Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for May 2025

Rangers Sign Robert Dugger To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Rangers have signed right-hander Robert Dugger to a minor league deal, reports Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News. McFarland also confirmed the Ty Blach signing, which MLBTR reported last week.

Dugger, 29, has a bit of major league experience. He has 86 2/3 innings under his belt, mostly as a swingman/spot starter/long reliever. He has allowed 7.17 earned runs per nine innings in that time with a 16.5% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. He also had a brief stint with the SSG Landers in the KBO League but was released after six rough starts there.

As one would expect, his minor league performance has been more serviceable. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed 306 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 4.49 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate and 11.2% walk rate. He started this year with the Guerreros de Oaxaca in the Mexican League and made three starts for that club, with a 3.97 ERA over 11 1/3 innings.

The Rangers have Kumar Rocker, Jon Gray and Cody Bradford all on the injured list right now. Also, Jack Leiter isn’t fully established as a big league starter yet. He recently returned from an IL stint and allowed six earned runs in his most recent outing. The Rangers are about to start a stretch of playing 13 games in a row followed by one day off and then a nine-gamer. If the staff gets taxed at any point, Dugger could potentially come up for a spot start or to serve in a long relief role.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images

Nationals Sign Adrian Sampson To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Nationals signed righties Adrian Sampson and Parker Dunshee to minor league contracts this evening. Both players were assigned to Triple-A Rochester, which announced the moves.

Sampson is the far more experienced of the duo. The 33-year-old righty has pitched in parts of five big league seasons. He has worked 292 2/3 innings in a swing role, turning in a 4.43 earned run average. Sampson’s 17.5% strikeout rate isn’t especially impressive, but he throws enough strikes to be a serviceable depth arm. He spent all of last season working out of the rotation for the Rangers top affiliate. Sampson posted a 5.64 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout percentage against a solid 7.2% walk rate through 28 appearances in a tough setting in the Pacific Coast League.

Texas never promoted Sampson last year, and he returned to minor league free agency at season’s end. He’d remained unsigned throughout the offseason but now gets another opportunity. Shinnosuke Ogasawara and prospect Andry Lara are on the 40-man roster and working out of the Rochester rotation. The Nats are light on non-roster rotation depth. Joan Adon and Konnor Pilkington have some big league experience but are working mostly in relief (exclusively in Adon’s case) in the minors this year.

Dunshee, 30, is a former A’s draftee who received a cup of coffee with the Braves last year. He made one appearance for Atlanta, allowing five runs over 2 1/3 relief innings in his big league debut. The Wake Forest product had strong numbers at the top two levels of the Braves’ system, however. He combined for a 3.34 ERA while striking out nearly 32% of opposing hitters over 59 1/3 frames. Dunshee was bombed for five runs in two-thirds of an inning in the Mexican League earlier this year, but he’ll get a chance to work out of Rochester’s bullpen.

Poll: Should The Cubs Call Up Cade Horton?

By | at

When Justin Steele went under the knife for UCL revision surgery last month, ending his 2025 season early, the pressure of carrying the load at the front of the Cubs’ rotation went from being shared between two All-Star southpaws to falling entirely on the shoulders of Shota Imanaga. Imanaga’s first eight starts of the year have generally gone quite well, as he’s pitched to a 2.82 ERA despite his peripherals regressing significantly (4.52 FIP, 4.69 SIERA) relative to last year’s dominant rookie campaign.

Unfortunately, his own season was at least temporarily derailed yesterday when Chicago placed him on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring. Fortunately, the Cubs and Imanaga appear to view the strain as a fairly mild one. Manager Craig Counsell suggested during his postgame interview yesterday (h/t Marquee Sports Network) that the outcome was “pretty good news” and that it was at least possible that Imanaga wouldn’t take much longer than a minimum stay on the shelf to recover. Even so, another starter will be needed to join Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, Ben Brown, and Colin Rea in the rotation.

