Mets Release Luis García
Right-hander Luis García has been released by the Mets, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment on the weekend. He’ll head to free agency once he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already.
García, 39, is a veteran with over ten years of service time. Any player with at least five years of service has the right to reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues while also keeping his salary commitments in place. It seems the Mets have decided to skip over the formality of that process.
The Mets signed García to a one-year, $1.75MM deal in the offseason. That’s relatively modest by the standards of big league contracts these days, though the Mets also face a huge tax bill as a repeated tax payor with a massive competitive balance tax number.
Despite making that financial commitment to García, the club quickly decided to pull the ripcord. He made six appearances, logging 6 1/3 innings. He allowed five earned runs via 11 hits and two walks while striking out four. It certainly wasn’t a good performance but that’s a tiny sample of work.
Despite his age, García was a solid relief arm as recently as last year. He tossed 55 1/3 innings for three different clubs with a 3.42 earned run average. His 20.6% strikeout rate and 11.2% walk rate weren’t amazing but he induced grounders at a strong rate of 49.7%.
Presumably, the Mets signed him because they thought he could still be effective in 2026 but they have quickly given up on that. Perhaps they were worried by his diminished stuff. His sinker averaged 96.9 miles per hour last year but has been at 94 mph so far this season, while his splitter and slider are also down about two ticks.
Garcia should land with another club shortly. Since the Mets are releasing him, they will remain on the hook for his salary. Another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends on their roster. Given all the pitching injuries around the league, there will surely be clubs interested in a veteran arm who can be had for a minimal financial commitment.
Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images
White Sox Designate Dustin Harris For Assignment
The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Sam Antonacci and recalled left-hander Tyler Gilbert. In corresponding moves, they have optioned left-hander Brandon Eisert and designated outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment. It had been reported earlier this week that Antonacci was likely going to be promoted.
The Sox added Harris to the roster a week ago when Austin Hays landed on the injured list. He got into six games and was sent to the plate 16 times. He drew four walks and recorded three hits, including one double. It’s possible the Sox just viewed Harris as a placeholder while they gave Antonacci more time to get outfield reps in the minors. Antonacci played all four infield positions last year but not the outfield. So far this year, the Sox have used him primarily in left field, with 11 starts at that position.
Harris is out of options and can’t be easily sent back to the minors. He was once a prospect of note with the Rangers but his production in the upper levels was middling. From 2023 to 2025, he was on the Texas roster but mostly kept in the minors, exhausting his three option years. He got into just 21 big league games, producing a .217/.280/.435 line in those. For that same span, he had a .271/.368/.418 line in the minors, which translated to a 103 wRC+. He was outrighted at the end of last year and elected free agency, which led to a minor league deal with the White Sox.
He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take as long as five days to field trade interest. Since he has been outrighted before, he would have the right to elect free agency if he clears outright waivers again.
The Sox will see how Antonacci’s bat plays in the majors. He has great plate discipline but not a lot of power. In 688 minor league plate appearances, he has seven home runs, but his 14.7% walk rate and 13.7% strikeout rate are both much better than average. That strong approach has helped him produce a combined slash of .299/.445/.419 for a 159 wRC+.
Antonnaci can play some infield but the Sox have Munetaka Murakami, Chase Meidroth, Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas from right to left. Since Antonacci has been playing left field this year, he will presumably jump into the outfield mix alongside Andrew Benintendi, Luisangel Acuña, Tristan Peters, Everson Pereira and Derek Hill. The designated hitter spot can also be used to spread some at-bats around. Lenyn Sosa was getting a decent amount of the DH time but he was traded to the Blue Jays this week.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Cubs Sign Ty Blach To Minor League Deal
The Cubs and veteran lefty Ty Blach are in agreement on a deal, as first reported by Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. The Semper9 Sports client is headed to Triple-A Iowa. It’s a minor league pact, MLBTR has confirmed, and Blach has already joined the team on its road trip in Columbus. He’s expected to pitch Saturday, whether in a start or long relief.
