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A’s Place Lucas Erceg On IL With Forearm Strain

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TODAY: The A’s have now made it official, placing Erceg on the IL today and also optioned right-hander Tyler Ferguson to Triple-A. In corresponding moves, right-hander Dany Jiménez and left-hander Brady Basso were recalled. Additionally, infielder Tyler Nevin was outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment earlier this week.

MAY 30: The A’s will place setup man Lucas Erceg on the 15-day injured list, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters on Thursday afternoon (via the MLB.com injury tracker). The right-hander experienced forearm tightness while warming up on Tuesday. He’s headed back to Oakland for further evaluation.

While Erceg isn’t as dominant as late-inning bullpen mate Mason Miller, he has been a key leverage arm in his own right. He’s carrying a 2.86 ERA with a 31% strikeout rate over 22 innings. Half the batted balls he has allowed have been hit on the ground. Erceg has averaged nearly 99 MPH on his fastball and has gotten swinging strikes on almost 13% of his offerings. He’s second on the team behind Austin Adams with eight holds and has picked up a pair of saves.

This has the makings of a breakout season for Erceg, who turned 29 earlier this month. He began his career as a reasonably well-regarded third base prospect in the Milwaukee system. When his bat plateaued in Triple-A, the Brewers moved him to the mound. Milwaukee abandoned the experiment when they traded Erceg to Oakland for cash last May. The A’s lived with some inconsistent results in his rookie campaign — a 4.75 ERA with a huge 14.3% walk rate over 55 innings — and have been rewarded through this year’s first couple months.

A healthy Erceg would make for an interesting trade candidate this summer. The A’s certainly don’t need to move him. He has five more seasons of team control and won’t get to arbitration until the end of 2025. There’s clear appeal to a Miller/Erceg pairing in the late innings. If the A’s decide to stretch Miller back out as a starter next year, Erceg could be their first choice to close.

Still, there’s also an argument for trying to sell high on Erceg. His winding career path means he’s well into what would typically be a pitcher’s prime (although it’s possible he’ll develop later than most because of his relative inexperience on the mound). Relief pitching tends to be volatile and Erceg’s command is still a work in progress. While this season’s 9.2% walk rate is average for a reliever, he had generally walked between 13-15% of opponents before this year.

Trade speculation is conditional on him being on the mound in July. He’s set to be out at least into the middle of June. The upcoming testing will reveal whether he’s in line for a longer absence and if there are any structural concerns.

Guardians Designate Estevan Florial For Assignment

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The Guardians have designated outfielder Estevan Florial for assignment, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. His spot on the roster will go to outfielder Steven Kwan, who’s been reinstated from the injured list and is back in the Cleveland lineup tonight.

Acquired from the Yankees in a December swap that sent right-hander Cody Morris back to New York, the out-of-options Florial won a spot on Cleveland’s Opening Day roster but has yet to hit with his new club. The once-vaunted prospect has appeared in 36 games with the Guards and tallied 111 plate appearances while mustering only a .173/.264/.367 slash. Florial has shown some extra-base pop, with three homers, six doubles and a pair of triples, but he’s also gone down on strikes in a staggering 36.9% of his plate appearances.

Strikeout woes are nothing new for Florial, who’s now punched out in 33.5% of his 245 big league plate appearances. Even as Florial put up gaudy numbers in Triple-A with the Yankees organization in 2022-23, he did so while fanning in three out of every ten trips to the plate. The Yankees largely left him in Triple-A to try to sort through his lack of contact skills, but it’s not a flaw that Florial has been able to overcome to this point.

Florial’s combination of power and speed has long been tantalizing, but he’s now a .192/.291/.329 hitter in the big leagues who can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. Another club that’s not in contention could perhaps afford to take a flier and place a waiver claim, but it’d be hard for any team with postseason aspirations to give Florial any kind of meaningful playing time when he’s clearly a project. The Guardians will have a week to try to trade him, pass him through outright waivers, or release him. If he clears outright waivers, Florial can reject the assignment and elect free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted once in the past (with the Yankees in April 2023).

John Curtiss Elects Free Agency

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May 31: Curtiss rejected the assignment and instead elected free agency, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.

May 30: The Rockies have sent right-hander John Curtiss outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not yet clear if he has chosen to do so.

Curtiss, 31, was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason. He didn’t crack the Opening Day roster, reporting to Albuquerque for some work there. He tossed 21 1/3 innings in the Pacific Coast League with a 6.75 earned run average. His 7.1% walk rate was solid but he only struck out 18.2% of batters faced and was hurt by an unfortunately low 57.8% strand rate.

