Cade Horton Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
April 17: Counsell tells the Cubs beat that Horton required a full UCL reconstruction (i.e. Tommy John surgery) rather than an internal brace (via Marquee’s Taylor McGregor). The surgery was performed yesterday, and the team projects a recovery period of at least 15 months.
April 7: Cubs right-hander Cade Horton will undergo elbow surgery and miss the remainder of the 2026 season, manager Craig Counsell tells Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Horton has a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Whether he requires full Tommy John surgery or some sort of alternative won’t be known until the procedure is taking place. He is already on the 15-day injured list and will be transferred to the 60-day IL whenever the Cubs need to open a 40-man roster spot.
It’s a painful but unsurprising development for Horton. He started for the Cubs on Friday but threw a pitch that was about two miles per hour below his average. He summoned the trainer and was removed from the game, with the Cubs announcing his ailment as forearm discomfort. He was quickly placed on the IL and is now destined to stay there.
Horton entered the 2025 season as one of the top pitching prospects in the league. He delivered on that hype by giving the Cubs 118 innings with a 2.67 earned run average. He had big breakout potential here in 2026 but it will instead go down as a mostly lost season. The eventual details of his surgery will determine his path back to the mound. A full TJS usually has a timeline of 14 months or more, whereas an alternative such as the internal brace variety could allow a pitcher to return slightly quicker.
The young righty wasn’t called up until mid-May last year but pitched well enough to finish second in National League Rookie of the Year voting. As part of the Prospect Promotion Incentive, that gave him a full year of service time retroactively. He’ll continue to collect service time while on the IL this year and will get to the two-year mark. Along the way, he will turn 25 years old in August.
For the Cubs, they will have to proceed without Horton in their rotation plans for this year. They also lost Matthew Boyd to the IL in recent days, though his bicep strain seems fairly minor. From their season-opening rotation, they are down to the trio of Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon and Shota Imanaga. They began the campaign with Javier Assad optioned to the minors but he has quickly been recalled and will start today’s game. It seems likely that swingman Colin Rea will start tomorrow, though the Cubs haven’t made that official.
As mentioned, Boyd’s situation isn’t considered serious, so he could be back in a couple of weeks. There’s also Justin Steele, who is working his way back from his UCL surgery, which was performed around this time last year. He is on the 60-day IL and won’t be eligible for a return until late May.
In the short term, their depth is a bit questionable. Jaxon Wiggins is one the top pitching prospects in the league and he is pitching at Triple-A but he still needs to rein in his command. He walked 11.5% of batters faced last year and is up to 13.9% so far in 2026. Kyle Wright and Vince Velasquez are non-roster guys with big league experience but neither has been in the majors since 2023 and Wright is currently on the minor league IL.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
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Cubs Place Daniel Palencia On IL With Oblique Strain
The Cubs announced that right-hander Daniel Palencia has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 14th, with a left oblique strain. A corresponding move was not announced and the club’s Friday afternoon game is about to start, so it appears they will play short-handed.
It’s yet another blow for the Cubs, who have been hit by a lot of injuries to their pitching staff lately. In the past two weeks, the bullpen has lost Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey and Ethan Roberts to the IL. It was also reported this week that Porter Hodge, who began the year on the IL, will require season-ending UCL surgery. Those bullpen hits are in addition to a few other knocks on the pitching staff. Starter Cade Horton also required UCL surgery while Matthew Boyd is on the IL at the moment.
It’s unclear how serious Palencia’s injury is but obliques can be tricky and he is a key part of the bullpen. He took over the closer’s job last year, racking up 22 saves. He threw 52 2/3 innings with a 2.91 earned run average. He struck out 28.4% of batters faced while keeping walks down to a 7.4% pace. He started this year strong. He pitched for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, giving them five scoreless innings, helping them lock down their first WBC title. Since the MLB season has started, he has added five scoreless innings for the Cubs.
It’s a little odd to see a guy placed on the IL without a corresponding move, but it may be due to unique circumstances. IL placements can be backdated by three days if the player hasn’t been playing. Palencia last pitched on Sunday, so the Cubs were able to backdate today’s move by the full three days. They haven’t had a save chance for him since then. They lost on Monday, then won blowout victories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by an off-day on Thursday.
Speculatively speaking, it’s possible that Palencia hurt himself today, not long before game time. The Cubs may not have had enough time to get someone else up from the minors. But since Palencia wasn’t going to be available today anyway, they put him on the IL now. That way, he can theoretically come back in 12 days, if he recovers. If they waited until tomorrow to make the move, his path back would have been delayed by another day. Since the move was made so close to first pitch, the Cubs haven’t provided any details, but may do so after the game.