Blach, 35, has pitched in parts of seven big league seasons. The bulk of his major league work has come with the Giants, for whom he tossed 299 1/3 innings of 4.36 ERA ball from 2016-18. He also spent three years with the Rockies organization from 2022-24, where he worked as a swingman but stumbled to an ERA north of 6.00 in 193 2/3 frames. That 2024 season with the Rockies was Blach’s most recent big league work. He spent most of the 2025 season with the Rangers organization and notched a solid 3.54 ERA in 56 minor league frames.
Blach has never been a hard thrower or missed many bats. He’s averaged 90 mph on his sinker in the majors and sat at 89 mph with that two-seamer during last year’s stint with the Rangers’ top affiliate. The 6’1″ southpaw has only fanned 13% of his major league opponents, but he’s regularly shown strong command (7% walk rate) and above-average groundball tendencies (45.6%). Blach did a nice job of dodging hard contact during his time in San Francisco but took a step back in that regard during his three seasons with the Rox.
The Cubs have been hit hard by pitching injuries, so it’s not a surprise to see them bring in some multi-inning depth. Cade Horton is the most notable loss for Chicago. Last year’s Rookie of the Year runner-up is headed for surgery to repair his right elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament and will be sidelined well into the 2027 season. The Cubs also have lefty Matthew Boyd on the 15-day IL due to a biceps strain, and top starter Justin Steele has yet to return from his own UCL surgery, which was performed about one year ago. He’s on the 60-day IL and likely out until early summer.
At present, the Cubs’ rotation includes Edward Cabrera, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Colin Rea. Assad opened the season in the minors and was hit hard in his his second start of the season this weekend. Rea re-signed as a free agent and opened the year in the ‘pen, as expected for the veteran swingman. But much like the 2025 season, when he unexpectedly finished second on the team in starts and innings pitched due to various injuries around the roster, he’s been thrust into the rotation and seems likely to stick there for the time being.
On the bullpen side of things, the Cubs are without Phil Maton (knee tendinitis), Porter Hodge (flexor strain), Hunter Harvey (triceps inflammation), Jordan Wicks (nerve irritation in his forearm) and Ethan Roberts (laceration on his pitching hand). The Cubs have five lefties in the big league bullpen at the moment: Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner, Riley Martin, Luke Little and Ryan Rolison. A sixth, Charlie Barnes, is on the 40-man roster down in Triple-A. Chicago certainly isn’t hurting for southpaw depth, but with Rea in the rotation, they’ll bring in an experienced swingman to stash in the upper minors.
Tigers Extend Kevin McGonigle
The Tigers announced Wednesday that they’ve agreed to an eight-year, $150MM extension with infielder Kevin McGonigle. The contract begins next season — he’s still on a league-minimum salary in 2026 — and runs through 2034. McGonigle, a client of Vayner Sports, can tack on another $10MM in total via a series of escalators, giving the deal a maximum value of $160MM from 2027-34. Detroit, one of the few teams that publicly discloses contract terms for its players, also provided a year-to-year breakdown of the deal.
McGonigle, 21, takes home a $14MM signing bonus that will be paid up front. He’ll earn a $1MM salary in 2027, $7MM in 2028, $16MM in 2029, $21MM in 2030, $22MM in 2031 and $23MM annually from 2032-34.
The contract locks in what would have been the second through sixth years of McGonigle’s original window of club control and gives the team control over what would have been his first three free agent seasons. There are no options on the contract, but escalators could raise his 2032-34 salaries to $25MM, $26MM and $28MM, respectively. McGonigle’s deal does not include conventional no-trade protection, but he’d be owed a $5MM assignment bonus if he’s traded to another club at any point.
It’s a bit of a departure from the standard way that teams tend to structure contracts; year-to-year salaries tend to reflect what a player might have earned in pre-arbitration and in arbitration. Instead, the Tigers will jump McGonigle to a $7MM salary in a year that he’d otherwise have been earning only a hair over the league minimum. This setup provides a little more balance on the back end of the deal (i.e. his would-be free agent seasons), obviously at the expense of some payroll hikes in the extension’s earlier seasons.
