Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
White Sox, Juan Carela Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox re-signed righty Juan Carela to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Chicago designated Carela for assignment and released him earlier this month, though that was only done because of the fact that Carela was injured and on the 40-man roster. Injured players cannot be passed through outright waivers, by rule, so Carela was released and will now return on a non-roster pact with an eye toward contributing in 2026, when he’s hopefully recovered from last month’s Tommy John surgery.
Carela, 23, came to the White Sox in the 2023 deadline trade that sent reliever Keynan Middleton to the Yankees. He pitched well for Chicago’s High-A club down the stretch that year and delivered a strong performance — 3.71 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 9.9% walk rate, 43.2% grounder rate — in 106 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A in 2024. That performance netted Carela a spot on the White Sox’ 40-man roster as they sought to protect him from being selected by another organization in December’s annual Rule 5 Draft.
Heading into the season, Carela looked primed to make his big league debut at some point in 2025. He’d pitched well in more than 100 innings of High-A work and handled himself well in a late-2024 bump to Double-A. A healthy Carela could’ve opened the season either with Double-A Birmingham or Triple-A Charlotte and pushed for a roster spot this summer or later in the season. Unfortunately, both he and fellow righty Prelander Berroa were diagnosed with torn ulnar collateral ligaments in their pitching elbows this spring and will now be out until midway through the 2026 campaign.
Braves Select Nathan Wiles, Release Amos Willingham
The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Nathan Wiles from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta opened a 40-man roster spot by releasing righty Amos Willingham. Fellow right-hander Michael Petersen was optioned to Gwinnett to clear space on the active roster. The Braves acquired Wiles from the Rays in exchange for cash late in spring training. Willingham was placed on the minor league injured list earlier this month, and injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers — hence the decision to release him rather than try to outright him.
Wiles, 26, will give the Braves some length in the bullpen after Spencer Strider was unexpectedly placed back on the injured list yesterday following a hamstring injury. Atlanta has been planning to use an opener in tonight’s game, David O’Brien of The Athletic reports that’ll still be the case. However, since Wiles has been working as a starter in Gwinnett, he could give the Braves a much-needed long relief appearance. He’s stretched out fully; his last Triple-A start lasted six innings.
An eighth-round pick by Tampa Bay back in 2019, Wiles pitched to an ERA north of 5.00 in three partial seasons at the Triple-A level while in the Rays organization but has had a terrific start with the Stripers. He’s pitched 14 innings across three starts and held opponents to a lone earned run on nine hits and five walks with 15 strikeouts (27.8 K%, 9.3 BB%). He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a hearty 52.9% clip.
The Braves have several rotation depth options already on the 40-man roster, but Strider’s injury was particularly ill-timed. All three of Hurston Waldrep, AJ Smith-Shawver and Davis Daniel made their starts in the past three days. Righty Zach Thompson and lefty Dylan Dodd are both on the 40-man roster and have experience starting in the majors, but both are working as relievers in 2025 and both pitched as recently as Sunday (two innings, in Thompson’s case). Wiles would’ve been in line to start today for Gwinnett, but he’ll instead join the Braves ahead of what seems likely to be his major league debut behind tonight’s opener.
Willingham, 26, was a waiver claim out of the Nationals organization back in January. He’s yet to pitch a big league inning for the Braves, his hometown club, but he did tally 25 1/3 innings with the Nats from 2023-24. The results weren’t pretty, as he was tagged for a bleak 7.11 earned run average in that time. However, Willingham has a solid minor league track record. He’s pitched to a 3.67 ERA in parts of six minor league seasons, including a 3.40 mark in 98 frames of Triple-A ball.
As a Georgia Tech product and a native of Rome, Ga., Willingham was surely thrilled to be claimed by the Braves back in the offseason. Today’s release ends his tenure with the club for at least the time being, though it’s common for injured players who released under similar circumstances to re-sign a minor league deal with their current organization. That doesn’t guarantee that Willingham will follow that path, as he can now talk with 29 other clubs in free agency, but there’s ample precedent a quick reunion.
Free Agent Prediction Contest Winners Notified
4,344 people entered into our 2024-25 MLB Free Agent Prediction Contest, and only one was able to manage a batting average over .230. Congratulations to Allan Cameron, who correctly predicted the destinations of 13 out of 48 free agents for a robust .271 average! No one else topped 11. Allan was correct on Juan Soto, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Jack Flaherty, Anthony Santander, Sean Manaea, Teoscar Hernandez, Christian Walker, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Michael Soroka, Shane Bieber, and Shinnosuke Ogasawara.
