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Red Sox Acquire Dustin May

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The Red Sox announced the acquisition of right-hander Dustin May from the Dodgers for minor league outfielders James Tibbs and Zach Ehrhard. May will step into the back of Boston’s rotation after the Sox optioned Richard Fitts earlier in the week.

May, 27, has had a middling season. He carries a 4.85 earned run average across 19 appearances. His 21.5% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk percentage are right around league average. May hasn’t missed as many bats or gotten as many ground balls as he did earlier in his career. The former top prospect once looked like a potential top-of-the-rotation starter, but he’s unfortunately never been able to stay healthy. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and missed most of that season and the next. He suffered another forearm strain upon his return in ’23, then missed all of last season after requiring emergency surgery after rupturing his esophagus.

This year’s 104 innings are by far the most of his career. May’s velocity has held all season, but he has allowed an ERA of 4.45 or higher in each month since April. The Dodgers seemingly were on the verge of kicking him to the bullpen. GM Brandon Gomes told reporters (including J.P. Hoornstra of Newsweek) that May preferred to start. Gomes stated that May did not demand a trade but suggested the Dodgers were open to accommodating him by dealing him to a team that’d give him a rotation spot if a deal presented itself.

They not only found that team but got a strong return out of it. Tibbs was the Giants’ first-round pick last summer. San Francisco sent him to Boston alongside Kyle Harrison in June’s Rafael Devers blockbuster. His production tanked immediately after the trade, as he hit .205/.321/.268 with only one home run in 29 games for Boston’s Double-A affiliate. Tibbs had put together a much more impressive .246/.379/.478 line in High-A before the trade.

The Red Sox evidently soured on his future extremely quickly. Not only has May not had a particularly good year, he’s an impending free agent. He’s only playing on a $2.135MM salary because the injuries tamped down his arbitration earnings. Still, two months of a fifth/sixth starter isn’t a particularly valuable trade asset. If the Red Sox valued Tibbs anywhere near as highly as they did when they included him in the Devers trade, they would not have made this deal.

Ehrhard was Boston’s fourth-rounder last season. He’s a righty-hitting corner outfielder with a .270/.371/.434 line and 23 steals in 88 games between High-A and Double-A on the year. Baseball America slotted him 29th in the Boston farm system. He has a tweener profile but could be a fourth or fifth outfielder on the strength of his hitting ability.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Red Sox were acquiring May. FanSided’s Robert Murray had Tibbs’ inclusion, while Christopher Smith of MassLive reported that Ehrhard was in the deal. Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post previously reported that the two sides were in talks on a deal involving May. Image courtesy of Neville E. Guard, Imagn Images.

Dodgers Acquire Alex Call

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The Dodgers have added to their outfield mix by adding Alex Call in a trade with the Nationals, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.  MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand says the Nats will get two pitching prospects in return, and the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden specifies the two pitchers as Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Linan.

Los Angeles dealt James Outman to the Twins earlier today for Brock Stewart, so adding Call essentially fills Outman’s spot in the Dodgers outfield.  It’s not a perfect match since Call is a right-handed hitter and Outman is left-handed, though between lefty-swinging Michael Conforto and switch-hitting Tommy Edman, the Dodgers still have plenty of balance in their outfield.

Call has two minor league options remaining, so L.A. has some roster flexibility if the team decides to move Call to Triple-A.  Call is also set to reach arbitration for the first time this winter, as he will almost surely qualify for Super Two status.  He’ll be in line for some higher paydays through four arb years rather than the usual three, and the Dodgers control him through the 2029 season.

A veteran of four MLB seasons, the 30-year-old Call can play all three outfield positions but is probably best suited to corner outfield work.  He is hitting .274/.371/.386 over 237 plate appearances this season, and has performed better in a part-time capacity than he did when in a more regular role in 2023.  As expected, Call has performed better against left-handed pitching than against righties in his career, with a .263/.346/.405 slash against southpaws.

To obtain a controllable outfielder, the Dodgers had to give up two pitching prospects.  MLB Pipeline had Swan 16th and Linan 20th in their ranking of the L.A. farm system, while Baseball America put Linan 19th and Swan 24th.  Linan was an international signing in 2022, and Swan was a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft.

Swan has a high-90s fastball that can top 100mph on occasion, and Pipeline’s scouting report praises his easy delivery of the pitch.  His control is still a work in progress, as indicated by his 46 walks over 69 innings at high-A Great Lakes this season. Swan’s slider and sweeper both receive 60 grades from Baseball America, so the stuff is clearly there is Swan can polish his repertoire and harness his control.  It’s a high-upside addition for the Nationals, and Swan perhaps has a good future as a reliever if he doesn’t make it as a starting pitcher.