McGonigle entered the season as the game’s consensus No. 2 prospect behind Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin and has now almost immediately surpassed Griffin’s record-setting extension for a young player with such little big league service. Griffin inked a nine-year, $140MM contract last week. Julio Rodríguez‘s $210MM contract is technically the largest ever for a player with under a year of service, but that contract was signed in late July of his rookie season, when he was already an All-Star and the overwhelming Rookie of the Year front-runner. Griffin and McGonigle may be in the same service class, but the context surrounding their extensions differs quite a bit from that of the Rodríguez deal.
Selected 37th overall in the 2023 draft, McGonigle hit the ground running as an 18-year-old in pro ball. He slashed .315/.452/.411 in 21 games following the draft in 2023 and emphatically rose to elite prospect status in the two subsequent seasons. McGonigle hit .309/.401/.452 with more walks than strikeouts as a 19-year-old across to Class-A levels in 2024. Last year, he utterly dismantled High-A pitching (.372/.462/.648) for 36 games before a promotion to Double-A, where he scarcely skipped a beat. McGonigle was one of the youngest players in Double-A but still turned in a .254/.369/.550 slash in 46 games.
Throughout the offseason, it wasn’t clear whether McGonigle would be seriously considered as an Opening Day roster candidate or whether the organization would send him to Triple-A for some further refinement. A strong spring performance quickly removed any doubt, however. McGonigle hit .250/.411/.477 in 56 plate appearances. As he’d done at virtually every stop in the minors, he walked more often than he struck out. The Tigers carried him on the Opening Day roster to begin the season, and he’s split the first few weeks of the year between third base and shortstop while slashing .311/.417/.492 with 11 walks against just eight strikeouts in 72 plate appearances.
One look at McGonigle’s repeated ability to not only avoid strikeouts but also draw walks at such a high rate highlights why he has such a high floor. Add in above-average speed and plus raw power that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from someone listed at 5’9″ and 187 pounds, and McGonigle has the makings of a perennial All-Star who could draw some MVP consideration during his peak years.
Scouting reports have questioned where his eventual defensive home will be, but he’s worked to improve his shortstop defense and looked solid there both in spring training and in the season’s first few weeks. Whether he settles in at short, third base or even second base, McGonigle’s preternatural feel to hit and robust suite of plus offensive tools should give him more than enough bat to fit anywhere on the diamond.
As is the case with any early-career extension, McGonigle had a path to greater earnings — but going the year-to-year route would have been fraught with risk. He could have reached the open market heading into his age-27 season, potentially setting him up for a contract worth more than half a billion dollars in free agency. However, locking in his first $150MM right now preserves the opportunity to reach the market ahead of McGonigle’s age-30 season, when he could still be in line for a mega-deal. It also eliminates much of the downside of a career-altering injury or a less-impactful-than-expected career trajectory. There are myriad examples of players who rebuffed early extension interest and then simply never lived up to their prospect billing — or of those who accepted long-term offers and never developed into stars or even established big leaguers.
McGonigle now cements his place as the face of a new Tigers core. The team surely hopes it will be able to re-sign reigning two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in free agency, but that’ll take a record contract of far greater magnitude, given Skubal’s established dominance and proximity to free agency, which he’ll reach following the current season. McGonigle and fellow infielder Colt Keith are now signed through at least 2032, but recent free agent signee Framber Valdez is the only other Tiger guaranteed anything beyond the 2027 season.
Top outfield prospect Max Clark, the No. 3 overall pick in 2023 (34 spots ahead of McGonigle) is also widely considered to be one of the sport’s 10 best prospects and could debut later this season. Looking further down the road, Detroit has some other ballyhooed prospects they’ll hope to add to the group (e.g. shortstop Bryce Rainer, catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño), but they’re probably more 2027-28 considerations.
The timing of McGonigle’s promotion to the majors and extension is also pivotal for the Tigers. Because he’s a consensus top-100 prospect who cracked the Opening Day roster and signed his deal after his MLB debut was already in the books, McGonigle remains eligible to net the Tigers a compensatory draft pick via MLB’s “Prospect Promotion Incentive” program, which was introduced in the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement.