Perhaps the Cubs need look no further than the hurler at Triple-A who was already on the same schedule as Imanaga prior to the injury. Top pitching prospect Cade Horton, selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, has been nothing short of dominant so far this year. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Horton has made six starts for the club’s Iowa affiliate this year and has posted a sparkling 1.24 ERA in that time with a strikeout rate of 30.6%. It’s the sort of dominance that will naturally lead to fans calling for a big league debut, and those calls have only grown louder in the aftermath of Imanaga’s injury. It’s hard to argue any pitcher currently on the big league roster has a higher ceiling than Horton, who sports a mid-90s fastball that touches 98 and a plus slider as part of a strong four-pitch mix.

For his part, Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times) that Horton is “an option” to replace Imanaga in the rotation. With that being said, Counsell also noted that veteran right-hander Chris Flexen remains stretched out after recently having his contract selected from Triple-A ahead of a uniform opt-out opportunity in his contract on May 1. Flexen threw 54 pitches in three scoreless relief innings last week and sported a 1.16 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate in 23 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A before his contract was selected. A veteran of eight MLB seasons who also briefly pitched for the KBO League’s Doosan Bears, Flexen has generally been a roughly average swingman since he returned from South Korea with a 4.56 ERA (90 ERA+) in 582 2/3 innings of work.

His numbers fell off substantially over the past two years, but it’s hard to deny that he’s looked impressive since joining Chicago on a minor league deal. Still, there’s no question that Horton is the more talented pitcher with much higher upside. Horton seems likely to have a very successful career with the Cubs in the coming years, but there are other considerations that could tip the scale towards Flexen. The Cubs’ bullpen, which ranks bottom ten in the majors with a 4.37 ERA, has already been stretched somewhat by short starts from Rea and Brown this year. Horton would add another hurler who can’t be expected to pitch deep into games to the rotation mix, seeing as he’s maxed out at just 78 pitches this year. Flexen, meanwhile, has maxed out at 95 pitches and pitched into the sixth inning in three of his four full-length starts with Iowa.

Horton’s injury woes over the years, from Tommy John surgery in college to a subscapularis strain that cost him most of his 2024 season, have left the Cubs in a position where they’ll need to carefully manage the talented right-hander’s innings this year. For a team with postseason aspirations, it’s fair to wonder if calling him up in early May is the right call when his electric arm may be needed come October. On the other hand, however, it’s worth noting that Horton did not throw a single pitch after May 29 last year. Health for a pitcher is never guaranteed, so it’s possible the Cubs would be best off simply calling up Horton now while he’s pitching well and figuring out how to manage his innings later by either shutting him down at some point this year or moving him to the bullpen.

How do MLBTR readers think the Cubs should handle the vacancy in their rotation while Imanaga is out of commission? Should they turn to the high-upside prospect knocking on the door of the big leagues while he’s healthy and pitching well, or instead opt to use Flexen in order to manage Horton’s innings and preserve the bullpen? Have your say in the poll below:

Looking Ahead To Club Options: AL East

By | at

MLBTR wraps our division by division look at next year’s team/mutual option class with the AL East. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.

Previous installments: player options/opt-outs, NL West, AL West, NL Central, AL Central, NL East

Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore signed Kittredge to a one-year, $10MM free agent deal over the winter. He’s making $9MM this season and has a matching club option or a $1MM buyout for 2026. Kittredge was supposed to be a key setup man in front of Félix Bautista, but he suffered a left knee injury early in camp and required a debridement surgery. He began a rehab stint at High-A Aberdeen on Sunday. While there’s plenty of time for Kittredge to turn things around, it hasn’t been the start to his O’s tenure that he envisioned.

Laureano, who was non-tendered by the Braves, signed a $4MM contract with Baltimore in February. That came with a $6.5MM team option without a buyout, giving the Orioles an extra season of club control. Injuries to Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser have pressed him into everyday work, mostly in left field. He hasn’t provided much through his first 24 games. Laureano is hitting .185 with a .237 on-base percentage through 59 plate appearances. He has hit a trio of home runs but struck out 18 times while drawing only four walks. Laureano has generally been a below-average hitter since being suspended following a positive PED test in 2021. He’ll need much better production over the next few months for the Orioles to exercise the option.