Linan’s bread-and-butter is an outstanding changeup, and his ability to develop his fastball and slider will determine how well he advances up the ladder.  He has looked dominant in the lower minors, though a temporary two-outing stint in Triple-A this season didn’t go well.  Linan has worked mostly as a starter this season, but could be best suited for relief work if he can’t develop at least a decent secondary pitch.

Dodgers, Twins To Swap Brock Stewart For James Outman

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The Dodgers and Twins are reportedly in agreement on a one-for-one swap of reliever Brock Stewart for center fielder James Outman. Both players are on the 40-man roster, so there won’t need to be any corresponding transactions.

Stewart hasn’t gotten as much attention as former teammates Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax at the back of Minnesota’s bullpen. He’s a strong late-game weapon in his own right. As with most Dodger pitching targets, he’s very effective on a rate basis but comes with significant durability questions. Stewart is healthy at the moment, and his presence should be a major boost to a floundering L.A. relief group.

The 6’3″ Stewart has fired 34 innings of 2.38 ERA ball on the year. He has struck out almost 30% of batters faced behind an excellent 14.7% swinging strike rate. He pairs that with a league average 7.9% walk rate and has done a good job avoiding hard contact. Stewart leads a five-pitch mix with a 96 MPH fastball and gets big swing-and-miss numbers on both his sweeper and changeup.

It’s a back-end profile. Stewart has picked up 14 holds and only blown one lead all season. Minnesota skipper Rocco Baldelli has used him behind only Duran and Jax on their leverage hierarchy over the past month. This is the second time in the past three years in which Stewart has been an underrated bullpen weapon. He posted a 0.95 ERA with a near-36% strikeout rate in 28 appearances two seasons back.

Health is the drawback. Stewart has appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons. He has never reached 40 innings. He’ll establish a new career-high workload in his first appearance after the trade. Stewart began his career with the Dodgers as a 2014 sixth-round pick. He logged parts of four seasons as a swingman before being lost on waivers to Toronto in 2019. He was out of MLB entirely over the next three seasons, largely because of 2021 Tommy John surgery.

Stewart reemerged with Minnesota in 2023. He was suddenly sitting around 97 MPH after working in the 91-94 range before the surgery. Stewart dominated for a couple months until experiencing renewed elbow discomfort that shut him down in late June. Last season, he was limited to 18 appearances by shoulder problems that necessitated arthroscopic surgery in August. He has been healthy this year aside from a brief season-opening IL stint related to a left hamstring strain.

The atypical career arc and lack of volume have tamped down Stewart’s earning power. He’s playing on an $870K salary that is barely above the league minimum. Stewart will go through arbitration twice more and won’t hit free agency until the end of his age-35 season. While the affordability meant that the Twins didn’t need to trade him, they also presumably felt this was the peak of his value. Stewart’s age and injury history meant there’d be real risk in holding onto him and hoping he’d remain this effective going into 2026.

It’s the first of what should be multiple bullpen acquisitions for Los Angeles. Dodger relievers rank 22nd in MLB with a 4.24 earned run average. They’re top 10 in strikeout rate but have not been as strong as expected. Tanner Scott has been wobbly and is now battling elbow inflammation. Kirby Yates has a 4.31 ERA despite excellent strikeout and walk numbers. Evan Phillips is done for the year. Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol could make late-season returns but have notable injury concerns.

While Stewart himself is far from a sure thing to stay healthy, he’s a nice get for a player whose hold on a roster spot seemed tenuous. The 28-year-old Outman hit 23 home runs and finished third in NL Rookie of the Year balloting two seasons ago. That came with a concerning level of swing-and-miss, however, and he hasn’t come close to that kind of production over the past couple years. Outman fanned at a 35% clip while hitting .147 in 53 big league contests last season. He’s batting .103 with 18 strikeouts in 44 trips to the plate this year.

Outman has remained productive against minor league pitching. He’s hitting .289/.378/.592 with 20 homers and 14 stolen bases in 70 Triple-A games this season. His .286/.386/.585 batting line over parts of three season there is strong even in the context of the Pacific Coast League. Outman’s production still comes with significant strikeout caveats. He’s a plus runner and defensive center fielder who doesn’t need to hit a ton to be a fourth or fifth outfielder. He’ll nevertheless obviously need to produce more than the .137/.245/.269 slash that he has managed at the MLB level over the past two seasons.

