Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for 2025

Mariners Place Logan Gilbert On 15-Day IL, Plan To Select Logan Evans; Casey Lawrence DFA’d

By | at

TODAY: Evans has officially been selected to the roster ahead of his start today. Saucedo was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

April 26: The Mariners placed right-hander Logan Gilbert on the 15-day injured list today with a flexor strain in his pitching elbow. Additionally, Seattle designated right-hander Casey Lawrence for assignment and recalled right-hander Troy Taylor and left-hander Tayler Saucedo from Triple-A.

Losing Gilbert for any period of time is a tough blow for the Mariners. Thankfully, however, he seems to have avoided the worst. He exited his most recent start with the always ominous-sounding “forearm tightness,” and the M’s anxiously awaited the results of his MRI. Yet, his injury has been diagnosed as a Grade 1 (a.k.a. mild) strain. According to Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, the righty will be shut down for two weeks before being re-evaluated. While there is no timeline for his return, Gilbert seems optimistic. He told reporters (including Kramer) that the injury wasn’t “really bad” and said he feels “better today already than I did yesterday.”

Gilbert has been one of the most durable and productive starters in the American League since his debut in May 2021. In that time, he has a 3.55 ERA, a 3.56 SIERA, a 4.84 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and he is tied for first among AL pitchers in starts. After making his first All-Star appearance and earning some Cy Young votes last season, he has looked better than ever in 2025, with a 2.37 ERA through six starts. His 1.87 SIERA and 37.6% strikeout rate both rank first among qualified pitchers.

Taylor and Saucedo are relievers, so neither is a replacement for Gilbert. Having the two of them on the active roster will simply offer manager Dan Wilson some additional bullpen depth tonight against the Marlins. Instead, the Mariners will replace one Logan with another, as Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reports that pitching prospect Logan Evans will make his major league debut tomorrow. Gilbert’s turn in the rotation wouldn’t have come again until Friday against the Rangers, and thanks to off days coming up on Monday and Thursday, Seattle theoretically could have survived with a four-man rotation until May 6. Instead, however, they will give the ball to Evans tomorrow afternoon.

The Mariners selected Evans late in the 2023 draft, but the young righty put up strong numbers as he pitched his way through the minor league system. Entering the season, Baseball America ranked him as Seattle’s eighth-best prospect, describing him as a “safe No. 3 or 4 starter who should be able to post strong innings totals every season.” Keith Law of The Athletic had a similar evaluation, ranking Evans tenth in the organization and writing, “He’s at least a No. 4, though, and I’ll bet on any pitcher who’s already shown this kind of capacity to make adjustments.” His stuff isn’t overpowering, but his arsenal is deep, and his above-average abilities to throw strikes and induce grounders should help him pitch deep into games. Through five starts at Triple-A in 2025, he has a 3.86 ERA and 2.90 FIP in 25 2/3 innings of work.

Lawrence has already been DFA’d by the Mariners twice this year. After first pitching for the Mariners from 2017-18, he returned in 2024 and spent the season at Triple-A Tacoma. He re-upped with the club on another minor league pact this offseason and has so far pitched 10 innings over two separate stints in the majors, giving up 11 runs, but only four earned runs, in that time. He took over for Gilbert on Friday after he exited early and ate five innings for the Mariners in an 8-4 loss. That surely explains why he was DFA’d; he won’t be able to pitch for several days, and the Mariners’ bullpen would have been thin had they kept him around. Considering he has already cleared waivers, elected free agency, and re-signed with Seattle twice this season, there’s a good chance that’s exactly what will happen again.

Rockies Designate Lucas Gilbreath For Assignment

By | at

The Rockies announced a series of roster moves this morning, including their previously reported trade for infielder Alan Trejo. Trejo has been selected to the roster, with catcher Braxton Fulford having been optioned to make room for Trejo on the active roster. Southpaw Lucas Gilbreath was designated for assignment to clear space for Trejo on the 40-man roster. Additionally, right-hander Jaden Hill was optioned to the minors while righty Bradley Blalock was recalled to the big league roster.