If McGonigle wins AL Rookie of the Year honors this season or finishes top-3 in AL MVP voting before he would have otherwise reached arbitration, the Tigers will gain an extra pick after the first round of the following season’s draft. For instance, the Royals picked up the No. 28 overall selection in 2025 after Bobby Witt Jr. was an MVP finalist in the preceding season. The Braves (No. 26) and Astros (No. 28) will have bonus picks in the 2026 draft due to Drake Baldwin‘s 2025 Rookie of the Year win and Hunter Brown‘s third-place finish in 2025 AL Cy Young voting.
Orioles Select Sam Huff, Designate Jayvien Sandridge For Assignment
The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of catcher Sam Huff from Triple-A Norfolk. Left-hander Jayvien Sandridge, who had been pitching in Triple-A, was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Lefty Nick Raquet was optioned to Norfolk to open space for Huff on the active roster.
Huff’s call to the big leagues means the O’s will be playing a reliever short for at least today. Huff joins the roster as a third catcher alongside Samuel Basallo and Maverick Handley. Adley Rutschman hit the injured list last week due to an ankle issue.
Baltimore signed Huff to a minor league contract back in January. He’s a former Rangers seventh-rounder who’s played in parts of five major league seasons. Now 28 years old, Huff once rated as one of the top catching prospects in the sport and carries a decent .247/.301/.430 batting line in the majors. That production comes in a sample of only 272 plate appearances and despite a 36% strikeout rate, however. Huff’s production has been buoyed by a .350 average on balls in play that he’s not likely to sustain over a long period.
Huff has solid framing grades in his limited major league work but has struggled with blocking balls in the dirt and controlling the run game. He has just an 18.5% caught-stealing rate in his career and has been charged with eight passed balls in 507 innings behind the dish.
It’s been a struggle for Huff in a tiny sample of nine games with Norfolk this year. He’s hitting .156/.250/.168 in 36 plate appearances with the Tides but has a much stronger overall track record in Triple-A. Huff entered the season with a lifetime .258/.338/.476 slash, 56 homers, 60 doubles, a pair of triples, a 10.2% walk rate and a more troubling 29.9% strikeout rate in exactly 1200 Triple-A plate appearances.
The 27-year-old Sandridge joined the O’s in a cash swap with the Angels shortly after Opening Day. He was originally a 32nd-round pick by Baltimore back in 2018 but bounced from the Orioles, to the Reds, to the Padres, to the Yankees and to the Angels since that selection. Sandridge made an extremely brief MLB debut last season, facing a total of six hitters and retiring two of them. He has just two-thirds of an inning and two earned runs in the majors.
Sandridge has pitched in parts of seven minor league seasons but totaled only 243 1/3 total innings. He’s logged a solid 3.96 earned run average in that time and punched out nearly one-third of his opponents — but he’s also issued walks at a 17% clip and plunked another 22 of the 1108 batters he’s faced (2%). Coupled with a whopping 44 wild pitches, it’s more than fair to say that command is a major hindrance for the southpaw.
This season, Sandridge has tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings with Norfolk, but he’s walked three of the nine batters he’s faced. It’s only a sample of two games, but it’s notable that his heater, which sat just shy of 95 mph in Triple-A and averaged 95.6 mph in last year’s brief debut, is clocking in at an average of 92.9 mph in 2026.
Sandridge is in the second of his three minor league option years. A team looking for some left-handed bullpen depth with a knack for missing bats could roll the dice on a waiver claim or a cash swap like the one that sent Sandridge back to Baltimore in the first place. The Orioles have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. Since waivers are a 48-hour process, the outcome of his DFA will be known within the next week.
Braves, Martín Pérez Agree To New Minor League Deal
The Braves and veteran lefty Martín Pérez are in agreement on another minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Atlanta designated the 35-year-old for assignment over the weekend, and he elected free agency after clearing waivers. The Octagon client is now quickly returning to the Braves organization on a non-guaranteed deal, although given the mountain of injuries on the Atlanta pitching staff, it’s likely that Pérez will be back in the major league fold before all that long.
