The Opener: CBA Talks, Ohtani, Ashby
Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti gets another crack at the Rangers on Thursday. Arrighetti carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against Texas two starts ago. His teammates no-hit the Rangers earlier this week. Keep a close eye on the hit column today.
1. MLBPA shares proposal
Collective bargaining discussions are underway with the MLBPA releasing its first official proposal on Wednesday. The league is expected to counter with its own proposal on Thursday. The current collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1. Talks appear to be ahead of schedule this time around. Back in 2021, the league didn’t counter the MLBPA’s initial proposal until August. Negotiations that offseason led to a lockout, but didn’t result in missed games.
2. Ohtani dominates again
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani tossed six hitless innings on Wednesday against the Rockies. He also chipped in a leadoff home run for good measure. Ohtani lowered his ERA to 0.82. As ESPN points out, it’s the ninth-lowest ERA heading into June among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings since 1913. It’s also the lowest mark in Dodgers history through a pitcher’s first nine starts (h/t Alden Gonzalez of ESPN). Ohtani has allowed one earned run or fewer in all but one outing this season. In a hotly contested NL Cy Young race, he’s emerging as one of the top candidates.
3. Ashby wins again
Wins aren’t the most reliable indicator of a pitcher’s effectiveness, but they’re still fun to track, especially when a surprising name is atop the leaderboard. Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby has managed to pile up a league-leading nine wins, despite working as an opener and middle reliever. The lefty tossed two scoreless innings on Wednesday against the Cardinals. The Brewers pushed two runs across in the eighth inning to take the lead, and Trevor Megill slammed the door to secure the win for Ashby. Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams also picked up his eighth win with a quality start against the Nationals. Chris Sale of the Braves and Davis Martin of the White Sox will go for their eighth wins on Thursday.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
MLBPA Releases Details Of Collective Bargaining Proposal
The formal process of the next collective bargaining agreement has begun. It was reported two weeks ago that the talks had kicked off with informal introductions. Today, the MLBPA made its first official proposal and released details to the media. Jeff Passan of ESPN, Evan Drellich of The Athletic and Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times were among those to relay the details. As expected, the union’s proposals involve improved outcomes for players. The proposal also has a heavy focus on the revenue-sharing system, as the players are hoping to improve the economic imbalances of the game without the implementation of a salary cap. The league will counter with their proposal tomorrow.
Many of the details involve the adjusting of measures already in place, in a pro-player direction. For instance, the union proposes raising the minimum salary to $1.5MM, almost double this year’s $780K minimum. It would continue to go up to $1.65MM, $1.825MM, $2MM and $2.2MM in subsequent seasons. They also propose expanding the $50MM pre-arbitration bonus pool to $180MM. The Super Two designation that currently goes to 22% of players between two and three years of service would jump to a 44% cutoff. The minimum tender in arbitration would be $3MM. The service time needed for free agency, which is currently six years, would drop to five years for players at least 30 years old. However, teams could keep such players for a sixth year by offering them a contract with a salary that averages out the 125 highest-paid players in the league, which is the same calculus for the current qualifying offer. (Passan relayed those details in a subsequent post.)
Those measures would all directly benefit players financially. They also propose measures that would help players indirectly, by improving the abilities for club to spend. The threshold of the competitive balance tax would jump from $244MM to $300MM, then $315MM, $330MM, $345MM and $360MM in subsequent seasons. Non-monetary penalties, such as the impact on draft picks, would be eliminated. The qualifying offer would be eliminated, along with the penalties for clubs who sign free agents, though the bonuses for lower revenue clubs who lose free agents would be increased. The draft lottery would be expanded to further disincentivize tanking. The rules to address service time manipulation would be expanded.
There would be a “competitive integrity tax” for any team that does not spend $150MM. This would be an inverse to the competitive balance tax, which is already in place. Currently, baseball effectively has a soft cap in the form of that tax. Some teams blow past it but face penalties, both in the form of the payments and the impact of picks being pushed later in the draft. There’s not really a soft floor, as teams who receive revenue-sharing payments don’t really have conditions attached.
The Athletics did lose their revenue-sharing status for a while and they seemed to spend a bit more on players recently because they didn’t want to go down that road again, but no other club has been similarly motivated. The A’s reportedly had to get their CBT number up to $105MM to avoid a grievance but several other clubs have carried CBT numbers well below that without any consequences.
