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Braves Evaluating Shortstop, Outfield Markets

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The Braves have been among the most disappointing teams in MLB. They’re nine games under .500 entering this weekend’s series against the Rockies. They’d lost seven straight before taking two of three in Milwaukee.

On paper, that all points toward Atlanta as likely deadline sellers. Yet the Braves entered this season with a top 10 payroll in MLB and have made the playoffs in seven straight years. They’re not going to wave the white flag unless they feel it’s unavoidable. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last night that the Braves are still positioned as buyers, reporting that the front office is looking for help in the outfield and at shortstop.

If the Braves were to buy, those would each be natural targets. Left field has been an issue since Jurickson Profar was suspended following a positive performance-enhancing drug test. Alex Verdugo is hitting .247/.301/.312 across 166 plate appearances — arguably even worse than last year’s .233/.291/.356 showing as a member of the Yankees. Eli White hasn’t been much better, running a .235/.275/.383 season line. White had carved out semi-regular playing time with a productive April, but he’s hitting .202/.231/.288 in 109 plate appearances dating back to the beginning of May.

While left field is the clearest weakness in the outfield, the Braves have gotten similarly poor production in center. Michael Harris II has had a dismal first half. He carries a .233/.261/.346 line through 275 trips to the plate. Harris is a productive baserunner and an elite defender, so he’s still providing some value, but the Braves need much more from him offensively. He entered this season with a .285/.325/.469 slash over his first three years. The track record and the defense should keep Harris on solid ground as an everyday player, but his down year has essentially placed the entire burden on Ronald Acuña Jr. to get any kind of offensive contributions from the outfield.

Profar has fewer than 20 games remaining on his suspension. He’ll return early next month, though that’ll be clouded with uncertainty about what they can expect from him. Even if he plays well, he wouldn’t be an option if the Braves make an improbable playoff push. Players cannot participate in the postseason during the year in which they were suspended for PED use.

Shortstop has been almost as much of a struggle. Opening Day starter Orlando Arcia is gone, having been released last month (and subsequently signing with Colorado). Nick Allen has taken the everyday role there. He’s an elite defensive infielder who provides very little at the plate. The 5’8″ infielder has yet to hit a home run and owns a .234/.309/.269 mark through 191 trips.

Allen’s all-glove profile would be easier to tolerate if they were getting more from their non-Acuña outfielders. Having multiple positions that don’t contribute offensively is a tougher sell. Atlanta’s .243/.317/.386 team batting line is middling, and they’ve been terrible this month (.216/.296/.360). They’d love to deepen the offense, but they’ve also seen their bullpen melt down far too often and have spotty rotation depth after losing AJ Smith-Shawver to Tommy John surgery. There are a lot of areas to address.

Of course, how aggressively they’ll do so depends in large part on the next six weeks. The front office’s impulse may be to add, but that’d be difficult to pursue if the team is still well below .500 and nine games out of a playoff spot in late July. At that point, they’d have little choice but to entertain offers on impending free agent DH Marcell Ozuna (with a case for listening on ace Chris Sale).

The Opener: Paredes, Giants, Dodgers, Pitchers’ Duel

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

1. Paredes nursing hamstring issue:

Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes is dealing with an issue in his left hamstring, manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Chandler Rome of The Athletic) last night. It’s unclear whether the Astros plan to send Paredes for testing or simply see how he’s feeling today before making a decision on his status, but Espada indicated the club will have more information on Paredes today. Paredes is enjoying what would be a career year during his first season with the Astros, slashing .255/.353/.478 with a wRC+ of 136 in 67 games. That’s a tough bat to lose from the lineup for any amount of time, but Mauricio Dubon seems to be the most likely candidate to fill in for Paredes if he’s set to miss a day or two. A longer absence that requires a trip to the IL could be more complicated for the Astros to cover, as they have no extra infielders on their 40-man roster at present.  Luis Guillorme and Zack Short are among the club’s non-roster depth options at Triple-A who could be called upon if Paredes is going to be out for a while.

2. Series Preview: Giants @ Dodgers

The NL West’s second-place team is headed to Dodger Stadium in L.A. for a three-game set this weekend. The Giants sit just one game behind the Dodgers in the division and will have the opportunity to take control of the NL West for the first time since 2021. In order to do so, they’ll need to beat a Los Angeles team that managed to swipe a series win from San Diego this week despite getting outscored 14-20. The series figures to start with a bang at 7:10pm local time when the club’s ace pitchers face off. Both Logan Webb (2.58 ERA) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.20 ERA) could find themselves in the NL Cy Young award conversation this year, and both are coming off big games after Yamamoto struck out nine Cardinals across six scoreless innings while Webb punched out ten in Atlanta. The series will continue on Saturday with youngster Landen Roupp (3.29 ERA) and veteran Clayton Kershaw (4.35 ERA) on the mound, and things will wrap up on Sunday when lefty Kyle Harrison (4.56 ERA) faces off against righty Dustin May (4.46 ERA).