Despite that fairly shaky performance, the Rockies called him up last week. They had played two straight extra-inning games and needed some fresh arms. In Saturday’s game against the Phillies, Curtiss relieved Justin Lawrence with two out in the ninth inning after the latter had blown a save. With the Rockies down 4-3 and with two men on base, Curtiss was brought in to face Bryce Harper and allowed a three-run homer. He then allowed an Alec Bohm double and a Nick Castellanos single, with Castellanos thrown out at second to finally end the inning after Bohm had scored.

Colorado needed pitching reinforcements again a couple of days later and designated Curtiss for assignment, leaving him currently sporting an ugly ERA of 54.00, thanks to him having allowed two earned runs while only recording one out.

Players with more than three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Curtiss would qualify on both counts and may choose to exercise that right. He had a solid run in 2020 and 2021 before Tommy John surgery put him out of action, and he hasn’t really had an extended chance to establish himself since then.

He tossed 69 1/3 innings with a 2.86 ERA over 2020 and 2021, spending time with the Rays, Marlins and Brewers. He struck out 24.1% of batters faced and only gave out walks at a 5.2% clip. He went under the knife in September of 2021 and missed all of 2022. With the Mets last year, he tossed 19 2/3 innings with a 4.58 ERA and a diminished 19.8% strikeout rate.

The Rockies organization is a tough spot for a guy looking to re-establish himself, given the hitter-friendly nature of both Coors Field and the PCL, but Curtiss may not have had many options this winter after a long injury absence and underwhelming return. Now that the season is a third of the way through and several clubs are dealing with mounting injuries to their pitching staffs, Curtiss might be interested in pursuing opportunities elsewhere.

Rays Select Justin Sterner, Option Tyler Alexander

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The Rays have selected the contract of right-hander Justin Sterner from Triple-A Durham, per a team announcement. He’ll be making his MLB debut when he first gets into a game. Left-hander Tyler Alexander was optioned to Durham in a corresponding move to create space on the active roster. Tampa Bay already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary. Their 40-man roster is now at capacity.

Sterner, 27, is a reliever whom the Rays acquired in 2021 swap sending right-hander David Hess to the Marlins. The 2024 season marks the third in which he’s logged time in Triple-A but the first in which he’s found much success. Sterner allowed eight runs in seven Triple-A frames back in 2022 and pitched to a 5.80 ERA in 35 2/3 innings there last season.

This year in Durham, however, Sterner has notched a much-improved 3.60 ERA in 25 innings, thanks in large part to huge gains in his ability to miss bats and limit walks. Sterner has fanned one-third of his opponents in Triple-A after posting a 26.1% strikeout rate a year ago. His 8.1% walk rate in 2024 is more than three percentage points south of last year’s 11.8% mark.

For the 29-year-old Alexander, this will be his first optional assignment since way back in 2019. The Rays acquired the southpaw via a November waiver claim after he’d been designated for assignment in Detroit. He’s effectively been the Rays’ fifth starter for much of the season, though only six of his 11 outings have been true starts. Alexander has frequently followed a one- or two-inning opener, but even his relief appearances have averaged five innings apiece this season.

Alexander had a decent stretch from mid-April to mid-May, but he’s been shelled for a dozen runs in just 9 2/3 innings over his past two appearances. He’s now yielded four or more runs in three of his past four outings. That ugly stretch has left the southpaw with a 6.19 ERA on the season, although fielding-independent metrics are more bullish (particularly his 4.09 SIERA). Alexander has a below-average 19.4% strikeout rate on the season but also a very sharp 5.3% walk rate. He’s also an extreme fly-ball pitcher (48.6% fly-balls, 29.6% grounders) who’s seen a larger-than-average 15% of his fly-balls leave the yard this year — an average of 2.06 homers per nine innings.

Alexander entered the season with 4.058 years of big league service time and is up to 4.122 as of this assignment. He’ll reach five full years of service with another 50 days on the active roster or major league injured list, at which point he’d gain the right to refuse an optional assignment to the minors. For now, he’ll get a reset in Durham while the Rays go with a rotation of Zack Littell, Aaron Civale, Taj Bradley and Ryan Pepiot.

Right-hander Zach Eflin went on the injured list due a lower back issue on May 20, and the Rays are awaiting returns from injured pitchers Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen and (in 2025) Shane McClanahan. Longtime top prospect Shane Baz could be a rotation candidate at some point as well. He very recently wrapped up his rehab from 2022 Tommy John surgery and was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A himself.

