Owings was claimed off waivers by the Nationals so the Dbacks pulled him back. He'll stay in the minors through the end of the regular season and be sent to Cinci after that.

I really am sad to see Micah go. He started off well and then just fell apart midseason. I think he dropped his arm angle and lost control of his fastball, especially high fb.

The Reds should just make him a hitter and put him in left field. The kid can hit. Best of luck to you in Cinci, Micah. Dbacks fans wish you well and hope for the best for you

As a matter of curiosity, suppose the Diamondbacks and Reds have a handshake agreement that Owings will be one of the players to be named later. What would happen if the Diamondbacks just waived Owings and let him go? The Diamondbacks would still owe the Reds a player, but how would the teams agree on who that would be?

EDIT: In practice, I assume that teams receiving PTBNLs always have a fallback list of players they can choose if something happens to the guy they want.

I think he dropped his arm angle and lost control of his fastball, especially high fb.

Any reason to think he might have an elbow problem?

I like this move for the Reds. 40 bad innings aren't the end of the world and Owings had quite a bit of success the last two seasons before that.

I thought there was a rule that, in a waiver wire deal, the players traded for each other could not have played in the same league at any time during the year? I must be missing something.

I think this just shows how little is actually really known about the ins and outs of the PTBNL rules :P

I thought that players who had played in the league they were being traded to could not be ptbnl. Did the rules change on that?

Edit: I know Neyer said that in his Transactions Primer. But everyone says that the rules are extraordinarily complex. I'm not sure why MLB doesn't just publish the rules - making it difficult to understand has hurt teams in the past (see Tommy Lasorda and the Jeff Shaw acquisition), and doesn't seem to actually benefit the league in any way.

40 bad innings aren't the end of the world and Owings had quite a bit of success the last two seasons before that.

He just needs to figure out his control and develop a legitimate off speed pitch. I think it's a longshot that he becomes anything more than a fourth starter/reliever, but it's not a bad flier for the Reds to take, especially when they always have the fall back plan of giving him a first baseman's mit and seeing if he can rake.

I'm intrigued by the fourth outfielder/ninth pitcher/occasional spot starter potential, myself. That kind of player would be mighty useful on a roster.

Owings has a sore shoulder.

The regulation about players not playing in the same league only applies to the period of time between when the trade is submitted to the commissioner's office, and when the trade is completed. Whatever leagues guys were playing in before that doesn't matter. This rule is in place to prevent teams from using the PTBNL loophole to keep both halves of a trade for a short period.

As long as Dunn stays in MLB, Buck in the FSL, and Owings in the PCL for the rest of the season...the league restriction won't influence anything.

"I thought there was a rule that, in a waiver wire deal, the players traded for each other could not have played in the same league at any time during the year?"

This is not true. If it were, Bobby Hill couldn't have been the PTBNL in the Aramis Ramirez trade (which he was).

Owings has a sore shoulder.

Is it more or less sore than Carlos Quentin's shoulder was?

What alehman42 wrote. Micah cannot be called up to the majors the rest of this season. Bobby Hill is one example, as Vlad wrote. Adam Stern getting traded to BAL for JLopez is another.

Quentin had a labrum tear that required surgery. Hopefully that's not the case with Micah. It would really suck for him. I think the Reds should move Votto to LF and put Micah at 1st.

Got iit, thanks for the clarification.

The specific rule is that a PTBNL must change leagues, and cannot play in the same league as the player for whom he is traded after the trade is announced, as alehman42 said in #12.

This also suggests to me that Whitesell is the other player in the deal. There is no way that Whitesell would have cleared waivers, either, with the Nationals and Giants ahead of Cincinnati in the pecking order and both needing corner power.

-- MWE

see Tommy Lasorda and the Jeff Shaw acquisition

What happened with that one? I'm not familiar.

Mike, maybe the Dbacks haven't put Whitesell on waivers yet...
Ironically the Dbacks got Whitesell off waivers from the Nationals this past offseason...
Finally, I still think the Reds might have some interest in Wilkin Castillo

There's some rule about players in the middle of long-term contracts being able to demand trades if traded in mid-season (or maybe midseason doesn't matter). Shaw had signed a below-market contract to stay in the midwest, but without a no-trade. So the Dodgers traded for him, giving up value as if they had him for 2 or 3 more years, but then he demanded a trade. The Dodgers were obligated to trade him, release him, or convince him to stay.

#19:

You are partly correct -- the rule under the old CBA was that a player with five years of service time who is traded can demand a trade at the end of the season. It only applies to players who signed their contract under the old CBA, such as Rich Harden. The Cubs traded for him three days after he hit five years of service time, allowing him to demand a trade in the offseason, or, failing that, to be released from his contract as a free agent (with no compensatory draft picks).

