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Travis Blankenhorn Elects Free Agency

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The Nationals announced that infielder/outfielder Travis Blankenhorn elected free agency following last week’s DFA. The left-handed hitter had that right once he cleared waivers because he has been outrighted multiple times in his career. Washington took him off the 40-man roster when they claimed reliever Michael Rucker from Philadelphia.

Blankenhorn has gotten to the majors in five consecutive seasons without ever getting consistent playing time. He has tallied exactly 100 trips to the plate at the highest level. That includes 32 plate appearances since the Nats selected his contract around the time of the trade deadline. Blankenhorn only hit .129 with one walk and nine strikeouts in that limited look. He has a career .154/.230/.264 slash against MLB arms.

While he hasn’t performed in his sporadic MLB chances, the 28-year-old has a solid minor league track record. Blankenhorn popped 23 home runs in Triple-A for the Nats a year ago. He connected on another 26 longballs in 106 contests with their top affiliate this season. Blankenhorn has power but has also struggled to make contact consistently in the minors. That continued this year, as he fanned in 26% of his plate appearances.

A third-round pick of the Twins in 2015, Blankenhorn has also had a brief stint with the Mets and spent time in the Mariners’ and Dodgers’ farm systems. He should be able to find another minor league opportunity heading into 2025. Speculatively speaking, his Triple-A power numbers could lead to offseason interest from teams in foreign leagues as well.

Red Sox Release Rich Hill

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The Red Sox released Rich Hill, tweets Christopher Smith of MassLive. The veteran southpaw can latch on elsewhere for the final few weeks of the regular season. Since he’d be signing after the start of September, he will not be eligible for this year’s postseason if he continues playing.

Boston designated the 44-year-old Hill for assignment on Friday when they promoted rookie righty Luis Guerrero. That ended his latest stint with the Sox after four big league appearances. Hill logged 3 2/3 innings of two-run ball. He struck out five of 15 batters faced while issuing a trio of walks. With his fastball sitting in the mid-80s, Hill leaned most frequently on a 70 MPH breaking ball in that limited sample.

Whether Hill signs with another team or sits out the rest of the season, he managed to get to the majors for a 20th straight year. This was the Massachusetts native’s eighth different stint with the Red Sox, including minor league deals, and his fourth separate appearance at the big league level in Boston. Hill deliberately waited until the tail end of the season to sign, inking a minor league contract with the Sox in mid-August. The team called him up ten days later.

MLB’s oldest active player now returns to the open market. If he signs anywhere for the stretch run, it’d be with a contender. Hill can’t play in the postseason but could potentially work in a swing role to help push a team to October. He reportedly drew interest from the Yankees, Dodgers and Twins when he was building up earlier in the summer.

All three of those teams occupy a playoff spot. New York holds a half-game lead on the Orioles in the AL East, while a slumping Minnesota team is trying to hang onto a 3.5-game edge on the American League’s final Wild Card spot. Los Angeles has all but wrapped up another NL West title, but they’re looking to lock down the top seed in the National League while dealing with a number of rotation injuries.

Ed Kranepool Passes Away

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Former All-Star and World Series champion Ed Kranepool passed away on Sunday, the Mets announced. Kranepool spent his entire 18-year MLB career with the franchise. He was 79 years old.

Kranepool debuted with the Mets at 17 years old in 1962, the club’s inaugural season. Over 18 seasons and 1,853 games, he helped them win their first two NL East titles, their first two NL pennants, and their first World Series title in 1969. He made the National League All-Star team in 1965.

The 6-foot-3 first baseman is perhaps best remembered for his home run in Game 3 of the 1969 World Series, but his significance to the organization goes well beyond one swing of the bat. Kranepool held the franchise record in hits from 1976 until 2011. As of today, he ranks second among all Mets players in career plate appearances, third in hits, fourth in doubles, and fifth in RBI. He also ranks among the top 10 in runs and walks. While thousands of players have suited up for the Mets over the past 63 seasons, no one has played more games for the franchise than Kranepool. Fittingly, he was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1990.

