The Kansas City Royals made several moves before the July 31 trade deadline, adding three pitchers and an outfield bat while saying farewell to backup catcher Freddy Fermin.
The Royals announced late Thursday afternoon that they would pick up left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter from Pittsburgh in exchange for minor-leaguers, pitcher Evan Sisk and first baseman Callan Moss. Falter has a 7-5 record this season and a 3.73 ERA with 70 strikeouts in his 22 starts, stretching 113.1 innings. Falter joins Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek from San Diego, who arrived in exchange for catcher Freddy Fermin. The three will likely find ways into a starting rotation that’s already lost several key arms like Kris Bubic, who is out for the remainder of the season. Cole Ragans and Michael Lorenzen are also on the injured list, with the two expected to return in August.
Also Thursday, the Royals acquired outfielder Mike Yastrzemski from the San Francisco Giants for minor league right-hander Yunior Marte. Yastrzemski was in the final year of his contract with the Giants, the team he made his Major League debut with in 2019. So far this season, the grandson of Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski is batting .231 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs. He’s likely to platoon in right field with another pair of recent veteran arrivals, Adam Frazier and Randal Grichuk.
The Cardinals made one more move out of their bullpen at the trade deadline, sending right-hander Phil Maton to the Rangers in exchange for a pair of minor-league hurlers and cash considerations. Maton apepared in 40 games for the Cardinals, recording two saves as well as a 1-3 record with a 2.35 ERA. He follows Ryan Helsley and Steven Matz out of St Louis, with Helsley joining the New York Mets bullpen and Matz making his way to Boston. Joining the Cardinals from the Rangers system are right-hander Skyler Hales and leftie Mason Molina.
The Cardinals are on their way to San Diego for the start of a three-game series against the team ahead of them by 5.5 games in the wild card standings. Matthew Liberatore will get the start for the Redbirds, with first pitch from Petco Park at 8:40 p.m. Meanwhile, the Royals are letting the ink dry on their passports as they’ve arrived in Toronto for the start of a three-game series against the AL East-leading Blue Jays. Michael Wacha will get the start for the Royals, with first pitch at 6:07 p.m. Pregame is at 5:30 p.m. on KMMO-FM 102.9; our newscast that hour will air at 5:15 p.m.