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Blue Jays Notes: Wagner, Bichette

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The Blue Jays placed Will Wagner on the 60-day injured list yesterday, bringing his rookie season to an early close. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com tweets that the infielder will undergo a left knee scope tomorrow. It’s a minor arthroscopic procedure that is expected to prevent Wagner from participating in baseball activities for a month. He should have ample time to progress through most of the offseason and be ready for Spring Training.

Toronto acquired Wagner alongside Jake Bloss and Joey Loperfido in a strong trade package for rental starter Yusei Kikuchi. Wagner was in Triple-A with the Astros at the time of the trade. The Jays briefly sent him to their top affiliate before calling him up in mid-August. The lefty-hitting second baseman made a strong first impression, running a .305/.337/.451 slash with a pair of homers in 24 games.

Wagner had a very strong year in Triple-A to earn the MLB look. He combined for a .315/.432/.444 line through 355 minor league plate appearances. Wagner drew 59 walks while striking out just 37 times. Assuming the surgery rehab goes as planned, he could compete for the second base job in camp. Davis Schneider, Leo Jiménez and Ernie Clement should split the remaining time there this season.

On the other side of the infield, the Jays scratched Bo Bichette minutes before Wednesday’s loss to the Rangers. The shortstop suffered a contusion on his right middle finger. Manager John Schneider said after the game that Bichette was injured while taking grounders in pregame warm-ups (link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). He’ll go for x-rays tomorrow.

Bichette just returned from the injured list on Tuesday. A calf strain had sidelined him since the middle of July. That was the second calf-related IL stint of what has been an extremely frustrating season. If he did suffer any kind of finger fracture, the Jays would presumably shut him down for the year. Bichette has appeared in 81 games and owns a career-worst .225/.277/.322 batting line.

Diamondbacks Release Dylan Floro

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The Diamondbacks released reliever Dylan Floro after a weekend DFA, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Floro would almost certainly have declined a minor league assignment so a release was a formality once he was taken off the roster.

Arizona acquired Floro in one of the final moves of deadline day. The acquisition cost was modest, as they sent minor league signee Andrés Chaparro to the Nationals. (Chaparro has since made his MLB debut and is hitting .218/.273/.427 in 30 games.) Floro wasn’t the most exciting addition but he’d pitched quite well for Washington. He carried a 2.06 ERA in 52 1/3 innings for the Nats. That success was built on plus control and decent ground-ball rates rather than power, but the Snakes hoped he’d add veteran stability to the middle relief corps.

Things went downhill almost immediately. Floro worked scoreless appearances in three of his first four outings. The Phillies tagged him for three runs on August 11, the first of a handful of times that he was hit hard. Floro allowed multiple runs on three more occasions, including a five-run drubbing at the hands of the Brewers in his final appearance with Arizona on Saturday. He finished his Diamondback tenure with a 9.37 earned run average across 15 outings. His already modest 19.6% strikeout rate has nearly halved to 10.7% while the average velocity on his sinker has fallen to 88.4 MPH this month.

Floro is playing on a $2.25MM base salary. He’ll collect the remainder of that money. He also unlocked $1.25MM in bonuses based on appearances. He’d be ineligible for postseason play with another team, so he could sit out the final week and a half of this season. Floro would be a free agent in the offseason even if he caught on somewhere in the next couple days.

Entering his age-34 season, Floro might be limited to minor league offers. His overall 3.80 ERA in 68 2/3 innings is decent production for a middle reliever, but his market will surely be adversely impacted by the dismal finish. Washington signed him to a guaranteed deal coming off a lesser 4.76 ERA last winter, though his 2023 peripherals (23.4% strikeout rate, 54.4% grounder percentage) were better. Floro’s velocity is down more than two ticks relative to last season.

Mutual Interest Between Rockies, Jacob Stallings In Reunion

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The Rockies are carrying three catchers for September. Colorado promoted prospect Drew Romo in conjunction with last month’s release of Elias Díaz. He joins fellow rookie Hunter Goodman and veteran Jacob Stallings in Bud Black’s catching corps.

Colorado probably won’t want to commit fully to the unproven duo of Romo and Goodman next season. It seems the club will look to keep Stallings in the fold. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding suggested last week that Colorado could try to bring him back. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post wrote similarly in a reader mailbag this morning that there’s mutual interest.