In addition to his longevity and long list of accomplishments, Kranepool will be remembered for his pinch-hitting and first base defense. In 1974, his 13th major league season, he appeared in more games as a pinch-hitter than at any other position. He went 17-for-35 (.486) as a substitute batter that year, setting a record for the highest single-season batting average by a pinch-hitter (min. 30 AB). His record still stands today (per Baseball Almanac). Moreover, although he played long before the days of advanced defensive metrics, Kranepool put up an impressive .994 fielding percentage over more than 10,000 innings at first base in his career. Longtime teammate Jerry Koosman described Kranepool as “the best first baseman [he] ever played with” in a statement relayed by the Mets.

Kranepool will also be remembered for the leadership role he continued to play long after he last took the field. As Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen wrote in a statement following his passing, “Ed continued to work tirelessly in the community on behalf of the organization after his playing career ended.”

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our sincerest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues, as well as the many fans mourning his passing.

Mariners Claim Austin Kitchen, DFA Jason Vosler

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The Mariners have claimed left-hander Austin Kitchen off waivers from the Marlins, per a team announcement out of Miami. In a corresponding move, Seattle has designated first baseman Jason Vosler for assignment.

Kitchen, 27, was designated for assignment over the weekend after a brief, but meaningful, stint with the Marlins. The club claimed him off waivers from the Rockies in June, and he made his MLB debut at the end of July. Unfortunately, his first few tastes of big league action in Miami weren’t particularly successful; he gave up 12 runs (11 earned) over seven innings before his DFA. On the bright side, he has a 2.96 ERA and 3.74 FIP across 48 2/3 minor league innings this season split between the Rockies and Marlins organizations.

The left-hander will now report to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. He will not be eligible to pitch for Seattle in the postseason, but he offers a bit of additional depth down the stretch. What’s more, he still has two option years remaining, so if the Mariners like what they see from Kitchen, they could easily choose to keep him around in 2025.

Vosler, 31, played 10 games with the Mariners this season during a brief call-up between mid-July and early August. He went 5-for-28 with a .519 OPS. However, he has looked much better at Triple-A, batting .299 with 28 home runs and a .934 OPS in 111 games. Despite his minor league success, he did not have a path to meaningful playing time in Seattle, so it’s not too surprising to see him cut from the 40-man roster. It’s likely he clears waivers, after which he will presumably elect free agency, either right away or at the end of the season. Vosler has played for five different organizations, including three at the MLB level, over a professional career that has spanned more than ten years.

Angels Select José Suarez, Move Jo Adell To 60-Day IL

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The Angels have selected the contract of left-handed pitcher José Suarez from Triple-A, the team announced. To make room for Suarez on the active roster, the club optioned right-hander Hans Crouse to Salt Lake. Meanwhile, the Angels opened a spot for Suarez on the 40-man by transferring Jo Adell to the 60-day injured list, marking the end of the outfielder’s season.

Suarez, 26, signed with the Angels as an international free agent just over ten years ago. He has pitched for the big league club in each of the past six seasons. He was a solid contributor in 2021 and ’22, pitching a total of 207 1/3 innings over 45 games (34 starts) with a 3.86 ERA and 4.16 SIERA. However, he lost most of his 2023 season to a shoulder injury, and he was ultimately DFA’d this past June after a poor start to his 2024 campaign. Over 35 1/3 innings, the southpaw gave up 34 runs (32 earned) on 44 hits and 22 walks.

After clearing waivers, Suarez accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, where he has pitched to an unsightly 6.54 ERA and 5.10 FIP over 11 starts. While his results have been poor, he offers the Angels a much-needed fresh arm for the bullpen. Top prospect Caden Dana only recorded three outs in his second career start on Sunday, and the bullpen was forced to pitch the rest of the game. Crouse, who was recalled yesterday, tossed 1 1/3 innings in that 7-4 loss to the Rangers, walking two and striking out one.