For his excellent prognostication skills, Allan will receive $500 plus a free one-year subscription to Trade Rumors Front Office. The top three won cash prizes, and the top 15 received the Front Office subscription. All winners have been notified via email. As per our rules, David Robertson and Spencer Turnbull were excluded from contestants’ batting averages, as those two pitchers were unsigned as of Opening Day.
Congratulations to Allan. Look out for the 2025-26 MLB Free Agent Prediction Contest this November!
The Opener: Braves, Bello, MLBTR Chat
As the 2025 regular season continues, here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day:
1. Who’s starting in Atlanta?
The Braves had to unexpectedly place Spencer Strider on the injured list yesterday when he suffered a hamstring strain while playing catch. Strider had been slated to make his second start of the season today against the Cardinals and right-hander Andre Pallante. It’s a frustrating problem to have, particularly at a moment where depth starters like AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep are unavailable after making starts at Triple-A within the past few days.
That leaves the club likely to be forced to go with a bullpen game today; righty Scott Blewett tossed 43 pitches his last time out for the Orioles and could perhaps be counted on for two or three innings of work. Recently recalled right-hander Michael Petersen last pitched on Thursday, so he could throw multiple innings as well. If Atlanta decides they need another potential multi-inning option, they could turn to southpaw Dylan Dodd, who has pitched in relief this year but has plenty of experience as a starter. Dodd pitched an inning of work on Sunday and could give the Braves a multi-inning look from the left side, though a roster move would be needed to call him up from Triple-A.
2. Bello to make season debut:
Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello was slowed by shoulder soreness in camp and ultimately began the season on the injured list alongside Lucas Giolito and Kutter Crawford. In the meantime, the Red Sox have had to cycle through depth options like Richard Fitts, Sean Newcomb, and Hunter Dobbins to piece together starts at the back of their rotation. Fortunately, a bit more certainty is on the way, with Bello slated to be activated for this evening’s game against the Mariners. Seattle is likely to counter with young right-hander Bryce Miller. Opposite Miller, Bello will look to build on the steady production he has offered the Red Sox over the past two years, when he posted a 4.37 ERA and 4.36 FIP across 58 starts. The righty looked good in the second half last year, with a 3.47 ERA over his final 13 starts.
3. MLBTR chat today:
Each MLB team is now around 15% of the way through their season, and some expected contenders like those in Atlanta and Baltimore have struggled while more surprising teams like the Giants have done quite well for themselves. There’s still plenty of baseball left to go. If you have questions about which starts to believe in or are already looking towards July’s trade deadline then MLBTR’s Steve Adams has you covered in a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Guardians Designate Triston McKenzie For Assignment
The Guardians announced that right-hander Triston McKenzie has been designated for assignment. They’ve selected the contract of righty Zak Kent from Triple-A Columbus in his place. The DFA marks the culmination of a lengthy period of struggle that dates back to 2023 for McKenzie, who once looked like a potential building block in Cleveland’s rotation.
McKenzie missed significant time in 2023 with a UCL injury that never wound up requiring surgery. He struggled before and after a pair of lengthy IL stints that season and has yet to regain his footing. He’s also out of minor league options, so the Guards couldn’t send him to Triple-A. McKenzie was one of a handful of notable out-of-options players we highlighted as a potential change-of-scenery candidate this spring. Given his pre-injury track record, it seems likely that another club will take a chance on him, presumably via a minor trade but at the very least via waivers.
Back in 2022, a then-24-year-old McKenzie broke out with 191 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball. He punched out 25.6% of his opponents against a terrific 5.9% walk rate. That ostensible breakout came on the heels of a four-year run in which McKenzie ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects. He didn’t throw hard, sitting 92.5 mph with his four-seamer, but he generated swinging strikes and chases on pitches off the plate at rates well north of the average pitcher. Given the right-hander’s prospect status and Cleveland’s penchant for churning out quality pitchers on a near-annual basis, McKenzie looked like the next in a long line of homegrown rotation arms to call Progressive Field home.
The previously mentioned UCL injury limited McKenzie to only four starts in 2023, however, and he looked like a completely different pitcher in 2024. The lanky 6’5″, 175-pound righty saw his average fastball freefall to 91.1 mph last year. His once-plus command was gone. He walked 14.4% of his opponents in 75 2/3 innings after having dished out free passes at a grisly 17.8% clip during that injury-ruined 2023 season. He allowed an average of 1.18 homers per nine innings during his standout 2022 season but saw that mark skyrocket to 2.26 per nine frames in ’24.
