Phil Garner Passes Away
Former three-time All-Star and longtime manager Phil Garner passed away on Saturday at age 76. A statement released by Garner’s family praised the medical care given to Garner during his fight with pancreatic cancer, and said that “Phil never lost his signature spark of life he was so well known for or his love for baseball which was with him until the end.”
Debuting with the Athletics in 1973, Garner hit .260/.323/.389 over 6136 plate appearances and 1860 games with the A’s, Pirates, Astros, Dodgers, and Giants during his 16-year career as a big league player. He became Oakland’s everyday second baseman in 1975 and received his first All-Star nod in 1976, but he was dealt after that season as part of a nine-player trade with the Pirates.
Garner played both second and third base (with some appearances at shortstop) during his four-plus years in Pittsburgh. His best season in terms of both personal and team accomplishments came in 1979, when Garner had a career-best 3.9 fWAR while hitting .293/.359/.441 with 11 homers and 17 steals for the Pirates’ World Series-winning team, which remains the last Buccos club to win a championship. Garner was a huge part of that title run, delivering a phenomenal .472/.537/.722 slash line over 41 PA during the postseason.
The Pirates traded Garner to the Astros partway through the 1981 campaign, and he went on to have several more successful years in a Houston uniform before his production declined in 1987. The Dodgers acquired Garner in a trade partway through the 1987 campaign but the change of scenery didn’t spark his bat, and Garner then played 15 games with the Giants over his final year as a player.
Garner’s gritty and grinding playing style made him a fan favorite, and perhaps all you need to know about Garner is that he was known as “Scrap Iron,” a nickname coined by former Pirates announcer Milo Hamilton. The blunt and tough-but-fair approach stuck with Garner in his post-playing days, as he went onto a successful second career as a manager over 15 seasons with the Brewers, Tigers, and back in Houston with the Astros.
As a skipper, Garner posted a 985-1054 career record, beginning with a 92-win season as Milwaukee’s manager in 1992. This was the only winning record Garner would post in eight seasons with the Brewers and three seasons in Detroit (from 2000-02), but he broke through in 2004 after being hired to take over an Astros team that had a 44-44 record.
Houston went 48-26 the rest of the way under Garner, and fell just short of a World Series appearance after losing the NLCS to the Cardinals in a memorable seven-game battle. The Astros beat St. Louis in a rematch the next season for the first pennant in Houston franchise history, though the Astros were swept by the White Sox in the World Series.
We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to Garner’s family, friends, and many fans.
Cubs Place Hunter Harvey On 15-Day Injured List
The Cubs have placed right-hander Hunter Harvey on the 15-day injured list due to right triceps inflammation. Left-hander Charlie Barnes‘ contract was selected from Triple-A to take Harvey’s spot on the active roster, and the final open spot on Chicago’s 40-man roster.
Harvey has a 6.75 ERA over four appearances and four innings, with all of the damage coming on April 3 when he allowed three runs (on homers from Gabriel Arias and Chase DeLauter) in two-thirds of an inning of work in the Cubs’ 4-1 loss for the Guardians. Perhaps in a hint of some lingering injury issues, Harvey only made one more appearance since that game, though he logged a scoreless inning last Wednesday with seemingly no incident.
Injuries have been a primary and unfortunate subplot of Harvey’s pro career, dating back to his time as a prized prospect in the Orioles’ farm system. Selected 22nd overall in the 2013 draft, Harvey didn’t make his MLB debut until 2019, and he didn’t make more than 10 appearances in a season until he logged 38 appearances out of the Nationals’ bullpen in 2022. Since August 2024, Harvey has pitched in just 22 MLB games due to back problems, a teres major strain, an adductor strain, and now this bout of biceps inflammation.
Over the 2022-25 seasons, Harvey posted a 3.07 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, and 6.5% walk rate, while establishing himself as a pretty solid leverage reliever when healthy. The Cubs rolled the dice on Harvey’s ability to bounce back by signing him to a one-year, $6.5MM free agent deal last winter, and Harvey and the team can only hope that this biceps issue is relatively minor.
Phil Maton was also placed on the IL due to knee tendinitis on Friday, so Chicago is now down two key members of its bullpen within a three-day span. The pitching staff as a whole has been depleted by Cade Horton‘s season-ending UCL surgery and Matthew Boyd‘s IL stint due to a biceps strain, and Colin Rea was moved from the bullpen to the rotation to help bolster the starting five.
