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Rays Reinstate, Option Shane Baz

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The Rays announced that right-hander Shane Baz has been reinstated from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A Durham.

Baz, 25 next month, underwent Tommy John surgery in September of 2022 and missed the entire 2023 season. The club planned to bring him along slowly here in 2024 after that missed season and he also injured his oblique in March.

He started the season on the IL but has been rehabbing in recent weeks. He’s made four starts for Triple-A Durham this month, logging 12 innings. His most recent outing was yesterday, when he threw 76 pitches over four innings, striking out four, walking three while allowing three hits and one earned run.

The Rays could arguably use him in the majors, given the number of injuries they are dealing with in their rotation. Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan all underwent elbow surgery last year and are on the shelf. They have recently been joined by Zach Eflin and Jacob Waguespack.

The current rotation consists of Aaron Civale, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell, Ryan Pepiot and Tyler Alexander. Both Civale and Alexander are struggling this year, with each having an earned run average over 5.00.

Prior to his surgery, Baz was trending towards making a significant impact for the Rays. He had a 4.02 ERA in his first nine major league starts, striking out 28.9% of batters faced while giving out walks just 7.2% of the time. His work in the minors was even more impressive, as he had a 1.68 ERA at Triple-A in 2021 and 2022, part of the reason why he’s been considered one of the top pitching prospects in the league in recent years.

Given his obvious talent, there’s a case to be made for plugging him into the rotation now. Each of Civale and Alexander have more experience, but they also have options and could be moved to Triple-A, or to a long relief role in the bullpen.

Instead, the Rays have optioned Baz to Triple-A for more work at that level. Perhaps that is a way of monitoring his workload in an environment where wins and losses don’t matter as much, which is a fair consideration. Baz hardly pitched in 2022 either due to elbow issues prior to his Tommy John surgery, so he’s several years removed from a significant innings tally. His career high is the 92 frames he tossed in 2021, which isn’t even that high for a starter and is now a few years in the rear-view mirror. He also hasn’t looked to be in good form on his rehab, with 11 walks to just eight strikeouts and an ERA of 6.00.

Though there’s some logic to keeping him in Durham and monitoring him, it will nonetheless have consequences for Baz. The righty came into this season with two years and 14 days of major league service time. Had he stayed on the active roster or injured list all season, he would have finished this year at 3.014, just enough to automatically qualify for arbitration and to be on track for free agency after 2027. If he ends up spending significant time on optional assignment, he could alter both of those trajectories, though he could still get to arb as a Super Two guy even if he’s shy of the three-year mark.

For now, he’ll continue with whatever plan the Rays have for building him up over the remainder of the season. Perhaps his return to the big leagues will be motivated by an injury to one of his teammates or it could just be based on some sort of workload checklist that Baz has to hit.

Mets Claim Ty Adcock From Tigers

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The Mets announced that right-hander Ty Adcock has been claimed off waivers from the Tigers and been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. The righty had been designated for assignment by Detroit on the weekend. The Mets had a couple of open spots on their 40-man roster after Joey Wendle and Yohan Ramírez were both designated for assignment last week. This move will bring their count up to 39.

Adcock, 27, has been bouncing around the league this year. He started the season with the Mariners but was designated for assignment in early April and claimed by the Tigers, making this his second waiver claim and third organization of the year already.

Around those transactions, he has thrown 8 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level but with an 8.64 earned run average. He has struck out 25% of batters faced but some runs have been helped across the plate by a 13.6% walk rate, a .375 batting average on balls in play and a couple of home runs.

The Mets are clearly willing to overlook that ERA and are focusing more on the bigger picture. Adcock was drafted in 2019 but had his debut delayed by the minor leagues being canceled in 2020 and then Tommy John surgery in April of 2021. He made it back to the mound briefly in 2022 but last year was a sort of breakout for him.

Adcock tossed 20 2/3 innings on the farm in 2023 with a 1.74 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate. He also had a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 big league innings, averaging 96.6 miles per hour on his fastball in the process.

The Mets had a couple of open roster spots, as mentioned, and Adcock has a couple of option years remaining. Despite his shaky results this year, there’s little harm in sending him to Triple-A and seeing if he can get back into his 2023 form going forward.

Cardinals Outright Alfonso Rivas

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May 23: Rivas cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced. He’ll remain with the organization.