The Cubs have two pitchers on the 40-man roster who aren’t already up in the majors or on the injured list. Those two are Gavin Hollowell and Charlie Barnes, so perhaps one of them will head to Chicago to be activated for tomorrow’s game. In addition to that decision, they will have to figure out how to close games. Caleb Thielbar and Hoby Milner have one hold each and have the top leverage indexes of relievers still on the roster. Ben Brown and Jacob Webb could also move into more leverage situations. Riley Martin, Luke Little and Ryan Rolison are also in the current bullpen mix.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
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Garret Anderson Passes Away
The Angels announced Friday that three-time All-Star and 2002 World Series champion Garret Anderson has passed away at just 53 years of age. Anderson suffered a fatal heart attack, per Tyler Kepner of The Athletic. The organization issued the following statement on the heartbreaking loss of a franchise great:
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Angels Hall of Famer Garret Anderson. Garret will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Angels fans for his professionalism, class, and loyalty throughout his career and beyond. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the entire Anderson family.”
Angels owner Arte Moreno has also issued a personal statement:
“The Angels Organization is mourning the loss of one of our franchise’s most beloved icons, Garret Anderson. Garret was a cornerstone of our organization throughout his 15 seasons and his stoic presence in the outfield and our clubhouse elevated the Angels into an era of continued success, highlighted by the 2002 World Series Championship.
Garret will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Angels fans for his professionalism, class, and loyalty throughout his career and beyond. His admiration and respect for the game was immeasurable.
We extend our deepest condolences to Garret’s wife Teresa, daughters Brianna and Bailey, son Garret ‘Trey’ Anderson III, and his entire family.”
Originally selected by the Angels out of John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Calif. in the fourth round of the 1990 draft, Anderson shattered any reasonable expectations with that relatively humble draft status. He made his major league debut in July 1994 at just 22 years of age. It was a fleeting five-game cup of coffee due to the 1994 strike, but Anderson’s 5-for-13 (.385) showing served as a portent for what was to come.
In 1995, Anderson immediately broke out as one of the game’s brightest young players. He torched American League pitching with a .321/.352/.505 batting line, 16 home runs, 19 doubles, a triple and six stolen bases. Anderson narrowly finished second to Minnesota’s Marty Cordova in ’95 Rookie of the Year voting, with both players pulling in 13 of 28 first-place votes. The two were extremely close in terms of on-base percentage and slugging percentage, with Anderson having a big lead in batting average but Cordova having a major edge in games played (137 to 106) and plate appearances (579 to 400).
Anderson followed that Rookie of the Year runner-up showing with several years of roughly average offense and plus right field defense. In 2000, he broke out with a 35-homer campaign and followed it with a 28-homer efforts in 2001. Anderson’s 2002 season produced his first All-Star bid. He paced the majors with 56 doubles, ripped 29 home runs and hit .306/.332/.539 as the Angels’ roster at large gelled together to create an unstoppable force.
Anderson joined homegrown stars like Troy Glaus, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey and Francisco Rodriguez on an Angels club that won 99 games to secure a postseason berth. The ’02 Angels toppled a 103-win Yankees club in the American League Division Series before taking down a 94-win Twins club in the American League Championship Series. Their World Series aspirations were hanging on by a thread in Game 6 against the Giants, with the Halos trailing by five runs heading into the bottom of the seventh. Anderson collected a hit as part of the team’s late six-run rally, and in Game 7, he cleared the bases with a third-inning double down the line off San Francisco’s Livan Hernandez, giving the Angels a 4-1 lead they would never relinquish.
That standout 2002 season not only earned Anderson his first All-Star nod, it also secured him a fourth-place finish in AL MVP voting and the first of two Silver Slugger Awards in his terrific career. He finished 14th in MVP voting, won another Silver Slugger Award, and not only made another All-Star team in 2003 but won that season’s annual Home Run Derby. Anderson starred for the Angels all the way through 2008 before closing out his career with a pair of one-year stops in Atlanta and back in Los Angeles — this time in Dodger Blue.
All told, Anderson’s career drew to a close with some rare numbers. He retired with a .293/.324/.461 batting line. On a rate basis, that was roughly league-average offense in that supercharged era of run production, but few players could match Anderson’s consistency, durability and longevity. He slugged 287 home runs (186th all-time) and still ranks in the all-time top-100 doubles (522, 50th) runs batted in (1365, 87th) and hits (2529, 96th). To this day, Anderson is the Angels’ franchise leader in games played, hits, runs scored, RBIs and total bases.