Trejo, 29 next month, returns to the organization for whom he was a 16th-round pick in 2017 draft. The infielder debuted with the club in 2021 and has appeared in 173 major league games since then, all of which came as a member of the Rockies. He’s hit just .228/.276/.334 in that time, though he’s been a serviceable depth option for the club’s bench over the years thanks to strong defense all around the infield. Still, Trejo’s lack of offense led the Rockies to designate him for assignment in June of last year. He promptly cleared waivers and elected free agency. Since then, he’s played for the Dodgers and Rangers in the minor leagues but will now make his return to both the Rockies and the majors in general as an infield bench option now that Kyle Farmer has been pushed into an everyday role by an injury to Ezequiel Tovar.

Making room for Trejo on the 40-man roster is Gilbreath, a seventh-rounder selected by Colorado as part of the same draft class as Trejo. The southpaw also made his big league debut during the 2021 season, and he enjoyed a solid rookie campaign out of the bullpen with a 3.38 ERA in 42 2/3 innings of work. That’s a particularly impressive figure for the player who calls Coors Field home, though he walked a worrisome 12.4% of his opponents while striking out 23.8%, leaving him with a less impressive 4.32 FIP. Even so, he was able to build on his success in 2022 and deliver another solid year of work when he pitched to a 4.19 ERA (111 ERA+) with a much stronger 3.53 FIP in 43 frames, though his strikeouts and walks were largely unchanged from the year prior.

Despite the shaky command, Gilbreath looked like a bullpen piece with real potential for the Rockies headed into the 2023 season. Unfortunately, he underwent Tommy John surgery and wound up not only missing the whole year, but nearly the entire 2024 season due to his rehab. Gilbreath returned to the majors in August of last year but was torched to the tune of a 54.00 ERA across three appearances that totaled just one inning of work. He remained with the Rockies after signing a pre-tender deal back in November, but he’ll depart the roster without making a big league appearance this year. In seven appearances at Triple-A this year, Gilbreath has posted a solid 2.70 ERA but has struck out just 14.7% of his opponents while walking 11.8%.

Making room for Trejo on the active roster is Fulford, who made his big league debut earlier this month. He went 1-for-8 with a home run and five strikeouts in his four-game cup of coffee in the majors and is now ticketed for Triple-A, where he’ll serve as optionable catching depth for the time being. Joining him in the minors is Hill, who has looked solid with a 3.38 ERA in three appearances for the Rockies this year, while Blalock rejoins the pen after surrendering two runs in three innings of work earlier this year.

Yankees Remove Devin Williams From Closer Role

By | at

TODAY: Boone confirmed to reporters this morning that Williams is being removed from the ninth inning, as relayed by multiple reporters, including Jack Curry of the YES Network. Curry adds that Boone suggested he wants Williams to get into some lower leverage situations to “build momentum” after his difficult first month. William Ladson adds that Weaver is likely to take over as the club’s closer for the time being while Williams attempts to right the ship.

April 26: Devin Williams’ first month in the pinstripes could hardly have gotten off to an uglier start, as the former NL Rookie of the Year has an 11.25 ERA over his first eight innings of the season.  The Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday saw Williams record his first blown save of the year, as he was charged with three earned runs after failing to retire any of the three batters he faced in the ninth inning.

In the aftermath of that rough outing, Yankees manager Aaron Boone indicated that the team may be considering a change to the closer role.  When asked if the Yankees might move Williams to lower-leverage work, Boone told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner and other reporters “we’ll see,” adding that “We’ll kind of talk through that stuff.  This is raw right now.  We want to do everything we can to get him right because we know how good he is and how valuable he’s going to be for us.”

The Yankees were rained out in today’s scheduled game with the Jays, but Boone still met with the media (including the New York Post’s Greg Joyce), and said that he hadn’t yet gotten a chance to speak with Williams about the situation.  The skipper also framed Williams’ struggles as just temporary, saying that Williams has “been one of the dominant closers in the league.  I know the results haven’t been great yet.  A lot of the stuff is still there, the profile of the changeup is still there….He hasn’t gotten swung and miss.  He’s been behind in the count a little bit.  Once he starts flipping that and starts getting some count leverage, I expect him to go back to being the dominant closer he’s been.”

Boone isn’t wrong in noting that eight innings shouldn’t erase the six seasons of elite work that Williams delivered with the Brewers from 2019-2024.  Starting as a set-up man and then as Milwaukee’s closer once Josh Hader was traded, Williams posted an eye-opening 1.83 ERA and 39.4% strikeout rate in 235 2/3 innings in a Brewers uniform.  An inflated 11.8% walk rate was the only question mark in an otherwise spectacular run for the right-hander, whose “Airbender” changeup became one of the sport’s deadliest pitches.

