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D-Backs Recall Cristian Mena For MLB Debut

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The Diamondbacks recalled right-hander Cristian Mena to start tonight’s game with the Dodgers. Arizona optioned reliever Gavin Hollowell to Triple-A Reno to create an active roster spot.

Mena is already on the 40-man roster. The White Sox selected his contract before last winter’s Rule 5 draft. Chicago traded Mena, one of their more talented pitching prospects, to take a flier on young outfielder Dominic Fletcher. Arizona optioned him out of Spring Training. Mena had spent the entire season in Reno, tossing 82 2/3 innings across 16 starts.

The surface results aren’t especially impressive. Mena owns a 4.90 earned run average. His 24.4% strikeout percentage is solid, but he has walked 10.4% of opponents. Mena has allowed 1.63 home runs per nine innings despite a decent 47% grounder rate. The home runs are likely a product of the extreme hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League.

Mena is one of the younger pitchers in Triple-A. He turned 21 last December. Baseball America ranked him 14th in the Arizona system over the winter, crediting him with a well-rounded arsenal headlined by a plus curveball. Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Mena ninth among D-Backs prospects in February with similar praise for his breaking ball. Both outlets suggest he could stick as a back-of-the-rotation starter so long as he continues to develop as a strike-thrower.

Dodgers Select Matt Gage, Outright J.P. Feyereisen

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The Dodgers added lefty reliever Matt Gage to the 40-man roster but will keep him on optional assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Jon Heyman of the New York Post, who first reported the move (X link), indicates that Gage triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league deal. L.A. needed to put him on the 40-man or allow him to hit free agency. In a corresponding move, the Dodgers outrighted reliever J.P. Feyereisen from the 40-man roster.

Gage has impressed over 18 appearances in OKC. He carries a 2.79 earned run average through 19 1/3 innings. Gage has fanned an excellent 32.5% of batters faced while inducing grounders on 46.7% of batted balls. A 12% walk rate is a red flag, but Gage’s ability to miss bats at the top minor league level convinced the front office not to let him head back to the open market.

It won’t immediately net him an MLB roster spot, though. Gage still has one option year remaining, so the Dodgers can keep him in OKC for the rest of the season if they retain him on the 40-man roster. The 31-year-old has logged brief major league action with the Blue Jays and Astros over the last couple years. He owns a 1.83 ERA across 19 2/3 MLB frames, striking out 26% of batters faced with an 11.7% walk rate. Gage is a former 10th-round pick out of Siena College. He has pitched in parts of six Triple-A campaigns, where he carries a 4.95 ERA over 261 2/3 innings.

Feyereisen has had a rough season both in Triple-A and at the big league level. He owns a 6.75 ERA through 18 2/3 frames with Oklahoma City. The 31-year-old has logged 11 big league innings, surrendering 10 runs on 11 hits and five walks with nine strikeouts. The Dodgers evidently placed Feyereisen on waivers earlier in the week. He already went unclaimed and seems likely to stick in the organization at OKC.

As a player with between three and five years of service time, Feyereisen would need to relinquish his salary to decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency. He’s making $770K this season after avoiding arbitration over the winter. Assuming he sticks in the organization, Feyereisen would become a free agent next offseason if the Dodgers don’t add him back to the 40-man roster.

Whether he gets another look in L.A. should depend on whether he can recapture his best form in the minors. Feyereisen was an excellent reliever with the Brewers and Rays between 2021-22. He turned in a 2.73 ERA through 56 innings in ’21 and fired 24 1/3 frames without allowing an earned run in 2022. That stellar season was cut short by a shoulder injury that necessitated rotator cuff surgery the following offseason. The Rays traded Feyereisen to the Dodgers a week later.

MLB Announces 2024 All-Star Starting Lineups

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Major League Baseball announced the starting lineups for the 2024 All-Star Game this evening. The starting lineups are determined by fan vote. Starting pitchers and reserves, which are determined by a combination of player vote and the league office, will be announced on Sunday. Each team will eventually get at least one All-Star. 10 teams had at least one starter. The Phillies, which have three-quarters of the NL’s starting infield, lead the way.