3. Pitchers’ Duel in Arizona:

Dodgers/Giants isn’t the only noteworthy series in the NL West this weekend, as the Padres are headed to Phoenix for a three-game set against the Diamondbacks. That series will conclude with a pair of veteran pitchers in the midst of excellent seasons on the mound on Sunday. For the Padres, free agent addition Nick Pivetta (3.43 ERA) is taking the mound for his 14th start of the year. Pivetta will hope to turn things around after back-to-back difficult outings and put together his first quality start of June, and he’ll do so against veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly (3.18 ERA). The 36-year-old is set to make his 15th start of the season this weekend as he eyes a return to free agency in the fall, and he’ll look to build on two phenomenal outings against the Braves and Mariners so far this month where he struck out 15 batters across 13 scoreless innings.

Brewers’ Aaron Civale Requests Trade

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The Brewers moved right-hander Aaron Civale to the bullpen yesterday in order to accommodate the promotion of top prospect Jacob Misiorowski. At the time, skipper Pat Murphy openly acknowledged that Civale — an impending free agent who’s never made a relief appearance in the majors or minors — was “not happy” about the role change. Less than 24 hours later, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that Civale has requested a trade.

Civale’s agent, Jack Toffey, tells Rosenthal and Sammon that the conversation he had with the Brewers baseball operations staff was “very professional” and that Civale would prefer to continue his career as a starter, especially with free agency on the horizon. It’s an understandable position, particularly since Civale has generally been pitching well out of the rotation recently. The 30-year-old righty landed on the injured list due to a hamstring strain after one start this season but has returned with 19 innings of 3.32 ERA ball. He’s fanned 21.3% of his opponents against a 7.5% walk rate in that time and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of those four appearances.

The Brewers bought low on Civale in an early-July trade with the Rays last year. He’d gotten out to a rocky start to the 2024 campaign with Tampa Bay but righted the ship upon his trade to Milwaukee. In 14 starts over the season’s final three months, Civale logged a 3.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. Coupled with this year’s five starts, he’s pitched 96 innings as a Brewer and turned in a 3.84 earned run average with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate — all solid numbers for any team’s fourth or fifth starter.

Civale has generally averaged five innings per start, but that’s due in large part to the Brewers’ own tendency to hook their pitchers quickly. Milwaukee lets pitchers face opponents a third time in a game less often than all but one other team in baseball (Miami), and Civale’s career splits the second and third trip through a batting order are nearly identical; opponents hit him at a .257/.307/.451 clip their second time facing him in a game and .255/.310/.451 the third time. He’s markedly better facing opponents the first time in a game, but that’s true of virtually any starting pitcher. During Civale’s four-plus seasons in Cleveland — the club that originally selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft — he averaged 5 2/3 frames per start and more regularly worked into or completed six innings.

Two months ago, the Brewers having a glut of starting pitching — so much so that one of their veterans requested a trade — would have seemed laughable. Milwaukee was hit hard enough by injuries early in the year that they swung an extremely rare early-April trade to bring in some rotation help, picking up righty Quinn Priester from the Red Sox.

In the nine-plus weeks since that time, Milwaukee has gotten healthier and has seen several young arms emerge — Priester among them. Righty Chad Patrick is one of the front-runners for NL Rookie of the Year honors. Logan Henderson was brilliant in his first four MLB starts but was already optioned back to Triple-A Nashville because of Milwaukee’s depth. Misiorowski’s production in Nashville (2.13 ERA, 31.6 K%) has forced his way into the big league picture. Meanwhile, veterans like Jose Quintana and Civale himself have gotten healthy. Young lefties DL Hall and Aaron Ashby are also back from the IL and are working in multi-inning relief roles. (Hall has also had a pair of three-inning “starts” as an opener ahead of Priester.)

