Mariners trading OF Kelenic, others to Braves
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
NASHVILLE — The Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Jarred Kelenic, left-hander Marco Gonzales and first baseman Evan White from the Seattle Mariners for right-handers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips on Sunday, kicking off the winter meetings with a money-dump deal by the Mariners that netted the Braves the high-upside outfielder.
The trade, which represents the second purge of veterans by the Mariners after they dealt third baseman Eugenio Suarez to Arizona earlier in the winter, will save Seattle a significant amount of future guaranteed money. While the Mariners included an unknown amount of cash in the deal, White and Gonzales are owed $29 million.
The Braves, in the market for a left fielder and rotation help, were willing to take on the money for the 24-year-old Kelenic, who has shown flashes of greatness and will slot into a lineup that this year slugged .501, the highest mark in Major League Baseball history. Kelenic batted .253/.327/.419 with 11 home runs and 49 RBIs in 105 games, missing a chunk of time after breaking his foot when he kicked a water cooler in frustration after a strikeout.
Kelenic was the last player remaining from the blockbuster 2018 trade that sent closer Edwin Diaz and second baseman Robinson Cano to the New York Mets. At one point a top-five prospect in baseball, Kelenic possesses massive power — he hit a 482-foot home run at Wrigley Field this year — but has struggled to make contact, striking out 132 times in 416 plate appearances in 2023. With just under two years of service time, Kelenic is not set to reach free agency until following the 2028 season.
Gonzales, 31, is coming off surgery to alleviate a nerve issue in his arm. A reliable innings-eater in prior seasons, he went 4-1 with a 5.22 ERA in 50 innings over 10 starts this year before the injury sidelined him and eventually led to the procedure. He will make $12 million in 2024 and has a $15 million option for 2025.
The Mariners signed White to a six-year, $24 million contract before his major league debut in 2020. White struggled in his rookie season while playing first base full time and lost the job to Ty France during 2021, hitting .165/.235/.308 with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs over 84 games combined in his two major league seasons. Injuries have plagued him the past two seasons at Triple-A, and he is owed $15 million over the next two seasons, with a $2 million buyout in 2026 on the first of three options the Braves now hold.
Losing Gonzales, White and Suarez — who is making $11 million this season — takes the Mariners’ payroll into the $110 million range, well below their $137 million Opening Day payroll last season. Seattle, which won 88 games this year and finished a game shy of the postseason, could hit the trade market or free agent market to supplement an offense that also lost right fielder Teoscar Hernandez to free agency.
With their bounty of young, homegrown starting pitchers, the Mariners are an attractive trade partner for teams spooked by a free agent market in which back-end starting pitching costs at least $10 million a year.
“I want to thank Marco, JK and Evan for their contributions to the club,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in a statement. “All three played key roles at different stages of our growth over the past several seasons. As we continue to work through this offseason with the goal of improving our team for 2024 and beyond, we believe the additions of Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips, as well as the roster and payroll flexibility created tonight, will move us closer to that goal.”
Phillips, 20, was taken by Atlanta in the second round of the 2022 draft after undergoing Tommy John surgery that April. He has yet to throw a pitch as a professional but is seen by scouts as a high-upside arm with a blazing fastball and good breaking ball.
Kowar, 27, was a first-round pick by Kansas City in 2018 and posted a 9.12 ERA in three seasons with the Royals, during which he struck out 75, walked 51 and allowed 15 home runs and an opponent slash line of .330/.424/.559 in 74 big league innings. He was traded to the Braves on Nov. 17 for right-hander Kyle Wright.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers‘ starting rotation could have a new look next season with right-handers Frankie Montas and Colin Rea heading into free agency.
The Brewers announced Monday that Montas had declined his part of a $20 million mutual option for 2025. The Brewers turned down the $5.5 million club option on Rea’s contract.
Montas receives a $2 million buyout and Rea gets a $1 million buyout.
In other moves Monday, right-hander Kevin Herget was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets, and left-hander Rob Zastryzny was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs. First baseman Jake Bauers and right-hander Bryse Wilson cleared waivers and were sent outright to Triple-A Nashville.
Montas, 31, had a combined 7-11 record with a 4.84 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 150⅔ innings in 30 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and Brewers this season. He was 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, who acquired him just before the trade deadline.
Rea, 34, was 12-6 with a 4.28 ERA this season in 32 appearances, including 27 starts. He struck out 135 in 167⅔ innings. Rea had an 8.31 ERA in September and was left off the Brewers’ NL Wild Card Series roster.
Herget, 33, had no record with one save and a 1.59 ERA in seven appearances with Milwaukee this year. He was 5-1 with four saves and a 2.27 ERA in 38 relief outings with Triple-A Nashville.
Zastryzny, 32, was 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances with Milwaukee. He pitched in 30 games with Nashville and went 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA.
The 29-year-old Bauers batted .199 with a .301 on-base percentage, 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 116 games this season. He also hit a seventh-inning homer that broke a scoreless tie in the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card Series with the Mets, who rallied in the ninth to win 4-2.
Wilson, who turns 27 on Dec. 20, went 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 34 appearances, including nine starts.
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