The game will be played at Texas’ Globe Life Field on July 16.

American League

National League

* Currently on injured list with a left hamstring strain
** Currently on injured list with a stress reaction in his right leg

Guardians Release Adam Oller

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The Guardians have released right-hander Adam Oller, per an announcement from their official player development account on X. The righty will head to free agency and look for his next opportunity.

Oller, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the offseason. He’s been working in a swing role in Triple-A this year, with six starts and six relief appearances. Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there for him this year, as he’s allowed 7.48 earned runs per nine innings. His 26.4% strikeout rate has been strong but he walked 14.4% of batters faced and allowed six home runs, a rate of 22.2% per fly ball.

The Guardians have had needs in the rotation this year, with Shane Bieber requiring Tommy John surgery and Gavin Williams spending the first half of the season on the injured list. On top of that, Triston McKenzie, Carlos Carrasco and Logan Allen have struggled to put up good numbers. But Oller never got the call, presumably because of his own struggles. Williams was recently reinstated from the IL with McKenzie getting optioned to Triple-A, which could have indirectly led to Oller getting nudged off the Columbus roster.

Oller posted good results in the Mets’ system in 2021. He logged 120 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.45 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. The A’s acquired him and J.T. Ginn prior to 2022, sending Chris Bassitt to the Mets. That led to a big league audition over the past two years but Oller couldn’t land the gig, posting an ERA of 7.09 over 94 innings in 2022 and 2023. He was put on waivers and claimed by the Mariners in July of last year, but was outrighted off the roster at season’s end, which led to his deal with the Guards.

Though the results haven’t been good over the past couple of years, Oller was a notable prospect not too long ago. His numbers have been poor overall this year but he’s still been getting strikeouts, which is something that teams obviously covet. If he lands another minor league deal and eventually gets back onto a 40-man roster, he still has one option season and less than a year of service time.

Brewers Place Joey Ortiz On Injured List

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The Brewers announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder Joey Ortiz was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 2, with neck inflammation. Right-hander Enoli Paredes landed on the 15-day IL due to right forearm tendinitis. Infielder Vinny Capra and right-hander Janson Junk were recalled in corresponding moves.

Ortiz, 25, came over to the Brewers in the offseason trade that sent Corbin Burnes to the Orioles, with Milwaukee also receiving left-hander DL Hall and a competitive balance draft pick. Ortiz has made the most immediate impact in Milwaukee, as Hall has spent much of the year on the injured list and the draft has not yet taken place.

Since joining the Brewers, Ortiz has taken firm hold of the everyday third base job. In 74 games, he has stepped to the plate 256 times, drawing a walk in 13.7% of those while limiting his strikeouts to a 16.8% clip. He has seven home runs and a batting line of .269/.373/.444, which translates to a wRC+ of 134. He’s also stolen five bases and received strong grades for his defense at the hot corner, leading FanGraphs to credit him with 2.5 wins above replacement so far this year.

It doesn’t appear as though he’s slated for a lengthy absence. The issue first cropped up a week ago and he has been in and out of the lineup since then. Speculatively speaking, the fact that he didn’t immediately go on the IL and even played through the issue a bit suggests that it’s fairly minor and he could return after a quick rest period.

But it’s still less than ideal for the Brewers to lose a player of that caliber, especially when they’ve already been hit hard by the injury bug. The rotation has been the worst hit, with five starters currently on the 60-day IL in Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Robert Gasser, Joe Ross and Hall. That prompted the club to make a deadline deal ahead of schedule by trading for Aaron Civale earlier today. On the position player side of things, Ortiz joins Gary Sánchez and Oliver Dunn on the IL.

The Brewers have been leading the Central for much of the year but the Cardinals have been surging of late, having pulled to within six games of Milwaukee. The Brewers will obviously be hoping to get Ortiz back in short order to keep them in that strong position as the July 30 trade deadline gets closer.

