Astros Place Lance McCullers Jr. On Injured List
The Astros announced that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 16th, due to right shoulder inflammation. Fellow righty Nate Pearson has been reinstated from the 15-day IL in a corresponding move. Houston also reinstated outfielder Jake Meyers from the 10-day IL and optioned infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb.
McCullers was the scheduled starter for tonight’s game but the club announced a few hours ago that he had been scratched, with Jason Alexander to take the ball tonight instead. Though this was a last-minute scratch, manager Joe Espada said McCullers has been dealing with shoulder pain for “a while,” per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. It’s unclear how much time McCullers will miss, as he is heading to Houston for more testing.
Injuries have been a big part of recent history for McCullers. He missed the 2023 and 2024 seasons due a flexor injury that required surgery. He was back on the mound in 2025 and made 16 appearances, but with diminished velocity and a 6.51 earned run average. Here in 2026, he has a 6.86 ERA in eight starts.
Though he doesn’t appear to be the same pitcher he was before the injuries set him back, it’s still a blow for the Astros. The club has been hit real hard by injuries this year. In the rotation, Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are each on the IL due to shoulder strains. The club is still waiting for Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter and Hayden Wesneski to return from last year’s Tommy John surgeries.
Around those injuries and others, they have had to rely upon almost every depth option available. They have also been trying to deploy a six-man rotation at various times, both due to the schedule and trying to manage the workload of Tatsuya Imai. 12 different pitchers have already made starts for the club. Some of those have been openers but the club has clearly been churning through guys. Though McCullers doesn’t have good numbers, removing him from the equation just means they will have to keep reaching deeper when they’ve already fallen to 19-30 on the year.
As mentioned, Alexander is taking the ball tonight. That could be a spot start or he could stick around for another turn. Mike Burrows is the scheduled starter tomorrow. The Astros are off on Thursday, which is perhaps a chance to recover and reset before they play ten days in a row.
Burrows, Imai, Spencer Arrighetti, Peter Lambert and Kai-Wei Teng are in the rotation at the moment. If Alexander doesn’t stick around, they have Miguel Ullola, Colton Gordon and Ryan Weiss on optional assignment at Triple-A. Ullola has a 6.03 ERA and 16.8% walk rate in Triple-A this year. The Astros haven’t trusted him enough to call him up at any other point this season, despite really needing arms. Gordon and Weiss got some MLB time earlier this year but both posted ERAs north of 7.00 in those looks. Rome floats the possibility of calling up Ethan Pecko, who has a 2.21 ERA on the farm this year, though he’s not yet on the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Ryan Jeffers, Emmanuel Rodriguez To Undergo Surgeries
Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll provided some updates on injured players to reporters, including Aaron Gleeman as well as Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Catcher Ryan Jeffers will undergo hamate surgery and has an expected return timeline of six to eight weeks. Outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez will also undergo surgery, in his case to address the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb.
Neither procedure is surprising but both are disappointing. It was reported earlier today that Jeffers had suffered a fracture of his hamate. That situation usually leads to surgery and that will indeed be the case in this instance.
Jeffers has been Minnesota’s primary catcher for a while now and has been one of the better offensive backstops in the league. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .258/.346/.445 line and 122 wRC+. Only four qualified catchers have a better wRC+ mark for that span and one of them, Willson Contreras, isn’t even a catcher anymore. That leaves Cal Raleigh, William Contreras and Will Smith as the active backstops ahead of Jeffers.
The production from Jeffers includes a huge .295/.408/.541 showing this season. That has helped the Twins hang in the playoff race, as they are currently only half a game out of a Wild Card spot in the American League. For now, Minnesota will have Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson handling the catching duties, which will surely be a downgrade. Caratini has a strong track record but is hitting only .192/.299/.231 this year. Jackson has a career batting line of .153/.239/.288.
The injury also interrupts a platform year for Jeffers, as he is an impending free agent. He was on pace to be the top available catcher and one of the top available bats regardless of position. That could still end up being the case but he’ll now have to deal with this lengthy absence and then try to get back on track after. The timeline with a hamate surgery isn’t massive in the grand scheme of things but players often struggle with a lack of power when they return.
