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D-Backs Sign Matt Foster To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks signed reliever Matt Foster to a minor league contract. The move was announced by their Triple-A club in Reno.

Foster, 30, had been pitching for the Algodoneros del Unión Laguna in Mexico for the past month and a half. He thrived in that extremely hitter-friendly setting, allowing only two runs (one earned) through 13 2/3 innings. The righty punched out 13 and didn’t walk any of the 51 batters he faced. It didn’t take long with that kind of production for the Alabama product to find his way back to affiliated ball.

The D-Backs are only the second MLB organization of Foster’s career. He was drafted by the White Sox in 2016 and pitched parts of four seasons for Chicago. Foster’s best season came in 2020, when he turned in a 2.20 ERA while striking out 28% of opponents across 28 2/3 innings. His production tailed off between 2021-22 and he underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023. Foster missed the entire season and only managed 6 2/3 big league frames late last year. Those came with a 91.9 MPH average fastball velocity that was down two ticks from where he’d been sitting before the surgery.

Arizona’s bullpen has been decimated by injury. Justin Martinez, Cristian Mena, A.J. Puk, Kendall Graveman and Christian Montes De Oca are all on the shelf. Martinez and Montes De Oca have undergone surgeries, and Mena is out for multiple months. Puk was recently shut back down from throwing and is headed for further evaluation due to lingering soreness as he rehabs a flexor strain.

Yankees’ Jake Cousins Weighing Elbow Surgery

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June 14: Boone said Saturday that while no decision has been finalized, Cousins appears to be trending towards Tommy John surgery (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

June 12: Yankees reliever Jake Cousins has yet to pitch in the majors this season due to a flexor strain. He’d recently set out on a minor league rehab assignment in hopes of a return in the near future but was pulled from his most recent appearance in High-A with a setback. It’s the second setback in his rehab — he also dealt with a pectoral issue last month — and manager Aaron Boone revealed yesterday that Cousins is now dealing with what “seems to be a UCL injury” (link via Jackson Stone of MLB.com).

The Yankees and Cousins are still in the process of gathering opinions, but it’s an unwelcome development. At the time of the 30-year-old right-hander’s initial forearm/flexor injury in early spring training, imaging showed that Cousins’ ligament was intact (as noted by the New York Post’s Greg Joyce back in February). The pitcher himself told the Yankees beat back then that doctors had said his ulnar collateral ligament “looked great” in the MRIs he’d undergone.

Cousins was quietly excellent for New York in 2024 after coming over from the White Sox in a spring trade that sent cash to Chicago. He wound up pitching 37 games for the Yanks and logged a 2.37 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but an unsightly 12.9% walk rate across 38 innings. Cousins had previously seen time in parts of three big league seasons with Milwaukee but bounced from the Brewers to the Astros via waivers before becoming a minor league free agent, signing a minor league deal with the South Siders, and finally making his way back to the majors in the Bronx.

When healthy, Cousins has regularly looked the part of a useful bullpen arm — he just hasn’t been healthy all that often in recent years. Dating back to the 2021 season, the former Nationals draftee has missed time with a biceps strain, elbow effusion/bursitis, shoulder inflammation and a pectoral strain, among other maladies. He’s pitched to a 2.78 ERA in 90 2/3 innings and fanned just shy of one-third of the batters he’s faced since making his MLB debut as a Brewer back in 2021. However, he’s pitched only 169 2/3 innings — majors and minor leagues combined — over the past four-plus seasons because of frequent trips to the injured list.

Most of Cousins’ injuries have occurred while on the major league roster, so despite his limited innings tally in the big leagues, he’ll cross three years of major league service in 2025. That’ll qualify him for arbitration in the coming offseason, although if he’s unable to get on a big league mound this year, his price tag would still be close to the minimum. For now, the hope will obviously be that Cousins can avoid surgery, as a Tommy John procedure or internal brace operation could cost him a year or more. Presumably, the Yankees will have more information on the extent of Cousins’ injury and a treatment plan in the coming days, but it seems unlikely he’ll be able to return to a major league mound anytime soon.

