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Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim

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The Rays have reinstated infielder Ha-Seong Kim from the 60-day injured list, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Infielder Curtis Mead has been optioned as the corresponding move. The 40-man roster already had a vacancy.

Kim, 29, spent the 2021 to 2024 seasons with the Padres. He didn’t hit much in his first North American season but was a bit above average at the plate in the next three. He slashed a combined .250/.336/.385 from 2022 through 2024, which translated to a wRC+ of 106.

That production made him a very valuable player, when combined with his speed and defense. He also stole 72 bases in 88 tries in that 2022-24 stretch. He played the three positions to the left of first base, with his glovework highly rated at all three spots. Put together, FanGraphs credited him with 10.5 wins above replacement for that span.

He seemed to be trending towards a nice market in the most recent offseason, with some suggesting a nine-figure deal as a possibility, before a shoulder injury intervened. He sustained the injury diving into first base on a pickoff attempt in August of last year. He ultimately underwent surgery in October, which put his 2025 timeline into question. Agent Scott Boras suggested late-April return would be possible. Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller floated a more nebulous “May, June, July” timeline.

That uncertainty naturally impacted his market and it seemed likely he would sign either a one-year deal or a two-year deal with an opt-out. Surprisingly, it was the Rays who ultimately took him off the board. In February, they signed him to a two-year, $29MM deal with a $13MM salary this year and $16MM next year, though with Kim having the opportunity to opt out after the first season.

That $29MM guarantee is the largest the Rays have ever given to a free agent position player but they are probably not planning to pay the whole thing. The ideal outcome here is likely that Kim returns and plays well enough to opt out, in search of a long-term deal. At that point, they can make him a qualifying offer and collect draft pick compensation as he departs. That’s contingent on him playing well over the next few months, of course.

In the meantime, he can help the Rays fortify a relatively weak position as they gear up for a playoff push. They Rays are 48-39, putting them in possession of a Wild Card spot and just half a game back of the Blue Jays and Yankees in the super tight American League East division.

They have done that despite getting little production from the shortstop position. As a team, they have a .201/.284/.280 line from that spot, translating to a 63 wRC+. Both José Caballero and Taylor Walls have produced good defense and stolen some bases but without providing much punch from the plate. If Kim can return to his old form, he should provide an upgrade there while bumping those two into bench infield roles.

Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images

Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

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As the Yankees search for infield upgrades to address their need for either a second baseman or third baseman — Jazz Chisholm Jr. can play either spot — they’ve reached out to the Rockies regarding the potential availability of Ryan McMahon, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. While the Rockies have been unwilling to entertain offers for McMahon in the past, Heyman suggests that they’re willing to listen this time around as they barrel toward a potentially historic loss total in 2025. He adds that New York has yet to contact the D-backs about Eugenio Suarez, though that has more to do with Arizona being within arm’s reach of a Wild Card spot (three games back) than a lack of interest.

McMahon would bring a major upgrade to a Yankees infield that has felt one player short all season. Chisholm has split his time almost evenly between second base (251 innings) and third base (214 innings), performing well with the bat at both spots. He’s hitting .240/.339/.490 on the season and has swatted 14 homers to go along with 10 steals. His 28.2% strikeout rate is up nearly four percentage points over his 2024 levels, but Chisholm’s 11.5% walk rate is far and away a career-high mark.

Chisholm told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner earlier this week that he knows he’s a better defender at second base and that he’d prefer to be playing there if all else were equal, but he’s happy to do “whatever it takes to help the team win.” A trade for McMahon (or another third baseman) could kill two birds with one stone: solidify the hot corner and get Chisholm back to the position at which he’s most comfortable and best-suited to play.

Earlier this year, it looked as though the Rockies may have missed the boat on trading McMahon. He drew considerable interest in the weeks and months leading into last summer’s trade deadline, but McMahon is reportedly a favorite of Rox owner Dick Monfort, who wasn’t keen on shipping out an All-Star infielder who’s signed affordably through 2027. McMahon wound up falling into a deep slump over the season’s final two months and started the 2025 campaign with the least-productive month of his big league tenure. He entered the month of May hitting just .147/.273/.235 with a sky-high 35.5% strikeout rate.