Barnes will try to help fill the void as the southpaw prepares for his first taste of the Show since 2021. Over 38 2/3 innings and nine appearances (eight of them starts) for the Twins in 2021, Barnes posted a 5.92 ERA in what remains his only bit of Major League experience. The 30-year-old Clemson product then headed to South Korea and pitched well with the KBO League’s Lotte Giants from 2022-24, but the 2025 season saw Barnes struggle with the Giants and back in North America when pitching in the Reds’ minor league system.
Chicago signed Barnes to a minor league contract in January, and he’ll now return to the majors in what will likely be a long relief role. Barnes has worked mostly as a starter throughout his career, and his ability to eat innings may be helpful to a Cubs team that is still trying to work their way through this spate of pitching injuries.
Blue Jays Place George Springer On 10-Day IL, Select Eloy Jimenez
The Blue Jays announced that George Springer has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to fracture in his left big toe. Eloy Jimenez‘s contract was selected from Triple-A in the corresponding move, as he’ll take Springer’s spot on the 26-man roster and an open spot on Toronto’s 40-man roster.
The IL placement is no surprise after Springer sustained the injury yesterday, fouling a ball off his foot during an at-bat in the third inning. Springer joins Alejandro Kirk (thumb surgery) and Addison Barger (ankle sprain) as other position players who have been sidelined since Opening Day, plus Anthony Santander is out until at least late July after undergoing shoulder surgery in February.
In more positive news, manager John Schneider told Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae and other reporters that Springer may not need more than the minimum 10 days to recover. The IL placement was something of an early-season precaution for a veteran player, as Schneider noted that “George has played through stuff a lot since he’s been here. I don’t want a toe to compromise anything else. He’s got one speed that he plays at, and we can weather the storm with him and other guys for now.”
The Jays figure to use multiple players in the DH role while Springer is out, and Jimenez is the designated hitter (batting seventh in the lineup) for today’s game with the Twins. This marks Jimenez’s first Major League game since Sept. 21, 2024 when Jimenez was playing with the Orioles, as the former Silver Slugger winner spent all of 2025 in the minors with the Rays and Blue Jays.
As it has become increasingly common for teams to sign star prospects to extensions prior to their MLB debuts, Jimenez was a trendsetter in this regard, as the White Sox inked him to a six-year, $43MM guarantee just prior to the 2019 season. At the time, it was the largest contract ever given to a prospect before his first big league game, and Jimenez’s 31-homer rookie season in 2019 and Silver Slugger performance in the abbreviated 2020 made it seem like the Sox had scored a bargain.
Unfortunately, injuries then took their toll, as Jimenez played in only 259 of a possible 486 games for Chicago over the 2021-23 seasons. Jimenez still posted strong numbers in 2022 when he was able to play, but his production dropped off on the whole, and he finished with a .238/.289/.336 slash line over 349 plate appearances with the Sox and Orioles in 2024, after Chicago dealt him to Baltimore at the trade deadline.
Jimenez didn’t hit much in the minors in 2025, and he has a modest .257/.372/.371 over 43 PA with Triple-A Buffalo this season. The 29-year-old did hit well in Spring Training, and also got a lot of work at first base — tellingly, the Jays listed Jimenez as a first baseman/DH in their official announcement today. This means that the Blue Jays could be comfortable using Jimenez at first base if Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gets a DH day or two during Springer’s absence.
White Sox Recall Jonathan Cannon
TODAY: The Sox officially called up Cannon and optioned Davitt to Triple-A.
APRIL 11: Right-hander Jonathan Cannon is expected to be recalled by the White Sox, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Grant Taylor will serve as an opener on Sunday. Cannon last pitched on Tuesday, so he’d be on regular rest for bulk relief work. Right-hander Duncan Davitt is expected to be sent down to make room for Cannon.
Chicago has an opening in the rotation after the struggling Shane Smith was demoted on Wednesday. The move initiated a series of pitching staff shuffles that will continue with the addition of Cannon. Left-hander Tyler Schweitzer was promoted when Smith was sent down. He made his big-league debut that evening, allowing a run over 1 1/3 innings. Schweitzer was optioned back to the minors the following day. Chris Murphy was also placed on the injured list. Davitt and Brandon Eisert were recalled on Thursday.