Marlins To Select Freddy Tarnok

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The Marlins are selecting righty Freddy Tarnok onto the big league roster, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Miami will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster moves.

Tarnok joined the organization on an offseason minor league deal. He has been working from the rotation at Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s not going very deep into games — he has yet to work more than five innings — but he has managed alright rate production. Tarnok carries a 4.79 earned run average while striking out more than a quarter of opponents. He’s averaging north of 95 MPH on his fastball while mixing in a slider, curveball and changeup. Tarnok is coming off his best start of the season, striking out six across five scoreless innings against Tampa Bay’s affiliate last weekend.

That earns the 26-year-old his first MLB action in two years. Tarnok is a former third-round pick of the Braves who was a solid prospect. Atlanta dealt him to the A’s in the three-team Sean Murphy trade over the 2022-23 offseason. Tarnok had made one relief appearance as a Brave and pitched five times for the A’s. He allowed eight runs in 15 1/3 career innings. His ’23 season ended when he underwent right hip surgery. That lingered into last year and ultimately ended his tenure in green and gold. Tarnok was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia but didn’t make an MLB appearance for the Phils and was outrighted off the 40-man roster at the beginning of the winter.

Miami needs a fifth starter after losing Max Meyer and Ryan Weathers to the injured list. They welcomed Eury Pérez back from his Tommy John rehab on Monday to fill one spot. They haven’t settled on the final spot, though Janson Junk worked nearly six innings of relief during a bullpen game today against Washington. Junk could assume a more traditional rotation role moving forward, but they used another five relievers this afternoon. Tarnok gives them a fresh arm capable of working multiple innings with Pérez slated to start tomorrow.

Dodgers Plan To Activate Emmet Sheehan This Week

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The Dodgers are planning to activate right-hander Emmet Sheehan from the 60-day injured list this week, according to a report from The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. He’ll join the big league rotation upon being activated, though Ardaya notes that the Dodgers don’t plan to decide exact when to activate him until he throws his next bullpen session. Sheehan will require a 40-man roster spot once activated, so a corresponding 40-man move will be required if the Dodgers’ roster is full at that point.

Regardless of the exact timing of Sheehan’s return, getting him back figures to be a huge boost for a Dodgers rotation that recently had to move right-hander Ben Casparius onto a starter’s schedule after months of excellent numbers in relief due to a lack of viable alternatives. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, and Clayton Kershaw are the only other healthy regular starters L.A. has rostered at the moment, with depth options like Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack having more or less disqualified themselves with their significant struggles when called upon for spot starts. Sheehan is a more proven commodity than those options, with 11 big league starts to his name after debuting with the Dodgers last year.

While Sheehan seems a bit safer to give the ball too than the club’s other depth options, that shouldn’t be taken to mean this is a riskless move. After all, Sheehan has a career 5.23 ERA out of the rotation in the majors and has not pitched in the big leagues since 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He looked better than that in his most recent outings, however, with a 3.68 ERA and 4.35 FIP across 22 frames in September. Sheehan seemed likely to be firmly in the Dodgers’ rotation mix for last year despite his uneven performance, but he went under the knife almost exactly 13 months ago to the day and hasn’t pitched at the big league level since.

The right-hander has made four rehab starts this year, with a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings of work during that time. That overall line doesn’t do Sheehan’s performance in those four outings justice; he’s struck out 44.7% of his opponents while rehabbing and limited opposing batters to just one walk. That’s come against minor league hitters, of course, and the jump from minor league opponents to the big leagues is larger than ever these days. Even so, it’s an undeniably encouraging sign that he’s been able to punch out that many hitters even as he’s rebuilding to a starter’s workload.

Once activated, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Dodgers ease Sheehan into the starting rotation. He’s only built up to 63 pitches so far, which could make him a prime candidate to either be used alongside an opener or perhaps piggyback with another pitcher like Wrobleski or Matt Sauer. In any case, adding another arm to a fraught Dodgers rotation that seems unlikely to get further reinforcements before Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching sometime next month has to be a significant relief for the entire pitching staff.