Anderson’s consistent production, smooth swing and stoic personality helped endear him not only to the Angels faithful but to baseball fans from all walks of life. His name is synonymous with the most prosperous era of Angels history, and his indelible legacy will live on in franchise lore. We at MLB Trade Rumors offer our heartfelt condolences to Anderson’s family, the Angels organizations, and the countless fans who hold cherished memories of one of his generation’s most consistent hitters.
Seidler Family Nearing Deal To Sell Padres To José E. Feliciano
The Seidler family is nearing a deal to sell the Padres to a group led by private equity billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones, per Jared Diamond and Miriam Gottfried of the Wall Street Journal. The deal values the Padres franchise at close to $3.9 billion, which would shatter the previous record for a big league franchise in a sale. Steve Cohen’s $2.4 billion purchase of the Mets in 2020 currently stands as the record.
Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported yesterday that the sale process was nearing its conclusion, suggesting that the Seidlers could find a price upwards of $3.5 billion. Per the Wall Street Journal duo, San Diego received multiple bids valuing the franchise at more than $3.5 billion. In addition to Feliciano’s group, the three finalist bidders were groups led by Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob, Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, and Dan Friedkin, who owns the English Premier League’s Everton club.
Feliciano himself is the majority owner of the EPL’s Chelsea F.C. He’s also the co-founder of Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm with more than $90 billion of assets under management and a focus on the technology, industry and consumer sectors. Jones is the founder and CEO of Supercharged, a media company based in Santa Monica.
Padres ownership has been in a state of relative tumult since late owner Peter Seidler passed away in November of 2023. Seidler’s willingness to spend at aggressive levels well beyond prior iterations of Padres ownership ushered in a new era of baseball in San Diego — one that saw the Friars emerge as perennial contenders and major players in free agency. From 2009-14, the Padres ranked in the bottom six MLB teams in terms of payroll each season. Under Seidler’s watch, payroll soared to north of $200MM, including a record $249MM Opening Day payroll in 2023. The Friars have run a $200MM+ Opening Day payroll in four of the past five seasons.
Since Peter’s passing, there’s been infighting among his widow and siblings. Sheel Seidler, Peter’s wife, filed suit against his brothers Bob and Matt Seidler, alleging that they breached fiduciary committed fraud as successors to his trust. She accused them of selling assets to themselves at below-market prices in an effort to consolidate control of the franchise. Matt countered by accusing Sheel of “manufacturing claims” to secure control of the franchise herself. The allegations were never litigated in full; Sheel’s claims were settled outside of court earlier this year.
In the meantime, Peter’s other brother, John, was approved as the franchise’s new control person in February of 2025. John announced last November that his family had begun “a process of evaluating our future with the Padres, including a potential sale of the franchise.” In the months to follow, as many as five serious bidders emerged. The Feliciano, Lacob, Gores and Friedkin groups were the final four, it seems.
It bears emphasizing that nothing has been finalized just yet. Diamond and Gottfried report that an official announcement could come early next week, however. Even after the deal is agreed upon, Feliciano and Jones won’t immediately take over control of the club. They’ll still need to be approved by 75% of the league’s other owners at the next MLB owners meetings in June. Lin, Ken Rosenthal and Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic add that the final net amount of the deal will need to factor in the approximately $300MM of debt the franchise has accrued. Regardless, it’ll be a record-shattering agreement if the proposed agreement is pushed across the finish line next week.
Time will tell precisely what the ownership transition means for future iterations of the Padres. Eye-popping sticker price notwithstanding, there’s no guarantee that Feliciano and Jones will have the same appetite for spending as their late predecessor, Peter Seidler.
Even in the two years since Peter’s untimely passing, payroll has been scaled back to an extent. The Padres have trotted out $200MM+ Opening Day payrolls in each of the past two seasons, placing them in the top-10 of the league in both instances, but that’s a ways removed from the team’s franchise-record $249MM mark set in 2023. In each of the past two offseasons, reports have surfaced about some degree of financial limitations for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.
San Diego has made one notable free-agent acquisition in each of those offseasons — Nick Pivetta last year, Michael King this year — but the rest of their additions have all been much smaller in scale. Even Pivetta’s four-year, $55MM contract required a creative structure that paid him only $4MM in 2025 before his salary jumped to $19MM in 2026. The final two seasons of the deal are player options, giving him the right to opt out at season’s end (though his recent injury could very well sway him to forgo that opportunity).