It’s increasingly common in today’s game for mid-30s veterans — particularly pitchers — to be designated for assignment and quickly re-sign upon being released. The Braves themselves have done this frequently in the past with Jesse Chavez, and we’ve seen clubs like the Mariners (Casey Lawrence), Yankees (Ryan Weber, David Hale) and Marlins (Devin Smeltzer) regularly shuffle players on and off the 40-man roster via repeated cycles of DFA, outright, and new minor league pacts. Organizations are typically up front about their intentions in these scenarios, and the player is obviously amenable to the setup. We don’t yet know if that’s the route down which Pérez is headed with Atlanta, but this is a first step in that direction.
Pérez has made three appearances for manager Walt Weiss’ club this season — two starts, one relief outing — and held opponents to five runs in 14 1/3 innings. That comes out to a tidy 3.14 earned run average, but Pérez’s six strikeouts (11.3%) and 90 mph sinker make it tough to imagine him sustaining that level of run prevention.
The veteran Pérez has been a reliable back-end starter in the second act of his career, dating back to 2020, with a collective 3.99 ERA in his past 719 1/3 MLB frames. That number is skewed a bit by an outlier 2022 season (2.89 ERA in 196 innings); Pérez has generally been good for bulk innings and a mid-4.00s ERA. Metrics like FIP (4.39) and SIERA (4.65) feel that’s about where his run prevention should reside, based on his strikeouts, walks, ground balls, etc.
The Braves currently have an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the injured list. Spencer Strider (oblique strain), Spencer Schwellenbach (surgery to remove bone chips from elbow), Hurston Waldrep (same as Schwellenbach), AJ Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery last June) and Joey Wentz (torn ACL) are all on the shelf. Wentz won’t return this season. Smith-Shawver, Schwellenbach and Waldrep are likely out until early or mid-summer.
At the moment, Atlanta’s rotation includes Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder. Lefty José Suarez and righty Osvaldo Bido are swing options in the bullpen. Prospects JR Ritchie and Didier Fuentes are intriguing options in the minor leagues, though the former has yet to make his MLB debut and is not yet on the 40-man roster.
Pérez adds an experienced depth option to the mix. There’s enough track record here that he could pitch his way into a more permanent rotation spot, but if he’s comfortable riding the DFA carousel that Atlanta has previously utilized with Chavez, that could also present a path to somewhat consistent innings (albeit a more circuitous one).
Martín Pérez Elects Free Agency
Veteran left-hander Martín Pérez elected free agency, relays Chad Bishop of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. He cleared outright waivers after being designated for assignment by the Braves on Sunday.
Pérez made three appearances in an Atlanta uniform. He got decent results, allowing just five runs across 14 1/3 innings. The 35-year-old southpaw only struck out six of the 53 batters he faced with a well below-average 7.2% swinging strike percentage. The Braves opted not to continue running him out as their fifth starter. They’re carrying a nine-man bullpen for the time being — a luxury partially afforded by a day off on Thursday — but will need a fifth starter or bullpen game early next week.
Spencer Strider is set to begin a rehab assignment on Thursday. He’ll make at least three minor league appearances. The Braves could recall Didier Fuentes or turn to José Suarez to lead a bullpen game in the Pérez spot.
It’s possible the Braves look to bring Pérez back on a minor league deal. They don’t have much in the way of upper minors rotation experience. If Pérez is unable to find a big league contract as a free agent, he could be best served returning to an organization with which he’s already familiar.
Rays Sign Michael Grove, Transfer Ryan Pepiot To 60-Day IL
The Rays announced that they have signed right-hander Michael Grove to a big league deal and placed him on the 15-day injured list. He is still recovering from last year’s shoulder surgery. To open a 40-man spot for him, right-hander Ryan Pepiot was transferred to the 60-day IL. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported the moves prior to the official announcement.
It’s unclear what’s going on with Pepiot but this appears to represent at least a minor setback. He started the season on the 15-day IL due to inflammation in his right hip. As of April 4th, he was throwing bullpen sessions and reinstatement was expected right around now. This move to the 60-day injured list means he can’t be came off the IL until late May.
