Dustin Harris Elects Free Agency
The Astros announced Friday that outfielder Dustin Harris, whom they designated for assignment earlier in the week, cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Sugar Land. He instead elected free agency and is now free to sign with any club.
Harris, 26, was a prospect of some note with the Rangers a few years back but has yet to break out in the majors. He’s received 102 plate appearances across parts of three seasons and has a .225/.307/.371 batting line (91 wRC+) in that time. That includes a career-high 52 plate appearances with Houston this season, during which he hit .233/.333/.302.
Harris has long been considered a bat-first prospect with a hit-over-power profile. Elements of that profile were apparent in his brief run with Houston. He fanned in only 13.5% of his plate appearances and drew walks at a stout 11.5% clip. Harris chased off the plate at a roughly league-average rate, but his contact rate on balls out of the zone was an enormous 81.3%. That’s clearly a tiny sample, but Harris’ time in parts of four Triple-A seasons shows similar trends. He’s a career .276/.366/.417 hitter at the top minor league level and has walked in 11.2% of his plate appearances against a lower-than-average 20.4% strikeout rate there. Those numbers come in a much larger sample of 1308 turns at the plate.
Though he was drafted as a first baseman (and got some looks at third base early in his pro career), Harris has since moved to the outfield on a near-exclusive basis. He has just 21 innings at first base over the past three seasons (majors and minors combined). Harris hasn’t played a single inning on the infield in the majors; he’s been primarily a left fielder (131 innings), with occasional appearances in right field (49 innings) and even briefer cameos in center (24 innings).
Harris has a keen eye at the plate and good bat-to-ball skills, but his defensive skill set is modest, as is his power output. He’s also out of minor league options. He’ll likely sign a minor league deal with a club seeking left-handed bats and/or outfield depth — a return to the Astros shouldn’t be ruled out — but if he’s added back to a major league roster at any point, he’ll have to stick or else once again be designated for assignment.
Royals Place Cole Ragans On IL With Elbow Impingement
The Royals announced that left-hander Cole Ragans has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 7th, due to a left elbow impingement. They also optioned lefty Eric Cerantola. In corresponding moves, they have recalled right-handers Stephen Kolek and Steven Cruz.
More to come.
Cubs Exploring Early Market For Starting Pitching
2:29pm: Levine quickly walked back his report, citing a Cubs source in adding that while the team has indeed been exploring the rotation market at large, they’ve yet to have specific discussions with the Mets regarding Peralta.
2:10pm: The Cubs, with starters Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd and Justin Steele all on the injured list (and Horton done for the season), have inquired with the struggling Mets about the potential availability of right-hander Freddy Peralta, reports Bruce Levine of 670 The Score.
The Mets have not yet shown a willingness to seriously entertain offers on Peralta, per the report, but the early interest is nonetheless somewhat notable. It shows that the Cubs are taking a proactive approach to seeking rotation help and points to some interest in Peralta, specifically, if the Mets can’t turn their season around and eventually concede to selling off some pieces. Granted, that much could more or less have been assumed; any contending team would have interest in Peralta if the Mets made him available, and Cubs skipper Craig Counsell knows Peralta especially well from the pair’s time together in Milwaukee.
Early interest on the Cubs’ behalf speaks to the current positions of both clubs. The Cubs (26-12) are in a three-way tie with the Yankees and Braves for the game’s best record. However, they lost Horton to Tommy John surgery last month. More recently, ace Justin Steele had a setback while rehabbing from his own UCL procedure, performed last April. He’s now expected to be sidelined beyond the All-Star break. Earlier this week, the Cubs announced that Boyd had suffered a partial meniscus tear that required surgery. He’s expected to be down around six weeks, but that’s only a rough timeframe. A more concrete timetable will be established as he progresses through rehab.
The Cubs’ rotation is currently being led by a resurgent Shota Imanaga, who looks much more like the 2024 version of himself than the 2025 version. Righties Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon, Ben Brown and Colin Rea round out the group. It’s still a serviceable quintet, but the Cubs have lost several of their top arms and would be in dire straits with another prominent injury. Depth options include Javier Assad and recent waiver pickup Doug Nikhazy. Prospects Jordan Wicks, Jaxon Wiggins, Brody McCullough and Brandon Birdsell are all on the injured list as well (Wicks in the majors, the others in the minors).
