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Red Sox Select Nick Burdi

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The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Nick Burdi. Fellow righty Cooper Criswell has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Kutter Crawford has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Burdi, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He has since been putting up some good numbers for Triple-A Worcester. Through 16 2/3 innings, he has only allowed one earned run, leading to a 0.54 ERA. He has struck out 38.5% of opponents while only giving out walks 7.7% of the time.

Throughout his career, the question has been more about health than talent. A former second-round pick of the Twins, he has twice had Tommy John surgery, once in 2017 and the second time in 2020. He also had a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in between those two, in 2018.

He understandably didn’t pitch much from 2016 to 2022 but has been able to log some innings more recently. In 2023, he only pitched three big league frames but also got to 21 innings on the farm, with a 3.86 ERA and 35% strikeout rate. He also walked 15% of opponents that year, perhaps understandably rusty after so much missed time.

Last year, he pitched 9 2/3 major league innings for the Yankees with a 1.86 ERA as well as 17 Triple-A innings with a 2.65 ERA. At both levels, he had high strikeout totals but also a lot of walks. He missed time with a hip injury and was outrighted off the roster late in the season, which allowed the Red Sox to sign him.

It’s a small sample but Burdi’s start this year still features the same strikeout stuff but seemingly with better control. He’s averaging 96 miles per hour on his fastball while also throwing a slider and changeup. The Sox will add him as a fresh arm, at least for a few days. They only have a four-man rotation right now with Walker Buehler expected to be reinstated from the IL in the coming days, perhaps on Tuesday. Burdi has options, so it’s possible he’ll be sent down when Buehler is ready, depending on how things go between now and then. If he manages to stay healthy and post some big numbers in the majors, he can be retained beyond this season via arbitration if still on the 40-man roster.

As for Crawford, this doesn’t change anything with him. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL. He landed there to start the campaign due to right patellar tendinopathy. He will be eligible for reinstatement in late May, but that doesn’t seem likely anyhow. He has been throwing lately but hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment. Even if cleared to start that assignment soon, he would surely need a few weeks to ramp up as a sort of delayed spring training.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

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Cubs Sign Kenta Maeda To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are signing veteran righty Kenta Maeda to a minor league contract, as first reported by Japanese news outlet Daily Sports. Cubs skipper Craig Counsell confirmed the signing to the team’s beat today (link via Vinnie Duber for the Chicago Sun-Times). Maeda, a Boras Corporation client, was released by the Tigers last week.

“He has had success,” Counsell said of Maeda today. “He’s struggled. … It’s a player you’ve got to have constant conversations with and see where we can make some adjustments and see where he’s at.”

Maeda, 37, has a lengthy big league track record of success. He signed with the Dodgers via the MLB/NPB posting system ahead of the 2016 season and spent the next four years with Los Angeles, pitching to a sharp 3.87 ERA in 589 innings between the Dodgers’ rotation and bullpen.

In the 2019-20 offseason, the Twins sent righty Brusdar Graterol and outfielder Luke Raley to the Dodgers in exchange for Maeda and catching prospect Jair Camargo. Maeda was sensational for Minnesota in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, firing 66 2/3 innings of 2.70 ERA ball with a 32.3% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate. His got out to a sluggish start in 2021, however, and wound up requiring Tommy John surgery. That procedure knocked out his entire 2022 campaign.

Maeda returned to the Twins for the 2023 season — the final year of his original eight-year pact with the Dodgers. It was an uneven year, with Maeda stumbling early and hitting the injured list again after serving up 10 runs to the Yankees in late April. He returned a triceps injury in June and looked very much like the 2020 version of himself; in his final 88 2/3 innings that year, Maeda pitched to a 3.36 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate.

Entering the 2023-24 offseason, Maeda appeared a strong candidate for a multi-year deal. The Tigers signed him to a two-year, $24MM contract that seemed eminently reasonable given his strong finish to the ’23 season and his broader track record of success. Instead, it proved to be a misstep.