Stallings signed a $2MM deal with the Rox last offseason. He’s playing on a $1.5MM salary and due at least a $500K buyout on a $2MM mutual option for next season. While the simplest course of action would be for both sides to exercise the option, that’s exceedingly rare. Stallings figures to decline his end even if he hopes to stay in Denver. There’s a $1.5MM difference between the option value and the buyout. The 34-year-old backstop (35 in December) has played well enough to pursue a larger sum.

In 77 games, Stallings is hitting .260/.353/.450. He’s not likely to replicate a .319 average on balls in play, but he has a personal-high nine homers in 267 plate appearances. Stallings has roughly league average strikeout and walk numbers to go with that slight uptick in power.

Any kind of offensive production from Stallings is a bonus. His primary value lies in his defensive acumen. Stallings won a Gold Glove with the Pirates in 2021. He has a strong game-calling reputation and seemingly works well as a mentor to the team’s younger catchers. Stallings has thrown out a solid 22.5% of baserunners and remains one of the sport’s most sure-handed defenders. He has only been charged with one passed ball this season and has committed all of four passed balls since the start of 2021. Stallings doesn’t grade well as a pitch framer, but he’s otherwise a solid option behind the plate.

Stallings will probably be limited to one year but should earn a raise. Colorado signed him coming off a rough two-year stretch in Miami, where he hit .210/.287/.290 with lesser defensive grades. This year’s production could push his salary closer to guarantees secured by Luke Maile ($3.5MM), Austin Hedges ($4MM) and Martín Maldonado ($4.25MM) last winter.

Goodman and Stallings have taken the majority of recent playing time. Romo, 23, has been pushed into a third catcher role after starting his MLB career with a .174/.208/.239 slash through 13 games. Saunders writes that the Rox could send Romo back to Triple-A to start next season and rely on a Stallings/Goodman tandem if they re-sign the veteran.

The Juan Soto Blockbuster Has Been Even Better Than Expected

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Last winter's Juan Soto trade was the biggest in a long while -- probably the most significant since the previous Soto deal. The Padres were slashing payroll and didn't want to accommodate a salary north of $30MM for his final year of arbitration. Extension talks never got off the ground. The Padres were about to lose four potential starting pitchers to free agency, leaving them with Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and a bunch of questions.

San Diego determined to build their return for Soto around MLB-ready starting pitching. They'd not only shed payroll but directly address the biggest need on the roster. It's impossible to trade Juan Soto and not deal a huge hit to the lineup, but the Padres could mitigate some of that loss by bringing back rotation help. Even the San Diego front office probably didn't envision it turning around the staff to this extent.

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Astros Planning To Have Contract Talks With Alex Bregman

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Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is now just a few weeks away from becoming a free agent for the first time, but it seems there’s a chance he might not make it to the open market. General manager Dana Brown spoke with Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and was asked about the situation, indicating that they still hope to approach Bregman at some point in the near future.

“We were in Anaheim the other day and I ran into [agent Scott Boras] and we started talking a little bit,” Brown said. “And we both said, ‘Look, once we get towards the end of the season and things are over, we’ll definitely engage and talk about it.’ We had a small conversation about it. Right now, we’re not in any discussions about contract offers. We both agreed we will meet back up.”

Brown was hired as the GM in January of 2023 and, from the beginning, has been consistent in saying that the club planned to talk to Bregman and his reps about a new contract at some point. Bregman and the Astros agreed to a five-year, $100MM extension in 2019. When Brown was hired and began talking about the desire to get a new deal done, there were still two years left on that pact but it’s now almost complete.

Getting a deal done at this point will be challenging but not impossible. While public reputation suggests Boras clients don’t sign extensions, there are a few examples that contradict that narrative, with the most recent coming less than two weeks ago. Matt Chapman, another Boras client, agreed to a six-year, $151MM pact with the Giants to prevent him from triggering his opt-out and returning to free agency.

Bregman will have an argument to top the Chapman deal. The two players have provided similar value on the field in recent years, with Bregman generally hitting more but Chapman providing better defensive value. But Bregman is a year younger, which should give him the edge. Both players had arguably their best seasons in 2018 and 2019. They have each fallen off a bit since then but have still been solidly above average players.

Bregman was undoubtedly better at that 2018-19 apex. He hit .291/.409/.561 over those two seasons for a 162 wRC+, while Chapman was at .263/.348/.507 and a 132 wRC+. Chapman provided more with the glove but still came up short overall, producing 11.9 wins above replacement compared to Bregman’s 16.2, per FanGraphs.