McMahon homered on May 1, however, and it’s been business as usual for him since. He’s largely back into All-Star form, hitting at a .253/.343/.468 clip with 10 homers, nine doubles and a triple in his past 216 turns at the plate. It should be noted that he’s currently in a bit of a cold spell, with just two hits and 11 strikeouts in his past 23 plate appearances, but nothing so drastic or prolonged as his swoon from August through April (.179/.272/.275, 320 plate appearances). He’s still hitting only .216/.318/.387 on the season because of that disastrous first month, but the trend lines in May and most of June were quite favorable.

On top of his resurgent bat, McMahon has maintained his status as a premium defensive player. Both Defensive Runs Saved (3) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (3) grade him as a positive in 2025. He’s not on quite the same pace as he was in 4434 innings from 2021-24 (50 DRS, 38 OAA), but McMahon is an unequivocal plus defender at the hot corner who also has ample experience and strong defensive grades at second base.

McMahon’s contract is surely appealing to the Yankees as well. He’s not necessarily a raucous bargain, but the former No. 42 overall draft pick is being paid $12MM this season and is owed $16MM in both 2026 and 2027. The Yankees would pay a 110% tax on his contract’s annual value, given their status as a third-time offender in the top tier of luxury penalization, but McMahon’s six-year, $70MM extension is still well shy of the market rate for a plus defensive third baseman with 25-homer pop.

Heyman also suggests that Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is at least “on the Yankees’ radar” as a change of scenery candidate, though he’d be a pure project. Hayes is an elite defender whose offensive output has cratered after recurring back troubles have popped up in recent years. He’s playing out an eight-year, $70MM contract signed with Pittsburgh prior to those back troubles surfacing. The Pirates owe him a $7MM salary this season and are on the hook for an additional $36MM over the contract’s final four guaranteed seasons (2026-29).

Hayes is hitting well over the past three weeks (.324/.342/.405 in 76 plate appearances), but it’d be a pretty big leap of faith to expect that to continue, considering the 28-year-old’s composite .239/.289/.297 slash in 714 plate appearances dating back to Opening Day 2024. Still, given the strength of his glove, his above-average speed and solid contact skills, Hayes at least makes sense for infield-needy clubs to track as a long-shot trade candidate.

Brandon Woodruff To Start For Brewers On Sunday

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Woody’s return is finally almost here. The Brewers have right-hander Brandon Woodruff listed as their probable starter for Sunday’s game against the Marlins. He is currently on the 60-day injured list and will need to be reinstated to the 40-man roster, though that should be as easy as transferring outfielder Garrett Mitchell the other way. Mitchell is currently on the 10-day IL but is out for the season due to shoulder surgery. The Brewers would still need to open an active roster spot.

The start will mark the end of an injury odyssey of almost two years. Woodruff last pitched in a major league game on September 23rd of 2023. Coincidentally, that game was at loanDepot Park, the same venue where Woodruff will take the mound in a few days.

After that start in Miami, Woodruff was sidelined by an injury to his throwing shoulder. Shortly thereafter, he required surgery to repair the anterior capsule in that shoulder. At the time of that procedure, it was expected that Woodruff would miss most or all of the 2024 season.

There’s never a good time for such a surgery but it was particularly awkward since that was slated to be his final arbitration year, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a salary of $11.6MM. The Brewers reportedly discussed some trades but ultimately just non-tendered Woodruff, sending him to free agency. The two sides were eventually able to reunite on a backloaded two-year deal. The $17.5MM guarantee was spread out as a $2.5MM salary in 2024, a $5.5MM salary in 2025 and then a $10MM buyout on a $20MM mutual option. That deal allowed the Brewers to hang onto Woodruff for his recovery and eventual return to the mound, while kicking most of the financial commitment down the road.