While there are instances of new ownership prompting a radical uptick in spending — e.g. Cohen’s purchase of the Mets and Peter Seidler’s rise from minority stakeholder to majority owner of the Padres in 2020 — that’s certainly not true in every instance. The Orioles have spent more under David Rubenstein than under John and Lou Angelos, for instance, but haven’t pushed payroll beyond the levels previously established by the late Peter Angelos (John and Lou’s father). Jeffrey Loria’s sale of the Marlins to Bruce Sherman hasn’t pushed Miami out of the perennial payroll cellar. The Royals’ payroll under current owner John Sherman, who purchased the team for $1 billion in 2020, hasn’t been all that different than it was under former owner David Glass.
Regardless of what happens with club payroll, the new ownership group should bring about some stability and continuity, ending the tumultuous uncertainty that has surrounded the club over the past few seasons. And the colossal sale price for the franchise — further evidence of the game’s broader financial health — figures to be a number that is routinely cited in upcoming labor talks between the league and the Players Association as the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement nears its conclusion on Dec. 1.
Braves Select Martín Pérez
April 17th: Perez was officially selected back to the roster today.
April 15th: The Braves seem set to bring Martín Pérez right back up to the majors. Manager Walt Weiss told reporters this evening that the veteran southpaw was among the options to start Friday’s series opener against Philadelphia (relayed by Chad Bishop of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Mark Bowman of MLB.com suggests it will indeed be Pérez, who is also listed as the team’s probable starter opposite Taijuan Walker on the MLB website.
Atlanta designated him for assignment on Sunday and ran him through outright waivers. Pérez elected free agency but returned on a minor league contract this morning. That might’ve come with an understanding that he’d be quickly called back up. The transactional sequence allowed the Braves to carry a nine-man bullpen for the intervening few games, though it obviously came with the possibility that another team would claim Pérez off waivers.
Pérez has made three appearances in an Atlanta uniform. He has gotten decent results, allowing just five runs across 14 1/3 innings. The 35-year-old southpaw has only struck out six of the 53 batters he faced with a well below-average 7.2% swinging strike percentage.
Bryce Elder is on the mound for tonight’s series finale against Miami. The Braves are off tomorrow. Pérez’s return allows them to give an extra day of rest to their other starters. It’ll be Chris Sale vs. Cristopher Sánchez in a phenomenal pitching duel on Saturday and Grant Holmes opposite rookie Andrew Painter to round out the weekend divisional set. Atlanta hasn’t listed probable starters for next week’s series against the Nationals but would have Reynaldo López and Elder on schedule for the first two games.
The Braves already have two openings on their 40-man roster. They’d only need to make an active roster move involving a pitcher as a corresponding transaction. Dylan Lee and Hayden Harris are their only pitchers with minor league options. They’ll presumably option Harris out after tonight’s game.
The Opener: Trout, Messick, Strider
Here are a few items to monitor around the league as we head into the weekend:
1. Trout homers in fourth straight game
Mike Trout had himself a series in the Bronx. He went deep in all four games against the Yankees and finished the series with a total of five home runs. The Angels outfielder is the first visiting player to homer in four straight days against the Yankees, per Sarah Langs of MLB.com. Trout’s final blast in New York was a 446-foot no-doubter to left field that extended the Angels’ lead to 7-4. He’ll look to continue the streak against knuckleballer Matt Waldron and the Padres on Friday. Here’s more on Trout’s resurgence and what it could mean for the Angels moving forward.
2. Messick loses no-hitter in ninth inning
Parker Messick was three outs away from ending the longest no-hitter drought in the league. The Guardians’ lefty walked Taylor Ward to lead off the game, then retired the next 15 Orioles. A Leody Taveras walk to begin the sixth inning would be Baltimore’s only other baserunner heading into the ninth inning. Taveras snuck a ground ball past second baseman Juan Brito in the final frame to end the no-hit bid. As Zack Meisel of The Athletic notes, Cleveland has gone a league-leading 16,408 days without a no-hitter. Len Barker‘s perfect game against the Blue Jays on May 15, 1981, was the last no-no for the club. Messick’s next chance to end the streak will be Tuesday against Houston.
3. Strider makes rehab start
Spencer Strider tossed 3 1/3 innings with High-A Rome on Thursday. He struck out three and walked two. The Braves star is working his way back from an oblique injury. Manager Walt Weiss said last week that Strider would likely have two more rehab appearances after his Thursday outing. Left-hander Martin Perez will get the ball for the Braves today. He’s back with the club after some roster maneuvering earlier in the week. The veteran is likely looking at a couple more starts in the big leagues before Strider is ready, unless the club turns to exciting young right-hander Didier Fuentes.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Astros To Select Peter Lambert
Right-hander Peter Lambert will start for the Astros on Friday, with Chandler Rome of The Athletic among those to relay the update. Lambert is not currently on the roster, so he’ll need to be formally added prior to the game.
