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Diamondbacks Outright Brandon Hughes, Thyago Vieira

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The Diamondbacks announced that both right-hander Thyago Vieira and left-hander Brandon Hughes have been sent outright to Triple-A Reno. Vieira was already off the 40-man roster because he was designated for assignment last week when the club acquired lefty A.J. Puk, but there was no similar reporting about Hughes, so this move drops the club’s 40-man roster count to 39.

Hughes, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. He was selected to the club’s roster in late April but has mostly been on optional assignment this year. When he has been up in the majors, it hasn’t gone well, as he’s allowed 16 earned runs in 14 innings thanks to eight home runs allowed.

His time in Triple-A has naturally gone much better than that. He has a 2.08 ERA in his 34 2/3 innings for the Aces. His 18.4% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are both a bit subpar, so his 82.6% strand rate probably gets a big assist in producing that ERA.

Hughes was evidently freely available to all clubs in the past few days but they all passed. This is his first career outright and he lacks three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to reject this outright assignment but he’ll qualify for minor league free agency if not added back to the roster by season’s end.

Vieira, as mentioned, was designated for assignment last week. He was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks in early June. He had a 2.87 ERA in 15 2/3 innings but undoubtedly benefited from a .220 batting average on balls in play and 81.4% strand rate. Since all teams passed on the chance to claim him, they probably focused more on his 21.2% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate, which are both subpar.

Like Hughes, this is his first career outright and he’s shy of three years of major league service time. He doesn’t have the right to elect free agency and will have to report to Reno to work in a non-roster capacity.

Marlins Claim John McMillon

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The Marlins have claimed right-hander John McMillon off waivers from the Royals, according to announcements from both clubs. The righty was designated for assignment when Kansas City acquired infielder Paul DeJong. Miami had open roster spots after its deadline selloff and their 40-man roster count goes to 39.

McMillon, now 26, wasn’t selected in the shortened five-round 2020 draft and then signed with the Royals as an undrafted free agent. He is a pitcher who was been considered to have a wide range of potential outcomes because he can regularly send batters back to the dugout but also to first base. He has 129 2/3 innings on his minor league résumé with a 4.79 earned run average. He has struck out 35.2% of batters faced in that time but also given out walks at a massive 17.7% clip.

He was selected to the Royals’ roster in August of last year and pitched four major league innings for them. He allowed one earned run and struck out eight opponents without issuing a walk. But he’s been on optional assignment for all of this year, pitching 30 1/3 innings of the minor league total mentioned above. He’s still walking 17.7% of batters that step into the box but his 23.8% strikeout rate is a bit of a dip from previous seasons, leading to a 6.53 ERA.

It’s understandable that the Royals gave up on a pitcher that clearly still needs some fine tuning, while he’s a sensible flier for the Fish. McMillon can still be optioned for the rest of this season and two more campaigns. They just traded away A.J. Puk, Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing, JT Chargois and Huascar Brazobán in the past few days, blowing a huge hole in their bullpen. McMillon is an upside flier with plenty of time for the Marlins to unlock it.

Orioles Promote Coby Mayo

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Aug. 2: The O’s formally announced Mayo’s promotion. Infielder Livan Soto was optioned to Norfolk to open a spot on the active roster. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.

Aug. 1: Top prospect Coby Mayo is joining the Orioles, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (X link). The 22-year-old will be making his MLB debut. Mayo is not yet on the 40-man roster but the O’s have an opening, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction.

Baltimore took Mayo out of high school in the fourth round of the truncated 2020 draft. He signed for an above slot $1.75MM bonus and has ripped through minor league pitching at every level. The 6’5″, 230-pound corner infielder had pushed his way towards the top of a loaded O’s system by the start of the 2022 campaign. He had good but not elite numbers as a 20-year-old between High-A and Double-A that season.

A monster showing in the upper minors last year vaulted Mayo to the top of the overall league prospect rankings. He hit .307/.424/.603 with 17 homers in 78 games for Double-A Bowie. The O’s bumped him to Triple-A Norfolk late last season. Mayo responded with an excellent .267/.393/.512 slash across 62 contests.

Mayo entered the year as a top 30 minor league talent in the eyes of most evaluators. He has done all he can to reinforce that acclaim with another excellent year in Norfolk. Mayo has popped 20 homers over 335 plate appearances. He’s hitting .294/.370/.581 with a strong 10.1% walk rate. While his 24.5% strikeout percentage is a bit higher than average, it’s not a major concern for one of the best power-hitting prospects in the league.

The righty-hitting Mayo is tied for fourth in the International League in home runs. Among 83 hitters with 300+ plate appearances, he leads the league in slugging percentage. Mayo is 10th among that group in average and 25th in on-base percentage despite being one of the league’s youngest hitters.

