Roberts: “Don’t See A World” In Which Dodgers Trade Dalton Rushing
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
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.
Dodgers Release Lou Trivino
TODAY: Trivino cleared waivers and he has been released, as per his MLB.com profile page.
JULY 21: The Dodgers designated veteran reliever Lou Trivino for assignment this evening. That creates an active roster spot for Edgardo Henriquez, who was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The team’s 40-man roster count drops to 38.
Trivino signed a minor league contract in the second week of May. The Dodgers called him up a week later. He spent around two months on the roster and pitched fairly well overall, working to a 3.76 ERA through 26 1/3 innings. That came with a well below-average 15.7% strikeout rate, though he showed good control and did well at avoiding hard contact.
The Dodgers leaned heavily on the 33-year-old righty during last weekend’s sweep at the hands of the Brewers. Trivino pitched on three straight days and didn’t have his sharpest stuff in any of them. He allowed two hits and a walk while only retiring two batters on Friday. Joey Ortiz took him deep on Saturday. The Dodgers nevertheless called on him again yesterday. He gave up consecutive hits to Eric Haase and Jackson Chourio, struck out William Contreras, then walked Andrew Vaughn. That’ll very likely be his final work as a Dodger.
Los Angeles has five days to try to trade Trivino. It’s likelier that he’ll decline an outright assignment or simply be released this week. Trivino also had a brief run with the Giants earlier in the year. He has a combined 4.42 ERA across 38 2/3 frames in his first year back from consecutive seasons lost to elbow and shoulder injuries.
Joe Kelly To Throw For Dodgers
Right-hander Joe Kelly didn’t sign anywhere this offseason, despite expressing a desire to pitch this year. Per Robert Murray of FanSided, Kelly is going to throw for the Dodgers soon to see if that club is willing to give him a deal.
Kelly, 37, pitched for the Dodgers from 2019 to 2021 and then again from the 2023 deadline until the end of 2024. The first stint was more successful than the second one. From 2019 to 2021, Kelly had a 3.59 earned run average over 105 1/3 innings for the Dodgers. He struck out 26.9% of batters faced and got grounders at a 59.9% clip.
In 2023, he only tossed 10 1/3 innings for the Dodgers, spending some time on the injured list due to forearm inflammation. Last year, right shoulder injuries put him on the IL multiple times. He pitched 32 innings with a 4.78 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and 47.1% ground ball rate. That shoulder prevented him from pitching in the postseason.
Though he wants to come back this year, it doesn’t appear as though he’s given himself a lot of bargaining leverage. He told Foul Territory last month that “If I come back healthy, I’m only playing for one team, and that’s the Dodgers.”
Since he hasn’t been signed, it doesn’t appear as though the Dodgers have been especially interested, though they may be more open to it now. They have recently placed Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips on the IL. Phillips had Tommy John surgery and is done for the year. Kopech had meniscus surgery and is going to be out a while. Scott seems to just have some elbow inflammation but he’s in the early days of his IL stint. Brusdar Graterol still hasn’t pitched this year after undergoing shoulder surgery last year. Blake Treinen just returned from a lengthy IL stint due to forearm tightness.
Those injuries have put the Dodgers in the market for bullpen upgrades ahead of this year’s deadline. Kelly wouldn’t be a sure thing due to his age, recent shoulder troubles and the fact that he hasn’t pitched this year. Even if he signed, he would likely be sent for a ramp-up period in the minors. He wouldn’t solve their bullpen issues and he won’t be the only move they make in that department, but you can never have too much pitching and he wants to play for them. He should be attainable for a low-cost deal, perhaps even a minor league pact.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Dodgers Interested In Harrison Bader
While the Dodgers are widely expected to focus their trade deadline on pursuing high-leverage help in the bullpen, they could also stand to add another bat given the paltry production they’ve received from Michael Conforto (79 wRC+) in left field. They’ve previously been connected to Cardinals super utility man Brendan Donovan, and this morning USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that Los Angeles has interest in another outfield option: Harrison Bader of the Twins.
