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Dodgers Reinstate Joe Kelly, Outright Jose Hernandez

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July 19: The Dodgers announced today that Joe Kelly has been reinstated from the injured list to take the 40-man spot of Hernandez. Michael Petersen was optioned to make an active roster spot for Kelly. Their 40-man is now full again so they will have to open another spot when Ryan is officially promoted.

July 18: The Dodgers passed lefty Jose Hernandez through outright waivers and assigned him to their Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Hernandez had already been pitching in the ACL, building up after a layoff between the time L.A. acquired him from Pittsburgh and he began pitching with an affiliate. The move opens up a spot on the 40-man roster, which is presumably earmarked for top pitching prospect River Ryan, who’s slated to make his big league debut this weekend.

Hernandez, 26, was a Dodgers signee out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016. He spent seven years in the system before being selected by the Pirates in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. Pittsburgh carried Hernandez in their bullpen all season in 2023, letting him work 50 2/3 low-leverage innings while pitching to a 4.97 ERA with a 27.8% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate.

By rostering him all season, the Pirates gained the right to option Hernandez in subsequent seasons. However, the lefty pitched just 5 1/3 innings over seven MLB appearances this season and was hit hard with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, yielding a dozen runs in 15 1/3 innings while working with diminished velocity. The Bucs designated him for assignment in June and wound up trading him back to the Dodgers in exchange for cash.

The Dodgers can now keep Hernandez in their system as a depth option without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him. He’s had a tough 2024 season, but last year’s K-BB profile in the majors was interesting; those strikeout and walk rates were near-identical matches for his marks in his most recent full minor league season with the Dodgers back in 2022, when he posted respective 27.8% and 10% strikeout and walk rates in 59 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A. Hernandez yielded just a 3.32 ERA that season and induced grounders at a solid 43.8% clip. This year’s velocity dip is concerning, but there’s still reason to think he could eventually emerge as a viable bullpen option somewhere down the road.

White Sox Outright Danny Mendick

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July 19: Mendick cleared waivers and is headed to Triple-A Charlotte, with Fegan among those to relay the news on X.

July 17: The White Sox announced that they have signed infielder Nick Senzel, a move that was reported last night. To make room for Senzel, they designated infielder Danny Mendick for assignment. They also optioned infielder Lenyn Sosa, leaving a roster spot open. James Fegan of Sox Machine suggests on X that Yoán Moncada could take that spot, though that’s not confirmed as of now.

Mendick, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Sox and was added to the club’s roster in late April. He has appeared in 47 games for the Sox, stepping to the plate 141 times. Unfortunately, he has hit just .197/.243/.318 this year. He has struck out in 24.8% of his plate appearances while walking at a 4.3% clip, with both of those being subpar.

This is his sixth straight major league season, with most of his offensive output being fairly uninspiring. He had a nice flash of brilliance in 2022, slashing .289/.343/.443, but that season was cut short when he suffered a torn ACL after 31 games. Overall, he has a .232/.286/.346 batting line and 76 wRC+ in 656 career plate appearances.

He has now been nudged of Chicago’s roster and they will have some time to try to work out the next steps, whether that’s a trade or trying to pass Mendick. DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so any possibility of a trade will have to be explored in the next five days. Though with Mendick’s performance this year, interest is likely to be muted anyhow.

He can at least provide clubs with defensive versatility. He has played second and third base this year and also has some work at shortstop and in the outfield on his track record. He hasn’t been much of a base-stealer in his career but has swiped six bags without being caught this season. Mendick has an option and can therefore be kept in the minors if any club gives him a 40-man roster spot. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he will have the right to elect free agency, both because he has a previous career outright and because he has more than three years of service time.

Rockies Agree To Terms With No. 3 Overall Pick Charlie Condon

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The Rockies and outfielder Charlie Condon, the third overall pick from the 2024 draft, have agreed to a $9.25MM signing bonus. That matches Chase Burns, who signed with the Reds earlier this week, for the largest signing bonus in MLB history and slightly above the $9.07MM slot value for the #3 pick. Both Condon and Burns are represented by Vayner Sports. Jeff Passan relayed the details of the agreement on X.