This is Outman’s final minor league option year. He can back up Byron Buxton in center or spend the remainder of the season at Triple-A St. Paul. The Twins would need to decide whether to carry him on the Opening Day roster next season or expose him to waivers.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Dodgers wee nearing a deal for Stewart. Alden González of ESPN reported Outman was going back, while Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star-Tribune confirmed it was one for one.

Images courtesy of Matt Krohn and Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images.

Reds Acquire Zack Littell In Three-Team Trade

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The Reds announced the acquisition of starting pitcher Zack Littell from the Rays in what’ll reportedly be a three-team trade. Righty Brian Van Belle is headed from Cincinnati to Tampa Bay. The Reds are reportedly sending pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers, who’ll trade catcher Hunter Feduccia to Tampa Bay. Reliever Paul Gervase and minor league catcher Ben Rortvedt are headed from the Rays to the Dodgers. As of Wednesday night, only the Littell for Van Belle/Serwinowski portion of the trade has been finalized.

Littell tossed five scoreless innings tonight against the Yankees in his final appearance with the Rays. That lowered his earned run average to an impressive 3.58 mark across 22 starts. Littell turned in a very similar 3.63 ERA in 29 appearances a season ago. He has led the Rays in innings in each of the past two seasons while putting together steady mid-rotation results.

It’s excellent work for a player whom the Rays snagged off waivers from the Red Sox a little over two years ago. Littell had bounced around the league mostly as a middle reliever before Tampa Bay built him up as a starter. His fantastic control played well in a rotation role. Throwing strikes is the 29-year-old’s standout trait. Littell has walked fewer than 5% of opposing hitters in consecutive seasons. He issued four free passes tonight in the Bronx, but that’s only the second time he has done so in the past two years.

Littell doesn’t have eye-popping stuff. He sits in the 91-92 MPH range with both his four-seam fastball and sinker. Neither his slider nor splitter are huge swing-and-miss offerings. Littell had roughly average strikeout and whiff rates a season ago. This year’s 16.6% strikeout rate and 9.1% swinging strike percentage are each subpar. Littell surrenders a lot of hard contact and has had issues with the home run ball throughout his career. That includes an MLB-high 26 longballs allowed this season.

That profile seems a suboptimal fit for a pitcher who’ll now call the extremely hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park home. Littell’s consistency was clearly a plus for Cincinnati. He has worked at least five innings in all but one start this year. He has allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of 22 appearances. Littell has had a better season than Nick Martinez and Brady Singer have managed. Rookie Chase Burns has also been up and down over his first six starts.

Adding Littell will push Martinez to the bullpen. Ace Hunter Greene is on a rehab assignment as he works back from a groin strain. That’ll presumably push Burns back to Triple-A. Cincinnati would have a starting five of Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Littell and Singer at that point.

Littell is playing on a $5.72MM salary for his final year of arbitration. The Reds are taking on a little more than $1.8MM for the final two months. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Tampa Bay wasn’t going to make him a qualifying offer. They’ve played terribly this month and dropped below .500 with tonight’s loss. Their 3.5 game deficit in the Wild Card race isn’t insurmountable, but the team’s performance coming out of the All-Star Break discouraged the front office enough that they’re at least soft sellers.

Trading Littell, their only true impending free agent, is the obvious starting point. Closer Pete Fairbanks and second baseman Brandon Lowe are controllable for next season via club options. Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim has a $16MM player option. Yandy Díaz and Drew Rasmussen are each signed through 2026 with team options covering the ’27 campaign. Lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger is arbitration controlled through 2027. It remains to be see how aggressively they’ll shop players whom they control beyond this season, but the Rays have the potential to make a significant impact on the deadline.

The Reds part with a couple controllable players to land Littell. Serwinowski, a 6’5″ left-hander, is the more significant loss. The Reds drafted him out of high school in 2022. He has developed into one of their more intriguing low minors pitchers. Serwinowski ranked 10th in the Cincinnati system at MLB Pipeline and 12th at Baseball America. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him as high as sixth in the organization in May. Scouting reports praise his plus fastball-slider combination, crediting him with a mid-90s heater that can touch 97. Like many tall young pitchers, he has below-average command. Serwinowski also doesn’t have a great third pitch, raising questions about his ability to turn a lineup over multiple times.