Woodruff did eventually miss the entire 2024 season. There once seemed to be a chance for him to return to the mound early in 2025, but that path had a few twists and turns. He began a rehab assignment in April but was pulled off of that in May due to right ankle tendinitis. He restarted that rehab but a comebacker struck his throwing elbow in early June, setting him back yet again. He restarted the rehab once more, throwing 82 pitches for Nashville on Sunday.

It’s anyone’s guess what Woodruff can provide after such a long time away, but he had a really strong run prior to the shoulder problems. From 2019 to 2023, he tossed 595 innings with a 2.93 earned run average, 30% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 41.5% ground ball rate.

This year, he has logged 42 minor league innings with a 2.79 ERA. His 20.6% strikeout rate is well down from his pre-surgery form. His fastball is averaging 91.9 miles per hour in his Triple-A starts this year, well down from the 96-97 mph range he was in a few years ago. Perhaps he is still ramping up his strength from the long layoff, with the stop-and-start nature of his rehab presumably not helping.

Time will tell what kind of performance the Brewers get from Woodruff, but he joins an increasingly crowded rotation picture. That’s a remarkable turn of events compared to a few months ago, when the club was scrambling to patch the starting group together.

As of today, the Milwaukee rotation consists of Freddy Peralta, Chad Patrick, Jacob Misiorowski, Jose Quintana and Quinn Priester. Peralta’s strikeout rate is down a bit but he has a 2.91 ERA on the year. Misiorowski had a wobble in his most recent start but was dominant in his first three. Patrick has a 3.51 ERA on the year while Priester is at 3.35, though the latter is getting more grounders and fewer strikeouts. Quintana has a 3.30 ERA, though with some shaky peripherals.

Despite some early-season injuries, the Brewers have built up a rotation surplus. They optioned guys like Logan Henderson and Tobias Myers to Triple-A. They were going to bump Aaron Civale to the bullpen until he asked for a trade and was flipped to the White Sox. Now Woodruff is going to be added into the mix. Nestor Cortes, who has been sidelined since April due to a flexor strain, started a rehab assignment with three innings for Nashville yesterday. Robert Gasser, recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery, could be a factor down the stretch.

The Brewers are clearly in win-now mode. Their 48-38 record puts them in possession of the second National League Wild Card spot, two games up on the Padres and Cardinals. Pitching surpluses have a tendency to disappear quickly but the Brewers have a tight budget and could perhaps use some of this pitching to bolster other parts of the roster. Woodruff, Quintana and Cortes are all impending free agents. Peralta’s deal has an affordable $8MM club option for 2026.

Photo courtesy of William Glasheen, Imagn Images

Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

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The Royals have been looking for outfield upgrades for years and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that they have interest in Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates, though Rosenthal adds that talks haven’t yet gained momentum and Kansas City is also interested in other hitters.

Reynolds, 30, has been one of the faces of the Pirates for years. As the club has struggled to win, he has been one of their few consistently strong performers. Just over two years ago, they signed him to a seven-year, $100MM extension, the largest guarantee the franchise has ever given out.

Despite his status with the club, it appears he is at least somewhat available. The Pirates are 38-50 and nine games out of a playoff spot, putting them clearly in seller position. Recent reporting indicated that they will have very few off-limits players in trade talks this month, with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen reportedly the only players who will be truly off the table.

Willingness to discuss a trade doesn’t mean it will actually happen but picking up the phone suggests a non-zero chance. Reynolds is now into his 30s and his performance has dipped a bit this year. He has a line of .237/.301/.393 on the season, which translates to a wRC+ of 90. He came into this year with a career line of .276/.352/.470 line and a 121 wRC+. He’s never been an especially strong defender, so he needs to hit to provide value.

It’s possible the baseball gods are responsible for the dip. Reynolds came into this year with a career .328 batting average on balls in play but he has just a .295 BABIP this season. That’s despite the fact that his batted-ball metrics have actually improved. His 49.1% hard hit rate, 91.8 mile-per-hour exit velocity and 11.5% barrel rate are all career highs.