Since then, it’s been almost a dead heat. From 2020 to the present, Bregman has hit .260/.350/.442 for a 124 wRC+ while Chapman has a .231/.321/.434 line and 112 wRC+. Chapman makes up some of the difference with better baserunning but mostly defense: 44 Defensive Runs Saved and 33 Outs Above Average for Chapman compared to 10 DRS and 13 OAA for Bregman. Overall, Bregman has a 17 fWAR tally in that time while Chapman is narrowly behind at 16.7.

Given that similar production, Bregman and Boras should be able to use Chapman’s deal as a floor, with Bregman’s younger age justification in asking for an even greater guarantee. That kind of contract would be pretty unprecedented for the Astros, who have generally shied away from mega deals, as shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. They did give Jose Altuve an extension of five years and $151MM back in 2018, the largest deal in franchise history, but that deal began with Altuve’s age-29 season.

They were also near the start of their competitive window and had lots of payroll space at the time, which is no longer the case. The Astros are set to pay the competitive balance tax for the first time this year. They went over the CBT line in 2020 but the tax was paused during the pandemic and they have stayed under since.

Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club’s CBT number is at $254MM for the year, well beyond the $237MM base threshold. Cot’s lists their 2025 number at $151MM but that doesn’t appear to include Ryan Pressly’s $14MM option, which he vested last month and is guaranteed as long as he’s healthy at season’s end. Adding that gets us to $165MM, then arbitration raises for Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker should add roughly $35MM or so, taking the number to about $200MM. Arb deals for guys like Bryan Abreu, José Urquidy, Luis Garcia, Mauricio Dubón and others will add to that total as well.

Re-signing Bregman seems to be a priority for the club but they will naturally have other offseason business to attend to. Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi are set to become free agents, putting two holes in a rotation that has already been heavily bit by the injury bug. Perhaps Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. will be healthy and in the mix by next year, but adding to the starting group could be on the winter to-do list.

Addressing the pitching staff and adding a notable deal for Bregman would likely leave the club as a tax payor for a second straight year. Paying the tax in consecutive seasons comes with escalating penalties. A second-time payor sees its base tax rate go from 20% to 30%, with higher penalties for going beyond the additional tiers.

Whether the sides can get a deal done and keep Bregman in Houston remains to be seen. The club clearly wants it to happen based on how often Brown has talked about it, but it’s also never seemed like there’s been much momentum towards meaningful discussions. Even if Bregman eventually makes it to the open market, the Astros could re-sign him, but they would naturally have competition from the other clubs around the league. MLBTR ranked Bregman third on our most recent Free Agent Power Rankings, behind only Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes. Earlier today, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic mentioned the Tigers as a speculative fit for Bregman this winter.

Previewing Upcoming Club Option Decisions

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The regular season is winding down, and while nearly half the league is still focused on postseason play (or qualifying for said playoffs), there are more teams than not beginning to shift their focus and look ahead to the offseason. The beginning of every offseason brings with it a slew of roster decisions, ranging from qualifying offers to player opt-outs and club options. This year will see more than 30 decisions on club options come due once the World Series has completed. We don’t have a complete picture of how all of these players will finish the season. Their play in the final week, plus any postseason heroics and of course the potential for a significant injury could all impact the teams’ final decisions. But with about 94% of the regular season in the books, most teams know which way they’re leaning with regard to these decisions.

Let’s take a look at each one from a high level…

Austin Barnes, C, Dodgers: $3.5MM club option

The Dodgers’ love Barnes’ framing skills. They probably don’t love that he’s 13-for-122 in throwing out base thieves over the past two seasons (10.6%). Barnes isn’t a good hitter, but he’s bounced back from last year’s abysmal .180/.256/.242 output to his .261/.327/.306 in 149 plate appearances this year. The Dodgers have a trio of younger options behind Will Smith, including Diego Cartaya, Hunter Feduccia and top prospect Dalton Rushing (though Rushing has been working in left field lately). Perhaps it’s finally time to move on, but the cost is cheap enough that they could consider the option.

Aaron Bummer, LHP, Braves: $7.25MM club option ($1.25MM buyout)

A pair of three-run outings over the past five weeks have inflated Bummer’s ERA from 3.16 to 3.71, but he’s still generally been a quality reliever after coming over from the White Sox in the offseason. Drilling beneath that earned run average, Bummer sports clearly plus rate stats: 28.8% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate, 60.4% grounder rate. That ground-ball rate ranks eighth in baseball among the 352 pitchers who’ve tossed at least 50 innings in 2024. That alone would make Bummer’s option likely to be picked up, but the fact that the Braves hold a 2026 option valued at $7.5MM only sweetens the pot. This feels likely to be exercised.