Given those injuries, it’s only natural for the Cubs to be poking around, even if the trade market isn’t likely to really gain momentum for two and a half months or so. Similarly, it’s natural for contending clubs to be taking the Mets’ temperature as they stare up from not just the NL East cellar but the MLB cellar with a 14-23 record. They’re currently tied with the Giants for the worst record in baseball, and only five clubs have a worse run differential than the Mets’ -28.
Though the Mets’ season is on life support before we’re even into mid-May, it’s not especially surprising to hear that they’re not willing to begin considering making aggressive sell-side trades at this time. Poor as their play has been, the Mets are “only” six and a half games back of a Wild Card spot. The National League standings (all of baseball so far, really) are quite top-heavy. The 21-17 Pirates hold the final Wild Card spot at present. Even an 18-20 Nationals club is only three games back. The Mets’ odds of reaching the postseason have obviously plummeted, but there’s still 77% of the season left to play. It’s sensible to wait until at least next month to see if they can turn their fortunes around.
The Mets don’t necessarily need to surge back above .500 or even close that entire 6.5-game gap in the interim. If they’ve moved closer to .500 and picked up a few games in the standings a month from now, they’ll likely wait until July to make any decisions on their deadline approach. Conversely, if they slide further and find themselves 10 to 12 games back, they might consider jumping the market to try to get a strong return for some of their more marketable trade assets — Peralta standing as the most obvious among them.
The 29-year-old Peralta (30 next month) was acquired from the Brewers in an offseason deal sending righty Brandon Sproat and infield/outfield prospect Jett Williams back to Milwaukee. His connection to Counsell is of some anecdotal note but probably shouldn’t be overemphasized. Counsell isn’t the one making the call on any trade scenarios, and his familiarity with Peralta is a nice silver lining but probably doesn’t substantially intensify any interest from the Cubs.
Peralta has gotten out to a fine start, tossing 43 1/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA, a 23.2% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate. His average fastball is down about a mile per hour. He’s lost five percentage points on his strikeout rate but only a half percentage point on his swinging-strike rate. Peralta is inducing grounders at a career-high 43.7% rate and doing a nice job avoiding hard contact (87.6 mph average exit velocity, 4.1% barrel rate). He was tagged for four runs in five innings during his Mets debut but hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a start since, compiling a 2.58 ERA in that time.
Peralta is earning $8MM this season after the Brewers picked up the second club option on an early-career extension (and subsequently traded him to New York). He’ll be a free agent for the first time at season’s end. The Mets reportedly had interest in extending him this spring, but he’s said to have preferred a seven- or eight-year, long-term deal — rather than the shorter-term but higher-annual-value deal formats on which the Mets tend to focus for pitchers.
With regard to rental players of this nature, the general thinking is that a team doesn’t have to move the player at the trade deadline if he’s a clear candidate to receive and reject a qualifying offer. Peralta is a slam dunk to do so. However, while a lower-payroll team might stand to gain a compensatory pick after the first round of the draft (i.e. in the 30 to 35 range), the Mets are in a different boat as a luxury tax payor. Their compensatory pick for Peralta turning down a QO and signing elsewhere would come after the fourth round. It’s a much lower bar to clear in trade talks, and the paltry nature of that compensation might prompt the team to more actively seek a trade in a couple months, given that any return should vastly outpace a pick in the low 130s.
Of course, all of this hinges on whether the Mets can go on a run that bolsters their playoff hopes. If they can do so, there’s a good chance Peralta won’t be available at all and that the Mets will instead look to add to the roster. That increasingly feels like a long shot, but we clearly have yet to reach the point of the season where they’re making such big-picture decisions. For now, the primary takeaways should be that the Cubs are actively looking around for arms and that the Mets, brutal as their start has been, will continue to exercise patience in the near term.
Guardians Designate Connor Brogdon For Assignment
The Guardians have designated right-hander Connor Brogdon for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for the recall of righty Franco Aleman, a move that was reported earlier. Tim Stebbins of MLB.com was among those to pass along the news of the completed transactions.
The Guardians signed Brogdon, 31, to a major league deal in the offseason. The $900K salary on that deal is barely above the $780K league minimum but it was still a bit of a surprise that Brogdon got a big league deal at all. Injuries had limited him to just three innings in 2024. He was back on the mound in 2025 but posted a 5.55 earned run average in 47 innings for the Angels. The Halos outrighted him off their roster at season’s end.
Cleveland was presumably seeing some signs of optimism under the hood. Brogdon’s fastball velocity ticked up to 95.5 miles per hour last year, a nice rebound after it had dipped to 92.8 mph while he has battling injuries the year prior. It was also possible to see some positive regression with his ERA, since his 24.6% strikeout rate was decent and his 9% walk rate around par. The runs allowed were partially due to the home run ball, which can sometimes be fluky in small samples. A metric like SIERA, for instance, views things that way and gave Brogdon a 3.86 last year.