Wander Franco’s Administrative Leave Extended To July 14

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Rays’ shortstop Wander Franco will stay on administrative leave through July 14, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. That will be the last day before this year’s All-Star break, which will run from July 15 to 18.

Franco has essentially been on administrative leave since late last year, when allegations surfaced that he engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor. A second complaint against Franco also emerged later. He was reinstated to Tampa’s roster over the winter in a procedural move but placed back on administrative leave when the 2024 season began, with an end date of June 1.

Major League Baseball usually waits for criminal proceedings to play out before rendering its own judgements and/or penalties. As such, Franco’s administrative leave is likely to be continually extended as long as his legal situation remains unresolved. Per Topkin, Franco is likely to be presented with formal accusations in the Dominican Republic June, with authorities having a July 5 deadline. While on administrative leave, Franco will not count against Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.

Placing a player on administrative leave is standard protocol in MLB when a player is being investigated under the league’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. It is not considered punitive in nature, and the leave is paid — though any accrued payments can be rescinded depending on the outcome of both criminal proceedings and potential discipline (i.e. suspension) following the league’s own investigation of the matter in question.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic initially brought charges of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering against Franco, with the laundering charges stemming from alleged payments that Franco made to the purported victim’s mother. Those charges were eventually lessened to an extent, with the latest reporting out of the Dominican Republic indicating that Franco is facing charges of sexual and psychological abuse of a minor. He’s been released on bond and was initially required to report to court on a monthly basis. Topkin relays that the monthly check-ins are no longer required but Franco did not get back the $33K bond as he requested.

Back in November of 2021, the Rays signed Franco to an 11-year, $182MM contract covering the 2022-32 seasons. It’s not at all clear at this time whether Franco will ever return to Major League Baseball. If Franco ultimately faces criminal charges or a lengthy ban resulting from MLB’s own investigation, he would not collect his salary for time missed (including retroactive forfeiture of any payments made while on administrative leave).

Alek Manoah Headed For Second Opinion, Likely Facing Lengthy Absence

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May 31: Manoah is headed for a second opinion on his elbow, reports TSN’s Scott Mitchell. His initial diagnosis isn’t yet known, but Mitchell adds that it’s expected Manoah will be sidelined for an “extended period of time.”

May 29: Alek Manoah left tonight’s start against the White Sox in the second inning. The team announced he experienced elbow discomfort. Manager John Schneider told the Toronto beat after the game that Manoah will get an MRI tomorrow (X link via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson).

Manoah lost the first month of the season after battling shoulder discomfort during the spring. He was reinstated on May 5 and has taken the ball five times. The burly right-hander was out to an encouraging start to the season, working to a 3.70 ERA with 26 strikeouts and eight walks across 24 1/3 innings. Manoah wasn’t back to his Cy Young finalist form of 2022, but it was a substantial improvement over last year’s disappointing season.

There’s little to be done now beyond hoping that imaging doesn’t reveal any structural concerns. Manoah’s fastball sat in the typical 92-93 MPH range during the first inning. He didn’t top 90 MPH in the second inning until throwing Dominic Fletcher a 91.4 MPH sinker to start his at-bat. Manoah seemed to wince after releasing that pitch and departed the game following a mound visit (video provided on X by Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi). Trevor Richards came in for 3 1/3 scoreless innings of emergency relief to help Toronto to a 3-1 victory.

The Jays are working with limited rotation depth behind their front five of Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Manoah. Offseason signee Yariel Rodríguez has been on the injured list since April 30 with back inflammation. Bowden Francis, who opened the season in the rotation when Manoah was on the shelf, has been out for the last month with forearm tendinitis.

Rodríguez and Francis are each on rehab stints with Triple-A Buffalo. While both pitchers should be back before long, they’ve each got questions about their viability as starters. Rodríguez barely pitched in 2023 as he went through the process of applying for free agency. He pitched out of the bullpen in Japan two seasons ago. Francis was rocked in his first two MLB starts this year and quickly kicked to multi-inning relief, where he had more success last season.

Paolo Espino, who has a 4.81 ERA over eight starts with Buffalo, is the only other traditional starter on the 40-man roster. Toronto brought back old friend Aaron Sanchez on a minor league deal earlier this month, but he has given up 17 runs in 10 2/3 Triple-A innings. Beau Sulser, another recent non-roster acquisition, has surrendered 12 runs in 14 1/3 Triple-A innings in a swing role. Top prospect Ricky Tiedemann is back on the minor league IL because of a nerve issue in his elbow.