Mayo ranks as the sport’s #12 prospect at Baseball America and FanGraphs. Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Mayo 18th on his recent update of the sport’s top 60 prospects. All three outlets have him as either the #2 or #3 player in the Baltimore system. He’s behind Jackson Holliday and alongside catcher Samuel Basallo at the top of an organization that is still loaded with high-end young talent.

BA and FanGraphs each credit Mayo with 70-grade power (plus-plus) on the 20-80 scouting scale. FanGraphs writes that Mayo could be susceptible to strikeouts early in his MLB career, but evaluators generally feel he shouldn’t have any problem getting to his impact power while drawing plenty of walks.

Mayo’s defense is more of a question. He has played exclusively on the corner infield in his minor league career. The vast majority of that experience has come at third base. Most scouting reports peg him as a fringe-average defender there despite excellent arm strength. FanGraphs’ report suggests Mayo may be best suited moving off the position to right field, but the O’s have not given him any outfield work in the minors.

He’ll break into the majors as a third baseman. Baltimore lost Jordan Westburg to a broken hand yesterday. The O’s have yet to provide a clear timeline on the All-Star’s return, yet he’s certainly in for a lengthy absence. Baltimore played Ramón Urías at the hot corner today. With Urías hitting a league average .244/.318/.381 in 195 plate appearances, they’ll turn to Mayo in the hope that the youngster provides above-average offense right out of the gate.

That’s no guarantee for any prospect, as Holliday’s struggles after his first big league call demonstrated early in the season. Yet there’s nothing more for Mayo to prove in the minors, as he now owns a .283/.380/.552 slash with 36 doubles and 32 homers in 602 career Triple-A plate appearances (the equivalent of one full season). Mayo would probably have gotten a look by now if he were in most other organizations. The O’s have such an impressive collection of infielders that they could afford to wait for him to comprehensively dominate minor league pitching.

Baltimore fans can dream on a future infield comprising Mayo, Holliday, Gunnar Henderson and Westburg from right to left. For now, Mayo will stick at the hot corner with Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn continuing to share first base and designated hitter. Urías should kick into a utility role which could bump recent trade pickup Livan Soto to Norfolk.

Barring a herculean start to his MLB career that earns him a top two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting, Mayo will not get a full service year this season. The O’s control him through at least the 2030 campaign; he won’t reach arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason. If Baltimore options him back to the minors at any point, that could delay his path to arbitration and free agency.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

White Sox Claim Gus Varland From Dodgers

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The White Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Gus Varland off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. The righty was recently designated for assignment in the wake of the Dodgers making multiple deals ahead of the trade deadline. The Sox had three open roster spots from their own trades and their 40-man roster count now jumps to 38.

Varland, now 27, was able to make his major league debut with the Brewers last year after that club took him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. But he allowed 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings and was sent back to the Dodgers in late May.

The Dodgers selected him to their 40-man roster in August of last year but he has mostly been on optional assignment since then. He made eight major league appearances for the Dodgers last year and seven more this year. Between those and his time with the Brewers, he has a 5.81 earned run average in 26 1/3 innings with a 17.3% strikeout rate, 15% walk rate and 46.5% ground ball rate.

The Sox are surely more interested in his Triple-A output. Last year, he logged 33 1/3 innings for Triple Oklahoma City with a 2.16 ERA while striking out 29.3% of opponents and giving out walks just 6% of the time. This year, the results haven’t been as nice, but with a lot of bad luck. In 32 2/3 innings at Triple-A in 2024, he has a .372 batting average on balls in play and 18.5% home run per flyball rate, which undoubtedly helped produce his 53.1% strand rate. The 7.99 ERA isn’t pretty but his 23.8% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 44.3% ground ball rate are all decent metrics.

The Sox already had one of the weaker pitching staffs in the league and just subtracted from it by trading away Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tanner Banks prior to the deadline. By claiming Varland, they can fill in some of the lost depth with potential benefits down the line. Varland still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, making him a potential long-term play if things break right for him.

Marlins Claim Cristian Pache

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The Marlins have claimed outfielder Cristian Pache off waivers from the Orioles, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Baltimore designated him for assignment two days ago. Pache is out of minor league options, so he’ll go right onto the big league roster. Miami has multiple 40-man vacancies after their deadline sell-off, so only a corresponding 26-man roster move will be necessary when the team announces the claim.

Pache, 25, is a former top prospect whose bat has never come around at the big league level. He’s still a lights-out defender in center field and can give the Marlins a standout defender at a position that’s been a point of weakness on the roster for several years now. In 119 plate appearances between the Phillies and Orioles this season, Pache is hitting .210/.297/.276 with a 36.1% strikeout rate. Overall, he’s a lifetime .181/.244/.274 hitter in 546 big league plate appearances.

