As is the case each September 1, there’s been plenty of roster movement today. Active rosters expand from 26 to 28, allowing most teams to bring up one additional pitcher and position player apiece. A summation of every team’s call-ups from a busy Monday:
AL East
- Blue Jays: INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa (claimed off waivers), RHP Dillon Tate
- Orioles: C Maverick Handley, RHP Albert Suárez (activated from injured list)
- Rays: RHP Kevin Kelly, OF Richie Palacios (activated from injured list)
- Red Sox: RHP Zack Kelly, C Ali Sánchez
- Yankees: C J.C. Escarra, LHP Ryan Yarbrough (activated from injured list)
AL Central
- Guardians: RHP Zak Kent, OF Jhonkensy Noel, OF George Valera; also optioned IF Will Wilson
- Royals: RHP Luinder Avila, 1B Jac Caglianone (activated from injured list), C Carter Jensen; also placed 2B Jonathan India on injured list
- Tigers: RHP Chase Lee, OF Justyn-Henry Malloy
- Twins: RHP Travis Adams, RHP Noah Davis, OF DaShawn Keirsey Jr.; also optioned RHP Mick Abel
- White Sox: LHP Fraser Ellard, IF Bryan Ramos (expected to promote RHP Mike Clevinger this week)
AL West
- A’s: RHP Scott McGough, IF Max Schuemann, RHP Luis Severino (activated from injured list); also optioned RHP Eduarniel Nuñez
- Angels: LHP Mitch Farris, IF Scott Kingery, IF Chris Taylor (activated from injured list); also optioned IF Christian Moore
- Astros: RHP Luis Garcia, OF Taylor Trammell (both players activated from injured list)
- Mariners: C Harry Ford, RHP Luke Jackson, INF Leo Rivas; also released IF Donovan Solano
- Rangers: IF Jake Burger, RHP Chris Martin (both players activated from injured list)
NL East
- Braves: RHP Rolddy Muñoz, INF Luke Williams (activated from injured list)*
- Marlins: RHP Luarbert Arias, C Brian Navarreto, RHP Michael Petersen; also placed RHP Edward Cabrera on injured list
- Mets: IF Luisangel Acuña, RHP Justin Hagenman
- Nationals: LHP Andrew Alvarez, IF Nasim Nuñez
- Phillies: LHP Tim Mayza (claimed off waivers), C Garrett Stubbs
NL Central
- Brewers: SS Joey Ortiz (activated from injured list), RHP Craig Yoho
- Cardinals: RHP Chris Roycroft, OF Victor Scott II (activated from injured list)
- Cubs: OF Kevin Alcántara, RHP Aaron Civale (free agent signee), 1B Carlos Santana (free agent signee); also optioned OF Owen Caissie
- Pirates: RHP Cam Sanders, 2B Nick Yorke
- Reds: IF Sal Stewart, RHP Yosver Zulueta
NL West
- Diamondbacks: OF Jorge Barrosa, RHP Ryan Thompson (activated from injured list)
- Dodgers: INF Hyeseong Kim, RHP Michael Kopech (both players activated from injured list)
- Giants: RHP JT Brubaker, OF Grant McCray
- Padres: OF Jackson Merrill (activated from injured list), RHP Sean Reynolds
- Rockies: LHP Ryan Rolison, C Drew Romo
* Atlanta’s waiver claim of Ha-Seong Kim, while the most significant move of the day, isn’t counted here because Kim is currently on the 10-day injured list
If any of these guys were difference makers they would have already been on the roster, not september roster expansion call ups.
A handful are promoted prospects who haven’t even debuted yet (one is a top 60 prospect). This is a very narrow way to view this.
Even worse only allowed to call up two prospects.
At least let the rosters expand to 34
The title never said “here are the difference making September callups”. Your post, In Nurse, was the most worthless post here. Did you post it in the hopes the readers would think ” oh my gosh, if it wasn’t for In Nurse, I’d think the call up would be our savior”? Dude, here’s one to chew on, “the sun will rise in the east tomorrow”.
Agreed
I don’t understand this weird need that so many sports fans seem to have to diminish the athletes.
These call ups are almost certainly better in their field than INF is.
Let me explain in a few words.
Low. Self. Esteem.
The Phillies called up a RP that just came off
the DL who has has success in the past plus their backup catcher from the previous years. Both will be valuable down the stretch.
The Lord’s work.
Yankees favorite yoyo back again, JC. He’s hopefully temporary until Slater is finally healthy. I think the rosters should be at least 30. Spencer Jones deserves a cup of coffee.
