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Nationals Claim Julian Fernandez

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The Nationals have claimed right-hander Julian Fernandez off waivers from the Dodgers, per a club announcement. The Nationals had a 40-man roster vacancy and optioned Fernandez to Triple-A Rochester, so no corresponding moves were necessary. Fernandez had been designated for assignment by the Dodgers last week to make room for Buddy Kennedy on their 40-man roster.

Fernandez, 29, made his big league debut with the Rockies back in 2021. He surrendered eight runs on nine hits (including two homers) and four walks while striking out four in 6 2/3 innings of work during that brief cup of coffee, however, and was quickly sent back to the minors. Fernandez spent 2022 at the minor league level with the Rockies before signing a minor league contract with the Blue Jays. Getting out of the Rockies organization didn’t help much, however, as he posted a 10.61 ERA in 9 1/3 innings of work for the club’s Buffalo affiliate.

After 2023, Fernandez departed affiliated ball and pitched for the Mexican League’s El Aguila de Veracruz. He pitched extremely well for Veracruz, with a 1.82 ERA in 34 2/3 innings of work. He struck out 32.1% of his opponents while walking just 9.0%, and that was enough to get the Dodgers’ attention this past offseason. He signed with L.A. on a minor league deal and began the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He pitched quite well for that affiliate, with a 3.05 ERA in 35 outings made all the more impressive by the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. His 28.7% strikeout rate wasn’t quite as high as it was with Veracruz, but an 8.8% walk rate was actually even better than in the Mexican League.

That was enough to earn Fernandez a call-up to the majors last month, though it proved to be a brief one. He made a single, two-inning appearance with Los Angeles where he surrendered two runs on two hits (one homer) and a walk while striking out one. The Dodgers optioned Fernandez to the minors where he continued to find success at Triple-A, but he was eventually squeezed off the club’s roster and now finds himself headed to D.C. after being plucked off waivers by the Nationals.

With Washington, Fernandez figures to get a more extended big league opportunity. The Nats shipped out a number of big league relief arms ahead of the deadline (including closer Kyle Finnegan), and now Fernandez joins a very unproven bullpen mix where he should get plenty of opportunities to prove himself capable of holding down a big league job. If Fernandez can establish himself with the Nationals down the stretch, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club hold onto him as they look to rebuild their bullpen for 2026 and beyond.

Poll: Can The Padres Hold Onto The NL West?

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It’s been a big week for baseball in California. After the Padres swept the Giants and the Angels swept the Dodgers, a new leader stood atop the NL West. The Padres had claimed sole possession of first, while the Dodgers slipped into second, one game back of San Diego. The playoff odds will tell you that the Dodgers remain the favorites, but they’re losing momentum. According to FanGraphs, the Dodgers had an 83.8% chance to win their division on Opening Day, while the Padres’ odds were a mere 3.8%. As recently as three weeks ago, L.A.’s odds reached 96.6%, while San Diego’s sat at 1.5%. Yet, the Padres have since won 14 of their last 18 games, while the Dodgers are 8-10 in the same span. Accordingly, FanGraphs now has L.A.’s odds just below two-thirds (63.8%) and San Diego’s just above one-third (36.1%). You can think of it this way: These odds mean the Padres are now about as likely to win the NL West as the White Sox (.364 winning percentage) are to win on any given day. It’s still not likely, but it’s more than possible. The White Sox, as bad as they are, have still won 44 games.

This big week of California baseball will continue into the weekend, as the Dodgers host the Padres for a three-game set at Chavez Ravine. With a series win, the Dodgers would secure the season series tiebreaker, which could prove critical in a close division race. A sweep would give them sole possession of first place once again. Conversely, for the Padres, a series win would keep their chances of winning the tiebreaker alive, while a sweep would give them a four-game cushion over their rivals. With a four-game lead, the Padres would control their own destiny for the 38 games remaining in the regular season; they only have three more against the Dodgers after this weekend.