Condon, now 21, is coming off an absurd two-year run with Georgia. He hit 25 home runs in 56 games for them last year and slashed .386/.484/.800. Here in 2024, he took things to another level with 37 homers in 60 games and a batting line of .433/.556/1.009.

In addition to the power, Condon’s bat-to-ball abilities are also considered strong. He struck out 86 times over his two seasons with Georgia, a rate of 15.4%. He also drew 90 walks in that time, a rate of 16.1%.

He’s not considered a standout defender but has some versatility, having played the infield corners and all three outfield slots this year. His ultimate defensive home seems up in the air, with some suggesting he’s likelier to end up as a corner outfielder while other suggests third base is most likely.

But the bat is the real standout tool and that’s why he was considered one of the top players available in this year’s draft. Baseball America, ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic all had him in the top spot. MLB Pipeline had him second behind Travis Bazzana, who was selected first overall by the Guardians. The report from FanGraphs is slightly more bearish, putting Condon fourth and expressing some worry that his uppercut swing will leave him vulnerable at the top of the zone, especially once he climbs to higher levels and eventually the majors.

While Condon’s power potential is exciting in a vacuum, the idea of him playing his home games at Coors Field is even more enticing. The Rockies have Ryan McMahon at third base, with his contract running through 2027. In the outfielder, Brenton Doyle seems to be emerging as a core piece in center, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently explored.

For Condon’s other possible positions, things get murky. Kris Bryant is under contract through 2028 but has hardly been able to stay on the field since coming to Colorado, even though the Rockies moved him to first base to try to lighten the wear and tear on him. Charlie Blackmon is 38 years old and on a one-year deal. Nolan Jones seemed to breakout last year but has stalled here in 2024.

The picture will undoubtedly change in time but the Rockies will surely be hoping for Condon to be a part of their roster in the future. His defense might require a bit of experimentation but perhaps his bat can vault him towards the majors quickly.

Nationals Reinstate Jose A. Ferrer

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The Nationals announced that left-hander Jose A. Ferrer has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Righty Amos Willingham was optioned to Triple-A to open an active roster spot. The Nats had two 40-man vacancies due to releasing infielder Nick Senzel and trading right Hunter Harvey to the Royals, so their count now climbs from 38 to 39.

Ferrer, 24, suffered a left lat strain during Spring Training and has spent the entire campaign on the IL until now. That has prevented him from building off last year’s major league debut. He tossed 34 innings for the Nats in 2023 with a 5.04 earned run average. His 17.6% strikeout rate was subpar but his 9.2% walk rate was around average. He got ground balls at a strong clip of 57.8% but also allowed four home runs, a rate of 18.2% per fly ball.

Advanced metrics thought he was a bit unlucky to have his ERA that high. Perhaps due to a relatively high .333 batting average on balls in play, his FIP was 4.55. SIERA, which normalizes home run rates, was even more bullish at 4.16.

Ferrer now slots into the club’s bullpen, giving them a second lefty alongside Robert Garcia. There should be plenty of opportunities for Washington relievers in the final few months of the season. They already traded Harvey and could potentially also flip Kyle Finnegan, Dylan Floro, Derek Law or Jacob Barnes by season’s end, as no one in that group is controllable beyond 2025.

That could give Ferrer a bit of runway to make up for lost time. He still has a couple of options and came into 2024 with less than a year of service, so he could be a long-term piece for the Nats if he performs well enough to continue holding a roster spot. He’s always been a ground ball guy in the minors but also with more punchouts than he showed in the majors last year. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a 27% strikeout rate on the farm.

Reds Designate Edwin Ríos For Assignment

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The Reds announced today that outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been activated from the 10-day injured list with infielder Edwin Ríos designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Ríos, 30, was just added to the roster a couple of weeks ago. He received 10 plate appearances in five games but recorded just one walk and one hit, a single, while striking out four times. That’s a fairly meaningless sample size but he may have been squeezed out by forces beyond his control. In addition to Fairchild’s return from the IL, Jake Fraley has returned from a stint on the family medical emergency list and the club acquired Austin Slater from the Giants. On top of that, Rece Hinds has slashed an absurd .423/.464/1.192 in his first seven major league games.