There’s a decent chance the 21-year-old will end up as a reliever, but it’s easy to see the appeal of a pitcher with this kind of stuff and physical projection. Serwinowski has spent the season in High-A, allowing a 4.84 ERA across 74 1/3 innings. He has punched out an above-average 27.7% of batters faced while walking nearly 12% of opponents. He’s the headliner of the return from the Dodgers’ perspective as a low minors development flier.

Van Belle, 28, has yet to make his MLB debut. The Red Sox called him up in June but designated him for assignment a few days later without getting him into a game. Cincinnati added him on a cash deal and has kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Louisville. A former undrafted free agent out of the University of Miami, Van Belle has combined for 81 1/3 innings of 3.21 ERA ball at the top minor league level this year. That comes with a below-average 20.2% strikeout rate but a sterling 3.2% walk percentage. His fastball barely scrapes 90 MPH, but he’s a fantastic strike-thrower who relies mostly on a mid-80s changeup to stay off barrels. He’ll provide the Rays a depth starter or long relief type who is in his first of three minor league option seasons.

Feduccia is the bigger get from Tampa Bay’s perspective. He’s a 28-year-old catcher who had a limited path to playing time behind Will Smith and Dalton Rushing in L.A. Feduccia has held a spot on the 40-man roster for two seasons but has only gotten into seven MLB games. He has been forced to bide his time in Triple-A, where he owns a .277/.387/.450 batting line in more than 1200 plate appearances. A left-handed hitter, he takes plenty of walks and has decent contact skills with minimal power.

Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Feduccia 31st among Dodger prospects in his writeup of the farm system in April. Longenhagen wrote that he struggles to control the running game but is a plus receiving catcher. Tampa Bay has cycled through catchers for years. They swapped out Danny Jansen for Nick Fortes in separate trades with Milwaukee and Miami earlier this week. Feduccia could push the out-of-options Matt Thaiss for the backup job immediately. He’s in his second of three option years and could be assigned to Triple-A Durham if the Rays don’t want to risk losing Thaiss on waivers.

Landing him required sending the 25-year-old Gervase to Los Angeles. A 6’10” righty reliever, Gervase was acquired from the Mets last July. Tampa Bay promoted him a few weeks ago. He has made five appearances, giving up three runs across 6 1/3 innings. He has posted monster strikeout numbers in Durham, fanning nearly 40% of opponents while pitching to a 3.12 ERA across 28 appearances. Gervase has paired that with a 7.5% walk rate that represents dramatically improved control relative to his early minor league work. The LSU product leans mostly on a 93-94 MPH fastball and mixes in a slider and cutter. He’s in his first option year and will begin his Dodger career as middle relief depth.

Rortvedt, who is not on the 40-man roster, backfills L.A.’s lost catching depth at Triple-A. At age 27, he’s actually younger than Feduccia but has far more MLB experience. He’s a .186/.276/.265 hitter in 209 big league contests. Rortvedt hit .095 in 26 big league games this year before Tampa Bay ran him through waivers. He is hitting .183 in 19 Triple-A games. He’ll be a minor league free agent at the end of the season if the Dodgers don’t call him up before then.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the Reds were closing in on a deal for Littell. Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Cincinnati was giving up Van Belle and Serwinowski. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first mentioned the three-team trade, with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic relaying that the Rays were flipping Serwinowski elsewhere. Passan had the Dodgers’ involvement and the full breakdown.

Images courtesy of Imagn Images.

Jhoan Duran Trade Market Picking Up

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3:39pm: The Mariners are also making a run at Duran today, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman, like Nightengale, adds that there is now an expectation that Duran will be moved at some point today.

2:16pm: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale also writes that there’s a good chance of Duran being moved before the end of the day. Nightengale adds that the Twins have held out for top pitching prospect Andrew Painter in conversations with the Phillies. Philadelphia has been steadfast in not wanting to move Painter in prior trade discussions. It’s a big ask on Minnesota’s part, but that reflects Duran’s affordable control window. Passan had reported last week that the Twins wanted multiple top 100 caliber prospects for either Duran or Jax.

2:07pm: The likelihood of a Jhoan Duran trade seems to be rising. Jon Heyman of The New York Post suggested this afternoon that Minnesota’s talks with other teams on the star closer are “heating up.” Mark Feinsand of MLB.com hears similarly and adds that the Twins could have an agreement on a Duran deal later today.