Christian Montes De Oca To Undergo Lower Back Surgery

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Just one day after Diamondbacks closer Justin Martinez underwent Tommy John surgery, fans in Arizona received more troubling news about the status of the bullpen when manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of AZ Sports) that right-hander Christian Montes De Oca is set to undergo lower back surgery that could keep him out of commission for the remainder of the 2025 season. Montes De Oca was placed on the injured list earlier this week due to inflammation in his right elbow, but is now ticketed for an unrelated procedure on top of that issue.

It’s a brutal turn of events for the 25-year-old, who made his big league debut just last week and has one scoreless outing of long relief under his belt in the majors at this point. The right-hander looked great in that debut, with zero hits and one walk allowed as he struck out two in 2 2/3 innings of work. It appears that may be his only appearance in his debut season unless he’s able to both overcome the elbow inflammation he’s been battling and his upcoming back surgery in time to get back on the mound for the Diamondbacks before the end of the year. If there’s a silver lining in the announcement, it’s that Montes De Oca will be able to try and address both issues at once rather than dealing with multiple prolonged layoffs.

Montes De Oca signed with Arizona out of the Dominican Republic and made his pro debut during his age-22 season back in 2022. A pure relief prospect from the jump who has never started a game as a pro, Montes De Oca nonetheless moved through the Arizona system quite quickly. He began his second pro season at the Double-A level and spent barely any time at Double-A in his third pro season before making the jump to Triple-A. He struggled in that first taste of the Pacific Coast League last year, but in 2025 he managed a solid 4.07 ERA and 3.66 FIP with a 25.5% strikeout rate and a walk rate of just 5.9%.

Montes De Oca joins Martinez, A.J. Puk, Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Walston, and Cristian Mena on a rapidly growing list of Diamondbacks pitchers facing extended absences. Impressive rotation depth has allowed them to weather the storm in terms of starting pitching, but the club’s relief depth has been whittled down to the point where closer Shelby Miller and lefty Jalen Beeks are the only two reliable leverage arms at Lovullo’s disposal until another option emerges internally, an external addition is made, or Puk returns from his own bout of elbow inflammation. Pitching woes are a major piece of what’s left Arizona 3.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, although the club remains one game over .500 and could theoretically look to shore up its pitching depth this summer if the team’s internal options can keep them in the race until trade season begins in earnest.

IL Activations: Walker, Sanchez

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Here’s the rundown of some prominent names returning from the injured list today…

  • The Cardinals activated Jordan Walker from the 10-day IL, with fellow outfielder Michael Siani optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Walker returns to action after a little over two weeks on the IL, as the former top prospect was bothered by inflammation in his left wrist.  Operating as the Cards’ everyday right fielder, Walker has hit only .215/.273/.310 in 172 plate appearances this season, though his bat had been starting to heat up in the few games just prior to his injury.
  • The Orioles activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day IL, and optioned catcher Maverick Handley to Triple-A Norfolk.  Like Walker, Sanchez was also sidelined with wrist inflammation, though his issue was more severe since Sanchez hasn’t played in a big league game since April 27.  Sanchez will now resume his role as Adley Rutschman’s backup and hope that his IL stint essentially resets his season, as Sanchez had only three hits in his first 35 plate appearances in a Baltimore uniform.  The O’s signed Sanchez to a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal back in December.

Twins To Place Royce Lewis On IL Due To Hamstring Strain

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5:14pm: The Twins are planning to place Lewis on the IL, as relayed by Miller. He goes on to note that the Twins are labeling Lewis’s strain as “mild.” That’s an encouraging framing for the injury, although it must be emphasized that due to Lewis’s long history of lower half issues even a mild strain could leave him out of commission for some time.

2:52pm: Twins third baseman Royce Lewis suffered a left hamstring strain in Friday’s 10-3 loss to the Astros that forced Lewis out of the game.  The injury occurred in the ninth inning, as Lewis hit a line drive into the left field corner that resulted in only a single, as Lewis came up limping heading into first base.  According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller and other beat writers, Lewis will undergo an MRI today to determine the extent of the damage.