If Manoah needs to go on the injured list, Espino seems the logical choice to hold the fort until Rodríguez is ready to return. Toronto’s rotation would look perilously thin in the event of any other injuries. While the Jays benefitted from remarkable rotation health last season,  they relied on Richards to kick off a few bullpen games last summer while Manoah was in the minors. Perhaps they’d look at that as another short-term solution, but starting pitching would likely be a deadline priority if the Jays are in the postseason picture in July.

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 the Yankees' deadline needs, outfield trade possibilities for the Royals, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Diamondbacks' slow start, Tarik Skubal's dominance, Aaron Judge's potential Hall of Fame track and the Cy Young candidacies of star closers Emmanuel Clase and Mason Miller.

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Cardinals Place Lars Nootbaar On Injured List

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The Cardinals announced Friday that outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with an oblique strain. Infielder Jose Fermin is up from Triple-A Memphis to take Nootbaar’s spot on the active roster. St. Louis also announced that reliever Giovanny Gallegos is headed to Memphis on a minor league rehab assignment.

Nootbaar, 26, missed the first two weeks of the season with a rib injury and will now head back to the injured list. He’s out to a .234/.337/.404 start to the season, with plenty of underlying indicators that improved performance could be on the horizon once healthy. Nootbaar’s 13.4% walk rate remains characteristically excellent, as does his 20.6% chase rate on pitches off the plate. He’s been slightly more aggressive on pitches within the strike zone this season, and Nootbaar’s 92.1 mph average exit velocity, 21.7% line-drive rate and massive 52.8% hard-hit rate are all career-high marks. Given the plate discipline and quality of contact, an uptick in his offensive output seems quite likely — provided this oblique injury doesn’t hinder him upon his return.

With Nootbaar headed to the injured list, the Cardinals will likely give more playing time in right field to Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson. The switch-hitting Carlson is the vastly superior defender but has also posted a woeful .139/.244/.139 slash in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. Burleson is a poor defender but sports a far more impactful .289/.321/.428 slash with five homers in 160 turns at the plate.

Fermin was up with the big league club earlier this season but went just 3-for-18 with a trio of singles in that brief look. The 25-year-old has decimated Triple-A pitching this season, raking at a .346/.461/.615 pace with six homers and 10 doubles to along with a 10-for-10 showing in attempted stolen bases. He’s walked 19 times — a hearty 14.8% rate — against a minuscule five punchouts in Memphis this year (3.9%).

Gallegos, 32, allowed a dozen runs in nine innings this season before landing on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement. It was a wildly out-of-character showing for the typically solid Gallegos — one that included a career-low 92.5 mph average fastball. From 2019-23, Gallegos was one of the Cardinals’ steadiest bullpen arms, logging a combined 3.14 ERA with a very strong 30.7% strikeout rate against just a 6.4% walk rate in 238 1/3 innings.

Gallegos is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM contract that includes a $6.5MM club option. If he looks like his typical self in his return from the IL, that’ll be an easy call for the Cardinals to pick up, but the right-hander’s disastrous start to the 2024 season has rendered what looked like a straightforward call something of an open question.

Teams Inquiring On Marlins’ Tanner Scott

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The Marlins’ awful start to the season and uncommonly early trade of star infielder Luis Arraez served as clear indicators of the direction they’ll take as this summer’s trade deadline approaches, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports this morning that teams have already been inquiring on closer Tanner Scott.

Given the state of the Marlins, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if and when virtually any player on the roster is discussed as a potential trade candidate. Nevertheless, it’s somewhat notable that clubs have already been gauging the asking price on Scott. That’s especially true since the left-hander stands as the Marlins’ most logical and likeliest trade candidate. He’s a free agent at season’s end and earning a notable (by Miami’s standards) $5.7MM salary. It’d be a shock if the Marlins didn’t trade him at some point in the next two months.

Scott was one of the best relievers in all of baseball in 2023, pitching to a 2.31 ERA with a huge 33.9% strikeout rate. The now-29-year-old southpaw had battled alarming command troubles throughout his career but in ’23 looked to have put them in the rearview mirror. Scott walked hitters at a lower-than-average 7.8% clip — the first season of his career with a walk rate under 11.6%. Improved command, paired with a blazing heater (96.9 mph average) and wipeout slider made Scott virtually automatic. He converted 90% of the time in a save situation, picking up a dozen saves and 24 holds with only four blown saves.