Even with that dearth of offensive value, Pache’s glove made it seem like a virtual lock he’d be claimed by another team when the O’s designated him for assignment this week. He can handle any of the three outfield spots but has spent the bulk of his career in center field, where he was lauded as a true 80-grade defender during his prospect days. Defensive metrics bear that out. He’s played 1338 innings in the field in his major league career and been credited with 12 Defensive Runs Saved and an even gaudier 16 Outs Above Average. Pache “only” sits in the 77th percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed, but his jumps, reads, instincts and arm strength are all so strong that he nevertheless stands out as one of the sport’s premier defensive talents.

Pache entered the season with 2.031 years of big league service time, and since he’s spending the whole year in the majors — again, he cannot be optioned — he’ll finish with 3.031 years. That’ll make him arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and give Miami an additional three years of club control. He’s not going to hit for them, but the rebuilding Fish might simply be content to give him frequent playing time because of his defensive wizardry, knowing that if anything, the lack of offensive contributions is going to keep his price tag low during the arbitration process.

Yankees Release J.D. Davis, Outright Jahmai Jones

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The Yankees announced that infielder J.D. Davis has been released while infielder/outfielder Jahmai Jones has been sent outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Davis has already cleared waivers and is a free agent, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X.

Davis, 31, began his year by winning an arbitration hearing against the Giants, or so he thought. He was in line to make $6.9MM this year but the Giants released him after they signed Matt Chapman to take over their third base job.

Per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, arbitration salaries are not guaranteed if the two sides go to a hearing, so the Giants only had to give Davis about $1.1MM in termination pay in letting him go. He landed with the A’s but only secured a $2.5MM guarantee on that deal.

With Oakland, he missed some time with a right adductor strain and hit a tepid .236/.304/.366 for a wRC+ of 96. He was flipped to the Yankees, who mostly kept him in a bench role, as Davis only got into seven games in over a month on the roster. He was designated for assignment when the Yanks acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the other 29 clubs evidently passed on the chance to grab Davis off waivers.

The Yanks will remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary, which is around $775K. Any other club could sign him for the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay. He hit .268/.352/.443 from 2019 to 2023 for a wRC+ of 120 and that past performance could perhaps intrigue some other clubs.

As for Jones, it’s a bit more surprising to see him go unclaimed. Roughly half the teams in the league have open 40-man roster spots in the wake of the trade deadline. Jones is not too far removed from being a notable prospect and has not yet qualified for arbitration, meaning he’s making a league minimum salary. He is out of options and would have needed an active roster spot with any claiming team, but could have been controlled for five additional seasons beyond this one.

He has hit just .198/.257/.278 in his major league career but without getting much of a chance, as he’s still never reached 75 plate appearances in a season. He was claimed by the Yankees back in February but was only sent to the plate 47 times in his stretch of about four months on the roster, getting designated for assignment when Giancarlo Stanton came off the injured list.

Prior to exhausting his option years, his work in the minors was strong. Over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, he took a walk in 15.2% of his plate appearances, only getting struck out 21.8% of the time. He hit a combined .254/.378/.441 in that time for a 114 wRC+. He also stole 25 bases in 34 tries while playing all three outfield spots, second base and even a bit of third base.

On top of that solid minor league work, he’s a former second-round pick who appeared on some top 100 prospect lists a few years ago, but he nonetheless went unclaimed on waivers. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency at this time. He’ll report to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for now but will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if he’s not added back to the roster.

Astros Claim Janson Junk

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The Astros claimed right-hander Janson Junk off waivers from the Brewers, tweets Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Junk was designated for assignment when Milwaukee reinstated Devin Williams from the 60-day injured list. Houston already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so no additional moves were necessary. Junk has been optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land and will give the ’Stros some additional depth.

This is the final option year for Junk, 28, who’s pitched in the big leagues in each of the past four seasons. He’s only received scattered looks during his time with the Angels and Brewers, logging a combined 40 innings with a 5.18 ERA, 18.8% strikeout rate, 5% walk rate and 44.8% ground-ball rate. He’s worked both as a starter and reliever in his pro career, and though he’s primarily spent the season in the bullpen with the Brewers’ Triple-A Nashville affiliate, he’s frequently worked in multi-inning stints throughout the summer.

Junk’s big league numbers may not be particularly sharp, but he sports a tidy 2.55 earned run average in 35 1/3 Triple-A frames this season. He’s punched out 23.6% of his opponents there against a 10.1% walk rate. Junk has been outstanding of late, too. He’s rattled off 17 straight scoreless frames in Nashville, logging a 19-to-7 K/BB ratio along the way and only yielding a dozen hits in that time. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Junk has a 4.15 ERA over the life of 251 1/3 innings.