Andruw Monasterio has been getting much of the third base playing time recently with Ortiz out and could perhaps continue to do so, though he’s hitting just .196/.297/.286 on the year. Capra will likely be in a multi-positional bench role, as he can play all over but has hit .246/.333/.350 for a wRC+ of 80 in Triple-A this year.

The club gave outfielder Sal Frelick some third base reps during Spring Training, but Garrett Mitchell’s injury opened up outfield playing time for him. Mitchell was reinstated from the IL on Monday, slotting back into the outfield mix next to Frelick, Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins.

Manager Pat Murphy addressed the possibility of Frelick returning to third base this week, now that the outfield picture is crowded again. Per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on X, Murphy said it “could happen” but he wasn’t expecting it any time soon. It’s unclear whether Ortiz landing on the IL today will change that framing. Monasterio is at the hot corner in tonight’s lineup.

Jordan Romano Shut Down For Six Weeks Following Arthroscopic Elbow Surgery

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Blue Jays right-hander Jordan Romano underwent arthroscopic surgery today to repair an impingement in his throwing elbow. Manager John Schneider relayed the news to the club’s beat, with Keegan Matheson of MLB.com among those to relay the news on X. The closer will be shut down from throwing for at least six weeks, with his potential return this season dependant on how things progress from that point.

Romano’s elbow has been an issue all year long. The 31-year-old was shut down during Spring Training due to some inflammation and began the season on the 15-day injured list. He was able to come off the IL by mid-April but struggled, with a 6.59 earned run average in 15 appearances. He was placed back on the IL at the start of June, again due to inflammation in that elbow. He seemed to be on the road to rejoining the club last month but was shut down due to some more soreness about two weeks ago.

On the weekend, there was an ominous update. Schneider told reporters that Romano was going to visit Dr. Keith Meister, who has been a key figure in developing the internal brace/Tommy John surgery hybrid.

Relative to the worst-case scenario evoked by that doctor visit, today’s update counts as good news. A Tommy John surgery comes with a timeline of more than a year, which would have definitely ended Romano’s 2024 and even made it difficult for him to pitch next year.

This procedure’s six-week no-throw timeline is far better than that but still not great for Romano or the Jays. Once he starts throwing again, it will be the middle of August and he will have to ramp things back up from there, which is why it’s still questionable whether he can return this season at all.

The Jays are currently 39-46 and on the fringes of contention, currently seven games back of a playoff spot. A disappointing bullpen has been a big part of their struggles, as the club’s relievers had a collective 3.68 ERA last year, a top ten mark in the majors. This year, the relief corps has a 4.73 ERA, better than just the Angels and Rockies. That’s been partly due to Romano, but also pitchers like Erik Swanson and Tim Mayza have struggled and Yimi García has been on the injured list for a while.

The Jays will have to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks about whether they are buyers or sellers, and the loss of Romano will be hurtful on either path. Over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, he racked up 95 saves, trailing only Emmanuel Clase, Kenley Jansen and Josh Hader. He had a 2.37 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate in that stretch.

Getting Romano healthy and back in that form could have played a role in getting them back in the playoff race. Conversely, if the club eventually takes the seller path, Romano would have been an attractive trade candidate. He is making $7.75MM this year and has one year of arbitration control remaining. Now that he’s potentially out for the year, he won’t be able to help the Jays steady the ship nor will he be able to bring back young talent in a deadline deal. Players on the IL can be traded but the offers would surely be unpalatable to the Jays right now, given Romano’s current health status.

If the Jays can stay in the playoff race for the next few months, perhaps the return of Romano will be a key storyline to watch, as he could serve as a fresh arm in September and/or October. Or if the club is out of it, the club would surely like to see him back on the mound before deciding whether or not to tender him a contract for next year.

He won’t be able to command a huge arbitration raise since his work this year has been so limited and also ineffective. Having Romano back to genuine closer status at around $8MM for one year would still be a huge bargain, though if the elbow issues linger and there’s a chance of him missing any of 2025, that would obviously change the calculus there.