Boston Red Sox

Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05MM free agent deal to match the price of the qualifying offer — which the Dodgers had declined to issue when he hit the market. It’s a relatively expensive pillow contract. Buehler was coming off a dismal regular season, in which he’d posted a 5.38 ERA with a career-worst 18.6% strikeout rate over 16 starts. He finished his Dodger tenure on a high note, though, closing out the World Series while pitching to a 3.60 earned run average in 15 playoff innings.

An ace-caliber pitcher early in his career, Buehler hasn’t looked the same since undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career in August 2022. His stint in Boston has gotten out to a shaky start. While his 4.28 ERA through 33 2/3 innings is serviceable, he’s striking out just 20.7% of opponents while averaging a personal-low 93.5 MPH on his fastball. Shoulder inflammation sent him to the injured list last week. The mutual option was always an accounting measure designed to push the $3MM buyout to the end of the year rather than disbursing it throughout the season as salary. The team seems likelier to decline its end than the pitcher does.

Giolito signed a two-year, $38.5MM deal during the 2023-24 offseason. He negotiated an opt-out clause after the first season and hoped to retest the market after one strong year. Instead, Giolito’s elbow gave out during Spring Training and he required UCL surgery that cost him the entire season. The veteran righty made the easy decision to stick around for year two.

By exercising his player option, Giolito unlocked a 2026 option for the team. It’s valued at $14MM and comes with a $1.5MM buyout. If Giolito pitches 140 innings this year, it’d convert to a $19MM mutual option (still with the $1.5MM buyout). That’d give him a chance to test free agency if he wants. Giolito has an uphill battle to 140 frames. A hamstring strain cost him the first month of the season. He finally made his team debut last week, working six innings of three-run ball with seven strikeouts in a no-decision against Toronto. The Rangers tagged him for six runs on 10 hits in just 3 2/3 frames tonight.

The Red Sox added Hendriks on a two-year, $10MM deal over the 2023-24 offseason. They knew they wouldn’t get much in year one, as Hendriks had undergone Tommy John surgery the prior August. He attempted to make a late-season return last year but was shut down after a minor flare-up of elbow discomfort. Elbow inflammation shelved him for a couple weeks to begin this season, though he made his team debut in mid-April.

Hendriks allowed two runs on three hits in one inning during his first appearance. He has rattled off five straight scoreless outings since then, albeit with four walks in five frames. His 95 MPH average fastball is solid but below the 97-98 range at which he sat during his elite seasons with the White Sox.

Note: Jarren Duran’s arbitration deal contains a ’26 club option with an $8MM base salary. He’d remain eligible for arbitration if the Sox decline the option.

New York Yankees

  • Tim Hill, LHP ($3MM club option, $350K buyout)

Hill finished last season with the Yankees after being released by the White Sox in June. He’d allowed nearly six earned runs per nine with Chicago but managed a tidy 2.05 ERA over 44 frames for New York. He’s out to a similarly productive start to the ’25 season. Hill has surrendered five runs through 17 1/3 innings (2.60 ERA).

While the soft-tossing lefty has managed just 11 strikeouts, his game has always been built around ground-balls. He’s getting grounders at a massive 81.6% clip thus far. Only nine of the 40 batted balls he’s allowed have been hit into the air. It’s easily the highest grounder rate in the majors. The Yankees value this skillset as much as any team, and the $2.65MM option decision is a drop in the bucket for them.

Loáisiga is still working back from last April’s elbow surgery. The righty has generally been a productive reliever when healthy, but he’s only once managed even 50 MLB innings in a season. He’s on a rehab stint with Low-A Tampa and will need another few weeks before he’s built into MLB game shape. Loáisiga is making $5MM this season. The option has a matching base value and could climb by another $500K if the Yankees exercise it. He’d earn $100K each at reaching 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 innings in 2026.

Tampa Bay Rays

Fairbanks is in the final guaranteed season of the three-year, $12MM extension that he signed before the 2023 campaign. That includes a $1MM buyout on a club option that comes with a $7MM base value. That’s a bargain for a quality high-leverage reliever, but the deal includes various escalators that could push the option price above $12MM.