With Pepiot out, the Tampa rotation has consisted of Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Steven Matz, Nick Martinez and Joe Boyle. They lost Boyle to the injured list a few days ago due to a right elbow strain. Jesse Scholtens was recalled and will take the ball tomorrow. Whether he sticks around or that’s just a spot start remains to be seen. The Rays also have Joe Rock on optional assignment while Yoendrys Gómez is pitching multiple innings out of the big league bullpen. Prospect Brody Hopkins is in Triple-A but has walked 20.3% of batters faced this year.
Getting Pepiot back into that mix would have helped but it doesn’t appear that’s happening anytime soon. More information will likely be revealed about his status shortly but the Rays will have to proceed without him for at least another six weeks or so.
The one benefit to Pepiot being delayed is that it effectively opened up a 40-man roster spot, which the Rays have used to scoop up Grove. As mentioned, he is recovering from shoulder surgery, which he underwent in March of last year.
A second-round pick from 2018, Grove had some intriguing results in the upper minors and the majors, around injuries. From 2022 to 2024, he logged 100 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.40 earned run average. His 29.4% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate were both strong figures.
He also threw 149 1/3 major league innings in that span. The 5.48 ERA in the big leagues doesn’t look nice but there’s more encouragement when looking under the hood. His 23.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate were actually decent numbers. His .325 batting average on balls in play and 63.9% strand rate were both to the unfortunate side. His 4.35 FIP and 3.85 SIERA felt he would have fared better if his luck were more neutral.
Grove spent 2025 on the injured list and crossed three years of major league service time. He would have been eligible for arbitration for 2026 but would not have earned a big raise after missing a full season. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for $800K, a bit above this year’s $780K minimum. The Dodgers outrighted him off the roster at season’s end, effectively an early non-tender.
For the Rays, Grove is a wild card after a lengthy absence due to that surgery. If he can get healthy, his service time count is at three years and 31 days. He is therefore controllable for this season and at least two more. He also has an option remaining. That means the Rays could shuttle him between Triple-A and the majors. If he spent a notable amount of time on optional assignment, he might not get to four years of service this year, which would delay his path to free agency.
That would be a secondary concern. Before that could be something worth thinking about, he’ll need to get his shoulder right and then start posting good results. His current recovery timeline isn’t clear.
Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images
Astros To Sign Brandon Bielak To Minor League Deal
The Astros are going to sign right-hander Brandon Bielak to a minor league deal, reports Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. Alexander adds that the Gaeta Sports Management client will report to Triple-A Sugar Land.
Bielak, now 30, pitched in the majors from 2020 to 2024. Most of that was with the Astros, though he also pitched for the Athletics. He was mostly a starter in the minors but worked both out of the rotation and the bullpen in the big leagues. He made 76 appearances, 21 of those being starts. He logged 204 innings over that five-year span, allowing 4.63 earned runs per nine. His 17.5% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate were below average but his 44.6% ground ball rate was a few ticks better than par.
Per Statcast, he mixed in seven different pitches in that time, throwing a four-seamer, sinker, changeup, sweeper, curveball, slider and cutter. The fastballs averaged in the mid-90s earlier in his career but dropped a few ticks over time. His four-seamer averaged 94 miles per hour in 2021 but crept down to 91.9 mph by 2024.
Late in 2024, he was outrighted off the Athletics’ roster. He became a free agent and signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks for 2025, though it turned into a lost season for him. He only made two minor league appearances before he landed on the minor league injured list. He underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in May.
Back in November, Alexander relayed that Bielak was recovered from that surgery and was hoping for a role as a starter. He signed with Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos in the Mexican League in March but that league’s season doesn’t begin until Thursday. For guys with big league experience signing in Mexico, it’s common for the deals to have clauses that allow them to leave if they get an offer in affiliated ball.
The Houston pitching staff has been beset by a number of injuries recently. Both Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier have been sidelined by shoulder strains. Tatsuya Imai hit the injured list due to arm fatigue. Cody Bolton hasn’t hit the injured list but departed his most recent start due to back tightness. Those injuries are on top of them being without Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter and Hayden Wesneski, who all underwent surgery last year.