The Mariners and Yankees have been loosely tied to his market in recent days. Heyman reports that the Phillies and Red Sox are strongly involved and adds the Mets as another team that has at least shown some interest. Jon Morosi of MLB Network adds that the Twins have had conversations with the Dodgers concerning each of Duran, Griffin Jax and Louis Varland. The Blue Jays, Rangers and Padres are among the teams also known to be exploring the market for high-leverage bullpen help — though none has been linked to Duran specifically.

Duran is probably the prize of the reliever market, particularly with Emmanuel Clase no longer an option. The 27-year-old righty throws harder than anyone else in baseball aside from Mason Miller. His four-seam fastball sits in the triple digits, and he averages 97.5 MPH on his absurd sinker/splitter hybrid. Duran’s upper 80s knuckle-curve is an elite pitch in its own right. He has a 2.47 earned run average in parts of four big league seasons. That includes a 2.01 mark through 49 1/3 frames this season. He’s 16-18 in save chances, has struck out more than a quarter of opponents, and is second among relievers (minimum 40 innings) with a monster 65.4% ground-ball percentage.

The Twins are going to move a handful of impending free agents, including lefty reliever Danny Coulombe. The bigger question is whether they’ll trade any of their key controllable pieces. Duran is making $4.125MM and under arbitration control through 2027. Jax, a setup man with even bigger strikeout stuff, is also controllable for two seasons. Varland is still a season away from arbitration and comes with five years of club control, so it’d be very surprising if the Twins trade him.

Minnesota is also getting calls on right-hander Brock Stewart, writes ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The 33-year-old Stewart is playing for barely above the league minimum and has two additional seasons of arbitration control. He has punched out 30% of batters faced en route to a 2.38 ERA across 34 innings. Stewart’s age and notable injury history (elbow discomfort in 2023, arthroscopic shoulder surgery last summer) mean the Twins should be looking to sell high despite the affordable control window.

Dodgers Interested In Pete Fairbanks, Shane Bieber

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The Dodgers have been connected to a number of high-profile bats this summer, ranging from Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan to Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan. The focus has primarily been on upgrading the club’s bullpen, however, and while the L.A. has reportedly been connected to everyone from Ryan Helsley to David Bednar, those aren’t the only bullpen arms they could pursue. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic writes that the club is seeking “at least one” right-handed reliever on the trade market, and adds that they’ve shown interest in Rays closer Pete Fairbanks. Aside from that, it seems as though the Dodgers have at least some cursory interest in dabbling in the rotation market, with MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reporting that L.A. brass has spoken to Cleveland about right-hander Shane Bieber.

Fairbanks, 31, has a 20.2% strikeout rate that’s down relative to previous years but hasn’t seen his results impacted as he’s pitched to a 2.75 ERA and 2.89 FIP. His solid 47.8% ground ball rate helps to explain that to some extent, although some advanced metrics are still skeptical considering that his 3.98 SIERA this year is the worst of his career. With that being said, Fairbanks had a 34.1% strikeout rate and a 2.66 ERA over a four year stretch from 2020 to 2023, and given that he’s just two years removed from those heights it would hardly be surprising if some suitors hope to unlock that elite production from him again in the future. Further helping Fairbanks’s value is that he’s controllable through the 2026 season by way of a club option valued at $7MM.

That combination of strong recent results, an impressive track record, and additional team control beyond this season has made Fairbanks a hot commodity on the trade market. The Rangers and Cubs have both been directly connected to him in recent days in addition to the Dodgers, while a number of other teams like the Phillies, Blue Jays, and Tigers are known to be on the prowl for bullpen help. With that said, there’s reason to wonder if the Dodgers might bow out if the market gets too hot on Fairbanks. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic notes that the Dodgers are not currently in the “high-end” relief market. With that being said, Rosenthal specifically mentions Twins closer Jhoan Duran and A’s closer Mason Miller. Both Duran and Miller are even more well-regarded than Fairbanks while also coming with more team control, so it’s entirely possible that Fairbanks is someone the Dodgers would still be willing to pay a relative premium given that his acquisition cost would likely still be incomparable to the likes of Duran and Miller.

Moving on to Bieber, the Guardians are known to be “trying to move” the right-hander. He’s not yet pitched this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery early in the 2024 season, but figures to be ready to pitch at some point in August. A former Cy Young award winner with a 2.91 ERA and 2.96 FIP since the start of the 2020 season, Bieber is a legitimate front-of-the-rotation starter when healthy and could offer a huge boost to any club down the stretch and into the playoffs this year. The Cubs have been connected to Bieber already in the rumor mill, and a number of other teams like the Yankees and Blue Jays would also make sense for his services. A $16M player option ($4M buyout) for the 2026 season could complicate negotiations in theory, but it’s extremely unlikely that Bieber would exercise an option at that price point barring a significant injury given the ability of starters with his upside and track record to command far more than that even when coming off poor seasons.