I took a look at the Brewers’ surprising wealth of pitching two weeks ago, noting that some tough decisions were likely on the horizon. Moving Civale to the bullpen falls into that category, particularly since a shift like that can come with precisely this type of ramification. Many fans will find a public trade request off-putting, which is a fair stance to take — just as is the case with Civale’s trade request. As a 2016 draftee, he’s been working nearly a decade to get to free agency and understandably does not love the idea of pitching in a new role that could impact his efficacy on the mound and/or his earning power on the market.

Civale is earning $8MM in 2025, his final year before free agency. As of this writing, there’s about $4.645MM of that sum yet to be paid out. In 122 major league starts, he’s pitched 658 1/3 innings with a 4.06 ERA, a 21.8% strikeout rate, a 6.5% walk rate and a 39.8% ground-ball rate.

Cole Ragans To Go For Second Opinion On Injured Shoulder

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It seems the Royals will be without Cole Ragans for a while. Manager Matt Quatraro tells Anne Rogers of MLB.com that the lefty will go for a second opinion on his ailing shoulder next week. Kansas City placed Ragans on the 15-day injured list with a rotator cuff strain yesterday. Quatraro indicated that the team does not expect the issue will require surgery but suggested that Ragans will be shut down from throwing for a decent amount of time.

It’s the second injured list stint of the season for the All-Star lefty. Ragans missed a few weeks between late May and early June with a groin strain. He returned for one start and was tagged for five runs in three innings against St. Louis on June 5. Ragans didn’t feel right during his between-starts routine, leading to the testing that revealed the rotator cuff strain. He’ll surely miss more time with this injury than he did for the groin.

The Royals will operate with a five-man starting staff comprising Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic, Michael Wacha, Michael Lorenzen and rookie Noah Cameron. It’s still a good group overall, but it’s obviously far better when Ragans is at full strength. He finished fourth in Cy Young balloting while recording 223 strikeouts over 32 starts a season ago. While he was on an even better strikeout pace this season, an unsustainably high .382 average on balls in play had led to an earned run average north of 5.00.

Kansas City will have a better idea of Ragans’ timetable next week. It’s hard to envision him returning before the All-Star Break. The front office is unlikely to pour many resources into the rotation even if Ragans is out into or beyond the end of July.

A top three of Lugo, Bubic and Wacha remains excellent. Cameron pitched well over his first five MLB starts before the Yankees knocked him around on Tuesday. Lorenzen has been up-and-down but is generally a serviceable fifth starter. Kyle Wright has made four rehab starts and might not be far away from his team debut; he could work in long relief or push Lorenzen or Cameron for the final rotation spot. Improving a punchless bottom half of the lineup figures to be the top priority if the Royals — who have dropped below .500 after being swept by the Yankees — remain close enough to contention to add.

Angels To Promote Christian Moore

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The Angels are calling up second base prospect Christian Moore, as first reported by @kat_wrld and confirmed by multiple outlets. The Halos optioned rookie outfielder Matthew Lugo during today’s off day, according to the MLB.com transaction log. They will need to make a 40-man roster move tomorrow.

This kind of aggressive promotion for top prospects is par for the course for the Angels. They skew extremely towards the college side in the draft and push their most talented minor leaguers as quickly as any organization. Each of the Halos’ past three first-round picks (Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Moore) were college hitters who were in the majors within the opening half of their first full professional season. Neto was drafted in 2022 and promoted the following April. Schanuel went from Florida Atlantic to the big leagues within two months during the ’23 season.

While Moore took the longest of the three, he’s now slated for his MLB debut around 11 months after being selected. A Tennessee product, he impressed amateur scouts by hitting .375 with 34 homers during his junior season with the Vols. Evaluators have had concerns about his defense, but he has a chance to provide rare power from an up-the-middle position.

The Halos almost immediately pushed Moore to Double-A, where he hit .322 with five homers in 23 games during his draft year. That established him as the top offensive player in a weak Halos farm system. He ranked among the sport’s top 100 talents over the winter at each of Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN.

Moore returned to Double-A to open this season. He got out to a rough start in a pitcher-friendly environment. The righty hitter only managed one homer while striking out at a 27.4% clip through 146 plate appearances. The Angels nevertheless moved him to Triple-A Salt Lake on May 13. Moore has thrived in the much more favorable Pacific Coast League, collecting four homers while hitting .350 in 20 games. He has posted consecutive multi-hit games with a home run in each of his two most recent outings.

It’s a tiny sample, but it was enough to convince the ever-aggressive Halos front office to bring him up. There’s a relatively low bar to clear to upgrade the second base position. Chris Taylor went on the injured list on Tuesday with a broken left hand. Luis Rengifo has mostly been filling in at third base for the injured Yoán Moncada. The Halos have given Scott Kingery three of the past four starts at second base. He has had a monster season in Salt Lake but has played seven MLB games since the start of the 2022 campaign.