As for Rodriguez, it’s also not a shocking development, as this thumb issue put him on the IL a couple of weeks ago. Though his timeline is still to be determined, the timing stings, as he is on the 40-man roster and could have been up in the big leagues right now if he were healthy.
The Twins have sent outfielder Matt Wallner and third baseman Royce Lewis to the minors this month, opening up some big league at-bats. Rodriguez wasn’t going to play third base but the demotion of Lewis could lead to other guys getting moved around. The Jeffers injury could also indirectly open up some designated hitter at-bats, as Caratini and Josh Bell have been splitting first base and DH. If Caratini is going to be behind the plate more regularly, there are extra DH at-bats available.
Though Rodriguez is very talented, injuries are becoming an annoying recurrence, perhaps giving Twins fans some déjà vu after years of watching Lewis and Byron Buxton. In the minors, Rodriguez has dealt with knee, abdominal, right thumb, left thumb and hip injuries. Due to all those ailments, he hasn’t topped 99 games in a season, which was back in 2023. He was capped at 45 games in 2024 and 65 last year. Now he is once again hurt and facing a notable absence.
When on the field, the talent is there and is also unique. Rodriguez has one of the most extreme approaches of any player. In his minor league career, he has a huge 30.2% strikeout rate but also a massive 21.6% walk rate. He has big power, speed and is considered a good defender. The strikeouts may become a problem but he also offsets those with the free passes.
Rodriguez has been on the Minnesota 40-man roster since November of 2023, getting added to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. That means he has already burned two option seasons and is currently burning the third. That could put him out of options going into 2027, unless he can qualify for a fourth option, though that may not be possible.
A player is eligible for a fourth option if he hasn’t played five “full” professional seasons, where a full season is defined as one in which the player is active for 90 days, or is active for at least 30 with a 90-day total of active/IL time. This is basically to discount short-season rookie ball campaigns or seasons totally lost to injury. Despite all his issues, Rodriguez has been in full-season ball since getting promoted to Low-A at the start of 2022. He played 40-plus games from 2022 to 2025, so that would seemingly hit the 30-day/90-day threshold in each and count as four full seasons. Here in 2026, he has only played 26 games thus far but was active from late March to early May, getting to at least 30 days again.
Photo courtesy of Matt Blewett, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Place James McCann On IL, Select Aramis Garcia
The Diamondbacks announced that catcher James McCann has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right quad. Fellow catcher Aramis Garcia has been selected to take his place on the roster. The Snakes had a couple of 40-man vacancies, with Garcia filling one of them.
McCann, 36 next month, was signed to a $2.75MM deal to serve as a veteran backup to Gabriel Moreno. McCann has appeared in 22 games with a .203/.217/.254 line and questionable defensive metrics.
Arizona has been rostering three catchers for most of the season. Adrian Del Castillo has done some catching but has been seeing a lot of time in the designated hitter slot, even though he hasn’t been living up to that designation, with a .185/.232/.326 line and 33.3% strikeout rate this year.
It seems the Snakes prefer to keep that three-catcher system going. Earlier this year, when Moreno required a stint on the IL, they added Garcia to the roster. He was mostly there for emergencies, as he spent over two weeks on the roster but only made three plate appearances. When Moreno came off the IL, the out-of-options Garcia was designated for assignment and outrighted back to Triple-A Reno.
It’s possible Garcia is slated for a similar experience now. While McCann is out, the Snakes will continue to have Moreno as their primary catcher, with Del Castillo a backup/DH. Garcia will be there for late-game substitutions or if someone gets hurt. Garcia has just a .210/.245/.321 line in his career but the Diamondbacks obviously value his defense and/or the work he does with pitchers. He was selected to their roster twice last year and this is now already his second selection of 2026.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Gerrit Cole To Start For Yankees On Friday
Yankees manager Aaron Boone informed reporters, including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, that right-hander Gerrit Cole will be activated from the 15-day injured list to start for the club on Friday. That will be his first start in the big leagues since 2024, as he spent 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Cole’s track record is well known at this point, as he has been one of the most consistent performers for most of his career. He has a 3.18 earned run average in almost 2,000 big league innings. In 12 seasons, he has only once finished with an ERA higher than 3.88.