Cannon has been a consistent member of the White Sox rotation the past two seasons. He’s made 45 appearances since debuting in April 2024, with 38 of those outings coming as a starter. The results have been underwhelming. Cannon has a 5.09 ERA across 228 big-league innings, supported by a 4.85 xERA and a 4.64 SIERA.
The 25-year-old Cannon got off to a solid start in 2025. He pitched Chicago’s second game of the year, tossing five scoreless frames against the Angels. Cannon delivered a 3.76 ERA over his first 10 starts. He stumbled from there, ceding 10 earned runs over his next two appearances, including five home runs. Cannon hit the injured list with a back strain after that difficult two-start stretch. He was up and down with the big-league club for the rest of the campaign. With the White Sox adding lefty Anthony Kay in the offseason, Cannon was squeezed out of a rotation spot. He’s been tagged for eight earned runs over 8 2/3 innings through two Triple-A appearances.
Davitt debuted on Friday against the Royals. The 26-year-old walked Kyle Isbel to lead off the eighth inning, then coaxed a double play grounder from Maikel Garcia. He got Bobby Witt Jr. to fly out to end the frame. Chicago acquired Davitt from the Rays in the Adrian Houser trade last season, along with first baseman Curtis Mead and right-hander Ben Peoples. While his first taste of the majors came as a reliever, he’d been exclusively a starter the past two minor league seasons. Davitt has an ERA of nearly 8.00 through two outings at Triple-A this year.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Angels Select Nick Sandlin
The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Nick Sandlin. Right-hander George Klassen was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in the corresponding move, and no 40-man transaction was required since the Halos had an open space on their 40-man roster.
Sandlin signed a minor league deal with Los Angeles after the Blue Jays outrighted the reliever off their 40-man roster in November. It was basically an early non-tender, as Sandlin was projected to earn a $2MM arbitration salary in 2026, and Sandlin elected to become a free agent in the wake of the outright assignment.
It wasn’t long ago that Sandlin was a valued member of the Guardians bullpen, posting a 3.27 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate, and 11.4% walk rate over 195 1/3 innings for Cleveland from 2021-24. Home runs became an increasingly large problem for Sandlin over his last two seasons with the Guards, yet it was poor health rather than a lack of results that marred his lone season in Toronto. Sandlin had a 2.20 ERA over only 16 1/3 innings and 19 appearances with the Jays, as he missed most of the year due to a lat strain, and then elbow inflammation.
Signing Sandlin to a minors contract represented a low-cost risk for the Angels, who spent much of their offseason trying to buy low on once-solid relievers looking for bounce-back years. The early returns in Salt Lake were been promising for Sandlin since he had a 1.42 ERA over 6 1/3 Triple-A innings, though his secondary metrics weren’t impressive.
Klassen heads back to Triple-A after making his first two Major League starts, and the righty’s debut in the Show was far from smooth. Klassen was hit hard to the tune of a 13.50 ERA over his 4 2/3 innings pitched (with a whopping 10 walks allowed), and he also left his start yesterday due to a fingernail issue.
Mets Designate Luis Garcia For Assignment
The Mets announced that right-hander Luis Garcia has been designated for assignment, as reported by The Athletic’s Will Sammon just before the club’s official news release. Right-hander Joey Gerber is up from Triple-A to take Garcia’s spot on the active roster, and Gerber is already on the 40-man roster so no further moves were required.
Garcia came to New York on a one-year, $1.75MM free agent deal back in January, as the Mets became the ninth team Garcia has pitched for at the MLB level over his 14 big league seasons. Unfortunately for Garcia, his tenure in Queens got off to a rocky start, as he has a 7.11 ERA and 12.5% strikeout rate over his first 6 1/3 innings and six appearances in a Mets uniform. Four of those six appearances resulted in scoreless work, but Garcia was tagged for two runs in one inning on Opening Day, and he was charged with three runs over just a third of an inning of work in Thursday’s 7-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Yesterday’s 11-6 loss to the A’s saw the Mets use Garcia and four other pitchers in relief of Kodai Senga, who was chased after allowing seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. Today’s transaction could therefore be about getting Gerber’s fresh arm into New York’s bullpen, and the relative lack of flexibility within the relief corps (in terms of pitchers with minor league options) may have simply made Garcia the odd man out.