No longer able to entrust McKenzie with a rotation spot, the Guardians looked elsewhere to fill in the starting staff this winter. They acquired righty Luis Ortiz from the Pirates and re-signed Shane Bieber to a two-year deal (with an opt-out) while he mends from last year’s Tommy John surgery.
McKenzie opened the 2025 season in the bullpen. The Guards surely hoped that he could either find his footing as a reliever or pitch his way back into consideration for a starting role. Neither has happened. While McKenzie’s velocity is back up to an average of 93.7 mph on his heater, that’s likely due to him working in short-relief stints as opposed to being asked to face a lineup two to three times per outing. He’s pitched only 5 2/3 innings this season and been clobbered for seven runs. Command is still a glaring issue; he’s served up seven hits (including a homer), walked seven of his 30 opponents (23.3%) and already been charged with three wild pitches. McKenzie has only set down four batters on strikes.
Any team to claim McKenzie or acquire him via trade will at this point be rolling the dice on a reclamation project. McKenzie hasn’t worked more than 1 2/3 innings in a single appearance this season, so he’s also not presently stretched out enough to join someone’s rotation even if they want to take a look at him as a starter. He could be built back up on the fly, but that’s a tough task when already asking a player to switch teams and go through all the inherent, associated changes (learning new coaches and catchers, making tweaks to delivery and pitch selection, etc.).
The Guardians can trade McKenzie or place him on outright waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers themselves are a 48-hour process, meaning his DFA will be resolved within a week’s time at most. He’s earning $1.95MM this season. An acquiring club would be on the hook for about $1.69MM as of this writing (or a bit less depending on when he’s claimed/traded). He’s controllable for two additional seasons beyond the current campaign.
Turning to Kent, he’s a former Rangers farmhand whom Cleveland acquired in a March 2024 trade that sent international bonus pool space back to Texas. He missed the majority of the 2024 season due to an elbow strain, however. The Guards designated Kent for assignment last summer, released him and quickly re-signed him on a new minor league pact. (Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers.)
Today’s promotion puts Kent in line for his MLB debut. He’s healthy again and pitching well in Columbus, where he’s tossed 7 2/3 frames of relief and held opponents to a pair of runs. Kent has allowed three hits and fanned 10, though his four walks are higher than he or the team would prefer, and he’s also plunked a batter.
Kent ranked in the Rangers’ top 30 prospects from 2022-24, per Baseball America, and he’ll head to MLB with a solid track record at the top minor league level. Kent carries a lifetime 4.00 ERA in 92 innings across parts of four seasons there, although that number is skewed a bit by last year’s injury-marred season. Kent was rocked for an ERA north of 7.00 in 23 innings there, though it seems fair to suggest his elbow injury contributed to those struggles. He’s posted strong numbers in each of his other partial Triple-A seasons. Subtracting the injury-plagued ’24 campaign, Kent has a 2.88 ERA in 68 2/3 Triple-A frames.
Athletics To Promote Nick Kurtz
The Athletics are going to promote top prospect Nick Kurtz, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. The A’s already have a 40-man vacancy, so they will only have to make a corresponding active roster move to make this official. Alden González of ESPN reports that Kurtz actually won’t be activated until Wednesday since he’s a left-handed hitter and the club is facing a lefty starter tomorrow, after today’s off-day.
Kurtz, 22, is one of the top prospects in baseball. He put up a .333/.510/.725 line in three seasons for Wake Forest, which led the A’s to select him fourth overall in last year’s draft. Since going pro, Kurtz has continued to mash.
He has appeared in 32 minor league games thus far, with appearances at Single-A and Double-A last year, followed by a jump to Triple-A this year. Combined, he has 147 plate appearances. His 24.5% strikeout rate is a bit high but he’s also drawn walks at a huge 15% clip and launched 11 home runs. He has a combined .336/.432/.689 line across those levels with a 171 wRC+, indicating he’s been 71% better than league average.
Coming into this year, before he even started mashing at Triple-A, Kurtz was considered one of the top prospects in the league. Baseball America initially gave him the #34 spot, though he has since jumped up to #32. FanGraphs put him at #31, MLB Pipeline has him at #35, ESPN at #52 and Keith Law of The Athletic at #35. All outlets generally heap praise on his combination of power and his work covering the plate. While he’s only capable of playing first base, he is considered likely to be a strong defender at that spot.