May 20: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve designated first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Ryan Loutos, whose previously reported selection to the MLB roster has now been confirmed by the club. Righty Chris Roycroft was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to open space for Loutos on the active roster.

Rivas was claimed off waivers out of the Angels organization back in January. The 27-year-old has continued to show his typical keen eye at the plate in Memphis this season, walking at a hearty 12.8% rate, but he hasn’t hit for his usual average or power. Overall, he’s batting just .246/.364/.323 in 158 plate appearances with the Redbirds.

The well-traveled Rivas played sparingly in the majors each year from 2021-23, spending time with the Cubs, Pirates and Padres. He’s a .243/.324/.349 hitter in 459 big league plate appearances to this point in his career.

Tepid as his output in Memphis has been, Rivas entered the season with a lifetime .313/.424/.492 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s walked in nearly 15% of his plate appearances across five campaigns at the Triple-A level, and while he’s more of a gap hitter than true slugger — 48 doubles to just 15 homers in nearly 800 Triple-A plate appearances — he’s nevertheless been quite productive there outside this season.

Rivas has primarily been a first baseman in the minors but has a few hundred innings of corner outfield experience as a professional. He’s in the final of three minor league option seasons and is still two seasons shy of even reaching arbitration eligibility. A club looking for a left-handed bat with strong on-base skills could potentially take a look. Rivas has been designated for assignment three prior times in his career but has never made it through waivers, so MLB clubs are clearly intrigued by his bat — even if he hasn’t yet been all that productive in the majors.

The Cardinals will have a week to trade Rivas or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they can succeed in getting him through waivers, they can keep him in the organization without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. Rivas has neither the MLB service time nor the prior outright assignment required to reject an outright to the minors after going unclaimed on waivers.

A’s Designate Jordan Diaz For Assignment

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The A’s announced a series of roster moves Thursday, placing outfielder Esteury Ruiz on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist strain, selecting the contract of Daz Cameron from Triple-A Las Vegas and designating infielder Jordan Diaz for assignment to open 40-man space for Cameron.

Diaz, 23, was an international signing out of Colombia and eventually jumped onto Baseball America’s list of top 30 prospects in the Oakland system in 2019, the first of five straight years he was featured on that list. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November of 2021, keeping him out of the Rule 5 draft. That roster spot came to Diaz after he hit 13 home runs in 90 High-A games that year, slashing .288/.337/.483 overall.

Unfortunately, the results since then haven’t been quite as impressive. He’s hit ten home runs in his 344 major league plate appearances but walked just 5.5% of the time, leading to a line of .227/.276/.358. That production translates to a wRC+ of 79, indicating he’s been 21% worse than league average.

His minor league production was still strong in the past two years but has fallen off a cliff here in 2024. He hit .321/.363/.513 on the farm over 2022 and 2023 but his line is just .204/.288/.327 so far this year. His 9.9% walk rate in 2024 is actually an improvement for him but he has just two home runs in 111 trips to the plate and the batting average is clearly not ideal.

He is now in his final option year, so there was a sort of ticking clock in the background for him this year. Since he’s gotten out to such a poor start, the A’s have nudged him off the roster now in order to open up a spot. They will have a week to try to trade Diaz or pass him through waivers. Perhaps a rival club looking for infield depth will be interested based on his previous seasons. Diaz can play the three non-shortstop infield positions and has even received very brief looks at catcher and left field. He can be kept on optional assignment for the rest of the year and has less than a year of service time at the moment.

Bumping Diaz off the 40-man opens a spot for Cameron, who will replace Ruiz in the club’s outfield rotation. The 27-year-old Cameron signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason and been playing very well in Triple-A this year. He has drawn a walk in 16.4% of his 165 plate appearances and also hit six home runs, leading to a .307/.424/.577 batting line. Even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, that’s still 46% better than league average. He’s also stolen eight bases in ten tries.

Cameron has impressed in the minors before but has struggled in his attempts to carry that kind of production over to the majors. He received 244 plate appearances with the Tigers over the 2020-22 period but hit just .201/.266/.330 in that time, striking out at a 31.6% clip.

He exhausted his option years in that time and has been in the minors since then, with the Orioles last year and with the A’s so far this year. If things click for him in the majors this time, he can be kept around by the A’s since he has less than two years of service time. For now, he’ll join the club’s outfield mix alongside JJ Bleday, Brent Rooker, Seth Brown and Tyler Nevin.