The Reds gave Ríos a couple of starts at first base and a few pinch-hitting opportunities but it would have been hard to get into the lineup with those developments in the outfield. Spencer Steer had been playing some left field but might now be pushed to spending more time at first base, splitting that spot and designated hitter with Jeimer Candelario as the outfield is manned by Fraley, Fairchild, Slater, Hinds and Will Benson. Candelario can also play third but the club has Noelvi Marté getting regular run there.

Since Ríos is out of options, the Reds had to cut him from the 40-man roster entirely to squeeze him off the active roster. Prior to getting called up, Ríos got into 50 Triple-A games with some success. He hit 11 home runs and was drawing walks at an 11.8% clip, though he was also striking out 11.8% of the time. His .243/.340/.486 batting line translated to a 108 wRC+.

The Reds will have a week to trade Ríos or pass him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, that leaves five days for them to explore any trade interest. Players with more than three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of free agency, with Ríos qualifying on both counts.

Prior to this stint with the Reds, he had played with the Dodgers and Cubs. This is his sixth straight season getting MLB time but he’s never been able to stick around for more than 32 games in any individual year. Overall, he has 335 plate appearances over 135 games with 21 home runs and a batting line of .202/.290/.455 for a wRC+ of 100.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers! Anthony took questions on draft pick trading, whether the Royals could deal from their MLB team for help in other areas, the asking price on Garrett Crochet, Ivan Herrera's value, the Yankees' closing situation, the A's middle infield, where the first Juan Soto trade ranks among the biggest in MLB history, and much more.

 

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Royals Re-Sign Austin Cox To Minor League Deal

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The Royals have re-signed left-hander Austin Cox to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had opted out of a minors deal with the club last week but the two sides have circled back on a fresh pact and he’ll return to Triple-A Omaha.

Cox, 27, tossed 35 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.28 earned run average prior to opting out. His 23.7% strikeout rate was quite strong but he also walked 13.2% of batters faced. Were it not for an 87.2% strand rate, some more runs would have crossed the plate, which is partly why his his 5.43 FIP was more than two runs higher than his ERA.

He went out to the open market to see what opportunities were available to him but wound up back where he started. Such a sequence of events isn’t unusual, as teams and players in these situations often re-negotiate new terms, sometimes adding another opt-out into the new deal.

Regardless of the details of the new pact, Cox will again provide the Royals with some left-handed depth in a non-roster capacity. He tossed 35 2/3 innings for them at the major league level last year with a 4.54 ERA. His 22.1% strikeout rate was close to average but he gave out free passes at an 11.4% clip.

His season came to an unfortunate end in September when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while attempting to cover first base on a ground ball. He underwent surgery and was non-tendered at season’s end before reuniting with the club on his aforementioned minor league deal. The club currently has four lefties in its big league bullpen in Ángel Zerpa, Kris Bubic, Will Smith and Sam Long, with Walter Pennington also on the 40-man roster.

Cubs Select Jesus Tinoco

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The Cubs have selected the contract of recently acquired righty Jesus Tinoco, tweets Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. He’ll join their big league bullpen to start the season’s second half. Lefty Jordan Wicks, already out more than a month with an oblique strain, is being transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injures list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Wicks will now be out until mid-August at the earliest.

Chicago acquired Tinoco from the Royals in exchange for cash earlier in the week. Presumably, given how quickly he’s been added to the big league roster, the right-hander had some form of opt-out or upward mobility clause in his contract that led to the swap.

Tinoco, 29, pitched 10 innings for the Rangers earlier this season and allowed nine runs before being designated for assignment. He rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency, signed with the Royals a few days later, and now will find himself back in the majors with the Cubs less than a month after he became a free agent.