Andrew Chafin, LHP, Rangers: $6.5MM club option ($500K buyout)

Chafin was very good in Detroit prior to being traded and has struggled with the Rangers since the swap. He’s pitched 14 2/3 innings for Texas and logged a 4.30 ERA with more troubling underlying stats, including a 16.9% walk rate and 1.84 HR/9. Chafin has a strong track record and will get another big league deal this winter, but that’ll probably come after having this option bought out.

Seranthony Dominguez, RHP, Orioles: $8MM club option ($500K buyout)

Dominguez has had a bizarre Orioles tenure. He’s stepped into the ninth inning, saved nine games, punched out a huge 32.9% of his opponents and recorded a tidy 3.26 ERA. He’s also been clobbered for a staggering six home runs in just 19 1/3 innings. A ridiculous 37.5% of the hits he’s allowed with Baltimore have been home runs. Dominguez is averaging better than 98 mph on his heater and sporting elite strikeout/walk rates. If the O’s believe his home run troubles to be a small-sample fluke, this net $7.5MM is a reasonable price to pay for a flamethrowing late-inning reliever — even if he’s working as a setup man to a returning Felix Bautista next year.

Kyle Gibson, RHP, Cardinals: $12MM club option ($1MM buyout)

Gibson has been precisely the stabilizing innings eater the Cardinals hoped to be getting when they signed him. He’s tossed 159 2/3 innings of 4.11 ERA ball, striking out 21.3% of opponents (his best since 2019). His 9.2% walk rate is higher than usual for the 6’6″ righty, but Gibson is limiting homers (1.13 HR/9), keeping the ball on the ground at an above-average clip (45.2%) and averaging better than 5 2/3 innings per start. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently noted how quickly the Missouri native has become a vital leader in the clubhouse as well. For a net $11MM, Gibson feels like a lock to be back in St. Louis.

Marco Gonzales, LHP, Pirates: $15MM club option

Gonzales began the season with three nice starts for the Pirates before enduring a three-month absence due to a flexor injury. He pitched well in his mid-July return, then struggled through three starts before landing back on the shelf and eventually undergoing flexor surgery that’ll keep him out for a significant portion of next season. This would be a no-brainer to decline even if there were a buyout of some magnitude, but there isn’t one, so it’s a foregone conclusion that this will be declined.

Luke Jackson, RHP, Braves: $7MM club option ($2MM buyout)

The 33-year-old Jackson has trimmed his ERA a bit since being traded from San Francisco back to Atlanta, but he’s still sitting on a 5.12 mark this season (4.50 with the Braves). He’s walked 11.1% of his opponents in 2024, including a grim 13.5% mark in 16 frames with Atlanta. The Braves already have a deep and pricey bullpen. Raisel Iglesias, Joe Jimenez, Pierce Johnson and the aforementioned Bummer (assuming his option is indeed exercised) will earn a combined $39.25MM next year. Even if the Braves want to bring Jackson back, they could probably buy this option out and look to do so at a lower rate.

Eloy Jimenez, OF/DH, Orioles: $16.5MM club option ($3MM buyout)

After a hot start following his trade to the Orioles, Jimenez has been a disappointment in Baltimore. Heralded as one of the game’s top prospects and signed to a then-record contract for a player with no MLB experience, he homered 31 times as a rookie but has since battled injuries as his offensive output has dwindled. Jimenez still makes boatloads of hard contact, but most of it comes on the ground; his 56.3% grounder rate is one of the highest in baseball, and it negates his immense raw power. It’d be a shock if the Orioles picked this up for a net $13.5MM.

Merrill Kelly, RHP, D-backs: $7MM club option ($1MM buyout)

Shoulder problems have limited Kelly to 11 starts this season, and he’s posted a 4.00 ERA with uncharacteristic homer issues in 63 innings (1.57 HR/9). He’s also sporting a 19.1% strikeout rate that’s down more than six percentage points from 2023. Even still, this is a flat bargain price for a pitcher who’s given the Snakes 813 2/3 innings of 3.82 ERA ball since signing after a terrific four-year run in the KBO. Barring a scenario where his shoulder is in worse shape than anyone realizes, this option is one of the easier calls to exercise among this year’s slate.

Brandon Lowe, 2B/OF, Rays: $10.5MM club option ($1MM buyout)

It’s been a fairly typical season for Lowe. He’s had strong production at the plate when healthy — but that’s again been a notable caveat. The 30-year-old slugger is hitting .244/.319/.476 with 18 round-trippers in only 379 plate appearances. An oblique strain cost him about six weeks early in the season. Lowe has never had a below-average season at the plate. This year’s 126 wRC+ is an exact match for his career mark. His salary might be getting steep for the Rays’ frugal owner, but a $10.5MM salary in 2025 and an $11.5MM club option for the 2026 season give him trade value for Tampa Bay.