As mentioned, many elements of the proposal involve significant changes to the revenue-sharing system. Under this proposal, teams would actually send out less stadium revenue but there would be a notable increase in terms of the sharing of broadcast revenue. Lower revenue clubs would receive at least $240MM annually but with conditions. Teams who do not spend the revenue-sharing money would be subject to penalties. Teams that do spend that money would receive bonuses if they make the playoffs or have a winning record.
These revenue-sharing details are significant because they are presumably a counter to a salary cap. The league is expected to push for a cap, something they have wanted for decades and have pushed for in the past. Some fans like the idea of a cap because of the economic imbalances in the game. The clubs with greater revenue and higher payrolls have had a lot of success in recent years, with the Dodgers being an oft-cited example. The teams have pushed farther apart recently in terms of broadcast revenue. The clubs in large markets are generally doing fine while many of the smaller clubs have seen their broadcast deals collapse. The league has stepped in and is now handling broadcasts for almost half the league. That setup can reach more viewers via streaming but generally leads to less revenue.
With these revenue-sharing elements, the players appear to be trying to address competitive balance in a way that does not involve a cap. They directly address the broadcast revenue imbalance and would broadly be giving the smaller clubs a greater ability to spend. They also put conditions on the money, so that lower-revenue clubs can’t just pocket what they get from other teams, which is a concern in the current setup.
As mentioned, MLB will make their opening proposal tomorrow, but they have already gone public to oppose what the players have proposed. MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin released a statement, with Drellich among those to relay it, effectively saying that MLB’s position is that this proposal makes competitive balance worse and not better.
It’s worth pointing out that the players won’t get everything they are asking for. The way that collective bargaining works, both sides are going to stake out a bold position at the start. Over the coming months, as the bargaining process plays out, the sides will back down in some areas. The question is how long it will take to find an overall agreement that both parties consider acceptable.
The last round of CBA talks didn’t result in any lost games but went to the brink. MLB locked out the players when the previous CBA expired on December 1st of 2021. That lockout lasted until March 10th. The opening of the 2022 campaign was delayed but a full 162-game season was played. It is expected that this round could be just as contentious, if not moreso. The current CBA again expires on December 1st at 11:59pm Eastern.
For those looking for positive signs, there are some to be found. In Drellich’s column, he points out that things are ahead of schedule, relative to last time. In 2021, the players also made their first proposal in May but the owners didn’t make theirs until August. When the owners make their proposal tomorrow, that will be three months earlier than 2021.
Photo courtesy of Evan Petzold, Imagn Images
MLB Mailbag: Skubal, Nationals, Rays, Tibbs
This week's mailbag gets into the Tigers' decision points on Tarik Skubal, whether the Nationals can be taken seriously, how the Rays could upgrade, the current trade value of James Tibbs III, and more.
Chuck asks:
With the Tigers collapsing in the absence of Tarik Skubal, even with his return relatively imminent, the national media are salivating at the prospect of his escape from Detroit toward the bright lights (and easier access) of, I guess, the media centers of Los Angeles or New York. Assuming the Tigers don't recover to even .500 by late July, my questions are: (1) Is trading Skubal the only reasonable option the Tigers would have? (2) Is there a real scenario in which it would be better to retain Skubal and let him walk, accepting the sandwich pick instead? (3) If a trade is certain, are there actually any teams likely to give up true top-of-system value in return for two-plus months of Skubal, and which teams would those be? For the final question, please focus on your estimation of the best those teams would likely offer, rather than an estimation of what PBO Scott Harris would accept.
After a 10-6 loss Tuesday evening at the hands of the equally lousy Angels, the Tigers stand at 21-34 wth 34% of their season in the books. The Tigers still play in an AL Central where only the Guardians are projected to finish above .500, and in a league where the third Wild Card team is two games under. There seems to be a decent chance that in the AL this year, a .500 finish could net a playoff spot.
The Tigers have won only three of their last 20 games, yet still hold a 16.5% playoff chance. 68 days remain until the trade deadline, during which time the Tigers will play 58 games. The Tigers could reasonably let another third of their season play out before making a decision on Skubal, even if they need to lay some groundwork in July.