Twins Promote Brooks Lee

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of prospect Brooks Lee.  Infielder Royce Lewis has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right adductor strain, opening an active roster spot for Lee. To get him onto the 40-man, right-hander Brock Stewart has been transferred to the 60-day IL. Declan Goff and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North first reported Lee’s promotion on X. The club’s president of baseball operations Derek Falvey says that Lewis has a Grade 2 strain and will be out at least through the All-Star break, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press on X.

Lee, now 23, was selected with the eighth overall pick in 2022 and signed with an overslot bonus of $5.675MM. Since then, in short, he has mashed his way up the minor league ladder. That started right after he was drafted, as he got into 31 games in 2022, seeing time at the Complex League level, High-A and then Double-A. He produced a line of .303/.388/.451 in those games, walking at an 11.5% clip and striking out just 14.4% of the time.

He returned to Double-A last year and carried that kind of production over in his 87 games there in 2023. He had 11 home runs, a 10.3% walk rate, 15.8% strikeout rate and .292/.365/.476 batting line. He was promoted to Triple-A and his numbers dipped, though the rates were still good and his batting average on balls in play dropped from .325 at Double-A to .258 at the level above.

This year, a lower back strain put him on the minor league injured list to start the year. He didn’t make his season debut until May 20, getting some rehab games at the Complex League level and Single-A. He then was bumped to Triple-A and has hit seven homers in just 20 games there, walking 9.6% of the time and striking out at only a 13.8% clip. He currently sports a monster line of .329/.394/.635 in those 20 games for the Saints this year, which translates to a 159 wRC+.

That almost constant barrage of offense has him unsurprisingly ranked as one of the better prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him in the #28 spot, FanGraphs at #49 and MLB Pipeline at #13. ESPN put him 27th in their May update while Keith Law of The Athletic had him 31st coming into the year.

Lee has largely played shortstop in his career thus far, though there’s some disagreement about whether he’ll stick there. His speed is only average but he is considered to have a reliability at the position that makes him passable there. With Carlos Correa pretty firmly implanted at that spot for the Twins for now, it’s been speculated that Lee may be ticketed for a move to either second or third, with his arm considered strong enough for the hot corner.

For much of the recent past, the Twins have had too many infielders to find time for everyone, so much so that Jorge Polanco was flipped to the Mariners in the offseason. Even with him out of the picture, they’ve had Lewis, Carlos Santana, Alex Kirilloff, Edouard Julien, José Miranda, Willi Castro, Kyle Farmer and Austin Martin in the infield mix alongside Correa.

But that picture has gotten a bit less crowded as the season has gone along. Julien struggled and got himself optioned to Triple-A. Kirilloff is on the injured list. Farmer is a glove-first bench player who isn’t hitting much this year. Castro and Martin have been bouncing between the infield and outfield.

Lately, the club has been rolling with a primary alignment of Santana at first and Correa at short, while Lewis and Miranda have shared third base and the designated hitter slot, with second base duties rotating between Castro, Farmer and Martin.

Getting Lee into that mix is easier now that Lewis is headed for yet another stint on the injured list. The incredibly talented but oft-injured player has hit .303/.361/.584 since his May 2022 promotion, but with various injuries limiting him to just 94 big league contests. He was removed from last night’s game with some groin tightness and Dan Hayes of The Athletic relayed after the contest that Lewis was headed for an MRI.

Time will tell exactly how Lee is used, and whether or not this is a brief stint to cover for Lewis or if he is in the majors for good. In the long term, their infield logjam is likely to continue into the future. Of the aforementioned group, only Santana and Farmer are slated for free agency after this year. Farmer has a mutual option on his deal but those pacts are almost never triggered by both sides.

For now, Lee will get a shot against big league pitching and will try to cement himself as a key part of the long-term infield in Minnesota, as well as helping them return to the postseason this year. The club is currently 48-37 and in possession of a Wild Card spot in the American League. If Lee is up for good, he will qualify for arbitration after 2027 and free agency after 2030, though future optional assignments could alter those timelines.