The option value would climb by $500K if he gets to 125 combined appearances between 2023-25 and another $1MM apiece at 135, 150 and 165 combined outings. Fairbanks made it into 95 games over the first two seasons. He’d trigger the first $500K escalator at just 30 appearances this year and would max it out if he makes it into 70 games. He can boost the option price by another $2MM based on this year’s games finished total: $500K apiece at 25, 30, 35 and 40.

Fairbanks has never reached 50 appearances in a season because of various injuries, but he’s already at 14 games through this season’s first six weeks. Fairbanks has finished 11 of those contests while working as Kevin Cash’s primary closer. He has recorded 13 strikeouts against six walks while allowing three runs over 13 1/3 innings. The option price should remain solid value, though the escalators might eventually push it to an area where Tampa Bay would rather explore deadline or offseason trades rather than having a reliever projecting as one of the highest-paid players on the roster.

Jansen seemed to be pulling away from the rest of a weak free agent catching class early last season. His production tanked from June onwards, leaving him to sign an $8.5MM pillow contract with Tampa Bay. He’s making an $8MM salary and will collect a $500K buyout on a $12MM mutual option at year’s end. Last summer’s offensive drought has carried into 2025. Jansen has only one home run with a .147/.301/.221 batting line through 83 plate appearances. He remains a very patient hitter, but the Rays would have an easy decision to decline their end of the option if he doesn’t find the double-digit home run power he showed during his best seasons in Toronto.

Lowe has had a rare extended run with a Tampa Bay team that is almost always willing to trade any player. He’s in his eighth big league season and in year seven of the extension he signed in Spring Training 2019. Lowe collected $24MM for what would have been his standard six seasons of team control. The Rays exercised a $10.5MM option for this year and can retain him once more at an $11.5MM price. It’s an $11MM decision after accounting for the $500K buyout.

While injuries have been a recurring issue, Lowe has been one of the better offensive middle infielders in the sport when healthy. His 39-homer season in 2021 is an outlier, but he has tallied 21 longballs in each of the past two seasons. He’s out to a much slower start this year, batting .203/.258/.305 with four homers across 128 plate appearances. The batted ball metrics are still solid, but his career-worst 20.1% swinging strike rate is the fifth-highest among hitters with at least 50 PAs.

This one can still go a few different ways. If Lowe hits like this all season, he’d be bought out. If he finds something like his 2023-24 form (.238/.319/.458), then $11MM is reasonable. It’d keep him as one of Tampa Bay’s highest-paid players, though, so there’s a decent chance he’ll be traded at some point this year. The 16-18 Rays look like fringe Wild Card contenders for a second consecutive year. They could again try to walk the line between buying and selling come deadline season.

The Rays signed Waguespack to a restructured deal early last offseason. He’s making $1.3MM this season and has a $1.5MM club option for next year. That’d escalate to $2MM if he reaches 20 “points” this season. Waguespack would receive one point for each MLB relief appearance and two points per big league start. He has spent the ’25 season to date on optional assignment to Triple-A Durham.

Working as a pure reliever for the Bulls, Waguespack has reeled off 14 innings of two-run ball. He has fanned 15 hitters against three walks while getting ground-balls at a lofty 60% clip. It hasn’t earned him a major league call yet, but he should be up before too much longer if he keeps performing at that level. Waguespack spent the 2022-23 seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan. He made four MLB appearances with Tampa Bay last year but lost a good portion of the season to a rotator cuff injury.

Note: Taylor Walls’ arbitration deal contains a ’26 club option with a $2.45MM base salary. He’d remain eligible for arbitration if the Rays decline the option.

Toronto Blue Jays

  • None

Angels, Andrew Vasquez Agree To Minor League Contract

By | at

The Angels reached agreement with lefty reliever Andrew Vasquez on a minor league deal, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The Gaeta Sports Management client would be paid at a prorated $800K rate for whatever time he spends in the majors. According to Alexander, the deal includes an upward mobility clause on July 1 and an August 1 opt-out if the Angels haven’t selected Vasquez onto the major league roster.