Lance Lynn, RHP, Cardinals: $12MM club option ($1MM buyout)

Because of a knee injury that shelved him on July 31 and kept him out of action into September, Lynn hasn’t pitched as many innings as his rotationmate on this list, Gibson. He’s been effective when on the bump, posting a 3.96 ERA in 111 1/3 innings with respectable strikeout and walk rates of 21.3% and 8.6%. Lynn has been unable to complete five innings in nearly one-third of his starts this season, though, and he’s heading into his age-38 season (as opposed to Gibson’s age-37). With Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Steven Matz and presumably Gibson all in next year’s rotation, plus younger arms like Andre Pallante, Michael McGreevy and Sem Robberse all in the mix, Lynn could be bought out in order to reallocate those dollars to other areas of need.

Manuel Margot, OF, Twins: $12MM club option ($2MM buyout)

The Twins acquired Margot in a trade that saw the Dodgers cover the majority of his salary. Minnesota is only on the hook for $4MM of what he’s owed in 2024.  The Rays, who initially traded him to the Dodgers, agreed to cover the $2MM buyout on Margot’s option as part of the trade. The Twins aren’t bringing Margot back at $12MM. He’s hit lefties quite well but has floundered against righties and is no longer the premium defender he once was. This is a lock to be declined.

Phil Maton, RHP, Mets: $7.75MM club option ($250K buyout)

The Rays signed Maton to a one-year, $6.5MM deal in mid-February. He struggled throughout his time with Tampa Bay, with uncharacteristically poor strikeout and walk rates (19.7% and 11.9%, respectively). The Rays traded Maton to the Mets in an early July swap that netted them a PTBNL. It was a salary-driven swap and it’s worked out wonderfully for the Mets. Maton has not only returned to form but enjoyed one of the best stretches of his career. In 22 2/3 innings, he touts a 2.38 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. The net $7.5MM decision could still prove steep, particularly for a team that typically lives in the top luxury tax bracket and would thus effectively be paying a 110% tax on next year’s $7.75MM salary. The Mets can afford it if they feel this version of Maton will sustain his output over a full season, but it’s a borderline call.

Shelby Miller, RHP, Tigers: $4.45MM club option ($250K buyout)

Miller’s one-year, $3.25MM deal with Detroit included a $4.25MM club option, but he’s boosted that option value by $200K thanks to escalators in his contract tied to his number of games pitched. With a 4.53 ERA, below-average strikeout rate and a notable susceptibility to home runs, Miller is far from a lock to see the option picked up. He’s doing his best to make the Tigers think about it, however, with a 1.15 ERA and 16-to-4 K/BB ratio in 15 2/3 innings across his past 14 appearances.

Yoan Moncada, 3B, White Sox: $25MM club option ($5MM buyout)

Moncada missed more than five months with an adductor injury and now has a .236/.292/.387 slash across his past 207 big league games. The White Sox will buy him out.

Ryan O’Hearn, 1B/OF, Orioles $8MM club option

O’Hearn’s big first half, which was fueled by an astonishing drop to a sub-10% strikeout rate, has given way to a pedestrian second half. Like many O’s hitters, he’s limping to the finish line. After hitting .274/.352/.452 through his first 364 plate appearances, O’Hearn has tanked with a .189/.240/.267 slash in his past 96 trips to the plate. That’s dropped his season line to a good-not-great .255/.328/.411 (111 wRC+). Baltimore has only given the lefty-swinging O’Hearn 39 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this year, and that $8MM salary is starting to feel like more than they’ll want to commit to a defensively limited platoon bat, particularly considering their crowded roster of position players.

Marcell Ozuna, DH, Braves: $16MM club option ($1MM buyout)

The 34-year-old Ozuna is in the midst of his worst month of the season, but even that means he’s merely been about league-average at the plate in September. He sports a mountainous .303/.380/.550 slash and 37 dingers on the season. It’s the best performance of his career outside the 60-game 2020 season (.338/.431/.636). Atlanta will pick this option up, even with Jorge Soler locked into the roster for two more seasons following his deadline acquisition.