Adell, 25, landed on the 10-day IL over the weekend with a left oblique strain. By moving him to the 60-day IL with just three weeks left to go in the regular season, the Angels have officially ended his 2024 campaign. The former top prospect seemed to be enjoying a long-awaited breakout over the first eight weeks of the season, but he had since fallen back to earth. Over his last 90 games, Adell was batting .190 with a .611 OPS and 70 wRC+. He will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this coming offseason.

Guardians Designate Anthony Gose For Assignment

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The Guardians designated left-hander Anthony Gose for assignment … again. Cleveland announced Monday that Gose has been DFA in favor of fellow southpaw Joey Cantillo, who has been recalled from Triple-A Columbus.

It’s the fourth DFA of the past month for the out-of-options Gose, who has fully embraced the depth role in which the Guardians have placed him. He can’t be optioned to the minors, so Cleveland has continually designated him for assignment and passed him through waivers, at which point Gose has either accepted an outright assignment or briefly elected free agency and near-immediately re-signed on a new minor league deal.

It’s an odd cycle but not an entirely unfamiliar one. The Yankees have gone this route with righties David Hale and Ryan Weber in the past. The Marlins have done the same this year with lefty Kent Emanuel, just as they did with Devin Smeltzer in 2023. Gose is clearly fine with the tumultuous and somewhat unconventional arrangement, as he’s getting frequent MLB service time and pay out of it and agreeing to return to the organization each time. Granted, not all of those situations featured such rapid-fire selections to the majors and immediate DFAs, but it’s conceptually the same scenario.

Gose allowed two runs in an inning of work during his most recent brief stint with the Guards. He’s pitched in three games this season and yielded runs in all of them, combining for five runs on nine hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He’s posted better run-prevention numbers in Triple-A, logging a 3.27 earned run average with a hearty 32.8% strikeout rate against a more troubling 14.7% walk rate.

The 2024 season is Gose’s first year back from a Tommy John procedure that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign. A former second-round pick who ranked as one of the top prospects in the game during his days as a center fielder, he’s still looking to establish himself as a viable big league option in the bullpen. Gose has pitched 32 innings in the majors since making the switch to the mound and recorded a 4.78 ERA with big strikeout numbers (29.7%) and also big walk issues (12.3%).

A two-way star in high school who had some draft interest as a pitcher, Gose was brandishing a fastball that averaged 99.3 mph when he made his mound debut in 2021. He’s since undergone elbow surgery and seen that average heater dip to 95.2 mph — still a well above-average mark (particularly for a lefty), but not the same type of overpowering offering it was a few years back. Gose is still piling up strikeouts in Triple-A, but the command of his fastball/slider combination is a work in progress. He’ll head back to waivers and likely clear quickly before returning to the Guardians, whether via outright assignment or again electing free agency and signing a new minor league pact while he awaits his next call to the majors.

Mets Designate Pablo Reyes, Select Eddy Alvarez

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The Mets have selected the contract of recently acquired infielder Eddy Alvarez from Triple-A Syracuse and designated fellow infielder Pablo Reyes for assignment in order to open space on the active roster and 40-man roster, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. Alvarez was acquired from the Red Sox in exchange for cash earlier today.

Like Alvarez, Reyes was also acquired from the Red Sox in exchange for cash — although that swap took place back in May. The Mets selected him to the big league roster earlier this month when rosters expanded to 28 players. Reyes did not make a plate appearance with the Mets but did score a run after entering their Sept. 1 game as a pinch runner. He hit .183/.234/.217 in 64 plate appearances with Boston earlier this season.