For now, the Astros have Mike Burrows and Lance McCullers Jr. in two rotation spots. Colton Gordon is starting today, though it’s unclear if that’s a spot start or if he’ll stick around. Bolton could make another start if his back is okay. Spencer Arrighetti is with the big league club on the taxi squad, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Manger Joe Espada says he’ll start tomorrow or Thursday, per Rome. Ryan Weiss, J.P. France and Christian Roa have been working long relief and could chip in here and there. Miguel Ullola and Jason Alexander are on optional assignment.
It’s quite a jumbled mess and the Astros will try their best to keep it together before their season slips away from them. Bielak will give them a bit more non-roster depth, alongside Peter Lambert in that department.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images
Phillies Trade Griff McGarry To Dodgers
4:15pm: The Phillies will receive $500K in pool space, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. That’s the same amount the Dodgers got from the Twins in the Anthony Banda trade, so they have effectively traded Banda for McGarry.
2:52pm: The Dodgers have acquired minor league right-hander Griff McGarry from the Phillies in exchange for international bonus pool space, the teams announced Tuesday. (The Phillies’ announcement adds that they’ll also receive a player to be named later or cash.) He wasn’t on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and thus won’t require Los Angeles to make a corresponding 40-man roster move.
McGarry once ranked as one of the more promising prospects in Philadelphia’s system, sitting third among Baseball America’s rankings ahead of the 2023 season. His standing slipped after a a pair of down showings in 2023-24, but the Nats scooped him up in December’s Rule 5 Draft following a rebound campaign in 2025. Washington wound up returning McGarry to the Phillies at the end of spring training, and he’ll now head to the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.
Back in 2022, McGarry’s age-23 season, he pitched 87 1/3 innings across three levels and notched a 3.71 ERA with a huge 35.7% strikeout rate but a concerning 14.6% walk rate. He was rocked for a 6.00 ERA in 17 minor league starts the following season, then turned in a 4.55 ERA in 30 minor league relief appearances in 2024. McGarry had fallen almost entirely off the Phillies’ prospect map, but he bounced back with 83 2/3 innings of 3.44 ERA ball in a return to a rotation role in Triple-A last year.
McGarry walked more than 18% of his opponents in 2023 and saw that number spike all the way to 24% in 2024. Last year’s 13.9% walk rate is still far too high, but it’s a big step in the right direction relative to 2023-24, and he paired it with a huge 35.1% strikeout rate. The 6’2″ righty isn’t an especially hard thrower, sitting 93.9 mph with his four-seamer in ’25 and a hair better in this year’s small sample (94.3 mph). McGarry is a two-pitch right-hander, coupling that four-seamer with a slider that rests at 82-83 mph each year. He’s worked out of the bullpen again in 2026, allowing four runs in four Triple-A frames and walking more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (four).
Suffice it to say, McGarry is a pure change of scenery candidate and development project for the Dodgers. He’s long intrigued scouts with a fastball and slider that both grade as plus pitches and generate whiffs in droves, but McGarry’s command is nowhere close to average. The most recent scouting reports on him at FanGraphs, Baseball America, MLB.com and other outlets peg him with 30-grade command (on the 20-80 scale). There’s potential for a big relief arm in the plausible range of outcomes, even if it’s on the low-probability end of the spectrum, and it didn’t cost the Dodgers much to roll the dice on the soon-to-be 27-year-old righty.
It’s not yet clear how much international pool space is going back to the Phillies, but bonus pool allotments have to be traded in increments of $250K (unless it’s the remainder of a pool that’s currently at less than $250K total). In all likelihood, the Phils are adding one or two slots, giving them a bit of extra spending capacity to bring in some teenage talent on the international amateur market.
To be clear, no actual money is changing hands in the swap. The league places a hard cap on the amount each club can spend on international amateurs, but any team can acquire up to 60% of its original pool space in trades with other teams.
The Dodgers and Phillies both opened the 2026 international free agent period (which began in January) with a $6.679MM pool. Los Angeles spent about $3.265MM of that sum on day one of the period, per MLB.com. The Phillies spent about $4.85MM, with a hefty $4MM of that sum going to Venezuelan outfielder Francisco Renteria.