Bader, 31, has enjoyed his strongest offensive season in years after signing in Minnesota on a one-year deal this past offseason. He’s slashed a strong .250/.332/.435 (115 wRC+) in 92 games for the Twins this year with 12 home runs, nine stolen bases, and excellent outfield defense. The gifted defender has typically been deployed in center field throughout his career, but has primarily played left field this year in deference to Twins franchise face Byron Buxton, an elite center fielder in his own right. Andy Pages is currently patrolling center field for the Dodgers and is performing well on both offense (126 wRC+) and defense, but Bader’s elite glove could push Pages into a corner and Conforto to the bench if acquired.
The addition of Bader would help bolster a rare weak spot in the Dodgers’ daunting lineup. For all the club’s star power and overall offensive ability, its outfield is pedestrian overall. Dodgers outfielders have posted a combined wRC+ of 102 this year (12th in the majors), with 3.3 fWAR (16th in the majors). Adding Bader’s excellent glove and solid bat to the mix would go a long way to help make up for the offensive malaise key contributors like Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, and more recently Freddie Freeman have found themselves in at various points in the season.
Of course, Bader is far from the only player who could theoretically be an upgrade for the Dodgers in the outfield. As previously mentioned, they’ve already been connected to Donovan. A number of other intriguing outfielders are expected to be available this summer as well, including Ramon Laureano of the Orioles, Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox, and Jesus Sanchez of the Marlins. Laureano and Robert (as well as Bader himself) would be particularly strong fits given that their right-handed bats can serve as a solid complement to the lefty Conforto, although even a left-handed outfielder like Sanchez or Mike Tauchman of the White Sox would offer a boost to the club’s production on the grass.
As for Bader, the Dodgers are the first team he’s been explicitly connected to but Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reported yesterday that he’s expected to have a “solid market” this summer as the Twins dangle their rental pieces. Teams like the Phillies, Padres, and Royals are in clear need of outfield help, and perhaps even clubs like the Yankees, Reds and Blue Jays with heavily left-handed outfield options could use another right-handed complement to those existing players as well.
Dodgers, Yankees Among Teams Interested In Brendan Donovan
Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan is drawing trade interest from the Dodgers, Yankees, and multiple other teams, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reports. St. Louis is open to listening to offers, yet a deal may be on the less likely side since Donovan is arbitration-controlled through 2027 and the Cardinals’ “asking price is sky-high” for the All-Star.
Along these same lines, the Cards are prioritizing moving pitchers, namely one of the multiple arms (Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, Steven Matz, or Miles Mikolas) who are eligible for free agency after the season. Erick Fedde is also within that group but the righty is already on waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. When it comes to moving position players, Woo writes that the Cards “will not part with one of their position players unless they are blown away by the offer, and their conversations have not progressed past initial check-ins.” This more limited type of trade discussion extends to Donovan and other position players like Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson, and Lars Nootbaar, who are all “gathering varying levels of interest.”
This is far from the first time Donovan’s name has appeared in trade rumors, and the Yankees’ interest in his services dates back to at least the 2023-24 offseason. The Cardinals’ surplus of multi-positional middle infield types in recent years has naturally made rival teams curious about several of those players, and it was just a year ago at the trade deadline that St. Louis dealt from that group in moving Tommy Edman to the Dodgers. That three-team swap also involving the White Sox ended up being one of the most noteworthy trades of last year’s deadline, given how Edman and Michael Kopech ended up playing key roles in Los Angeles’ World Series championship.
Now in his fourth MLB season, Donovan made an immediate impact from the jump, finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 and winning the first-ever utility Gold Glove. He has remained a consistently steady level of offense while playing primarily against right-handed pitching, and Donovan is batting .293/.360/.428 with nine homers over 423 plate appearances this season. These already solid numbers might not reflect his full offensive capability this year, as Donovan’s .363 xwOBA is better than his .344 wOBA. Donovan doesn’t make much solid contact, but he is one of the league’s harder players to strike out.