The 31-year-old Reyes gave the Red Sox nearly league-average offense last season — .287/.339/.377 in 185 plate appearances — but has generally been a light-hitting utilityman in a big league career that’s now spanned four teams (Pirates, Brewers, Red Sox, Mets) across parts of six seasons. In 572 plate appearances at the MLB level, Reyes is a .248/.309/.349 hitter. He’s spent time at every defensive position other than catcher — pitcher included — but has primarily been a second baseman/shortstop/third baseman.

A career .277/.347/.450 hitter in parts of six Triple-A seasons, Reyes has a solid minor league track record but has never found extended success in the majors. He’s out of minor league options and thus can’t be sent down without clearing waivers first, and even then he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted previously in his career. He’ll head to waivers now that he’s been DFA and will likely clear, as he did back in May when Boston also designated him for assignment.

Rangers To Promote Kumar Rocker

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The Rangers are promoting top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker to the majors, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The No. 3 overall pick from the 2022 draft will make his major league debut and start Thursday’s game against the Mariners, per the report. Texas will need to formally select Rocker’s contract to add him to the 40-man roster prior to that debut appearance.

News of Rocker’s call to the big leagues comes just two days after manager Bruce Bochy downplayed the chances of him pitching in the majors this season. That was followed a day later by GM Chris Young stating that a promotion of Rocker was still under consideration. Now, in what’ll be just his 17th total appearance since being drafted, Rocker will toe the rubber on a major league mound.

Rocker’s journey to the majors has been an odd one. He and Jack Leiter were star teammates at Vanderbilt University and widely considered to be in the mix for the top overall selection in the 2021 draft. Leiter went second overall — to the Rangers, of course — while Rocker “slipped” to the tenth pick, held by the Mets. New York ultimately did not sign Rocker, citing concerns over his physical.

Rather than return to college, Rocker signed with the independent Tri-City ValleyCats of the Frontier League. He retained his draft eligibility but was not seen as a consensus top-10 pick the second time around. Reactions to the Rangers’ selection of Rocker with the No. 3 pick in 2022 ranged from surprised to stunned. Rocker looked sharp in his first six starts at the High-A level the season following his selection, but he suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery and knocked him until July of the current season.

Since returning, Rocker has rewarded the Rangers’ faith in spades. He made three shaky starts with the Rangers’ Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League but has since gone on an utter tear, obliterating minor league lineups and forcing his way into the Rangers’ plans sooner than anyone would’ve reasonably expected after he went under the knife last year.

Rocker skipped over High-A this season and went right from the ACL to Double-A. In five starts there and another two with Triple-A Round Rock, he’s pitched 29 2/3 innings of 0.91 ERA ball with a laughably dominant 47-to-4 K/BB ratio. He’s fanned 44.3% of his opponents against a minuscule 3.8% walk rate. He’s yielded all of one home run during that run of seven starts. In his two Triple-A outings, he’s fanned 18 hitters against one walk in ten innings.

Rocker’s meteoric rise through the Rangers’ system means that he and Leiter will now be reunited not just as teammates but as rotation-mates in the major leagues. The Rocker/Leiter pairing will give Texas fans a potential glimpse of the future — a silver lining near the end of an otherwise disappointing season where the Rangers never seemed to be a true contender to defend last year’s World Series crown. Leiter certainly hasn’t staked a claim to a long-term rotation spot just yet, but he’s looked better in his three recent starts than he did in a trio of spot starts earlier this season when he appeared overmatched.

Depending on how the final few weeks go for Leiter and Rocker, one or both exciting young hurlers could more convincingly force his way into the Rangers’ early 2025 plans. It’s unlikely Texas would simply pencil both into the rotation and bank on a full season of starts, but the former NCAA standouts are now both squarely in the short-term plans for the organization. Next year’s rotation will be fronted by Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle and Jon Gray, health permitting, and it’s possible righty Nathan Eovaldi will be back as well. He’ll trigger a $20MM player option once he completes nine more innings, but given how well he’s pitched this season he’ll also likely turn that down and return to the open market. Righty Dane Dunning and lefty Cody Bradford are also in the mix for starts next season.