The Dodgers are lined up to send Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow to the mound. While the team continues to be plagued by injuries – most recently to Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Hyeseong Kim, Tommy Edman, and Brock Stewart – the starting rotation is much stronger with Kershaw, Snell, and Glasnow, as well as Emmet Sheehan and Shohei Ohtani, all healthy at the same time, alongside 2025 All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto. While the Dodgers have seen their playoff odds plummet over the past three weeks, their starting rotation leads the majors in strikeout rate and SIERA in that time. They also rank second in groundball rate and xERA and third in fWAR. All this to say, the Dodgers’ starters, should they stay healthy, will be a strength for this team down the stretch.

As for the Padres, their pitching plans for the weekend became more complicated when Michael King was scratched with knee inflammation, heading back to the IL after only one start. He had just returned from a thoracic nerve issue that kept him out for more than two months. San Diego’s rotation, now more than ever, has a lot of question marks behind Dylan Cease and Nick Pivetta. Yu Darvish has been inconsistent since he made his season debut in July; the former ace is almost 39, and he’s missed a lot of time with injuries in the past few years. Deadline acquisition Nestor Cortes has only made two starts since returning from a four-month IL stint, and he’s yet to make it out of the fifth inning. It’s hard to know what the Padres can expect from him as well. The recently recalled Randy Vásquez is a great backup plan for King – he’s a much more established sixth starter than most teams can boast – but his 5.98 xERA and 5.85 SIERA are huge red flags underlying his 3.93 ERA in 22 starts this season.

Thankfully for the Padres, they have the best bullpen in the league backing up their starting staff. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller bolstered a group that already included Robert Suarez, Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam, and Jeremiah Estrada with flamethrower Mason Miller in a blockbuster deadline trade. The Padres’ bullpen leads the majors with 37 wins, 40 saves, a 2.97 ERA, and 6.7 fWAR, and keep in mind, Miller has only been a part of it for a couple of weeks. As for the Dodgers, they might have a great bullpen if it weren’t missing Scott, Yates, Stewart, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech, and Brusdar Graterol. It would be an exaggeration to call their arm barn a weakness, but one has to imagine that Dave Roberts is a lot less confident than Mike Shildt when it comes time to take his starter out of a game.

It should also be said that Miller and Cortes were far from Preller’s only trade deadline pickups. While Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers didn’t add much – Stewart and outfielder Alex Call were their biggest acquisitions – Preller may have won the deadline. At the very least, he won the deadline in the NL West, according to two-thirds of respondents in a recent MLBTR poll. At 5:01 PM CT on July 31, the newest Padres included Miller, Cortes, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano, JP Sears, Freddy Fermin, and Will Wagner. The Dodgers were still three games up on the Padres at that point, but the Padres were a whole new team, with a deeper bullpen, a stronger rotation, a better catcher, and a more powerful offense against righties and lefties alike. Equally important was their decision to hold onto all of their key contributors who had come up in pre-deadline trade rumors, including Cease and Suarez.

The Dodgers have the better odds, according to both FanGraphs and PECOTA. They also have the better run differential, the higher FanGraphs WAR, and the reputation as the team to beat. After all, they’re the reigning World Series champions. They’ve won the NL West 11 times in the past 12 seasons. Meanwhile, the Padres haven’t won the West in almost 20 years. They haven’t won a pennant since the ’90s. They’ve never won it all. Yet, they’re playing like the better team right now, and they have the one-game lead to prove it. The question is: Can they hold on?

Will the Padres finally usurp the Dodgers in the NL West? Will the Dodgers’ dynasty live on another year? Or could a dark horse in the division pull off a remarkable comeback? Have your say in the poll below!