Pirates Option Jack Suwinski

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The Pirates announced Thursday that they’ve optioned struggling outfielder Jack Suwinski to Triple-A Indianapolis. Left-hander Jose Hernandez has been recalled from Indy in his place.

It’s a notable turn of events for the Pirates and Suwinski, who looked to have emerged as a potential core piece for the Bucs just last season. Suwinski mashed his way into an everyday outfield role, clubbing 26 home runs and drawing plenty of walks en route to a .224/.339/.454 slash (112 wRC+). Everything’s gone in the wrong direction for the slugger this season, however. In his first 157 trips to the plate, Suwinski has posted an anemic .174/.268/.297 batting line.

The decline at the plate hasn’t followed the typical pattern. Suwinski has actually greatly improved on last year’s problematic 32.2% strikeout rate, punching out in a more palatable (albeit still higher-than-average) 25.5% of his plate appearances. He’s making contact at a much higher rate both on pitches within the strike zone (88% in ’24, 81.3% in ’23) and off the plate (60.2% in ’24, 52.7% in ’23).

Counter-intuitive as it may seem, that improved plate coverage has resulted in some ugly trends that have tamped down his production. For starters, Suwinski is swinging more in general. His 28.9% chase rate is lower than average but still up considerably from last year’s excellent 22% mark. That’s likely contributed to a dip in walk rate, which sat at a huge 14% a year ago but is down to 11.5% in 2023 (still about three percentage points north of average). It seems there’s been a conscious effort to be more assertive at the plate. Only eight qualified hitters swung less often than Suwinski in 2023, but this year there are 79 qualified bats swinging less often.

Suwinski’s more aggressive approach hasn’t generated quality contact, however. His ground-ball rate has spiked from 27.9% all the way to 44.4%. His line-drive rate is down two percentage points, while his fly-ball rate has plummeted by 14.2% percentage points (from 53.6% to 39.4%). He’s no longer elevating the ball at a strong rate, and when he does make contact, it’s been weaker in nature. He’s lost 2.4 mph off his average exit velocity and seen his hard-hit rate fall from 43.4% to 36.4%. After barreling up 15.7% of his batted balls last year (as measured by Statcast), he’s at just 6.1% in 2024.

Whether the more aggressive approach was intended to take advantage of Suwinski’s clearly plus power, to improve his batting average, some combination of the two or perhaps has simply been borne of frustration at his slow start, the results aren’t there. He’ll head to Indianapolis for now in an effort to get back on track and hopefully recapture some of the form that made him the Bucs’ top power threat just last season.

From a service time vantage point, the demotion won’t alter Suwinski’s path to free agency. He entered the season with 1.118 years of MLB service, meaning he only needed 54 days on the active roster or injured list to reach two years of service and remain on pace for free agency following the 2028 season. He reached that number earlier this week, so even in the unlikely event that he stays in the minors all year, he’d still have stayed on his prior free-agent trajectory. It’s at least possible this could cost him Super Two designation, as he’d have been on the Super Two bubble with 2.118 years of service this coming offseason, but he could remain on that bubble if his optional assignment is short enough. He’ll have to spend at least 10 days in the minors, unless he’s recalled sooner as a replacement for someone who’s being placed on the injured list.

With Suwinski no longer in the outfield fold, the Pirates figure to use a rotation of Bryan Reynolds, Michael A. Taylor, Ji Hwan Bae, Connor Joe and Edward Olivares. Taylor and Bae are likeliest to see time in center. Reynolds has split his time between the two corners this season but will be on the lineup on a near everyday basis. Olivares and Joe can rotate through the free corner spot, with Joe also an option at first base and either a candidate to stand in as the designated hitter (should Andrew McCutchen need a day off).

Rangers Place Jon Gray On 15-Day Injured List

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The Rangers are placing right-hander Jon Gray on the injured list due to a groin strain, manager Bruce Bochy announced this morning (X link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). The team is terming it a “mild” strain, but it’ll nevertheless be enough to sit Gray down for at least the next 15 days. In a corresponding move, Texas will select the contract of right-hander Jesus Tinoco from Triple-A Round Rock. Left-hander Cody Bradford is being transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to accommodate Tinoco’s addition. Bradford has already missed six weeks with a back strain and stress fracture in his ribs.