This year’s run with the Rangers obviously didn’t go how he’d hoped, but Tinoco tossed 20 2/3 innings of 2.18 ERA ball for Texas back in 2022 and has pitched to a 4.58 earned run average in 76 2/3 innings across parts of five seasons. He averages better than 96 mph on his fastball but doesn’t miss bats at a particularly high level; he’s fanned 18.1% of his big league opponents against an untenable 13.9% walk rate. He’s had a solid showing in 28 Triple-A innings this season, however, posting a 3.86 ERA with a huge 31.9% strikeout rate against a more manageable (but still higher than average) 9.5% walk rate.

The Cubs’ bullpen has been problematic for much of the 2024 season. They’re a middle-of-the-pack group in terms of ERA but have regularly faltered in high-leverage situations, due in no small part to possessing the third-highest walk rate in the majors, at 10.8%. Tinoco will give them a fresh arm, though his own history of command troubles doesn’t inspire much confidence that he’ll help the group cut down on its walk issues. If the Cubs plan to add to the roster between now and the July 30 trade deadline — they’re currently 3.5 games out of a Wild Card spot in the NL — bullpen help will likely be a focus.

Royals Sign Dinelson Lamet To Minor League Deal

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The Royals announced Friday morning that they’ve signed right-hander Dinelson Lamet to a minor league contract. He opted out of a minors pact with the Dodgers early last month and has been a free agent for the past six weeks. Presumably, given that layoff, he’ll ramp up at a low-level affiliate before heading to Triple-A Omaha. Lamet is repped by the MVP Sports Group.

The 31-year-old Lamet pitched 4 1/3 innings with L.A. back in April before he was designated for assignment. He originally accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City but opted out a couple months later. Lamet allowed one run in his brief Dodgers stint. He spent the rest of his time with the organization in the Triple-A rotation, working to a 4.82 ERA with a 22.5% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate in 37 1/3 frames.

At one point in his career, Lamet looked like one of the more promising young arms in the National League. He debuted as a 24-year-old with the Padres in 2017 and held his own with a 4.57 ERA and hefty 28.7% strikeout rate in 21 starts. He missed the next year due to Tommy John surgery but returned in 2019 with a 4.07 ERA and massive 33.5% strikeout rate. The shortened 2020 season brought a full-fledged breakout, as the righty finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting on the heels of a pristine 2.09 ERA, a career-high 34.8% strikeout rate and a strong 7.5% walk rate.

Forearm and back injuries have derailed his trajectory since. His 2021 season was marred by a pair of forearm strains, limiting him to just 47 innings. The Padres moved him to the bullpen late in the season in hopes that a move to short relief would help keep him on the field, but while he’s been relatively healthy since, his fastball has deteriorated even while moving to shorter stints. Concurrently, he’s seen his command struggles not only resurface but climb to new heights.

Dating back to Opening Day 2022, Lamet has pitched 64 1/3 big league innings between four teams but posted an 8.25 ERA. He’s still fanned more than a quarter of his opponents but has also issued walks at a 14.1% clip and plunked another five opponents (1.6%). Lamet’s heater averaged a blistering 97 mph during his breakout ’20 campaign but sat at a more pedestrian 93.7 mph during his brief run with the Dodgers earlier this season.

Royals GM J.J. Picollo talked last month about wanting to add to his club’s bullpen, acknowledging the lack of swing-and-miss in a Royals relief corps that now ranks 29th in the majors with a 19% strikeout rate. That leads only the Rockies’ 18.4% rate. Lamet will need to ramp up and perform well in Omaha with the Storm Chasers before he’s even considered a viable option, but for all his struggles in recent seasons, he’s still quite capable of missing bats thanks to a slider that regularly racks up plus whiff rates. He’s a long-shot play at this point in his career, but there’s no risk in bringing him aboard on a minor league pact to see if he can get back on track in the minors.