Giovanny Gallegos Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Giovanny Gallegos went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Cardinals and has elected free agency, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He’s now free to sign with any club.

Gallegos, who’ll turn 33 in a couple weeks, has been a mainstay in the St. Louis bullpen since 2019. Acquired in the trade that sent Luke Voit to the Yankees, he jumped almost immediately into a high-leverage role with the Cards during his first full season with St. Louis, ultimately logging 74 innings of 2.31 ERA ball with 19 holds, a save, a huge 33.3% strikeout rate and a tidy 5.7% walk rate.

For five seasons, Gallegos was a fixture in the Cardinals’ leverage mix — and a highly effective one at that. From 2019-23, he pitched 283 1/3 innings while working to a 3.14 ERA, fanning 30.7% of his opponents, issuing walks at just a 6.3% clip and yielding only 1.05 homers per nine frames. Along the way, he piled up 76 holds and 43 saves.

Some cracks in the armor began to show last season, however. After posting strikeout rates north of 30% in four consecutive seasons, Gallegos dipped to 25.8% — still a strong mark but a notable downturn. He continued to limit free passes at a high level, but his 93.7 mph average fastball was down from the 94.4 mph he’d averaged across the two prior seasons. Gallegos still sported gaudy swinging-strike and chase rates of 17.5% and 36.8%, respectively, both of which checked in well above the league averages. However, after yielding only 13 home runs total from 2020-22 (a span of 154 1/3 innings), he surrendered 11 long balls in just 55 innings. His 1.85 HR/9 was a career-worst mark by a wide margin. He finished the year on the injured list due to inflammation in his rotator cuff.

Things have deteriorated even further in 2024. Gallegos missed significant time with a shoulder impingement and has seen his fastball plummet to an average of 92.2 mph. He’s been tagged for an untenable 2.61 homers per nine frames (six homers in 20 2/3 innings). His swinging-strike rate went into a free-fall, checking in at 12%, while his chase rate is down to 29.8%. This year’s 22.6% strikeout rate is scarcely better than league-average, and Gallegos’ 10.6% walk rate is both a career-worst and well north of the current 8.2% league average.

Because Gallegos is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM contract, it was a foregone conclusion that he’d go unclaimed on waivers. And, because of that contract, the Cardinals are now on the hook for the remainder of this season’s $5.5MM salary (and the $500K buyout on his 2026 club option). A new team would only owe Gallegos the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster or injured list. That sum would be subtracted from the amount the Cardinals owe him, but St. Louis is on the hook for the significant majority of Gallegos’ contract regardless.

With his diminished velocity, deteriorated command, dwindling swing-and-miss skills and recent shoulder troubles, Gallegos is something of a long shot to regain his form in 2024. If he does latch on with a new club and generate improved results with lesser stuff, he’d be postseason-eligible so long as he’s in a new team’s organization (but not necessarily on the 40-man roster) before Sept. 1.

Giants Designate Derek Hill For Assignment

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder Mark Canha, acquired before the trade deadline, was added to the roster. They also selected outfielder Jerar Encarnación, a move that was previously reported, and reinstated right-hander Sean Hjelle from the bereavement list. To open roster spots for those three, the club optioned catcher Blake Sabol and infielder David Villar while outfielder Derek Hill was designated for assignment.

Hill, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Rangers just over a week ago. He got into five games since then, producing a line of .250/.308/.417 in 13 plate appearances. Combined with his time with the Rangers earlier in the season, he has a line of .255/.293/.455 for the year, which translates to a 107 wRC+ in 58 plate appearances.

Despite that generally cromulent performance, Hill keeps getting nudged off rosters since he’s out of options. The Rangers signed him to a minor league deal in the offseason and he got up to the majors with them for a couple of weeks starting in late May before being cut and re-signing another minor league deal with that club. He was selected back to the roster in late June and got another few weeks before going to the Giants on waivers.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, Hill will be on waivers again shortly since the Giants will have no other choice. Perhaps Hill will be claimed by some club that just did some selling at the deadline and has playing time available. If he were to be grabbed off waivers, the claiming club would be receiving a guy who has yet to qualify for arbitration and who can be controlled for four additional seasons after this one.

He hasn’t been able to do too much with his major league opportunities. Despite this year’s performance, he has a career line of .233/.281/.337 in 362 plate appearances. But he has 12 steals and some decent marks for his outfield glovework at all three spots. He’s also hit .297/.360/.492 in just under a thousand plate appearances in the minor leagues since the start of 2021, with that production translating to a wRC+ of 115, which could tempt a club to give him some at-bats down the stretch here in 2024.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today at 2:00pm central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony fielded various deadline-related questions.

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