Skubal's last start was April 29th, and today marks the fifth start he's missed. In the immediate aftermath of the injury, I wrote in this mailbag that I found it unlikely we'd see Skubal before the August 3rd trade deadline. Then we learned about the NanoNeedle, a new smaller scope used to remove the loose body in Skubal's elbow. This was the first time this tool was used on an MLB player. Skubal threw a simulated game less than three weeks out from surgery, and there's talk of him returning in June. Remarkably, it seems like Skubal could make, say, nine or so big league starts before the deadline barring any setbacks. To answer Chuck's questions:
No, trading Skubal is not the only reasonable option the Tigers have. The 2024 Tigers didn't look like a playoff team on May 27th either (20.1% chance) and they did indeed have a postseason run. Simply holding onto Skubal for one last playoff push is perfectly reasonable if the team's chances hover in the 1-in-5 range or better. I'm sure Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris will take heat for holding onto Skubal if the Tigers do miss the playoffs, but I'd have no problem with it.
I don't think there's a scenario where the compensatory draft pick the Tigers would receive is more valuable than the players they'd get from trading for Skubal, in a vacuum. The Tigers are a revenue sharing recipient that will not pay the competitive balance tax this year, and Skubal will almost certainly get more than $50MM in guaranteed money in free agency. That puts the draft pick after the first round next year. I haven't reverse-engineered the 2027 draft too closely yet, but we can safely put that pick in the #29-33 range.
You know I love mini-studies. So I spot-checked the #30 pick for the 20-year period of 2001-2020, adding a few compensatory picks the following year for #30s who didn't sign (like the Dodgers failing to sign J.T. Ginn and drafting Michael Busch 31st in 2019).
I didn't want to get bogged down in control windows, and cutting this off at 2001 does exclude some very good #30s: Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, as well as David Wells, Jerry Reuss, Travis Fryman, and Brian Jordan. Still, it'd be reasonable to say that the chances the #30 pick amounts to nothing in the Majors might be around two-thirds. Although I will note that if you count Busch, the last few years have provided a relative bounty at this spot, as it also gave us Cole Ragans, Anthony Volpe, and Jordan Westburg.
The Tigers' trade return for Skubal, assuming he returns healthy in June, would come with more certainty and value than a draft pick around #30 would. A multi-player trade package would also diversify Detroit's risk.
What makes this so hard for Harris is that he does not face a simple "#30-ish draft pick vs best possible trade package" choice. That's because the #30-ish draft pick scenario means keeping Skubal for the 2026 season, which adds a big boost to the Tigers' playoff odds. Let's say 25% playoff odds can be boosted to 40% with Skubal. How does that and the draft pick compare to the trade deadline package? This equation becomes much easier for Harris if the Tigers' playoff odds plummet toward 10% by late July.
So, a trade is not certain. A trade is realistic, though, so the Tigers need to be prepared for sell, hold, and possibly even buy scenarios. Would a team give up "top-of-system value" to rent 6-WAR type ace starting pitcher for two months of the regular season plus the playoffs? We can search for precedents, though Skubal's surgery was literally unprecedented, so it won't be perfect.
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Teoscar Hernández Leaves Game With Hamstring Strain
Teoscar Hernández made an early exit from tonight’s game against Colorado. The Dodgers left fielder strained his left hamstring while trying to beat out a ground-ball to shortstop in the second inning. Hernández was visibly frustrated and immediately exited the game. Hyeseong Kim replaced him in left field for the top of the third.
The Dodgers haven’t announced any specifics beyond confirming the apparent hamstring strain. They’ll likely provide more information in the next day or two after he goes for imaging. It’d be a surprise if he avoids the injured list even if the strain is of a lower-grade variety.
Los Angeles just placed Kiké Hernández back on the injured list this evening due to a significant oblique tear. It’ll be well over a month before he’s able to return. Alex Freeland came up from Triple-A to replace Kiké Hernández on the active roster. Manager Dave Roberts said pregame that Freeland would get the majority of the second base playing time, pushing Kim to more of a utility role.
