issue but that generally comes with a $1 arm. His miniscule walk rate keeps his WHIP in a fantasy friendly range but his dalliance with the long ball puts his ERA at risk. Eovaldi joined the Rangers on a two-year, $34 million contract, so he'll see a lot of the AL West and Globe Life Field, which ranks mostly as a neutral park for both hitters and pitchers.

Eovaldi was held back due to an oblique issue but made his return Friday against the Brewers, allowing four hits and striking out five over 3 1/3 scoreless innings. This was Eovaldi's second Cactus League start but first since he sustaining the injury at the beginning of the month. The right-hander's fastball, which averaged 95.8 mph last season, sat in the upper 90s, touching 99 mph multiple times, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. "I felt like I was ahead in the counts, felt like I used all my pitches," the pitcher said. "The only thing I need to work on doing better at is executing with two strikes." As suggested earlier by manager Bruce Bochy, both Eovaldi and fellow Rangers starter Jacob deGrom could be on restricted counts early.

2023 Market Overview: Starting Pitching

We are squeezing in the final positional overview, wrapping 2023 pre-Draft coverage with Starting Pitchers. Three of the top four projected arms for this season are Free Agents, led by Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes which should lead to a flurry of high priced bids at this time next week.

While the countdown is on for Monday's 9pm PST deadline for Keepers, Lunatic Fringe GM Tony Guglielmi remains the main storyline with a deep crop of rotation options that could lead to some last minute deals.

​Top RDBL Free Agents	Top Trade Candidates
1. *Gerrit Cole, Yankees 2. Corbin Burnes, Brewers 3. Jacob deGrom, Rangers 4. Max Scherzer, Mets 5. Yu Darvish, Padres	1. Lucas Giolito (3R/$5), Fringe 2. Lance McCullers (2/$1), Fringe 3. Chris Bassitt (2/$27), Goutfish 4. Taijuan Walker (2D/$5), Fringe 5. Michael Wacha (2FA/$5), Fringe
Top Available Prospects	Top RDBL Prospects
1. Roki Sasaki, Japan 2. Tanner Bibee, Guardians 3. Owen White, Rangers 4. Chase Dollander, U. Tennessee 5. Cade Horton, Cubs	1. Triston McKenzie, Fringe 2. Nick Lodolo, Devils 3. Kyle Wright, Jokers 4. Grayson Rodriguez, Fringe 5. Reid Detmers, Fringe
2022 Rankings	​2023 Projections
1. Sandy Alcantara (Fringe), 733.0 2. Justin Verlander (Fish), 647.0 3. Alek Manoah (Ducks), 630.0 4. Corbin Burnes (FA), 596.0 5. Zac Gallen (Hops), 595.0	​1. Sandy Alcantara (Fringe), 630.0 2. Jacob deGrom (FA), 530.0 3. Max Scherzer (FA), 529.0 4. *Gerrit Cole (Fish), 522.0 5. Shohei Ohtani (Hops), 517.0

Team Needs:

The Spokane Fightin' Fish, Mission Viejo Maulers and Honolulu Hammerheads project to have four openings each in the rotation, making them Front Offices to watch at the top of the market.

Top Free Agent

Take your pick between Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom and Corbin Burnes, but for this exercise we will give the nod to Cole who is expected to be released from him 3/$73 contract with the Spokane Fightin' Fish today, the highest pitching contract in RDBL History (excluding Shohei Ohtani). Since escaping Pittsburgh, Cole has posted five straight seasons of ace-caliber production. The most impressive part of this run is that he has spent exactly zero days on the IL during all of it. He has been an iron man. In 2022, he posted his worst ERA outside of a Pirate uniform, a pretty pedestrian number of 3.50. The good news is that it came with another sparkling WHIP (1.02) and K%-BB% (27.9%). All of the underlying numbers point to Cole having been his normal dominant self, and there is no reason to think he will slow up in 2023. While he might not reach $73 in Auction, don't expect the number to be far below.

Under the Radar Free Agent

Zach Eflin signed a three-year deal worth $40 million with the Tampa Bay Rays in December, the largest free-agent contract given out by Tampa in franchise history which surprised many but came with optimism given the Rays track record. Eflin missed most of the 2022 season with a knee injury, but he was able to return in time for Philadelphia's postseason run out of the bullpen. With the Rays, though, Eflin will slot back into the rotation and join a robust set of arms in Shane McClanahan and Tyler Glasnow. Now entering his age-29 season, the right-hander hopes to build off of a year where he tossed just 75 2/3 innings in the regular season, pitching to a 4.04 ERA and 3.56 FIP. CBS Sports is a big fan with a 429.0 point projection, slotting between Joe Musgrove and Carlos Rodon.

Top Trade Candidate

It's been radio silence from the Lunatic Fringe Front Office who continues to shuffle through their options in a crowded starting rotation. Lucas Giolito (3R/$5) remains a name to watch with at least three clubs reportedly reaching out over the weekend. The right-hander fall flat on his face in 2022, posting a 4.90 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 177/61 K/BB ratio across 161 2/3 frames. His strikeout rate was still solid at 25.4%, but down from the 30.7% rate he had over the previous three years. Giolito’s velocity was also down a tick across the board and so were his spin rates, particularly on his fastball. He showed up to White Sox camp 25 pounds lighter and with a revamped delivery, seemingly intent on bouncing back in 2023 in what will be a walk year and has looked the part thus far in Spring Training.

Top Prospect Available

RDBL Front Offices will have an up close and personal look at Roki Sasaki on Monday as he takes the ball for Japan in the WBC Semifinals against Mexico. Sasaki, 21, has posted a 1.95 ERA in 212⅔ career innings for Nippon Professional Baseball, striking out 260 batters and walking 42 while overwhelming hitters with a 100-plus-mph fastball and a devastating splitter. While he's clearly the best talent, his future in the MLB is hardly easy to predict with the potential of him not reaching the States until 2027.

Top RDBL Prospect

The RDBL is set to see a wave of activations at the plate and on the mound, but few can claim the track record of Fringe right-hander Triston McKenzie who already has a 571.0 point season under his belt and the 2022 RDBL Pitching Prospect of the Year Award. He'll enter 2023 with lofty expectations as he looks to build on his breakout season.

TRADE: Ducks Land Drury from Maulers

The Burlingame Blue Ducks made what might be their final tweak to their Keeper Roster on Sunday afternoon, announcing the acquisition multi-position slugger Brandon Drury (2FA/$5) from the Mission Viejo Maulers for right-hander Jack Flaherty (2/$1). The deal comes just one day before the 2023 RDBL Keeper Deadline.

Drury had a surprising 2022 campaign split between the Cincinnati Reds and the San Diego Padres. He slashed .263/.320/.492 and set career highs with 28 HRs, 87 RBI, 87 runs, and two stolen bases in 138 games, the most over his eight seasons. Drury was solid the year before, posting a .274 average and a .783 OPS, but owned a lowly .206 xBA and .348 xSLG. The veteran posted eye-popping splits in 2022 with a .298 average and 12 home runs over 52 contests at Great American Ballpark but hit .240 with 16 homers in 86 games elsewhere. He will call Anaheim home for 81 games this season with the expectation to be the everyday second baseman.

Flaherty finished fourth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2019 at 23-years-old, but has been dealing with injuries ever since. He has posted a 4.76 ERA in 11 1/3 innings this Spring after posting a 4.25 ERA and 1.61 WHIP over nine appearances in 2022.

Flaherty will slot in behind Nathan Eovaldi in the Maulers rotation.