Dodgers To Place Max Muncy On IL With Oblique Strain, Claim Buddy Kennedy

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The Dodgers have claimed infielder Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Blue Jays, per Dodger Blue. Right-hander Julian Fernández has been designated for assignment as the corresponding 40-man move. Toronto designated Kennedy for assignment last week. Manager Dave Roberts says that Kennedy will jump right onto the active roster as third baseman Max Muncy goes on the 10-day injured list due to a grade 1 oblique strain, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

Muncy was scratched from Wednesday’s lineup due to right side soreness. The club was off yesterday and it seems further testing has determined that he needs at least a bit of a breather. It’s not clear exactly how long that breather will be. “I don’t think anybody expects it to be season-ending, but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later,” Roberts said, per Alden González of ESPN.

It’s an unfortunate development for the Dodgers. It’s been a real up-and-down season for Muncy but he’s been in good form lately. He started the year ice cold, slashing .190/.313/.286 through May 12th. Since then, he’s been red hot, hitting .314/.447/.660. That heater was interrupted by a monthlong stint on the IL due to a bone bruise in his left knee but that didn’t slow down his production. He came off the IL a little over a week ago and produced a .348/.531/.870 line in eight games between IL stints.

Despite Muncy’s production, the Dodgers have been in a bit of a skid lately. They went 10-14 in July and are 5-7 so far in August. Meanwhile, the Padres have gone on a tear and have taken over the lead in the American League West. The two clubs start a series against each other in Los Angeles tonight. Losing one of their hottest hitters is obviously less than ideal for the Dodgers as they move into the stretch run. Ideally, Muncy can return fairly quickly but oblique injuries are notoriously difficult.

It’s also not great when considering the club’s larger infield picture. Enrique Hernández, Tommy Edman and Hyeseong Kim are also on the IL, leaving the club a bit thin in that department. Alex Freeland will likely step in as the regular third baseman with Miguel Rojas taking over the keystone. The only healthy position player on the 40-man roster who is on optional assignment is outfielder Esteury Ruiz.

Claiming Kennedy gives the Dodgers a bench infielder, something they would have otherwise lacked. The 26-year-old has plenty of intriguing numbers in the minors but hasn’t yet clicked in the majors. That has led to him exhausting his options, which has pushed him into journeyman territory. Over the past few years, he has suited up for the Diamondbacks, Tigers, Phillies and Blue Jays. He has stepped to the plate 163 times scattered over the four most recent seasons but with just a .193/.288/.300 line to show for it.

As mentioned, his minor league work has been better. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has 1,262 Triple-A plate appearances. His 13.9% walk rate and 17.1% strikeout rate in that time are both solid figures. He produced a combined .284/.395/.443 line and 116 wRC+ over that span while playing all four infield spots and a bit of left field as well. Since he’s out of options, he may only hold his roster spot for as long as it takes for someone else to come off the IL. But he was out there on the wire when they needed an infielder, so he’ll get a shot with the Dodgers now.

Fernández, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason. He was selected to the 40-man roster on July 7th. He pitched two innings that day, allowing two earned runs, and was optioned back down to Triple-A the next day.

His major league track record is still limited, as he had just six appearances prior to his one with the Dodgers this year, but he’s been in good form in Triple-A this season. He has tossed 41 1/3 innings with the Oklahoma City Comets, pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, with a 3.05 earned run average, 8.8% walk rate and 28.7% strikeout rate.

With the trade deadline having passed, Fernández will end up on waivers. He can still be optioned for the rest of this year and one additional season. Given his numbers this year and the fact that he can be stashed in the minors, it’s possible he gets claimed in the coming week by a club in search of extra bullpen depth.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

Brusdar Graterol Unlikely To Return In 2025

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Flamethrowing Dodgers setup man Brusdar Graterol underwent shoulder surgery back in November and hoped to be able to pitch in the season’s second half, but manager Dave Roberts indicated to the Dodger beat yesterday that the big right-hander’s chances of making it back to a big league mound in 2025 are slim (link via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times). Graterol is with the team’s staff at their spring complex in Arizona but has not yet resumed throwing a ball, with just over six weeks of the season left.