Gray joins an an entire rotation’s worth of starters on the injured list in Texas. The Rangers are also without Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi and the aforementioned Bradford at the moment. That’ll leave Texas with a rotation including Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning, Michael Lorenzen, Jose Ureña and a yet-to-be-determined fifth option. (Tinoco is a reliever and won’t step onto the starting staff.) The top depth options on the 40-man roster include Jack Leiter and Owen White. While Leiter has thrived pitching in Triple-A, both of those once-vaunted prospects has struggled in the big leagues this season.

Subtracting Gray from the roster would be a notable blow even without that litany of other injuries. The former No. 3 overall draft pick is out to perhaps the best start of his career, pitching to a tiny 2.21 ERA through his first 57 frames of the season. Gray’s 23.7% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 44.4% ground-ball rate are all at or slightly better than the league average. His ERA is being helped out by a microscopic 3.3% homer-to-flyball rate that’s helped him average just 0.32 homers per nine frames this season. But even metrics that normalize home run rate (e.g. his 3.68 SIERA) suggest Gray has still been a decidedly above-average hurler thanks to that strong blend of whiffs, grounders and walks (or lack thereof).

Tinoco, 29, will return for a second stint with the Rangers. He pitched in the Texas organization in 2022, famously giving up Aaron Judge’s record-breaking 62nd home run late in the season. That’s a down note in what was otherwise a strong year. In 20 2/3 frames with the Rangers he logged a 2.18 ERA — albeit with lackluster strikeout and walk rates of 21.4% and 11.9%, respectively.

Tinoco spent the 2023 season with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and handled himself well for the most part, but he returned stateside on a minor league pact with the Rangers over the winter. He’s gotten out to a decent start in Round Rock, pitching to a 3.80 earned run average and fanning just over 30% of his opponents in 21 1/3 innings. Overall, Tinoco has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons and compiled 66 2/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 13.9% walk rate and 44% grounder rate. Command has clearly been an issue for him throughout his professional career, and that’s been the case again in 2024, evidenced by an 11.2% walk rate in Round Rock.

Mariners Acquire Mike Baumann

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May 23: Baumann reported to the Mariners’ roster today. The team announced that right-hander Cody Bolton has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma to open a spot on the 26-man roster.

May 22: The Orioles and Mariners announced a trade late Wednesday evening. Seattle acquired reliever Mike Baumann and catcher Michael Pérez in exchange for younger catcher Blake Hunt, whom the O’s have optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore had designated Baumann for assignment over the weekend. Hunt and Baumann will each occupy spots on their new teams’ 40-man rosters. Pérez was on a minor league contract and will not assume a 40-man spot. Seattle’s roster is at capacity, while the O’s count is up to 39.

Baumann changes teams for the first time in his career. Baltimore drafted the right-hander in the third round back in 2017. A starting pitcher for most of his minor league tenure, he kicked to the bullpen in 2022. Baumann has turned in solid results over the past couple seasons. He tossed a career-high 64 2/3 innings of 3.76 ERA ball last season and has allowed 3.44 earned runs per nine through 17 appearances this year.

While Baumann’s run prevention marks have been good, his strikeout and walk profile is middling. He had a league average 22.3% strikeout percentage with a lofty 12.1% walk rate in 2023. His strikeout rate is down to 19.5% over 18 1/3 innings this season, while his 11% walk percentage remains higher than average. Baumann’s 9.9% swinging strike rate is a couple points below the league mark for relievers.

That certainly contributed to Baltimore’s decision to DFA him, but the more immediate driver was a lack of roster flexibility. Baumann is out of options, so the O’s couldn’t send him to the minors. He was one of six Baltimore relievers who can’t be optioned, and two who can be sent down (Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin) have been far too valuable to take out of the MLB bullpen.

Seattle has four out-of-options relievers of their own, but they can send down one of Eduard Bazardo or Cody Bolton to plug Baumann into the bullpen. Despite lacking huge swing-and-miss tallies, he should deepen their middle relief group. The Jacksonville product has induced ground-balls at a solid 46.4% clip. He averages north of 96 MPH on his fastball and mixes in a knuckle-curve and slider with regularity. Baumann has between one and two years of major league service. He’s controllable for four seasons beyond the current campaign and won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason.