As for Stewart, his transfer was a formality as he’s already been on the IL for 60 days at this point. He was placed there May 2 due to right shoulder tendinitis. He is scheduled for some upcoming bullpen sessions, per Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune on X, but will need some more time to ramp up.

GM: Reds Have Yet To Commit To Deadline Strategy

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The Reds entered the 2024 season as hopeful contenders but find themselves five games under .500 and 10.5 games back of the Brewers for the division lead in the National League Central. It’s certainly not how they drew things up, but the tightly bunched NL Wild Card picture still leaves Cincinnati with some legitimate playoff aspirations. The Reds are only four games back of the third NL Wild Card spot at the moment. They’re one of many teams on the Wild Card bubble whose deadline activity will likely hinge on how the team plays in the coming weeks. In fact, general manager Brad Meador effectively confirmed as much to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“We have to wait and see how we finish off this road trip and the homestand coming up, and then we’ll see,” Meador tells Wittenmyer. “We’re talking about it. We’d love to be able to add, but realistically, we’ll probably just have to see how it goes.”

The Reds control their own fate, in many respects, and they’ll head into the upcoming All-Star break with a series of eminently winnable games. They took the first of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium last night and have a tough task finishing off that series, but they’ll close out the first half against three teams with sub-.500 records — including the two worst clubs in the NL. On Friday, Cincinnati commences a 10-game homestand where they’ll host the Tigers, Rockies and Marlins for three, four and three games, respectively. The Reds will open the second half with a nine-game road trip through Washington, Atlanta and St. Petersburg before starting a home series against the Cubs on July 29 (one day before the July 30 trade deadline).

It’s a pivotal stretch of games for the Reds, to say the least. A winning streak could catapult them north of .500 and prominently into the Wild Card hunt (while narrowing the division gap), while an underwhelming stretch against some of the less-competitive clubs on the upcoming schedule could serve as a death knell for their 2024 postseason aspirations. Playing roughly .500 ball between now and July 30 would leave the front office with some tougher decisions to make. For now, Meador acknowledged “vague” conversations exploring both sides of the market while cautioning nothing is close.

Among the most notable trade candidates on the roster, if the Reds go that route, will be Jonathan India and Frankie Montas. India is hitting .275/.381/.405 with five homers and eight steals on the season. He’s fanned in a career-low 19.7% of his plate appearances and has restored his walk rate to a hefty 12.8% after seeing it dip to a combined 8.6% in 2022-23.

India is playing out the first season of a two-year, $8.8MM contract that bought out two of his three arbitration seasons. He’s locked into a $5MM salary for the 2025 season and would be arbitration-eligible in the 2025-26 offseason before hitting the open market post-2026. He’s not a good defensive second baseman, but he’s been a line-drive machine at the plate this year (24.9%) while showing his best K-BB profile since winning NL Rookie of the Year in 2021.

While India conceded to Wittenmyer that last year’s slate of trade rumblings got to him mentally, this time around he feels more prepared for it. The 27-year-old emphasized a desire to remain in Cincinnati long-term, noting he “loves” the city and organization while simultaneously acknowledging that a potential trade is beyond his control and not something on which he plans to dwell.

Montas would be the roster’s most straightforward trade candidate. The 31-year-old hasn’t bounced back to his Oakland form but has been healthy with the Reds after missing nearly all of the 2023 season due to shoulder surgery. He’s on a one-year, $16MM contract and has pitched to a 4.23 ERA in 72 1/3 innings across 15 starts.

Montas’ 95.1 mph average heater (via Statcast) is down from its 96.8 mph peak, and his 18.6% strikeout rate isn’t close to his career-best 26.6% mark, set back in 2021. Still, he’s pitched like a capable enough fourth starter and has seen his velocity build as the season has progressed. Montas sat 94 mph with his fastball through late April but is at 95.5 mph dating back to May 1.

Over Montas’ past six starts, he’s pitched 31 1/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball with a much-improved 23.3% strikeout rate. His 10.9% walk rate in that stretch is too high, but the velocity and missed bats are beginning to resurface. If he can continue some of those positive gains in velocity and strikeouts, Montas could be of interest to teams looking to add to the middle tier of their rotation.