It makes for a tricky calculus for the Pirates. As mentioned, Reynolds is an esteemed member of the franchise and has been signed to the largest contract in franchise history. Trading that deal barely two years after it was signed would surely be a bad public relations move at a time when the fan base is already unhappy. From a pure baseball perspective, it would also be tricky. Moving Reynolds now could be a bit of a sell-low move since his surface-level stats are down but the numbers under the hood look fine.

On the other hand, the Pirates always have a tight budget and the Reynolds deal still has five years and $76MM remaining after this year, including the buyout on a 2031 club option. There will be about $4MM left of this year’s $12MM salary at the end of July, meaning there would be about $80MM in total left to be paid out at the deadline. With a lack of sellers this year, perhaps the Bucs are dreaming about moving on from a big chunk of change owed to an aging player while they have the chance, perhaps getting something useful back in return.

But of course, that would require some club to have faith in Reynolds bouncing back from this year’s swoon. It’s possible clubs have some skepticism around that. If Reynolds were declared a free agent today, he probably wouldn’t get an $80MM deal, which arguably makes the deal underwater. The Pirates could eat some money in the deal to improve the return but that could exacerbate the P.R. issue. Not only would they be trading away the largest deal in franchise history after a short amount of time, but they would be paying Reynolds to play elsewhere.

For the Royals, as mentioned, their outfield has been an ongoing problem. Kyle Isbel and Drew Waters lead the team in plate appearances from the outfield spots this year but each has a wRC+ of 66. A two-year deal for Hunter Renfroe was a dud and he has been released. Jac Caglianone is getting his first taste of major league playing time but hasn’t got into a groove yet. The MJ Melendez experiment went on for years before he got sent to the minors.

That’s been a big part of the club’s top-heavy offense. Last year, they were able to succeed thanks to an outstanding season from Bobby Witt Jr., along with some decent contributions from Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino, but the lineup was otherwise lackluster. This year, Witt is still quite good but not quite at last year’s pace. Perez has fallen off more significantly. A big surge from Maikel Garcia has compensated for those dips somewhat, but it’s still a lineup with a number of holes.

The club has a collective .243/.298/.364 line and 81 wRC+, production that is worse than every big league club apart from the White Sox and Rockies. They have still managed to hang in contention thanks to their pitching but are 5.5 games out of a playoff spot at the moment. Providing a jolt to the lineup would surely improve their chances of making gains in the race.

Though the Royals spend a bit more money than the Pirates, they’re not exactly top dogs in that department. Witt’s extension is the only deal in their franchise history larger than the $100MM that the Pirates gave to Reynolds. Taking on $80MM as part of a midseason deal would be no small matter.

Perhaps they view that as an opportunity that is normally not available to them. As Rosenthal points out, they were connected to Anthony Santander this winter, but he ultimately signed with the Blue Jays. That was technically a five-year, $92.5MM deal but it’s actually worth about $70MM when factoring in deferrals. The Royals also had reported interest in Jurickson Profar, who signed with Atlanta on a three-year, $42MM deal. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but those two and Reynolds are all switch-hitters.

After struggling to find free agents willing to take their money, perhaps they view this as a chance to get around that problem. Reynolds doesn’t have a full no-trade clause but does have the ability to block trades to six teams. It’s unknown if the Royals are one of the six on his list. But as mentioned, the $80MM has to be a factor. That’s more than what Profar and Santander got, when considering the deferrals. If the Royals didn’t have the money to finish those kinds of deals in the winter, do they have it now?

Turning back to Pittsburgh, it’s not as though they are so overflowing with bats that they can flippantly discard them. The main reason they are in seller position this year is because of their tepid offense, as their pitching is actually quite good. That largely seems to be the case going forward as well, since they have an enviable collection of young arms but a lack of impact bats. They don’t have a qualified hitter with a wRC+ above 112 this year. 38-year-old McCutchen is the only one with a wRC+ higher than 102. Reynolds is scuffling a bit this year but he’s still one of the better bats in the lineup and trading him would deal a huge blow to their future offense.