Freddy Peralta, RHP, Brewers: $8MM club option ($1.5MM buyout)

Among the easiest calls in this slate of club options, Peralta currently has a 3.75 ERA in 30 starts and 163 1/3 innings of work. He’s set down nearly 27% of his opponents on strikes and issued walks at a 9.2% clip. If his steady mid-rotation work over the years wasn’t incentive enough to pick up this option — and, for the record, it very much is — the contract contains a second club option for the 2026 season, which is also valued at $8MM.

Jorge Polanco, 2B, Mariners: $12MM club option ($750K buyout)

Like so many of the Mariners’ recent acquisitions, things just haven’t clicked in Seattle for Polanco. The switch-hitter was steadily (and quietly) a big contributor in Minnesota from 2018-23, hitting .270/.338/.445 — including a 33-homer showing in his peak 2021 campaign. With the Mariners, he’s slashed just .203/.296/.342 on the season. To Polanco’s credit, he picked things up around the season’s midpoint and posted solid numbers in July and August, but he’s in a dreadful September swoon and appears destined to have this option bought out.

Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Yankees: $17MM club option ($6MM buyout)

Rizzo missed 63 games with the 2023 Yankees and turned in a roughly league-average performance at the plate. He’s going to end up missing about 70 games this season, thanks to a broken forearm. At the moment, he owns a .215/.283/.325 batting line on the season — his worst output since his rookie season with the 2011 Padres. The 35-year-old’s option is likely to be declined.

Miguel Rojas, SS, Dodgers: $5MM club option ($1MM buyout)

A .297/.342/.421 batting line (115 wRC+) through 315 plate appearances, coupled with borderline elite defense at shortstop, for a net $4MM. Not much more needs to be said. This one is an easy call to exercise.

Max Stassi, C, White Sox: $7.5MM club option ($500K buyout)

Acquired in a salary-dump trade with the Braves over the winter, Stassi opened the season on the injured list with hip inflammation and eventually required surgery. He didn’t get into a game this year. This will be bought out.

Eugenio Suarez, 3B, D-backs: $15MM club option ($2MM buyout)

Earlier in the season, Suarez’s struggles at the plate led the D-backs to reduce his playing time in favor of rookie Blaze Alexander. Things can change in a hurry. Since July 1, Suarez boasts a gargantuan .321/.369/.663 batting line (177 wRC+). He’s ripped 22 homers and 18 doubles in 274 plate appearances during that stretch. Suarez is now two big flies shy of his fifth 30-homer season. There’s no reason to think the D-backs will want to move on, but even if they did, they could pick up this $15MM option and find trade interest. There’s very little chance this one is bought out.

Brent Suter, LHP, Reds: $3.5MM club option ($250K buyout)

Suter came to his hometown Reds as advertised: middling strikeout rate, strong command, gobs of weak contact. He’s piled up 63 2/3 innings of relief work and notched a terrific 3.19 ERA. At a net $3.25MM, there’s no reason to decline this option.

Luke Weaver, RHP, Yankees: $2.5MM club option

There was plenty of understandable eye-rolling from Yankees fans when Weaver, who posted an ERA north of 6.00 in 2020, 2022 and 2023 signed a major league deal over the winter. It’s proven to be one of the best buys of the offseason for any team, however. The former top prospect has been a revelation in Aaron Boone’s bullpen, tossing 78 2/3 innings of 3.09 ERA ball with a career-best 29.2% strikeout rate against an 8% walk rate. Weaver is throwing harder than ever and has leaned heavily on what was once a seldom-used cutter. This one is a slam dunk; there’s no way the Yankees would cut Weaver loose when he could be retained so affordably.

Devin Williams, RHP, Brewers: $10.5MM club option ($250K buyout)

Williams missed the first three-plus months of the season due to fractures in his lower back but has been excellent when healthy. In 17 1/3 frames, he’s put up a sparkling 1.53 ERA with a comical 43.8% strikeout rate against a 12.8% walk rate. The 29-year-old differs from the others on this list in that his club option season covers his final arbitration year. He agreed to the option year at a fixed price in order to avoid going to an arbitration hearing this past offseason. It’s at least possible that the Brewers could buy out the option and try to negotiate a slightly lower price. The $10.5MM price on his option only represents a 40% raise over this year’s salary, however. Even if the Brewers feel there’s a possibility for some marginal savings, they’d be so slight that it might not be worth the hassle and the potential for frustrating a key player like Williams.

Pirates Select Jake Woodford

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September 18: The Bucs have now made it official. Right-hander Kyle Nicolas has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 17, with a left oblique strain. That opens an active roster spot. Righty Ben Heller has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Heller landed on the 15-day IL August 30 due to right shoulder inflammation, so his season is over.