Tonight’s game marked Kim’s first MLB work as a left fielder. He played 85 1/3 innings in center as a rookie. He’d been a full-time middle infielder this year aside from a two-inning cameo in center while playing in Triple-A at the beginning of the season. Kim is athletic enough to play the outfield, but his value is tied mostly to his defensive aptitude up the middle.
Alex Call got the start tonight in right field. The Dodgers seemingly wanted to stay away from Kyle Tucker on a rest day. Call has played well in limited opportunities but was acquired mostly for a short side platoon role. If the Dodgers are wary of using him as an everyday player and Teoscar Hernández misses time, they’d probably bring Ryan Ward back up from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Last year’s minor league home run leader, Ward is hitting .260/.386/.428 this season at OKC. He made his MLB debut in April while Freddie Freeman was on the paternity list, going 2-6 in two games. Tyler Fitzgerald and Alek Thomas are the other position players on optional assignment. Fitzgerald is primarily an infielder and hits right-handed, so he’s not an ideal platoon partner with Call. Thomas has been at the team’s Arizona complex since they acquired from the Diamondbacks two weeks ago, presumably working on mechanical adjustments.
An IL stint would be a sour end to what has been an excellent month for Hernández. He’s hitting .329 with a trio of homers and four doubles in May. After a fairly slow start, he’s been one of the team’s best players over the past few weeks. Assuming the Dodgers close out a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning, they’ll pull 4.5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and slumping Padres in the NL West.
Craig Breslow Discusses Red Sox’ Trade Outlook
Despite a convincing win over the Braves tonight, the Red Sox sit at a disappointing 23-31 that has them at the bottom of the AL East. A scarcity of great teams in the American League means every club is still within six games of a Wild Card spot, so even the slowest starters can talk themselves into the possibility of turning things around.
That said, the Sox are obviously aware they’ll need to play far better than their current 69-win pace to avoid a sell-off two months from now. The front office already made an early-season managerial change going from Alex Cora to interim skipper Chad Tracy. They also overhauled the hitting coach group in an effort to get more from a dramatically underperforming lineup.
The Sox were 11th in the AL in scoring and dead last in OPS (.667) when Cora and multiple hitting coaches were fired on April 25. They’re up to sixth in the Junior Circuit in OPS since then but second from the bottom in runs scored, better only than a reeling Detroit team. Playing the past three weeks without Roman Anthony hasn’t helped, but the second-year outfielder was struggling even before a wrist sprain sent him to the injured list. The biggest issue is an infield that, aside from first baseman Willson Contreras, has contributed almost nothing offensively.
Reports emerged over the weekend that the Sox were already gauging the trade market for lineup help. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow echoed that in speaking with reporters on Wednesday afternoon (links via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic and Chris Cotillo of MassLive).
“We’ve been aggressive in terms of outreach and trying to identify players that we think can help us. Obviously, we’ve talked about the fact that the league is very compressed and there’s a bunch of teams — despite poor performance — who are still in it,” Breslow said. “The other side of that is that there are other teams in the league who have not played well that otherwise could think about moving players and are saying, ‘Hey, we’re not that far out of it.’”
One could certainly argue the Red Sox themselves are among that group. Breslow confirmed they’re not interested in selling off any veteran pieces this early in the year, telling Cotillo they’re “focused on doing everything we can to turn our season around.” Boston would certainly have some big names they could dangle on the trade front if their performance doesn’t improve.
Sonny Gray will be a free agent when his 2027 mutual option is declined, though the Sox would surely need to cover a portion of the $10MM buyout if they trade him. Contreras is signed through 2027 at a $17.25MM annual value, not including the $8MM the Cardinals sent to Boston as a condition of last offseason’s trade. Aroldis Chapman, probably the second-best reliever in MLB after Mason Miller, has a $13MM option for next year that’ll vest once he reaches 40 innings on the season.
That’s clearly not the short-term focus for Breslow’s front office. They’re looking for ways to inject some life into the offense, ideally via acquiring a right-handed bat. They could upgrade over the middle infield duo of Marcelo Mayer and the currently injured Trevor Story. Offseason trade pickup Caleb Durbin has hit so poorly that he’s losing playing time at third base to Nick Sogard and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Durbin still has a couple minor league options remaining and might need a reset at Triple-A.