The Dodgers are nonetheless a somewhat curious fit for his services given that they already have a stacked rotation that features Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell along with a bevy of viable back-end depth options. On the other hand, the club had a rash of injuries that left them struggling to field a full rotation earlier this year, and after suffering that same fate in the playoffs last season it would be understandable if the club decided to add yet another high-end arm to the mix in order to safeguard themselves ahead of a postseason where they’ll be looking to defend their World Series title. Los Angeles already has six MLB starters on the 60-day injured list, and while Snell is expected to be activated in the near future that just goes to demonstrate the fragility of modern pitchers and the importance of having excess depth.

Dodgers Promote Alex Freeland, Place Hyeseong Kim On 10-Day IL

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TODAY: The Dodgers officially selected Freeland’s contract, and placed Kim on the 10-day injured list in the corresponding move.  Kim is dealing with bursitis in his left shoulder, and manager Dave Roberts said over the weekend that Kim had been dealing with shoulder discomfort for about a week.

JULY 28: The Dodgers are calling up top infield prospect Alex Freeland, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. They already have an opening on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need a corresponding active roster move.

Freeland, 23, ranks third among Dodger farmhands at MLB Pipeline and sixth at Baseball America. A switch-hitter who mostly divides his time between shortstop and third base, Freeland has raised his stock since being selected in the third round of the 2022 draft. The University of Central Florida product has hit .253/.372/.416 across four minor league seasons. That’s almost an exact match for this year’s .253/.377/.421 showing over 453 plate appearances at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Evaluators praise Freeland’s advanced strike zone discipline. He has walked at a massive 16.6% rate while very rarely expanding the zone in Triple-A. He takes a lot of strikes as well, leading to deep counts and slightly elevated strikeout rates despite relatively few whiffs. Freeland has shown solid bat speed. He hit 18 homers a year ago and has connected on 12 longballs and 26 doubles this season. His Triple-A exit velocities are strong as well.

Freeland is viewed as more of a solid athlete than a spectacular one. Many scouts believe he fits better at third base than shortstop as a result. Third base is obviously the much cleaner positional fit for his first MLB action. Since the Dodgers lost Max Muncy to the injured list on July 3, their third basemen have hit .203/.261/.359 in 70 plate appearances. Most of that falls on Tommy Edman, who has been mired in a three-month slump after an excellent April. Edman is capable of playing plus defense almost anywhere on the diamond, so he’ll remain a regular lineup presence. That could come more at second base, where Hyeseong Kim is hitting .204/.218/.222 this month.

Muncy is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment tomorrow. That’ll put him in position to return to MLB action not long after the trade deadline. It’s unlikely the Dodgers would’ve called Freeland up if they anticipated sending him back down in a week or two. Even after Muncy reclaims the third base job, Freeland could stick as a multi-positional bench bat who plays three or four times a week. The Dodgers have gotten rookie catcher Dalton Rushing his first MLB action in that type of role.

Blue Jays, Dodgers Among Teams Interested In Steven Kwan

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Steven Kwan is getting “a ton” of interest as the trade deadline approaches, as a source tells The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.  The Dodgers and Blue Jays are two of the teams linked to the Guardians outfielder, with Rosenthal also citing the previously reported interest from the Phillies and Padres.

Kwan is having another strong season, with a .287/.351/.411 slash line in 443 plate appearances along with nine home runs and 11 steals (in 13 attempts).  This translates to a 115 wRC+ that is below the 131 wRC+ Kwan posted in 2024, though his bat has started to come alive after a lengthy slump that stretched through June and into early July.  Kwan’s usually Gold Glove-caliber left field glovework is also down to a -1 in the view of the Outs Above Average metric, but the Defensive Runs Saved metric still has him at an elite +13 over 853 2/3 innings in left field.

A drop in walk rate could explain some of the slight offensive decline, as Kwan’s BB% is roughly league-average after being solidly in the 65th percentile or better over his first three MLB seasons.  However, the book on Kwan is pretty set at this point.  Kwan almost never strikes out, and thus his sheer volume of contact and quality speed has allowed him to be a plus offensive player despite having very little power and a distinct lack of hard contact.