The Mariners liked Baumann enough to part with Hunt, who is a more intriguing player than teams typically land for someone they’d designated for assignment. A former second-round pick of the Padres, he went to the Rays as part of the Blake Snell blockbuster. Hunt topped out at Triple-A in the Tampa Bay farm system. Despite a .256/.331/.484 showing in 2023, the Rays decided not to add him to their 40-man roster last fall. Rather than watch him depart for nothing in minor league free agency, Tampa Bay flipped him to Seattle for recent draftee Tatem Levins.

Seattle added Hunt to the 40-man to keep him in the organization. The 25-year-old has spent the season in Triple-A Tacoma, where he’s out to an excellent .293/.372/.533 start in 86 plate appearances. Hunt has already connected on four homers while striking out in only 11.6% of his trips to the plate. He slots in behind Adley Rutschman and James McCann on the organizational depth chart. There’s a chance Hunt makes his MLB debut at some point this year. Even if he spends the rest of the season in Norfolk, he could compete for next year’s backup catching job if the Orioles let McCann depart in free agency.

Pérez is a 31-year-old journeyman who signed a minor league deal with Baltimore over the offseason. He’s hitting .221/.294/.325 over 21 games in Norfolk. Pérez has appeared in parts of six MLB campaigns and owns a .179/.248/.306 slash at the highest level. Including him in the deal allows Seattle to send an experienced, glove-first veteran to Tacoma after Hunt’s departure. He’s behind Cal Raleigh and Seby Zavala on the organizational depth chart.

Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay Shut Down For At Least Two More Weeks

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Cubs righty Adbert Alzolay has been on the injured list since May 13 due to a flexor strain, and it seems a return in the near future isn’t likely. Manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat yesterday that Alzolay, who recently received a second opinion on the injury, will be shut down entirely for at least two more weeks (X link via Meaghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). A lengthier shutdown is possible, but he’ll be reevaluated in 14 days to gauge any progress. For the time being, surgery is not a consideration.

The 29-year-old Alzolay was easily the Cubs’ top reliever in 2023, pacing the team with 22 saves and leading their qualified relievers with a 2.67 earned run average. The former top prospect punched out 26.5% of his opponents against a sharp 5.1% walk rate. Alzolay got out to a much rockier start in 2024, logging a 4.67 ERA in 17 1/3 innings as his strikeout and walk rates swung dramatically in the wrong direction (17.3% and 8%, respectively).

Given those struggles and what increasingly looks like a lengthy stay on the injured list, it’s fair to presume Alzolay wasn’t pitching at full strength prior to his IL placement. His sinker lost a full mile per hour from last year (95.3 mph to 94.3 mph), and his four-seamer is down just over a half mile as well, checking in at 94.7 mph in ’24 after sitting 95.3 mph in ’23, per Statcast.

It’s tough for any team to lose its top reliever, of course, but it’s particularly troublesome for a Cubs bullpen that has ranked in the bottom half of MLB in most categories. Chicago relievers are 20th in baseball with a 4.15 ERA, and fielding-independent metrics grade them similarly (17th in FIP at 3.92, 15th in SIERA at 3.63). The bullpen does collectively have the eighth-best strikeout rate of any relief corps in MLB (24.4%) … but also the eighth-highest walk rate (10.3%).

Further complicating matters is the fact that righty Julian Merryweather, one of the team’s top setup men and top strikeout arms last season, is already on the 60-day injured list due to a stress fracture in his ribcage. Counsell indicated this week that Merryweather has been cleared to resume throwing but also noted that his IL stint will exceed the 60-day minimum (X link via Ryan Herrera of CHGO Sports). That’ll push him into mid-June in a best-case scenario. However, with Merryweather only just starting a throwing program and needing to build toward facing live hitters before an eventual minor league rehab assignment, it’s feasible his IL stint could stretch to late June or even into July.

With Alzolay and Merryweather shelved, Hector Neris and Mark Leiter Jr. are the only two members of the Cubs’ bullpen with any late-inning experience of note in the majors. Neris signed a one-year, $9MM deal over the winter and currently sports a 2.50 ERA but also a career-worst 17% walk rate. Leiter has been excellent, continuing to make good on the jackpot the Cubs hit in minor league free agency a few years back. Beyond that pairing, things get far murkier.

The only other member of the Cubs’ bullpen with even two years of MLB service is Kyle Hendricks, who was just dropped to a relief role after struggling immensely in the rotation. Righties Hayden Wesneski and Jose Cuas are the next-most “senior” members of the unit. Each entered the season with just over a year of service time, and both have been optioned at least once this season. The Cubs are hopeful that recently reacquired Tyson Miller can fill a late-inning role, and they’re giving looks to homegrown rookies like Porter Hodge and Luke Little as well. But the bullpen as a whole is quite light on established arms, exacerbating the impact of losing two of last year’s top relievers.

