Dodgers Sign Andrew Heaney
The Dodgers and left-hander Andrew Heaney have agreed to a deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The southpaw had recently been released by the Pirates. Heyman notes that Heaney signed in time to be eligible for the playoffs, so the deal must have been signed late last night. Heyman also says Heaney will initially report to Triple-A Oklahoma City, which suggests this is a minor league deal. Chris Cotillo of MassLive had previously reported that Heaney would be signing with a National League team.
It’s a reunion between the two parties, as Heaney spent the 2022 season with the Dodgers and enjoyed some of the best success of his career. He logged an excellent 3.10 ERA with L.A. and fanned a career-best 35.5% of his opponents against a tidy 6.1% walk rate (second-lowest of his career). Shoulder problems limited Heaney to just 14 starts and 72 2/3 innings that season, however.
His relatively small-sample dominance was still enough to earn him a two-year deal with an opt-out in Texas. Though he wasn’t nearly as dominant on a rate basis with the Rangers, Heaney did pile up 307 1/3 innings over 59 starts, pitching to a 4.22 ERA with a quality 23.2% strikeout rate and a better-than-average 7.6% walk rate. It was at least mildly surprising that he lingered on the free-agent market into February this past offseason, and his one-year, $5.25MM deal with the Bucs looked like a bargain early in the season.
Through mid-June, Heaney sported a 3.33 ERA with an 18.5% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. The 34-year-old lefty’s average velocity had dipped slightly under 90 mph, and his strikeout rate declined accordingly, but Heaney continued to post solid results, even while ERA alternatives like SIERA (4.53) remained skeptical of those run-prevention numbers.
Regression indeed reared its ugly head. Heaney was trounced for seven runs in back-to-back starts in mid-June and hasn’t been able to right the ship. In 42 innings since mid-June (nine starts, three relief appearances), Heaney has been throttled for 43 earned runs in 42 innings. He’s continued to limit walks nicely (7.3%), but his strikeout rate has plummeted to 12% and he’s averaged A staggering 2.79 homers per nine innings pitched.
For now, Heaney will look to get back on track in Oklahoma City. The Dodgers are quite familiar with Heaney and have gotten strong results from him in the past, so they’ll hope to turn the clock back a few years. Heaney has experience both in the rotation and bullpen, so he can be depth for a variety of roles in his return to the Dodger organization.
Astros Designate Logan Davidson For Assignment
With active rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, the Astros made a few moves, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Outfielder Taylor Trammell has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and right-hander Luis Garcia from the 60-day IL. The Garcia move was previously reported. To open a 40-man spot for him, infielder Logan Davidson has been designated for assignment.
Davidson, 27, joined the Astros via waiver claim a few days prior to the trade deadline. The former first-round pick out of Clemson had been designated for assignment by the A’s, his original organization. He didn’t appear in the majors with Houston, spending his entire Astros stint in Triple-A Sugar Land, where he hit .207/.290/.390 in 93 plate appearances.
That’s Davidson’s third run at the Triple-A level. He’s a career .271/.367/.441 hitter in just 1002 plate appearances there. Davidson has primarily been a shortstop in his pro career but has at least 500 innings at all four infield positions and another 350 innings of outfield work under his belt.
Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Davidson will head back to waivers. He’ll be available to all 29 other clubs, based on the reverse order of the leaguewide standings (starting with the Rockies). The switch-hitting Davidson has multiple minor league option years remaining beyond the current season and could be a depth option for rebuilding clubs looking to fill out their infield depth with rosters having expanded.
Guardians Select George Valera
Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 today. Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports that the Guardians are calling up outfielders George Valera and Jhonkensy Noel as well as right-hander Zak Kent. Infielder Will Wilson is being optioned to open a third active roster spot. Valera wasn’t on the 40-man but the Guardians had vacancies there.
Valera, now 24, was once one of the top prospects in baseball. He crushed his way through the lower levels of the minors. He was eligible for the Rule 5 draft back in the 2021-22 offseason but the Guards made the easy decision to give him a 40-man spot and protect him.
More recently, some injuries and Triple-A struggles dropped his stock. Hamate surgery and a hamstring strain limited him to just 79 games in 2023. Another hamstring strain limited him at the start of 2024 and then that season was later ended by surgery to address a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee. As the recovery for that procedure was going to carry into 2025, the Guards decided to non-tender Valera. That opened a 40-man roster spot for the offseason, when there’s no injured list, but ran the risk of Valera signing elsewhere.
Thankfully, the Guards were able to get him back via a minor league deal for 2025 and he has seemingly gotten back on track at the plate somewhat. Over those injury-shortened 2023 and 2024 campaigns, he slashed .235/.343/.427 in the minors for a wRC+ of 99. Here in 2025, he has been able to appear in 28 Triple-A contests with a .255/.346/.457 line and 113 wRC+.
Though he spent two years on Cleveland’s 40-man, this is his first time getting called up to the show. He is in today’s lineup, batting seventh and serving as the designated hitter, and will make his major league debut in the process.