This season, the Airbender has only led to crooked numbers on the scoreboard, as Statcast ranks Williams’ changeup as a below-average pitch (a -1 in Run Value in 2025 following a +15 RV in 2024).  This one of several metrics that have fallen off the cliff for Williams, as his strikeout rate is down to 18.2% and he is allowing far more hard contact than usual.

The lack of production was obviously not at all what the Yankees expected when they acquired Williams from the Brewers in December for a trade package of Nestor Cortes, Caleb Durbin, and $2MM to help cover the $7.6MM that Cortes is earning for the 2025 season.  Since Cortes is on the 60-day injured list due to a flexor strain and Durbin has only just made his Major League debut, the deal has basically been a lose-lose for both teams thus far — a shocking outcome for what was one of the winter’s biggest trades.

The deal was intended to reinforce the back end of New York’s pen, even though Luke Weaver blossomed after becoming the closer in the wake of Clay Holmes’ struggles last year.  Weaver has continued to look great this season, and would be the logical choice as the top saves candidate if Williams was temporarily removed from the closer role.  With Williams as the glaring exception, the Yankees’ relief corps has largely pitched quite well in 2025, as a less-heralded trade acquisition in Fernando Cruz has delivered the type of shutdown work New York expected from Williams.

While Williams still pitched well in 2024, his output came over only 21 2/3 innings, as a stress fracture in his back kept him on the injured list until late July.  Williams’ year then ended on the sour note of an infamous blown save in Game 3 of the NLDS, as a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning for the Brewers turned from a probable series victory to devastation, as Williams allowed the Mets to score four runs in an eventual 4-2 win for the Amazins.

With still just eight innings of a sample size to gauge, it is too simplistic to say that Williams is still dwelling on that brutal loss, or that he isn’t adjusting well to the change of scenery from Milwaukee to the Bronx.  The move to the higher-pressure environment, however, does come with a larger spotlight that tends to magnify any slump, and the fact that such slumps have been so rare for Williams in his career tend to raise questions, and invite the possibility of a role change.  It could be that this is just a bump in the road and Williams will be back in his old form soon, though every rough outing could hamper Williams’ earning potential in free agency this coming winter.

Mets Select Jose Urena

By | at

The Mets announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Jose Urena. Urena will replace southpaw A.J. Minter on the roster as the southpaw heads to the 15-day injured list due to a left lat strain. Minter’s placement on the shelf is hardly a surprise, as he exited yesterday’s game with what was termed triceps soreness at the time. The Mets have a 40-man roster spot open, so no corresponding move was necessary.

Urena, 33, has pitched in the majors for parts of ten seasons but has struggled to post average results throughout most of his career. The righty debuted with the Marlins back in 2015 and spent the first two years of his career struggling badly in the majors in a swing role, though he converted to the rotation full-time in 2017 and had a solid two-season run as an effective back-end starter. From 2017 to 2018, Urena pitched to a league average 3.90 ERA despite a microscopic 16.9% strikeout rate, though his well-below average 4.68 FIP suggested regression was likely not far away. That came to pass during his final two seasons with the Marlins, where he posted a 5.25 ERA and 5.02 FIP in 108 frames before being designated for assignment shortly after the 2020 season concluded.

In the years following his departure from Miami, Urena was typically used as a back-end starter or swingman while bouncing around various clubs outside of the playoff picture. From 2021 to 2023, the right-hander pitched for the Tigers, Rockies, Brewers, and White Sox with a combined 5.61 ERA and 5.29 FIP in 242 1/3 innings of work. He struck out just 14.6% of his opponents while walking 9.8% during that time, leaving him with weak ratios that even a 50.2% groundball rate couldn’t make up for.

Lackluster as his performance in the majors had been over the years, however, Urena managed to turn things around in Texas last year. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers during the 2023-24 offseason and managed to crack the club’s Opening Day roster as a long reliever. He joined the rotation for a brief stretch in May and June but mostly pitched out of the bullpen, and did multi-inning relief work with intriguing effectiveness. While he still punched out just 15.1% of his opponents, his 8.4% walk rate was a bit more palatable and he maintained his strong grounder rate while adding a tick of velocity to his fastball and managing to give up fewer homers. In all, he posted a 3.80 ERA with a 4.62 FIP in 109 innings, though his 2.92 ERA in 64 2/3 frames of relief work was more impressive than his 5.08 ERA in nine starts.