Still, it is a little surprising to see the Mets pursue the DFA route with Garcia so soon after signing the veteran to a guaranteed contract. Garcia has a .423 BABIP over his small sample size this season, so it can certainly be argued that bad luck has played a large role in Garcia’s struggles, especially for a pitcher with a 53.9% career grounder rate. Garcia’s drop in sinker velocity (from 96.9mph in 2025 to 94 mph this year) may have been of some concern to the Mets, but it isn’t unusual for pitchers to lack a bit of velo in the early going.
Garcia has had plenty of ups and downs over his long career, but he was posting solid numbers just last year, when he had a 3.42 ERA over 55 1/3 innings with the Dodgers, Nationals, and Angels, albeit with a below-average K% and BB%. Teams in need of bullpen help might look to claim the 39-year-old off waivers, though that would mean assuming the remainder of Garcia’s $1.75MM salary.
If he clears waivers and is outrighted, Garcia has more enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, while still retaining the rest of his owed salary. A new team could then sign Garcia and owe him just the prorated portion of a minimum salary for any time spent on the big league roster. The Mets would still be on the hook for the remainder of the $1.75MM, minus that prorated total.
Signing Garcia came at more of a cost to the Mets than just $1.75MM, as the total price tag came to $3.675MM when considering the 110% tax levied against New York for being in the highest tier of luxury tax penalization. In a sense, DFA’ing Garcia this early is another sign of how money isn’t really an object for the Mets, and how the team will again be keeping up a steady churn of bullpen transactions in order to continually have fresh arms at the ready.
Jeremy Pena Leaves Game Due To Knee Tightness
Houston’s 7-2 lead on Saturday turned into an 8-7 loss to the Mariners, and the tough loss also contained yet another injury concern for the struggling Astros. Shortstop Jeremy Pena left the game in the fourth inning due to what the team described as right posterior knee tightness, and Pena told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters postgame that he’ll undergo imaging today.
The knee tightness first arose on Friday in a more limited fashion, Pena said, and he didn’t let the training staff know about the issue since it faded as Friday’s game went on. “I didn’t tell anybody, which I probably should have,” Pena said. “I woke up today feeling pretty good, went into the game feeling really good, and then it tightened up on me.”
The issue resurfaced when Pena was running the bases on Saturday. After reaching on a single, Pena advanced to second base on a Yordan Alvarez fly ball, and then to third after Isaac Paredes singled. Once he reached third base, Pena indicated some discomfort in his knee and was removed for pinch-runner Nick Allen. Pena downplayed the severity of his injury and felt his removal was just a “precaution,” though “we’ll have a better understanding…after we get some imaging done.”
Injuries have already been a factor for Pena in 2026, as he sustained a small fracture in the tip of his right ring finger while playing in an exhibition game for the Dominican Republic’s team in advance of the World Baseball Classic. Pena was able to avoid the injured list, though the Astros have played him in only 10 of the team’s 15 games as a way of allowing some extra rest and recovery time until his finger was fully healed.
Houston’s next off-day isn’t until April 23, so Pena don’t have the benefit of any built-in schedule help if he needs a day or two to rest up his knee. The Astros are deep enough in the infield to get by if Pena only misses a bit of time, or has a minimal 10-day IL stint — Carlos Correa can slide over from third base to shortstop, and Paredes can then take over at third base.
That being said, the last thing the Astros need is another injury situation given how the club has already been plagued by poor health. Most of the hits have come on the pitching side (Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and closer Josh Hader are just three of the eight pitchers on the IL), and the lineup is also missing Jake Meyers to a Grade 2 oblique strain.
Tigers Sign Tyler Gentry To Minors Contract
The Tigers signed outfielder Tyler Gentry to a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports. Gentry was released by the Royals at the end of Spring Training, and now moves onto a new team for the first time in his pro career.
A third-round pick for Kansas City in the 2020 draft, Gentry made it to the majors for a three-game cup of coffee with the Royals in August 2024, and he went hitless over five plate appearances. K.C. designated Gentry for assignment last July and then outrighted him off the 40-man roster after he cleared waivers.
Gentry’s stock dimmed in the organization after he hit an uninspiring .206/.284/.371 over 332 plate appearances with Triple-A Omaha in 2025. It was a substantial dropoff from the much more solid numbers he posted in Triple-A in both 2023 and 2024, or in the lower minors during his first two years of pro ball. Defensively, Gentry’s strong throwing arm has kept him in right field for most of his career, though he has made some appearances as a left fielder.
