We're a little more than two weeks away from the only trade deadline of the MLB season. But teams are waiting until July 31 to make moves. The Boston Red Sox made a trade to acquire veteran right-hander Andrew Cashner on Saturday. And on Sunday, the Kansas City Royals traded starting pitcher Homer Bailey to the Oakland Athletics for minor league infielder Kevin Merrell.
Bailey was a late scratch ahead of his scheduled start Sunday against the Detroit Tigers, and Royals GM Dayton Moore confirmed the trade on a pregame radio show.
As ESPN's Jeff Passan notes, Bailey is making the league minimum, so the Athletics will have to pay him $250,000 for the remainder of the campaign. The A's entered Sunday at 52-41, six games back of the Astros in the AL West and in possession of the second AL wild card spot.
The Cincinnati Reds traded Bailey to the Los Angeles Dodgers this past offseason in the trade that sent Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood and Matt Kemp to Cincinnati. The Dodgers then released Bailey as a condition of waiving his no-trade rights, and the Royals subsequently added the 33-year-old right-hander to their rotation.
Over 18 starts this season, Bailey has posted a 4.80 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 81 strikeouts and 38 walks.