The Reds and Giants have swung a late evening cope with simply over three weeks to go till the commerce deadline. Per an announcement from each golf equipment, the Reds have acquired outfielder Austin Slater from San Francisco in change for left-hander Alex Younger. Cincinnati can also be receiving money concerns as a part of the deal. The Giants optioned Younger to Triple-A following the transaction.
Slater, 31, has been within the Giants group for greater than a decade. His skilled profession started when he was chosen by the membership out of Stanford within the eighth spherical of the 2014 draft, although he wouldn’t make his massive league debut with the membership till his age-24 season in 2017. Slater was largely a part-time participant throughout his first few years in San Francisco, and he amassed simply 544 plate appearances within the majors between 2017 and 2019. In that restricted enjoying time, he posted an honest .254/.335/.368 slash line that was good for a 92 wRC+ whereas splitting time between all three outfield spots, first base, and even making temporary cameos at each second and third base.
The shortened 2020 season noticed Slater get away in a giant manner, as he posted a wonderful 150 wRC+ for the Giants whereas showing in 31 of the membership’s 60 video games that 12 months whereas enjoying largely proper area and DH for the membership. That offensive explosion earned Slater a bigger function within the following years, and whereas most of his enjoying time nonetheless got here in opposition to left-handed pitching he usual extra of a correct platoon function for himself versus the reserve outfield function he had been utilized in beforehand. Slater took to the elevated duties fairly properly, and between the 2020 and 2023 seasons the lefty masher hit a stable .259/.352/.421 (118 wRC+).
That line goes from stable to sensational when trying solely at his manufacturing in opposition to southpaws, in opposition to whom he mashed to the tune of a .285/.380/.486 line with a wRC+ of 141. That manufacturing in opposition to left-handed pitching was good for Seventeenth-best in baseball throughout that 4 12 months interval, on par with star hitters resembling Jose Altuve and Xander Bogaerts.
Whereas the Giants leaned closely on Slater as a platoon associate for a primarily left-handed outfield that includes sluggers resembling Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto, and Joc Pederson throughout these years, Slater’s enjoying time was additional minimize down by damage woes. Because the begin of the 2020 marketing campaign, Slater has made seven journeys to the injured listing for groin, hamstring, wrist, and hand points in addition to a number of concussions. Slater additionally required elbow surgical procedure final offseason to take away a bone spur and relieve nerve ache.
It’s doable that prolonged listing of damage points has helped to contribute to what has been a tough 2024 season for the 31-year-old, as he’s hit simply .200/.330/.244 in 112 journeys to the plate this season surrounding a month-long keep on the IL attributable to a concussion earlier this 12 months. These struggles in the end paved the way in which for kids Heliot Ramos and Luis Matos to squeeze Slater out of enjoying time within the Giants outfield, as Ramos has stepped as much as grow to be a daily fixture in heart area whereas Matos serves as a righty complement off the bench for Yastrzemski and Conforto.
In buying Slater, the Reds are certainly hoping they will coax a few of that lefty-mashing potential he flashed in earlier years out of him as a way to make him a top quality platoon associate for the membership’s many left-handed hitting outfielders. Slater’s foremost competitors for enjoying time in that function figures to be Stuart Fairchild, who has slashed a lackluster .224/.298/.347 (81 wRC+) in 189 journeys to the plate this 12 months. Within the quick time period, nevertheless, each Fairchild and Slater determine to get loads of reps alongside Will Benson and Spencer Steer within the membership’s outfield combine because of the absences of Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, and Nick Martini. Fraley is at present on the household medical emergency listing and can seemingly return inside a couple of days, however each Friedl and Martini are on the injured listing and are going through probably prolonged absences.
In change for parting methods with Slater, the Giants are receiving some left-handed bullpen assist in the type of Younger. As soon as a second-round choose by the Diamondbacks within the 2015 draft, the lefty made his massive league debut again in 2019 and usually struggled on the main league degree in a swing function with Arizona and Cleveland. That modified in 2022, when Younger was acquired by San Francisco in a money cope with the Guardians and commenced pitching in a brief aid function full-time. The lefty carried out fairly properly throughout his first stint with the Giants and posted a 2.39 ERA and a couple of.96 FIP throughout 26 1/3 innings of labor earlier than being non-tendered by San Francisco the next November.
Younger ultimately caught on with the Reds on a minor league deal previous to the 2023 season and has remained with the membership ever since. He posted stable leads to center aid with the membership final 12 months, pitching to a 3.86 ERA regardless of a lackluster 4.99 FIP. Whereas Younger’s 21.2% strikeout price and eight.5% stroll price have been each completely stable, he allowed a whopping ten homers throughout his 53 2/3 innings of labor with the Reds final 12 months.
Younger has spent many of the 2024 season on the Triple-A degree for the Reds, though he’s posted spectacular numbers each in his two scoreless innings on the massive league degree and in his bigger physique of labor within the minors. In 23 appearances with the membership’s affiliate in Louisville this 12 months, Younger has posted a glowing 1.19 ERA whereas placing out a stable 25.3% of batters confronted. Sadly, the lefty hasn’t been capable of get a lot enjoying time within the majors with the Reds this 12 months because of the membership’s deep bullpen, which options every of Justin Wilson, Sam Moll, and Brent Suter as high quality left-handed choices.
That made Younger expendable sufficient that the Reds have been keen to half methods with him, and it’s straightforward to see how the lefty may influence a Giants bullpen that has leaned closely on Erik Miller to behave as a secondary lefty reliever behind high-leverage arm Taylor Rogers. Miller, a 26-year-old rookie with a 3.51 ERA and 4.49 FIP in 41 innings of labor this 12 months, options a way more pronounced platoon cut up than Younger has lately, and the spacious outfield of Oracle Park ought to be an incredible match for Younger that helps to curtail his proclivity for giving up homers.
San Francisco can also be sending money to Cincinnati within the deal alongside Slater, a truth that would issue into the membership’s ultimate luxurious tax calculation later this 12 months. Previous to the swap, RosterResource indicated that the Giants have a luxurious tax payroll of just below $254MM, or simply over $3MM beneath the second threshold of the luxurious tax. Slater is making $4MM this 12 months, whereas Younger is incomes a wage of $1.16MM. Relying on the amount of money the Giants are together with within the deal, it’s doable that the commerce offers the extra good thing about providing the membership further monetary wiggle room beneath the second luxurious tax threshold.