The Reds have other candidates to be moved, though their willingness to give out some surprising opt-out clauses over the winter could work against them in that regard. Veterans Emilio Pagan and Nick Martinez signed two-year contracts worth $16MM and $26MM, respectively, but the second season of each of those deals is a player option. As MLBTR’s Anthony Franco detailed for MLBTR Front Office subscribers earlier this week, such clauses often present severe impediments to trading a player.

Other names to watch in the event of a Reds sale would include relievers Buck Farmer, Lucas Sims and Brent Suter. All three are free agents at season’s end. Each has had varying levels of success this season while playing on an affordable salary. The return for any one of those three likely wouldn’t be enormous but could shed a small money off the payroll while adding a lottery-ticket prospect to the lower tiers of the farm system.

All of that is putting the cart before the horse, however. The Reds’ roster will have a nice window of winnable games to convince the front office that adding pieces is the proper route in the weeks ahead. Cincinnati has received negligible production from the outfield, designated hitter and first base this season — although Noelvi Marte’s recent return likely means they’ll install a productive hitter (Jeimer Candelario) in at first base more regularly now. Adding some kind of bat to help boost the offense would be prudent — assuming the Reds can keep themselves afloat or even improve upon their standing in the next couple weeks.

Shane Baz To Join Rays’ Rotation

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The Rays opened a rotation spot this morning by trading Aaron Civale to the Brewers. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on X that Shane Baz will take that rotation spot, likely taking over Civale’s scheduled start on Friday. For now, the Rays have recalled reliever Justin Sterner to give the bullpen an extra arm, as Topkin suggested they would.

The recall of Baz is a fairly logical next step, as it lines up with reporting from last week. Katie Woo, Patrick Mooney and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the Rays could make some starting pitching available, not necessarily as deadline “sellers” but simply because of being in a position where they had a relative surplus in the rotation.

At the time of that report, the Rays had a big league rotation of Civale, Zach Eflin, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell and Ryan Pepiot, with Baz and Jeffrey Springs both nearing returns from Tommy John surgeries. The reporting indicated that the Rays could trade one of their veteran starters to bolster their system and/or upgrade another area of their roster, then backfilling the rotation with Baz or Springs while also saving some money. All that is now coming to pass this week. Civale and his $4.9MM salary were traded to the Brewers, with the Rays adding infield prospect Gregory Barrios to their system.

The club is currently 43-42 and only three games out of a playoff spot, but the hope is that subtracting Civale while adding Baz will leave the club’s competitive chances in 2024 relatively unchanged or perhaps even improved.

Baz was acquired as part of the lopsided deal that sent Chris Archer to the Pirates for Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and a player to be named later, which eventually turned out to be Baz. The young righty was already a notable prospect at that time, as the Bucs drafted him 12th overall in 2017.

His first full season in the Rays’ system was very strong, as he made 17 Single-A starts with a 2.99 earned run average. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 25.4% of batters faced. After the minor league were canceled in 2020, Baz was even more impressive in 2021. He had a 2.06 ERA over 78 2/3 innings pitched between Double-A and Triple-A, striking out 37.9% of batters faced while giving out walks at just a 4.4% rate. He also made his major league debut with three starts and a 2.03 ERA.

Going into 2022, Baz was considered the eighth best prospect in the entire league by Baseball America, with other outlets similarly bullish. The Rays were surely hoping for him to establish himself at the big league level that year but his health got in the way. He underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow in March and began the season on the injured list. He was reinstated in June and made six starts before being shut down with an elbow sprain which eventually led to Tommy John surgery in September.

He missed all of 2023 while rehabbing and began this year on the injured list as well. He was reinstated from the injured list in May but optioned to Triple-A to continue building up his workload there. He seemed to show a bit of rust early on, with a 7.71 ERA through his first five minor league starts this year. But he’s been quite dominant in his most recent five, with a 1.57 ERA in those outings.