It’s been a discouraging couple years for the 26-year-old Graterol, whom the Dodgers acquired in a 2020 trade that sent righty Kenta Maeda to the Twins. Graterol was one of Minnesota’s top young arms at the time, but the Twins felt comfortable dealing him due to the remaining four years on Maeda’s contract and perhaps in part due to concerns about shoulder troubles with Graterol.

Early on, it looked like a win-win for both parties. Maeda was the AL Cy Young runner-up in the shortened 2020 season. Graterol immediately seized an important role in manager Dave Roberts’ bullpen. Injuries to both pitchers would significantly cut their workload with their new clubs, however.

From 2020-23, Graterol pitched 173 2/3 innings of 2.69 ERA ball for the Dodgers. He’s never missed bats the way one might expect from a pitcher who sits 99 mph with his sinker and regularly ramps it up into triple-digit territory, but the big righty is also one of the sport’s premier ground-ball pitchers. During that 2020-23 peak, he fanned just 18.9% of his opponents but also turned in a terrific 5.5% walk rate and an elite 62.5% ground-ball rate.

Strong as the results were in that time, Graterol was also on the injured list five different times for elbow or shoulder troubles with the Dodgers before finally undergoing surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. He pitched just 7 1/3 innings last year and seemingly won’t get back on the mound in 2025.

Graterol is being paid $2.8MM this season and is under club control via arbitration for one more year. Arb-eligible players who miss an entire season due to injury typically agree to sign for the same amount the following year, assuming they’re tendered a contract. Given Graterol’s strong results when healthy and minimal cost to the deep-pocketed Dodgers, they’ll likely retain him and hope for a healthy year in 2026 (assuming there haven’t been any notable setbacks in his rehab).

It’s not all bad news with regard to the Dodger bullpen, however. Roberts told reporters last night that righty Michael Kopech will begin a minor league rehab assignment today (link via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya). Kopech opened the 2025 season on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement that ultimately sent him to the 60-day IL. He returned in June and came roaring out of the gates with seven shutout frames, but something was clearly off in his final appearance, as he walked three of the four batters he faced before being lifted and placed on the injured list to inflammation in his knee.

Kopech initially downplayed the severity, but once the inflammation subsided, imaging revealed a torn meniscus. He underwent surgery and was quickly transferred back to the 60-day IL. He’s been on the injured list since July 1, so Kopech isn’t eligible to be activated until the very end of the month. It’s encouraging that he’s already setting out on a rehab stint, as he’ll have a runway of more than two weeks to build up before he’s first eligible to return.

Tony Gonsolin Undergoes Internal Brace Surgery

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Tony Gonsolin underwent internal brace and flexor repair surgery today, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times). According to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Friedman described the procedure as “a Tommy John revision with a flexor cleanup” but clarified that it was not a full Tommy John. Gonsolin will need approximately eight to 10 months to recover. The right-hander has been on the 60-day injured list since mid-June. With less than seven weeks to go in the regular season, it already seemed unlikely that Gonsolin would return, and today’s news confirms he will be out until 2026.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023 and missing all of 2024 recovering, Gonsolin landed on the shelf again this past spring with a back injury. He finally made his return at the end of April and gave the Dodgers seven starts through early June, pitching to a 5.00 ERA. His 4.33 SIERA was better, but his walk rate (11.5%) and hard-hit rate (44.9%) were concerning. His velocity was back up to where it was in his strong 2022 season (2.14 ERA, 3.74 SIERA in 24 starts), but his results were a lot closer to his disappointing 2023 campaign (4.98 ERA, 5.05 SIERA in 20 starts).