Injury absences had been rare for him. From 2013 to 2023, he logged at least 116 innings in each full season and hit the 200-inning mark six times. Elbow issues became a talking point in 2024. Fresh off his Cy Young win in 2023, he experienced some elbow discomfort early the next year. He began the 2024 season on the IL but ultimately returned and posted a 3.41 ERA over 95 innings. He then put up a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts as the Yanks charged to the World Series, ultimately falling to the Dodgers.
Then in spring training 2025, elbow discomfort returned. This time, it was more serious, as Cole had to go under the knife in March. He sat out the 2025 season and the Yanks did fairly well without him. They had signed Max Fried, who stepped into the ace role. Fried gave the Yanks a 2.86 ERA over 32 starts last year as the Yanks went 94-68. They couldn’t go as far in the playoffs as the year prior, dropping an ALDS matchup with the Blue Jays.
Now, coincidentally, Fried and Cole are effectively swapping places again. Fried recently hit the IL due to a bone bruise in his left elbow. It’s unclear how long that issue will keep Fried on the shelf, but it continues the stretch of the two pitchers technically being on the same team without ever being on the active roster together.
Cole has been rehabbing for a few weeks and was slated to make one more rehab start. The Yanks initially said that Fried’s injury wouldn’t prompt them to speed up Cole’s timeline but it seems they have pivoted from that. Cole is undoubtedly stretched out, having gone at least 4 1/3 innings in all six of his rehab outings. His 4.66 ERA doesn’t look especially impressive but he only allowed three earned runs combined over his two most recent games, tossing 10 1/3 innings in those.
Fried’s injury temporarily delays a tough decision for the Yankees. The club has been getting good results from Fried, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers, with all four of those guys having ERAs under 3.60. Carlos Rodón has a 5.63 ERA but it only two starts, as he also began the season on the IL recovering from elbow surgery. As Cole was rehabbing, it looked like someone was going to get an undeserved demotion to the minors or the bullpen.
For now, Cole takes Fried’s spot and everyone else in that group can stay. If Fried is able to return relatively quickly, then perhaps an awkward decision will be required at that time, though it’s also possible another injury pops up in the interim. It’s also possible that Clarke Schmidt could enter the picture later in the season, as he is recovering a Tommy John surgery performed in July.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Cubs Designate Ty Blach For Assignment
The Cubs have designated left-hander Ty Blach for assignment, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. His spot on the roster goes to fellow southpaw Caleb Thielbar, who has been reinstated from the injured list.
Blach signed a minor league deal with the Cubs last month and was selected to the big league roster Sunday. That marked his first time on a big league roster since 2024. The 35-year-old handled himself well, tossing three shutout innings yesterday against the Brewers. Blach allowed only one hit, didn’t walk anyone, and punched out two of the nine batters he faced. In addition to his three sharp big league innings, Blach has pitched well in four of his five appearances with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Des Moines. He has a 5.23 ERA overall in 20 2/3 innings there, though most of the damage against him came in one start that saw him tagged for six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
With yesterday’s Cubs appearance, Blach has now pitched in parts of eight big league seasons with four different teams. The majority of that experience came with the Giants, who drafted him out of Creighton with their fifth-round pick back in 2012. Blach tossed 299 1/3 frames of 4.36 ERA ball with San Francisco from 2016-18. He then made five starts for the 2019 Orioles and spent the 2022-24 seasons with the Rockies.