Since Civale had a 5.07 ERA with the Rays prior to being dealt, it’s entirely possible that Baz will be able to upgrade the current rotation, based on the way he was pitching in 2021 and how he has looked in the past month or so. In total, the moves showcase how a club can walk a tightrope of both buying and selling, as the Rays saved some cash and netted a prospect that could help them down the line while simultaneously keeping their competitive hopes alive here in 2024.

For Baz, by spending more than a month in the minors before being recalled, his path to free agency is going to be pushed back. He came into this season with two years and 14 days of service time, thanks to his call-up late in 2021 and then two years largely spent on the injured list. But by the time he’s recalled to take the ball on Friday, it will have been more than six weeks since he was optioned on May 23, meaning he won’t be able to get to the three-year mark here in 2024.

He’ll be a lock for Super Two status at the end of this year and will therefore get four trips through arbitration instead of three, assuming he stays up with the big league club the rest of the way, but the earliest he can qualify for free agency at this point is after the 2028 campaign.

For the Rays, they could perhaps make another series of moves like this, with Springs nearing a return from his surgery as well. The lefty got up to three innings pitched in his most recent rehab start and could be ready for reinstatement shortly. Even if they trade Eflin or Littell, who can each be controlled through 2025, the long-term rotation picture looks good. Shane McClanahan should be back from his own Tommy John surgery next year and is under club control through 2027. Pepiot is under control through 2028 and Bradley one year beyond that. The Springs extension goes through 2026 with a club option for 2027. Drew Rasmussen, who is currently on the IL after last year’s internal brace surgery, can be controlled via arbitration through 2026. Tyler Alexander is on optional assignment and pitching decently in the minors, with the potential to be retained via arbitration beyond this year as well.

Rockies Will Listen To Offers On Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber

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The Rockies have a reputation for hanging onto — and at times extending — veterans who would be likely trade candidates with other organizations. In recent years, they’ve declined to trade Trevor Story, Jon Gray, Daniel Bard, C.J. Cron, Brent Suter and others despite sitting near the bottom of the standings in the National League. (Bard and Cron were signed to ill-fated extensions.) Various reports have already indicated that the Rockies have zero inclination to listen to trade scenarios involving third baseman Ryan McMahon, but Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic report that Colorado decision-makers “plan to consider” offers for some players who are controlled beyond the current season.

Right-hander Cal Quantrill and lefty Austin Gomber are the two most obvious trade candidates on the staff, and the team will indeed consider offers on each, per the report. Both are in their second season of arbitration eligibility, with Quantrill earning a $6.55MM salary and Gomber being paid just shy of half that at $3.15MM. Both are controlled through the 2025 season and are slated to become free agents in the 2025-26 offseason.

Of the two, the 29-year-old Quantrill likely has more value despite being the pricier arm. He’s posted a team-high 95 1/3 innings in 2024 and recorded a 3.78 ERA on the back of an 18% strikeout rate, 8.5% walk rate, 46.9% grounder rate and 1.13 HR/9. It’s been a nice rebound effort for Quantrill in a tough setting for any pitcher. The former No. 8 overall draft pick was torched for a 5.24 ERA last season in an injury-shortened year with the Guardians but is now in the midst of his third season of solid results in a big league rotation. Quantrill also pitched to a combined 3.16 ERA in 336 innings with Cleveland in 2021-22, showing the same blend of sub-par strikeout rates with an aversion to hard contact.

Quantrill isn’t without his flaws. His 18% strikeout rate is worse than the league-average, but right in line with his career 17.8% mark. He’s never missed bats at a high level, and his command is more good than great. Similarly, while he uses a sinker as his primary offering, his ground-ball rates are typically a bit above average but far from elite. Quantrill has in the past featured a changeup — he’s largely moved away from the pitch this season — but it hasn’t kept lefties in check as much as hoped when the pitch received plus grades back to his prospect days. Lefties have a career .241/.318/.404 slash against him, while righties are at a comparable .266/.313/.400. He’s been hittable by all opponents but also not overexposed in platoon settings.