Despite the improvements in his performance, Urena’s shaky work in the rotation and lack of strikeouts limited him to minor league deals once again this winter, and he eventually landed with the Mets. The righty had the ability to opt-out of his deal with the club before Opening Day but instead opted to stick with the club and pitch at Triple-A until an opportunity arose in Queens. That patience has now paid off, and he’ll join the big league roster as a multi-inning relief option or potential sixth starter should one be necessary at some point.

As for Minter, the extent of his injury won’t be known until results of the imaging he’s expected to undergo today are announced. Regardless, the Mets are clearly confident he’ll be down for long enough to justify holding him out for at least the next 15 days. That leaves Danny Young as the only left-handed option in the Mets’ bullpen for the time being, though Genesis Cabrera and Anthony Gose are both available as non-roster depth options in the minor leagues.

Dodgers Notes: Gonsolin, Snell, Ohtani

By | at

The Dodgers are set to get some rotation reinforcements this week, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Associated Press) yesterday that right-hander Tony Gonsolin is expected to return from the injured list to start Wednesday’s game against the Marlins.

It will mark Gonsolin’s first appearance on a big league mound in nearly two full years. The right-hander last pitched on August 18, 2023 (against the Marlins, coincidentally) but surrendered ten runs on five homers in 3 1/3 innings of work after having pitched through arm troubles for weeks. That final difficult start capped off a six-start stretch where Gonsolin surrendered an 8.01 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of work, so it’s not hard to see the impact Gonsolin’s woes had on his effectiveness. The right-hander was placed on the IL after that mid-August start and underwent Tommy John surgery on September 1.

He missed the entire 2024 season as a result of his rehab despite flirting with the possibility of a late-season return, and entered Spring Training fully healthy and ready to battle for a rotation job this spring. Unfortunately, the injury bug once again bit him when he was hit with a bout of back tightness late in the spring. That led to another season started on the injured list, but now he looks poised to finally get back on the major league mound as a starting pitcher. That’s the role he held for the entirety of his best season in the majors, when he made the 2022 NL All-Star team on the back of a 2.14 ERA in 130 1/3 innings of work across 24 starts.

Whether he’ll keep that role long-term or move to the bullpen at some point this year remains to be seen. It wouldn’t be a shock to see a strong performance keep Gonsolin in the mix for starts all year long, but he does have some big league experience as a reliever and the Dodgers’ on-paper rotation is extremely crowded when anything close to fully healthy. When the club’s rotation mix is firing on all cylinders, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May, and Roki Sasaki all seem likely to be ahead of Gonsolin on the organizational depth chart. With that being said, the Dodgers’ rotation mix is far from healthy at the moment, so Gonsolin should get a reasonably long runway as he looks to earn a more permanent spot on the starting staff.

Speaking of those rotation injuries, Roberts provided reporters (including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez) with an update regarding Snell on Friday. Per Roberts, an MRI Snell underwent earlier in the week revealed “no new findings” beyond his previously-known shoulder inflammation. The manager added that he believes the club has “dodged a bullet” by shutting Snell down before the injury became more serious. The southpaw was set to receive an injection to help battle the inflammation but has yet to begin a throwing program. That leaves a timetable for his return to action somewhat murky, though Roberts suggested that the lack of structural damage leaves the door open for a somewhat quicker return to action.

Barring further setbacks, it seems as though Snell should at least be back on a big league mound before Ohtani. The two-way superstar threw his first bullpen session since returning from paternity leave yesterday, as relayed by MLB.com’s Sonja Chen. After not throwing last Saturday during his absence, Ohtani played catch rather than throw off the mound on Wednesday and limited his bullpen session yesterday to just 31 pitches, but he’s expected to resume his regular schedule of light mound work on Wednesdays and a full bullpen session on Saturdays this coming week.

While it’s good that Ohtani has resumed throwing, it appears that there’s been little progress in terms of his actual readiness of MLB games. He’s still limited to just fastballs and splitters for the time being, and won’t advance to facing live hitters until he’s utilizing his entire pitch mix. Club GM Brandon Gomes discussed Ohtani’s slow-going rehab with reporters (including Chen) yesterday, calling it “a week-by-week process.”