Since that solid Bay Area run back in ’16-’18, Blach has been hit hard, yielding a 6.76 ERA in 223 2/3 innings. Part of that stems from calling Coors Field his home for several years, of course, but Blach is also a soft-tossing lefty who’s never missed many bats and has to rely on weak contact and precise command. There’s not much margin for error with a pitch-to-contact lefty who’s sitting 89.8 mph with his sinker and pitching half his games at altitude. That said, Blach did average 91.1 mph on that sinker in yesterday’s appearance — right in line with his velocity from his early days with the Giants.
The Cubs have five days to trade Blach, place him on outright waivers or release him. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll have the opportunity to accept an outright assignment with Chicago, though he also has the right to reject an outright in favor of free agency if he prefers that route.
Thielbar has missed nearly a month with a hamstring strain. The 39-year-old lefty had a terrific season with the Cubs in his age-38 campaign last year (2.64 ERA, 58 innings) and re-signed on a one-year, $4.5MM contract in free agency. He allowed three earned runs on six hits (two of them homers) and five walks with 11 strikeouts in 8 2/3 frames before hitting the injured list.
Pirates Recall Jhostynxon García
May 19: The Pirates announced that García has indeed been recalled from Triple-A. He’s in line to make his team debut as soon as tonight.
May 18, 9:52am: While García is expected to be promoted, Hiles adds in a follow-up report, the Pirates have been considering one other player as well. A decision has not yet been finalized.
8:55am: The Pirates are set to recall outfielder Jhostynxon García from Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Bucs are off today, so the move won’t be official until tomorrow’s road date with the division-rival Cardinals in St. Louis. The Pirates already optioned infielder/outfielder Nick Yorke to Indianapolis following yesterday’s game.
García, 23, was acquired from the Red Sox in the offseason trade sending Johan Oviedo to Boston. “The Password” ranked on various top-100 prospect list during the 2025 season but has slipped a bit; he’s still a generally well-regarded outfield prospect who’s bounced back from an awful start to his 2026 season to catch fire.
Despite an eye-popping spring with the Pirates in which he batted .405/.463/.595 in 41 plate appearances, García opened the season in the minors. The Pirates had Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Ryan O’Hearn locked into outfield spots and Marcell Ozuna at designated hitter. The Bucs understandably wanted García getting everyday reps rather than sparse playing time on the bench when he’s still in his formative, developmental years. The situation is a bit different now, with O’Hearn hitting the injured list over the weekend and Ozuna having struggled through an awful 39-game stretch to begin his season (.182/.271/.311).
García himself opened the season mired in a 1-for-27 slump through his first 29 trips to the batter’s box. He broke out with a three-hit game on April 5 and hit safely in six of seven games before landing on the minor league injured list due to a back injury. García rehabbed with the Pirates’ Class-A club for a few days in early May, then erupted with a 5-for-5, three-homer outburst in his return to the Triple-A lineup last month. Overall, since that three-hit game in early April, he’s slashed .324/.365/.632. It’s only 68 total plate appearances — a handful of them in A-ball — but it’s clear that García has broken out of that early-season slump.
For the Pirates, the inverse is true. Pittsburgh was swept by their intrastate rivals over the weekend, dropping three straight to Philadelphia by scores of 11-9, 6-0 and 6-0. The Pirates were 16-11 back on April 25 and have gone 8-12 since. They’re still a game over .500, at 24-23, but they’ve five games back of the Cubs for the NL Central lead and 3.5 games out in the NL Wild Card hunt.
García should jump into the mix and get everyday at-bats, likely in right field in place of O’Hearn. Jake Mangum can float between all three outfield spots as needed. If García is hitting well when O’Hearn is ready to return from the injured list, that could put some pressure on Ozuna — at least as long as the rest of the roster is healthy. Reynolds, Cruz and O’Hearn have been key cogs in a Pirates lineup that ranks sixth in the majors in runs scored (229), sixth in batting average (.248), fourth in on-base percentage (.332) and is tied for 13th in slugging percentage (.388). They’re not going to be displaced. O’Hearn can also play first base, but Spencer Horwitz is slashing .273/.383/.414, so he’s not going anywhere either.