Jones isn’t on the 40 man.
Yes, the Dodgers are finally getting closer to full strength.
They really need to let T Hernandez heal up. He hasn’t been the same since he was injured twice.
Yes… With the Dodgers getting healthy, that removes the excuse for getting bounced in the NLDS.
The next “World Series” championship for them will probably come in a shortened season after the lockout when MLB will have another round robin tournament. Just like during COVID-19, there will not be any fans at that one either.
With the money they spent on their roster, it’s embarrassing that the Dodgers are not the best team in baseball by 10 games. By season’s end, they might not even be the best team in the NL West.
I blame Ohtani. He hogs the DH and forces all these aging superstars to play the field everyday.
Your team just released a guy they paid qualifying offer money to (exact amount because they must have thought it was cute) when the team that loves the guy wouldn’t because he wasn’t up to speed yet.
The dodgers do spend a lot of money, but we expect high upside that might include injuries. You just sign the injured and give them money. We appreciate you supporting him with your payroll though.
They won the World Series literally last year and no quotes needed around it. Your trollish comment (I assume it’s trolling) ignores the championship they won last year (I won’t even dignify thoughts about 2020). They don’t need to win a World Series this year to prove they’re legit or “real,” especially given how it’s been ages since a team has repeated as champion given how competitive it is, including your own favorite team. They have one of the most highly regarded front offices and still one of the top farm systems in baseball despite trades and attrition, too, so it’s not like they’re just buying up wins. sorry being a bitter fan in Dodgers territory had broken your brain.
I never said 2024 wasn’t legit. They bought that WS fair and square… kudos. 2020 was a joke. Ever since 1988, the Dodgers couldn’t cross the finish line until the disaster of 2020. This town went nuts! It’s like Bubba Wallace obnoxiously over-celebrating his first NASCAR victory during a rain-shortened race in which he just happened to be lucky enough to be ahead when the storm hit. Not the way he dreamt about it as a kid.
I was actually pulling for LA to win last year just so I didn’t have to listen to their obnoxious fans talk about finally winning a WS after 2020.
Hey Redsox, it’s not 2023 anymore. Your antiquated views are outdated.
@red Sox you better lower tone when you talk to the defending champs you chump
Shocker, “Free Palestine”, you’re a Dodgers fan.
Wow, FP, I feel like I’m at Dodger Stadium.
RSN
“2025 MLB team payrolls
(In present-day value calculated by MLB)
New York Mets, $323,099,999
Los Angeles Dodgers, $321,287,291”
usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2025/04/02/2025-mlb-…
“Team Payroll
New York Mets $322,589,724
Los Angeles Dodgers 319,537,290”
2025 Major League Baseball Opening Day Payrolls | AP News share.google/Pfk5MrHhPYpcxMO2f
So, we can infer that you think the Dodgers’ F/O is about 10 WAR above the Mets’ F//O?
Welcome back to the bigs, Garrett Stubbs!
It should have been Justin Crawford not the backup mascot to the Phanatic Garrett Stubbs.
You best take that Stubbs slander somewhere else.
@rdiddy75,
You need to insert a comma between ‘Phanatic’ and ‘Garrett Stubbs’ to deliver the full effect of your verbal beat down. I’m here to help!
Crawford and Painter will likely be on the team at the start of the 2026 season.
How the hell did Zack Kelly for RS make it back up. I would have pushed him out the car at the street corner stop and never looked back.
No Justin Crawford is insane. .336/.411/.856 7HR 47SB Also being one of the youngest players in AAA.
Because also .409 BABIP, .120 ISO, 11 CS, and 60% GB. Thinking he deserves to take OF ABs in PHI is insane.
The power may never come but I think it’s more about not starting his clock yet which isn’t a bad thing with his 60% GB%.
Insanity is thinking that he doesn’t deserve a chance to send Max Kepler to the bench more often.
@sorengo, He is a speed guy, babip and ground ball rates should be viewed differently for those guys, people gotta stop blindly applying metrics with no context.
@Patriot I understand that, it wasn’t blind. His SB success rate is barely tolerable in AAA. His BABIP is laughably unsustainable even at AAA. Unless you think he’ll vastly outperform Ichiro’s BABIP, Crawford’s MLB true talent is well below league average right now. Which isn’t to say it always will be!
@sorengo99 I wouldn’t put that much weight into his CS as he’s still learning. His current SB rate would be passable at the MLB level. The GB% you’ve noted is the main concern as MLB teams will defensively shift against him to negate his speed. He needs to work on lifting the ball more.