It’s an early birthday present for Lambert, who turns 29 on Saturday. When he takes the ball, he’ll be making his first major league appearance for a team other than the Rockies. Lambert made 74 appearances for Colorado from 2019 to 2024, throwing 243 2/3 innings and allowing 6.28 earned runs per nine.
At the end of the 2024 season, the Rockies outrighted Lambert off their roster and he elected free agency. He then signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He gave the Swallows 116 1/3 innings over 21 starts with a 4.26 ERA. That may seem like a passable mark but NPB has been a pitcher-friendly league in recent years. Last year’s league-wide ERA was 2.97 in the Central League and 3.04 in the Pacific League, the two main leagues of NPB.
He landed a minor league deal with the Astros in November. He opted out of that deal at the end of camp but re-signed on a fresh minor league deal. He has thrown 14 2/3 Triple-A innings this year over three appearances, allowing three earned runs via 11 hits, three walks and hitting two batters while striking out 12. In that small sample, his 20.3% strikeout rate is subpar but his 5.1% walk rate and 53.7% ground ball rate are strong figures. His four-seamer has averaged 94.5 miles per hour this year and he has also thrown a sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.
The Astros have been doing a lot of improvising on their pitching staff lately. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier both landed on the injured list due to shoulder strains. Not long after, Tatsuya Imai hit the IL due to arm fatigue, meaning Houston quickly lost three fifths of the five Opening Day rotation. That forced them to turn to contingency plans but one of those also got bit with the injury bug, as back inflammation put Cody Bolton on the IL.
There’s never a good time for a team to lose four starters but the timing was especially unfortunate in this case as the Astros began a stretch of 13 straight games last Friday. Imai started the first game but lasted just a third of an inning, forcing J.P. France and others to soak up the rest. Lance McCullers Jr. and Mike Burrows are still around from the season-opening group. McCullers took the ball on Saturday and Burrows on Sunday. Bolton went on Monday but lasted just one inning. Colton Gordon was recalled this week and started on Tuesday, giving the club 3 2/3 innings. Spencer Arrighetti was recalled to start Wednesday and went six.
Just now in Thursday’s contest, they effectively did a bullpen game. Ryan Weiss, who had been pitching in long relief, started and went 3 2/3. Christian Roa then absorbed 1 1/3, followed by two frames each from AJ Blubaugh and Kai-Wei Teng.
The Astros still have six more games to get through before their next off-day. Lambert will take the ball tomorrow, followed by McCullers and Burrows. Houston could then perhaps go back to Gordon and Arrighetti in the next two. The final game could again be Lambert, though he is out of options. Depending on how things go tomorrow, it’s possible he may need to be bumped off the roster for a fresh arm. In that case, perhaps another bullpen game headlined by Weiss would be the move, depending on who gets used in the interim.
For tomorrow, as mentioned, corresponding moves will be required to get Lambert onto the roster. The Astros have several guys on the IL and perhaps one of them could be moved to the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man spot if the Astros don’t expect them back anytime soon. The list of pitchers currently on the 15-day IL includes Brown, Javier, Imai and Bolton but also Josh Hader, Nate Pearson and Bennett Sousa. If the club doesn’t want to lock any of those guys into a lengthy IL stint, someone else would have to be bumped off the 40-man. In terms of opening an active roster spot, most of their guys can be optioned, with McCullers, Bryan Abreu, Enyel De Los Santos and Steven Okert the only exceptions.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Braves Re-Sign Luke Williams To Minor League Deal
The Braves have re-signed Luke Williams to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett and entered tonight’s game as a pinch runner.
It’s an unsurprising development. Williams is clearly liked by the club as a depth piece but he is out of options, leading to frequent transactions. Williams was added to the roster a few days ago while Michael Harris II went on the paternity list. When Harris came back a few days later, Williams was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and elected free agency. It’s a familiar cycle for him. He was claimed off waivers in the summer of 2023 and, since then, this is the third time he has become a free agency and then quickly re-signed.
Williams hasn’t hit in the majors, with a .212/.272/.280 line in 350 plate appearances. But he provides defensive versatility, with experience at every position on the diamond except catcher. He can also steals some bases, swiping 25 bags in 31 attempts in his big league career.
Atlanta doesn’t have a ton of optionable position player depth on the roster. The only guy on the 40-man who isn’t already in the majors or on the injured list is Nacho Alvarez Jr., who has a .182/.325/.212 line in Triple-A so far this year. If someone on the active roster suffers an injury, Williams will be a candidate to rejoin the big league club.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images