It’s a pretty aggressive promotion, with Kurtz having just been drafted less than a year ago, but his numbers certainly suggest he’s ready for the show. The question is now is how the A’s will line up defensively. Tyler Soderstrom has been the regular at first base so far this year and he’s having a great campaign. He and Cal Raleigh are tied atop the major league home run leaderboard with nine. That has helped him produce a .298/.362/.643 line and 191 wRC+ so far this year.
Using the designated hitter spot would be an easy way to get both Kurtz and Soderstrom into the lineup on a regular basis, except that Brent Rooker is the DH most days. Rooker has been a huge power bat for over two years now, launching 30 homers in 2023 and 39 last year. He already has six so far this year. He does strike out a lot but the overall contributions are still huge. The A’s clearly agree, as they signed him to a five-year, $60MM extension in January.
Rooker does have 955 career innings in the outfield corners but with poor numbers out there. He has tallied -17 Defensive Runs Saved and -16 Outs Above Average in that time, which is why the A’s have used him as the DH so often.
Soderstrom came up as a catcher but there were questions about whether he could stick back there defensively. The A’s haven’t shown much interest in moving him back behind the plate, especially with Shea Langeliers performing well back there.
Gallegos recently suggested that the A’s have considered putting Soderstrom at third, though that would be a pretty bold in-season move since he’s never played the position. The simplest solution for now would be to live with Rooker’s defense in left field, cutting into the playing time of Seth Brown and Miguel Andujar out there, with JJ Bleday in center and Lawrence Butler in right.
Time will tell how the A’s line it up. There are no guarantees that Kurtz will hit the ground running, as even the top prospects sometimes struggle when first promoted to the majors. For now, it seems to be the latest exciting development in a gradually coalescing position player core for the A’s. Recent years have seen guys like Rooker, Butler and Langeliers cement themselves as solid core pieces. This year, Soderstrom seems to be doing the same, alongside Jacob Wilson. The group has been coming together nicely, which made the A’s a somewhat trendy underdog pick for a playoff spot coming into 2025. If Kurtz is able to thrive quickly, that would obviously help.
The pitching group is perhaps a bit behind the hitters and the rebuild is still a bit of a work in progress, with the club currently 10-12. That puts them last in the American League West but it’s still early and they’re only three games back of the lead. It’s been a dreary stretch in the club’s history, with three straight losing seasons from 2022-24 and the agonizing bolt from Oakland. But there are now reasons for optimism during their detour in West Sacramento, so things seem to generally be trending well as the club gets ready to make a new home in Las Vegas in a few years.
At this stage of the season, Kurtz can’t earn a full year of major league service time, at least not the traditional way. That means the A’s will not be in position to earn an extra draft pick via the prospect promotion incentive, regardless of how Kurtz performs in awards voting. But as a top prospect, Kurtz can be retroactively awarded a full service year if he’s able to finish in the top two in American League Rookie of the Year voting this year.
Assuming for now that he doesn’t pull that off, the A’s will be able to control him for six seasons after this one, meaning he won’t be slated for free agency until after 2031. If he stays up from now on, he would be a lock for Super Two status after 2027, meaning he would have four passes through arbitration instead of three.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Latest On Blue Jays Rotation
The Blue Jays optioned fifth starter Easton Lucas to Triple-A Buffalo before Monday’s loss in Houston. They recalled reliever Josh Walker in his place, thus leaving them with a four-man rotation.
An off day on Thursday allows them to skip the fifth starter this time. Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis will follow Kevin Gausman, who pitched tonight, in the Houston series. José Berríos will take Friday’s series opener against the Yankees, while Gausman and Bassitt will be back on regular rest to finish the weekend in the Bronx.
Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet relays word from manager John Schneider that the Jays will return to a five-man rotation after that. An off day next Monday would have allowed them to stick with a four-man staff into the end of next week, but that’s apparently not the plan. An optioned pitcher must stay in the minors for at least 15 days unless they’re being recalled as the corresponding move for an injured list placement. Barring injury, Lucas won’t be back for at least a couple weeks.
The 28-year-old Lucas entered this season with 14 career MLB appearances. All of those had come in relief. He was pushed into the starting five with Max Scherzer battling renewed thumb discomfort that sent him to the injured list. Lucas fired 10 1/3 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts over his first two big league starts. He was bombed in each of his next two outings, however. The Braves put up eight runs (including a trio of homers) in his third appearance. He couldn’t get out of the second inning during Sunday’s start against the Mariners, who put up six runs. The overall result is a 7.41 earned run average through 17 innings.