Vasquez had begun the season in the Mexican League. The 31-year-old pitched well in a small sample. He only surrendered three unearned runs over 7 2/3 innings in an extremely hitter-friendly league. He fanned six with one walk while picking up a trio of saves. It was enough to get Vasquez back to the affiliated ranks, where he spent last season in Triple-A with the Tigers.

It wasn’t a great season. Vasquez allowed 5.11 earned runs per nine over 68 2/3 frames for Detroit’s top affiliate last year. His 19.4% strikeout percentage and 9.6% walk rate were each a little worse than average. That’s a departure from the norm, as Vasquez usually posts big strikeout numbers in the minor leagues. He carried a career 35.2% Triple-A strikeout rate into last season.

Vasquez’s fastball only sits in the upper 80s. He throws his low-80s breaking ball more than 80% of the time. It’s translated to roughly average results over parts of five seasons in the big leagues. Vasquez carries 4.24 ERA with a 21.5% strikeout rate over 63 2/3 innings between 2018-23.

White Sox Outright Penn Murfee; Bobby Dalbec Elects Free Agency

By | at

The White Sox have sent right-hander Penn Murfee to Triple-A Charlotte, reports Scott Merkin of MLB.com. There had been no previous indication that the righty had been removed from the 40-man roster but the Sox evidently passed him through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man count drops to 39. Merkin adds that infielder Bobby Dalbec, who was designated for assignment two days ago, also cleared waivers but has exercised his right to elect free agency.

Murfee, 31, was claimed off waivers from the Astros in November. His White Sox tenure got off to a rough start. He logged 12 2/3 innings over 15 appearances, allowing 11 earned runs for a 7.82 ERA. That’s a small sample and it’s possible luck played a part in it. His .390 batting average on balls in play and 67.3% strand rate are both to the unfortunate side. His 3.85 SIERA suggests he deserved better. But on the other hand, his 20.6% strikeout rate was a big drop from his previous work.

Prior to joining the White Sox, Murfee logged 83 1/3 innings with the Mariners over 2022 and 2023. In that time, he had a 2.70 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. Unfortunately, he required UCL surgery in June of 2023, wiping out the remainder of that season and his 2024.

After the 2023 season, the Mariners put him on waivers. Even though he was facing a notable absence, his numbers were good enough that he bounced to the Mets, Braves, Astros and White Sox on waiver claims. All his pitches have seen a slight drop in velocity this year relative to 2022. Perhaps that provides some explanation for the reduced strikeout rate and, in turn, the lack of interest on the waiver wire.

Murfee finished 2024 with two years and 169 days of service time, just three days shy of the three-year line. By spending the first month-plus of the 2025 season on the active roster, he pushed over that three-year marker. He qualified for arbitration in the winter as a Super Two player but couldn’t push his salary up terribly high due to his injury absence. He and the White Sox avoided arbitration in January by agreeing to a salary of $780K, just a bit above this year’s $760K minimum.

Since he has over three years of service, he has the right to reject this outright assignment in favor of free agency. But since he has less than five, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary in order to exercise that right. As such, he is likely to report to Charlotte and attempt to work his way back onto the roster.

Dalbec, 30 next month, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the winter. He got added to the roster about two weeks ago when Chase Meidroth hit the injured list but was bumped off when Josh Rojas returned from the IL. He has shown huge power in his career, with 47 home runs in 1,065 plate appearances, but has undercut that with a massive 36.6% strikeout rate.

Like Murfee, Dalbec is between three and five years of service. His deal with the White Sox reportedly came with a $1.25MM salary in the majors but it’s possible that it was some kind of split deal that wasn’t fully guaranteed and/or wouldn’t pay him as much in the minors. Whatever the details, Dalbec felt comfortable walking away and heading to the open market to see what other opportunities are out there.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

Angels Select Héctor Neris, Connor Brogdon

By | at

The Angels announced that they have selected the contracts of right-handers Héctor Neris and Connor Brogdon. Infielder Yoán Moncada was also reinstated from the 10-day injured list. In corresponding moves, right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks and infielder Niko Kavadas have been optioned to Triple-A, while righty Touki Toussaint has been designated for assignment. The club had one open 40-man vacancy coming into today.