Beyond Donovan’s hitting, his ability to play multiple positions makes him particularly valuable to both the Cardinals and any possible trade suitors. The big majority of his playing time has come at second base and in left field, but Donovan has also logged innings at the other three infield positions and in right field.
This defensive versatility and Donovan’s left-handed bat make him more or less an ideal fit for the Dodgers’ needs, as The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya notes that L.A. would indeed like to add a left-handed hitting outfielder to its position-player mix. Donovan’s ability to play second base makes him even more attractive for the Dodgers purposes since if he was used at the keystone, Edman would be utilized more primarily as an outfielder, and Andy Pages would move from center to a corner outfield slot. Max Muncy could be returning from the injured list within a couple of weeks anyway, but Donovan could also help out at the third base position until Muncy is back in action.
Hypothetically, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Los Angeles again try to land both a versatile position player and a reliever from the Cardinals, since Ardaya writes that the Dodgers are still prioritizing bullpen help as their main deadline need. This is pure speculation on my part, but since the Dodgers have also been linked to Helsley’s trade market, L.A. could possibly attempt to pry both Helsley and Donovan away at once. Addressing two needs in a single deal might make the Dodgers a little more open to putting one of their top prospects on the table, as Ardaya wrote earlier this week that L.A. is understandably wary about offering either Dalton Rushing or Alex Freeland in any trade.
New York’s past interest in Donovan notwithstanding, Woo notes that the Yankees may no longer have Donovan on the radar now that Ryan McMahon is wearing the pinstripes. The most recent supporting suggests that the Yankees are now looking to add a right-handed hitter in the wake of acquiring McMahon (a left-handed hitting third baseman) from the Rockies yesterday. It could be that Donovan might now be a luxury for the Yankees only if they were to make some other move in the name of lineup balance, though New York probably shouldn’t be entirely ruled out just because Donovan is still a broad upgrade to the roster as a whole.
Donovan and Nootbaar are both under team control through 2027, Burleson through 2028, and Herrera through 2029. It makes sense that the Cardinals are loath to part with any of these players who may contribute both in the future, and even for the rest of this season, as St. Louis is only 1.5 games back of a wild card slot. Trading an impending free agent pitcher to address another present need is the club’s preferred situation, as the Cards look to be both buying and selling before the July 31 deadline.
Red Sox Interested In Dalton Rushing
The Red Sox have interest in Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing, according to a report from Sean McAdam of MassLive. McAdam also reports that the Dodgers have had a scouting presence at Boston’s High-A affiliate in Greenville to monitor shortstop prospect Franklin Arias and left-handed prospect Brandon Clarke. It’s unknown whether a deal between the two sides is close at this time or what the exact framework of a deal involving Rushing would look like.
Rushing, 24, was a second-round pick by the Dodgers in 2022 and entered the 2025 season as a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport. He slashed a sensational .308/.424/.514 in 31 games at Triple-A Oklahoma City for the Dodgers earlier this year before being promoted to the majors back in May. He’s struggled since that promotion while serving as the backup to Will Smith, with a .216/.280/.297 slash line across 27 games. He’s struck out in a worrisome 41.5% of his plate appearances, but has looked like a capable defensive catcher and has some impressive underlying power numbers including a 12.2% barrel rate.
While Rushing may not be an immediate impact player at this point, he’d be a long-term addition with plenty of upside for the Red Sox who could make up for the loss of Kyle Teel in this past winter’s Garrett Crochet deal. In the short-term, meanwhile, he would surely be an improvement over Connor Wong as the backup to Carlos Narvaez behind the plate in Boston. Wong has had a brutal season in 2025, hitting just .144/.228/.144 across 101 plate appearances. That’s 95% worse than league average by measure of wRC+, and his weak offense has been complemented by middling defense behind the plate. Rushing would provide as much or more defensive value as compared to Wong, with a modestly more valuable bat in the short-term and plenty of long-term room for growth behind the plate both offensively and defensively.