Mike, maybe the Dbacks haven't put Whitesell on waivers yet...

I'm sure they have. I'm sure they put everyone who was likely to be included in this trade on waivers.

Finally, I still think the Reds might have some interest in Wilkin Castillo

Probably, but I can't imagine that any of the three teams ahead of Cincy in the pecking order would have claimed Castillo.

-- MWE

Those are all fair points, Mike. Just curious, do you see the Reds moving Votto to LF next year and putting Whitesell at 1B? And I can certainly see why both the Nats and Giants would like to have Whitesell, given their 1B situations.

Two Reds hitters got their first career hit in yesterday's Pirates game. The future starts now!

Owings seems like a damn good return for a couple months of Dunn.

Owings seems like a damn good return for a couple months of Dunn.

Don't forget the compensatory draft picks.

I'm assuming Dunn will go to a team without a protected first rounder, so the ultimate gain in next year's draft would be a late first rounder and a supplemental pick. Hudson hopefully remains a type A free agent, and Lyon plus 30 or so shiny saves should be a type A guy as well. Cruz will most likely drop to type B. All in all, the Dbacks would end up having 9 draft pick in the first two rounds of the draft (including the supplemental round). "Moneyball 2"?

I would love to know what the threshold of success would be for the Diamondbacks in their own internal calculations. Without knowing that, I'm not really sure what to think here.

Does just making the playoffs and getting a minimum one home game in the playoffs justify this?
Does it take making the playoffs, and getting a minimum of two home games in the playoffs to justify this?
Does it take making it to the NLCS again, and getting a at least 4 home games in the playoffs justify this?

Or do they need to make it all the way to the world series to justify this?

I mean, I know teams make a lot of money for making he playoffs, but the D Backs won't have home field advantage in ANY playoff series, slightly reducing their odds to get to the World Series even if they do make the playoffs.

Owings has a 93 ERA+ in 260 major league innings. If he manages to improve just slightly, the Reds have a league average starter under control for 4 more years. He may not improve. He may just get worse. But if he is above 95 ERA+ for the next 4 years, and is healthy enough to give the Reds a decent amount of innings over that time, then nothing short of a trip to the world series would justify this in my mind.

Then again like I said above, I don't really know how much the team values just making the playoffs, or getting 1 or 2 home games. Maybe the financial return is great enough to offset the loss of Owings, Buck, and whoever the 3rd player is.

I've been as frustrated as anyone with Owings inability to develop a 3rd pitch and maintain his mechanics/command. But it sure is tough to give up on him, nonetheless.

I'm assuming Dunn will go to a team without a protected first rounder, so the ultimate gain in next year's draft would be a late first rounder and a supplemental pick. Hudson hopefully remains a type A free agent, and Lyon plus 30 or so shiny saves should be a type A guy as well. Cruz will most likely drop to type B. All in all, the Dbacks would end up having 9 draft pick in the first two rounds of the draft (including the supplemental round). "Moneyball 2"?

Thats a lot of bonus money. The D Backs have been willing to pony up the last few years, and hopefully they continue to do so. Can you imagine adopting a strategy like they have to accumulate all these draft picks to re stock the system and then not have the plan properly funded?

Again...I would love to be a fly on the wall and know what the budget is for draftee bonuses.

Thats a lot of bonus money.

It'll be a lot less than Eric Byrnes's 2009 salary

Don't forget the compensatory draft picks.

I'd rather have Owings. He's 25 and a potentially a league average starter over the next few years. Or, if he concentrates on hitting, I don't think it's unrealistic to think that he could be a 125 OPS+ 1b for a while.

It appears the other PTBNL is a pitcher as well, according to Jack Magruder.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/122935

Owings, scratched from a scheduled start with Triple-A Tucson today because of a sore right shoulder, will spend the final six weeks of the season in an organization that has no plans for him.

The D-Backs consider Max Scherzer ahead of Owings at this stage of their development, and are likely to recall Scherzer from Tucson for the stretch run.

Owings and the other player going to Cincinnati - also on the D-Backs' 40-man roster, a source said; also a pitcher, another source said - must clear waivers to finalize the trade, since it occurred after the July 31 nonwaiver period.

Looking at the Dbacks 40 man roster, the following pitchers qualify
http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=ari

Emiliano Fruto
Juan Gutierrez
Jailen Peguero
Esmerling Vasquez

owings playing 1B in cincy???

WTF???

ever heard of joey votto?

Three pitchers for Dunn. I knew Cincy needed pitching depth, but that's a bit of a shock.

In order, I'd rate them Vasquez, Gutierrez, Peguero, Fruto, with a big gap after Vasquez.

EDIT: assuming Vasquez figures out how to throw strikes again.

-- MWE