It has not been announced as a PTBNL. The trade just hasn't been announced yet. I do agree it won't be a "top prospect" but it will be interesting to see who it is.
For reference, to get Garcia last winter, Atlanta gave up their 17, 21, and 29 prospects. All of them appeared to be low-ceiling types, though. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/cardinals-trade-jaime-garcia-braves.html
I don't know. Garcia is probably a decent match for Santiago last year -- better peripherals / FIP, similar cost, 1 less year of control. I'd guess they would wait until July 31 if all they were getting offered here was salary relief.
No, Haley's rehab started June 26 (to a rookie league team). So they have to activate him by July 25th (or put him back on the DL, I suppose, but I think he needs to be back by mid-August anyway to meet the 90 days active requirement to remove Rule 5 restrictions before next season. It would kinda suck if we couldn't even option him next spring...).
They actually have a little more value now that they are off the 40-man roster. Except I think Tonkin will be eligible for minor league free agency in a couple months unless he is added back. Pat Light was darn near that point of low value when we acquired him. Of course, an Abad type pitcher might be pretty worthless too. I'd rather go big or promote a minor leaguer.
Colon may have to survive 2 innings on the mound in order to have a turn at bat in LA. I am not sure I like those chances either. (Assuming we don't move him up in the order )
The evidence of him being effective in early innings this year is pretty much just this one game. I wouldn't get my hopes up on that front. Even a 8-9 ERA pitcher can string together a few scoreless innings, but I don't think it's possible to predict and avoid the blowups. His stats by inning this year: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=colonba01&year=2017&t=p#innng::none
That is fair. I assume you are referring to the fact that Luzardo already had TJ surgery too? Thorpe is a little more proven/advanced now, though -- should throw a few more innings this year, already looks ready for AA. I was thinking Ynoa or Graterol as Luzardo comps. Would probably come down to Oakland's scouting (same would apply to other pieces in the deal), but I feel like these offers would have been competitive, could have gotten counter offers.
Interestingly, 20 wins is actually a more notable achievement now, with reduced starter workloads. Still not a great primary Cy Young Award criteria, of course.
Well, who knows how Berrios would have done in a pen role at the end of 2015. Does Duffey's 2016 mean the Twins were wrong to promote him in 2015? Wouldn't have cost them anything to find out, really. And the point was, they said the same thing about not messing with his starting routine, etc. Doesn't seem to matter that he never had surgery.
I don't know if technically this should be called his first full season back after TJ. He had the surgery way back in June 2014. They already slow paced his recovery and conservatively held him back in 2016 (probably his real "first full season back"). At some point you can't lean on that excuse anymore. Manage his innings and expectations and I think you can do whatever you want with him this season.
Gee is still listed as starting today, which means he wouldn't be able to start in MLB on Tuesday. Really wonder what they are planning there... Colon should really have another AAA tuneup. I guess Jorge could do it again, but that is not too inspiring...
We've heard that for awhile... once he gets comfortable after his late start to the season... the AA midseason break... the MLB all-star break... but still in AA. At this point, it feels like they are trying to keep Chattanooga strong for their playoffs.