An earlier strain to that same left hamstring sidelined Lewis during Spring Training and delayed his season debut until May 5.  The missed time clearly seemed to be having an impact on Lewis’ bat, as he has hit only .202/.282/.303 over 110 plate appearances.  With a 1.056 OPS over his last 33 PA, however, Lewis seemed like he was getting into form just before his balky hamstring may again force him to the injured list.

Injuries have hampered Lewis’ entire pro career, limiting the former first overall pick to 546 games (182 in the majors, 364 in the minors) since he was selected in the 2017 draft.  Two right ACL tears were the most devastating of Lewis’ multiple health issues, and he has also missed time on the Twins’ injured list due to a quad strain, an adductor strain, and a less-serious left hamstring strain late in the 2023 season that Lewis was able to overcome in time to return for a dominant playoff performance.

If the MRI doesn’t reveal anything too serious, Minnesota could opt to give Lewis a few days of rest in lieu of an IL stint, since the Twins don’t play on Monday anyway.  A backdated IL placement would still “begin” today anyway if the Twins ended up sending Lewis to the 10-day injured list on Tuesday, though such a decision may also hinge if the club is willing to play a man short over a big weekend series against the Astros.

Brooks Lee is the likeliest candidate to get the bulk of third base time if Lewis does wind up on the IL, with such versatile options as Willi Castro, Kody Clemens, or Jonah Bride also available to rotate into the hot corner.  Several other infielders are on the 40-man roster and could be summoned from Triple-A, yet naturally there’s not much substitute for the upside that a healthy and productive Lewis can bring to the Twins’ lineup.

Tyler O’Neill Returned From Rehab Due To Renewed Shoulder Soreness

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Outfielder Tyler O’Neill was returned from his minor league rehab assignment by the Orioles today, per a club announcement. O’Neill was placed on the shelf due to a shoulder impingement nearly a month ago, but began his rehab assignment last week and seemed to be nearing a return to action prior to today’s news. He had sat out recent games due to renewed soreness in his shoulder, however, and now has been pulled off his rehab assignment entirely. MASN’s Roch Kubatko relays that O’Neill will be shut down from all baseball activity for one week and has already received an injection in his AC joint.

The news is a clear sign that the Orioles should not expect O’Neill’s return anytime soon. While an estimated timetable for his return to the field won’t be known until after this shutdown period ends, it should be expected he’ll need to resume building up with lighter baseball activities before he’s in position for the Orioles to consider a new rehab assignment. Position players can be on a rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days before they have to be pulled back or activated from the IL, so once he begins playing in rehab games again the countdown to his return can resume in earnest.

Until then, Baltimore’s outfield will be without its top right-handed option. The team signed O’Neill to a three-year, $49.5MM deal in free agency over the offseason as a way to help make up for the loss of Anthony Santander from their lineup and complement a heavily left-handed outfield mix that features Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser, and Heston Kjerstad on a regular basis. O’Neill made plenty of sense as a complement to that trio given his excellent numbers against left-handed pitching, but things haven’t worked out so well in year one of his contract with the Orioles. The outfielder has been limited to just 24 games by injuries this year, and even when he’s been healthy enough to take the field he’s hit a paltry .188/.280/.325 (70 wRC+) with just two home runs in 93 plate appearances.

It’s a far cry from the production he offered the Red Sox last year, when he slugged 31 homers in 113 games and posted a 131 wRC+ overall. While that sort of performance can obviously be transformational for a lineup, the Orioles would likely benefit from even a more modestly productive version of O’Neill as long as he can get healthy enough to return to the outfield. The Orioles have been the least productive offense against left-handed pitching in the American League this year, and their 62 wRC+ is ahead of only the lowly Rockies in the majors as a whole. O’Neill is a career .261/.366/.524 hitter against southpaws, so even a diminished version of him could be a huge boost to the lineup.