Gomber, 30, has pitched 87 2/3 innings this season and turned in a 4.72 ERA. That number has climbed by nearly two runs since the calendar turned to June. At the end of May, Gomber was sporting a tidy 2.76 earned run average, but he’s been blasted for 28 earned runs with an 18-to-7 K/BB ratio over his past 29 frames, dating back to June 2.

Rough patches of this sort are all too familiar for the Rockies and Gomber, who came to Denver as part of the regrettable Nolan Arenado trade with St. Louis. The former fourth-round pick is second (to Kyle Freeland) on the Rockies in innings pitched dating back to his acquisition, having piled up 466 2/3 frames over 99 appearances (83 starts). He’s posted a tepid 5.13 ERA in that time and actually generated slightly better results at Coors Field (4.96 ERA) than on the road (5.31 ERA). Look back through Gomber’s month-to-month splits in any given season, and there’s typically a month or two like his April/May run in 2024, but they’re largely offset by pronounced struggles that mirror his current slump.

Gomber punched out a solid 23.2% of his opponents in his first season with the Rox, but he’s at 16.1% this year and has seen the average velocity on his fastball drop from 91.6 mph in ’21 to 90.3 mph this season, per Statcast. He’s also scaled back the usage of his slider in favor of more curveballs and changeups. Back in 2021, Statcast credited his slider with a hearty 35% whiff rate, but the pitch is down to 17.7% this season and has been hit increasingly hard over the past couple seasons, so it’s not a huge surprise to see him moving away from it.

While neither Quantrill nor Gomber would fetch the type of haul that would seismically improve the Colorado farm system, both should generate interest. That’s true not only due to their relatively affordable salaries and extra year of club control, but also due to the simple lack of alternatives on the market for teams seeking rotation help. Quantrill is a borderline playoff starter at best, and Gomber is likely seen as more of a fifth starter who can help eat innings before sliding into a bullpen role in the playoffs. For some clubs, that type of stability is all they’re seeking.

It’s far from a given that the Rockies will ultimately move either pitcher. Quantrill has spoken positively about the experience of pitching in Colorado and at Coors Field specifically. He’s exceeded expectations since being acquired from Cleveland and, historically speaking, is the type of veteran the Rockies have looked to sign for multiple years rather than trade. Their ostensible willingness to listen to offers on him would be something of a change of pace but arguably a welcome one for a club that has at multiple times passed on trade opportunities that would’ve bolstered their minor league system only to eventually lose said players for no return at all when they become free agents. Whether either pitcher drums up enough interest to warrant an offer that convinces the Rockies to move remains an open question, though.

Colorado does have other arms that are controlled/signed beyond the current season, though most are performing poorly. Dakota Hudson has an ERA just shy of 6.00 with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. He’s arbitration-eligible this winter. Kyle Freeland is signed through 2026 and will earn $16MM in each of the next two seasons. In a healthy season, he might’ve drawn interest, but he only returned from the 60-day IL a couple weeks back after a lengthy stint due to an elbow strain. He’s looked sharp since returning (two runs in 12 2/3 innings) but was clobbered for a 13.21 ERA in four starts prior to his IL trip.

The Athletic also cites righty Ryan Feltner as a name who could draw interest despite an ugly 5.60 ERA of his own. There’s some sense to that as a potential buy-low candidate. Feltner averages 95 mph on his heater and has turned in a career-low 6.2% walk rate in this year’s 91 2/3 innings. His 19.3% strikeout rate is below average by a couple percentage points, but his 10.5% swinging-strike rate isn’t far from par and he has solid spin rates on his breaking pitches.

Feltner, 27, will be arb-eligible as a Super Two player this offseason. He’s controllable for four more seasons and has a pair of minor league options remaining. A contending club might not want to plug him directly into their rotation — particularly if said team is in a tightly contested division/Wild Card race. Other clubs looking to 2025 and beyond — or perhaps those with comfortable division leads but still needing some rotation depth — could view him as a longer-term project with good raw stuff who could benefit from a change of scenery.

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