It’s a very interesting fit in many ways. The Royals have clearly tried to get a player like Reynolds for years, so it’s understandable they would have interest. But would they be able to make it work financially? The Pirates naturally have to consider ways to make the most of this lost season. But the front office in Pittsburgh would have to also consider the P.R. hit and the downgrade to next year’s offense. They surely want to contend in 2026 and their pitching makes that possible, but the lineup is already bad and would get worse without Reynolds in it.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Rangers Option Josh Jung

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The Rangers announced today that they have reinstated infielder Jake Burger from the 10-day injured list. Fellow infielder Josh Jung has been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock as the corresponding move, the first time in his career he’s been optioned to the minors.

The move highlights what a tough time Jung has been having of late. Since the calendar flipped to June, he has produced an awful .158/.208/.221 slash line in 101 plate appearances. His 19 wRC+ in that time is the third-worst mark in the majors, ahead of just Brenton Doyle and Michael Harris II.

“He keeps working, but I don’t know what else to tell you,” manager Bruce Bochy said this week, per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. “If it’s, you know, another break, and you have to do it, it’s a performance-based game, as we always say. We’ve got to find a way to score runs. … We do have some options if we have to give a guy a break.”

The lack of performance was naturally not lost on Jung himself. “I haven’t been very good,” he said on Monday, per Grant. “It’s been the worst [month] ever. I’m just trying to stay in my routine and make adjustments. It’s a daily grind, daily battle, but I’m doing everything I can. It’s frustrating. It’s hard. But this game isn’t easy. It’s just me versus me right now.”

Grant also relays that the club wants Jung to work on fastballs up-and-in, a pitch that he hasn’t been able to lay off of, with one of the worst rates in the majors for swinging at such pitches outside  the strike zone.

It’s a stark contrast to Jung’s previous work. The eighth overall pick in the 2019 draft, Jung got a cup of coffee in the majors in 2022. He got a fuller opportunity in 2023 and ran with it, hitting .266/.315/.467 in 122 games. He then hit .308/.329/.538 in 17 postseason games, helping the Rangers win their first title in franchise history. Last year, a right wrist fracture limited him to 46 games but he still put up a stout .264/.298/.421 line when on the field. Here in 2025, he was doing fine before the month of June, as he was sporting a .277/.321/.440 line at the end of May.

It seems possible that the book is out on him, which has led to his aforementioned struggles with those up-and-in fastballs. That’s been one part of a larger team-wide lack of offense this year, as the Rangers have a collective .228/.296/.366 batting line. Their 87 wRC+ is only better than four teams: the Royals, Pirates, White Sox and Rockies. Ezequiel Durán played third last night and is in there again tonight. He’s been even worse than Jung, with a .145/.229/.226 line this year, but the Rangers are probably hoping that Jung can quickly find his form and retake the job.

How that plays out could impact the club’s deadline plans. They are currently 42-44 and 2.5 games back of a playoff spot in the American League. If they can hang in the race and Jung is still struggling, perhaps the club would look to external third base options, or they could perhaps move Josh Smith over to the hot corner and leave Burger in charge of first base. That would open the designated hitter spot for the return of Joc Pederson or someone else on the roster. There are a few moving pieces there and the situation could change in a few different ways in the coming weeks.

For Jung personally, the length of this rehab assignment could impact him professionally. He came into this year with two years and 27 days of service time. By my count, he has added 97 days so far this year, getting him to 2.124. That’s 48 days shy of the three-year mark. If he’s recalled by the middle of August, he could still get over the three-year line before the offseason. If not, then his path to free agency would be pushed by a year. As of now, he may have enough service time to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player, depending on where this year’s cutoff ultimately falls. Any service time he could add later in the year would increase his chances of qualifying for arb, while hitting the three-year line would guarantee it.

Photos courtesy of Jerome Miron and Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

Kevin Pillar Announces Retirement

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Kevin Pillar is hanging up his Superman cape. On an appearance on Foul Territory, he announced that he is retiring from playing. He was with the Rangers earlier this year but was released about a month ago.

Pillar, now 36, was able to engineer an incredible zero-to-hero career. The Blue Jays drafted him in the 32nd round of the 2011 draft. But despite that humble beginning, he would not only make it to the big leagues but he would stick around for more than a decade.