The Dodgers would surely love to see Gonsolin rediscover what made him so successful from 2019-22. Over his first four MLB seasons, he pitched to a 2.51 ERA in 272 2/3 frames. Yet, his stuff was never all that intimidating, and his underlying metrics were never as impressive as his ERA. He posted a 4.04 SIERA in that same span, and the pitch modeling metrics Stuff+ and PitchingBot graded both his raw stuff and his command as below average. He also developed an injury-prone reputation even before his Tommy John, as he missed significant time with a ribcage injury, shoulder inflammation, a forearm strain, and a sprained ankle at various points from 2019-23. In other words, despite his former top-prospect status and early-career success, Gonsolin just might not be a true top-of-the-rotation arm.

So, while officially losing Gonsolin for the season hurts the Dodgers’ depth, and while they certainly could have used him at times over the past two months, it’s worth wondering if the team would have even had a place for him if he were able to return later this year. The Dodgers have suffered an enormous number of pitching injuries, but currently, their starting rotation is a six-man group featuring Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, and Emmet Sheehan. The only one of those six Gonsolin could have possibly replaced is Sheehan, but Sheehan has pitched quite well this season, with a 3.00 ERA and 4.01 SIERA in 30 innings entering play tonight. Rookie Roki Sasaki is also on his way back from a shoulder impingement that’s cost him much of the year. He’s hoping to return by early September, if not before (per MLB.com’s Sonja Chen).

Regardless, that’s a moot point now. Gonsolin will be out until next April at the earliest, and quite possibly a couple of months longer. He’ll be in his age-32 season by then, still having never had the chance to establish himself over a full, healthy MLB season. Suffice it to say, it’s anyone’s guess what the Dodgers can expect from him upon his return from the second major elbow surgery of his career.

Dodgers Outright Luken Baker

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First baseman Luken Baker has been sent outright to triple-A Oklahoma City, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after the Dodgers designated him for assignment last week.

Baker, 28, is a fairly limited player. His only defensive position is first base and he’s not a burner on the basepaths. He has demonstrated some notable skills with the bat but he is having a down year.

Over the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, Baker stepped to the plate 832 times at the Triple-A level. He hit 65 home runs in that time. His 22.4% strikeout rate was around average and his 15.1% walk rate was quite strong. That led to a combined .278/.388/.619 batting line and 147 wRC+.

However, he hasn’t been able to bring much of that up to the big leagues. He has only been given 189 major league plate appearances, with a .206/.317/.338 line in those. This year, he’s been struggling in the minors as well, with a .197/.311/.399 line. Part of that might be a .233 batting average on balls in play. His 13.7% walk rate is still strong and he has hit ten long balls.

Even if there is some bad luck, the trend lines aren’t great for Baker. He’s a 28-year-old who still hasn’t clicked in the show. He is in his final option year, meaning he’ll be out of options in 2026. The Cards tried to pass him through waivers a week ago, even though they didn’t need to open a roster spot. The Dodgers grabbed him but quickly put him back on waivers. The 29 other clubs all passed on the chance to grab Baker off the wire.

Baker has less than three years of service time and this is his first career outright. That means he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He’ll have to report to the Comets and will provide the Dodgers with some non-roster depth. His path back to the big leagues isn’t great, with the Dodgers having Freddie Freeman at first and Shohei Ohtani in the designated hitter spot. Baker will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if not added back onto the 40-man.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/9/25

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Leading up to the trade deadline, dozens of moves were made. In the wake of those trades, several players were designated for assignment. Here are the results of a few recent DFAs which MLBTR hasn’t yet covered…