“We have a general sense, we’ve got to make sure that he’s feeling good and we’re being smart so we can’t lose the offensive side of it as well,” Gomes said, as relayed by Chen. “In a lot of these rehabs, you kind of set a date and work backward. I think on this one, you’re moving forward, because it’s a one-of-one type thing.”

While the Dodgers floated the month of May as a potential timeline for Ohtani’s return during the winter, Ohtani’s pitching build up was paused prior to L.A.’s series against the Cubs in Tokyo. That pushed back his timeline, and while no dates have been floated for his return since then it seems likely that he’ll resume pitching in the majors again at some point in the second half.

Walt Jocketty Passes Away

By | at

Former Cardinals and Reds general manager Walt Jocketty has passed away at age 74, as initially reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.  Jocketty was a fixture within baseball front offices for more than four decades, and he was the architect of the St. Louis team that won the 2006 World Series.

Cardinals chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. issued a statement in memory of Jocketty, stating “On behalf of the entire St. Louis Cardinals organization, I would like to offer our condolences to Walt’s family and his many friends.  Walt was our first GM when we purchased the ball club, and he helped to lead our baseball operations through some of the franchise’s most successful and memorable years.  He will be sorely missed, but long remembered for his distinguished career in baseball.”

Jocketty began his career working in the Athletics’ front office in 1980 as their director of minor league operations, and soon moved into another role as the director of baseball administration.  During Jocketty’s 14-year run in Oakland, he helped draft and develop the core group of players that led the A’s to three straight AL pennants from 1988-90, as well as the 1989 World Series title.  Jocketty moved on from the A’s to work with the Rockies in an assistant GM role for part of the 1994 season, but in October of that year, he received his first GM job when the Cardinals hired him to run their baseball operations department.

Tony La Russa was the Athletics’ manager for much of the team’s successful run in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and Jocketty’s past relationship with the skipper led to La Russa being hired as the Cardinals’ new manager prior to the 1996 season.  That year saw the Cards win the NL Central and fall just short of the pennant with a seven-game loss to the Braves in the NLCS.  1996 was also one of only two winning seasons in Jocketty’s first five years with the Cardinals, though the team continued to amass talent — most notably another ex-Oakland staple in Mark McGwire, who launched his then-record 70 home runs in a St. Louis uniform in 1998.

Known for being a canny trader, Jocketty brought McGwire and many other star names to St. Louis during his 13-year run as the Cardinals’ general manager.  Franchise icons Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina were also drafted and developed during Jocketty’s tenure, and this combination of both internal and external production again turned the Cardinals into a perennial contender.  The Cards reached the playoffs six times in seven years from 2000-06, capturing two NL pennants and winning it all in 2006 for the Cardinals’ first championship since 1982.

Ironically, the 2006 team might have been one of the weaker Cardinals teams Jocketty put together, as the club won only 83 games in the regular season before catching fire in the playoffs.  After the Cards posted only a 78-win season in 2007, Jocketty was fired following the season, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that there was something of a clash within the front office between Jocketty’s more old-school approach and the more analytical approach of then-Cardinals VP and future Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow.

It took Jocketty only a few months to land with the Reds in an advisory role, and just a few months after being hired, Jocketty was promoted to the GM job barely a month into the 2008 season.  The Reds had losing records in every season from 2001-09, but in Jocketty’s third year on the job, Cincinnati got back on track by winning the NL Central crown.  That was the first of two division titles and three overall playoff appearances for the Reds from 2010-13, as Jocketty again relied on an experienced veteran manager (Dusty Baker) and a homegrown star first baseman (Joey Votto).

Jocketty’s title changed to president of baseball operations following the 2015 season, as Dick Williams was promoted to the GM job as the first step in the Reds’ succession plan.  A year later, Williams became Cincinnati’s PBO and Jocketty moved into an advisory role, and continued in various advisory capacities within the organization through the 2024 season.

We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to Jocketty’s family, friends, and colleagues.

Rays Sign Andrew Stevenson To Minor League Contract

By | at

Outfielder Andrew Stevenson has signed a minor league contract with the Rays, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. This marks his return to affiliated ball after spending time in both NPB and the Mexican League.