His best asset was his defense, as he quickly earned a reputation for making highlight-reel catches, often diving horizontally in a way that earned him his Superman nickname. He got some limited big league time in 2013 and 2014 before fully cementing himself as a big leaguer in 2015.

That year, he got into 159 games for the Jays, producing a batting line of .278/.314/.399. His 94 wRC+ indicated he was 6% below league average at the plate, but that was more than adequate to pair with his other attributes. He stole 25 bases and received strong grades for his glovework, leading FanGraphs to credit him with 3.7 wins above replacement. That played a big role in getting the Jays to the postseason for the first time since 1993. Though the club was eventually felled by the Royals in the ALCS, the Jays got José Bautista’s legendary bat flip game along the way.

That would ultimately prove to be an apex for Pillar. He never again stole more than 15 bases nor topped a 90 wRC+ in a full season. But he still proved to be a useful player in generally the same shape, with his speed and defense making up for some subpar offense. From 2016 to 2018, he got into 442 games for the Jays, slashing .258/.296/.401 for an 86 wRC+ and producing 4.5 fWAR.

By the time the 2019 season had rolled around, Pillar was 30 years old and the Jays were rebuilding. Early that year, he was flipped to the Giants, which started the journeyman period of his career. Over the next few years, he would bounce to the Red Sox, Rockies, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, White Sox, Angels and Rangers. Though he had moved into his 30s, his performance was roughly the same as before, though with his glovework naturally slipping a bit. Over those 2019-25 seasons, he played 544 games and hit .246/.284/.415 for an 85 wRC+ and produced 2.4 fWAR.

Most recently, he had a stint with the Rangers but hit just .209/.209/.256 in 20 games before getting designated for assignment and released. He had flirted with retirement before but now seems to have decided that it’s time to hang up the spikes.

Any 32nd-round pick making it to the big leagues is exceedingly rare. In fact, the draft was shortened to 20 rounds a few years ago, so it likely won’t happen again. Pillar not only made it, but he got into 1,234 games over 13 seasons. He racked up 1,053 hits, including 114 home runs. He was credited with 10.8 WAR from FanGraphs and 16.1 from Baseball Reference. He earned about $25MM in his career, according to Baseball Reference. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Pillar on an impressive career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.

Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On IL With Elbow Fracture

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The Braves announced today that right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow fracture. Left-hander Austin Cox has been recalled to take his roster spot. The club also reinstated righty Daysbel Hernández from the IL and optioned right-hander Kevin Herget. They also officially announced that outfielder Jurickson Profar has been reinstated from the restricted list with outfielder Alex Verdugo designated for assignment, a swap that was previously reported.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com relays that Schwellenbach felt sore after his last game against the Phillies and a small fracture was discovered. He’ll be shut down for four weeks and could be back with the big league club in September.

It’s obviously bad news all around. For Schwellenbach personally, he was on the way to having an excellent first full season in the big leagues. He debuted with 21 starts last year and posted a 3.35 earned run average in 123 2/3 innings. That secured him a rotation spot for 2025 and he has been even better this year, with a 3.09 ERA in 17 starts. Put together, he has a 3.23 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 4.4% walk rate and 44.1% ground ball rate in 234 1/3 innings.

All that is now on pause, as he’ll be on the shelf for a while. The four-week shutdown period will take him into August. If he’s healthy at that point, he could ramp back up and make a few more starts in September, though a setback could prevent him from returning again this year.

For the team, it’s yet another kick when they’re already down. Atlanta has struggled to get into a good groove this year and has produced disappointing results so far. They have a record of 38-46, which puts them seven games back of a playoff spot and with six teams to leapfrog. That’s partially due to underperformance from some guys on the roster but they also lost Profar to a PED suspension and have seen their rotation get weakened by injuries.

The first domino to fall was Reynaldo López, as he made just one start before requiring arthroscopic shoulder surgery. He’s been on the IL since then and still isn’t near a return. About a month ago, AJ Smith-Shawver required Tommy John surgery, putting him out of commission until well into next year. A couple of weeks back, Chris Sale suffered a rib cage fracture. His timeline is unclear but he has been transferred to the 60-day IL, meaning he can’t return until mid-August at the earliest. Now Schwellenbach is the latest blow.