The Phillies outfield sucks.
Nick Castellanos sucks.
Maybe make teams use the 26 players the put on the team from spring. Can’t replace players even for injuries. Both catchers injured? Someone needs to step up and take over the role. This would make more versatile athletes.
i don’t think anyone wants to see 19th century baseball
@yeasties
Why? Not interested in real baseball? Only like fake baseball?
In the history of dumb takes, this might be the dumbest. Make more guys play out of position and risk injury so we can enjoy worse baseball! 🥴
@sorengo99
They’re already getting injured more often just paying 1 position so I think it’s a skill issue and lack of versatility. Can be resolved by having fewer players who are more athletic. But I know you won’t understand that. When does your favourite twitch streamer start today?
“More athletic,” lofl. First part of username checks out in terms of understanding basic kinesiology, let alone baseball skills.
Kyle Schwarber sucks because he can’t play up the middle!
@sorengo99
He’s the result of a structural change in how we evaluate players. We used to evaluate hitters and reward them for high BA and scoring runs but we’ve changed it to reward more power with more outs. It doesn’t mean he’s any better than say Luis Arraez. We’re rewarding one-dimensional players over more athletic skilled players.
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that Schwarder sucks but if that’s your opinion, you are entitled to that.
Tigers also have Sawyer Gipson-Lokg, or SGL, coming tomorrow. Corresponding move will be announced then.
Geez, the Cardinals don’t have anybody better to bring up than Roycroft?!? I know they’re out of the race, but he’s been horrible all year.
Maybe they are trying to get a better pick by tanking. I’m kidding, but they need to see if he’s even deserving of a roster spot in the off season. They’ve got some rule 5 guys to protect, 3 pitchers taking up 40s that had tommy john and only like 2 free agents to be. Someone is going to have to be dumped or designated at some point.
They’ve got weatherholt with an over 1.000 OPS in AAA knocking at the door. For some reason they just refuse to bring up their top 10 prospect.
I understood why they reduced the amount of call ups. And Bob Costas whining about it during a telecast a few years ago or more helped that new rule come about.
But only 2 players? It should at least be 4. And I would limit it to only 14 pitchers. Put someone on the DL if a pitcher is tired. 14 should be enough.
They want more competitive balance for the stretch run. Otherwise, you’ll have rich teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, etc. gobbling up talent on the waiver wire from salary-dumping teams.
They,as you and Dynamite pointed out, also want to spend less money.
Well as long as they are not required to bring up 4 extra players then they would not have to.
Are they required to expand the roster if they don’t want to? It has to be in the agreement but I’ve never bothered to check all the details.
Thank you. Good point and Yes I get that although you get low end teams doing waiver wire pickups on the cheap too. The Reds did that in 2023 for Hunter Renfroe and Harrison Bader.
We are talking just 2 extra players only. The comp balance is already out of whack anyways. Teams just barely at the WC spectrum need the help more it seems to me.
I miss the 40 player rosters
I also like the idea of having expanded rosters at the beginning of the season, not the end
More MLB jobs? We already gave you the NL DH. – Owners
The MLBPA really messed up letting the September expansion get cut all the way down to 2 guys. I think it’s fun from a fan perspective and it really helps AAAA players get into some action(and more importantly a small raise for a month which is probably why the owners wanted it reduced).
Exactly this. The most diehard fans enjoy seeing more players as options but Tony Clark is horrible at his job. I honestly think that guy is on the take from owners
I’d like to see a 30 man roster with only 26 being avaliable each day. That could help reduce the amount of relievers being DFA after mopping up some innings.
That’s a good idea too.
I like that idea
Tony Clark is the worst mlbpa president ever. I miss the days of 40 man rosters in September
The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the MLB Players Association determines the number of September call-ups, not Tony Clark. Don’t you think the MLBPA would want more players in MLB in September?
I liked the expanded rosters…this isn’t it. I don’t like the trend towards infinite numbers of pitchers coming in to throw 98 for three batters. Baseball has some dumb rules (ghost runners??) but this one they could fix. If they wanted to. But they actually got what they wanted to
The Mets didn’t call up Sproat ? They should DFA Stanek and bring up Sproat, than put Senga and Manaea in the BP and start : McLean, Holmes, Peterson, Megill, Tong and Sproat
Sproat pitched Saturday. He wouldn’t even be available until Thursday, which is an off day for the Mets. Tong is scheduled for Friday, so this coming Saturday is probably the first day he’d be available to start. It would have made no sense to call him up now. Hagenman is available to pitch whenever they need him.