  • Right-hander Sean Hjelle has been sent outright to Triple-A Sacramento, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment by the Giants when they traded Tyler Rogers to the Mets. Two of the players the Giants received, José Buttó and Blade Tidwell, required 40-man roster spots. The departure of Rogers opened one spot, with Hjelle DFA’d to open another. This was Hjelle’s first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, meaning he didn’t have the right to elect free agency. He will give the Giants non-roster depth and try to earn his way back to the majors. His Triple-A numbers have been good this year, having tossed 41 2/3 innings with a 2.81 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 52.7% ground ball rate.
  • Left-hander Zach Penrod has been outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment by the Dodgers when left-hander Blake Snell was reinstated from the 60-day injured list. This was his first career outright and he has less than three years of big league service time, meaning he had to accept the assignment. Penrod was just acquired from the Red Sox in a DFA trade in June and was kept on optional assignment, so he still hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers in the majors.
  • Right-hander Connor Gillispie has been outrighted to Triple-A St. Paul, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Twins in late July when Michael Tonkin was selected. This was Gillispie’s first career outright and he has less than three years of big league service time, meaning he had to accept the assignment. He reported to the Saints but they put him on the minor league injured list a few days later. It’s unclear what his current health status is but he hasn’t pitched since July 27th.
  • Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb is back with the Tigers on a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment in late July when Detroit signed Luke Jackson. Hartlieb cleared waivers and elected free agency, which was his right as a player with a previous career outright, but reunited with the Tigers on a new minor league deal. He has a 7.95 career ERA in the majors but better minor league numbers. He has tossed 41 Triple-A innings this year with a 3.29 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 40.6% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images

Alex Wood Announces Retirement

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Alex Wood announced his retirement in a social media post on Friday afternoon. The 34-year-old southpaw steps away after an MLB career that spanned parts of 12 seasons and included an All-Star nod and a World Series title.

“For over half my life, every decision I’ve made has centered around how it would impact my baseball career. I’ve given every ounce of myself in pursuit of my lifelong dream of becoming a big leaguer. Playing 12 years in the show, reaching seven postseasons, winning a World Series, and earning an All-Star selection — I never could’ve imagined it would turn out this way,” Wood wrote.

“Baseball was my first love. Outside of God and my family, nothing else has shaped me the way this game has. Even writing this, I can’t help but smile thinking about how much I still love the game after all this time.” Wood goes on to thank his teammates, coaches, former teams, family and agents in a statement that readers can see in the post.

Wood attended the University of Georgia and was a second-round pick by the Braves in 2012. He was in the big leagues less than a year later. Wood turned in a 3.13 ERA in 77 2/3 innings in a swing role during the ’13 season. He helped the Braves to a 96-win season and an NL East title, making his first two playoff appearances in a Division Series loss to the Dodgers. He posted a 2.78 ERA across 171 2/3 innings a year later, seemingly establishing himself as a long-term rotation piece in Atlanta.

That’s not how things played out. Wood was carrying a 3.54 ERA over 20 starts the following year when the Braves made the regrettable decision to send him to the Dodgers in a 13-player, three-team trade to get then-prospect Hector Olivera. (Olivera went on to bat .245 in 30 major league games before a suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy ended his career.) Wood dealt with a few injuries but had a strong run in Los Angeles, highlighted by a career year in 2017.

That season, the southpaw won a career-high 16 games while posting a 2.72 earned run average in 27 regular season appearances. Wood earned his lone All-Star nod and finished ninth in NL Cy Young voting. He added 12 1/3 frames of four-run ball with 13 strikeouts in the postseason. It was the first of consecutive seasons in which he played a big role in the Dodgers winning the pennant. They returned to the Fall Classic in 2018, a season in which Wood recorded a 3.68 ERA over 151 2/3 innings.

Wood’s first stint in Dodger blue ended after their second straight World Series defeat. Los Angeles packaged him alongside Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and Kyle Farmer to the Reds for prospects Josiah Gray and Jeter Downs (whom they’d later include in respective trades for Max Scherzer/Trea Turner and Mookie Betts). Wood was a rental, and his only season in Cincinnati was marred by back problems.

He returned to L.A. the following winter on a buy-low $4MM free agent pact. Shoulder trouble combined with the shortened schedule limited him to 12 2/3 regular season innings, but Wood contributed 6 2/3 frames of one-run ball in October as the Dodgers went on to win the World Series. He signed with the Giants on a $3MM contract that winter. That proved an adept pickup, as Wood was able to make 26 starts while working to a 3.83 ERA for San Francisco’s shocking 107-win team. He worked 4 2/3 scoreless against the Dodgers in his lone playoff start, though the Giants came up just short in a five-game Division Series.