Prior to the Sale injury, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos tried to strike an optimistic tone and said the club would not be selling, though he did leave the door open a crack by saying they could reevaluate late in July. That reevaluation seems more likely with today’s news. The club still needs to climb in the standings to give the club justification to buy, but that will be hard to do with no López, Sale, Smith-Shawver or Schwellenbach.

For now, the club will proceed with a rotation consisting of Spencer Strider, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Didier Fuentes. To take Schwellenbach’s spot, they could recall someone like Hurston Waldrep, Nathan Wiles or Davis Daniel. Non-roster guys like José Suarez, Ian Anderson and Zach Thompson are all on the minor league injured list.

Going forward, the club presumably has less confidence in its ability to contend with the recent injuries to Sale and Schwellenbach, so the prospect of doing some deadline selling with an eye towards returning to contention in 2026 has surely increased. The deadline is on July 31st this year, so there are still about four weeks to see some more results roll in and have conversations with other clubs.

Photos courtesy of Brett Davis and Orlando Ramirez, Imagn Images

Braves Designate Alex Verdugo For Assignment

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The Braves have designated outfielder Alex Verdugo for assignment, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Verdugo’s spot on the roster will go to fellow outfielder Jurickson Profar, who will be reinstated from the restricted list after serving an 80-game PED ban.

Verdugo, 29, signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract with Atlanta late in the offseason. He first filled a reserve role behind Jarred Kelenic but wound up thrust into a more prominent role when Kelenic’s prolonged struggles to hit big league pitching saw him optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. Verdugo raced out to a hot start with the Braves, hitting .322/.385/.441 in his first 65 plate appearances, but his production has cratered since that time. Dating back to May 6, Verdugo has registered an anemic .203/.257/.225 batting line (37 wRC+) in 148 turns at the plate.

This year’s run with the Braves largely mirrors Verdugo’s 2024 with the Yankees. His early hot streak in New York lasted longer than his hot streak in Atlanta, but his struggles as a Yankee were also more protracted. Verdugo has now tallied 834 plate appearances across the past two seasons and generated a dismal .234/.292/.339 batting line. That’s a far cry from his 2019-23 form, when he batted .283/.338/.432 and served as a solid regular in the outfield corners for the Dodgers and Red Sox.

Even Verdugo’s once-excellent defensive grades have deteriorated in recent years. Defensive Runs Saved still gave him a slightly positive mark (+1) in 426 innings this season, but that’s nowhere near his 2019-24 levels, when he garnered a gaudy +31 mark in 6150 innings. Statcast’s Outs Above Average pegged Verdugo as a scratch defender in 2024 but has him at minus-5 in 2025. Verdugo’s sprint speed used to rank well above average but is now in the 21st percentile of big leaguers, which has obviously cut into his range in left field.

The Braves can trade or place Verdugo on outright waivers at any point in the next five days, although given his guaranteed salary and lack of production, the likeliest outcome will be a release. If and when he clears release waivers, any other club could sign Verdugo and owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the major league roster. That sum would be subtracted from what Atlanta owes him, but the Braves will remain on the hook for the vast majority of his 2025 salary.

Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin

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The Giants have exercised their 2026 club option on manager Bob Melvin, per a team announcement. He’d previously been in the final guaranteed season of his contract.

“Having the chance to work alongside Bob every day, we’re really fortunate to have such an experienced leader and one of the most well-respected managers in baseball,” Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said in a statement within today’s press release announcing the move. “His leadership, preparation, and connection with our players have been invaluable, and we believe he’s the right person to continue to guide this team forward.”

Melvin, 63, is in his second season as the Giants’ skipper after a two-year stay in San Diego and a length 11-year run as the Athletics’ manager. He’d previously managed the D-backs and Mariners as well. Melvin’s first season in San Francisco resulted in a disappointing 80-82 showing that saw ownership move on from now-former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and replace him with Posey.