September 17: The Pirates will promote right-hander Jake Woodford to start tomorrow’s game in St. Louis, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). He’s on a minor league contract, so the Bucs need to select him onto the 40-man roster.

It’ll be Woodford’s second stint with the Bucs and his third appearance in the majors this season. The 27-year-old began the season with the White Sox, allowing 10 runs in 8 1/3 innings. He had a longer leash with Pittsburgh but continued to struggle. Woodford pitched to a 6.95 ERA across 22 frames before the Pirates designated him for assignment at the end of August.

This will be Woodford’s first appearance against the Cardinals. He’d played with St. Louis for his entire career until this season. The 39th overall pick of the 2015 draft, he pitched 184 2/3 innings over four MLB campaigns with the Cards. Woodford managed a respectable 4.29 earned run average overall, but he struggled to a 6.23 mark across 47 2/3 innings last season. The Cardinals non-tendered him as a result.

Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move tomorrow. Woodford is out of options and cannot be sent back to the minors without going on waivers. There’s a good chance the Bucs take him off the 40-man roster early in the offseason even if he sticks in the majors for the final two weeks of the regular season.

Dodgers Select Zach Logue

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The Dodgers announced that they have reinstated right-hander Joe Kelly from the 15-day injured list and selected the contract of left-hander Zach Logue. Righties Bobby Miller and Michael Grove were optioned in corresponding moves. Righty Tyler Glasnow was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Logue.

Logue just signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers last week. He had previously been with Atlanta but elected free agency after being designated for assignment. Since he signed after the end of August, Logue isn’t eligible to join the Dodgers for the postseason, but he’ll give them a fresh arm in the bullpen as they look to get through the regular season.

Despite briefly being on Atlanta’s roster, Logue hasn’t yet pitched in the big leagues this season, but his results on the farm have been good. He has made 25 appearances in the minors, 12 of those being starts. In his 97 1/3 innings, he has allowed 2.59 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 23.2% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 7.1% walk rate.

Since signing with the Dodgers, he made one start at Triple-A, lasting three innings. Perhaps he will provide the club with a multi-inning arm out of the bullpen, though Miller’s option also creates a hole in the rotation. The club also gives Yoshinobu Yamamoto more than four days between starts, meaning occasional bullpen games or spot starts are necessary.

Whatever shape it comes in, Logue’s contributions with the Dodgers should allow him to add to a spotty major league résumé. Once a notable prospect with the Jays, he went to the Athletics in the March 2022 trade that sent Matt Chapman north of the border. But Logue put up a 6.79 ERA with the A’s in 2022 and went to the Tigers on waivers. With Detroit, he put up a 7.36 ERA in 2023 and lost his roster spot.

That gives him a career ERA of 6.88 in 68 major league innings but his minor league results have been more encouraging this year. If he manages to hold onto a 40-man roster spot through the winter, he has less than a year of service time and can be retained well into the future but he’ll be out of options next year.

As for Glasnow, he landed on the 15-day IL August 13 due to right elbow tendinitis. It was revealed a few days ago that he has a sprain and is unlikely to return to the team this year. This transfer doesn’t close the door to a return in the playoffs. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he could technically be reinstated in the middle of October if he can return to health.

Tigers Notes: Keith, Jung, Offseason

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Tigers second baseman Colt Keith departed yesterday’s game after injuring his shoulder on a diving play. As noted by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, the 23-year-old initially stayed in the game after the incident but took himself out later on after he realized he couldn’t throw at full strength.

Keith will be sent for testing by the Tigers but the club is hopeful the injury won’t prove to be significant. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Keith suffered an injury to the same shoulder as a prospect back in 2022 that limited him to 48 games that year, though the rookie told reporters after the game that yesterday’s issue “felt different” than his old shoulder ailment.

An absence of virtually any length could have a significant impact on the AL playoff picture with just over a week remaining in the regular season and Detroit just 1.5 games behind the Twins for the final AL Wild Card spot. Keith, who signed a pre-debut extension with the Tigers over the offseason that guaranteed him just over $28.5MM over six years, struggled early in his MLB career but has really turned things around in recent months, with a solid .293/.340/.444 slash line in his 403 trips to the plate that’s brought his full-season offensive performance to essentially league average (99 wRC+).