Stevenson, 31 in June, made his MLB debut with the Nationals in 2017. He played in 248 regular season games with the club from 2017-21, though his most notable Nationals moment was perhaps his lone playoff appearance. He scored the tying run in the bottom of the eighth inning of the 2019 Wild Card Game against the Brewers, helping the Nationals to their eventual World Series title. Despite playing for Washington in each season from 2017-21, Stevenson spent the entire 2022 season at Triple-A and elected free agency at the end of the year. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins that offseason, and while he spent most of 2023 at Triple-A St. Paul, he also appeared in 25 games for the MLB club. All told, Stevenson hit .243 with a .668 OPS, an 80 wRC+, and 0.5 FanGraphs WAR in his MLB tenure from 2017-23. He offered much of his value on the bases and with his glove; he split his time between all three outfield positions.

Stevenson played the 2024 season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan, though he spent the majority of his time with their minor league team in the Japan Eastern League. He produced impressive offense numbers in the JPEL (.327 batting average, .850 OPS), but his NPB numbers were poor (.161 batting average, .368 OPS). His contract with the Fighters included a club option for 2025, but he was released before the end of the 2024 campaign. He then began the 2025 season with the Piratas de Campeche of the Mexican League but was released on Friday, presumably to allow him to sign with Tampa Bay.

While Stevenson is no doubt facing an uphill climb back to the major leagues, it’s not hard to see why the Rays were seeking outfield depth. Josh Lowe, Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios, and Jake Mangum are all on the IL. The only healthy outfielders on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster are Christopher Morel, Chandler Simpson, Kameron Misner, the recently acquired Travis Jankowski, and Coco Montes, who has limited professional experience in the outfield. If Stevenson plays well at Triple-A Durham and depth continues to be a problem for the MLB club, perhaps he could make his way back to the majors after a year away.

Eddie Rosario Elects Free Agency

By | at

Eddie Rosario elected free agency on Friday, according to his transaction log on MLB.com (h/t Eric Stephen of True Blue LA). The Dodgers designated the veteran outfielder for assignment last weekend when they activated Shohei Ohtani from the paternity list. After Rosario cleared waivers, the Dodgers sent him outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, but he exercised his right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency.

The lefty-batting Rosario made it into two games during his brief stint with the Dodgers while Ohtani was away, starting at DH against a pair of tough right-handed pitchers: Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Both times, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter after two plate appearances when a left-handed reliever entered the game. He went 1-for-4, knocking a single against Eovaldi. While he ultimately didn’t make much of an impact in either game, Rosario put the ball in play in each of his four trips to the plate. All four batted balls registered as hard-hit, and three had an expected batting average above .500, per Statcast.

Rosario has played in 11 big league seasons for the Twins, Guardians, Braves, Nationals, and Dodgers. As recently as 2023, Rosario was a perfectly capable major leaguer, putting up a .755 OPS and a 100 wRC+ in 142 games for Atlanta. However, that season was sandwiched between two abysmal performances; Rosario ranked among the bottom five players in FanGraphs WAR in both 2022 and ’24. His 2024 season was so rough that he lost jobs in three separate organizations (Nationals, Braves, and Mets).

Rosario is still just 33 and not so far removed from a 1.3 fWAR season in 2023. The best team in baseball saw enough to like in his bat to bring him into the organization and let him take his hacks against a pair of high-end starting pitchers. He also put up impressive numbers in 14 games for Oklahoma City, batting .339 with a 137 wRC+. That’s a tiny sample size (and his .419 BABIP was hardly sustainable), but eight of his 20 hits went for extra bases, and his 8:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio was solid. That should be enough for Rosario to land another minor league deal, provided he’s willing to be flexible about where he ends up.

Rockies Acquire Alan Trejo, Plan To Select His Contract Sunday

By | at

The Rockies have acquired utility infielder Alan Trejo in a trade with the Rangers. Texas receives cash considerations in return. According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, the Rockies plan to add Trejo to their active roster ahead of Sunday’s series finale with the Reds. They will need to free up space for him on both the 26 and 40-man rosters.

This trade reunites Trejo with the team that drafted him in 2017. He made his MLB debut for the Rockies in 2021 and played in 174 games for Colorado between 2021-24. In that time, he slashed .228/.276/.334, good for just a 54 wRC+ given the harsh park adjustments for the hitter-friendly Coors Field. While Trejo never offered much with the bat, he was a versatile defender, capable of playing second base, third base, and shortstop.