The Angels have been busy swapping in fresh arms to their bullpen lately. After some heavy bullpen usage on Thursday and Friday, Toussaint and Darrell-Hicks were called up on Saturday. On Sunday, the club got torched, losing 13-1 to the Tigers. Both pitchers took on some mop-up duty and have been swapped out for more fresh arms today.

Neris, 36 next month, just signed a minor league deal with the club a couple of months ago. He started the season on a minor league deal with Atlanta and made the Opening Day roster but was bumped off after two bad appearances. He elected free agency and landed a new deal with the Halos. He has since made four Triple-A appearances, allowing two earned runs with eight strikeouts and one walk.

The righty has a lengthy track record of major league success but has been more wobbly in recent years. In 2021, he had a 31.6% strikeout rate but that dropped to 30%, 28.2% and 24.6% in subsequent seasons. He was able to work around that with a 1.17 ERA in 2023 but that jumped to 4.10 last year, which likely led to him settling for a minor league deal with Atlanta coming into 2025.

Brogdon, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in January. He has thrown 14 2/3 Triple-A innings this year, allowing 21 earned runs for an eye-popping 12.89 ERA. His 25.3% strikeout rate is actually pretty good and his 9.6% walk rate passable but he has allowed six home runs already in that span.

He was a solid major leaguer as of a few years ago but has been struggling more recently. He tossed 113 innings for the Phillies over the 2020 to 2022 seasons with a 3.42 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. But in 2023, his ERA jumped to 4.03, with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate. Last year was mostly lost due to injuries, with plantar fasciitis being the main culprit. The Angels presumably hoped to get him back on track but the Triple-A results so far this year have been mixed, to say the least.

As mentioned earlier, Toussaint gets bumped off the roster just a few days after being added. He tossed two innings in his lone appearance, allowing two earned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out three.

He should be placed on waivers in the coming days. Once a notable prospect, he has never been able to rein in his control enough to find success. In 282 1/3 major league innings, he has a 5.42 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 47.6% ground ball rate but a big 14.1% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images

Reds’ Tyler Callihan Suffers Forearm Fracture

By | at

May 6: The Reds placed Callihan on the 10-day IL today and optioned right-hander Yosver Zulueta. They recalled outfielder Jacob Hurtubise and righty Lyon Richardson in corresponding moves. Manager Terry Francona tells Mark Sheldon of MLB.com that Callihan underwent successful surgery on his arm. He won’t be able to do baseball activities for six to eight weeks. After that, he will presumably need a ramp-up period and rehab assignment, so he’ll probably be on the IL into July.

May 5: The Reds announced that rookie infielder/outfielder Tyler Callihan suffered a left forearm fracture in tonight’s game against Atlanta. He’s obviously in for a long-term absence.

Callihan suffered the gruesome injury while he was playing left field. He tracked a Matt Olson fly ball that sliced down the line. Callihan, a right-handed thrower, reached up for the ball with his glove hand. He went into a slide and was unable to avoid crashing into the wall with limited foul territory. His outstretched left arm took the brunt of the collision. It was immediately apparent that he’d suffered a significant injury. (Olson came around to score on an inside-the-park home run after Callihan understandably dropped the ball in pain.)

The 24-year-old Callihan just received his first major league call last week. He came up to serve as a left-handed hitting bench bat when Jeimer Candelario went on the injured list. He recorded his first MLB hit and RBI with a base knock against Washington’s Trevor Williams on Saturday. He’s 1-6 with a strikeout in four games.

Callihan will at least collect major league pay and service time during what figures to be a long injured list stint. He’ll go on the major league IL and should end up on the 60-day injured list once the Reds need to open a 40-man roster spot. Gavin Lux, who started at designated hitter tonight, will continue getting the majority of playing time in left field. Blake Dunn came off the bench to handle the position this evening.

Dodgers To Place Teoscar Hernandez On Injured List

By | at

3:36pm: Manager Dave Roberts tells the Dodgers beat that Hernandez is dealing with a Grade 1 adductor strain and that there’s no timetable for a return but Hernandez will be “inactive for awhile.”

3:29pm: The Dodgers announced Hernandez has been placed on the 10-day IL. Outman has indeed been recalled from Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.