Maeda ate 112 1/3 innings for the Tigers in 2024 but struggled considerably as a starter. Detroit moved him to the bullpen in early July, and Maeda quietly turned his season around, at least to an extent. He made a dozen appearances as a long reliever over the next couple months, pitching to a 3.86 ERA with a 23.8% strikeout rate and 4.1% walk rate in 42 innings.

It was a nice run of quality contributions from a right-hander who is plenty familiar with that sort of long relief/swingman role. The Tigers gave him one final start in late September, and Maeda was tagged for five runs in 4 2/3 innings. Overall, Maeda finished the 2024 season with a grisly 6.09 earned run average.

Spring training 2025 brought reason for some cautious optimism. Maeda’s 4.91 ERA in 14 2/3 innings wasn’t much to look at, but he posted a gargantuan 39.7% strikeout rate against a microscopic 1.7% walk rate. That, coupled with some health troubles elsewhere in the rotation, earned Maeda another chance to carve out a role on Detroit’s staff.

It didn’t go well.

Maeda was deployed as a multi-inning reliever and yielded runs in four of his seven appearances. By the time the Tigers designated him for assignment, he was sitting on a 7.88 ERA with a career-low 18.6% strikeout rate and a career-worst 14% walk rate. He’s never been a hard thrower, but this year’s 90.2 mph average fastball is a career-low.

The Cubs’ rotation at the moment is quite banged up. Justin Steele is out for the year after undergoing UCL surgery. Shota Imanaga is on the 15-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. Javier Assad opened the year on the IL with an oblique strain, began a rehab assignment late last month, and was pulled back after experiencing renewed discomfort. Subsequent imaging revealed a Grade 2 oblique strain. He’s on the 60-day IL and won’t return anytime soon. The Cubs’ rotation currently includes Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, Colin Rea, Ben Brown and top prospect Cade Horton.

Maeda is hardly a guarantee to bolster the staff, whether as a starter or long reliever, but there’s little harm in the Cubs taking what amounts to a free look at the seasoned right-hander. The Tigers are on the hook for Maeda’s $10MM salary this year, minus the prorated portion of the $780K MLB minimum for any time he spends on another team’s big league roster. For now, it seems likely that Maeda will head to Triple-A and look to get back on track. He could be an option if Chicago needs a spot start or some length in the bullpen within the next few weeks.

Pirates Announce Further Changes To Coaching Staff

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One week after firing manager Derek Shelton, the Pirates have announced further changes to the coaching staff. Pittsburgh is bringing former manager Gene Lamont back to the organization to serve as a special advisor to newly tabbed manager Don Kelly. Triple-A manager Chris Truby is also being promoted to the big league staff and will hold the generic title of “major league coach” as well.

Truby, 51, appeared in parts of four major league seasons as an infielder. From 2000-03, he suited up for the Astros, Expos, Tigers and Devil Rays, playing in 263 big league contests. He played in parts of 15 minor league campaigns and finished his playing career with the Pirates in a 2007 season split between their Double-A and Triple-A levels. He began his coaching career shortly thereafter, taking a minor league role within the Pirates system. He’s since managed multiple minor league affiliates with the Phillies but returned to the Pirates in 2022. Minor league field coordinator and assistant director of coaching and player development Shawn Bowman will step in as the new Triple-A skipper in place of Truby.

The 78-year-old Lamont has spent eight years as a major league manager and a couple decades on big league coaching staffs. He helmed the White Sox from 1992-95 and the Pirates from 1997-2000. He’s served as a third base coach in the major leagues and was also the bench coach for both Jim Leyland and Brad Ausmus in Detroit. With eight years of MLB managerial experience — including 1993 AL Manager of the Year honors — and a 23-year coaching career on top of that, he’ll bring more than three decades of dugout experience to help Kelly acclimate to his new role.

Beyond the new additions. third base coach Mike Rabelo will “expand his role on the bench” and contribute to game-planning and in-game strategy. It seems he’ll pick up at least a portion of the duties held by now-former game-planning coach Radley Haddad, who was fired at the same time as Shelton.