After he was designated for assignment last summer, Trejo became a free agent for the first time in his career and inked a minor league pact with the Dodgers. He spent the final three months of the 2024 season with Triple-A Oklahoma City. He then elected free agency again in November and latched on with the Rangers over the offseason. While he earned an invitation to big league camp, he failed to make Texas’s Opening Day roster.

Trejo got off to a rough start in 2025 for the Round Rock Express, the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate. Through 19 games, he hit just .211 with a .599 OPS and a 45 wRC+. Nonetheless, the Rockies clearly missed his versatile glove on their bench, so they’re bringing him back into the fold. With Ezequiel Tovar, Thairo Estrada, and Tyler Freeman on the injured list, the Rockies were short enough on infielders before Aaron Schunk hit the 10-day IL with a groin strain earlier today. Trejo will provide some much-needed depth. Presumably, he will take third-string catcher Braxton Fulford’s spot on the active roster. The Rockies called Fulford back up on Saturday when Schunk was placed on the IL, just a day after Fulford was optioned to Triple-A.

A.J. Minter Exits With Triceps Soreness, IL Stint Likely

By | at

Mets reliever A.J. Minter left tonight’s game against the Nationals partway through the eighth inning. After the game, manager Carlos Mendoza revealed that the left-hander exited due to soreness in his triceps. Mendoza told reporters (including Will Sammon of The Athletic) that Minter will go for imaging and that a stint on the injured list is likely.

Losing Minter for any amount of time would be a major loss for the Mets. When the southpaw signed a two-year, $22MM deal with the club this winter, some might have been surprised by the size of the contract he was able to secure. It tied him with Blake Treinen and Carlos Estévez for the third-largest contract of the offseason for a free agent reliever, and unlike Treinen’s and Estévez’s contracts, Minter’s came with an opt-out after year one. MLBTR was higher on Minter than almost any other source (we ranked him no. 34 on our Top 50 Free Agents list), and still, we only predicted he would ink a two-year, $16MM deal. Even Minter himself implied that he wasn’t exactly expecting the number he received, telling Anthony DiComo of MLB.com that he was originally planning to wait to sign until top free agent reliever Tanner Scott had set the market, but that the Mets made him an offer that was simply too good to refuse.

It’s not that Minter isn’t a talented reliever. From 2020-24, he pitched to a 2.85 ERA and 3.04 SIERA in 243 innings of work, striking out more than 30% of the batters he faced. However, he spent about half of the 2024 season on the injured list, including the final seven weeks of the season. It was a hip injury, not an arm injury, but even so, season-ending injuries are often bad news for impending free agents, especially pitchers on the wrong side of 30.

Yet, over the first four weeks of the 2025 campaign, Minter rewarded the Mets for their faith in him. His once-surprising contract quickly started to look like a bargain, and the chances of him opting out at the end of the season were growing every day. Through his first 12 games, Minter was sitting on a 1.69 ERA and a 2.69 SIERA. His strikeout and whiff rates were as impressive as ever, and his 48% groundball rate was his highest since 2020. He was a key cog in Mendoza’s bullpen, leading the team in eighth-inning appearances to help set things up for Edwin Díaz in the ninth. On Saturday, however, Minter only made it through nine pitches in the eighth, exiting in the middle of an inning for just the second time all year. It’s currently unclear how much time he’ll miss if he does indeed require an IL stint; presumably, the Mets will know more after he undergoes testing.

The Mets’ bullpen has played a critical role in their red-hot start to the season. The team is 19-8, although the offense has been surprisingly mediocre. Their starting pitching has been phenomenal (MLB-leading 2.28 ERA), but one reason their starters have been able to thrive is that they haven’t had to pitch deep into outings; Mets starters rank 18th in innings per game. That’s partly because Mendoza knows that when he pulls a great starter, he has a great crop of relievers to pick up where the starter left off. New York’s relief corps ranks third in MLB with a 2.46 ERA and second with a 3.28 Win Probability Added (per FanGraphs). Losing Minter would weaken a group that has been a huge strength early in the year. It would sting particularly badly against teams with tough left-handed batters in their lineups. Before he hurt his triceps, Minter was one of just two healthy left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster. The other, Danny Young, lacks Minter’s upside and his track record of big league success.

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

hide arrows scroll to top