Parker Meadows was placed on Detroit’s injured list two days ago, so the Gentry signing restores a bit of outfield depth to Toledo’s ranks after Wenceel Perez was called up to the Tigers as Meadows’ replacement. Gentry has a minor league option remaining, so Detroit has the ability to move him back and forth from the majors if necessary, though he would first have to be added to the 40-man roster.
White Sox To Promote Noah Schultz
White Sox top pitching prospect Noah Schultz is heading to the big leagues. The left-hander is expected to make his big-league debut on Tuesday against the Rays. Elijah Evans of Just Baseball first reported Schultz’s promotion.
Chicago has a gap in the rotation with Opening Day starter Shane Smith sent down on Wednesday. Jonathan Cannon is expected to join the club on Sunday. The righty will be an option to work behind opener Grant Taylor against the Royals, but it appears he might not be taking over the No. 5 starter gig.
Schultz is off to a strong start at Triple-A. He fired four hitless innings in his first outing of the campaign. He followed that up by allowing one earned run over five frames in consecutive starts. Schultz has a massive 40.4% strikeout rate through 14 minor league innings. He’s permitted just six base runners.
MLB Pipeline ranks Schultz behind only outfielder Braden Montgomery in Chicago’s farm system. FanGraphs’ James Fegan also had the lefty in the No. 2 spot over the winter, but with third baseman Caleb Bonemer in the top spot. The White Sox spent a first-round pick on Schultz in 2022. He’s moved quickly through the minors, reaching Triple-A before his 21st birthday.
Schultz breezed through the lower levels of the minors. He posted a 1.33 ERA with a 36.5% in 27 innings at Single-A in 2023. The massive 6’10”, 240-pound lefty pushed his workload to 88 1/3 frames the following year. He maintained a 2.24 ERA and punched out hitters at a 32.1% clip between High-A and Double-A.
The 2025 campaign was a bit of a roadblock for multiple reasons. Schultz still prevented runs at a decent rate at Double-A, but his strikeout rate fell to 23.2%, and his walk rate ballooned to 14.4%. He was blasted for 17 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings after getting moved up to Triple-A. Schultz issued free passes at a concerning 11.7% rate with Charlotte. Knee issues also limited him in the second half, though he was cleared of any concern heading into 2026.
Outside of Smith’s disastrous three starts, Chicago’s rotation has pitched reasonably well to begin the year. The unit has combined for a 3.99 ERA, which ranks 14th in the league. Davis Martin, Erick Fedde, Anthony Kay, and Sean Burke all have sub-4.00 ERAs so far. Taylor as an opener has worked swimmingly, with the righty tossing three scoreless frames with just one hit allowed across a trio of “starts.” The White Sox skewed righty-heavy last season, outside of a Martin Perez cameo, but Schultz will give them two southpaws in the mix (along with Kay).
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Justin Turner Signs With Tijuana Toros
Justin Turner isn’t hanging up his spikes just yet. The longtime Dodgers infielder and 2020 World Series champion is signing with the Mexican League’s Tijuana Toros, reports David Vassegh of 570 Sports. Turner is represented by Vayner Sports.
The 41-year-old Turner is coming off a rough 2025 campaign with the Cubs. He posted a 71 wRC+ in part-time work at first base and DH. Turner delivered a solid .759 OPS against lefties, but he hit just .141 with zero home runs versus right-handed pitching. It was the first subpar offensive season for the veteran in more than a decade. He’d continued to produce into his late 30s before the forgettable year in Chicago.
Turner’s played for seven different teams in his 17-year MLB career. He bounced around between the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Cubs over the past three seasons, but he’s most remembered for his nine years with the Dodgers. After beginning his career as a reliable but unremarkable utility player, Turner emerged as a star in L.A. He burst on the scene with a .340/.404/.493 slash line as a semi-regular in 2014. He took over at third base full-time in 2016 and slugged a career-high 27 home runs. Turner finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting twice and received two All-Star selections with the Dodgers.
L.A. went to the World Series three times in four years from 2017 to 2020, with Turner as a key contributor. Turner delivered a .849 OPS in 83 plate appearances in the Fall Classic. The club came through with a title in the shortened 2020 season, and Turner slashed .320/.346/.720 in that series.
Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images