White Sox Acquire Miguel Castro From Astros

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May 16: The White Sox announced the trade. However, rather than the cash considerations indicated by Brown, the Sox announced that they’re sending international bonus pool space back to Houston in the swap. Pool space must be traded in $250K increments unless a team is emptying out a bonus pool that has under $250K remaining (in which case the entire remainder is sent).

Given the Sox’ position and long-term outlook, it seems likely that they’re sending at most $250K or perhaps that they had less than that amount remaining. Notably, no actual cash changes hands when pool space is traded. The Astros are simply acquiring the right to spend an additional block of cash on international amateur free agents.

May 15: The White Sox are acquiring right-hander Miguel Castro from the Astros, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Astros general manager Dana Brown tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic that Houston receives cash considerations in return.

Castro, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Astros in the offseason. He has since pitched 19 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 2.29 earned run average. His 10.1% walk rate is a tad high but he’s striking out 25.3% of opponents while getting grounders on 44% of balls in play.

Despite those solid numbers, it seems the Astros weren’t planning to call him up, so they’ve traded him instead. Per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2, Castro’s deal had an upcoming opt-out date on June 3rd.

The White Sox are rebuilding and don’t have a strong relief group. Collectively, their bullpen has a 4.42 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of major league teams. Given that they are 14-30 and at the bottom of the American League standings, they presumably plan to install Castro into the bullpen and see if he can pitch his way into being a midseason trade candidate. Assuming they plan to call him up before his opt-out, they will need to open a 40-man spot for him.

Castro has occasionally been a useful pitcher in the big leagues, though with declining results in recent seasons. His ground ball rate has been fairly consistently near 50% and his walk rate has usually been a bit higher than average. The strikeouts have been high at times but there’s been a clear downward trend. He peaked at 33% in 2020 but that figure dropped to 25.4% in 2021, 23.7% in 2022 and 22.4% in 2023.

Last year, he started with the Diamondbacks but landed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation in the middle of April. He stayed there for about three months, getting reinstated in July but was released in early August. Around the IL stint, he tossed 13 2/3 innings with a 5.93 ERA and 12.5% strikeout rate in that small sample. Based on his minor league numbers this year, it’s possible he has put the shoulder problems behind him and is back in good form.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

The Opener: Twins, Phillies, Red Sox, Braves

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world this weekend:

1. Twins await updates on Buxton, Correa while eyeing 12th straight win:

The Twins lost two stars in worrying fashion yesterday when center fielder Byron Buxton and shortstop Carlos Correa collided in the outfield and hit the ground. Correa exited immediately, and Buxton departed the game an inning later. Both were placed into MLB’s protocol to be evaluated for concussion-like symptoms, the Twins announced. Bench coach Jayce Tingler told reporters that more information would be available today (link via The Athletic’s Dan Hayes).

Minnesota has won 11 consecutive games and pushed right back into the playoff conversation after a slow start. Buxton has been everything they could ask for in 2025, slashing .261/.312/.522 with 10 homers, an 8-for-8 showing in stolen bases, and excellent defense in center field. Correa’s offensive numbers are below-average, but he’s heated up over the past couple weeks (.328/.343/.406 his past 17 games). Harrison Bader and Brooks Lee appear likeliest to cover center field and shortstop during any potential absences, although Bader exited Wednesday’s doubleheader with groin tightness and was out of yesterday’s lineup. Willi Castro can handle either position, as can former top prospect Austin Martin, who’s raking in Triple-A after opening the year on the injured list. Neither Castro nor Martin is an ideal long-term fit at either position from a defensive standpoint, but they give the Twins some short-term cover.

The Twins will look to push their winning streak to 12 tonight in Milwaukee when they send righty Joe Ryan (2.74 ERA) to the mound against Brewers rookie Chad Patrick (3.19 ERA). Minnesota sends Pablo Lopez (2.77 ERA) to the mound Saturday against a TBD Brewers starter. Sunday, Minnesota will reportedly call up top prospect Zebby Matthews (1.93 ERA in Triple-A) to take on Milwaukee’s top starter, Freddy Peralta (2.66 ERA).