The bet hasn’t paid off. Brogdon has lost a tick of velo, sitting at 94.5 mph this year. His 4.5% walk rate is nice but he has only struck out 20.9% of batters faced and the home runs are still an issue. Through 15 1/3 innings, he has a 5.28 ERA.
Brogdon is out of options, so the Guards have bumped him into DFA limbo. He can stay there as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could take five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on the wire sooner than that.
The season began with Brogdon’s service time at four years and 90 days, putting him 82 days shy of the five-year line. He has picked up another 44 days of service so far this year but hasn’t quite made it to five years.
That’s significant because players with three years of service have the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency. But if they are shy of five years, they have to forfeit their remaining salary commitments in exercising that right. If Brogdon were to clear waivers, he presumably would not want to walk away from the remainder of his $900K salary, so he would likely report to Triple-A Columbus and give the Guardians some non-roster bullpen depth.
Photo courtesy of Scott Marshall, Imagn Images
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Phillies Outright Dylan Moore
The Phillies announced that infielder/outfielder Dylan Moore has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He was designated for assignment a week ago. He has the right to elect free agency though the Phils didn’t indicate whether or not he will exercise that right.
Moore, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Phils in the offseason. That deal would have paid him $1.85MM if the Phils called him up but Moore triggered an opt-out and then signed a big league pact with a $1.45MM salary. The latter deal had four bonuses worth $100K for 100, 200, 300 and 400 plate appearances, giving him a path to get back to the figure on his first deal.
Ultimately, he didn’t get there. He started the season in a utility role but didn’t get a hit in 15 plate appearances. He did draw three walks but also struck out six times. The Phils cut him loose a week ago when J.T. Realmuto came off the injured list, allowing them to keep Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs in a three-catcher setup with Félix Reyes and Edmundo Sosa in the other bench spots.
Moore is certainly capable of being a solid multi-positional guy. From 2020 to 2024, he hit 43 home runs for the Mariners in 1,397 plate appearances. His batting average was usually low but he made up for that with strong walk rates and some pop. He slashed .206/.319/.383 for a 105 wRC+ in that span while stealing 93 bases and moving all around the diamond, playing everywhere except catcher.
His numbers dipped a bit last year, as he slashed .201/.267/.374 between the Mariners and Rangers. As mentioned, he didn’t get off to a good start this year. As a veteran with at least five years of big league service time, he can elect free agency without forfeiting any of the money on his contract. He could therefore look for other opportunities elsewhere, leaving the Phillies on the hook for the salary.
If someone else signs him, they would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Phillies owe. 29 teams just passed on grabbing him from waivers, but that would have meant taking on the contract and the money owed to Moore. If he elects free agency now, the financial arrangement would be different and could be more enticing for clubs.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Astros Select Logan VanWey
May 8th: The Astros have now officially selected VanWey.
May 7th: Astros reliever Logan VanWey is meeting the team in Cincinnati for their weekend series with the Reds, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Houston has an open spot on the pitching staff after optioning Jason Alexander during Thursday’s off day. They also have a vacancy on the 40-man roster because they designated outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment on Tuesday.
Assuming they select VanWey’s contract rather than adding him to the taxi squad, he’ll be in Joe Espada’s bullpen for the first time this season. The former undrafted free agent reached the majors last April. He was on and off the MLB roster a few times throughout his rookie year, logging 10 2/3 innings across nine appearances. He gave up seven runs (six earned) on 15 hits while recording seven strikeouts and three walks.
The Astros dropped VanWey from the 40-man roster halfway through the offseason. He went unclaimed on waivers and remained in the system on an outright assignment. The 27-year-old righty has made 15 apperances this year with Triple-A Sugar Land. He has allowed 10 earned runs through 15 2/3 frames but has fanned 19 of 70 opponents, an above-average 27% rate.
VanWey doesn’t have huge raw stuff. His fastball sits in the 91-93 mph range and he works mostly with a low-80s slider as his main secondary pitch. It wasn’t a big swing-and-miss arsenal in his limited MLB work, though he has missed a fair number of bats in the minors. VanWey last pitched on Tuesday and will give Houston a fresh arm for the middle innings.
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White Sox Designate Osvaldo Bido For Assignment
The White Sox have designated right-hander Osvaldo Bido for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the roster will go to southpaw Tyler Schweitzer, who’s being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.