Wood re-signed with San Francisco on a two-year, $25MM free agent deal that didn’t pan out. He had an ERA north of 5.00 in 2022 and struggled with injuries the following season. He gave it another go on an $8.5MM contract with the A’s last year. His body again couldn’t hold up, as he only made nine starts before suffering a rotator cuff injury that required season-ending surgery. It’s an unfortunate ending but hardly diminishes Wood’s overall body of work.

He tallied more than 1200 innings with a 3.78 ERA between five teams. Wood won 77 games and recorded more than 1100 strikeouts. He was a solid playoff performer as well, posting a 3.11 mark in 37 2/3 innings divided across seven seasons. Injuries limited the volume, especially later in his career, but Wood was a quality mid-rotation starter when healthy throughout his 20s. He has a World Series ring and collected over $60MM in earnings, according to Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates Wood on an impressive career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Dodgers Designate Luken Baker For Assignment

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The Dodgers have designated first baseman Luken Baker for assignment, per a team announcement. He’d been claimed off waivers from the Cardinals just this past Monday. Baker’s spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Justin Dean, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A Oklahoma City is now official. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz was optioned to Triple-A to open an active roster spot for Dean.

Baker, 28, is a 2018 second-rounder who’s posted some big Triple-A numbers at times but has never gotten a real look in the majors. The Cardinals gave him brief auditions each year from 2023-25, but he’s never reached 100 plate appearances in a big league season. He’s totaled 189 trips to the plate and owns a .206/.317/.338 batting line in that time.

Though this year’s minor league production is down — .197/.311/.399 in 270 plate appearances — Baker slugged 32 home runs in 108 Triple-A games in 2024. A year prior, he drilled a whopping 33 home runs in only 84 Triple-A games while batting .334/.439/.720. The Cardinals still never found much of an opportunity for him — not with Paul Goldschmidt entrenched at first base and the combination of Willson Contreras, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman all seeing frequent time at designated hitter (in addition to occasional time there from Goldschmidt).

Baker has immense raw power but has typically hit for low averages, even in Triple-A (excluding that Herculean 2023 performance). He’s played in parts of five seasons at the top minor league level and turned in a .249/.334/.507 slash in that time. This is Baker’s final minor league option year, so while he can be shuttled from Triple-A to the majors freely for the remainder of the year, he’d need to stick on a big league roster beginning on Opening Day next year (unless he’s passed through waivers first). The Dodgers will place Baker on waivers within the next five days.

Dodgers Likely To Select Justin Dean

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The Dodgers are likely to promote outfielder Justin Dean before tomorrow’s series opener with the Blue Jays, reports Dodger Daily. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, L.A. optioned Esteury Ruiz to Triple-A Oklahoma City this evening. That’ll open the necessary active roster spot, but they’ll also need to make a 40-man move to select Dean’s contract.

It’d be the first major league call for the 28-year-old Dean. A product of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, Dean was a 17th-round pick by the Braves in 2018. He doesn’t have huge power in a 5’8″ frame, but he’s a plus runner who can play a good center field. Dean spent seven seasons in the Atlanta system without getting an MLB look. He qualified for minor league free agency last winter and signed a non-roster contract with the Dodgers.

Dean has spent the entire season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He’s hitting .274/.370/.426 with six homers while stealing 25 bases in 32 attempts. The righty batter has taken walks at a strong 12% rate while striking out 23% of the time. He’s chasing fewer pitches outside the strike zone and making a lot more contact than he did last season in the Atlanta system. Dean has logged over 500 innings in center field and added 136 frames in right.

Ruiz had been the last position player on the roster as a speedster off the bench. Dean should provide a superior defensive option in a fifth outfielder role.

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