2. Harper, Schwarber nearing milestones:

Wednesday’s doubleheader between the Cardinals and the Phillies left two of Philadelphia’s best hitters on the cusp of major milestones. Bryce Harper hit an RBI single in Game 1 to knock in the 999th runner of his career, putting him just one step away from 1,000 career RBI. Kyle Schwarber, meanwhile, hit the 299th home run of his career in Game 2, putting him just one away from being the 163rd big leaguer in history to hit 300 career homers.

The Phillies were off yesterday, but this weekend’s matchup with the Pirates in Philadelphia will provide both sluggers with the opportunity to make quick work of those milestones. They’ll face southpaw Andrew Heaney (3.15 ERA) at 6:45pm local time this evening to kick off the weekend series. Righty Carmen Mlodzinski (5.20 ERA) and ace Paul Skenes (2.63 ERA) will take the mound Saturday and Sunday.

3. Fascinating Fenway matchup:

The Red Sox welcome the Braves to Boston this weekend, and tonight’s game (scheduled for 7:10pm local time) will serve as something of a full circle moment. Last winter, the Red Sox traded southpaw Chris Sale to Atlanta, and the oft-injured ace not only went on to have his healthiest season in five years but win his first Cy Young Award and capture the NL Triple Crown for the Braves.

After seeing one ace left-hander whom they acquired from the White Sox revitalize his career, the Red Sox responded by … acquiring another ace left-hander from the White Sox: Garrett Crochet. The 25-year-old Crochet has been brilliant in Boston, logging a 1.93 ERA and 28.9% strikeout rate in nine starts (56 innings). Sale, meanwhile, has a solid if unspectacular 3.97 ERA in nine outings but much stronger peripherals (2.91 FIP, 2.93 SIERA, 30.2 K%, 6.1 BB%). Will Boston be able to overcome their former ace with the new kid in town on the mound? Sale and Crochet square off tonight in a fascinating showdown that carries a bit more intrigue than the standard pitchers’ duel.

The Orioles’ Pair Of Rental Bats

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The Orioles dropped both games of a doubleheader against Minnesota yesterday, falling 11 games under .500. They kept the bad times rolling with another loss this afternoon, getting to 12 games under. It’s the nadir of their season so far, one from which they’ll have a difficult time coming back.

As of last week, general manager Mike Elias wasn’t interested in contemplating the possibility that they’ll be deadline sellers. “We’ve got a record that’s not reflective of who we believe our team is, that I don’t think anyone thought our team was, and we’re digging a hole out of the standings right now because of that,” the GM told Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post on their podcast last Tuesday. “Hopefully, we claw back a lot of real estate in the standings and we get back in the mode that we fully expected to be. That is my focus right now. If it somehow evolves otherwise, I’ll address it then.”

The team has dropped six of eight games since those comments. Even with Zach Eflin returning from the injured list over the weekend, the starting rotation looks untenable. Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg face uncertain timelines to make it back from their own IL stints. The odds are very much not in their favor. FanGraphs has the O’s playoff chances down to a season-low 4.4%. The front office certainly didn’t anticipate being deadline sellers, but it’s increasingly difficult to see them avoiding that fate.

It would be surprising if the Orioles dealt any controllable core pieces like Westburg, Adley Rutschman or Jackson Holliday. It’d be tough to find a taker on Tyler O’Neill given his annual $16.5MM salaries and opt-out clause. Tomoyuki Sugano has had solid results in his first big league season, but he probably has modest trade value on a $13MM salary given his below-average velocity and 14.2% strikeout rate.

That leaves a pair of rental bats as Baltimore’s top trade candidates: Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins. The former has systematically improved over his two and a half seasons at Camden Yards. O’Hearn was a career .219/.293/.390 hitter when the Orioles acquired him from the Royals over the 2022-23 offseason. He turned in what was then a personal-best .289/.322/.480 slash during his first season in Baltimore. Last year’s batting line seems superficially like a step back — he hit .264/.334/.427 in 494 plate appearances — but it came with a dramatically superior strikeout and walk profile than he showed in 2023.