Incredibly, this is the sixth DFA for Bido since mid-December — to say nothing of a seventh time he was placed on waivers in early December went went from the A’s to the Braves. In essence, that’s seven DFAs in a span of five months.
That may make Bido seem like an unwanted player, but the fact that he continues to land on major league rosters despite being out of minor league options is a clear indicator that big league evaluators think there’s another level to be unlocked in the wiry right-hander. Since Dec. 5, he’s gone from the A’s to the Braves, to the Rays, to the Marlins, to the Angels, to the Yankees, back to the Braves and finally to the White Sox. Despite hitting waivers seven times — soon to be eight, unless he’s traded first — he’s never once passed through waivers unclaimed.
Bido, 30, has pitched 18 2/3 innings between Atlanta and Chicago this season. In that time, he’s been tagged for 13 runs (6.27 ERA) on 15 hits and 10 walks with 11 strikeouts. He’s also plunked four batters and tossed four wild pitches. It’s the second straight season of unsightly results; Bido served up a 5.87 ERA in 79 2/3 innings as a swingman with the A’s in 2025 as well.
Back in 2024, the 6’3″, 175-pound righty logged 63 1/3 innings with a 3.41 ERA for the A’s in their final season in Oakland. He set down 24.3% of his opponents on strikes, issued walks at a 10% clip and did an outstanding job avoiding hard contact (85.6 mph average exit velocity, 27% hard-hit rate).
Bido spent seven seasons in the Pirates system before making his MLB debut as a 27-year-old in 2023. In 212 1/3 major league innings, he’s posted a 5.17 ERA (4.67 SIERA, 4.81 FIP). He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher who’s shown passable but not great command and missed bats at a slightly below-average level. Bido averages 94.7 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike, coupling those heaters with an 86 mph slider and a lesser-used, upper-80s changeup.
The White Sox have five days to trade Bido, place him on outright waivers (a 48-hour process) or release him. If they can finally be the team to pass him through waivers, he’ll head to Triple-A Charlotte, as Bido lacks the prior outright or three years of service time needed to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
Guardians To Recall Franco Aleman For MLB Debut
The Guardians are recalling right-hander Franco Aleman from Triple-A Columbus for what will be his major league debut, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. The team has yet to formally announce Aleman’s promotion or a corresponding transaction.
Aleman, 25, was a 2021 tenth-rounder. The former Florida Gator was added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster following the 2024 season in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. He’s missed significant time in each of the past two seasons due to a lat strain in 2024 and hernia surgery in 2025.
Now healthy, Aleman has gotten out to a dominant start in Columbus. The big 6’6″, 235-pound righty is unscored upon through a dozen innings of relief. He’s fanned 40.9% of his opponents against a 9.1% walk rate. Aleman’s tiny .143 average on balls in play isn’t sustainable, nor is it reasonable to expect him to continue on without allowing a home run, but his small-sample results are nevertheless excellent.
Aleman is a two-pitch reliever, focusing on a classic fastball/slider pairing. However, he’s changed up his fastball selection in recent years. In 2024, he used both a sinker and four-seamer. In ’25, he went with a pure sinker/slider. This season, he’s throwing only four-seamers and sliders with his best results to date. That heater is sitting 96.2 mph and can climb as high as 99. His slider clocks in at an average of 85.6 mph.
Cleveland has had a middle-of-the-pack bullpen thus far in 2026. Guardians relievers rank 16th in ERA (4.12), seventh in strikeout rate (24.7%) and are tied with the Cubs for 12th in walk rate (9.3%). While those rate stats are generally solid, Guardians relievers have also allowed the third-most homers per nine innings pitched of any team in baseball, at 1.24. That’s not due to a fluky homer-to-flyball rate but rather due to the Guardians’ status as MLB’s most flyball-heavy relief corps. Cleveland relievers have only induced grounders on 34.6% of the batted balls against them — the lowest mark in baseball. (Houston is second-lowest at 36%, followed by Cincinnati at 37%.)
Aleman and his 38.1% grounder rate isn’t going to change that much, but he’ll add some velocity to a Cleveland bullpen whose average 94.2 mph four-seamer ranks 22nd in MLB. This is the second of three option years for Aleman, so he can shuttled between Columbus and Cleveland freely both this year and next while he looks to cement himself as a presence in Stephen Vogt‘s bullpen. He can’t get to a full year of service in 2026, so Aleman will remain controllable for the Guardians for at least six years beyond the current season.