It’s unlikely there’ll be any significant trade pieces on the move this early in the season. The Giants could shop Luis Arraez, who is holding his own defensively in a move back to second base. San Francisco already traded Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey in a surprise deal. CJ Abrams would be the prize of the infield trade market, but the Nationals almost certainly aren’t moving him while they’re above .500.
The Twins recently optioned struggling former first overall pick Royce Lewis to Triple-A; perhaps he’d be available as a reclamation target. The Mets’ Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are no stranger to trade rumors. New York would presumably still have a high ask on the lefty-hitting Baty. Vientos hits right-handed but has been a full-time first baseman this year. He’d be a tough fit for Boston unless they move away from their offseason focus on infield defense and install him at third base.
Blue Jays To Select Charles McAdoo
The Blue Jays are selecting infielder Charles McAdoo onto the MLB roster, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. They’ll need to open space on the active and 40-man rosters before tomorrow’s series opener in Baltimore.
McAdoo was a 13th-round selection by the Pirates in the 2023 draft. Toronto acquired the San Jose State product the following summer in a deadline trade sending Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Pittsburgh. The righty-hitting McAdoo was amidst a big offensive season between High-A and Double-A. He initially struggled with his new organization, hitting .185 with a 30% strikeout rate to close the ’24 campaign.
The Jays kept McAdoo at Double-A New Hampshire for all of last season. He still struck out a decent amount but stole 34 bases while hitting 16 home runs. It was enough to earn a bump to Triple-A Buffalo this year. McAdoo carries a .250/.356/.436 slash with eight longballs in 202 trips to the plate. He has walked at an excellent 14% clip and, perhaps most importantly, has slashed the strikeout rate to a manageable 20%.
Baseball America ranked McAdoo the #16 prospect in the Toronto farm system on their updated writeup last week. Their offseason report credited him with above-average power and arm strength along with decent speed. The questions have revolved around his middling defensive value and the subpar contact skills he brought into the season.
McAdoo has split most of his time between the corner infield spots, along with occasional second base work. He played some outfield in the low minors but has been a full-time infielder since 2025. He has a similar defensive repertoire as Lenyn Sosa, an April trade acquisition who has hit .188/.205/.275 across 84 plate appearances with the Jays. Sosa is out of options, but that’s true of everyone on the Toronto bench aside from the recently activated Nathan Lukes.
Kiké Hernández Diagnosed With “Significant” Oblique Tear
Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández sustained a “significant tear” of his left oblique yesterday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Dylan Hernández of The California Post). Infielder Alex Freeland will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.
Roberts didn’t specify a timeline on Hernández, but it sounds like another extended absence is inevitable. Hernández just returned from a season-opening injured list stint on Monday. He’d undergone elbow surgery shortly after the World Series and needed the first couple months of the regular season to complete his rehab.
Hernández started the past two games at third base while Max Muncy was nursing right wrist soreness. (Roberts said Muncy will return to the lineup tonight against Colorado righty Tomoyuki Sugano.) Hernández hit an RBI double in his first at-bat of the season and drilled a two-run homer yesterday. He was 4-4 with three extra-base hits on the year.
It’s unlikely Hernández would’ve remained a huge offensive threat. He’s a .232/.282/.392 hitter since the Dodgers reacquired him from the Red Sox at the 2023 deadline. Dodgers brass clearly loves Hernández as a clubhouse presence, however, and he’s a versatile defensive player. The Dodgers re-signed him to a $4.5MM free agent contract at the beginning of Spring Training.
Frustrating as it surely is for Hernández personally, it’s also less than ideal for the team from a depth perspective. L.A. designated the out-of-options Santiago Espinal for assignment on Monday to open the active roster spot for Hernández’s return. He’ll need to be traded or waived this week and would likely become a free agent if he clears waivers. The Dodgers could try to re-sign him if it gets to that point, but all other teams will have an opportunity to add Espinal to their MLB rosters in the interim.
Freeland and Tyler Fitzgerald are the remaining depth infielders on the 40-man roster. The switch-hitting Freeland was optioned on May 11. He’s hitting .238 with a .360 on-base percentage since going back to Triple-A. Starting second baseman Hyeseong Kim has gone cold this month, batting .217 with a .273 OBP and only two extra-base hits in 20 MLB games. Roberts indicated that Freeland will get the majority of the second base playing time now that he’s back up (via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). He’ll presumably be in the starting lineup tonight.