O’Hearn has maintained those impressive plate discipline metrics while hitting for more power early this year. He carries a .287/.374/.519 mark with seven longballs across 123 plate appearances. O’Hearn isn’t chasing pitches outside the strike zone. His 15.4% strikeout rate is well below the 22.1% league average. He’s making hard contact (a 95+ MPH exit velocity) on half his batted balls, well up from last season’s 40% clip.

The rate stats are slightly inflated by the O’s tendency to shield O’Hearn from unfavorable platoon matchups. They’ve mostly kept him away from left-handed pitching, giving him just 94 plate appearances against southpaws over the past three seasons. He’s more of a strong-side platoon bat than a true everyday player, but O’Hearn is thriving in that role. He is up to a .280/.339/.465 slash in nearly 900 plate appearances against righty pitching as a member of the Orioles.

That kind of production is a bargain for a player making an $8MM salary. O’Hearn will be a first-time free agent next year, as he enters his age-32 season. It’s tough to see the Orioles making him a qualifying offer that’d likely be north of $21MM. He has a good shot at a multi-year contract, but the O’s would probably be better served letting him walk to open first base/DH playing time for Coby Mayo. That all points to a trade.

Baltimore won’t pull the trigger on that kind of move two and a half months from the deadline, but he seems likely to be available in July. The Giants and Red Sox are the most obvious potential suitors for a rental first baseman. Boston will be without Triston Casas all season. San Francisco has gotten nothing out of LaMonte Wade Jr. this year. They won’t want to block top prospect Bryce Eldridge in 2026 but should make a short-term add at the position. The Rangers and Mariners would also make sense as landing spots.

The Orioles would need a stronger return on Mullins, who may end up being one of the best all-around position players available. The lefty-hitting center fielder takes a .230/.335/.446 line with eight homers into today’s game against Minnesota. Most of that production came early in the season. Mullins carried a .278/.412/.515 slash through the end of April. He’s hitting .119/.119/.286 thus far in May. He’s clearly amidst a skid at the plate, but he still ranks among the sport’s most productive center fielders overall. He is tied for fourth at the position in homers and ranks eighth in on-base percentage (minimum 100 plate appearances).

Even if Mullins was punching above his weight through the season’s first few weeks, he’s a quality player. He has been an average or better hitter in five consecutive seasons. He has topped 30 stolen bases in three of the last four years. The public metrics are split on his glove — he rates more highly by Statcast’s Outs Above Average than he does in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved — but there’s no doubt that he can play center field. There’s a dearth of talent at the position on the trade market, especially if Luis Robert Jr. continues to underperform offensively.

Mullins is making $8.725MM in his final season of arbitration control. There’s a decent chance the O’s would make him the qualifying offer if he’s not traded, but a multiple-prospect package could be superior to one compensatory draft pick. The Guardians, Phillies, Mets, Rangers and A’s are just a handful of contenders that could look for an upgrade in center field.

Respective images courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas and Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

White Sox Release Brandon Drury

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The White Sox released Brandon Drury from his minor league deal, according to the MiLB.com transaction tracker. He has been on the injured list since May 8.

Drury hasn’t played a game for Triple-A Charlotte since April 26. Their manager, Sergio Santos, told Jeff Cohen of Future Sox last week that Drury had injured his wrist on a hit-by-pitch. At the time, Santos said that Drury was able to field without issue but experienced soreness when he was taking swings. He’d only been able to appear in 10 games before the injury. The veteran infielder hit .179/.319/.282 with one home run across 47 trips to the plate.

The Sox signed Drury to a minor league contract shortly before the opening of Spring Training. He looked well on his way to breaking camp when he raked at a .410 clip through 13 exhibition contests. That was scuttled when he broke his left thumb in the final few days of Spring Training. Chicago granted him his release but brought him back on a new minor league deal in mid-April once he’d returned to health.