This season has been more of a mixed bag. Scott’s 1.57 ERA is pristine, but his longstanding command problems have returned. He’s walked 17.8% of his opponents this year, making that microscopic ERA something of a mirage. That said, much of Scott’s trouble in that area occurred early in the season. The lefty walked nine hitters through his first 5 2/3 innings but has walked only nine men since that time — in a span of 17 1/3 frames. Things have been even better of late; Scott has just one walk in his past six innings. The southpaw’s strikeout rate is still down this season, sitting at a roughly average 22.8%, but he’s inducing grounders at a hefty 54.5% clip and his Scott’s fastball remains as potent as ever.

Dating back to Scott’s 2020 breakout with the Orioles, he’s pitched 238 1/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball. His 13% walk rate in that time is problematic, but last year’s gains and the recent improvement after some early-season struggles suggest that a lower rate could reasonably be expected. Scott has also fanned 30% of his opponents dating back to the ’20 season, while keeping more than half the batted balls against him on the ground. Even in the modern era of power arms, left-handers with this type of velocity aren’t common. Only four southpaw relievers in baseball have averaged better than Scott’s 96.8 mph on his heater dating back to 2020 (Gregory Soto, Jose Alvarado, Aroldis Chapman, Genesis Cabrera).

As of this writing, the Marlins still owe Scott $3.7MM of this season’s salary. That’s an affordable sum for most clubs throughout the game, even those that have luxury-tax concerns. However, Miami showed in the aforementioned Arraez trade that the club would pay down additional salary in order to extract what the front office believes to be a stronger return. If the Fish are willing to cover the bill on some or all of the money yet owed to Scott, that would only figure to strengthen whatever prospect package they ultimately acquire.

Barring a major injury, a trade of Scott seems all but inevitable. Fellow impending free agents Josh Bell and Tim Anderson would be clear trade candidates themselves if either were performing up to career levels, but Bell has been a roughly league-average bat this season while Anderson’s production has been even worse than his disastrous 2023 showing in Chicago.

Beyond Miami’s impending free agents, just about any player who’s already into or approaching his arbitration years seems like a candidate to move. Lefty Jesus Luzardo is one of the most obvious trade candidates in all of baseball, and teams will surely inquire on fellow starters Trevor Rogers (controlled through 2026) and Braxton Garrett (controlled through 2027 but Super Two eligible this offseason). Outfielders Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez are also potential trade candidates, though only Chisholm is in the midst of a particularly strong season at the plate. Both Chisholm and Luzardo are controlled two more seasons beyond the current year. Chisholm is earning $2.625MM. Luzardo is earning $5.5MM.

Mets To Designate Omar Narvaez, Acquire Luis Torrens, Option Brett Baty, Christian Scott

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10:20am: The Mets are sending cash to the Yankees in the deal for Torrens, tweets Sherman. Specifically, it’ll be a $100K return for the Yankees.

9:50am: The Mets are shaking up the roster with a broad-reaching set of roster moves. Catcher Omar Narvaez is being designated for assignment, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. His spot on the roster will go to catcher Luis Torrens, who is being acquired from the Yankees and selected to the MLB roster, according to Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. Meanwhile, third baseman Brett Baty and righty Christian Scott will be optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. They’ll be replaced on the roster by infielder Jose Iglesias, whose contract will be selected from Syracuse, and righty Dedniel Nunez, who’ll be recalled from Syracuse, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.

It’s a significant slate of roster moves that’ll see the Mets jettison the veteran Narvaez, option two of their top prospects to Triple-A for more seasoning, and thus clear a full runway for Mark Vientos to get an opportunity as the everyday third baseman.

Narvaez, 32, inked a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $15MM in the 2022-23 offseason — the second season of which was a player option. After a lackluster debut campaign in Queens that saw him hit just .211/.283/.297, Narvaez unsurprisingly opted into the second season of his contract. This year’s production has been even more feeble, however. In 69 trips to the plate, Narvaez has managed only a .154/.191/.185 batting line with a dismal 22.2% hard-hit rate.

Prior to his time with the Mets, Narvaez was a quality regular with the White Sox, Mariners and Brewers from 2018-22 — even making an All-Star team with Milwaukee in 2021. That five-year span saw Narvaez bat .254/.337/.397. He was inconsistent with the bat on a year-to-year basis but wound up producing at a roughly league-average level overall during that half-decade run. On top of that, the Brewers — who have a reputation for improving catcher defense — revamped Narvaez’s skill set behind the plate. He rated as one of the game’s worst defenders in 2018-19 with Chicago and Seattle but posted seven Defensive Runs Saved and was worth an even more impressive 19 runs behind the plate in Statcast’s eyes — thanks largely to massive improvements in his framing.