Between this production and the fact that Kwan is arbitration-controlled through the 2028 season, it is easy to see why so many contenders are checking in on his availability.  As Rosenthal notes, a case can be made that Kwan would be the best all-around position player available at the deadline, provided that the Guards were actually willing to part with him.

Cleveland has dropped to 52-54, and sit nine games behind the Tigers for first place in the AL Central and four games back of the Red Sox for the final AL wild card slot.  The Guards were further rocked by yesterday’s news that Emmanuel Clase has been placed on administrative leave due to a league investigation related to sports betting.  With Clase now off the table as a potential trade candidate and unavailable on the mound until at least August 31, Rosenthal feels the situation “ended any chance of the Guardians becoming a buyer” at the deadline and could make the team open to increased selling.

[Related: Cleveland Guardians Trade Deadline Outlook]

This may mean the Guards could shop not just their impending free agents, but more controllable assets like Kwan.  Since there’s no direct urgency for Kwan to be moved now (rather than at a later date in his team control), Cleveland can afford to be very choosy in offers, and will naturally set a very high asking price.

The Blue Jays and Guardians have lined up on multiple significant deals in recent years, which could perhaps increase Toronto’s chances of lining up on a Kwan trade.  Kwan would step right into an everyday left field role and bolster a Jays outfield that has been somewhat diminished by injuries to Anthony Santander and Daulton Varsho, as well as George Springer getting an increasingly heavy share of DH duties.

Toronto’s collection of outfielders (Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider, Joey Loperfido, Alan Roden, and former Guardian Myles Straw) have mostly been quite good in filling in, and helping carry the Jays to first place in the AL East.  It stands to reason that Cleveland would have interest in some of the younger and more controllable outfielders to help its own outfield situation, which has been a longstanding weak link for the Guards even with Kwan’s strong performance over the last four years.  But, Barger is the only member of this group that would be a viable headliner in a Kwan trade package, as the Guardians would likely ask for at least one of top prospects Arjun Nimmala or Trey Yesavage.

Los Angeles has a significantly deeper farm system than Toronto or almost any other team, so if it came down to a pure bidding war of young talent, the Dodgers are in good position to beat the market on Kwan.  If a trade took place, the Dodgers would have a starting outfield of Kwan in left field, Andy Pages in center field, and Teoscar Hernandez in right, with Tommy Edman, Michael Conforto, James Outman, Esteury Ruiz, and (when healthy) Enrique Hernandez providing support in backup roles.

The clearest odd man out of this playing-time scenario would be Conforto, who has been swinging the bat well over the last few weeks but has struggles for much of the season.  Adding Kwan could mean that Conforto is sent elsewhere in another trade, though probably not to Cleveland as part of a hypothetical Kwan trade package.

Roberts: “Don’t See A World” In Which Dodgers Trade Dalton Rushing

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts strongly downplayed the idea that the team would move rookie catcher Dalton Rushing before Thursday’s deadline. MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported last week that the Red Sox were showing interest in the 24-year-old catcher, who’d certainly have been a target of multiple clubs if the Dodgers were willing to trade him.

“I haven’t talked to Dalton (about the trade speculation),” Roberts said on Monday (link via Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register). “I just don’t see a world in which he’s moved anyway, and I think he’s smart enough to realize that.” That aligns with reporting from Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, who wrote last week that the Dodgers aren’t inclined to trade either Rushing or infield prospect Alex Freeland — who is expected to come up for his MLB debut tomorrow.

Rushing entered the season as L.A.’s best minor league talent and a top 20 overall prospect at Baseball America. Teams are loath to part with prospects of that caliber. To the extent that there was chatter about the Dodgers potentially dealing Rushing, it came from a question of playing time. Will Smith is locked in as L.A.’s primary catcher for a decade. That didn’t stop the Dodgers from calling Rushing up in the middle of May. They haven’t given him starts anywhere other than catcher in the big leagues, seemingly preferring not to overload him with defensive responsibility as he adjusts to facing pitching at the highest level.

The lefty-hitting Rushing has started slowly, batting .200/.270/.275 while striking out 36 times in his first 89 MLB plate appearances. That’s a tiny sample in only semi-regular playing time that seemingly hasn’t given the Dodgers any pause about his offensive upside. The former second-round pick has a .289/.409/.512 slash in 301 career Triple-A plate appearances. Rushing has a full slate of minor league options, so the Dodgers have the ability to send him back to Triple-A if they decide to turn to a more experienced backup at some point.