Until he returns, however, the Orioles appear likely to continue relying on Ramon Laureano to fill O’Neill’s role as a lefty-mashing outfielder. Laureano has excelled in Baltimore this year with a 139 wRC+ in 133 plate appearances, though the longtime lefty masher has actually gotten most of his production against right-handed pitching this year with below-average numbers against opposite-handed pitching. That makes him an imperfect complement to the Orioles’ otherwise all-lefty outfield, but until O’Neill returns the club doesn’t have many clearly better options.

Shaun Anderson Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Anderson cleared waivers and elected free agency over an outright assignment to Triple-A, the Angels announced.

JUNE 13: The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of infield prospect Christian Moore and recalled right-hander Sam Bachman. In corresponding moves, outfielder Matthew Lugo has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake and righty Shaun Anderson has been designated for assignment. MLBTR covered the Moore/Lugo swap yesterday. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported today’s full slate of moves prior to the official club announcement.

Anderson, 30, has been on and off the Angels’ roster this year. He signed a minor league deal in the offseason and was called up in early May. He was designated for assignment later that month, cleared waivers, elected free agency, re-signed with the club and was added back to the roster a few days ago. Around those transactions, he has logged 10 2/3 innings over six appearances. He allowed nine earned runs on 16 hits, giving out three walks while striking out ten opponents.

Broadly speaking, Anderson has usually been able to put up decent Triple-A numbers that haven’t translated to the big leagues. He made his major league debut in 2019 and now has 162 2/3 innings under his belt with a 6.20 earned run average. In that same time frame, he has a 3.93 ERA in 307 Triple-A frames. He also spent a season in Korea and put up a 3.76 ERA there.

Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent back down to the minors. The last time he lost his roster spot with the Halos, he cleared waivers and circled back to them, so it’s possible that same sequence will play out in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

Reds Claim Ryan Vilade, Designate Jacob Hurtubise

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The Reds announced that infielder/outfielder Ryan Vilade has been claimed off waivers from the Cardinals, and Vilade was optioned to Triple-A.  To create roster space, Cincinnati designated outfielder Jacob Hurtubise for assignment.

St. Louis designated Vilade two days ago, after Vilade had appeared in seven games during a brief stint on the Cards’ roster.  Signed to a minor league contract in December, Vilade hit an impressive .280/.375/.476 over 192 plate appearances with Triple-A Memphis to earn a selection to the Cardinals’ active roster at the end of May, though he had only one hit in 15 PA on the Cards’ active roster.

To some extent, this has been the story of Vilade’s pro career, as he had a .141/.200/.188 slash line in 71 PA over 27 career games in the majors with the Rockies, Tigers, and Cardinals.  His career .272/.353/.406 slash in 2093 Triple-A appearances is much more impressive, yet it hasn’t stood out quite enough for Vilade to get much in the way of regular playing time in the Show, nor has he hit anywhere near well enough to capitalize on his small sample.

While Vilade has played only as an outfielder and in one single game as a first baseman in the majors, he has some experience at all four infield positions, including time as a first, second, and third baseman with Memphis this year.  This expanded defensive repertoire seems like a logical way for Vilade to improve his usefulness to big league teams, and it might help him earn some bench time on a Reds team that is somewhat unsettled in teams of everyday regulars.  In particular, Vilade’s right-handed bat might help him become a complement within a Reds outfield overloaded with left-handed hitters.

That crowded outfield may have factored into the limited playing time that Hurtubise received in his first two MLB seasons, though the left-handed hitter has batted only .167/.291/.212 over 83 PA in the bigs.  This season, he made the Reds’ Opening Day roster but didn’t last long before being optioned, and then briefly returned to the majors in May.

An undrafted free agent for the Reds in 2020 (the year of the pandemic-shortened five-round draft), Hurtubise reached Triple-A for the first time in 2023, but his numbers at Cincinnati’s top affiliate have gone steadily downward over the last three years.  He has hit just .144/.336/.186 in 133 PA in Louisville this season, making him an expendable piece on the Reds’ 40-man roster despite some tremendous speed and base-stealing ability (124 steals in 147 chances in his minor league career).  Hurtubise can’t reject an outright assignment, so he would remain in the Reds’ organization if he clears waivers.

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