The Angels have hung around .500 through the season’s first few months. They’ve been outscored by 50 runs, but they’re coming off a sweep of the A’s that pulled them back into second place in the AL West. They’ll hope for Moore to provide an offensive spark. He joins Jac Caglianone, Nick Kurtz and Cam Smith as members of last year’s first round to reach the big leagues. He’s the second member of the Halos’ 2024 class to get there. Second-rounder Ryan Johnson broke camp in the bullpen before being optioned to High-A last month.

Moore meets the eligibility for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’d earn a full year of service time if he manages a long shot top two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting. (The Angels would not receive a pick in that scenario.) Moore would otherwise remain under club control for at least a full six seasons after this one. That timeline could be delayed if he requires any more time in the minors after his first look at MLB pitching.

Image courtesy of Imagn Images.

Cubs Outright Tyson Miller

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Right-hander Tyson Miller has been outrighted by the Cubs to Triple-A Iowa, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he will exercise that right.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see no one take a flier on Miller as he’s coming off a strong season. He logged 62 innings for the Mariners and Cubs last year, allowing just 2.32 earned runs per nine. His 23% strikeout rate was around league average for a reliever while he only gave out walks to 4.7% of batters faced.

He hasn’t yet had a chance to build on that showing here in 2025. He went to Japan with the Cubs for the Tokyo Series but didn’t pitch in the official big league games. He landed on the injured list due to a left hip impingement prior to domestic Opening Day. He had been rehabbing in recent weeks, with a 2.77 ERA in 13 Triple-A innings, but the Cubs didn’t want to plug him back onto the active roster. Since he’s out of options, that meant bumping him from the 40-man.

It’s possible that major league clubs don’t have much faith in Miller being able to replicate last year’s results. There was likely some luck in his numbers, as his .203 batting average on balls in play and 81.9% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. He also averaged less than 90 miles per hour on both of his fastballs last year, a level where it’s tough to succeed in the modern game.

During his recent rehab outings, though his 2.77 ERA was good, his 19% strikeout rate and 15.5% walk rate were both subpar figures. He managed to keep runs off the board by not allowing any home runs, a feat that would not be sustainable over a larger sample.

It now seems that Miller is destined for more minor league work, since no club is currently willing to give him a big league job. That could be for Iowa if he accepts his assignment or he could head to free agency and look for opportunities elsewhere.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Emmanuel Rivera Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles

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The Orioles announced that infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who they designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll stay in the organization and provide them with some non-roster depth.

This was the expected outcome once Rivera was bumped off the 40-man roster. Players with at least three years of major league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit their remaining salary to exercise that right.

Rivera has a bit more than three years of service. He and the O’s avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $1MM salary. They passed him through waivers in February. He could have elected free agency at that time but made the obvious choice to accept, as it kept that $1MM salary on the table for this year.

He got his roster spot back in April when Jordan Westburg landed on the injured list. Rivera got 76 plate appearances, hitting .232/.303/.275 for a wRC+ of 70. Westburg returned from the IL a couple of days ago. Since Rivera is out of options, he was bumped off the 40-man. Similar to his last outright, it’s logical for him to accept the assignment to keep his salary flowing.

He’ll give the O’s a bit of experienced non-roster infield depth. In his career, he has hit .243/.306/.363 for a wRC+ of 86. However, his grades for his third base defense have been strong. Thanks mostly to that glovework, FanGraphs has credited him with 1.9 wins above replacement in 367 games.

The O’s are having a disappointing season, with a 27-39 record that leaves them eight games out of a playoff spot at the moment. Unless they charge ahead in the coming weeks, they will go into the deadline as sellers. Players like Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías, Ryan Mountcastle and others may end up on the move, which could open some late-season playing time for Rivera. Even without trades, another injury situation could pop up at any time.

If he’s not added back before the end of the year, he would be able to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are outright off a 40-man roster during the season.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

Yankees Release Brandon Leibrandt To Sign In CPBL

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The Yankees announced that they have released left-hander Brandon Leibrandt to sign with the CTBC Brothers of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. That move was previously reported by CPBL Stats.

Leibrandt, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason. He logged 41 Triple-A innings over nine starts and one long relief outing, allowing 2.85 earned runs per nine. He probably got a bit of help from his .245 batting average on balls in play and 87.8% strand rate, but his 22.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate were both solid figures while his 50.5% ground ball rate was quite strong.