The injury to Francisco Alvarez appeared to create an opportunity for Narvaez to get back to that previous form, but he’s been outhit by the defensively superior Tomas Nido, who returned to the big leagues after being outrighted to Syracuse last season. Nido hasn’t been great at the plate himself — his .233/.260/.370 batting line is well below par — but has handily outperformed his fellow backstop. That’ll allow Nido to stick around in what’ll likely be the lead catching role until Alvarez’s return.

Alvarez suited up for Double-A Binghamton yesterday, kicking off a 20-day window for his minor league rehab assignment. That could make for a short-lived stay on the roster for the newly acquired Torrens. The Mets will choose between him and Nido once Alvarez is ready for activation. In 124 Triple-A plate appearances with the Yankees, the journeyman Torrens hit .279/.339/.469 with five homers and six doubles.

Once a well-regarded catching prospect with the Padres and Mariners, the now-28-year-old Torrens is a career .227/.289/.354 hitter in 807 MLB plate appearances. He has a knack for hard contact, but too many of those well-struck balls are of the grounder variety. A hefty 49.9% of Torrens’ career batted balls in the majors have been on the ground, which is clearly suboptimal for a plodding catcher who ranked in the 24th percentile of big league players in sprint speed from 2022-23, per Statcast.

In Baty and Scott, the Mets are sending two of the organization’s most touted prospects back to the minors. Baty, 24, has now seen MLB action in three straight seasons but has yet to cement himself as the everyday third baseman — or even as a viable big league bat. This year’s .225/.304/.325 batting line is 12% worse than average, by measure of wRC+, but nonetheless stands as his most productive season in the big leagues. Since making his debut late in the 2022 season, Baty carries a .214/.281/.325 line in exactly 600 plate appearances.

Baty, the No. 12 pick in the 2019 draft, has been particularly cold of late, tallying just six hits in his past 54 trips to the plate. He’s considered a superior defender to the also-24-year-old Vientos, but Vientos’ bat has been too loud for the Mets to ignore. Also long considered one of the organization’s better prospects, Vientos is hitting .295/.354/.591 with three homers in just 48 plate appearances. The former No. 59 overall pick’s performance emphatically warrants greater playing time. With Baty sent to Triple-A, he’ll receive that chance and could well establish himself as a long-term corner option for the Mets with a strong showing.

Scott, who’ll turn 25 in a couple weeks, has pitched well through his first five MLB starts. In 27 2/3 frames, he’s worked to a 3.90 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate and excellent 5.4% walk rate. However, the right-hander was a reliever in college whom the Mets have moved into a rotation role since turning pro. He’s thus never worked a full starter’s workload, with last year’s 87 2/3 frames standing as a career-high. The Mets have multiple off-days on the schedule in the near future, lessening the need for rotation arms. As such, they’ll send Scott to Syracuse, where they can more easily manage his innings and simultaneously afford the big league club an extra reliever.

Passan does note that Scott is expected to return to the big leagues before long. His promotion to date certainly warrants that. And if the Mets continue on their current trajectory, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see other members of the rotation dangled in trade scenarios. For now, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, Tylor Megill and David Peterson are lined up to make the next five starts. Severino is on a one-year deal, while Manaea has a opt-out at season’s end and Quintana is in the second season of a two-year contract.

In place of Baty, the Mets will turn to the veteran Iglesias. He’s carved out a reputation as a plus defensive shortstop with good contact skills but minimal impact when he does put bat to ball. Iglesias didn’t play in the majors last season but is a career .279/.319/.382 batter in more than 4000 plate appearances. He’s come to the plate 175 times in Syracuse this season and turned in a .273/.309/.442 slash.

Iglesias will give the Mets a true backup shortstop to Francisco Lindor, something they previously lacked, and is plenty capable of spelling Vientos at the hot corner or stepping in for Jeff McNeil at second base even if the overwhelming majority of his career has been spent at shortstop.

As for Nunez, this will mark his third stint with the Mets already this year. He was up earlier this week as the 27th man for a doubleheader and also had a four-game run earlier in the season. He’s pitched 8 1/3 innings over five appearances, holding opponents to three runs on seven hits and three walks with 13 strikeouts.

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