There aren’t many specifics on his latest injury, but it stands to reason that Drury will find renewed minor league interest whenever he’s healthy. He won a Silver Slugger in 2022 and remained an above-average hitter as recently as ’23, when he hit .262/.306/.497 with 30 doubles and 26 homers for the Angels. The wheels fell off last season. His bat cratered to a .169/.242/.228 showing across 360 plate appearances, limiting him to minor league offers.

Diamondbacks Trade Jose Castillo To Mets

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The Mets acquired lefty reliever José Castillo from the Diamondbacks for cash, the teams announced. New York designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster. Arizona had designated Castillo for assignment on Monday.

Castillo has technically appeared in five MLB seasons, though all but eight of his appearances came with the Padres during his 2018 rookie season. He turned in a 3.29 ERA over 38 1/3 innings that year but was subsequently set back by injury.

The 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in November. It marked his second consecutive season in the Arizona organization. He had spent all of last year with their Triple-A team in Reno, though he lost the first half of that season to injury. The Diamondbacks assigned him back to Reno to begin this season. He struck out seven while tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball and was called up at the beginning of May.

The 6’6″ southpaw only spent a couple weeks in Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. He didn’t pitch well, allowing eight runs on 10 hits (including a trio of home runs) over 6 1/3 frames. Arizona bumped him out of the bullpen when Kendall Graveman returned from injury. Castillo is out of options, so they needed to designate him for assignment to take him off the MLB roster.

That out-of-options status means the Mets are prepared to give Castillo at least some time in their big league bullpen. They’ve been forced to scour the lefty relief market after losing Danny Young and A.J. Minter to season-ending injuries. They called up Génesis Cabrera from Triple-A Syracuse. He’s the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps. Cabrera has managed five innings of one-run ball over four outings, but he had walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters in Triple-A before the promotion.

The Mets will need to remove someone from the major league bullpen once Castillo reports to the team. Dedniel Núñez is the obvious candidate, since he still has a couple options remaining. Cabrera is out of options, so the Mets would need to designate him for assignment if they wanted to use Castillo as their only left-hander.

Herget relinquishes his spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets claimed the 34-year-old off waivers from Milwaukee early last offseason. He only spent one day on the MLB roster, allowing two runs on three hits in one inning. He has otherwise been working out of the bullpen at Syracuse. Herget has only allowed five runs over 15 2/3 innings, but that came with a pedestrian 13:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had a much stronger 32.4% strikeout rate over 38 appearances with Milwaukee’s top farm team a year ago.

The Mets will likely place Herget on waivers within the next few days. He has been outrighted twice in his career and would have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

Rangers Release Adrian Houser

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Righty Adrian Houser was granted his release from his minor league contract with the Rangers, the team announced. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reports that Texas hopes to bring him back (presumably on a fresh minor league deal), but he’ll have the opportunity to explore other offers.

Houser signed with the Rangers during the offseason. He has worked out of the rotation at Triple-A Round Rock, tallying 39 1/3 innings across nine appearances. While his 5.03 earned run average is pedestrian, that’s not all that uncommon in the Pacific Coast League. Houser has stronger peripherals. He’s striking out a decent 22.8% of opponents while running an excellent 57.3% grounder rate.

Ground balls are Houser’s speciality. He has gotten grounders at a near-52% clip over parts of eight seasons in the majors. That was up in the 58-59% range during his best seasons with Milwaukee but has been down to a more normal 46-48% mark over the past few years. That caught up to him last year, as he allowed 5.84 earned runs per nine across 69 1/3 frames with the Mets. Houser had begun the season in New York’s rotation but was kicked to the bullpen after seven starts.

His results in relief were much better. Houser carried an ERA north of 8.00 as a starting pitcher but turned in a 3.28 mark across 35 2/3 relief innings. Texas seemingly preferred him as rotation depth, though it stands to reason he could find interest from other clubs as both a starter and reliever.

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