García made his major league debut with the Red Sox last year, but he received only nine plate appearances and accrued just nine days of major league service time. There isn’t enough time left on the calendar for him to reach a full year of service in 2026, so he’ll be controllable all the way through 2032 in Pittsburgh. Future optional assignments could change that trajectory, of course. He’s in his second minor league option year and will have one remaining beyond the current season.
White Sox Release Osvaldo Bido To Pursue Opportunity In Japan
The White Sox have released right-hander Osvaldo Bido, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty is pursuing an opportunity in Japan, per Brooke Fletcher of Chicago Sports Network.
Several clubs have been trying to pass Bido through waivers over the past year. He burned his final option season with the Athletics in 2025, which led to him riding the transaction carousel all winter and into the 2026 campaign. His first offseason waiver claim took him to Atlanta, followed by claims taking him to the Rays, Marlins, Angels, Yankees, and then back to Atlanta. A few weeks into the season, another waiver claim took him to the White Sox.
All those teams seemingly valued Bido enough to claim him but also hoped they had a chance to keep him in a non-roster capacity. The Sox have now finally succeeded in getting him through waivers but won’t be keeping Bido in the system. Teams generally don’t stand in the way of their players pursuing overseas opportunities, unless they have a better opportunity to provide.
Bido flashed some potential with the A’s in 2024, tossing 63 1/3 innings in a swing role with a 3.41 earned run average. His 10% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 24.3% of batters faced. He also had a bit of help from the spacious ballpark in Oakland, as only 3.8% of his fly balls left the yard.
Moving to the hitter-friendly environment in West Sacramento didn’t help him. 14.7% of his fly balls cleared the fence in 2025, pushing his ERA to 5.87. That got him sent to the minors, burning his final option. Between Atlanta and Chicago this year, he couldn’t get back on track, with a 6.27 ERA.
Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball has been fairly pitcher-friendly in recent years, so perhaps a stint there is a good landing spot for Bido. If he gets back on track and puts up some good numbers, he can try to return to North American ball in the future.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Nationals Option Brady House
May 19th: The Nats made their full moves official today. They optioned House and outfielder Joey Wiemer in order to recall Crews and first baseman Andres Chaparro.
May 18th: The Nationals announced they’ve optioned third baseman Brady House to Triple-A Rochester. That creates an active roster opening, which they’ll reportedly fill tomorrow by recalling former #2 overall pick Dylan Crews.
It’s a surprise demotion, as House has started 38 of Washington’s 48 games this year. He was in the lineup for tonight’s extra-inning loss to the Mets and still hitting third in Blake Butera‘s lineup. Despite continuing to hit him in the middle of the order, the Nats now decide to send House down for his first work against Triple-A pitching since he made his MLB debut last June.
House, the #11 overall pick in the 2022 draft, limped to a .234/.252/.322 line over 73 games as a rookie. This year’s numbers are better but still middling. House carries a .227/.282/.399 mark across 177 trips to the plate. He’s drawing walks at a modest 7.3% clip against a 28% strikeout rate. He’s in the bottom 15 among hitters (minimum 150 plate appearances) in contact rate.
The plate discipline remains a work in progress, but House’s seven home runs tied him with Daylen Lile for third on the team behind James Wood and CJ Abrams. He’d connected on three of those homers this month, albeit with a .224 average and .264 on-base percentage entering tonight’s game. House has graded poorly defensively, tying Junior Caminero for the lead among third basemen with eight errors. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have him bottom five at the position.
Washington’s infield defense probably won’t improve much with a combination of Jorbit Vivas and José Tena covering third base. Curtis Mead has hit well off the bench and could get a look there too, though the Nationals seemingly prefer him as a first baseman. That’ll open some at-bats at designated hitter for Wood and Lile, as Crews will surely be in the lineup on an everyday basis. Jacob Young is the team’s best defensive outfielder; he’s day-to-day after taking a fastball to the ribs this evening, though Butera said postgame that x-rays were negative (via Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal).
House entered this season with 105 days of MLB service. He needs to be on the big league roster for 67 days this year to cross the one-year threshold before the end of the season. He’s a little less than two weeks short of that right now, but there’s ample time for him to play his way back onto the active roster during the summer.