Both prospects McAdam reports the Dodgers have been scouting are extremely well-regarded. Following the graduations of Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer earlier this year, MLB Pipeline rates Arias as the top prospect in Boston’s system while Clarke clocks in as the system’s fourth-best prospect. Baseball America, meanwhile, places Arias fourth and Clarke sixth in the system on a ranking that still includes both Anthony and Mayer. Arias is ranked 34th overall in Pipeline’s top 100 while Clarke is unranked. BA is lower on Franklin (55th overall) but views Clarke as a top-100 talent in his own right as he’s 72nd on their list.
That pair of prospects would be a substantial return if the Dodgers were able to land them both in exchange for Rushing’s services, particularly considering the fact that Rushing is largely blocked by the presence of Smith on a long-term deal. Catching talent is highly sought-after around the league, however, and with other catching-hungry teams like the Rays, Nationals, Guardians, and Mets all potentially on the lookout for help behind the plate it would surely be a competitive market if the Dodgers were to make Rushing available.
That L.A. is scouting some of Boston’s high-end prospects should not necessarily be taken as a sign that a deal is close or especially likely. McAdam suggests that the Dodgers might not be motivated to part with a player on their major league roster to acquire prospects far away from the majors. It wouldn’t be a shock if a club that was willing to offer L.A. immediate help of significance was better positioned to land Rushing, and the Guardians in particular have intriguing pieces they could dangle such as closer Emmanuel Clase and outfielder Steven Kwan, both of whom could make plenty of sense for a Dodgers club that is on the prowl for bullpen help and has gotten minimal production from Michael Conforto in left field. That’s a largely speculative connection, of course, and Rushing by himself surely wouldn’t be enough to land either one of those players.
All that said, it wouldn’t be the first time the Dodgers have dealt a blocked top prospect in exchange for long-term pieces. Prior to the 2024 season, L.A. swapped Michael Busch (and right-hander Yency Almonte) to the Cubs in a deal that landed them outfield prospect Zyhir Hope and left-handed pitching prospect Jackson Ferris. That pair of prospects were not yet consensus top-100 talents and were even farther from the majors then than Arias and Clarke are now, but the deal has certainly paid off for the Dodgers given that Hope is rated as the sport’s #31 prospect by Pipeline while Ferris clocks in at #97. Of course, it must be noted that the Busch trade was an offseason deal, and the urgency associated with the trade deadline could make the Dodgers less incentivized to focus on bolstering their farm system when they’re in the midst of defending their title as the reigning World Series champions.
Dodgers Sign Matt Gorski To Minor League Deal
The Dodgers have signed first baseman/outfielder Matt Gorski to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll presumably report to Triple-A Oklahoma City at some point though his current health status is unknown.
Gorski, 27, got a brief big league stint with the Pirates earlier this year. He was optioned to Triple-A on May 17th. He was placed on the minor league injured list on May 25th with an undisclosed issue. On June 19th, he was transferred to the minor league 60-day IL.
On July 11th, the Pirates added Yohan Ramírez to their roster and Gorski was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so he was released, which allowed him to sign this deal with the Dodgers.
Gorski only hit .195/.214/.390 in the majors but in a small sample of 42 plate appearances. He has naturally put up more impressive numbers in the minors. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has 521 Triple-A plate appearances with 27 home runs, a .261/.319/.521 line and 112 wRC+. He also stole 17 bases, though he was caught nine times as well. Defensively, he has played first base and all three outfield positions.
The Dodgers have Freddie Freeman at first base and Shohei Ohtani in the designated hitter spot. Their outfield mix consists of Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, James Outman and Esteury Ruiz. Conforto and Outman aren’t performing well but the club may shake up the roster at the deadline.
Gorski is likely just depth and might not even be fully healthy at the moment, but there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. He burned his first option year here in 2025 but could still be optioned in two future seasons if he gets a 40-man roster spot down the line.
Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images
Jesse Chavez Announces Retirement
Right-hander Jesse Chavez announced his retirement on Foul Territory today. He was on the Braves’ roster until recently but was designated for assignment a week ago when that club acquired Dane Dunning. Chavez elected free agency after clearing waivers and has apparently decided to hang up his spikes in recent days.
“I don’t think we’re gonna keep going,” Chavez said. “I think this is it, time to turn the page, focus on the next chapter in life and go help all the young kids, all the stuff that I did so they don’t have to take two steps backwards and take those three steps forward.”
Chavez wraps up his career just shy of his 42nd birthday, which is less than a month away. He had an incredibly unique career in terms of the miles he traveled and jerseys he wore over the years. As detailed by Matt Monagan of MLB.com in 2022, Chavez is the most traded player in history, having been flipped ten times.
He was initially drafted by the Cubs in the 39th round of the 2001 draft but decided to go to college. Then the Rangers took him in the 42nd round the year after and got him to sign. The draft is now only 20 rounds in length but was obviously longer back then.
Prior to making it to the majors, he was traded for the first time, getting sent to the Pirates for Kip Wells in 2006. He made his major league debut with that club in 2008, tossing 15 innings with a 6.60 earned run average. He stuck with the Bucs through 2009 but then before the 2010 season was flipped to the Rays for Akinori Iwamura and then to the Braves for Rafael Soriano. His first stint with Atlanta lasted just a few months, as he was traded to the Royals at the deadline alongside Gregor Blanco and Tim Collins for Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth.
He stuck with the Royals through the 2011 season before being put on waivers, when the Blue Jays claimed him. In August of 2012, he was traded to the Athletics in exchange for cash considerations.
At the end of the 2012 season, Chavez still hadn’t had a lot of major league success. He had a 5.99 ERA in 177 1/3 innings. The move to Oakland seemed to work out well for him. In 2013, he tossed 57 1/3 relief innings with a 3.92 ERA. He got stretched out for a rotation role and performed well. He logged 303 innings over the 2014 and 2015 seasons with a 3.83 ERA.
Going into 2016, he was traded back to the Blue Jays, with Liam Hendriks sent the other way. That second stint with the Jays lasted just a few months, as he was flipped to the Dodgers for Mike Bolsinger ahead of the 2016 deadline. Both of those clubs kept in him relief and he had a 4.43 ERA that year.
He reached free agency for the first time ahead of the 2017 season and signed a one-year, $5.8MM deal with the Angels. The Halos stretched him back out but the results weren’t great, with a 5.43 ERA through July. He was moved back to the bullpen and had a slightly better 4.94 ERA the rest of the way.
Going into 2018, he signed a one-year, $1MM deal to return to the Rangers, the first organization he signed with. That turned out to be one of his best seasons. He was traded the Cubs for Tyler Thomas at the deadline and finished that year with a 2.55 ERA. He got to make his first postseason appearance with the Cubs, tossing a scoreless inning in the Wild Card game against the Rockies, but the Cubs ultimately lost in 13 innings.
He returned to free agency and signed with the Rangers yet again, this time on a two-year deal worth $8MM. That deal didn’t work out quite as well, as he posted a 5.21 ERA over those two seasons.
He had to settle for a minor league deal with Atlanta going into 2021, but he showed he still had something left in the tank. He was able to to throw 33 2/3 innings in the majors that year with a 2.14 ERA. He cracked the postseason roster and tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings as Atlanta won it all, getting Chavez a World Series ring.
He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs going into 2022 and got a brief stint on their roster before getting flipped back to Atlanta for Sean Newcomb. A few months later, he and Tucker Davidson were flipped to the Angels for Raisel Iglesias.
In the latter years of his career, he always seemed to wind up back in Atlanta. Even after being traded away in August of 2022, he was back in Atlanta via waivers a few weeks later. Via further minor league deals, he ended up tossing 34 2/3 innings in 2023 with a 1.56 ERA and then 63 1/3 innings last year with a 3.13 ERA. This year, his time on the roster has been more limited, with eight innings and eight earned runs allowed.