That’ll likely be a 2-3 week arrangement. Tommy Edman has been out all season recovering from ankle surgery. He began a rehab assignment at OKC last night. Those can last up to 20 days for position players, and it’s likely Edman will need the full window because he didn’t have a Spring Training. That’d put his return date in the second or third week of June barring any setbacks.
Angels Designate Matthew Lugo For Assignment, Select Nick Madrigal
The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Nick Madrigal. He’ll take the active roster spot of first baseman Nolan Schanuel, who has been placed on the ten-day injured list with left ankle inflammation, retroactive to May 24th. To open a 40-man spot, outfielder Matthew Lugo has been designated for assignment.
Schanuel has been dealing with the ankle issue for a few days and hasn’t been in the lineup since Saturday. Since he’s been out for a while, the Halos were able to backdate his IL placement by the three-day maximum. It’s unclear how much time his ankle will take to heal but he will be eligible for activation in a week.
He has been having a down year in an odd way, with his walks drying up. His ability to get on-base has been his best asset, with a walk rate of 11.3% coming into this year. That is now down to just 6.3% in the current season, barely half of his previous pace. He swung at 26.2% of pitches outside the zone from 2023 to 2025 but that number is up to 28.6% this year. He made contact on those outside-the-zone swings 76.4% of the time in previous seasons but just 65.2% this year.
The result of that reduced plate discipline is a .262/.313/.387 line and 96 wRC+ on the year, a drop from his .259/.353/.371 line and 107 wRC+ in previous campaigns. Perhaps the ankle injury will give him a chance to reset and get back on track once he’s healthy.
Though Schanuel isn’t having his best season, it’s still a blow to an Angels club that is already in a tough spot. They are 21-34, tied with the Tigers for the worst record in the American League. Schanuel’s 96 wRC+ may be subpar but is still fifth on the team among guys with at least 20 plate appearances.
They will probably now have to cover first base with guys like Vaughn Grissom and Oswald Peraza. Grissom has a .233/.308/.379 line and 92 wRC+ on the year. Peraza is faring much better but is currently the second baseman. Moving him to first would probably mean more time at second base for Adam Frazier, who has a .236/.313/.375 line and 94 wRC+.
As the Halos juggle those guys around, Madrigal will give them a glove-first backup option. He has over 1,300 innings at second base and almost 700 at third with strong grades at both spots. He has stolen 17 bases in 23 tries.
Offensively, he has a contact-based approach with very little power and few walks but very few strikeouts. In 940 trips to the plate, his 4.6% walk rate and 9% strikeout rate are both much lower than average and he has just four home runs. That has led to a .274/.323/.344 line and 88 wRC+.
Despite the lack of punch from the batter’s box, the speed and defense had been enough to get him opportunities. Unfortunately, his 2025 season was wiped out by shoulder surgery. He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Angels coming into 2026. He has a .275/.353/.366 line for Triple-A Salt Lake this year. In the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League, that translates to a wRC+ of 80.
Adding Madrigal will cost Lugo his roster spot. A second-round pick of the Red Sox, Lugo was one of four players the Halos acquired from the Sox in the 2024 Luis García trade. He was given a 40-man roster spot in November of that year to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to maintain the improved offense he showed that year. Between those two clubs, he slashed .287/.376/.578 on the farm in 2024, leading to a huge 156 wRC+. Since the start of 2025, he has a minor league line of .261/.339/.430, leading to a 91 wRC+. He has stepped to the plate 70 times in the majors and produced a .232/.243/.464 line and 89 wRC+.
In addition to the struggles at the plate, his defensive home has been a question. The Sox tried him out at shortstop and third base but moved him to the outfield in 2023. He’s considered a passable but not especially strong fielder in a corner spot.
Lugo now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Angels could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. He is still optionable, which could appeal to clubs in need of outfield depth. If he were to clear waivers, he would stick with the Halos as non-roster depth. Since he doesn’t have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service time, he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency.
Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images
Cubs, Aaron Bummer Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs and left-hander Aaron Bummer have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The O’Connell Sports Management client will presumably report to Triple-A Iowa at some point in the coming days.