Scherzer doesn’t seem especially close to a return. The future Hall of Famer provided a mildly positive update on Monday, saying a second cortisone shot has allowed him to better grip the ball (via Hazel Mae). Scherzer was able to throw off flat ground during pregame warm-ups at Daikin Park, but he doesn’t appear to be nearing a rehab stint.
It leaves the Jays in a difficult spot once they go back to a five-man rotation. The decision to turn to Lucas in the first place pointed to the team’s lack of depth beyond their Opening Day starting five. Jake Bloss, acquired in last summer’s Yusei Kikuchi trade, has three major league starts to his name. He has been hit hard over his first four Triple-A starts this year, allowing a 7.31 ERA with a below-average 17.5% strikeout rate. Aside from Lucas, prospect Adam Macko — who underwent meniscus surgery in February and hasn’t pitched this year — is the only other starter on the 40-man roster. Lefty Eric Lauer, who owns a 5.68 ERA through his first four Triple-A starts, is their most experienced non-roster depth option.
Jose Siri To Miss 8-10 Weeks
The Mets will be without Jose Siri for 8-10 weeks, president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters on Monday (link via Tim Healey of Newsday). It was clear that the center fielder would be out for a while after he was diagnosed with a left tibia fracture last week. He suffered the injury when he fouled a ball off his leg.
It had been a frustrating start for Siri even before the injury. The righty-hitting outfielder collected just one hit in his first 20 at-bats. He has drawn four walks and stolen a couple bases, but he’d punched out eight times over 24 plate appearances. Siri’s glove is much more his calling card. He’s coming off a .187/.255/.366 showing over a career-high 130 games as a member of the Rays. The Mets acquired him in an offseason trade despite those numbers because he’s one of the best defensive center fielders in the game.
Tyrone Taylor has taken over as the primary center fielder. He’s out to a very tough start offensively, batting .211/.237/.298 through 59 trips to the plate. Taylor is a solid defender, albeit not to Siri’s level. The Mets called up speedster José Azocar as a fifth outfielder. While Azocar isn’t likely to push for regular playing time, the Mets could turn to one of their middle infielders on the outfield grass. Luisangel Acuña has been a full-time infielder in the majors but topped 250 innings in center field in Triple-A last season.
More interestingly, the Mets are toying with the idea of getting Jeff McNeil some center field reps. He’s getting work in at the position during his minor league rehab assignment. McNeil could be back from his season-opening IL stint by the end of this week. He has 16 career innings as a center fielder. He’s unlikely to play there on a regular basis but could be part of a larger timeshare.
“I imagine Jeff is going to do what he always does,” Stearns told reporters (via Healey). “He’s going to bounce around. He’s going to play some second. He’ll fill in for the corner outfielders when needed. We’ll see how the center field thing goes; I think he’s excited about that. So there are plenty of at-bats to go around here, and Jeff will certainly get his share.”
Siri is on the 10-day injured list for the time being. The Mets can move him to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot whenever that need arises.
Cubs Sign Peter Solomon To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed right-hander Peter Solomon to a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. The O’Connell Sports Management client will report to Triple-A Iowa and provide the Cubs with some non-roster depth.
Solomon, 28, has a bit of major league experience. He tossed 14 innings with the Astros in 2021 and another 13 1/3 with the Diamondbacks in 2023. He allowed 6.59 earned runs per nine innings in that small sample.
The Cubs are presumably a bit more interested in his larger body of work in the minors, where he has shown some strikeout stuff but also control issues. Back in 2021, he logged 97 2/3 innings with the Astros’ Triple-A club, posting a 4.70 ERA with a 26.3% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. But his minor league ERA jumped to 5.58 in 2022 and then 7.64 in 2023. He started last year in Indy Ball but was able to secure a minor league pact with the Rangers in May. He went on to toss 72 Triple-A innings in a swing role for that organization, with a 6.50 ERA, 21.6% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate.
The Cubs have health issues both in the rotation and the bullpen. Justin Steele recently underwent UCL surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Javier Assad has been out all year with an oblique strain. Relievers Ryan Brasier, Eli Morgan and Tyson Miller are on the IL as well. Solomon gives them an extra non-roster depth option. If he gets added at any point, he has one option season remaining and less than a year of service time.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