Posey wasn’t the one to originally hire Melvin — at least not directly, although Posey was a minority owner prior to overtaking baseball ops — but his work with three-time Manager of the Year (once with the D-backs, twice with the A’s) was enough to convince him that Melvin is the right person for the job.

Thus far in 2025, the Giants sit five games over .500, at 45-40. That leaves them a game and a half back in the Wild Card standings but a hefty eight games out of first place in the stacked National League West. San Francisco has struggled through a dry spell recently, as the offense has gone cold and resulted in the Giants dropping 11 of their past 15 games. Melvin’s club started the season 19-12 through the end of April but has gone 26-28 since, posting matching 13-14 records in both May and June.

Recent struggles notwithstanding, Melvin will get the chance to see things through in 2025 and return to manage the club in 2026, when Posey’s vision for the team has taken more hold. The Giants, under Posey, have signed Willy Adames and swung a stunning June blockbuster for Rafael Devers. Matt Chapman’s six-year extension came when Zaidi was still president, but Posey reportedly played a significant role in pushing that deal across the line after talks had slowed. With Mike Yastrzemski and Wilmer Flores up for free agency at season’s end, the 2026 season could see further changes to the core of position players at Oracle Park.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue leading this group,” Melvin said within today’s press release. “I believe in what we’re building here, and I appreciate the confidence that the Giants ownership group, Greg [Johnson], Buster, Larry [Baer], Zack [Minasian] and the rest of the Giants’ organization have shown in me and our staff. We have a lot of unfinished business this year, and I’m looking forward to the work ahead.”

Melvin currently holds a 1642-1547 record (.515) in 22 seasons as a major league manager across the five aforementioned teams. He’s eight wins behind Mike Scioscia for 20th-most in MLB history and just 84 behind Buck Showalter for 19th.

Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury

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Astros outfielder/designated hitter Yordan Alvarez seems to have hit another speed bump. General manager Dana Brown informed reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic, that Alvarez has been shut down due to some renewed hand soreness. He will see a specialist at some point in the next 48 hours, at which point the club hopes to have more information.

At this point, details are still fairly sparse regarding Alvarez, though it’s an ominous development. Hand issues have been an ongoing problem for him. He had soreness in both hands in 2022 and spent some time on the injured list. Hand soreness also seemingly hampered him during spring training in 2023.

This year, he got out to a bad start, hitting .210/.306/.340 for a 76 wRC+ through 29 games. He landed on the 15-day injured list in early May due to right hand inflammation. At the end of May, Brown relayed that the club found a “very small fracture” in the ring finger of Alvarez’s right hand. He has been ramping up activities in recent days but this renewed soreness obviously creates concern that he’s not fully healed.

Time will tell how serious this setback is but it’s less than ideal for the Astros. Alvarez has been a key part of their lineup and one of the best hitters in baseball during his career. He came into this season with a .298/.390/.583 batting line and 166 wRC+. Only Aaron Judge had a higher wRC+ for the 2019-2024 span, among hitters with at least 60 plate appearances.

The Astros would obviously love to have that bat back in the lineup. That’s especially true because he is left-handed and the club is notably deficient in that department. The Astros don’t really have a pure lefty in their everyday lineup. Switch-hitters Victor Caratini and Cooper Hummel are getting regular playing time. The three pure lefties on the active roster at present are all bench players: Taylor Trammell, César Salazar and Luis Guillorme.

Putting aside handedness, this also compounds a more general injury problem for the Astros. They have over a dozen players on the IL, including seven position players. They recently lost their starting shortstop when Jeremy Peña hit the IL last week with a rib fracture.

Despite the all of those injuries, the Astros are 50-34. They are six games up in the American League West and will clearly be buying at the deadline. Brown already openly admitted that the club is looking for lefty bats. That need would only grow if this setback for Alvarez turns out to be significant. The club seems to be planning to avoid the competitive balance tax this year, which will be a challenge in making additions. RosterResource estimates the club’s CBT number is at $236MM, just $5MM from the base threshold.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

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