Bummer, 32, was just released by Atlanta last week. He was having an awful season, posting an earned run average of 7.63 over 15 1/3 innings. His 46.2% ground ball rate was decent but his 16.9% strikeout rate and 13% walk rate were both awful figures. Even more alarming is that he’s already been tagged for six home runs. His final appearance with the team saw him give up six runs on three hits and five walks in one inning against Miami.
Rough as this season has been, Bummer was a quality left-handed bullpen piece for Atlanta in 2024-25. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA in both years with plus ground-ball rates. Bummer had a strong 28% strikeout rate two seasons ago, but that fell to a pedestrian 21.7% mark last year. It proved an alarming precursor to his first couple months of 2026.
Bummer is a sinkerballer who was in the mid-90s for the majority of his career. His average velocity fell to 91 mph last season and is at a career-low 90.2 mph mark this year. He missed the final five weeks of the ’25 season to shoulder inflammation. Bummer hasn’t gone on the injured list this year, but the 32-year-old’s stuff clearly isn’t as sharp as it was not that long ago.
Atlanta is paying Bummer a $9.5MM salary for the 2026 season. They’re on the hook for that money aside from the prorated $780K league minimum for any time he spends on the MLB roster with another club. The Cubs have Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner and Ryan Rolison as southpaws in Craig Counsell’s bullpen. Luke Little, Luis Peralta and swingman Doug Nikhazy are on optional assignment. Bummer will join them in Iowa as he looks for his 2024-25 form.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Rangers Designate Andrew McCutchen For Assignment
The Rangers announced the signing of utility infielder Nicky Lopez to a major league contract. The CAA client is active for tonight’s game against the Astros and draws right into the lineup as the second baseman against Mike Burrows. Texas designated Andrew McCutchen in a corresponding move.
McCutchen signed a minor league deal midway through Spring Training. He’d seemingly hoped to return to the Pirates for what would’ve been the fourth season of his late-career second act in the Steel City. The Bucs didn’t appear to reciprocate that interest, and the writing was officially on the wall when Pittsburgh signed Marcell Ozuna to a $12MM free agent deal.
Cutch had a big Spring Training to nail down a roster spot, locking in a $1.25MM salary in the process. He was in the starting lineup on Opening Day as the designated hitter against Philly southpaw Cristopher Sánchez. Texas used McCutchen mostly in a short side platoon capacity, splitting his time between DH and the corner outfield. He hasn’t hit in a fairly small sample, batting .192 with one home run over 83 trips to the plate.
It’s the fourth straight year in which McCutchen’s numbers have declined. The five-time All-Star had been close to a league average bat over 551 plate appearances with the Bucs last season. McCutchen still has an elite understanding of the strike zone, but he’s whiffing at a career-high rate this year without hitting for any kind of power.
Texas has five days to trade McCutchen or place him on waivers. He’d be able to decline a minor league assignment while retaining his salary, so the likeliest outcome is that he’ll be released this week. He’d then be available to other teams for the prorated league minimum salary, assuming he wants to continue playing.
Lopez was designated for assignment by the Cubs last week. He cleared outright waivers and elected free agency just yesterday. It didn’t take long for his camp to find him another MLB deal. Lopez’s club debut tonight will be his sixth team at the big league level. He spent his first few seasons with the Royals and has bounced around since the end of the 2022 season.
A light-hitting infielder, Lopez has a .245/.309/.310 slash line in nearly 2400 career plate appearances. He was on the Cubs’ MLB roster for a month but didn’t start a game, only making four appearances off the bench. Lopez has graded as a plus defender at second and third base over his career. Public metrics are more split on his shortstop work, but the 31-year-old can play the position if necessary.
Texas has used a middle infield pairing of Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue over the past few weeks. They’ve been without second baseman Josh Smith since the beginning of May and lost Corey Seager a couple weeks ago. Foscue has hit pretty well but isn’t viewed as a particularly strong defender. He had a pivotal throwing error on Sunday night that allowed the Angels to complete a sweep with a walk-off win.
Foscue is out of the lineup tonight but could split DH time with Joc Pederson if the Rangers want Lopez in there as a defensive upgrade. Seager and Smith each seem at least a couple weeks away, but the out-of-options Lopez could be pushed off the roster once either or both of those players return.