Utilityman Zach McKinstry, who has hit just .224/.284/.352 in 109 games with the club this year, would presumably see an uptick in playing time in the event that Keith misses any time or heads to the injured list. Top prospect Jace Jung is another option. He’s played third base exclusively since being brought up to the majors but has spent more time at second base in his minor league career. Jung is out to a .214/.337/.257 start through his first 83 MLB plate appearances, but he turned in a more impressive .257/.377/.454 slash in Triple-A prior to his promotion.

Both Keith and Jung have split their professional playing careers between second base and third base, with a bit more of an emphasis on the former. There’s potential for Jung to cement himself as the team’s everyday third baseman now that Keith increasingly looks to be the long-term second baseman, but Jung is still adapting at third base after spending his college career at second base. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggests that Jung may not end up as a fixture at the hot corner, in part because the Tigers stand as a viable fit for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, who obviously has longstanding ties to Detroit skipper (and former Astros manager) AJ Hinch.

That scenario is framed in speculative fashion, to be clear. Conceptually, however, it’s sensible for the Tigers to consider premium free-agent additions and to be willing to move from the top tiers of their farm system. The team only has likely Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal under club control through 2026, and while an extension is always possible, those chances are lessened given that he’s represented by the Boras Corporation. There will surely be efforts to keep Skubal, be they via extension or free agency, but the two remaining years he has with the team do create something of a window.

Skubal headlines a growing core that also includes Riley Greene, Reese Olson, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows and the aforementioned Keith, among others. They’re still hopeful of getting meaningful contributions from former No. 1 picks Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize, but neither has lived up to expectations thus far (though Torkelson has been productive since returning from Triple-A, hitting .267/.330/.448 — albeit with a 32% strikeout rate and .375 BABIP). Jung and young Justyn-Henry Malloy could both be prominent players, and Detroit has two of the game’s top overall prospects in outfielder Max Clark and right-hander Jackson Jobe.

It’s hard to imagine Clark or Jobe on the table in offseason trade talks, but the Tigers have surged into the postseason picture and figure to have a relatively aggressive offseason in store whether they reach the playoffs or narrowly miss. But with room for additions at third base, on the pitching staff (rotation and bullpen) and perhaps another corner bat in the first base/outfield/designated hitter mold, the Tigers have myriad paths to bolstering the roster, any number of which could be accomplished via trading from their non-Clark/Jobe prospect depth.

In terms of payroll capacity, while the Javier Baez contract looms large as an albatross, he and Keith are the only players signed to guaranteed contracts beyond the 2025 season. There’s considerable room for the Tigers to make a splash or two — if not from the top tier of available names then certainly in the three- or four-year range for mid-market free agents.

Brandon Williamson To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Reds left-hander Brandon Williamson has informed reporters that he has a full tear of his ulnar collateral ligament and will require Tommy John surgery. He will miss the remainder of this season and likely all of 2025 as well. Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer was among those who relayed the message on X.

The news is disappointing but not surprising. Williamson had obviously hurt his arm during last night’s game, as seen in video relayed on X by Pitching Ninja. The club later announced that he had suffered an elbow strain. Further testing has quickly revealed a ligament year, which will force Williamson to go under the knife.

It’s another frustrating development for the lefty, who hasn’t been able to build off his solid debut in 2023. He made 23 starts for the Reds last year, logging 117 innings with 4.46 earned runs allowed per nine. He struck out 20% of batters faced and limited walks to a 7.9% clip.

Ideally, he would have taken a step forward in 2024, but he never really got the chance. He began the season on the injured list due to a left shoulder strain and didn’t make it back to the active roster until September 1. He made just four appearances before suffering this elbow injury, making it mostly a lost season. Given the calendar, 2025 is almost certainly going to be a total wash, as recovery from Tommy John surgery often takes 14 months or more.

Williamson is now 26 but he will turn 28 in April of 2026, when he will be a factor for the Reds again. He should be transferred to the 60-day IL whenever the Reds need his roster spot, but there’s no IL in the offseason. Assuming he hangs onto his roster spot through the winter, he’ll spend 2025 on the IL as well, collecting major league pay and service time. If he does indeed stick on the roster through the 2025 season, he would have two years and 139 days of service time, putting him in line to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player.

For the Reds, they will have one fewer option for building their 2025 rotation. On paper, they have a solid group that includes Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Graham Ashcraft, Christian Roa, Nick Martinez, Rhett Lowder and Julian Aguiar, though most of those guys have spent significant time on the IL this year, which played a big role in Cincinnati’s disappointing season. Naturally, the club will be hoping for better health next year but one domino has already fallen with his Williamson news. Martinez could also opt out of his contract, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently explored in a piece for Front Office subscribers.

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