Mets Acquire Eddy Alvarez

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The Mets have acquired infielder Eddy Alvarez from the Red Sox in exchange for cash, per the teams’ transaction logs at MLB.com. Alvarez was on a minor league deal and eligible to be traded as such. He won’t be postseason-eligible with his new team due to the fact that he’s joining the organization after the Aug. 31 eligibility deadline, but he’ll give the Mets some infield depth in the wake of Jeff McNeil’s season-ending wrist fracture.

Alvarez, 34, has appeared in parts of three big league seasons, spending time with the Marlins and Dodgers from 2020-22. He’s played a total of 50 games and recorded 142 plate appearance with a lackluster .183/.262/.262 batting line in that time. He’s been far better in a larger sample of Triple-A work, however. Alvarez has slashed .247/.348/.463 in 114 games with Worcester this season, smacking 18 homers and going 18-for-25 in stolen base attempts. His 24.1% strikeout rate is higher than average, but so is his 10.6% walk rate. Alvarez has appeared in eight Triple-A seasons and owns a career .277/.381/.467 slash in 1855 plate appearances there.

Defensively, Alvarez has seen time at every position other than catcher and first base. He’s primarily been a middle infielder, with 3777 career innings at shortstop and 1930 innings at second base (minors and big leagues combined).

The Mets don’t necessarily need to turn to Alvarez right off the bat. With McNeil out for the remainder of the regular season, they can turn to Jose Iglesias as the primary second baseman, with versatile Pablo Reyes occupying a utility role on the bench (and, of course, with MVP candidate Francisco Lindor at shortstop). Down in Triple-A, the Mets have top prospect Luisangel Acuna already on the 40-man roster in the event of further injury.

That said, the Mets are also without infield prospect Brett Baty for another several weeks due to a fractured finger. Between Baty, McNeil and Ronny Mauricio (out for the year with an ACL tear), the Mets’ infield depth is pretty banged up at the moment. In the event of an additional injury on the MLB side, Acuna could be called into action, or New York could turn to a non-roster veteran in Triple-A like Mike Brosseau, Yolmer Sanchez or perhaps the newly acquired Alvarez. Even if he never sees the majors with his new club, he’ll give the Mets some late-season depth and versatility to help navigate a handful of hits to their infield depth chart.

Astros Outright Parker Mushinski

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Left-hander Parker Mushinski went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment last week, the Astros announced Monday. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Sugar Land and will remain with the organization but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Mushinski’s DFA came as the corresponding move for Kyle Tucker’s return from the 60-day injured list.

The 28-year-old Mushinski has pitched in each of the past three seasons with Houston, logging a combined 33 innings of relief and pitching to a 5.45 ERA along the way. He’s fanned 17.4% of his opponents against an 8.1% walk rate and kept 45.2% of his batted balls on the ground. He’s had spotty command against lefties but generally prevented them from hitting for power, evidenced by a career .255/.354/.327 slash from opposing southpaw bats. However, righties have tattooed Mushinski at a brutal .280/.357/.587 clip in his career. He’s faced 84 righties in the big leagues and surrendered 13 extra-base hits (five homers, eight doubles).

While Mushinski hasn’t had much big league success, he does have a sharp track record in Triple-A. The 2017 seventh-rounder out of Texas Tech has pitched in parts of four seasons at the top minor league level and sports a collective 3.25 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate there. That’s come over a sample of 127 1/3 innings, with all but one of his 118 appearances at the Triple-A level coming out of the bullpen. Mushinski isn’t a particularly hard thrower — his four-seamer has sat just over 92 mph this season — but he’s nevertheless missed bats at a high level in the upper minors, both in terms of swinging-strike rate and his raw strikeout rates.

This is Mushinski’s first career outright assignment, and he also lacks three full seasons of big league service. As such, he can’t reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency for the time being. He’ll be able to become a minor league free agent in the offseason, however.

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