The Cubs still find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Brewers from the division lead. They’re 3.5 games up on a surging Cardinals club, with Pittsburgh only a half-game behind St. Louis. The Reds sit eight games back of the division lead — a notable but also hardly insurmountable deficit with so much of the season yet to play out. Given Chicago’s active offseason — bringing in Shota Imanaga, re-signing Cody Bellinger, signing Neris, trading for Michael Busch — the front office will likely be looking to add to the roster so long as the team remains within striking distance in what’s currently a wide-open division. Every postseason hopeful tends to be on the lookout for relief pitching come deadline season, but the Cubs’ need is shaping up to be more acute than most contenders.

The Opener: Lowe, Kelly, Neto

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Lowe to undergo MRI:

Yesterday’s game against the Red Sox took a rough turn for the Rays as outfielder Josh Lowe was pulled after the first inning due to what manager Kevin Cash called a right side strain. The injury is particularly worrisome given the fact that Lowe was sidelined an oblique strain earlier this season, although Lowe himself noted to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that he’s “hopeful” this issue isn’t as significant as his previous injury. Lowe has been snakebit early in 2024, already dealing with hip inflammation and hamstring tightness in addition to his oblique issues. When healthy enough to take the field, he’s hit fairly well: .240/.296/.440 (108 wRC+) in 14 games. Richie Palacios received most of the reps in right field while Lowe was shelved previously and could be in line to do so again if he returns to the injured list.

2. Kelly nearing throwing program:

Diamondbacks veteran Merrill Kelly has been sidelined since late April by a shoulder strain and is currently on the 60-day injured list, meaning he’ll spend at least another month on the shelf. Fans in Arizona received some reason for optimism last night, however, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that Kelly is set to undergo an MRI this week that will serve as a progress check regarding his ailing shoulder. Piecoro also adds that, per manager Torey Lovullo, the right-hander could resume throwing in the near future if the test results look good. With both Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez on the 60-day injured list, Zac Gallen, Jordan Montgomery, and Brandon Pfaadt have been joined by depth starters Ryne Nelson and Slade Cecconi in the starting rotation.

3. Neto to undergo testing:

Angels shortstop Zach Neto was removed from yesterday afternoon’s game against the Astros due to what the club termed right elbow soreness. Fortunately, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register relays that, according to Neto himself, the club’s training staff didn’t believe the injury to be a serious one. He’ll still be sent for precautionary testing, as Neto notes that he’s had issues with his elbow previously in his career. Either Luis Guillorme or Luis Rengifo could be tabbed to handle shortstop in Neto’s absence if he requires time to rest his elbow. If he winds up taking a trip to the injured list, veteran utility infielder Niko Goodrum is on the club’s 40-man roster in the minor leagues as a potential depth option. The 23-year-old Neto, whom the Angels drafted 13th overall in 2022, is hitting .249/.302/.420 (104 wRC+) with six homers and six steals. He’s been particularly hot of late, hitting .309/.350/.577 in 103 plate appearances over the past month. Neto has also drawn solid marks for his glovework through his first 133 big league games, dating back to last season.

MLBTR Podcast: The Likelihood Of A Juan Soto Extension, What’s In Store For Pete Alonso, And Corbin Carroll’s Struggles

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What do you think about a trade between the Tigers, who are desperate for hitting, and the Orioles, whose bullpen hasn’t been great? Detroit has a surplus of good relief pitchers, could they be trade partners? (21:05)
  • If Mason Miller were to be traded from the Athletics to another American League team and go on to win A.L. Rookie of the Year, would that team get an incentive draft pick? (26:30)
  • Say Shota Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto finish at the top of Rookie of the Year voting in the National League, will the Cubs and Dodgers get the draft compensation for having them in the majors the whole season? Considering they both signed MLB contracts, that seems antithetical to the new draft compensation for well performing rookies rule. (28:05)
  • Corbin Carroll? That’s pretty much the question: Corbin Carroll? Is there hope this season? How long can the Diamondbacks keep running him out there with no improvement in sight? I love the guy, I have as a keeper, and he was a big part of my plans for this season. Needless to say, it’s not going so well. (31:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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