3:04pm: The Dodgers will place outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the 10-day injured list, reports Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction, but as first noted by Jack Harris of the L.A. Times, James Outman traveled to meet the team in Miami.

Hernandez exited yesterday’s game with tightness in his left hamstring, the Dodgers announced last night. He went for an MRI to determine the severity of his ailment. The results of that imaging still aren’t clear, nor is a potential timetable for Hernandez’s return, but the team clearly saw enough damage to sit the 32-year-old slugger down for the next 10 days.

Though the 24-11 Dodgers currently hold the best record in baseball (by a margin of half a game over the second-place Padres), their outfield production has been more good than great on the whole. Hernandez has been the best of the bunch, slashing an excellent .315/.333/.600 with nine homers. Andy Pages has been strong as well, with a .277/.347/.491 output in regular playing time. The rest of L.A.’s outfield play has been suspect. Free agent acquisition Michael Conforto is out to a woeful .146/.285/.243 start. Neither Chris Taylor nor Tommy Edman has hit well during limited playing time in the outfield. Edman’s broader .252/.295/.523 slash is still quite solid overall, but he’s also on the 10-day injured list due to an ankle issue.

Edman might’ve been the top choice to fill in for Hernandez were he healthy, but the Dodgers will instead give more looks to Outman now — particularly against right-handed pitchers, given his notable career platoon splits. The 28-year-old Outman had a nice debut showing back in 2022 but has struggled mightily in the majors since that time, due in large part to a sky-high 33% strikeout rate in his career. He’s hitting .254/.322/.508 in Triple-A right now, but that’s coupled with a grim 36.3% strikeout rate in 146 plate appearances.

The Dodgers have also scarcely played Enrique Hernandez in the outfield this year, but he’s certainly no stranger to playing there and would make for a natural righty complement in a platoon setup. Taylor would be an on-paper fit as a fellow righty with outfield experience, but he hasn’t hit at all dating back to 2024 and has actually been even less effective against lefties than he has righties.

Yankees Designate Carlos Carrasco For Assignment

By | at

The Yankees announced today that they have recalled right-hander Yerry De los Santos to the active roster. Righty Carlos Carrasco has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Carrasco, 38, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason. The Yankee rotation took a number of hits during spring training, with Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and JT Brubaker starting the season on the IL with significant injuries. That allowed Carrasco to crack the Opening Day roster. He has made six starts and two relief appearances so far this year, allowing 5.91 earned runs per nine innings. His 7% walk rate is good but he only punched out 17.6% of batters faced.

The health situation hasn’t improved much for the Yankees and has in fact gotten worse. Since Opening Day, Marcus Stroman has joined Cole, Gil and Brubaker on the IL. Clarke Schmidt also battled some flank soreness last week, though he managed to avoid the IL.

However, the Yanks feel they no longer need Carrasco on the roster. It’s possible that’s due to the schedule, as they have four off-days over the rest of this month, including two in the next nine days. That might put a little less pressure on the staff. It’s also possible that Carrasco has been jumped on the depth chart by Ryan Yarbrough. The lefty has been working a long relief role for the Yankees, with 19 1/3 innings over nine appearances. He has a 3.72 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate in that time.

The current rotation consists of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Will Warren and Schmidt. With the off-days, they may be able to ride with a four-man group for a while, perhaps with Yarbrough making a spot start. Allan Winans is also stretched out in Triple-A and could be recalled to contribute at some point.

The club’s plans should become more clear in the coming days. Regardless, Carrasco is bumped off the roster today. Carrasco’s numbers this year haven’t been great but it’s possible he can still find interest from a club looking for a veteran to eat innings. Players like José Ureña, Casey Lawrence and Ian Anderson have been bouncing around the league recently, with some with gassed pitching staffs looking for relief.

Carrasco has a lengthy track record of big league success but hasn’t been at the same level in recent years, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into 2025. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has logged 225 2/3 innings for the Mets, Guardians and Yankees. In that time, he has a 6.14 ERA and 17.9% strikeout rate, though his 8.1% walk rate and 44.9% ground ball rate in that span are close to average.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top