The Orioles announced that they have placed catcher Chadwick Tromp on the 10-day injured list due to a lower back strain. Fellow backstop Jacob Stallings has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Stallings, infielder Emmanuel Rivera has been designated for assignment. Outfielder Dylan Carlson has been recalled to take Rivera’s active roster spot. The O’s also announced that right-hander Kyle Tyler, who was recently designated for assignment, has rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency.
Baltimore has been hit with a barrage of catcher injuries in recent weeks. Adley Rutschman went to the injured list with an oblique strain in the middle of June. A few days later, Maverick Handley landed on the concussion-related IL. Those injuries got Tromp to the big leagues but now he himself has landed on the shelf.
At the same time Tromp was getting called up, the O’s signed Stallings for some experienced catching depth. The 35-year-old had just been released by the Rockies after getting out to an awful start this year, hitting .143/.217/.179. But he has a solid reputation for his glovework and veteran leadership behind the plate. His offense was also better as recently as last year, when he slashed .263/.357/.453.
His solid performance in 2024 prompted the Rockies to re-sign him to a one-year deal with a $2.5MM guarantee. But now that they’ve released him, they are on the hook for the majority of that money. The O’s will only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum salary for any time he spends on the roster. He should serve as backup to Gary Sánchez, at least until Rutschman or the other backstops are able to come off the IL.
Rivera, 29, was just added to the roster a few days ago. That move was seemingly prompted by Jordan Westburg dealing with a finger injury. Westburg has missed the past three games and is out of the lineup again today, but presumably the finger has healed up enough that he could be back in there soon, which has allowed them to sacrifice some infield depth in order to address their catching situation.
This is the third time Rivera has been designated for assignment by the Orioles. In each case, he has gone unclaimed on waivers and accepted an outright assignment. He has between three and five years of service time, meaning he has the right to elect free agency when outrighted but has to forfeit his remaining salary in order to exercise that right. He is making $1MM this year, making it understandable that he keeps accepting. It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out in the coming days.
Tyler, 28, never pitched for the Orioles at the big league level. He was claimed off waivers from the Phillies a couple of weeks ago but kept on optional assignment. Since he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to elect free agency and has done so.
His major league experience consists of 48 innings thrown across three separate seasons with a 4.31 earned run average, 15.9% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate and 48.3% ground ball rate. From 2021 to 2025, he tossed 397 minor league innings with a 4.65 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and grounders on almost half the balls in play he allowed.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images
Stallings for Rivera
Marlins Legends
🤣🤣🤣
Technically Carlson is replacing Tromp since he hasn’t spent 10 days in the minors. Stallings is replacing Rivera. Sort of a double switch
I have always thought that it was a good thing from the fringe player’s perspective to get injured while in the majors. Tromp is one of those guys that gets DFA’d around 3-4 times a year, so at the very least he can now build up service time and big league pay and not have to worry about job security until he is ready to return.
The elephant in the room is a prospect at Norfolk. Wait til next season.
I would pay to see an elephant playing baseball.
The A’s?
In other words “we don’t plan on calling up Basallo until 2026”.
Rivera is pretty likely to clear waivers and go back to Norfolk.
I wonder if Carlson getting called up means that Mullins is on the move? They’d still have Cowser, Laureano, and O’Neill likely to come back by the end of the week, plus O’Hearn.
In IF they have Westburg, Holliday, Rutschman set. Platoon of Mayo/O’Hearn until assuming O’Hearn goes. Mountcastle still around but DL. Urias primary UIF with Vazquez and (unbelievable that he is still on the team) Mateo as other UIF options.
Glut of bodies. Lack of clarity.
I doubt it. They didn’t want to option Carlson in the first place. They only did it because Westburg got hurt and they wanted another infielder. The injury to Tromp gave them an excuse to bring Carlson back before the 10 day requirement. And as far as any trades-relax. The Orioles aren’t going to do anything until after the All Star break. By that time they will know whether they have a legitimate chance at a playoff spot. And all the wildcard contenders hovering around.500 will figure out the direction they want to go.
Lots of teams to jump. If they go 14-10, which would be good with their July schedule, that likely leaves them still behind most or still all 6 of the 6 teams standing between them and playoffs at the end of July. If they do this, they’re 51-57. I think 86 wins gets the final WC, which means a 35-19 stretch run. Highly, highly unlikely.
The direction they go is determined, the question is how long it will take them to accept they should be sellers and make moves to help the team in 2026 and beyond, and get something for players who will be gone at the end of the season for nothing. I can see them trying to wait it out and then missing out, and end up standing pat. Doing nothing may be worse than making the wrong decision.
Mateo is out 8-12 weeks now. His time with the team is likely over now, finally.
I just saw this! The estimated 506th hamstring injury this team has had this year.
The injury total is abysmal for the ‘25 Orioles
Meanwhile basallo purchasing another voodoo doll. But yeah catcher one of if not the most demanding of positions in all of sports. Some of this just has to be sheer bad luck for my O’s but holy do we have a ton of injuries in recent years.
Batting .400 at Norfolk. Them’s HOF numbers!
…except he’s batting .264.
Gen Z being graded on a curve….just like in college.
strong game in Atlanta for Stallings. clutch double in extras. totally unexpected offense from an multiple injury catcher replacement player. 5th catcher this season… thank you, next at least this afternoon in Marietta.