Despite that cromulent performance, his path to big league playing time in the Bronx was steep. Despite several injuries, the Yankee rotation is in decent shape. They have Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough. They could get Marcus Stroman and JT Brubaker back soon, as both are on rehab assignments. Luis Gil is tossing bullpens and could be on his own rehab assignment in the coming weeks.

Leibrandt was therefore likely to be stuck in the minors but will head overseas instead. Presumably, he’ll be getting a bit of a pay bump while being able to explore the other side of the globe. It’s also possible that he could be exposed to scouts from other Asian leagues and earn himself future opportunities if he performs well. His major league track record currently consists of 15 1/3 innings with a 5.28 ERA.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Tigers Select Matt Gage

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The Tigers announced that they have selected left-hander Matt Gage to their roster. In a corresponding active roster move, right-hander Beau Brieske has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo. To open a 40-man spot, righty Jackson Jobe has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. It was reported yesterday that Jobe will require Tommy John surgery.

Gage, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason. He has been pitching for Toledo so far this year with good results. He has logged 32 1/3 innings over 23 appearances, having allowed 1.67 earned runs per nine. His 22.8% strikeout rate and 42.9% ground ball rate are both around average while his 3.3% walk rate is excellent.

That performance will get him back up to the big leagues for the first time in a couple of years. He logged 19 2/3 innings with the Blue Jays and Astros in 2022 and 2023, posting a 1.83 ERA. But his 2024 saw him in plenty of transactions without getting into a big league game. The Astros put him on waivers in January. The Yankees claimed him but then flipped him to the Dodgers in February. The Dodgers released him but then re-signed him to a minor league deal. He triggered an opt-out clause and was added back to the 40-man roster but then flipped to the Mets. The Mets briefly recalled him to the majors but didn’t put him into a game.

Around all those transactions, he tossed 41 2/3 innings in the minors with a 4.10 ERA. The Mets outrighted him off their roster in November, which allowed him to elect free agency and sign with the Tigers. His major league track record is fairly limited but he has usually been good in the minors. From 2021 to the present, he has a 3.43 ERA, 26.6% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate in 199 1/3 innings on the farm.

The Tigers will give him a shot at facing big league hitters again but he is out of options, so his hold on a roster spot may be tenuous. For now, he’ll give the Tigers a third lefty in the bullpen alongside Tyler Holton and Brant Hurter.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Cardinals Designate Ryan Vilade For Assignment, Select Andre Granillo

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The Cardinals announced that they have selected right-hander Andre Granillo to their roster and also recalled outfielder Michael Siani. In corresponding moves, they have optioned righty Chris Roycroft and designated outfielder Ryan Vilade for assignment.

Granillo, 25, was selected by the Cardinals in the 14th round of the 2021 draft. Exclusively a reliever, he has climbed the minor league ladder while posting good strikeout numbers and also giving out a high number of walks. He has 233 1/3 minor league innings under his belt to this point, having allowed 3.74 earned runs per nine innings. He has punched out 32.2% of batters faced in that time while also giving out free passes at a 12.7% clip.

It seems he has taken a big step forward in terms of his control this year. He has thrown 29 2/3 innings over 18 appearances with a 1.82 ERA. He has only walked 6.9% of batters faced while still getting punchies at a huge rate of 39.7%. In May of last year, FanGraphs ranked Granillo as the #21 prospect in the system. That report gave the highest praise for his slider, though it also mentioned his changeup and his mid-90s fastball.

With Granillo seemingly taking a big step forward at Triple-A, the Cards will give him a chance to face major league hitters. But that required a 40-man spot, so Vilade will get bumped off. Vilade, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Cards in the offseason. He put up a strong .280/.375/.476 line in 48 Triple-A games and was added to the roster a couple of weeks ago when Jordan Walker landed on the IL.

Unfortunately, Vilade hasn’t been able to do much in his limited big league playing time. He has been sent to the plate 15 times and struck out in five of those trips. He drew two walks but recorded just one hit, a single. He now has a .141/.200/.188 slash in his 71 big league plate appearances for his career.

He will now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cards technically could take five days to explore trade interest. Vilade’s major league numbers aren’t good but in a tiny sample. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a .279/.355/.457 slash and 114 wRC+ in 156 Triple-A contests. He also stole 25 bases in that time while playing the three non-shortstop infield positions and all three outfield slots. Since he still has an option year, perhaps he could appeal to a club looking for extra position player depth.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

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