In the end, Chavez played in 18 seasons for nine different teams, getting traded ten times. He got into 657 games and tossed 1,142 innings with a 4.27 ERA. He had a 51-66 win-loss record, nine saves and 76 holds. Baseball Reference lists his career earnings above $25MM. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute him on his incredibly long and winding career and wish him the best with the next phase of his life. Based on his comments above, it sounds like maybe he’ll turn up in a coaching role in the future.
Photos courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Tim Heitman and Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Nick Ahmed Announces Retirement
12-year MLB veteran Nick Ahmed has announced his retirement from baseball. Ahmed made the announcement on social media earlier today. A two-time Gold Glove award winner, Ahmed played for the Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Padres, and Rangers during his time in the majors.
“For as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was play baseball,” Ahmed said in his announcement. “I got to live out my childhood dream and play baseball for a very long time! After 15 professional seasons and more than a decade in the big leagues I am officially hanging up my spikes and retiring from playing baseball… I will always love the game of baseball. I am excited for my next chapter and the opportunity to give the best of me to this game we all love!”
The 35-year-old was a second-round pick by Atlanta back in 2011 out of the University of Connecticut. He was traded to Arizona as part of a package that brought back outfielder Justin Upton and infielder Chris Johnson prior to the 2013 season and made his big league debut with the Diamondbacks the following year. He made it into just 25 games that year, but in 2015 he took over for Didi Gregorius as the team’s regular shortstop. Ahmed’s .226/.275/.359 slash line (66 wRC+) in that rookie season wasn’t much to write home about, but he was a standout defender from the jump with +8 Defensive Runs Saved in his rookie season.
Injuries limited Ahmed to just 143 games across the 2016 and ’17 seasons, but he re-emerged in 2018 healthy enough to return to play on a regular basis. That age-28 season saw Ahmed reach his peak. His .234/.290/.411 (85 wRC+) slash line was still below average, but it was nonetheless a marked improvement over previous seasons. More impressive, however, was his growth defensively. Ahmed put up a defensive season for the ages in 2018, with an eye-popping +34 Outs Above Average and +25 Defensive Runs Saved. His glove was by far the most valuable of anyone in baseball that year—not just among shortstops, but at any position. Ahmed followed that brilliant performance up with one that was as good or better in 2019.
While his +17 OAA and +14 DRS weren’t quite as otherworldly as the prior season, they were still elite figures. This time, Ahmed’s strong defense was backed up by roughly league average offense, has he posted a 91 wRC+ and crushed a career-high 19 homers. Ahmed’s strong play continued into the shortened 2020 season, when he posted a 96 wRC+ with his typical excellent defense. From 2018-2020, Ahmed’s 8.9 fWAR was ninth-best among all shortstops and clocked in ahead of players like Carlos Correa and fellow defensive wizard Andrelton Simmons.
Unfortunately for Ahmed, his offense would come crashing back to Earth in 2021, when he posted a 66 wRC+. While his defense remained elite, injuries in 2022 limited him to just 17 games. His offense fell even further in 2023, and come September his defensive value just wasn’t enough to justify his roster spot as the Diamondbacks designated him for assignment to make room for top prospect Jordan Lawlar on the roster and dedicate more playing time to shortstop of the future Geraldo Perdomo. Ahmed split the 2024 season between the Giants, Dodgers, and Padres and appeared in 71 games as a bench piece and injury replacement for his three longtime division rivals before wrapping up his career with a five-game stint as a member of the Rangers this year.
All together, Ahmed appeared in 964 games during his big league career with a .233/.286/.370 slash line. He collected +118 OAA since Statcast began tracking the stat in 2016, a figure that trails on Francisco Lindor across the stat’s history. He also finished his career with +80 DRS, good for 11th overall and second among shortstops since Ahmed made his debut during the 2014 season. MLBTR joins the rest of the baseball world in congratulating Ahmed on a fine career and wishes him all the best in whatever comes next.