Dodgers Notes: Snell, Ohtani, Rotation, Miller, Treinen

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Blake Snell threw 76 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday, and it would appear as though this fourth rehab outing will also be the left-hander’s last.  Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) that Snell will be activated from the 60-day injured list this week, and the club will move to a six-man rotation.

It has been a long road back for Snell, who appeared in just two games for L.A. before shoulder inflammation put him on the shelf in the first week of April.  Some renewed soreness in the later part of April led to both an injection in Snell’s shoulder and a shutdown from throwing, which led to this lengthy stint on first the 15-day and eventually the 60-day IL.

The lingering shoulder problem is the latest setback in Snell’s checkered injury history, adding to his reputation as something of an all-or-nothing pitcher.  When Snell is healthy and available, there are few (if any) better pitchers in the game, as evidenced by Snell’s two Cy Young Awards and his tendency to catch fire in later in the season.  As we saw just last season with the Giants, Snell battled injuries and ineffectiveness in the first three months of the 2024 campaign before delivering an absurd 1.23 ERA in his final 14 starts and 80 1/3 innings of action.

Time will tell if Snell can deliver anything close to that in his return to the Los Angeles rotation, but his impending return should be a nice boost to a Dodgers pitching staff that has been crushed by injuries all year.  The move to the six-man rotation reflects this improved rotation health, and the club’s desire to manage everyone’s innings in an attempt to preserve the starters’ arms over the rest of the season and through October.  If all goes well, the staff will consist of Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and one of Dustin May or Emmet Sheehan.

This isn’t the first time the Dodgers adopted a six-man rotation, and the ragged nature of the team’s pitching health has already led to a pretty irregular deployment of the starters.  There’s also the Ohtani factor, as the two-way star is still slowly building up his innings.  Ohtani has tossed three frames in each of his last two starts, with May and Sheehan working as piggyback starters in support.

Ohtani is now expected to pitch four innings for his next two starts, Roberts said, so the team will be setting aside the piggyback plan for now.  This doesn’t mean Ohtani is going to be viewed as a regular starter per se, as Roberts explained.  “We’re not going to have the reins off where we’re going to say, ’Hey, you can go 110 pitches.’  I don’t see that happening for quite some time,” the skipper said.  “So I think that staying at four [innings] for a bit, to then build up to five and we’ll see where we go from there.”

Ohtani’s next two starts will come on Wednesday against the Reds, and then on August 6 against the Cardinals.  Notably, the Dodgers don’t play on either of the days following Ohtani’s two scheduled starts, as Roberts said the intent is to give Ohtani some built-in recovery time following his pitching outings before returning to his usual DH duty.

There is still plenty of fluidity in the six-man rotation plan, so Roberts didn’t want to commit to stating which of May or Sheehan could be remaining in the rotation and which might be moved to bullpen duty.  Describing the Dodgers’ pitching depth as a surplus is probably misleading given how more injuries could arise at any time, yet Los Angeles is addressing its number of starters at the Triple-A level by moving Bobby Miller from rotation duty to a relief job.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported yesterday about Miller’s role change, and Roberts confirmed the plan today.  “I think that this might be something that unlocks him.  Going hard for a shorter period of time, to get some confidence for him, which could help us here,” Roberts said.

Selected 29th overall by the Dodgers in the 2020 draft, Miller posted a 3.76 ERA over 22 starts and 124 1/3 innings in his 2023 rookie season, but that promising beginning gave way to an 8.85 ERA in 61 big league innings since Opening Day 2024.  Shoulder problems cost Miller two months of the 2024 season but his struggles have continued into this year, including a 5.58 ERA at Triple-A Oklahoma City and continued control issues.  Miller’s walk rate (15.4%) is almost as high as his strikeout rate (17.9%) over his rough 69 1/3 Triple-A frames this year.

Returning to the Major League bullpen mix, the Dodgers welcomed Blake Treinen back from the 60-day injured list today.  Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was also called up from Triple-A, while righties Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein were optioned to Oklahoma City.

Treinen posted a 3.38 ERA over eight relief innings for Los Angeles before right forearm tightness led to almost three and a half months on the sidelines.  While the veteran’s health is still a concern given his significant injury history, Treinen was a major bullpen weapon for the Dodgers as recently as last year, when he posted a 1.93 ERA over 46 2/3 innings in the regular season, and then a 2.19 ERA in 12 1/3 postseason frames.  His return won’t halt the Dodgers’ plan to acquire more high-leverage bullpen help at the deadline, but Treinen could help the club fulfill part of that need from within.

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