The Opener: Weekend Matchups, Prospect Debuts, HOF Induction

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As the second half of the regular season gets underway, here are three things to watch around baseball this weekend:

1. Weekend matchups:

The two clubs battling at the top of the AL West will face off this weekend, as the Mariners host the Astros for a three-game set. It will be the final matchup between the division rivals until mid-September. Probable starting pitchers for the Mariners are Luis Castillo, George Kirby, and Bryan Woo (per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times), while the Astros are lined up to counter with Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez, and Ronel Blanco (per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). The series begins tonight at 9:10 PM CT.

Since the last time these two teams faced off, the Astros have gained 4.5 games on the Mariners, putting them just one game back in the AL West. With a series win this weekend, Houston would reclaim first place in the division for the first time since 2023. Meanwhile, if Seattle wins at least two of the three games, the Mariners will clinch the season series against the Astros. Winning the season series against a divisional rival became especially important in 2022 when the new CBA replaced tiebreaker games with mathematical tiebreaking procedures. Just last year, the Astros beat the Rangers for the AL West crown because Houston took the season series 9-4.

Over in the National League, the top two Wild Card teams are getting ready for a weekend matchup. If the regular season ended at the All-Star break, the Braves and Cardinals would be gearing up to play in a three-game Wild Card Series at Truist Park. Now, of course, there is still plenty of regular season left to play, which means their face-off this weekend in Atlanta is only a postseason preview.

Spencer Schwellenbach, Charlie Morton, and Max Fried are lined up to pitch for the Braves (per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), while Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson, and Miles Mikolas are in line to start for the Cardinals (per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). The Braves will hope to increase their lead in the Wild Card race with a series victory, while the Cardinals could find themselves just 0.5 games back of the top Wild Card spot if they manage to sweep the three-game set. The first game begins tonight at 6:20 PM CT.

2. Top prospect promotions:

As Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reported yesterday, the Athletics are planning to promote 22-year-old prospect Jacob Wilson, likely as soon as this evening’s contest against the Angels. The A’s selected him with the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft. Presumably, he will take over from Max Schuemann as the everyday shortstop in Oakland. The A’s have open spots on the 40-man and the active roster, so they do not need to make a corresponding move before announcing Wilson’s promotion.

Although a knee injury limited his playing time earlier this season, Wilson has been nothing but electric throughout his brief career in the minor leagues. Quickly rising through Oakland’s system, he has hit .401/.445/.613 (180 wRC+) across four levels. In 19 games at Triple-A this year, he has a .398 batting average with eight doubles, four home runs, and only three strikeouts. Baseball America recently ranked Wilson as the No. 19 overall prospect in the game, while MLB Pipeline has him at No. 50. The Athletic’s Keith Law did not include Wilson on his preseason top 100 prospects list but ranked the young infielder No. 2 in the Athletics system.

Meanwhile, down in Southern California, the Dodgers are reportedly planning to promote top pitching prospect River Ryan, according to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. Manager Dave Roberts has not yet announced how he plans to line up his rotation to begin the second half, so it’s possible Ryan could make his first big league start this weekend against the Red Sox.

Baseball America ranks Ryan as the No. 10 prospect (No. 3 pitching prospect) in the organization, while MLB Pipeline has him at No. 4 (No. 2 among pitchers). The Athletic’s Keith Law was particularly high on Ryan entering the season, considering him the best pitching prospect in the organization and one of the top four pitching prospects in the sport. Shoulder issues delayed the beginning of Ryan’s season, but the 26-year-old has looked sharp in five Triple-A outings, pitching to a 2.76 ERA and 3.67 FIP with a 28.8% strikeout rate and a 60.0% groundball rate. L.A. has an open spot for Ryan on the 40-man and active rosters. Although he has limited experience at Triple-A and likely needs a bit more seasoning in the minors, the Dodgers will hope he can provide their beleaguered rotation with some temporary relief.

3. Hall of Fame induction ceremony:

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend, with the ceremony set for Sunday at 12:30 PM CT. The festivities will be broadcast on MLB Network. Beltre, Mauer, and Helton were elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for their playing careers, while Leyland was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for his work as a manager. An additional 50 Hall of Famers will be present to celebrate their induction. More details about the event can be found on the Hall of Fame website.

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