The Guards are hanging around the playoff race, currently just four games back of the final Wild Card spot, and will add Valera into the outfield mix alongside Noel, Steven Kwan, Daniel Schneemann, C.J. Kayfus, Nolan Jones and Ángel Martínez.
Going forward, Valera could spend more time in Triple-A next year if the Guards don’t have big league playing time for him. Given how much time he has missed due to injury, he would ideally get regular playing time somewhere. He spent three years on the 40-man and therefore burned three options but the Guards could apply for a fourth for 2026. A team is sometimes granted a fourth option for a player who has missed significant time due to injury.
Photo courtesy of Adam Cairns, Imagn Images.
Red Sox Acquire Ali Sánchez
With active rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, the Red Sox are calling up right-hander Zack Kelly and catcher Ali Sánchez, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. The latter had signed a minor league deal with the Mets just over a week ago but the Red Sox traded for him last night, per Healey. The Mets received cash in the deal, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. The Sox opened a 40-man spot for Sánchez by moving infielder Marcelo Mayer to the 60-day injured list, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.
At first blush, it might be a bit confusing that the Sox and Mets swung a trade after the deadline. However, as MLBTR explained last month, certain trades are still allowed. A player on a minor league contract which has not been selected to the majors can be traded. That’s true even if the player was in the majors earlier in the season via a different contract. Last year, for instance, Cavan Biggio played for the Dodgers. After being designated for assignment and released, he signed a minor league deal with the Giants. After the deadline, he was traded from the Giants to Atlanta.
The situation is basically the same with Sánchez, who has played for the Blue Jays and Red Sox in 2025. The Sox designated him for assignment a couple of weeks back. He cleared outright waivers, elected free agency and signed with the Mets. Since this Mets deal hadn’t been selected to the majors, he was eligible to be traded back to Boston. By being acquired last night, prior to September, he’s eligible to be on Boston’s postseason roster.
Sánchez will give the Sox a three-catcher setup for the final month of the season, joining Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong. Sánchez still has a fairly limited major league track record. He has appeared in four big league seasons but with just 47 total games played. In those contests, he has a .185/.222/.235 slash line.
However, he’s generally regarded as a strong fielder and his offensive numbers have been better in a larger sample of minor league playing time. From 2022 to the present, he has stepped to the plate 943 times at the Triple-A level with a .272/.348/.418 line. That translates to a 96 wRC+, which is 4% below league average but decent for a catcher, especially a backup catcher.
Wong is slashing just .189/.253/.231 on the season, so perhaps there’s a scenario where Sánchez plays himself into the #2 slot behind Narváez and cracks the postseason roster. For now, he’ll give the club a bit more cover for a potential injury while also giving the skipper a bit more freedom for in-game roster moves. Sánchez is out of options but has just over a year of service time and can therefore be retained beyond this season if he’s holding a roster spot at season’s end.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
The Opener: Roster Expansion, Alvarez, Heaney
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on throughout the day today:
1. Roster Expansion:
It’s September 1, which means MLB rosters are expanding from 26 players to 28 players. Each team in the league will be able to add one position player and one pitcher to their roster today. Various organizations will take different routes to filling those roster spots. Some will use the opportunity to promote a prospect, as the Nationals are with today’s starter Andrew Alvarez. Other clubs will dedicate those roster spots to a veteran who was available on waivers or in free agency, as the Cubs have opted to do by picking up Aaron Civale and signing Carlos Santana. While active rosters are expanding, 40-man rosters do not get extra spots in September. That means any players not already on the 40-man roster will need to be given a spot to be called up as part of today’s roster expansion.
2. Alvarez to debut:
As mentioned above, the Nationals are promoting lefty Andrew Alvarez to the big leagues for a start today. It will be the former 12th-round pick’s big league debut, coming against an as-of-yet unannounced Marlins starter. Alvarez, 26, has 25 starts at the Triple-A level this year with a 4.10 ERA and a 21.5% strikeout rate in 123 innings. The southpaw isn’t ranked within the Nationals organization’s top 30 prospects by either MLB Pipeline or Baseball America, but if Alvarez can maintain something close to his Triple-A numbers in the majors, he could join a number of young potential back-of-the-rotation arms like Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, and Brad Lord that the Nationals will have competing for starts next year. The Nats will need to select Alvarez’s contract to the 40-man roster before he can make this afternoon’s start.
3. Heaney to sign in NL?
The other aforementioned way many clubs will use their expanded roster spots—bringing veteran players from outside the organization into the fold—stands to potentially benefit left-hander Andrew Heaney. Heaney was designated for assignment by the Pirates last week and released after he cleared waivers, making him eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. Heaney’s 5.39 ERA in 120 1/3 innings of work this year isn’t exactly inspiring, but clubs in need of innings could still look to the southpaw as a legitimate option.
It’s therefore unsurprising that, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, one NL club is poised to bring him into the fold. While it’s unclear which team will be rostering the lefty, it’s not hard to imagine either a contending club in need of innings picking him up or even a non-contending club that wants to ease the burden on some of its young arms down the stretch. Heaney has spent the majority of his career in the AL, but has pitched for the Marlins and Dodgers previously in addition to his stint with the Pirates earlier this year.