Mets Select Anderson Severino
The Mets announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Anderson Severino. He has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, so he will stick with that club, but he is now on the 40-man and will be a candidate to be recalled to the active roster going forward. Pitchers have to wait 15 days after being optioned before they can be recalled, though exceptions are made when someone else hits the injured list or a club needs a 27th man for a doubleheader. Right-hander Clay Holmes was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move 40-man move. Holmes recently suffered a fibula fracture and is expected to be out of action until August.
The announcement from the Mets said that Severino was optioned after last night’s game, so the Severino/Holmes moves seemingly happened yesterday. The Mets also officially announced today’s earlier-reported outfield moves, with Austin Slater designated for assignment and Nick Morabito recalled. Those moves drop the 40-man count to 39, so the club has an opening for Zach Thornton, who is going to be selected on Wednesday. Thornton will fill the 40-man tomorrow but the Mets will need to make a corresponding active roster move for him.
Severino, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. It’s possible that the pact contained some kind of opt-out or assignment clause. That usually explains why a club would add a player to its 40-man roster and then immediately option him. Giving him a spot prevents him from opting out or getting sent elsewhere, but also doesn’t require the club to immediately call the player up, which would then require a corresponding move. There have also been a few cases where a player has been given a roster spot to prevent him from pursuing an opportunity overseas.
Whatever the reasoning, it’s understandable that the Mets don’t want Severino to get away, as he is out to a hot start. He has thrown 17 1/3 Triple-A innings so far this year, allowing just 1.04 earned runs per nine. His 12.1% walk rate is quite high but he has punched out 27.3% of batters faced and induced grounders on 52.6% of balls in play. His ERA has gotten some help from a .231 batting average on balls in play and 83.3% strand rate but Severino’s 3.00 FIP suggests he would be getting good results even with more neutral luck. His fastball is averaging just over 96 miles per hour and he’s throwing a mid-80s slider almost a third of the time, along with a rarely-used curve.
It’s not the first time Severino has posted good numbers in the minors but he has only received a brief look the majors. His big league track record currently consists of just 7 1/3 innings tossed for the White Sox in 2022.
He is not quite back to the majors just yet but he is now in a good position to return to the show for the first time in four years. The Mets have two lefties in their bullpen at the moment but one of them is long man Sean Manaea, meaning that Brooks Raley is effectively the only proper southpaw reliever. If they want to add another lefty or just need a fresh arm at some point in the future, Severino is now on the 40-man and could get the call.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Michael Stefanic Elects Free Agency
Infielder Michael Stefanic has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Athletics outrighted him to Triple-A yesterday. Since he has a previous career outright, he has the right to reject further such assignments. He has exercised that right and heads to the open market.
Stefanic, 30, is a journeyman depth infielder. He can bounce around the infield and has torched Triple-A pitching in his career. That has led to a few big league opportunities that he hasn’t been able to capitalize on. In 294 major league plate appearances, he has a .231/.315/.269 batting line. The A’s just added him to their roster when Jacob Wilson got hurt, but they designated Stefanic for assignment a few days later when they acquired Alika Williams.
As mentioned, Stefanic has huge Triple-A numbers, with a .326/.422/.447 line at that level over the years. He generally has a contact-based approach, not hitting for too much power but rarely striking out. He provides defensive versatility, with experience at all four infield spots and the outfield corners in his minor league career. In the big leagues, he has mostly played second base, with brief appearances at third and shortstop.
Stefanic is out of options, which makes it hard for him to hold a roster spot for a lengthy period of time. The A’s added him when they had a need but quickly pivoted and bumped him off the roster.
In these situations, it’s common for the player to return to his previous club on a new minor league deal, but Stefanic can at least explore the market to see if there’s a better opportunity somewhere else. The A’s would probably be happy to get him back with both Wilson and Max Muncy on the IL right now, leaving them a bit shorthanded on the dirt.
Photo courtesy of Ed Szczepanski, Imagn Images